Taking Woodstock (2009) directed by Ang Lee

Director: Ang Lee

Writers (WGA): James Schamus (screenplay)
Elliot Tiber (book)
Tom Monte (book)

Release Date: 11 June 2009 (Biografilm Festival, Italy)
28 August 2009 (USA)

Genre: Comedy, Music

Tagline: "A Generation Began In His Backyard."

Plot: A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.

A generation began in his backyard. From Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), comes Taking Woodstock, a new comedy inspired by the true story of Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) and his family, who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the famed Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the happening that it was.

Its 1969, and Elliot Tiber, a down-on-his-luck interior designer in Greenwich Village, New York, has to move back upstate to help his parents run their dilapidated Catskills motel, The El Monaco. The banks about to foreclose; his father wants to burn the place down, but hasnt paid the insurance; and Elliot is still figuring how to come out to his parents.

When Elliot hears that a neighboring town has pulled the permit on a hippie music festival, he calls the producers, thinking he could drum up some much-needed business for the motel. Three weeks later, half a million people are on their way to his neighbors farm in White Lake, NY, and Elliot finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.

Awards: 2009 Golden Palm Nomination to Ang Lee, Cannes Film Festival
2010 GLAAD Media Award Nomination as Outstanding Film - Wide Release
2009 World Soundtrack Award Nomination as Film Composer of the Year to Danny Elfman (Also for Milk (2008) and Notorious (2009))

@IMDb
@Amazon: Taking Woodstock
@Netflix



( more pics )

Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification
Demetri Martin ... Elliot Tiber
Darren Pettie ... Paul
Liev Schreiber ... Vilma
Jonathan Groff ... Michael Lang
Henry Goodman ... Jake Teichberg
Edward Hibbert ... British Gentleman
Imelda Staunton ... Sonia Teichberg
Emile Hirsch ... Billy
Paul Dano ... VW Guy
Kelli Garner ... VW Girl
( rest of the cast )

       
Elliot & Wilma

( more pics )

Taking Woodstock (2009) directed by Ang Lee

Director: Ang Lee

Writers (WGA): James Schamus (screenplay)
Elliot Tiber (book)
Tom Monte (book)

Release Date: 11 June 2009 (Biografilm Festival, Italy)
28 August 2009 (USA)

Genre: Comedy, Music

Tagline: "A Generation Began In His Backyard."

Plot: A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.

A generation began in his backyard. From Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), comes Taking Woodstock, a new comedy inspired by the true story of Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) and his family, who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the famed Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the happening that it was.

Its 1969, and Elliot Tiber, a down-on-his-luck interior designer in Greenwich Village, New York, has to move back upstate to help his parents run their dilapidated Catskills motel, The El Monaco. The banks about to foreclose; his father wants to burn the place down, but hasnt paid the insurance; and Elliot is still figuring how to come out to his parents.

When Elliot hears that a neighboring town has pulled the permit on a hippie music festival, he calls the producers, thinking he could drum up some much-needed business for the motel. Three weeks later, half a million people are on their way to his neighbors farm in White Lake, NY, and Elliot finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.

Awards: 2009 Golden Palm Nomination to Ang Lee, Cannes Film Festival
2010 GLAAD Media Award Nomination as Outstanding Film - Wide Release
2009 World Soundtrack Award Nomination as Film Composer of the Year to Danny Elfman (Also for Milk (2008) and Notorious (2009))

@IMDb
@Amazon: Taking Woodstock
@Netflix



( more pics )

Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification
Demetri Martin ... Elliot Tiber
Darren Pettie ... Paul
Liev Schreiber ... Vilma
Jonathan Groff ... Michael Lang
Henry Goodman ... Jake Teichberg
Edward Hibbert ... British Gentleman
Imelda Staunton ... Sonia Teichberg
Emile Hirsch ... Billy
Paul Dano ... VW Guy
Kelli Garner ... VW Girl
( rest of the cast )

       
Elliot & Wilma

( more pics )

Book Buzz: Jan 2010

Well, I didn't read this before, and enough to say that I'm deeply honored: the Rainbow Awards were included in the Book Buzz for January in the new Lambda Literary Website.

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/datastream/book-buzz/01/01/book-buzz-jan-2010/

Here what they said:

"Two books shared first place for Best Overall Gay Novel in the 2009 Rainbow Awards competition, founded last year “to celebrate the best in LGBT writing”: Out of Position, by Kyell Gold (Sofawolf Press), and Whistling in the Dark, by Tamara Allen (Lethe Press). More than twenty publishers participated. To view the finalists and winners in all categories, click here.

One of the Rainbow winners was Jere’ M. Fishback’s Josef Jaeger (Prizm), a young adult novel that had previously won a Top Choice Award from Flamingnet Reviews."

And not only that, we (as me and the Rainbow Awards contributors) were the second news, after the article on the Top 100 Out Celebrities, and for an Award that is only 1 years old and hold by a journal that is only 3 years old, I think it's a great achievement, something that gives me strength to do it again next year.

BTW, when I decided to host the Rainbow Awards, my idea was to give space to LGBT books that usually have not in normal awards, like ebooks or small print publishers. It was also to distract people from the polemic on the "author gender", but it was not an award against another one, and I think I have never presented it like that. So yes, I'm proud that LLF named Rainbow Awards as an interesting news for the Book Buzz.

Book Buzz: Jan 2010

Well, I didn't read this before, and enough to say that I'm deeply honored: the Rainbow Awards were included in the Book Buzz for January in the new Lambda Literary Website.

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/datastream/book-buzz/01/01/book-buzz-jan-2010/

Here what they said:

"Two books shared first place for Best Overall Gay Novel in the 2009 Rainbow Awards competition, founded last year “to celebrate the best in LGBT writing”: Out of Position, by Kyell Gold (Sofawolf Press), and Whistling in the Dark, by Tamara Allen (Lethe Press). More than twenty publishers participated. To view the finalists and winners in all categories, click here.

One of the Rainbow winners was Jere’ M. Fishback’s Josef Jaeger (Prizm), a young adult novel that had previously won a Top Choice Award from Flamingnet Reviews."

And not only that, we (as me and the Rainbow Awards contributors) were the second news, after the article on the Top 100 Out Celebrities, and for an Award that is only 1 years old and hold by a journal that is only 3 years old, I think it's a great achievement, something that gives me strength to do it again next year.

BTW, when I decided to host the Rainbow Awards, my idea was to give space to LGBT books that usually have not in normal awards, like ebooks or small print publishers. It was also to distract people from the polemic on the "author gender", but it was not an award against another one, and I think I have never presented it like that. So yes, I'm proud that LLF named Rainbow Awards as an interesting news for the Book Buzz.

NLA-I Announces Writing Award Finalists

Congratulations to James Buchanan (eroticjames) and all the other friends who got a nomination:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR NLA-I WRITING AWARDS

(Columbus, OH) -- National Leather Association: International (NLA-I), a leading organization for activists in the pansexual SM/leather/fetish community, announced today the finalists for its recently created writing awards. Named after activists and writers Geoff Mains, John Preston, Pauline Reage, Cynthia Slater, and the organization Samois, they are awarded annually to recognize excellence in writing and publishing about leather, SM, bondage and fetishes.

The finalists for the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award are:

- Gloria Brame, "Transformation and Transcendence in BDSM," which appeared in Filthy Gorgeous Things, July 2009, "Force" issue. Available at: http://filthygorgeousthings.com/
- E.R. Chaline, "Contemporary Gay BDSM in the UK," which appeared in Skin Two (2009).
- Jeff Mann, "How to be a Country Leather Bear," from Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel (eds.), Second Person Queer: Who You Are (So Far). (Arsenal Pulp Press).
- Jack Rinella, "Juggling," which appeared in LeatherViews
- Sarah Sloane, "The Biochemistry of BDSM," which appeared in Sexis. Available at: http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/sex/bdsm-biochemistry-110492/

The finalists for the Geoff Mains Non-fiction Book Award are:

- Lee Harrington, Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond (lulu.com)
- david stein, Ask the Man Who Owns Him: The Real Lives of Gay Masters and slaves (Perfectbound Press)
- Two Knotty Boys, Two Knotty Boys Back on the Ropes (Green Candy)

The finalists for the Pauline Reage Novel Award are:

- Melinda Barron, Graceful Submission (Loose Id)
- James Buchanan, Hard Fall (MLR Press)
- Alex Ironrod, Obsession (Nazca Plains)
- Claire Thompson, Submission Times Two (Romance Unbound)

The finalists for the John Preston Short Fiction Award are:

- Kieran Wyn DeWhurst, "The Last Mistress of the Chatelaine," in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
- Jack Fritscher, "Goodbye Saigon," in Phillip Mackenzie, Jr. (ed.), Special Forces: Gay Military Erotica (Cleis Press)
- Shanna Germain, "Second Skin," in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
- Jeff Mann, "Lost River," in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)
- Xan West, "Missing Daddy," in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)

The finalists for the Samois Anthology Award are:

- Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
- Rachel Kramer Bussel (ed.), Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories (Cleis Press)

The winners will be announced at the NLA-I’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held during Tribal Fire in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (April 30 - May 2 2010). Please contact the award committee chair, Steve Vakesh, for more information about the awards at stevevakesh@gmail.com. For more information about Tribal Fire, the National Leather Association, and the NLA-I's meeting on Sunday morning, see: http://www.tribalfireokc.com/  and http://www.nla-i.com

NLA-I Announces Writing Award Finalists

Congratulations to James Buchanan (eroticjames) and all the other friends who got a nomination:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR NLA-I WRITING AWARDS

(Columbus, OH) -- National Leather Association: International (NLA-I), a leading organization for activists in the pansexual SM/leather/fetish community, announced today the finalists for its recently created writing awards. Named after activists and writers Geoff Mains, John Preston, Pauline Reage, Cynthia Slater, and the organization Samois, they are awarded annually to recognize excellence in writing and publishing about leather, SM, bondage and fetishes.

The finalists for the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award are:

- Gloria Brame, "Transformation and Transcendence in BDSM," which appeared in Filthy Gorgeous Things, July 2009, "Force" issue. Available at: http://filthygorgeousthings.com/
- E.R. Chaline, "Contemporary Gay BDSM in the UK," which appeared in Skin Two (2009).
- Jeff Mann, "How to be a Country Leather Bear," from Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel (eds.), Second Person Queer: Who You Are (So Far). (Arsenal Pulp Press).
- Jack Rinella, "Juggling," which appeared in LeatherViews
- Sarah Sloane, "The Biochemistry of BDSM," which appeared in Sexis. Available at: http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/sex/bdsm-biochemistry-110492/

The finalists for the Geoff Mains Non-fiction Book Award are:

- Lee Harrington, Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond (lulu.com)
- david stein, Ask the Man Who Owns Him: The Real Lives of Gay Masters and slaves (Perfectbound Press)
- Two Knotty Boys, Two Knotty Boys Back on the Ropes (Green Candy)

The finalists for the Pauline Reage Novel Award are:

- Melinda Barron, Graceful Submission (Loose Id)
- James Buchanan, Hard Fall (MLR Press)
- Alex Ironrod, Obsession (Nazca Plains)
- Claire Thompson, Submission Times Two (Romance Unbound)

The finalists for the John Preston Short Fiction Award are:

- Kieran Wyn DeWhurst, "The Last Mistress of the Chatelaine," in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
- Jack Fritscher, "Goodbye Saigon," in Phillip Mackenzie, Jr. (ed.), Special Forces: Gay Military Erotica (Cleis Press)
- Shanna Germain, "Second Skin," in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
- Jeff Mann, "Lost River," in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)
- Xan West, "Missing Daddy," in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)

The finalists for the Samois Anthology Award are:

- Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
- Rachel Kramer Bussel (ed.), Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories (Cleis Press)

The winners will be announced at the NLA-I’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held during Tribal Fire in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (April 30 - May 2 2010). Please contact the award committee chair, Steve Vakesh, for more information about the awards at stevevakesh@gmail.com. For more information about Tribal Fire, the National Leather Association, and the NLA-I's meeting on Sunday morning, see: http://www.tribalfireokc.com/  and http://www.nla-i.com

Falling by D.W. Marchwell

At the second book by D.W. Marchwell I have to say that I like the style: very romantic stories, high emotional level, extraordinary characters in their ordinariness, and a bit of light mood to relieve the whole mix.

When the story starts, Hank, one of the two men, is not gay, or at least he believes not to be. If we need to force him into a definition, Hank is probably bisexual: he had an homosexual experience when he was still a teenager with one same age friend; then all his following experiences were with women, and, more or less, he has no trouble with that. Hank has not a problem with sex, he has a problem with life: he has not steadiness, no family and no weights to anchor him to the ground, and for a man who tip of trees for work, it’s not a good thing. Hank is unstable, and this is causing trouble both in his private than professional life.

When Hank’s boss, Brian, is injured when he is working with Hank, he has the chance to meet Brian’s brother, Scott. Younger than Brian and living in the city, at first Scott appears like a classy man who is not comfortable with their country life. But Scotty is also the only one to understand that Hank needs very little to be happy in life, a schedule, someone who tells him what to do, sleep, eat… and if, with that, it arrives also a lover, Hank is not the one to question if that lover is a man.

I like the “easy” feeling of the story: first Scotty who doesn’t put up a drama when he arrives at Brian’s hospital bed, and instead, he is the one who is willing to listen to Hank and to alleviate his remorse; then when it’s clear that something between Scotty and Hank is ready to blossom, they give it time to grew without blindly jumping in something to big for them. This lead to having sex more or less when 1/3 of the book is passed, but since the book is not short, the reader has plenty of time to enjoy it: waiting for sex is right, since it’s only believable that Hank needs time to accept his feelings for Scotty, and Scotty needs time to understand that he is not only an easy lay for Hank.

If the reader thinks that Hank is gaining everything from this relationship, and instead Scotty is renouncing to his city life and career, I think that is not exactly true. I had the feeling that Scotty was regretting his decision to leave the small town for the big city, and indeed Scotty is still a country boy; he is enjoying making music (Scott is a jazz composer), but not performing. Even if Scotty has a sparkling personality, it’s not on the stage that he is able to express it, he is more a behind the scene guy. So, I think that, where he is offering the stability and family that Hank lacks in his life, at the same time he is also “using” Hank to regain the life he has lost when he moved to the big city. In the end Scotty and Hank are perfect together since both of them found in each other what they were missing and desired from a partner.

Both characters are really nice, Scotty with his friendly behaviour and joy of life, I have always the feeling that he has a smile on his face, even in the most dramatic situation, and Hank with his old fashioned behaviour, like he is courting Scotty, even when he has still not realized that is love what he wants from him.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_179&products_id=1717

Amazon: Falling

Amazon Kindle: Falling

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain

Falling by D.W. Marchwell

At the second book by D.W. Marchwell I have to say that I like the style: very romantic stories, high emotional level, extraordinary characters in their ordinariness, and a bit of light mood to relieve the whole mix.

When the story starts, Hank, one of the two men, is not gay, or at least he believes not to be. If we need to force him into a definition, Hank is probably bisexual: he had an homosexual experience when he was still a teenager with one same age friend; then all his following experiences were with women, and, more or less, he has no trouble with that. Hank has not a problem with sex, he has a problem with life: he has not steadiness, no family and no weights to anchor him to the ground, and for a man who tip of trees for work, it’s not a good thing. Hank is unstable, and this is causing trouble both in his private than professional life.

When Hank’s boss, Brian, is injured when he is working with Hank, he has the chance to meet Brian’s brother, Scott. Younger than Brian and living in the city, at first Scott appears like a classy man who is not comfortable with their country life. But Scotty is also the only one to understand that Hank needs very little to be happy in life, a schedule, someone who tells him what to do, sleep, eat… and if, with that, it arrives also a lover, Hank is not the one to question if that lover is a man.

I like the “easy” feeling of the story: first Scotty who doesn’t put up a drama when he arrives at Brian’s hospital bed, and instead, he is the one who is willing to listen to Hank and to alleviate his remorse; then when it’s clear that something between Scotty and Hank is ready to blossom, they give it time to grew without blindly jumping in something to big for them. This lead to having sex more or less when 1/3 of the book is passed, but since the book is not short, the reader has plenty of time to enjoy it: waiting for sex is right, since it’s only believable that Hank needs time to accept his feelings for Scotty, and Scotty needs time to understand that he is not only an easy lay for Hank.

If the reader thinks that Hank is gaining everything from this relationship, and instead Scotty is renouncing to his city life and career, I think that is not exactly true. I had the feeling that Scotty was regretting his decision to leave the small town for the big city, and indeed Scotty is still a country boy; he is enjoying making music (Scott is a jazz composer), but not performing. Even if Scotty has a sparkling personality, it’s not on the stage that he is able to express it, he is more a behind the scene guy. So, I think that, where he is offering the stability and family that Hank lacks in his life, at the same time he is also “using” Hank to regain the life he has lost when he moved to the big city. In the end Scotty and Hank are perfect together since both of them found in each other what they were missing and desired from a partner.

Both characters are really nice, Scotty with his friendly behaviour and joy of life, I have always the feeling that he has a smile on his face, even in the most dramatic situation, and Hank with his old fashioned behaviour, like he is courting Scotty, even when he has still not realized that is love what he wants from him.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_179&products_id=1717

Amazon: Falling

Amazon Kindle: Falling

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain