What I am Watching: Zachary Quinto On “What’s Happening Live!”

Looking forward to the new Star Trek movie, Into Darkness coming out on Thursday May 16 nationwide.   When asked by What’s Happening Live!  host, Andy Cohen, if he had ever been asked to roll-play Spock in the bedroom, Mr Quinto answered, no.  However, I have it on good authority that he has not only roll-played Spock in the bedroom  but has learned various Vulcan love-making techniques during his tenure as Spock.  Just imagine, mind-melding during orgasm!  See you at the movies on Thursday!

Watch the video here

What I’m Looking At: Antony Crossfield’s ‘Foreign Body’ Series

Antony Crossfield, Photographer, Creates ‘Foreign Body’ Series With Nude Human Hybrids (PHOTOS)(NSFW).

I stumbled upon this on Huffington Post today. Brings new meaning to the phrase “two hearts beating as one”.

What I’m Watching: Love is All You Need?

Bullying in an alternate universe, where heterosexuality is a sin.

While somewhat heavy-handed, Love is All You Need? gets the message through loud and clear. And I think sometimes that is the only way to get the message out there. Bullying is wrong. Period. It doesn’t matter who is doing the bullying and who is being bullied.

Thankfully, it seems to me that videos like this one, and the “It Gets Better” campaign are working. On You-Tube, Love is All You Need? has had over a million views. And of those who liked or disliked the video, there have been over 22,000 thumbs up as opposed to just over 400 thumbs down.

Hopefully, there will come a time in the future when videos like this become odd historical artifacts, but until that time, the word has to get out there.

What You Have to See: Buyer and Cellar

Lucky Ross.  I spent last night with Michael Urie, of Ugly Betty fame, and the spirit of universal gay icon, Barbra Streisand!  And I could not think of a better way of spending my time.

No, I didn’t fly out to the West Coast for a cozy dinner party at Barbra’s Malibu Compound, although I would have jumped at the chance.  Hell, I would have given my right testicle.  Instead I saw Jonathan Tolin’s Buyer and Cellar, currently playing at the Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater on Waverly Place, here in NYC.  And it was the next best thing to being there.

Urie, who I’m sure many of you recall from his Ugly Betty days, nails the part of Alex, an out-of-work West Coast actor who takes a job in Barbra’s private mall in the basement of her Malibu Compound barn.  Alas, Streisand was present at the Rattlestick only as channeled through Urie, but she nailed her part as well.  She was deliciously present as only Streisand can be: one part ugly little girl who wants only to be called pretty, one part obsessive collector, one part mother and wife, one part musical genius, and one part that is exclusively her own. (The Streisand that cannot be named.)

The show’s ninety minutes sped by. Urie was on fire, Streisand was Streisand, and Ross was in a state of bliss.

If you happen to be in NY, Buyer and Cellar has just been extended through May 12th.

What I’m Looking Forward To: Kill Your Darlings

Kill Your Darlings, a new film starring Daniel Radcliffe as beat poet, Allen Ginsberg.  Got great press at Sundance.  An interesting cast including Michael C Hall, Elizabeth Olsen, Ben Foster and John Cullum.  Radcliffe did some interviews earlier this year about the gay sex scenes in the film.  All I can say is that I’m looking forward to them.  Film does not open until October.

Where I’ve Been Pinning: Pinterest

In conjunction with the preparation of the first “Men of Waverly Court” romance Between Artist and Model, I have been developing several Men of Waverly Court pages on Pinterest, an on-line pinboard that functions much like a cyber version of the old-fashioned bulletin board.

For those of you who are not familiar, Pinterest allows any registered user to pin photos and quotes covering a wide range of subjects, onto specialized bulletin boards.  Each board has a manager, who may, if they choose, invite others to pin to their board. A search engine allows you to find boards and photos.  Interested in tiny houses?  There’s board for you at Pinterest. Or how about fashion in 1956? You may not find a board specifically geared to that subject, but you will find dozens of photos from other boards that cover everything you would want to know about men’s and women’s clothing styles in the 50s.

I’ve created several boards and am in the process of developing more.

A Century of Men is my general board. You’ll find a variety of photos there, mostly covering gay life in New York City during the Twentieth Century with occasional forays into other subjects.

Between Artist and Model focuses on  1907, the year in which the first “Men of Waverly Court” romance, is set.  You’ll find photos of New York City landmarks like Time Square and the Plaza Hotel, fashion, art, and a variety of advertisements and contemporaneous headlines that will help you get into the mood to journey back to 1907!

I’ve also set up a board for A Brief Separation, the second “Men of Waverly Court” romance. While A Brief Separation will not be available until November 2013, I’m certain you will find the year 1918 and America’s entry into The Great War, as fascinating as I did.  This will be especially true for Downton Abbey fans who will recall how The Great War impacted and interrupted lives in Northern England.

Bear in mind that these boards are always changing as I locate new items of interest. I guess that’s why they call it Pinterest.

As future Waverly Court Romances are published, you can expect further boards, each covering a different time, a different world, and two different men!

If you are looking for a sexier, racier version of Pinterest, look for Ross on Tumblr, where nudity and male passion are encouraged.

Ross

What I’ve Been Up To: RossLandauer.com

I’m excited to introduce RossLandauer.com, where you will find information and news about everything Ross!  Included on the site are an About Page, Links to my pages on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other websites, information about all twelve of the “The Men of Waverly Court” books, and the first chapter of a free serialized male romance I’m writing, called Jazz.  

Between Artist and Model, the first in the “Men of Waverly Court” series is scheduled for publication in Late June 2013, but if you would like to get a sneak peek, the first chapter is also to be found on the site!

Be sure to bookmark RossLandauer.com, and check back there often.  

Pervasive Games in Films Part II: The Last of Sheila

Reblogged from Pervasive Games: Theory and Design:

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Pervasive games are a text book example of life imitating art. Or games imitating art. There is a special relationship between pervasive games and films: often a cool activity has been depicted in a film and later viewers have decided to recreate this activity (or a non-lethal version of it) in real life. During the process of writing Pervasive Games…

Read more… 703 more words

Watched The Last of Sheila last weekend. Enjoyed, but felt it was miscategorized as an "essential gay film". That is, unless Bette Midler singing "Friends" over the closing credits, qualifies the film as essentially gay. I thought this blog post concerning Pervasive Games in Film was much more interesting than my take on The Last of Sheila, so I reblogged it here for your general amusement.

What I’m Watching: Anti Defamation League Video

A World Where Milk And Shepard Still Live | Advocate.com.  Enough Said.

What I’m Watching: 50 Essential Gay Films | Out Magazine

Ran across this quirky list of  50 Essential Gay Films on Out.com and thought it was worth a mention.  I’ve seen several of the films before, some of them, years ago like The Last of Sheila, or The Eyes of Laura Mars, or The Hunger.  Others I’d heard of but never seen, like Strangers on a Train or X,Y and Zee.  Still others were completely new to me, like Pink Narcissus or Happy Together.  Finally, several were classic favorites, like Cabaret and Spartacus (the original, not the cable series–although I have my eye on that feast of man-flesh as well) Many of these films are gold mines of Gay History, not only in providing hours of great entertainment and escape, but also in opening up our eyes to perspectives quite different from our own.  The first on my list is The Last of Sheila (1973).  It’s been forty years since I’ve seen it, but I do remember it fondly.  I wonder how it will hold up?