In memory of Rebecca Stratton

Rebecca Stratton wrote two books as a Harlequin Presents author. Writing for the Harlequin Romance imprint, she published 43 novels. She also wrote under the name Lucy Gillen. As an author for Harlequin Romance, Lucy Gillen published 36 novels. She passed away in January 5, 1982.

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/19495313/

In memory of Rebecca Stratton

Rebecca Stratton wrote two books as a Harlequin Presents author. Writing for the Harlequin Romance imprint, she published 43 novels. She also wrote under the name Lucy Gillen. As an author for Harlequin Romance, Lucy Gillen published 36 novels. She passed away in January 5, 1982.

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/19495313/

Shortbus (2006) directed by John Cameron Mitchell

Director: John Cameron Mitchell

Writer (WGA): John Cameron Mitchell (written by)

Release Date: 20 May 2006 (Cannes Film Festival, France)
15 September 2006 (Milwaukee LGBT Film and Video Festival, USA)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Tagline: Voyeurism is Participation

Plot: In his aim to make an honest film about sex, John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) has taken a somewhat documentary approach to Shortbus, a film describing various New Yorkers' sexual pathos. Framed by shots roving a homemade diorama of the city, Shortbus is comprised of vignettes featuring actors who helped craft this story of people's disconnect in sexual endeavors. Jamie (PJ DeBoy) and James (Paul Dawson), a gay couple experiencing a lull in their relationship, visit Sophia (Sook-Yin Lee), a sex therapist whose inability to orgasm results in her clients inviting her to a sex club after which the film is titled. Sophia's husband, Rob (Raphael Barker), is also willing to experiment, so the two independently embark on adventures in self-pleasure. Dominatrix Severin (Lindsay Beamish) plays a crucial role in Sophia and Rob's lives, as her search for real humanity overlaps with their desire for passion. As each character's plot complicates, the viewer sees a similar melancholy bulldozing its way into these seemingly disparate lives. The depression is repeatedly used in comedic scenes, such as when James is asked on a date while still hospitalized for his attempted suicide. Yo La Tengo's score, which includes Animal Collective among others, lends this film a graceful ambience. Unlike porn, Shortbus has a resonance that encourages the viewer to consider one's own sex life as an important aspect of happiness. (Trinie Dalton)

Awards: 2006 Audience Award as Best Dramatic Movie (John Cameron Mitchell), Athens International Film Festival
2007 Chlotrudis Award Nomination as Best Movie
2007 GLAAD Media Award Nomination as Outstanding Film - Limited Release
2006 Gijón International Film Festival Award as Best Art Direction (Jody Asnes) and Best Screenplay (John Cameron Mitchell)
2006 Grand Prix Asturias Nomination as Best Feature (John Cameron Mitchell), Gijón International Film Festival
2007 Glitter Award as Best Actor (Paul Dawson)
2006 Gotham Award Nomination as Best Ensemble Cast
2007 Producers Award to Howard Gertler & Tim Perell, Independent Spirit Awards
2006 International Jury Award Nomination to John Cameron Mitchell, São Paulo International Film Festival
2006 Golden Eye Award as Best New Feature Film (John Cameron Mitchell), Zurich Film Festival

@IMDb
@Amazon: Shortbus (Unrated Edition)
@Netflix
@Wolfe Video 

 

( more pics )

Cast (in credits order)
Sook-Yin Lee ... Sofia
Paul Dawson ... James
Lindsay Beamish ... Severin
PJ DeBoy ... Jamie
Raphael Barker ... Rob
Peter Stickles ... Caleb, the Stalker
Jay Brannan ... Ceth
Alan Mandell ... Tobias, the Mayor
Adam Hardman ... Jesse, the John
Ray Rivas ... Shabbos Goy
( rest of the cast )

James & Jamie

( more pics )

( trailer )

Shortbus (2006) directed by John Cameron Mitchell

Director: John Cameron Mitchell

Writer (WGA): John Cameron Mitchell (written by)

Release Date: 20 May 2006 (Cannes Film Festival, France)
15 September 2006 (Milwaukee LGBT Film and Video Festival, USA)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Tagline: Voyeurism is Participation

Plot: In his aim to make an honest film about sex, John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) has taken a somewhat documentary approach to Shortbus, a film describing various New Yorkers' sexual pathos. Framed by shots roving a homemade diorama of the city, Shortbus is comprised of vignettes featuring actors who helped craft this story of people's disconnect in sexual endeavors. Jamie (PJ DeBoy) and James (Paul Dawson), a gay couple experiencing a lull in their relationship, visit Sophia (Sook-Yin Lee), a sex therapist whose inability to orgasm results in her clients inviting her to a sex club after which the film is titled. Sophia's husband, Rob (Raphael Barker), is also willing to experiment, so the two independently embark on adventures in self-pleasure. Dominatrix Severin (Lindsay Beamish) plays a crucial role in Sophia and Rob's lives, as her search for real humanity overlaps with their desire for passion. As each character's plot complicates, the viewer sees a similar melancholy bulldozing its way into these seemingly disparate lives. The depression is repeatedly used in comedic scenes, such as when James is asked on a date while still hospitalized for his attempted suicide. Yo La Tengo's score, which includes Animal Collective among others, lends this film a graceful ambience. Unlike porn, Shortbus has a resonance that encourages the viewer to consider one's own sex life as an important aspect of happiness. (Trinie Dalton)

Awards: 2006 Audience Award as Best Dramatic Movie (John Cameron Mitchell), Athens International Film Festival
2007 Chlotrudis Award Nomination as Best Movie
2007 GLAAD Media Award Nomination as Outstanding Film - Limited Release
2006 Gijón International Film Festival Award as Best Art Direction (Jody Asnes) and Best Screenplay (John Cameron Mitchell)
2006 Grand Prix Asturias Nomination as Best Feature (John Cameron Mitchell), Gijón International Film Festival
2007 Glitter Award as Best Actor (Paul Dawson)
2006 Gotham Award Nomination as Best Ensemble Cast
2007 Producers Award to Howard Gertler & Tim Perell, Independent Spirit Awards
2006 International Jury Award Nomination to John Cameron Mitchell, São Paulo International Film Festival
2006 Golden Eye Award as Best New Feature Film (John Cameron Mitchell), Zurich Film Festival

@IMDb
@Amazon: Shortbus (Unrated Edition)
@Netflix
@Wolfe Video 

 

( more pics )

Cast (in credits order)
Sook-Yin Lee ... Sofia
Paul Dawson ... James
Lindsay Beamish ... Severin
PJ DeBoy ... Jamie
Raphael Barker ... Rob
Peter Stickles ... Caleb, the Stalker
Jay Brannan ... Ceth
Alan Mandell ... Tobias, the Mayor
Adam Hardman ... Jesse, the John
Ray Rivas ... Shabbos Goy
( rest of the cast )

James & Jamie

( more pics )

( trailer )

Sammy's Place (Between Friends 2) by Sean Michael

As expected the second story (but the last to be released) on the Between Friends story is for now my favorite. It's the story of Sammy, the tiny and very flamboyant college roommate of Jason. Sammy is a little pretty thing who apparently everyone should love and instead he always falls in love for the wrong guy. Maybe the problem is that Sammy falls in love and the other guy only sees a way to have an housekeeper for free. Sammy wants so much a family that he always tries so hard to build a beautiful nest for the man he loves; he cooks, he works hard, he is the perfect lover; he is so focused in loving that he forgets to love himself.

When Jason realizes that one more man is treating very bad his best friend, he asks help to his boyfriend Harry (since, let me say, Jason is not exactly the man who can be a knight in shining armor...). And with Harry this time arrives also Peter, a buddy friend of the good cop. But Peter is not a saint as Harry, he is a leather man in disguise: an antique dealer by day, he is almost a control freak by night. But what can be a fault for someone else, it's exactly what Sammy needs in his life. Sammy, now Samuel only for Peter, learns little by little the lesson: for being happy he hasn't to disappear in the love for his man, he has to blossom and shine. And Peter is the right man to do that since he fullfil every Samuel's desire inside their home, and can give a dream work to Samuel by day.

In the previous book there was the novelty, at least for a Sean Michael's book, of the sex that was delayed on the novel; here instead Peter and Samuel let it go at the very first night, and they continue for all the book. But again the sex is not the only reason for the novel, there is a story, and a very good character's development in Samuel. Samuel is all I was expecting and maybe something more. Peter is a very nice character, gentle and caring; I believe that the author didn't give him an actual age, but I have the feeling that he is older than Samuel: he has the behavior of a man who knows exactly what he wants for his life and has the maturity to reach for it. I like the fact that he didn't force Samuel to take a decision, but he gently maneuvers him toward the right direction.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1670

Amazon: Between Friends: Sammy's Place

Series: Between Friends
1) When Harry Met Jason: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/476619.html
2) Sammy's Place

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Pluto

Sammy's Place (Between Friends 2) by Sean Michael

As expected the second story (but the last to be released) on the Between Friends story is for now my favorite. It's the story of Sammy, the tiny and very flamboyant college roommate of Jason. Sammy is a little pretty thing who apparently everyone should love and instead he always falls in love for the wrong guy. Maybe the problem is that Sammy falls in love and the other guy only sees a way to have an housekeeper for free. Sammy wants so much a family that he always tries so hard to build a beautiful nest for the man he loves; he cooks, he works hard, he is the perfect lover; he is so focused in loving that he forgets to love himself.

When Jason realizes that one more man is treating very bad his best friend, he asks help to his boyfriend Harry (since, let me say, Jason is not exactly the man who can be a knight in shining armor...). And with Harry this time arrives also Peter, a buddy friend of the good cop. But Peter is not a saint as Harry, he is a leather man in disguise: an antique dealer by day, he is almost a control freak by night. But what can be a fault for someone else, it's exactly what Sammy needs in his life. Sammy, now Samuel only for Peter, learns little by little the lesson: for being happy he hasn't to disappear in the love for his man, he has to blossom and shine. And Peter is the right man to do that since he fullfil every Samuel's desire inside their home, and can give a dream work to Samuel by day.

In the previous book there was the novelty, at least for a Sean Michael's book, of the sex that was delayed on the novel; here instead Peter and Samuel let it go at the very first night, and they continue for all the book. But again the sex is not the only reason for the novel, there is a story, and a very good character's development in Samuel. Samuel is all I was expecting and maybe something more. Peter is a very nice character, gentle and caring; I believe that the author didn't give him an actual age, but I have the feeling that he is older than Samuel: he has the behavior of a man who knows exactly what he wants for his life and has the maturity to reach for it. I like the fact that he didn't force Samuel to take a decision, but he gently maneuvers him toward the right direction.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1670

Amazon: Between Friends: Sammy's Place

Series: Between Friends
1) When Harry Met Jason: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/476619.html
2) Sammy's Place

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Pluto

Niccolò Agliardi: Perfetti

Niccolò Agliardi is an Italian song writer that in the past wrote for Eros Ramazzotti and Laura Pausini (who knows a bit of Italian music market know that they are two among out most famous pop artist). Anyway he wrote a very tender song for an Italian music contest in February, but he didn't make to the final. And so now the song is available on YouTube. I like the words, the music is a classic slow song, very tender.

Perfetti

( italian )

Perfects

( english, my humble translation )

Niccolò Agliardi: Perfetti

Niccolò Agliardi is an Italian song writer that in the past wrote for Eros Ramazzotti and Laura Pausini (who knows a bit of Italian music market know that they are two among out most famous pop artist). Anyway he wrote a very tender song for an Italian music contest in February, but he didn't make to the final. And so now the song is available on YouTube. I like the words, the music is a classic slow song, very tender.

Perfetti

( italian )

Perfects

( english, my humble translation )