2, 4, 6, 8 houseboy

Houseboy Baruch Bento de Benedictus is leading a protest that I have fallen down on posting sufficient houseboy / beefcake entries. I promise to do better, unless I don't

P&P

We watch Pride and Prejudice yesterday and it wasn't bad, nobody embarrassed themselves, Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy was very good, in fact, and Judy Dench as Lady de Bourg was as fabulous as ever, but it was no big deal. Trying to cram such a complicated book into a movie means everything feels rushed and since they had cast pretty Big Stars in relatively small roles (Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet, for instance) the producers apparently felt the need to make them all appealing. Part of the interest in the story is the flaws all the characters have; you remove them and the whole thing deflates a little. Plus it was very Bodice Ripper looking (just cast your peepers on that poster of it below) and that is so very Not Jane Austen. I'd say stick with the 1995 Colin Firth version.

Showing My Pride

It's Gay Pride Weekend in San Francisco. Parades tonight (trannies), tomorrow evening (lesbians) and the big one on Sunday (everybody else) disrupting life all over town, but in a good way. Discos, sex clubs, solemn consciousness raising celebrations, and brunch, brunch, brunch. We never go to the parade or the gigantamundo celebration down by City Hall because, you know, ick, but to show my solidarity, I plan on staying home and watching Pride and Prejudice from Netflix. The Keira Knightley one.

Right on.

Peachy

Here's hoping all your peaches this summer are as spectacularly tasty as these, peaches so luscious and pretty I had force myself to stop wolfing them down long enough to take this picture. For you.

File under "Hmmm."

So I was looking up Jeff Chandler (why not?) which, of course, made me think of Esther Williams ("Jeff, you're too big for polka dots." look it up.) and in stalking her briefly I ran across this amazing blurb from her autobiography:

"Cary and I had known each other for years, having spent time together at many parties and public events, although we never had been close friends. But movie stars all belong to a sort of secret society; we share a special understanding of the burdens and comforts of celebrity. There is a shorthand we can use when we meet, and we empathize in ways other people cannot comprehend if they haven't stood in the spotlight. He came to the telephone immediately when I gave my name to his secretary. When I said, "Cary, I've got to see you right away about something," he invited me to come to his office at Universal the next morning.

"Cary, I'm at the end of my rope," I told him the following day. "I'm deeply troubled about my life, and when I read what you said about how LSD had changed your life, I wondered if it might help me."

"Esther, it takes a lot of courage to take this drug," he warned me. "You may not want to do it when I tell you what it's like, because it's a tremendous jolt to your mind, to your ego. Some people don't react well to it at all."

"But it was so successful with you."

"Yes it was," he admitted, with a flash of his glittering "Cary Grant" smile. "But it's only being used on an experimental basis. You'd have to be as desperate as I was to try it."

I smiled back my own "Esther Williams" smile. "But I am as desperate, Cary," I said as calmly as I could. "I need to find some answers, fast. Would you call your doctor and make an appointment for me?".."

Esther Williams, tripping. Hmmm.

Dog Days

Of course, we San Franciscans are terribly spoiled; lots of beautiful views, nice weather, good food and cute boys will do that to you. So when anything comes along to upset that, we tend to whine and sulk. The whine and sulk level is pretty high these days. Wildfires north and east of here have been spitting smoke all over the Bay Area since last weekend and every day it's a little worse. The light has an odd harsh yellow quality about it, the sky is a dirty pale gray and today you can definitely smell the wood smoke. It makes your throat sore just looking out the window. You don't need to point out things could be worse, earthquakes in China, floods in the midwest, Cher in Las Vegas - I got it. I'm just contributing my own little bit to the local Whine and Sulk Festival.

Two grooms walk into a bar....

It may be dull reading over and over about gay marriage if you're not here in California, but for me it's thrilling. Something I had long grown accustomed to thinking would never happen has flipped over into reality. Plus, suddenly it's everywhere here. On Saturday we saw two big guys in matching formal kilts walking down 18th street in the Castro; two girls giggling down Market Street carrying a big (we assumed) wedding cake in a box, our waiter at lunch today told us all about his wedding last week in City Hall. And now we're planning ours. Woo hoo! As I told Diane von Austinburg, all I've gotten down so far is that we'll have a tamales, but what else is there? Her response? Cake.

O yeah.