Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Lemonade Stand Reviews by Michael Murray
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Color Him Gay by Victor J. Banis
Color Him Gay: The Further Adventures of The Man from C.A.M.P. by Victor J. BanisMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Better than the first book in the series, The Man From C.A.M.P., but still not quite camp enough for me.
These books, there's lots of fun elements but at times they take themselves too seriously. I would like to see the fun and the camp amped up.
One line: "Even in a city as liberal as San Francisco, it was still illegal for two men to dance together." This really got me. I can't begin to imagine my coming out and late teens and early twenties at this time. So it's nice that these stories of a gay secret agent who fights against the homophobes were written and published pre-Stonewall.
I liked the story more, a blackmail scandal, and the book was more fun the the previous one in the series, which focused too much on explosions, following people with tracking devices so out of date I don't even understand them, and fist-fights. This one had more sex, more camp, more double agents and more setting, taking place in San Francisco in the mid-1960's.
There was a couple of preaching parts about tolerance for homsexuals at the beginning which I didn't like and overall the tone is still a little too serious.
View all my reviews
Friday, September 14, 2012
Madonna Plays Toronto: Oh, the Humanity
There has always been something a little off about Madonna.
I get the impression when she was less famous and more reigned in, those were the times she really shone. I think the height of her fame was the Like a Prayer era, or even just after, with Blond Ambition or Vogue. But the video for Like a Prayer is a great starting point for this discussion. No one wanted to see Madonna dancing with burning crosses, but they looked, it was a spectacle, the song was great, and it all became part of the show. Despite her supposed protests, the spectacle portion of her act has increased with time and actually now takes over the show, and as in Like a Prayer, it's still a spectacle no one wants to see.
Roseanne has a similar career path, where as she got more famous, she got more control, but she also lost touch with reality and ruined her show. Madonna has crossed that line herself, and there's really no going back from that point.
Last night's show at the ACC, in support or her new album, MDNA, was a train wreck. Elton John has been talking a lot of crap about Madonna lately and she proved him right last night.
MDNA is Madonna's second worst album, and a great example of what I've been saying. When a 55 year old mother of four decides to name her album after a recreational drug, where is someone in her life telling her no? When, with her worst album, American Life, Madge decides to protest the Iraqi war by doing a rap about yoga (!?!?!?), someone needs to smack her in the face and say "Look, bitch! You're ruining your career!"
A smack in the face was sorrowly missing last night.
The 8 pm show opened 2 hours and 20 minutes late with a group of monks swinging a large lantern over the crowd while chanting for ten minutes.
Just let that sink in a minute.
Madge finally shows up in a leather cat suit with a large firearm and sings some song from her new album that no one in the whole place knows. She shoots her fake gun at everyone with blood splattering on the screen for 10 minutes, switching guns as she goes.
This ends with her heading back to a sleazy motel and sitting on a bed drinking a bottle of whiskey while shooting more people as they try to enter her room and singing "My love's a revolver - Do you want to get happy?" which makes no sense.
Why she would think that anyone would want to see this is beyond me. No one did. It was a train wreck. She has completely lost touch with reality.
Moving on thankfully from there, we get Madonna in a cheerleader outfit. Picture an evening at grandmother's house where she starts talking about her glory days and how she used to be a cheerleader in high school. Everyone just keeps their mouth shut and humours the old broad - for a while. Until she says "Here, let me get in to my costume and do one of my old routines!" This is when everyone comes to life and says thing like "No, gramma" or "Stop, gramma" or "Oh, the humanity!"
This is what the crowd was chanting last night.
Madge sang several songs from her new terrible album, dropping very occasionally into hits like "Holiday" which she played for only 30 seconds with a whole new beat and missing most of the words.
The highlight for me was seeing her son Rocco looking very grown up.
At about the hour mark she launched into most of the song Vogue while wearing something slightly resembling a pointed bra. Even though she ruined the ending by cutting it off too quick, this was the only one of the five hits she sang last night which even resembled the original and I knew that was the best it was going to get. We left about 11:30, vowing never to return. As we were leaving we heard her singing a song about visiting the candy store, as "sugar is sweet". A candy store. A 55 year old woman. Yikes.
Many in the stands last night were women, about 40, wanting a night to escape their day and step back in time for a minute to their youth. They weren't getting that.
Many on the floor last night were gay men who came to see their idol be the empowering feminist singing her disco songs. They weren't getting that.
What everyone got was a tired woman looking older than her years, sitting on a bed and drinking Whiskey straight from the bottle while shooting people in the head and splattering their blood.
Oh, the humanity.
The end of an era.
I get the impression when she was less famous and more reigned in, those were the times she really shone. I think the height of her fame was the Like a Prayer era, or even just after, with Blond Ambition or Vogue. But the video for Like a Prayer is a great starting point for this discussion. No one wanted to see Madonna dancing with burning crosses, but they looked, it was a spectacle, the song was great, and it all became part of the show. Despite her supposed protests, the spectacle portion of her act has increased with time and actually now takes over the show, and as in Like a Prayer, it's still a spectacle no one wants to see.
Roseanne has a similar career path, where as she got more famous, she got more control, but she also lost touch with reality and ruined her show. Madonna has crossed that line herself, and there's really no going back from that point.
Last night's show at the ACC, in support or her new album, MDNA, was a train wreck. Elton John has been talking a lot of crap about Madonna lately and she proved him right last night.
MDNA is Madonna's second worst album, and a great example of what I've been saying. When a 55 year old mother of four decides to name her album after a recreational drug, where is someone in her life telling her no? When, with her worst album, American Life, Madge decides to protest the Iraqi war by doing a rap about yoga (!?!?!?), someone needs to smack her in the face and say "Look, bitch! You're ruining your career!"
A smack in the face was sorrowly missing last night.
The 8 pm show opened 2 hours and 20 minutes late with a group of monks swinging a large lantern over the crowd while chanting for ten minutes.
Just let that sink in a minute.
Madge finally shows up in a leather cat suit with a large firearm and sings some song from her new album that no one in the whole place knows. She shoots her fake gun at everyone with blood splattering on the screen for 10 minutes, switching guns as she goes.
This ends with her heading back to a sleazy motel and sitting on a bed drinking a bottle of whiskey while shooting more people as they try to enter her room and singing "My love's a revolver - Do you want to get happy?" which makes no sense.
Why she would think that anyone would want to see this is beyond me. No one did. It was a train wreck. She has completely lost touch with reality.
Moving on thankfully from there, we get Madonna in a cheerleader outfit. Picture an evening at grandmother's house where she starts talking about her glory days and how she used to be a cheerleader in high school. Everyone just keeps their mouth shut and humours the old broad - for a while. Until she says "Here, let me get in to my costume and do one of my old routines!" This is when everyone comes to life and says thing like "No, gramma" or "Stop, gramma" or "Oh, the humanity!"
The highlight for me was seeing her son Rocco looking very grown up.
Many in the stands last night were women, about 40, wanting a night to escape their day and step back in time for a minute to their youth. They weren't getting that.
Many on the floor last night were gay men who came to see their idol be the empowering feminist singing her disco songs. They weren't getting that.
What everyone got was a tired woman looking older than her years, sitting on a bed and drinking Whiskey straight from the bottle while shooting people in the head and splattering their blood.
Oh, the humanity.
The end of an era.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Letter to the Editor: Fab magazine
Re: Bitchy letter from John Samuels
I love Kids on TV. They're my favourite band. I think it's so cool that you can go to a concert and actually talk to the band afterwards, it's like getting to meet rock stars. I have a real appreciation for local musicians and artists and writers, they're telling my story and we share similar experiences. Thank you for promoting them, they're the coolest band on earth!
As for the John Samels letter, Mary, take a pill. I am tired of people saying "I wouldn't touch" your magazine, and then talking about the last issue they read.
For this bar magazine, in between the ads for porn and laser hair removal, he wants to see "an article that discusses possibilities for all marganilized people to come together." Perhaps this would be better left to Xtra, which covers this topic every issue. One does not write to Modern Bride magazine asking why they are so few articles for seniors.
Love your magazine, love the local coverage that really makes a difference to my life, love the pictures and the sense of fun. Keep it up.
Adam Dunn, Toronto
I love Kids on TV. They're my favourite band. I think it's so cool that you can go to a concert and actually talk to the band afterwards, it's like getting to meet rock stars. I have a real appreciation for local musicians and artists and writers, they're telling my story and we share similar experiences. Thank you for promoting them, they're the coolest band on earth!
As for the John Samels letter, Mary, take a pill. I am tired of people saying "I wouldn't touch" your magazine, and then talking about the last issue they read.
For this bar magazine, in between the ads for porn and laser hair removal, he wants to see "an article that discusses possibilities for all marganilized people to come together." Perhaps this would be better left to Xtra, which covers this topic every issue. One does not write to Modern Bride magazine asking why they are so few articles for seniors.
Love your magazine, love the local coverage that really makes a difference to my life, love the pictures and the sense of fun. Keep it up.
Adam Dunn, Toronto
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Signed: The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst
I met Dirk Hayhurst at the Jays shop in Sears in the Eaton Centre in Toronto a couple of years ago. He was recently signed to the Blue Jays as a relief pitcher brought up from the minors.
I had read a few internet articles he had written and they all were hilarious and a great insight into modern baseball life so I bought this book and he signed it. Haven't had a chance to read it yet.
I had read a few internet articles he had written and they all were hilarious and a great insight into modern baseball life so I bought this book and he signed it. Haven't had a chance to read it yet.
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