I keep forgetting to post about this

[trinityvixen]

Pandagon to the rescue!

One of the best things I've ever read over there. Hands down. Why? Because while it affirmed my low opinion of humanity in general, it cheered me to see there are some people who aren't quite so odious as they could be on the subject of homosexuality. The discussion of this NYTimes article they reference is less refreshing than the discussion at Pandagon, but really? Hope. I have a little of it.

The most brilliant response ever to the attempt to peg a person on their sexuality, or to bias how they are marketed to consumers for the same reason? Award goes to Jake Gyllenhaal:

“I can honestly say I’ve never been attracted to a man sexually,” he said, “but I don’t think I’d be afraid of it if it happened.”

I still grit my teeth that the only reason he was asked the question in the first place was because he played a gay man in Brokeback Mountain* (still haven't seen that), but that response is a touch of class I wouldn't have expected from anyone in the movie business, let alone an actor still vulnerable to the capricious whims of fame (as opposed to a starlet comfortably removed from them ::coughcoughLanceBasscoughcough::)




*Interesting footnote? Another actor questioned on his sexuality because of a perceived gay portrayal? Brandon Routh (about his Superman in Superman Returns). His response stinks a litle more of "No! No! Totally straight! I sex up a woman all the time right now." But something I found out (also on Pandagon) is that he played one half of a homosexual couple on an episode of "Cold Case." Combined with Bryan Singer being out (but not too public about it, the distinction of which is why I love that Pandagon thread so dearly), it's no surprise that people leapt to blitz the poor guy on his orientation (smarter people know better, especially as Superman Returns made a stronger case for Supes being hetero than, say, Smallville does).

Comments

[newredshoes]

Bryan Singer is gay? Huh. That adds something new to why he was attracted to the X-Men franchise.

And oh man, go Jake. He's been a favorite of mine for a long time, and that totally just made me love him a little more.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I've heard he's kind of a jerk in real life--a friend had some altercations with him when Jake was at Columbia with us--but from interviews after Moonlight Mile, he seems to have matured a bit, or become a better actor :) I recommend that movie, by the way, if you haven't seen it.

[newredshoes]

I have, in fact! Really astonishing acting from everybody involved -- it made me kind of in awe of Dustin Hoffman.

Proof was filmed on my campus, and I was such a dope that I didn't know who Jake was. I was twenty feet away from Gwenyth Paltrow and Chris Martin being cute and play-boxing with each other, but I saw Jake sauntering down a walkway during filming and was like, "Oh, I guess that's someone famous." Alas alas!

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Heh, none of that for me, yo. Sam Raimi walked right by me while I was waiting at the gates of my school. I think my eyes nearly fell out of my head, I was goggling so hard. I swore I would never wash my eyeballs again.

On the flip side, when they filmed Spider-man, I was closer to Willem Dafoe than anyone ever needs to be, and I was still like fifteen feet away.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Singer is gay but he doesn't talk about it. I only found out when that was the second question in all the interviews he gave around the time Superman Returns came out (the first question being "Uh, so, is Superman gay?")

No opinion on Jake Gyllenhaal for his acting. I saw The Good Girl and thought it was pointless and boring. Donnie Darko was the weirdest piece of shit I've seen of late, and I wasn't a fan. Nothing else he's been in has interested me (Brokeback is the exception, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet).

[newredshoes]

Try October Sky. Not only is that totally where I grew up (not exactly -- Athens is hardly a coal town, but that's what the region outside the university is like), but it's just a good movie. And science triumphs in the end!

I have issue with Jake's past choices of roles, in that for a while there he played nothing but teenage boys who seduce and bed woman two and three times his age. But I have enormous respect for his ability. I still need to see some of his newer stuff, like Jarhead.

It will be a long time before I'm able to handle Brokeback, I think, for a variety of reasons, right now mostly because it sounds so freaking painful.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I wanted to see that one because it sounded good, even aside from the politics. But not like it was fun, so it made it hard to muster up effort to go see it.

October Sky sounds familiar. May check it out.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

I liked October Sky until I read the book, Rocket Boys and realized the movie was kind of a lame Hollywoodized adaptation.

I thought Jarhead was great, but I agree that politics may interfere with your enjoyment. Personally I could care less about politics so I just thought it was a compelling film. Maybe this time I won't read the book.

Also, from www.thedigitalbits.com...

"Also, and this is cool news if you're a Battlestar Galactica fan, Best Buy stores are going to be offering a retail exclusive bonus disc with the forthcoming DVD release of Season 2.5 (due 9/19). The disc will include the hour-long Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far recap special, which will be seen on NBC this Sunday night (on the West Coast, after NFL Pre-Season Football), and about a month later on Sci-Fi, HDNet and other venues (click here for dates and times)."