Thursday, December 31

90's Hunks you never knew were gay

Granted this is not a big list.
Jack Noseworthy
You might have seen him as bully Eric in the Brady Bunch movie, the Outer Limits, Justin in Event Horizon, Randy in Idle Hands and in the Jon Von Jovi music video. He has been with Sergio Trujilio since 1990.
 

Jaason Simmons
Australian actor best known as Logan Fowler in Baywatch (1994-1997) got married Irish actor John O'Callaghan and adopted an Ugandan boy in 2006. He was recently in Sharknado.
 

Darren Hayes
Hayes was the frontman and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden, Hayes married a childhood sweetheart, makeup artist Colby Taylor, in 1994. They got divorced in 2000 and he married (via a civil partnership) his boyfriend of two years, Richard Cullen, on 19 June 2006 in London. The 1997 album Savage Garden peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in United Kingdom and No. 3 in United States. It spawned the singles "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", and Australian and US No. 1 "Truly Madly Deeply".
 
Chad Allen
He played the infamous Tommy in St. Elesewhere, Zack in My Two Dads (1989-1990) and Matthew in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-1998), he came out as gay and has since done GLBT movies. In November 2006, The Los Angeles Daily News wrote in passing that Allen's real-life boyfriend, Jeremy Glazer, was also in the film Save Me. In a September 2008 interview with Out.com, Allen stated that he was currently in a three-year relationship and had been sober for eight years.
 


Tuesday, December 29

#wheresrey Star Wars Force Awakens toys ignore PROTAGONIST REY

I've dealt with this in the Power Rangers fandom, that females are ignored or forgotten. In most merchandise like t-shirts, lunch boxes, book bags, etc., we only see the male rangers. In the movie Star Wars: Force Awakens, Rey is the protagonist but she is not seen on packaging nor in toy aisles for Star Wars. Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart, I went to the Star Wars section and saw no Rey figures. Some people believe the omission is because of the secrecy over the movie itself.  

People on Twitter have started #wheresrey, particularly parents wondering where Rey figures are for their daughters. Especially in Star Wars: The Force Awakens Battle Action Millennium Falcon and Target 6-pack set. The pack includes Finn, Chewy, Poe, Kylo Ren, an unknown Startrooper and unknown New Order pilot.


My friend who happens to be of Jamaican origin, he claims that sales of Finn figures are low and in the heyday, figures of Lando  Calrissian, the 'only black guy in the universe' was the least sold figure. I am not sure about that. Another friend of mine at work says he thinks there will be more merch soon after the secrecy.  He could be right because of the snippet below of the article below.

 "After news about the omission broke, Disney said that new Force Awakens merchandise will not leave out the film's main female character. Paul Southern, the senior vice president and head of licensing for Lucasfilm, said: 'In many stores and e-commerce destinations, products featuring Rey are selling as quickly as retailers can restock shelves." "Abrams said: 'Star Wars' was always a boy's thing, and a movie that dads could take their sons to. 'And although that is still very much the case, I was really hoping this could be a movie that mothers could take their daughters to as well.'

Thursday, December 24

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Quick Movie Review (Spoilers)


I am not going to take long as there are so many reviews. I saw the movie today to avoid crowds but there was still a crowd, at least there was seating. I wanted to like the movie and I did. I don't like that fans have been saying it is sinking to nostalgia. What else do they expect? With a Star Wars sequel, you are going to get nostalgia. One meme had Star Wars as "to close to the original, I hate it" and another with the New Ghostbusters "too different, I hate it." Anyways, "Forge of Ages" (how my grandnephew Jaiden refers to it) starts out with the narration that everyone is on the hunt for Luke Skywalker. Poe (played my friend's brother Oscar Isaac Hernandez who is Guatemalan-Cuban from Miami, FL where I live and my family is also from Guatemala) and BB-8 get a map from an old man and the First Order (the new bad guys) lay waste. Poe is taken prisoner and saved by Finn (John Boyega), a brainwashed Storm Trooper who decides to desert.
 BB-8 meets our heroine Rey (Daisy Riley). Now here comes the spoilers. They find the Millennium Falcon and run into Han and Chewy, become first friends and go to Yoda-esque Maz Kanata who makes Rey touch Luke's lightsaber, not confirming her parentage but having some connection. Apparently Luke tried making more Jedis and finding the first Jedi temple and his apprentice (who we assume is Han and Leia's son Ben--yes Ben, like Obi Wan) betrayed him. After we re-meet Leia, we are nailed over the head that whiny Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) (or how my dad calls him "Darth Vader") is their son. So Rey is a savant, she has lived in a desert but knows how to fix ships and use the Force.
My favorite Boba Fett-esque character is Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), female commander of Finn and she doesn't get much to do here but supposedly will have more to do in Episode 8. So how does Abrahams do? I have been following him since "Felicity" and I liked a couple of his series, even Lost. He uses lens flares but they aren't as destracting. He does stay in long shots like Lucas. He changes from close ups to long shots, uses steady cam for fight scenes but stays still in regular scenes. CGI is used sparingly, mostly for big creatures. Greg Grunberg has been in almost all his projects and he is part of the Resistance along with his assistant and Ken Leung (from Lost). Simon Pegg of Star Trek cameos as an alien. And Oscar Issac's Ex Machina screen partner Domhall Gleeson plays sexy ginger General Hux. I am not crazy about Supreme Leader Snoke, his look and his overall "Emperor" vibe, I would've liked a smaller guy like Maz Kanata.


Anyway, as for the death, I approve, we all knew it was coming, it just didn't have the emotion and potency it needed. I think Ford did a good effort but didn't do 100 %. Also Driver seemed more like an angst-y teenager. Riley and Boyega did good efforts. I am not crazy that Boyega is British but did an African-American accent slang. Driver did a British-esque accent and Hernandez has his native a Miami-accent. Also, I like that you see females everywhere: in the Resistance, First Order, in bars and other places. Leia is not only the female in the Universe anymore. I agree some of the plot points are similar to "A New Hope" but they put them in different order, mood (death scene) and fresh takes.