..... A Little Flesh

I gave myself a midnight screening of 'Andy Warhol's Flesh' over the weekend - my sister had sent me a box set of his films recently and having watched most of them between the ages of 17 and 19, I thought it was about time I had another look.

When I watched this film all those years ago, I remember being most struck by Joe D'Allesandro's complete beauty; but found the film a little tedious in pace. Perhaps that had something to do with age? I remember fast forwarding the VHS tape (remember those??) through much of it, but this time I watched the film in its entirety with avid interest.

On second viewing, I was enthralled. What a beautiful film! I hadn't noticed how very gorgeous the cinematography was - the light is gorgeous, the shots are beautiful (especially the sequence with Joe and the baby) and also, the film is absolutely hilarious!

My most favourite scene would have to be where Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis are sitting chatting to Joe as one of his 'girlfriends' does a manic 'tittie' dance behind them - now I know how John Waters was influenced by Warhol's films! Brilliant!

And... Joe D'Allessandro still looks as beautiful as ever.

The Very Cool Set.

So, I was invited to be my Other Best Friend's plus 1 (who says I can't have two best friends?!) last night at a chi-chi photography exhibition opening in a bargehouse behind the OXO tower.

The exhibition was for Jude Edginton, who has just won "Picture Editor's Magazine Photographer of the Year" and yes, the photos were really quite good.

Upstairs on the second floor of the bargehouse was the bar area.

Free champagne, burlesque door bitch, fantastic venue, great DJs - what more could you ask for, I hear you say? The thing is, that at events like this, it never really seems to go anywhere.

Invites are sent out to all these people in 'the industry' and then they all converge in their little cliques and stand talking to one other. No-one talks to anyone they don't know (why would you do that?!); anyone acting remotely interesting (like the guy who started dancing to PJ Harvey's "Down by the Water" in a rythmic yet staccato fashion very early in the evening) gets stared at, and not in a good way; the singles scout avidly for potential partners (but definitely don't speak to anyone they think looks interesting).

So after an hour spent in the very cool bar at the very cool exhibition in the very cool bargehouse, OBF (Other Best Friend) and I left. And went down by the river to drink a couple of pints. So cool.

I want one.

Date of the Blind.

So, I should have known when he said 'Let's meet in the Yard' that it was never going to work.

I decided to be very brave last night and go on a blind date. What little I knew about the guy seemed decent enough - works in the media (I've always been attracted to creatives), lover of music (an imperative for me) and over the phone, seemed to have a decent wit.

So I head to the Yard (bleugh!) and after realising that the photo I had seen of him was obviously 4 years old, began to chat. (I mean, image isn't *everything*, surely...)

But when I say 'chat' - it wasn't really a dialogue. In fact, I don't think I said that much at all during the 2 hours we were together. He just spoke about himself. Apart from the obligatory "what is it you do for work again?", to which my answer was treated with yet another diatribe about how fantastic his job was.

Although I could write a veritable essay about pearler moments of the evening, here's just a taster:

Date: Do you find it difficult being Australian?
Ziggy: Er... sorry?
Date: Well, surely you don't like it?
Ziggy: Fuck you! (said with a smile in my broadest Aussie accent while taking another slurp of my pint)

The end of the evening was possibly the finest moment though, at around 10.30am... Date obviously felt it appropriate to let me know that even though I was Australian (evidently a lower life form) that he found me attractive. He did this by grabbing my arse and saying "loving your look, man".

Wanker.

Think I'll just stay at home in future and watch re-runs of Prisoner Cell Block H.

Changing Room Etiquette

I went to the gym last night (yes, I know... I don't know why either).

Now, as a gay man, perhaps I am more aware than most of the issues in a male change room (ie. get showered, dressed as quickly as possible while not looking anywhere but the floor and leaving) - but it appears that this is not the case for others.

Last night, there were three completely inappropriate change room moments, in my humble opinion:

Inappropriate moment #1: Hirsute muscle man staring at himself naked in the full length mirror for at least 5 minutes, all the while flexing his freshly pumped muscles. In addition, numerous side glances to see if anyone was watching him. Surely Freud would have a thing or two to say?

Inappropriate moment #2: Another hirsute man changing his band-aid on... his right buttock, and gasping with pain when several hairs (on aforementioned buttock) got pulled out. Again, the words time/place spring to mind.

Inappropriate moment #3: Several pumped muscle men standing in a naked group, towelling themselves down whilst watching the sport channel with some random sport showing (how would I know which sport, I'm gay!?) and yelling/whooping with joy at some climactic sports scene. (I know, I know... if it wasn't for the sport this could almost be a scene from a gay porn film).

Men showering together
Originally uploaded by dcwooten.

Perhaps I'm just a prude?

Irritating gays.

Today's irritating exchange:

Me: Hi, how are you?
Mincy Queen: Fine, thanks.
Me: Do you work around here?
Mincy Queen: I'm just doing a freelance job in Conde Naste for Harrods.
Me: Oh, sounds great. Did you have a nice weekend?
Mincy Queen: Well I just got back from New York, so I decided to take it easy over the weekend, nesting, that sort of thing.
Me: Oh. (Mincy queen looks down at me with a sort of 'what the hell are you wearing?/you can't really be gay' look)

Why is it that I feel so inadequate when I meet gay men who stare at me with such disdain? I mean, anyone who has to throw in Conde Naste, Harrods and New York in the same dialogue has to be a complete *wanker* but still, I somehow manage to feel small in their presence. Ggggrrrrr.

Fancy a film?

Here's what I've seen recently...

1. Me, You and Everyone We Know

))<>(( "back and forth"

Debut film written and directed by Miranda July - superb! Like a throwback to the indie films of the early 90s! Really enjoyed this film; quirky, sexy, funny - I don't get all the bad reviews?! I mean, any movie that makes you laugh that much about shit has to be half decent?!

2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Pains me to say this as I am a HUGE Tim Burton fan, having even enjoyed his lesser liked films, such as "Sleepy Hollow" (although "Planet of the Apes" was not his finest hour - perhaps he should stay away from remakes?!) BUT... this was a huge disappointment for me.

Disappointment #1: Oompa Loompas - I'm sure Deep Roy is a man of considerable talents, but in my opinion, the film fell flat every time he walked on screen. What the hell was Burton trying to do here? There was a rumour before the film was released that he wanted the Oompa Loompas to be completely different than the original, and was toying with the idea of having extra tall people play them - way cooler!

Disappointment #2: Character development of the children - the introduction to each of the kids was super exciting, and then nothing happened with any of them!

Disappointment #3: Johnny Depp's performance (again, very painful for me to say, because Johnny Depp is one of my many husbands) - I can *sort of* see what he was trying to achieve here - but for me at least, it fell flat. So, so disappointing.

3. Last Days

Again, I'm a huge fan of Gus Van Sant, and "Elephant" was one of the finest pieces of cinema I've seen released in recent years. Unfortunately, I think Mr Van Sant got a bit self indulgent with this one. The only way I can possibly describe it is as an exercise in tedium. With beautiful visuals.

4. Howl's Moving Castle

An apt end to my film critiques as; 1. a Japanese film to follow on from my Tokyo post and 2. a BLOODY FANTASTIC FILM.

Having *adored* "Spirited Away", I was hanging out to see Mr Miyazaki's latest offering - and in my opinion, he did not disappoint. The animation is pure joy, the characters are gorgeous and the direction is perfect. I LOVE THIS FILM.