Reading

A Week in the Life [+ The Normal Heart]

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The_Normal_Heart_PosterI came home Tuesday to a new edition of Flow on the door mat as well as next season’s theater catalog. After the first run through, I was on 9 shows I wanted to see.

My Uncle’s birthday was Wednesday so went there in the afternoon.

BphOiMBIUAAKrBFThen Thursday I had planned to go see The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared after work, but it rained so much I decided against it. Instead I went to the Bruna at the train station and bought books (including The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman). Once home, I watched The Normal Heart (I had recorded it when it premiered on HBO Sunday).

It’s a movie, after the play of the same name, about the beginning of the AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 80’s. Main character is the, gay, writer Ned Weeks. As more and more people around him get ‘gay cancer’ and die from it, he notices that mainstream medicine and the government choose to look the other way. He and his friends form Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an advocacy group to raise awareness and money and help those affected and afflicted by the disease. Ned favours a more aggressive, vocal approach which conflicts with the more diplomatic way the rest of his friends choose. Meanwhile, in his personal life, he falls in love with journalist Felix. The two start a relationship, but then Felix gets AIDS as well.

It is a difficult movie to watch. It is raw and deep and open, quite literally like a festering wound. It is beautiful, intensely fragile and strong at the same time. Watching it left me devastated and in pieces. I will be watching it again, and I will definitely be buying the blu ray when it’s released. And I only buy blu rays of movies I really, really, love.

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Saturday: Lounging on the bed with Milo 🙂

The Normal Heart stars Mark Ruffalo as Ned, Matt Bomer as Felix and has, among other, Jim Parsons, Julia Roberts, Jonathan Groff and Alfred Molina in it.

Friday I went to the cinema with Kim to see Maleficent. I liked the movie. The visuals were very pretty, and the back story they gave for Maleficent was nice. The acting was okay to good. Angelina Jolie was good, as was the guy playing her lackey. But the dude playing the king sported the most awful fake Scottish accent. And later on, in a scene at his castle, all of a sudden mid-scene half the men there acquired the same horrible accent… And the ending felt rather rushed.

Back home, I went through the the theater catalog again. Got it down to 7… But am talking with Mom about going to see War Horse in January…

Saturday I played a lot of Warcraft, and I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s a lovely, lovely book. It tells the story of a little boy who meets the people who live at the end of the lane, the Hempstocks. And there is something odd about this family. There are no men, and they have an ocean in the garden. And then an old evil manages to enter this world, and he needs the Hempstocks to survive. It has magic and supernatural stuff and all those things you find under the veneer of modern day life (well, modern day sixties life). It is definitely a recommended read.

Also,  the new birthday calendar I ordered to hang in the downstairs toilet came. Unfortunately packed, but very, very, pretty 🙂

 

Around the Internet IV

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L. Weingarten has a photography series called “Series of Questions“. They’re photos of gender-variant/gender non-conforming people posing with questions they’ve been asked. Questions that are often intrusive, accusing or otherwise meant to make the person justify themselves to others.

The mission statement says:

This ongoing body of work explores the power dynamics inherent in the questions asked of transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and gender-variant people.

Many documentary photographic projects that deal with trans issues exploit the genders of their subjects, pointing to an “otherness” or inappropriately exoticizing their bodies. A Series of Questions seeks instead to make visible the transphobia and gender-baiting that can become part of everyday interactions and lives, forming a fuller picture of the various lived experiences. In so doing, this work contrasts with the dehumanizing approaches that predominate the images made of transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and gender-variant people, which often focus solely on their gender or trans status, or use them to further a specific point about social construction and gender.

The subjects hold signs depicting questions that each has had posed to them personally— some by strangers, others by loved ones, friends, or colleagues. Presented on white wooden boards, the questions are turned on the viewer, shifting the dynamics under which they were originally asked, and prompting the viewer to cast a reflective, self-critical eye upon themself, revealing how invasive this frame of reference can be.

 

 

The Genderbread Person. An infographic that tries (and does a damn good job) to explain all the variety in gender identity, gender expression, biological sex and sexual attraction. Should be required teaching in sex ed and related courses. Hell, should be required reading for everyone.

 

 

 

The Strangers. A very creepy short horror/suspense story about Strangers and the subway. I couldn’t stop reading once I started.

Tanah Lot, Bali

Ten amazing real-world locations that seem to come straight from a fantasy (right, Tanah Lot, Bali).

Cards Against Humanity, a party card game for horrible people. Everyone has a number of cards, and one player begins by playing a black card with a question. The others answer the question with one of their cards (blind). They get then shuffled and are read out loud by the starting player who picks a favourite. The player who played that card gets a point. Then the next player plays a question card and so on. The questions and answers are not suitable for children. The game itself is sold out, but can be downloaded in pdf format to print yourself.

 

Ending on a lighter note: 50 amazingly achievable things to do before you die 🙂