HomoQuotable - James Randi

"Well, here goes. I really resent the term, but I use it because it’s recognized and accepted. I’m gay. From some seventy years of personal experience, I can tell you that there’s not much “gay” about being homosexual. For the first twenty years of my life, I had to live in the shadows, in a culture that was — at least outwardly — totally hostile to any hint of that variation of life-style. At no time did I choose to adopt any protective coloration, though; my cultivation of an abundant beard was not at all a deception, but part of my costume as a conjuror.

"Gradually, the general attitude that I’d perceived around me began to change, and presently I find that there has emerged a distinctly healthy acceptance of different social styles of living — except, of course, in cultures that live in constant and abject fear of divine retribution for infractions found in the various Holy Books… In another two decades, I’m confident that young people will find themselves in a vastly improved atmosphere of acceptance.

"Before publishing this statement, I chose to privately notify a number of my closest friends and colleagues — none of whom, I’m sure, have been at all surprised at this “coming out.” I’m prepared to receive the inevitable barrage of jeers and insults from the “grubbies” out there who will jump to their keyboards in glee to notify others of their kind about this statement, which to them will be yet further proof of the perfidy of the rationalist mode of life that I have chosen. Those titters of joy will be unheard over the murmur of acceptance that I confidently expect from my friends." - Famed magician James Randi, coming out at the age of 81 after seeing the film Milk. "The Amazing Randi" was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson and now spends much of his time debunking paranormal and supernatural claims.

Bright Lights, Big City

During tonight's marriage protest in Times Square, I decided to take my disgust to the new mega-Jumbotron above American Eagle at Broadway & 45th, where a purchase allows you "15 seconds of fame" via their in-store camera. The store's manager disallowed my uber-angry signage, so with an "I Heart(Break) NY" sticker on my hoodie, I returned with Milk art director Charley Beal to send Times Square our displeasure, to the approving hoots of the protesters. Surprisingly satisfying. (And Charley treated me to the required store purchase!) I'll have a slideshow of the protest up shortly.

Gays References Edited Out Of Oscar Broadcasts For 300 Million Worldwide

Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn's heartfelt Oscar speeches in support of gay rights were cut out of the broadcast by a satellite TV station which beams its signal to 300 million viewers in numerous Asian countries.

The STAR satellite channel, which broadcasts to more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries, also cut the sound when Dustin Lane Black, who wrote the screenplay for Penn's film, Milk, addressed "all the gay and lesbian kids". Milk is the story of Californian gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Both Penn and Black backed gay marriage in their speeches and called for equal rights for homosexuals. Penn opened by calling the audience "commie, homo-loving sons of guns".

Gay Asians voiced their anger at the broadcaster, which censored its evening telecasts of the awards ceremony. "As a gay man, I am truly offended," Pang Khee Teik, a prominent Malaysian arts commentator, wrote in a letter sent out to several media organisations. "Stop censoring the words that describe who I am." Pang said the move "sent a message ... that gays and lesbians are still shameful things to be censored from the public's ears."

Users of Internet forums in Singapore and India also complained about the censored speeches. Jannie Poon, STAR's Hong Kong-based spokeswoman, stressed that the company had no intention of upsetting any viewers, but said it has "a responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration."

Disgusting.

Wingnuts Very Unhappy With Oscars

Ted Baehr, founder of the Christian movie site MovieGuide, is very unhappy with the results of this year's Oscars. From his guest post on Peter LaBarbera's site titled "Hollywood Denounces God And Applauds Pedophila."

"The Academy Awards showed its support for sexual perversions last night at its annual Oscar ceremony. And, the Academy wrongly painted the Entertainment Industry as a bunch of Commie rats, as it applauded Communist sympathizer Sean Penn’s gleeful greeting after winning an award for portraying an assassinated homosexual leader, “You Commie, homo-loving sons of guns!” The Oscar audience applauded madly when Penn, who won Best Actor for his portrayal of murdered homosexual activist Harvey Milk in the movie MILK, angrily chastised voters in California, including 70% of black voters, for having the gall in last November’s elections to support the real definition of marriage. In a mean-spirited curse, Penn said, “I think it’s a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame, and their shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.” [snip]

At the beginning of the show, host Hugh Jackman described the message of MILK as, “It’s okay to be gay.” Of course, Jesus Christ believes otherwise. “Haven’t you read,” he says in Matthew 19:4-6, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not tear apart.”

The movie industry also gave an Oscar to Kate Winslet for playing an illiterate escaped Nazi war criminal and pedophile who repeatedly seduces a 15-year-old boy. Even though she played a pedophile, Hollywood decided that Kate Winslet finally deserved to get an Oscar for her performance in THE READER. Earlier in the evening, actress Marisa Tomei, who plays a stripper in THE WRESTLER, was applauded for showing that “a stripper doesn’t have to lose her dignity when taking off her clothes.” The attack on biblical values continued as Meryl Streep was praised for portraying a strict Catholic nun who struggles with herself and the fact that modern times are passing her by. Later in the telecast, atheist Bill Maher was given a platform to rail against religion when he said, “Someday we’ll have to confront the notion that our silly gods cost the world too greatly.”

Baehr goes on to produce statistics showing that gay themed movies don't produce hundreds of millions in box office revenues like superhero blockbusters such as Ironman. And therefore, presumably, should not be made.

Cleve Jones On Rachel Maddow Show

Pioneering gay activist Cleve Jones appeared on the Rachel Maddow show last night to talk about Milk's Oscar wins. Jones calls on Congress and President Obama to enact federal LGBT rights laws.

Freepers React To The Oscars

Here's a lovely sampling of Freeper reactions to Sean Penn's win at last night's Academy Awards.

- "Seems that the Oscars have gone the way of the Nobel ... Commies Queers Globull warming idiots and terrorist lovers need only apply."
- "Hollywood awards have nothing to do with movies and everything to do with the homosexual agenda. It's nothing but a bunch of liberal queers giving each other a congratulatory slap on the ass for using movies to promote homosexuality."
- "I am sick of the “equal rights” argument... The law is clear - ALL men are free to marry a woman. And all women have the right to marry a man. No-one is being denied that right. We all have that same right."
- "Penn, milking the man-milk dispenser, yet again."
- "He just made a plea for Gay's to be able to marry...Then he thanks the country for electing Obama. He's scum."
- "Whew, at least MILK didn’t get best picture!"
- "Here it comes again. When “Brokeback Mountain” didn't win best picture the fruits were screaming like we put shards of glass in the nation's KY Jelly supply. We'll probably get the same with “Milk.”"
- "Sean Penn = POS!"
- "At least Milk has a happy ending!"

Nate Silver Calls The Oscars

Nate Silver, our stats geek hero for his freakishly accurate calling of the 2008 election, has turned his superpowers on this Sunday's Oscars. His picks:

Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger......................85.8%
Supporting Actress
Taraji P. Henson.................51.0%
Lead Actor
Mickey Rourke...................71.1%
Lead Actress
Kate Winslet.......................67.6%
Best Director
Danny Boyle,
Slumdog Millionaire...........99.7%
Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire..........99.0%

Silver only gives Milk a 1% chance of winning Best Picture, but says it does have a tiny chance of pulling an upset due to guilt over Prop 8.

Eight Oscar Nominations For Milk Including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button lead the list of 2009 Oscar contenders with 13 nominations, but the big news for us here is Milk's eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director - Gus Van Sant, Best Actor - Sean Pean, Best Supporting Actor - Josh Brolin, and Best Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black.

BEST PICTURE: Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

BEST ACTOR: Richard Jenkins -The Visitor, Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn, Milk, Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler, Brad Pitt -The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

BEST DIRECTOR: David Fincher - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Gus Van Sant - Milk, Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire, Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon, Stephen Daldry - The Reader.

BEST ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married, Melissa Leo - Frozen River, Meryl Streep -Doubt, Kate Winslet - The Reader, Angelina Jolie - The Changeling.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger - Dark Knight, Josh Brolin - Milk, Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt, Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder, Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Viola Davis - Doubt, Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler, Amy Adams - Doubt.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: In Bruges, WALL-E, Frozen River, Milk, Happy-Go-Lucky.

Milk was also nominated for Best Costume, Best Film Editing and Best Score.

HomoQuotable - Nancy Goldstein

"Bitch, I've seen queers more fired up when Bed Bath & Beyond runs out of sale items. Where's the passion?

"Was Van Sant afraid that audiences wouldn't be sympathetic if 70s-era gay activists were people who suffered, swore, fought back, and fucked like they meant it? If the street kids actually looked like dirty, starving, broke-ass teen hustlers?

"Gay history -- unedited -- is ugly, angry, and violent. It's police dragging us out of cellar bars and down to the station to gang fuck the femmes and face-rape the butches, queens, and trannies. It's military witch hunts; suicides and "experimental therapies," from lobotomies and electro-shock to Christian boot camps. It's Stonewall, where we showered raiding police with bottles, locked them in the bar, and set it afire. It's ACT UP and chaining ourselves to pharmaceutical companies' fences to protest AIDS drugs price gouging.

"Van Sant's gentrified Milk reflects gay activism's increasingly apologetic tone. We don't always need to be burning police cars to prove our cred, but we shouldn't be inviting homophobes to the table, then singing their praises if they don't spit on us. It's not about hugging Rick Warren and being satisfied that at least he's being nice about denying us our civil rights. Politeness has become homophobia's most popular mask.

"Ultimately I'm glad that even this pasteurized, homogenized Milk is out there. Audiences need to see the film's opening sequence -- silent archival footage depicting police bar raids from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, with men shielding their faces from the cameras even as they are shoved into vans, handcuffed, or held in waiting rooms. I want fresh salt poured on the wounds of Proposition 8 so that queers will stop apologizing for being angry with the Mormon and Catholic Church, and for boycotting supporters. I want fresh rage directed at Barack Obama for thinking that including a gay marching band in his inauguration proceedings compensates for his having invited a notorious homophobe and anti-Semite to give the invocation.

"But I'm not sure that this low-fat film will really help audience get Milk. And I'm sorry that Van Sant didn't think we could handle the truth." - Nancy Goldstein, writing for the Huffington Post.

Milk Money

Gus Van Zant's Milk tripled its run to over 300 theaters this weekend, landing the film at #9 in the national box office top ten.

Weekend Gross: $2,636,000
Gross To Date: $7,630,000
Last Week's Rank: 11
Weeks In Release: 3
Number of Theaters: 328
Theatre Avg: $8,036
Percent Change: 44%

The other films in the top ten are playing in 1500 - 3600 theaters, versus the 328 houses showing Milk, which came in at #2 on the gross per screen list, just behind The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Golden Globes: Penn - Yes, Milk - No

The Golden Globes nominees were announced this morning. Sean Penn is the lone representative from Milk. Here are the film categories:

The nominees for best drama are "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionaire."

The nominees for best comedy or musical are "Burn After Reading," "Happy-Go-Lucky," "In Bruges," "Mamma Mia!" and "Vicky Christina Barcelona."

The nominees for best director are Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Stephen Daldry ("The Reader"), David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon") and Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road").

The nominees for best actor in a drama are Leonardo DiCaprio ("Revolutionary Road"), Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon"), Sean Penn ("Milk"), Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler").

The nominees for best actress in a drama are Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), Angelina Jolie ("Changeling"), Meryl Streep ("Doubt"), Kristin Scott Thomas ("I've Loved You Too Long") and Kate Winslet ("Revolutionary Road").

The nominees for best actor in a comedy or musical are Javier Bardem ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"), Colin Farrell ("In Bruges"), James Franco ("Pineapple Express"), Brendan Gleeson ("In Bruges") and Dustin Hoffman ("Last Chance Harvey").

The nominees for best actress in a comedy or musical are Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"), Sally Hawkins ("Happy-Go-Lucky"), Frances McDormand ("Burn After Reading"), Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia!") and Emma Thompson ("Last Chance Harvey").

The nominees for best supporting actor are Tom Cruise ("Tropic Thunder"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder"), Ralph Fiennes ("The Duchess"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt") and Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight").

The nominees for best supporting actress are Amy Adams ("Doubt"), Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"), Viola Davis ("Doubt"), Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler") and Kate Winslet ("The Reader").

The nominees for best animated film are "Bolt," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Wall-E."

The awards take place January 11th.

Top Honors From New York Film Critics Circle: Milk, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin

This is the second major prize for Milk this week and first of what I predict will be many for Sean Penn.

"Milk," Gus Van Sant's movie about gay rights leader Harvey Milk starring Sean Penn, has been named best film by the New York Film Critics Circle. Penn was also chosen as best actor by the critics, who announced their picks Wednesday. "Happy-Go-Lucky" also fared well, winning best director for Mike Leigh and best actress for Sally Hawkins. The critics circle, which last year chose "No Country for Old Men" as best film, is a group of 33 New York-based critics. Its awards will be handed out Jan. 5 in New York.

It's not mentioned in the story above, but Josh Brolin won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dan White. The rest of the awards are here.

Milk Wins Kramer Prize

Milk has won its first award.

Sean Penn's film biography "Milk" is receiving the Producers Guild of America's Stanley Kramer Award, which honors pictures taking on provocative social issues. The prize, announced Monday, will be presented at the guild's awards show Jan. 24. "Milk" stars Penn as San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, who in 1977 won a seat on the board of supervisors to become the first openly gay man elected to major public office in the United States. The film is directed by Gus Van Sant. The following year, Milk was slain along with Mayor George Moscone by a board colleague. The Kramer Award is named after the legendary filmmaker whose works include "The Defiant Ones," "Judgment at Nuremberg" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

Grosses for Milk remained strong in its second weekend, as the film expanded into 99 theaters where it took $1.7M for a total domestic gross to date of $4.1M. The film goes wide this Friday.

Morning View - Castro Theater

Milk Opens Big

The opening weekend grosses for Milk are very, very good.

Gus Van Sant's "Milk" scored a huge Thanksgiving opening, according to initial estimates from Rentrak early this afternoon. The Focus Features release, a biopic of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, grossed $1,381,484 on just 36 screens over the three-day weekend, for a $38,375 average. This ranks as the highest opening weekend for any film released in the range of 30-40 theaters (a record previously held by Focus' "Atonement"). Since opening last Wednesday, "Milk" has taken in an impressive $1,866,079.

On only 36 screens, the film ranked in the overall box office top ten. It sold out shows at all of its showings, finding particularly massive numbers at San Francisco's Castro (where it grossed $154,848 since opening), New York's Chelsea Clearview ($104,109), and Los Angeles' Arclight Hollywood ($101,095). Its lowest gross came from Miami's Aventura, where it totaled only $7,826 since Wednesday.

The film expands significantly this Friday, December 5, and Focus has reason to believe more good news is on the way. "Exit polls are extraordinary and demonstrate not only terrific word of mouth, but also that the film is playing gay/straight, over and under 35 and male/female," Focus' Jack Foley told indieWIRE. "Lots of group sales around the country and lots of sell outs in all houses. 'Milk' is successfully and competitively prepared, after the success of the Thanksgiving holiday, for it upcoming roll outs into the daunting holiday marketplace."

As evidenced by the above numbers, the line for Milk has been blocks and blocks long outside the Castro Theater.

NYTimes: Milk Is A Marvel

Milk gets a fantastic review from A.O. Scott in today's NYTimes. An excerpt:

That power lies in its uncanny balancing of nuance and scale, its ability to be about nearly everything — love, death, politics, sex, modernity — without losing sight of the intimate particulars of its story. Harvey Milk was an intriguing, inspiring figure. “Milk” is a marvel.

Last Wednesday I attended a press conference with most of the cast, director Gus Van Zant, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. A lot of the questions were the usual "What was your motivation?" sort of stuff you hear at these things, but several of us asked about Proposition 8 and the timeliness of the film.

Photos weren't allowed and I didn't have a voice recorder with me, so here are a few quotes that I scribbled down. Some of them I've confirmed as verbatim from published accounts of the press conference.

Sean Penn: "It's only an issue [Prop 8] because of ignorance in the first place. We don't have any excuse for being ignorant of the law...or ignorant of human history... In fact any support of Prop 8 would be minimally manslaughter. Because human history tells us that teenage boys are going to hang themselves out of a reach for an identity that they can't get.... And if this movie is a part of an engine to help reveal that, that's going to make us all happy and proud."

Gus Van Zant: "Prop 8 has mobilized and brought everybody together. The young gay community has responded. This is a new energy that's kind of inspiring."

Sean Penn: (On the parallels between Harvey Milk and Barack Obama.) "Well, they both used the word 'hope'."

Dustin Lance Black: (On first learning about Harvey Milk.) "It was a personal story that I heard as a teenager at a time when I needed to hear it."

Josh Brolin: (On playing Dan White.) "During the filming, I stayed at my ex-wife's brother's place just above the Castro and I was afraid that I was going to be shot if I went down there." (He was joking.)

I got one question: "We've seen some escalating confrontations between the gay and faith communities since the Prop 8 vote and there's a lot of anger at gay people over their reaction to the vote. How do you think the faith community will respond to this film about what most would see as an entirely sympathetic character?"

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence and I started to regret the question. Gus Van Zant looked at Sean Penn and seemed to toss the question over to him.

Sean Penn: "I don't think they deserve the term 'faith community'. They're a pseudo-faith community. Hypocritical hatred doesn't deserve the name 'faith community'."

Not really an answer to my question, but I'll take it. Milk opens nationwide today. I suggest taking your family after that nice Thanksgiving dinner.

HomoQuotable - David Mixner

"[W]e laughed Brokeback Mountain right out of an Academy Award. Please lets not allow the same thing to happen to Milk this year.

"Milk is a movie about our history, our heroes, our struggle and the power of one individual to create change. The movie is a universal story to inspire and give hope to everyone. The movie depicts how hatred can lead to assassination of not only, Supervisor Harvey Milk, but also Mayor George Moscone, because of their ideas and courage. There is nothing funny about this powerful and well done drama.

"So what did David Letterman and James Franco talk about on the Letterman show the other evening. Almost the entire interview was about Franco and Penn kissing. Letterman even left the impression of "ugh" when they talked about two men sharing an intimate moment. This is not acceptable from Letterman and GLAAD should be all over it. Also the producers of Milk should better brief their stars, like Franco, about not falling into the Brokeback Mountain trap. Franco's response should have been to Letterman, "This is not a comedy. It tells the story of an assassinated leader of a civil rights movement and the epic struggle for freedom." Trust me, that would have ended the discussion of kissing.

"If this kind of treatment of Milk continues, we will once again lose the powerful message of an amazing film, lose the awards and lose our history. It is not too late to speak out. Watch the Letterman segment below." - Gay rights activist and author David Mixner, complaining that jokes cost Brokeback Mountain its Oscar and that it may happen again with Milk. Read the entire piece.

300 Protest At Chicago-Area Cinemark Theater

More than 300 marriage equality activists protested at a Chicago-area Cinemark Theater on Saturday in response to the company's CEO having donated $10K to support Prop 8. JMG reader Michael Lehet sends us his firsthand video.

A nationwide boycott of Cinemark has been brewing for the last week, with many upset that the chain will be showing Milk. The website No Milk For Cinemark asks moviegoers to refuse to view the film at any of the chain's outlets.