The Gayest Things You'll See This Friday

Well, thanks to many factors, there was plenty of LGBT news I missed out on reporting last month, so I suppose I'm making up for it tonight.

First, you've heard me mention 'my angel,' Matty many times. Matty is one of the most talented young actors I've ever had the privilege to direct. Matty has become a very dear friend and I  have become a mentor to him on many levels. He appeared in my production of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and was the Assistant Stage Manager for last summer's production of Sordid Lives. We both love Horror movies (and are seeing one together this coming Sunday); we both love the theatre and we are both writers. He's the son (in a totally non-creepy way, I promise) I never had and I love when I get to crow about his accomplishments. And crow, I shall.

Recently, Matty made headlines when he and his friend Bobby potentially broke the Guinness World Record for Longest Continuous Kiss. A student at the school where I studied Theatre (and where I 'discovered' him in a 24-hour play contest), Matty is true Force of Nature and I have no doubt he will go on to make quite a mark on the world. And part of that mark will be a new documentary called Our Lips Are Sealed, detailing the events surrounding his and Bobby's new record.

I am so very proud to know and be a friend of this remarkable young man.

In other Gayest news, its no secret that the adorable Darren Criss (pictured above and formerly of ABC's prematurely canceled "Eastwick") has been cast as Kurt's (Chris Colfer) boyfriend on Fox's megahit musical, "Glee." Thanks to Towleroad, here's the first clip of Criss singing in an all-boys high school choir and their (almost) acappella version of "Teenage Dream:"

Gay teens all over America are sighing in delight, right now.

And this past August, in another Gayest Thing post, I embedded the video for openly gay rapper Cazwell's song "Ice Cream Truck," which featured a series of NYC hotties grinding and licking ice-pops while Caz rapped about a hot boy he met in a school yard. Well, also via Towleroad, comes Philadelphia's version (for Bear-lovers and Chubby Chasers only):

Finally, Al Gore's Current TV has this to say about Reality TV Judges:

Make sure you check out tomorrow's Zombie Zone post, where I wax poetic about AMC's newest original series "The Walking Dead," among other zombie-related news. And stop back here on Sunday, where I'll be talking about the JTMF's first ever winter production, It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.

More, anon.
Prospero

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Forgotten Gems: "Gilda Live"

Yesterday's post asked something about bringing a celebrity back to life and who you would choose. I chose Gilda Radner and said "The world needs more Gildas." And I meant that. I can count the number of celebrity deaths that actually made me sad on one hand. News of Gilda's death from ovarian cancer, delivered live by Steve Martin on SNL, is probably the one that made me the saddest of all.

As an original cast member of Saturday Night Live's "Not Ready for Prime-Time Players," Gilda quickly became known for a series of hilarious characters, many of them based on family and friends she'd grown up with, as well as celebrity parodies no one else was doing (or could do). Whether it was playing advice columnist Rosanne Rosannadanna (pictured); hearing impaired substitute teacher Emily Litella; nerdy Lisa Lupner; hyper-active Brownie Judy Miller or drug-addled rocker Patti Smith, Gilda's total abandon into silliness, just to make an audience laugh was without par.

In 1979, Gilda got her own Broadway show and director Mike Nichols filmed it, preserving forever some of the funniest work from one the funniest women who ever lived. The film also features a hilarious performance from Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci, possibly the most politically incorrect Italian character ever...

Yes, that's Paul Schaffer as Candy's drummer.




And just because I loved her so, here's some more of Gilda's brilliance:

Sadly, from what should have been a nonsensical marriage of epic proportions, the films made with her husband Gene Wilder are just terrible. Yes, even The Woman in Red, though Haunted Honeymoon is undoubtedly the worst of them (and sadly, Gilda's last). Her legacy lives on through Gilda's Club, a non-profit organization providing support for cancer patients and their families. Who knows what heights of silliness Gilda might have achieved? I'm just glad we have records of some of her best.

If you've never seen it, put Gilda Live in your Netflix queue; even if you don't get the late '70's topical references, there's enough character-driven humor to make you laugh a whole lot. If, like Uncle Prospero, you saw all those great SNL moments and haven't seen Gilda Live in a while, funny is always funny, especially if you haven't seen it in a while. "Oh! My cheechnos!"


More, on Sunday.
Prospero

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"What Kind of Idiotic Joke Is This?"

I have no idea who Claudio Fragasso is, or if he even exists. He has a lot of credits (including Terminator 2) under a lot of different names, which leads me to believe he may well be the Italian equivalent of Alan Smithee. And this infamously bad movie (made under the name Drake Floyd) may be the pinnacle of Fergasso's career -- and will forever cement him in my mind as the Italian Uwe Boll.

A family moves to the town with the unlikely name of Nilbog (Goblin, spelled backwards - but shouldn't it really be Llort?). Grandpa Seth has been telling young Joshua tales of trolls and goblins which turn out to be true, even if Grandpa is really dead. Bad writing; bad acting; bad special effects; bad soundtrack; bad editing; bad sound; bad sets; bad costumes and bad direction all equal a truly putrescent piece of celluloid rubbish so awful, it has the biggest cult following since Rocky Horror...

There's even a brilliant documentary about, called Best Worst Movie, written and directed by Joshua himself, Michael Stephenson:

I'm waiting for Best Worst Movie to come out on DVD.

I did find this amusing compilation of scenes from Troll 2:

And here's the original trailer:



Oh, dear. Can anyone deny this movie's craptitude? Four and a Half Drumsticks.

More crap, anon.
Prospero

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The Best Worst Movies I Have to See

Confused? I'll bet. First and foremost, I must credit JA over at MyNewPlaidPants for turning me on to both of these movies. You rock, bro'! (How lamely hetero was that?)

Anyway, JA saw a documentary this past weekend called Best Worst Movie. It's about a cult movie, 20 years in the making; RottenTomatoes' infamously "Lowest Rated Movie" Troll 2.

A neglected travesty when it was released in 1990, Italian director Claudio Fragasso's Double "Z" grade horror movie has since garnered an enthusiastic audience of Bad Movie Lovers and midnight showings have been selling out across the country. I am certain that I skipped Troll 2 while browsing my local Blockbuster when it was released Direct-to-Video, so I have never had the, you will excuse the term, "pleasure".

But after seeing the trailer below, I find myself compelled to seek it out and experience its crapulence for myself. And then I MUST see Best Worst Movie as soon as humanly possible. Here's the trailer from the movie's official site, http://bestworstmovie.com/:

Best Worst Movie Trailer from Best Worst Movie on Vimeo.

In other Entertainment News, Towleroad is reporting that playwright Moises Kaufman's Epilogue to The Laramie Project will open in no less than 40 (and as many as 100) regional theatres on October 11th, the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepherd's death in Laramie, Wyoming. The Epilogue examines how the people in Laramie were affected by the events of 1998, and how life has (or hasn't) changed for them over the last eleven years. I hope that at least one of the many local regional theatres in my area participates.

More, anon.

Prospero

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