MAN ABOUT TOWN

Currently listening to: Godspeed You Black Emperor, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennae To Heaven The festival is now into its second full day, and I thought it was time for an update - which is also why I'm listening to Godspeed, because the best film I saw today featured them in the soundtrack. At the time I thought it might have been Explosions In The Sky, but I stuck around for the credits to find out who it was, and was pleasently suprised. The other beautiful thing about the credits was the closing dedication: 'For the boys who love boys, the girls who love girls, the boys who love girls and the girls who love boys.' Coupled with the rousing soundtrack at the emotional climax of the film (a rooftop scene featuring a real shooting star at the perfect moment) it brought tears to my eyes. The film was Blue Citrus Hearts (USA, dir Morgan Jon Fox, 2003), a coming out drama lifted from the everyday by its zine-like aesthetic, its endearingly inarticulate leads, and its i...

Currently Listening To: These Were The Earlies , The Earlies It's 11.30 on Friday morning and I'm sitting here recovering from the opening night of the 15th Melbourne Queer Film Festival , which was held at the art deco Astor Cinema last night. The festival runs for the next 10 days, with a range of shorts, features and docos from around the world. This year's programme includes more Australian films than ever, as well as a panel which I'm moderating called 'Vocal Locals', featuring a range of film-makers (including the Oscar-winning Adam Elliot, and Matt Campbell, head of programming at SBS TV). For more details about the festival check out www.melbournequeerfilm.com.au The opening night film was D.E.B.S . (USA 2004, 91 mins, directed by Angela Robinson), and was a bit of a hoot. A tongue-in-cheek teen lesbian spoof of the espionage thriller, it featuring star-crossed lovers, pleated skirts and an 80's pop soundtrack. Imagine Heathers meets Charlie's...

I just found out that the film version of Alan Moore's comic V For Vendetta has begun production. If you've never heard of the comic you can get a crash course about it here: http://www.shadowgalaxy.net/Vendetta/ Will this be a good film, or a crap one? In light of the Wakowski Brothers' last two films I fear the latter, but we shall see...

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything, and since I just stepped through the door after coming home from a new dance work, and since I have at least an hour before I head out to a party at a local bar I hang out at, I thought it was time I wrote some further rambling observations about life, art and everything. Currently listening to: Second Storey , Art of Fighting My friend Jeff e-mailed me last week to ask if I would go and see a new dance work with him tonight. Contemporary dance is not something I'm big on - partially because it's so outside my comfort zone that I don't know how to react, review, critique or process it. It's not totally unfamiliar to me: I actually did a year or two's classes in modern dance back in the 1980's while I was still in high school (and yes, I was the only boy in the class, but what else do you expect in a country town in the tail end of the last century?), but it's so far removed from what I'm familiar ...