Kathryn Hahn, Eliot Page, Tom Holland, Justin Trudeau, Elizabeth Olsen, Troye Sivan, Pete Buttigieg, Seth Rogen, Lil Nas X, Matt Reeves, Olly Alexander, and More: #GAYNRD DAILY
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#GAYNRD DAILY Our news, art, and ephemera round-up from around the web, social media, and around the world for Tuesday September 21, 2021. Art above: “Be my alien bf. #wiccan & #hulkling fanart,” by @justamobu. Below from the upcoming Batman: Wayne Family Adventures.
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#GayNrd Quote of the Day
“I think assassination does change things… But I’m not really calling for violence. It’s a novel, not a position paper. However, I think a strong case can be made that political assassination actually does change things. If you look at the assassinations in this country in the 1960s you can certainly see how it affected history in a very profound way. So if you killed right wing figures, you’d also be altering the course of history, and eliminating people who might very well be president in 1996 and those who are making bashing gays their number one issue right now. On the one hand, I’m not advocating People Living with AIDS (PWA) turn themselves into human bombs, but on the other hand I have to admit that if I clicked on CNN and heard somebody had blown Patrick Buchanan’s head clean off, I’d be elated, and to say otherwise would be a lie.”
James Robert Baker, author of Tim and Pete, in 1993
Boy Wonder and Tim and Pete are both tour de forces. Panned by most critics at the time as an irresponsible response to the AIDS crisis, Tim and Pete may emerge as the greatest, unapologetic authoritative fiction to emerge from the plague years of the epidemic. The Los Angeles Times said at the time: Baker could well be the Ice-T of the gay culture. In a manner reminiscent of the rapper’s controversial song “Cop Killer,” Baker’s latest novel depicts the assassination of anti-gay politicians and clergymen. Tim and Pete (Simon & Schuster) depicts a fictional gang of “AIDS kamikazes” — hopped up on speed and armed with machine guns–who, before they die, decide to mow down a few right-wingers. Their motto: “If I get AIDS, I’m going to take someone with me.”
Baker, 44, avers that such sentiments aren’t meant as a serious call to arms, but concedes that if he ever contracts AIDS, “I don’t think I’d just take AZT and hug a teddy bear. . . . I think I’m capable of acting out some of the scenarios described in the book.”
In that sense–and many others–“Tim and Pete” is about Baker himself: his rage, his raunchiness, his racial views and his amphetamine-tweaked childhood in a Republican household in Southern California. “People ask, ‘Why are you so angry?’ (as if) it’s a personal problem rather than a political one.” Baker says: That’s like suggesting to a Jew outraged by Nazi atrocities that he is actually upset with his father and needs therapy to avoid “displacing his anger onto the Fuhrer .”
The source of Baker’s rage–and that of many other gays, he says–is grief. The grief is from watching friends and loved ones dying of AIDS, and the rage is at the “gay-bashing” conservatives he blames for the death toll.
Baker killed himself at his home on November 5, 1997, by asphyxiation in his garage. His death was noted in literary circles and mainstream press; the Gay Times in the United Kingdom wrote, “Baker’s suicide is particularly tragic because it robs American gay writing of a refreshingly distinctive voice quite unlike the po-faced prose of so many of his contemporaries.”
AMAZON STUDIOS will release Mayor Pete globally on Amazon Prime Video November 12th, 2021. Mayor Pete brings viewers inside Pete’s campaign to be the youngest U.S. President, providing an unprecedented intimacy with the candidate, his husband Chasten, and their ambitious team. From the earliest days of the campaign, to his unlikely, triumphant victory in Iowa and beyond. This film reveals what really goes on inside a campaign for the highest office in the land – and the myriad ways it changes the lives of those at its center. Recently appointed to U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Buttigieg serves as the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet member in U.S. history. 96 Minutes | Rated R.
Mayor Pete will be world premiering at Chicago International Film Festival and will screen at Newfest Film Festival on opening night.
TOP 25 SPOTS TO SKINNY DIP in the world. A beach popular with gay men in Italy has been named the world’s second-best spot for skinny-dipping. To celebrate the end of summer, the dating reviews website MyDatingAdviser.com has ranked 100 of the top skinny dipping locations across the globe.
Find out where they are here.
WHEN YOU BREAK UP but the song is catchy AF. Pete Davidson on Ariana Grande.
TRAILER OF THE DAY Matt Reeves’ The Batman. From Warner Bros. Pictures comes The Batman, with director Matt Reeves (the Planet of the Apes films) at the helm and with Robert Pattinson (Tenet, The Lighthouse, Good Time) starring as Gotham City’s vigilante detective, Batman, and billionaire Bruce Wayne.
The Batman is in theaters March 22, 2022. Same Day Warner Bros Premieres On HBO Max. Filmed in IMAX – 4DX.
Below: Matt Reeves editing The Batman on Saturday, #BatmanDay2021.
WANDAVISION at The Emmys. Elizabeth Olsen and Kathryn Hahn killed. The show won two Emmys including Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes, Outstanding Production Design and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “Agatha All Along.”
Above: Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/The Scarlet Witch)
Above: Kathryn Hahn (Agnes/Agatha Harkness)
Back in March we said: “I loved WandaVision. It ticked all the boxes, I was invested and it was beautiful, and I hope that WandaVision is the first step toward an MCU that doesn’t use easter eggs and character reveals as a substitute for plot. screenwriter Eddie Borey wrote on Facebook: “WandaVision is simultaneously a story about grief, an immigrant’s story, and a love letter to television. Way more ambitious than it needed to be, and I’m loving it.”
And that’s definitely on point. But did we learn anything? Was this all just remembrance of sitcoms and comic books past?
To an extent, that’s what it was, yes. A too-large extent, I’d contend. It was innovative within the context of the MCU, for sure, but not nearly as ambitious on an absolute scale. The meditations on grief were often deeply poignant (especially in this episode), but largely predictable. All of that said, the show did have something to say, and that something is terribly relevant. Around the 35-minute mark of this series finale, it struck me: This was a show that, deliberately or not, was about what it’s like to be in love at the end of the world.
Congratulations to the creative team behind Marvel Studios’ #WandaVision on its three #Emmy Award wins, including Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes, Outstanding Production Design and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “Agatha All Along” pic.twitter.com/vYtPFQwu8n
— WandaVision (@wandavision) September 13, 2021
LGBTQ2 is a mouthful. Ask Canadian Premiere Justin Trudeau.
DON’T MISS THIS BOOK Aquaman: The Becoming #1is on sale today! Jackson Hyde aka Aqualad has seen better days. His mentors, community, and a cute guy he’s interested in Amnesty Bay fall away after half of the Atlantean palace got blown up. Standing amongst the wreckage of Aquaman’s private training facility, Jackson Hyde must prove his own innocence and still figure out how to graduate out of Aquaman’s sidekick status.
Written by Brandon Thomas and drawn by Diego Olortegui, along with artists Wade von Grawbadger, Scott Koblish, Skylar Patridge, and Adriano Lucas, the six-issue series is Jackson Hyde’s first-ever series. Along the way, Jackson Hyde will confront the destroyed and abandoned West Coast Titans Tower, enter the fight of his life with the mysterious villain Deluge, and more.
More importantly, is he ready to become Aquaman? In a statement sent to AIPT, Thomas explained this is not only a coming of age story but a story about Jackson Hyde transforming from Aqualad to Aquaman. “When the series begins, Jackson has everything he’s ever wanted—acceptance, respect and a strong web of found family and friends around him. He and his mother are finally on the same page and his training with Arthur Curry (with an assist from Batman) is going extremely well. The shadow of his father Black Manta still looms, but he’s refusing to let that completely define him and his life. Everything is perfect. So naturally, we spend the entire story challenging and damaging everything he’s created, forcing him to fight for it and prove himself worthy of even having it. Jackson’s spent so much time trying to distance himself from his infamous father, but if he’s going to endure what’s ahead, he’ll need some of that darkness, that commitment to survive against all odds.”
ONLINE DATING Dr. George Smith goes on a date with a computer scientist.
SHIP IT Casts the antagonistic protagonists of Casey McQuiston’s young adult LGBT bestseller Red, White & Royal Blue: Alex Claremont-Diaz and Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor as on a date at the MetGala.
Read the full NSFW story of their evening at the event.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ELIOT PAGE and the meaning behind his teen trans boy’s first prom suit he donned at the MetGala. Don’t get it twisted.
BRO CODE 69 Always smother your mate in oil.
@troyesivan#duet with @daddybrucelee looking through the Angel Baby sound ????♬ Angel Baby – Troye Sivan
ESSAY OF THE DAY Robin and the Making of American Adolescence, which take s critical look at various characters who have worn the Robin outfit over the years. READ IT HERE.
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FIGHTING STRENGTH Tell us you think of this shot of our bro (and cover boy) @ross_greco
He brought this Spider-Man costume to a shoot and we had to give it a try.
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THIS IS SPARTA!!! Check out Mt. Olympus Fitness here. They’re also responsible for these crazy shot of our bro @cory_boling.
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COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT Seth Rogen jokingly complained about COVID protocols at the Emmys. The show quickly responded. USA Today: If the Emmys were designed to transport viewers from the pandemic for a few carefree hours, Seth Rogen wasn’t playing along. The comedic writer and actor, making the night’s first awards presentation, questioned whether an event that touted its COVID-19 protocols was living up to its promises. Before presenting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy series to winner Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, Rogen offered up some jokes, but they sounded more like a complaint.
“They said this was outdoors. It’s not. They lied to us. We’re in a hermetically sealed tent right now. I would not have come to this,” Rogen deadpanned to the audience gathered in what Emmys organizers have described as “a fully air-conditioned tent (that) will allow for more socially-distanced audience seating.”
He took issue with the guest spacing – “There is way too many of us in this little room” – but he saved his biggest complaint for the tent’s ceiling. Cedric the Entertainer addressed and rebutted the sentiment in his opening monologue: “It actually feels amazing in here unlike what Seth (Rogen) was talking about. It feels good. We’re all vaxxed. We had to get vaxxed to come here. I got vaxxed. I did not have a reaction like Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend. I got Pfizer because I’m bougie. Pfizer is the Neiman Marcus of vaccines. Moderna, that’s Macy’s. Johnson & Johnson, that’s TJ Maxx.”
Ok so no one at the Emmys wore a mask but we are expected to wear a mask even if we are vaccinated ???? I guess the rules don’t apply to politicians and rich people
— Chance Coleman (@ChanceTyColeman) September 20, 2021
ZOMBIES! Night of the Animated Dead an animated remake of George A. Romero’s 1968 horror classic, Night of the Living Dead, is available on Digital today, and to Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD on October 5.
MONTERO Lil Nas X’s new album is getting rave reviews. The Los Angeles Times: the singer, rapper and internet savant has finally released his long-awaited full-length debut, “Montero,” which is all but certain to end up one of 2021’s biggest commercial successes (and which also stands to pick up multiple Grammy nominations in the weeks ahead). What’s remarkable about these songs is that although they clearly land as a flex — would a flame-out be able to get Elton John on the keys as Lil Nas X did for “One of Me”? — they don’t feel like the 22-year-old born Montero Hill is inviting us to apologize for doubting him. Even now, his anxiety seems thoroughly genuine, which of course is precisely the reason he outlived the viral phenomenon that spent a record-setting 19 weeks at No. 1. The music is all over the place stylistically; it moves from trap to folk to pop-punk to however we’d describe the ecstatic hand-clappy sound of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!,” which Lil Nas X faithfully reproduces in “That’s What I Want,” about how he needs a boy to cuddle with him all night. One sonic throughline is guitar, be it slow and grungy (as in “Life After Salem”) or bright and jumpy (as in “Lost in the Citadel”); another is the fullness of Lil Nas X’s voice, whether he’s rapping or singing by himself or with collaborators including Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, and Miley Cyrus.
His vocal performances are full of character, which is why it’s so easy to get absorbed in his storytelling: the intimate tales of depression and parental neglect, the horny odes to lovers real or longed for, the witty if conflicted celebrations of his newfound status.
“Montero” closes with “Am I Dreaming,” a rootsy fingerpicked duet with Cyrus, whose partnership with Lil Nas X follows that of her dad, Billy Ray, on “Old Town Road.” It’s about a guy looking back at his accomplishments — “every try, every breakthrough and every cry,” as he puts it — and wondering what it all adds up to. “Never forget me and everything I’ve done,” he sings, more tenderly than at any other point on the album. You wouldn’t call it a victory lap, except it proves exactly why he keeps winning.
“Orphans” by Otis Frampton for #BatmanDay2021
COMING SOON New Music from Years and Years’ Olly Alexander.
@ollyalexander##newmusic ##crave soon…. ???? ???? ???? ⛓♬ original sound – Olly Alexander
TWO FOR TUESDAY
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THE NEXT WHAT IF…? features Party Thor. We can’t wait. EW: After the doom and gloom from the past few episodes of Marvel‘s What If…?, it’s time to party!
This week’s episode 7 “What If … Thor Was an Only Child?” that head writer AC Bradley tells EW is “fun and silly” — no world-ending events or murdered Avengers in sight.
“I love the Thor-Jane relationship and we wanted to play around with that part of the love story without the framework of tragedy,” Bradley says. “The story took root from a love of ’80s and ’90s rom-coms and party films. After so many serious episodes, what’s the most fun we could possibly have? And the answer to that is: Let Thor throw a party.”
Director Bryan Andrews laughs as he admits that “some of the stuff has already been a little bit leaked because of merchandising, there’s like shirts that say ‘Party Thor!’ so it lets you know a certain degree of the attitude behind this episode.” The episode explores how Thor (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) would be different if he was never raised with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as his brother. Andrews explains that this comedic and light version of Thor is extremely different from what fans have seen in Thor: Ragnarok and even post-Blip in Avengers: Endgame. “We get to reinvent him because his entire life from the beginning to this point is totally different so we got to create a brand new version of Thor, truly,”
Hemsworth brought a fun comedic vibe into the recording booth with him for this episode. “He ate it up,” Andrews says. “We started finding the voice and Chris has got such natural comic instincts — they’ve started bringing that out in Ragnarok but we got to lean into that even more so in this. There’s some stuff that got particularly goofy and he was laughing and the guys in the recording booth over there in Australia were laughing, and he was just like, ‘I really like this Thor!’ He gets to cut loose more than he ever has in the Marvel Universe.”
Andrews laughs before adding, “I get a sense that maybe there’s a little bit of actual Chris in ‘Party Thor’ which might be one reason why he gravitated towards it so easily and had so much fun with it.”
RED FLAG Conspiracy theories.
PARTING SHOT Tail gate parties hotties.
