Boyfriend101

I'm brainstorming titles for my never-to-be-published (or written) guide to dating gay guys. Here's what I got so far:

Don't Be Late: And Other Ways To Make That Date Your Mate

How To Seem Mellow For A Fellow 

Your Best Bet To Get Intimate 

How To WOO and DUde


Don't Be A Bore And You Can Score

A Study So He's Not Just Your Buddy

10 Ways To Keep Your Guy From Saying 'Bye-Bye'

A Game Plan To Get A Gentleman 

How To Court So He Won't Abort 

Well, that's all I got for now, but please excuse me; these peanut butter brownies aren't going to eat themselves. 

Zero Dark Thirty

I wrote this a while back after watching Zero Dark Thirty, but never shared it. It's incomplete, but there are some thoughts on the film and the Jessica Chastain's character and performance. 

Zero Dark Thirty

It has taken me a few days to digest the film and find what my take on one of this year’s most lauded and criticized films. In the wake of its Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay, I had high expectations of the film although I entered knowing it’s not the kind of movie that I am drawn to. Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker was a super tense, well-crafted film that I marveled over once and then never felt compelled to watch again. I expected something similar with Zero Dark Thirty. However, what I got was a precise and very deliberate film which doesn't have room to breathe. It’s not as tense as The Hurt Locker because Bigelow has it in a choke hold. Every shot is so calculated and measured that it’s stifled. That said, some of the cinematography is thoughtful and beautiful, the central character is written well and fiercely brought to life by Jessica Chastain, and the ensemble delivers a solid supporting foundation for the film. However, Chastain’s role is so quarantined in the circumstances that we never see a full person; we only get the fraction which entails her position with the CIA. Despite the attempts at humanizing her in a few scenes, she never really completely emerges leaving the heart of the film struggling to find a pulse. Yet, if that was the intention of the screenwriter, Mark Boal, and Bigelow then they succeeded and consequently created a character in need of more development. I do not believe the film either glorifies or demonizes the hunting and killing Osama Bin Laden and all it entailed; Zero Dark Thirty depicts what occurred and condenses into a film that still feels quite long.  Despite these shortcomings, the film is compelling for the majority of its running time.

Maya, portrayed by Jessica Chastain, is an ambitious, passionate beast. Her ambitions and passion flare as she protects victims of terrorism. However, her quest comes at the cost of harming those which may lead her to finding Osama Bin Laden. It is no comfort to see that her skillful research and thoughtful investigation leads her to accurate conclusions as to those that will get her the necessary information to finalize the hunt. We witness her toughened by her profession, but really it is her own strong will and determination that transform her into someone capable of extraordinary cruelty veiled by a light voice and infectious smile. In an early scene, she is hardly capable of watching a prisoner being physically assaulted for information by a charming assailant which happens to be her colleague. She is much more comfortable to see interrogations suggesting violence as opposed to executing bodily harm. Yet, as time passes, she hardens. We see her confront her superiors, conduct forceful questionings herself, and eventually is just as blood-thirsty as those she hunts. And yet, she has to be. She has to be more resolute, more strident, and more confident than any of her counterparts to get the job done.  She allows the transformation to occur. She gets cocooned by her profession and the audience never sees her emerge from there. The final image is an unfulfilled, lost person neither understanding nor enjoying their success. 

Stuff I Made Up

Well, it has been a while since I last updated my "unnamed uprising," but I feel it is time. A great deal in my life has changed in the past two months or so. However, some things remain the same: still vegetarian (mostly vegan), still love to write, and still into guys. These pillars of my life fueled me to write a series of quatrains (a four line stanza) for fun which have become a pet-project that I return to and am continuing to develop. I have written twenty quatrains to date, but will only share a few here as they are quite personal and are going to be used for an impending performance project; my favorite ones aren't making an appearance here. I have fun fleshing out these snapshots-of-life and hope you enjoy reading them. FYI: some are explicit in content.

Quatrain III

night out dancing with a boy

in a city of Illinois;

grind against him, grab his dick;

drink so much that we'll be sick

Quatrain VI

give him pet-names, suck him off,

care for him if he has a cough,

make him laugh, go out to dine;

these are things for which I pine 

Quatrain VIII

hold my hand, pull me right through the crowd;

music's up, we have to shout so loud;

others notice that we’re together,

only tacos could make this better

Quatrain IX

buy me sushi, link me porn,

give me a shirt that you have worn,

bare your body, share your bed,

and you'll never leave my head