Letters to the Editor
Meanest
Review
I just read the review of my film 10
Attitudes ("Ten Bad Attitudes," December, 2004). I worked
very hard on this project. We [won] several Awards and have been received
fairly well in most publications. And it was the worst, meanest, bitchiest
.... I have ever read of anything I have done in my whole career! I felt
like I was 12 years old and that cool kid who beat me up wrote the review
of my little film. If his intention was to make me feel bad, it worked.
But I also laughed because it was so over the top and [I] got over it.
In defense, I guess the reviewer, Scott
Sherman, did not do much research on the film because he said I wrote
the script. Which I did not. As you can tell I am not a great writer from
this letter! I produced it and created the story with Michael Gallant.
The film was almost totally improvised. He also said I was OK in it but
a better writer. Well, I guess I am a better actor than I thought because
all most of my work was improv.
The film is a dogma style experimental project,
which was spelled out in the Press Release, which I guess he did not read.
I believe everyone has the right to have an opinion and like or dislike
a piece of art. But when I took my shirt off in a scene and he said "What
was I thinking?" ... that's just plain mean. I am 5'11" 185
pounds and have a 33-inch waist and 44-inch chest. So there!
No I am not a muscle god but that was the
point of the film. He also said that all the dates I went on were hot
guys and that I was trying to inflate my ego. Many of the dates were average
guys like myself who are looking for love. So I guess he did not watch
the whole film! And that is the point of the story. We did have some hot
guys in the film don't get me wrong, but many were just like the guys
who read your paper. And they are the people this film was made for.
Thanks for reading this and letting
me say my piece in print.
Jason Stuart
Los Angeles, CA
Scott Sherman responds: Awwww, if I really wanted to make Mr. Stuart feel
bad, I would have dated him, not written a review of his movie. And while
I may have been a little mean, I was not inaccurate. The 10 Attitudes
website (www.10attitudes.com)
lists Jason as a writer. So there. As to whether his improvising his own
lines counts as "writing" or "acting," that I leave
to the scholars at UCLA.
I'm sorry if Mr. Stuart is hurt by my comments
about his appearance, but if you're gonna play the lead in a romantic
comedy, and most of your suitors are hotter than the 4th of July, it does
raise the issue. I didn't consider the majority of his co-stars "average."
If they seem so to Mr. Stuart, I'd like to move his neighborhood. And,
just to be clear, Stuart is cute and likable, just not in a "leading
man" kind of way.
And I did watch every frame of his movie.
The minutes flew by like hours (just kidding!). As I said in my review,
the movie has some entertaining moments, and some funny performances -
one of which was Mr. Stuart's. But the production is a mess. Of course,
now you'll have to see for yourself, won't you?
Leahy Pro-Gay?
In Paul Olsen's wrap-up of the 2004 election
he mentioned "pro-gay" Senator Patrick Leahy and his statement
that he would "continue his fight for equal rights for gay Americans."
Next time Olsen interviews Leahy I hope he'll ask him to explain his vote
for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. That was an anti-gay vote.
Ross Laffan
Rochester
In his May 2004 interview with Sen. Leahy, Olsen asked the Senator
whether he regretted his vote for the Defense of Marriage Act. Leahy's
somewhat evasive answer seemed to lean toward regret, while recognizing
that DOMA was providing political cover for others to oppose the Federal
Marriage Amendment. He indicated that his pro-DOMA vote was about states
retaining the right to define marriage. Note that Leahy has introduced
the Permanent Partners Immigration Act to give immigration recognition
to same-sex partners. – Ed.
With Friends Like That...
Post mortems on the November elections fail
to see past the hoopla and lies of the two parties and thus don't address
the real political questions facing our community....
Democrats certainly want gay votes, and
will promise anything to get them, but in reality our agenda isn't something
they'd ever work up a sweat over. On the contrary, they're characterized
by duplicity and deceit. For 200 years they've promised everything but
delivered only for themselves and the rich.
In spite of Stonewall daydreams and HRC
perfidy, and in spite of their promises, the work done for them and money
given them, the leaders of the jackass party are not our allies –
quite the opposite. Clinton and the congressional jackasses approved 'Don't
Ask, Don't Tell' and led the effort to put the first national anti-gay
marriage law on the books. Kerry caved on gay marriage, paving the way
for state anti- gay marriage laws. In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm
happily betrayed us to the bigots, taking back state benefits from gay
families. That's shoddy, hypocritical and cowardly, but hey, they're jackasses,
what did you expect.
The truth is that the Republicans
unashamedly hate us, while Democrats put their arm around us, call us
friend, and only later comes the trip to the ER to treat those stab wounds
in the back....
Put this in perspective. These jackasses march to the right in lockstep
with the Republicans. Both support the criminal murders of over a hundred
thousand Iraqis, and almost 1500 GI’s in their illegal oil war.
Neither support[s] gay marriage, or ending the attack on working people’s
standard of living, and neither give a damn about civil rights, the problems
of immigrants, Native Americans, or the aged.
Secondly, and not downplaying
the danger of the Christian right wing, we've made remarkable progress
in changing laws and how people view us. Not because we've been timid,
but because we've fought for decades, on the job, in school, in the armed
forces, and in the courts and in demonstration, big and small. Those fights,
many without allies or hope of immediate victory, and not support of this
or that jackass candidate, are what’s fueled our progress.
When we take the path of militant
uncompromising mass mobilizations to get what we need to survive –
equal rights – then we join a long line of winners and heroes in
American history.... We were sometimes silent or not seen, but we were
there. That’s our real heritage, and now it’s our time, our
turn - we need victories for our benefit.
Still, people will want to know what
to do on Election Day. We need to tell them to vote for our supporters,
not our betrayers or our enemies. We need to vote for communist or socialist
candidates who support us and we need to back efforts to create a labor
party in the US, like Canada's NDP or the English Labor Party. A party
like that could unite all the groups now wasting their votes between Tweedledum
and Tweedledee and provide some real progress for a change. And, let's
face it, not having to vote for evil, even a lesser evil, would feel soooo
good.
Bill Perdue
Las Vegas, Nevada