Strangeways/Sideshow

Stuff you really, really want to know about the next season of Lost

2009-10-06T15:40:00.001-07:00

DANGER!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! (For those highly sensitive to such...)The first section is all stuff that has been made public, ie, either released in official press announcements or said by the producers.

1)The first episode is called LA X (I believe it's two hours, so it's LA X Parts 1 and 2)
And yes, the space between the "LA" and the "X" is intentional. We pick up right where we left off last season with Juliet blowing up a bomb in 1977 Dharma times and Un-Locke egging bitter Ben to kill the mysterious Jacob.
2)Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell)will be back for an unknown amount of episodes (or maybe just one)but won't be a regular.
3)Nestor Carbonell aka Richard aka Manliner Man is now a series regular. We will learn a LOT more about Richard.
4)Emilie de Ravin (Claire) is back as a regular.
5)Many dead,missing and long since seen characters from the past will reappear next season. Dominic Monaghan appeared but did not speak at the Lost forum at ComicCon this year. He'll be in at least 3 episodes. Ian Somerholder (Boone, the first big Lost death)will also be back for a couple of episodes. It was not released in what capacity they would appear...flashbacks, dream sequences, ghosts, or alternate timelines.
6)At Comic Con, videos were shown of Hurley in a Mr Cluck commercial apparently filmed AFTER the successful landing of Oceanic flight 815 in Los Angeles, and a segment of America's Most Wanted featuring the actual host John Walsh focusing on the search for the notorious Kate Austen, but not for the murder of her father, as we learned in Season 1, but that of another man who was mistakenly in the house that Kate blew up. Apparently, a different alternate timeline will be explored in Season 6...
7)Producers did confirm that we will see Daniel (Jeremy Davies) again but did not specify in what capacity (flashback, dream, alternate timeline). And, we will see Desmond in LA X.

WARNING...MORE SPOILERY STUFF AHEAD LEARNED FROM FANSITES AND NOT OFFICIALLY RELEASED. STOP READING NOW IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO SPOILAGE!!!

8)Maggie Grace (Shannon*, Boone's stepsister) is listed on the IMDB as being in LA X.
9)The following characters have been seen on set/location in Hawaii: Ilana, Bram, Charlie*, Boone*, Doc Arzt*, Kate's Marshall*, Frogurt*,Cindy the stewardess, Zak and Emma, Ethan*, Lapidus, Rose, Bernard, Charles Widmore. (*indicates dead characters). No word if anyone has sighted Ana* or Mr Eko*, but Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje said at Comic Con he was open to return to the show. Jorge Garcia (Hurley) said in an interview recently that it looked unlikely that Cynthia Watros (Libby*) would be returning, though her character will probably be mentioned. And Harold Perrineau (Michael*) said he is open to coming back as well, if the script is good.
10)A big Temple set has been constructed.
11)Jacob is the father of a character we already know.
12)Episode 3 is "What Kate Does" and is Kate-centric, (duh).
13)Episode 4 is "The Substitute" and is apparently Locke-centric. Locke's ladylove, played by Katey Sagal, will appear and his shitty little boss Randy Nations(who used to be Hurley's boss) played by Billy Ray Gallion.
14)Scenes are being shot that take place on the Island circa 2007 (last year, the time frame Un-Locke, Ben and Sun were in when they went to the base of the statue) with that cast but there also seems to be Island set, 2008 scenes with Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, etc meaning that they are no longer in 1978/Dharma times. And, most importantly, they are filming scenes of an alternate timeline featuring the characters AFTER Oceanic Flight 815 successfully lands in Los Angeles in 2004.
15)No word on the status of Jack's chest pelt...

My New Favorite Website

2009-08-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

People of Walmart

Just like life, it's heartbreaking AND hilarious and frequently both at the same time...

I originally heard about this on DListed...God bless Michael K.

What a lazy sumbitch I've been lately...

2009-08-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry, but my excuses are the following:

1)Nice weather excludes blogging.

2)I've had anything worth blogging about.

3)Depression and Recession.

4)General feeling of "Why bother to blog?"

5)Why bother to write blog entries that might be a paragraph or two long when you can suffice with short sentences on Facebook or Twitter?

6)I have nothing of interest to add to the general discussions ongoing vis a vis:

a)the death of Michael Jackson
b)the death of healthcare reform in this country
c)the abundance of new dessert outlets on Capitol Hill
d)local politics
e)anything to do with reality programs
f)Speidi

7)Hiding my true identity as Dick Whitman is exhausting and very time consuming...

That is all.

For now.

aaaaaah!

2009-07-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

A strange thing happened to me about 4am this morning; I woke up, shivered and realized that I needed a quilt in addition to the thin, sweat soaked sheet I had been used to covering myself with for the last several days...it was a delightful feeling.

Maybe I can work my way back to actually cooking food and taking warm showers.

Late Breaking News!

2009-07-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

After beers, professor, officer plan to meet again; perhaps start dating.
CNN International - ‎1 hour ago‎
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The officer who arrested a top African-American professor said talks over beers Thursday evening at the White House were productive and the two men plan to meet again at a Back Bay gay bar called Peckers. Sgt. James Crowley confided to a friend that he had long admired older, African-American men with an air of sophistication and butts that just won't quit, and Skip Gates just might be "the man of my dreams!"

Bing is my default search engine on my workplace laptop...

2009-07-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

but I prefer Google. I typed in Google in the Bing search window and Bing's response was they could not find a match for Google, but would I like to check out "Googles"?

How petty...

Shhhhhh....Don't tell Mr. Poe about my new imaginary boyfriend,

2009-06-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

Rob Fyfe the silver haired daddy/CEO of Air New Zealand...and definitely don't tell him that Mr Fyfe appears nude, except for body paint, in a new ad for Air New Zealand...

But, Jebus, the Kiwi accent IS a bit harsh isn't it?

Sad...

2009-06-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

An angel skateboards into heaven...

I'm trying to decide between the Charlie's Angels episode where they're in the women's prison camp or the one with the roller derby theme as my favorite...they're both great!

A toast to Farrah.

Damn you, Trader Joe's!

2009-06-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

and your delicious Pita Bite Crackers! I can't stop eating you! And you're good with EVERYTHING! Even plain, you are deliciously addictive with your sea salt dusting and slightly burnt edges. And since you're a new addition to the Trader Joe's family, I worry that you are a temporary seasonal item and that you might go away, never to be seen, or eaten, again!

I hate you and yet, I love you...

UPDATE: I guess they're not that new or seasonal but TJ's must have got a big shipment and they've been pushing them on a big end display for the last few weeks...but I do get paranoid with Trader Joe's because they HAVE taken away things I've loved in the past.

Miami Cats Have Snit Over Release Of Accused Cat Serial Killer

2009-06-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

Cat killings suspect no danger, judge says
United Press International - ‎20 hours ago‎
MIAMI, June 17 (UPI) -- A Miami man accused of killing and mutilating 19 cats was released on bond Wednesday after a judge ruled he posed no danger. ...

Mr Boots, taken weeks before the tragedy. (File photo)

Mittens, a two-year old mixed Persian, sits nervously in her home in Miami Beach. Her beautiful green eyes dart around the room fearfully and she immediately jumps to her paws when a garbage truck drives by her modestly decorated Art Deco duplex. She seems embarassed at her reaction but makes no apologies as she returns to our conversation with frequent breaks for some casual grooming. "It's so hard for me to understand why this judge would think this monster would pose no threat to the Feline-American community of South Florida," she says quietly as she reflexively clenches and unclenches her claws into the arms of the sofa. "He has been accused of slaughtering 19 cats! And, two of them, Tabitha Sue Martin and Mr Boots, were very close friends of mine! We frequently used to meet up in the alley behind that fish place on 34th Street. We had a lot of good times together, eating fish heads and playing with balls of string...and now, that's all gone; I'll never see my friends again!"

Other cats and their friends and supporters, are equally mystified at the remarks made by the judge. Only "Butch", a spokesperson from the Gruff Dog Coalition of Greater Dade County who refused to give a last name and wore no tag on his masculine spiked collar, expressed support for the decision made by the court.

story continued on back page...

A million apologies for my lack of posts.

2009-06-16T15:22:00.001-07:00

I've been busy with work, SIFF, some sort of lovelife, barbecuing in this divine weather, and being irritated by the Administration of Barack Obama, Chase-Manhattan Bank, my brother's douchey employers and a lack of time and money,(in other words, all the usual suspects...).

Still, I feel shitty for neglecting you.

My utmost apologies.

To make it up to you, here is a picture of Mad Men star, Jon Hamm.

Sadly, he is clothed.

My New Favorite Band: Empire of the Sun

2009-05-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

It's fronted by Australians Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson (the chubby blonde) and Nick Littlemore of Pnau, (the wriggly brunette)...I think they're the Next Big Thing in a hipster, gay music sort of way. Check out the video for We Are the People here...Oh, and I first heard about them at Steven Blum's blog, Ohmygod, Seattle!

Best Song About Ladybugs, EVUH!!!

2009-05-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street!

Go here for a Ladybug picnic...

Apparently my credit card number decided to take a vacation in Rensselaer, New York and didn't bother to invite me!!

2009-05-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have joined the ranks of those many Americans who have become the victims of credit fraud! On Monday, I went to use my WaMu/Chase credit/debit card at my local teryaki joint only to have it declined...five times. Needless to say, I was furious at the restaurant and/or WaMa/Chase for fucking up a simple credit transaction when I had at least $500 in my checking account so I stormed out of the restaurant and walked the 4 blocks to Fremont to check my balance at an ATM and to buy me some food for my lunch. Apparently, though, there's only ONE fucking ATM in Fremont and it's some rinky-dink Frontier Bank ATM and it wouldn't/couldn't give me an account balance. By this point I'm furious AND starving but I was also nervous about using my card because frankly it's embarassing to have your card declined in front of witnessess because no one ever believes you when you tell them that you really do have money in your account. In desperation, I grabbed a cheap sandwich at PCC and used the self-service check-out where I was successfully able to make a DEBIT card transaction. "Ah, hah!" I thought as I walked back to work, scarfing down my chicken salad sandwich, "So there ISN'T anything wrong with my card, it's the crappy credit card machine at the teryaki place!"

Still, I was uneasy about my card and bank account so as soon as I got back to work, I called the bank to get a balance...and, there was a mysterious pending charge on my account for $84.20. Now, I am not a fiscally responsible person; I have much debt and I haven't balanced my checking account in 25 years but I do have a pretty good memory and I generally know my aproximate bank balance at all times and I was having a hard time remembering having made any kind of transaction recently that was anywhere close to $84.20. I then went online to find out that I had apparently purchased $84.20 worth of wine and/or beer at a store called "Grapes & Grains"...in Rensselaer, NY a suburb of Albany. Needless to say I've never been to Rensselaer, NY so I immediately called WaMu/Chase to report the theft of my card number and to discover that they too had been alarmed by my apparent teleporting from Seattle to New York and back again last Friday, and had put a hold on my credit card, (but strangely enough, not on the debit part of my card, because it still worked). So, they cancelled my card, (which means I have to go a week without having a debit/credit card and quick access to my money) but I was relieved that the crooks had only gotten away with one transaction...or so I thought. On Wednesday, I stopped off at the Broadway WaMu on my way to work to deposit a SIFF paycheck and to withdraw $200 to last me for the week. The nice teller lady handed me my money and the receipt with my new balance on it...after my withdrawal I only had about $30 left in my account when I should have had around $300. I asked her to look at the account to see if there had been any new "funny" transactions...well, apparently after buying their weekend supply of beer/wine my thieves went to gas up their SUV because they used my card number to spend $200 at an Exxon gas station in Rensselaer. Also, there didn't seem to be anything going on with me getting back the money already stolen from me. But, the teller was very nice and got one of the desk people to help me and they called the Fraud Department for me and this time I think I actually got a customer service rep who knew what they were doing and they opened a file for me and gave me a case number and told me I should have the money back in my account within 5 business days, (it took less than one; I got my money back today), so I'm relatively happy and only put out that I have to wait until next week to get my new card.

Oh, and I have a strong suspicion that someone at Seattle Central stole my number. I belong to the gym there and they process the payment transactions like it was 1991. They take an IMPRINT of your card with all the info on it and it doesn't get run for several days and I'm assuming that that imprint is just sitting around in a box or drawer for days in plain site of the many dozens of student workers at the front desk. It's the only "odd" transaction I've made in months; 98% of my credit transactions are immediately swiped at the dozen or so businesses where I make my custom, (Safeway, Trader Joe's, the teryaki place, the cigarette store, Subway). So, if I decide to renew my gym membership at Central, I'm paying cash which means I'll have to to the fucking bursurs office to make my payment...(and apparently the bursur's office at Central also takes card imprints when you pay by card, which is ludicrous in this day and age for a state run institution).

And, I'm going to have to eat crow and take some candy to the nice ladies at my teryaki place...I wasn't verbally mean to them but I did angrily storm out of the restaurant like it was their fault and now I feel guilty that it came across that I blamed them and they ARE nice and make good, non-greasy teryaki which I'm eternally grateful for...

Rumor has it, the Georgetown Music Festival cancelled...

2009-05-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

...due to lack of sponsorship.

Dat's de word on de street...

If it's true, that's sad.

Juliet LIVES!!!

2009-05-14T16:02:00.001-07:00

Or, at least she'd better live or I will personally take down ABC, Disney and Team Darlton for killing off the most interesting female character on Lost. (which would consist of me whining about how awful they are, on this blog which no one reads...so take that, Disney!)

But then again, we didn't see her, (or Sayid, for that matter) actually kick the bucket...plus, if Daniel/Jack's dumb "let's blow up the Island to correct our time anomaly" trick actually worked, then NONE of this will have happened and poor Juliet will be stuck back on the Island circa 2003 slaving away for The Others trying to solve their problems with maternity.

Right?

And, as for last night's season ending episode, I really enjoyed it, (except for the maybe killing Juliet thing and the presence of Jack, a character I care nothing about, and judging by the way the writers of the show write for him, they don't seem that invested in Jack either...) The introduction of Jacob and his eternal nemesis Esau/the Man in Black/that guy from Deadwood was well done and seemed to set the show up for the inevitable good guys/bad guys showdown in season 6, (even though we're still not sure who's "good" and who's "bad"; I'm guessing that we're going to continue with that ambivalence through the end of the series, which I like). I loved all the scenes with Ben and FakeLocke and the realization that The Man in Black has been playing numerous roles over the course of time, (don't you think it likely that it was MIB who was inhabitating Jack's dead dad Christian and other ghostly presences on the Island since it apparently wasn't possible for MIB to leave the Cabin he was imprisoned in?) And, do you really think Ben has been played for a patsy for all these years, or was that entire ending scene worked out beforehand between Ben and Jacob? And, is Jacob really dead? It would seem to me that a guy who's apparently lived for quite a long time, wouldn't be so easily dispatched...And, what about...oh, I could go on for pages and pages so let me just list some thoughts and questions:

Are Rose and Bernard really "retired"? Was this just a way to write them out of the story? Or, do they have a larger role to play in the future?

Where was Walt?!?!?! He's been in every final episode of every season...his character seemed so important in the beginning and now he's seemed to fade away...will he come back next year, or will that be possible if the Losties are blown back to 2003 when Walt was only 11?

Where was Desmond? And Penny? And Widmore? Are they yesterdays news?

If the bomb plan worked and the original Losties never came to the Island, does that mean that Charlie and AnaLucia and Libby and Eko and Shannon and Michael and all the others killed on the Island are still alive? Does that mean that we'll SEE some of these characters next season? (We already know that Claire will be returning next year but she's never been officially confirmed as dead...)

I hope Sayid IS dead...there's nothing more to be done with his character...but, it WAS sad when Nadia was run down...(and who's driving the killer car that has run over several characters over the years? Is it one of the many drunk driving Lost actors?)

Richard Alpert: is it just me, or is his character sort of stupid? He seemed so all-knowing at first and now he just seems clueless...or is it an act?

Wassup with Ilana and Company? Are they original to the Island? Is Ilana as old as Alpert or Jacob? How many toes does she have?

Jacob was kind of....hot, in a blond, Scandinavian Jesus-y sort of way.

Finally...

REALLY...JULIET HAD BETTER NOT BE FUCKIN' DEAD, MOTHERFUCKERS AT ABC/DISNEY/BAD ROBOT!!!!!!!I MEAN IT!!!!

Shit...8 more months to a new Lost episode...

Namaste

The Road begins to put up signs that it nears completion.

2009-05-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently the marketing push for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's dystopic, best seller The Road has begun as Tom Chiarella of Esquire was given an advance screening of the film and has proceeded to declare: "The Road is the Most Important Movie of the Year." You can read his jizz-covered review over at the Esquire website. And to follow up, The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for the film; you can catch it on YouTube. I have to say, the visuals look very impressive but it's hard to determine the overall quality of a film from a trailer. Viggo Mortensen seems well cast as The Man, but it was a bit off-putting to see so much of Charlize Theron as his wife in the trailer...in the book, the wife has a very limited physical presence. Either her part was significantly beefed up to attract a bigger named actress, or, we're seeing the majority of her moments in the trailer in an effort to draw more people to the film. And I wouldn't blame them for that; the book has a large number of fans who will want to see the film, but it's going to be tough to lure a significant number of the general population to pay $10 for a two hour filmed bleakfest featuring cannibals, babies roasting on a spit, sex-slaves, and a general lack of hope and basic hygiene...Still, I plan on seeing this. I'm a sucker for dystopic societies. The film is scheduled to open October 16th, and I'm guessing that it will be a limited release at first to gather up steam for award season.

Torso is Morte!

2009-05-13T16:16:00.001-07:00

That keening sound you hear in the air is the anguished voices of millions of gay men over the age of 30 mourning the news that the Mavety publishing group has announced they are ceasing publication of the gay erotic magazine titles, Torso, Mandate, Playguy, Inches and Honcho. Mandate, the oldest of the group, has been published for 34 years. The blog Boy Culture first reported the news on Monday and it was picked up by sites all over the web. I've tried to find some sort of official announcement, but none seems to have been made and Mavety doesn't appear to have an public website...which might help explain why they had to shutter the mags. Matthew Rettenmund, the blogger at Boy Culture who broke the story, previously worked for the Mavety Group and has an insider's take on the demise of the magazines and gives a fitting tribute to their creator and publisher George Mavety, (who himself died in 2000), a heterosexual Canadian who also created Juggs, which has NOT ceased publication.

I have a tub, or two, of old gay porno mags at home that I never look at anymore but I'm loathe to throw them away because they're kind of an important part of my life as a gay man...for gay men coming of age in the late 70's and throughout the 80's and even well into the 90's, these magazines were the only sources of information we had about our sexuality and what it meant to be gay. And maybe the information wasn't always the best and maybe it created a false sense of worth, (just like mainstream magazines do for straight people), but it was all we had...and it was sexy as hell in a world deprived of 24 hour instant internet access to sexual imagery from around the world.

A toast to Torso, and Mandate, and Honcho, and Playguy and Inches...

Tonite on Lost: The Incident

2009-05-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

Synopsis
Jack's decision to put a plan in action in order to set things right on the island is met with some strong resistance by those close to him, and Locke assigns Ben a difficult task, on the season finale of “Lost.”

Guest List
L. Scott Caldwell as Rose
Sam Anderson as Bernard
John Terry as Christian Shephard
Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert
Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus
Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang
Patrick Fischler as Phi
l Eric Lange as Radzinsky
Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana
Brad William Henke as Bram
Jon Gries as Roger Linus
Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking
Andrea Gabriel as Noor “Nadia” Abed Jaseem
Kevin Chapman as Mitch
Mark Pellegrino as man #1
Titus Welliver as man #2
Emily Rae Argenti as young Kate
Tanner Maguire as young Tom
George Gerdes as Mr. Springer
Agnes Kwak as Aunt Soo
Amy Stewart as mother
Rylee Fansler as young Juliet
Savannah Lathem as young Rachel
William Makozak as Captain Bird
Daniel James Kunkel as anesthesiologist
Sonya Masinovsky as Russian nurse
Keegan Boos as young Sawyer
Colby French as Uncle Doug
John Pete as prison clerk
Michael Trisler as father he
Sally Davis as woman
Adam Bazzi as cab driver

It's a joyously sad day as we approach tonite's season ending, 2 hour finale, The Incident; a joyous and exciting time to savor what will probably be an engaging episode and of course a day of sadness as rabid Lost fans realize it'll be 8 months or so until their next new episode and the start of Lost's 6th and final season. But, we won't dwell on that...or, at least not for the time being.

What should we expect from tonite's episode? Well, just from scuttlebutt, rumor and the cast list featured above I'm guessing we're going to continue our Jacob hunt with Super Locke and Company in 2007 and somewhere along the way we might be running into both the long missing Rose/Bernard/Vincent the dog contigent AND the mysterious Ilana/Bram/knocked out Lapidus/Shadow of the Statue posse we last saw on Hydra Island...And we know that Jack/Sawyer/MiddleAged but sexy as hell Ms Hawking are up to no good with the Jughead bomb and that something causes the notorious Incident at the Swan Station that sounds like it might be explosive...AND, that promo clips for tonite's show feature our favorite uncomfortable trio of Sawyer/Kate/Juliet back ON the Island and NOT on the submarine bound for Ann Arbor, (does Ann Arbor have a submarine dock?), so apparently they either discovered a way to teleport off a submarine, or more likely, Sawyer just beaned the Captain in the head and shanghaied the sub to take them back to the Island...

And judging by that cast list, I'm assuming we're in for some flashbacks of our heroes, including trips back in time to the death of Nadia, Jin and Sun's wedding, Locke's crippling fall, spikey haired medical resident Jack with his dad, and various pre-teen incarnations of Sawyer/Kate/Kate's friend that she sorta killed/Juliet and Juliet's cancer stricken sister before she got the cancer. Oh, and we'll find out why Hurley came back to the Island, and where did that guitar case come from that he keeps hauling around?

Oddly, enough, there's no sign of Penny or Old Man Widmore on the guest list which leads to the question, "Will Desmond have much to do on tonite's episode?" (Desmond, and Sun/Jin got pretty short shifted this season...very little for them to do...)

Lastly, it seems likely we WILL see Jacob, or at least, some form of Jacob at some point AND, I'm predicting we're going to see Walt and maybe the long missing Claire in some form, in tonite's episode. (The Walt/Claire prediction is NOT a spoiler; I'm just guessing here...I don't have any insider knowledge that they will be on the show tonite.) For that matter, I'm guessing that the Guest Cast List might be short SEVERAL names...we'll see.

Obviously, I'm a bit bored...

2009-05-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

My eyes, (which are hazel) look very blue in the top photo...

and very dark in the last two photos...

Today at SIFF!

2009-05-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

C'mon down and buy some tickets at Ticket Island in Pacific Place!

Travis Louie at Roq La Rue...

2009-05-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

For more Louie go here. For more Roq La Rue, go here. The Lush Life group show runs through June 2nd and features art by:

Joe Sorren, Chris Berens, Chris Conn Askew, Mia Araujo, Melissa Forman, Travis Louie, Madeline Von Foerster, Martin Wittfooth, Kukula, Ryan Heshka, John Brophy, Tin, Brian Despain, Glenn Barr, Dan Quintana, Femke Hiemstra, Laurie Hogin, Lisa Petrucci, and Andrew Arconti

Go. Now. See. Buy.

Things that make you go: WTF?

2009-05-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

I got this picture from Awkward Family Photos, maybe the best website EVUH, but I originally heard about the site at DListed...

This picture raises soooooo very many questions...the primary one being, of course, WHY?
Did Mom or Dad wake up one day with the idea, "Hey, lets make nekkid costumes for the entire family to wear?" And, WHERE did they wear these costumes? Was it for a family event, or a public event? Did the kids wear these to school? What was the reaction of the other guests? Is this a nudist family or are they just 'wacky'? Is Daddy's real wang the same size as the costume wang? And is Mommy's bush really that uh, bushy? And, why is little Susie playing with Daddy's costume wang in the first place?

I'm guessing they MUST be European...can you tell in the photo if the costume wang is cut, or uncut?

Shawn Levy responds...

2009-05-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted about my ire at Paul Newman biographer Shawn Levy, a film critic at The Oregonian, and his comments to Ray Pride at Movie City News in an interview about Levy's recently published Newman bio and Levy's remarks concerning Paul Newman's height. I sent a short email to Pride expressing my ire, and Pride briefly responded with a reply email but he must have cc'd Levy because I got a response from Shawn Levy this morning:

As I said in the very brief comment, he was likely closer to 5'10" as a young man than he was when he was in his 60s, when he'd shrunken with age. At any rate, having never met him, I'm just guesstimating from pictures and such.

Shawn Levy

Writers sure are touchy! A little criticism from a nobody like me and he feels the need to defend himself! But, I appreciate the fact that he responded. Oh, and here's my response to Levy's email, and I should point out beforehand that Paul Newman: A Life is Levy's 5th book; his previous book, The Last Playboy, a biography of noted mid-century Dominican cocksman/playboy/gigolo/diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa and his legendary monster schlong is a very entertaining read and one I can recommend to fans of pop culture, histories of cafe society and/or biographies of men with extremely large penises...

I guess I'll forgive you but only because I enjoyed The Last Playboy and have to appreciate any biographer who would bother to write about such a marginal but fascinating figure of mid-twentieth century history.

I wonder if Rubi "shrunk" as he got older?

As for Mr Newman and other average or slightly below average height male stars, I've always thought it a bit silly their desperation at maintaining an image that they MUST be of a certain height in order to project masculinity and a sense of power. On the whole, do audiences really care? And do shorter male stars dread going on Letterman; after all, he's over 6 foot. For that 10 second moment when they meet and shake hands at the desk before sitting down, you can pretty accurately judge the guest's height in comparison to Dave's...

Sorry, Shawn...have to call Bullshit on that...

2009-05-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ray Price over on Movie City News has an interview with Oregonian film critic Shawn Levy and a conversation about Levy's new book, the unimaginatively titled, Paul Newman: A Life. Here's an excerpt from that interview:

PRIDE: How tall was Newman? Is it just the bad internets having a field day lately with varying estimates?

LEVY: I think that in the fullness of his time he stood about five ten-and-a-half or a smidge taller. But by the time the N. Y. Post started taking potshots at him for being short, he was nearing 60 and probably had ceded an inch or two to age.

I seriously have to question how accurate of a job Levy did on this biography when he's willing to perpetuate a stupid lie about an actor's height, especially since I have personal knowledge of this. I encountered Paul Newman in 1989 when he was filming Mr and Mrs Bridge in Kansas City. I was on my way to work one afternoon and was walking the three blocks from my bus stop to the downtown hotel I worked at, when I noticed a lot of big trucks and trailers parked near an old hotel; obviously, they were filming Bridge in the area, something that had been going on for several weeks at this point and a sight I was used to seeing because I had already run across the trucks not far from my apartment. That day, as I was hurrying to work, I didn't pay much attention to the film trucks. There was little obvious activity going on at street level, but as I got closer to the trucks I did notice a solitary man, in a 1940's period suit, walking towards me in the general direction of some parked trailers. Obviously it was an actor in the film and I thought, "Cool, I'm getting to see some behind the scenes stuff" and as we passed each other we acknowledged each other and did the nodded head/slight smile thing and I walked about another 10 feet and realized that I had just passed by Paul Newman. (the same thing happened to me in NYC when I walked by Paul Simon, who's notoriously short). I immediately spun around to gawk at him as he entered a trailer, and I gaily skipped the remaining two blocks to work to delightedly tell my co-workers that I had just had a Newman sighting!

"Ohmigod! I just encountered Paul Newman on the street!" were the first words out of mouth, and the second sentence I excitedly uttered were words along the line of: "And he's fuckin' tiny! Like 5'7" at best, and maybe 140 pounds!", which surprised no one since this was a downtown hotel and we were used to seeing celebrities in person and the inevitable disappointment of meeting celebrities in person and discovering they are ususlly smaller, duller and surlier in person than they are on your tv or movie screen. And, I should point out, my perception of Mr Newman's height was based on the fact we walked right past each other, and I'm not quite 5.10 (5' 9" 3/4)and Mr Newman was at least a couple inches shorter than me. That was in 1989 when Newman was about 64...is it really common for adult men to shrink three inches by their mid-sixties?

So, judging by Shawn Levy's dorky defense of his dead biography subjects height, I'm guessing that Levy doesn't venture much into the "Paul Newman was gay/bi" controversy in his book...

Oh, and go here for a hilarious discussion of Newman's height...and other celebrities as well including the not quite 5'10 Robert Redford.