Go Todd Go

Bubble Boy is the like movie junk food. Panned by the experts, but oh so good you can't help yourself. You flip past the channels somehow you have to watch, and then you wonder hours later... it happened again. Kind of like potato chips (crisps to some of you) you can't stop at one and you can't believe that you finished off the bag.


Who is responsible for this? These men - Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul. These are the two who created Bubble Boy, Dr. Phreak, and the Bright and Shinys. But don't call them Ken and Cinco, they are Todds. Oh yeah they are Todds, when you write a song like Bright and Shiny you have to sing it. Next time you find yourself trapped in the Bubble Boy bubble, look for them. While Bubble Boy was not a commercial hit, they have had another, little movie called Horton Hears a Who. And Bubble Boy now has type of cult following.

An other cameo in Bubble Boy you might not have noticed - Stacey Keebler, Pro Wreslter with the WWE, Reebok spokemodel and contestant on Dancing with the Stars in the U.S. Listed at Working Girl, suspected she was one of the two ladies challenging Jimmy for the "500 dollahs".

One good thing that Bubble Boy did was show off those comedy skills Jake's had since childhood. Jake grew up with Martin Short as a neighbor, his godmother's Jamie Lee Curtis husband funny man Christopher Guest as a family friend and of course worked with Billy Crystal. "From the time he could talk," his mom quoted as saying, "Jake didn’t have a chance. 'We knew he was going to be an actor since the time he was tiny,' she says. 'We figured he would just run away and join ‘Saturday Night Live.’ "

And he finally got his chance.


Now you can't you see him doing the Bright and Shiny video, complete with the jazz hands. Cause you know he is a Todd at heart.


And yes that is a peppermint patty eye patch.

Back to Brokeback

Always a little reluctant to write about Brokeback, not because it is not loved but that is almost loved too much. So much passion and emotion tied to this movie that the feeling is that a simple post will never meet the feeling and fervor of fans.
But several recent mentions, led to this post.


Heath Ledger finds and keeps the shirts Jake Gyllenhaal had saved from their first trip to Brokeback Mountain (2005) was named one of the New 25 Romantic Gestures in The New Movie classics list in Entertainment Weekly recently. It was only behind Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey's dance in Dirty Dancing, Robert Redford washing Meryl Streep's hair in Out of Africa, and John Cusack playing Peter Gabriel outside Ione Skyes window in Say Anything. All of these moment are iconic in the pantheons of romantic movies, and Brokeback is no different. In a way it has after all this time achieved the shift from gay cowboy more to classic love story, just the way Ang and the rest of the cast saw it to be when it was made. Some felt that way from the beginning but now more are shifting as well. Brokeback is will be forever a classic love story in cinema history.

This week will be another big week for Brokeback. Why now? This Friday at 9pm, after the GLAAD media awards, will be the U.S. network premiere on Bravo, a cable channel and part of parent company NBC.

What will be edited out for television? Is Bravo a test run for it to be seen on NBC? Or this NBC's solution putting it on Bravo instead on NBC?

One thing it is, is a chance to reach an audience who was too scared to go to the movie or rent the video. Putting it on network TV, in whatever form, may reach that one person, that one teen who may need it most to realize that " love is a force of nature."

Out Spotlight XXXI

The story of Mary Griffith and her son Bobby is now being made into a made for TV movie for Lifetime Television, and it has been a long time coming. There had been talk since the mid 90's about making the story Prayers for Bobby for television. Sometimes it takes the right champion for the project, and Sigourney Weaver stepped in as that champion. But who is the champion for gay teens, called Mary Griffith?

The mother of a gay son, Mary Griffith's reaction was one that is unfortunately not that uncommon, and one with tragic consequences. But through tragedy comes triumph and now Mary Griffith is an advocate and has helped many who are upset, confused, uninformed , and closed to talking about homosexuality and faith.

Mary Griffith was a devoted mother to two sons, living in Northern California and a parishioner in the in the mega church, Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church. She was devoted to her family, her faith and her church, but all of that changed, when her son Bobby told them about his homosexuality.

When Bobby was 15, he told his older brother Eddie he was gay, but made him promise not to tell anyone. After Bobby unsuccessfully tried to kill himself with a bottle of Bufferin, Eddie broke his promise.

Mary Griffith says Bobby was "humiliated" that they knew he was gay.

Things got better for Bobby when he went to a junior college which had a gay group on campus. He dated and did have boyfriends, but his mother says he always fought a battle between what he felt in his heart and what he taught was proper.

"The thing with Bobby is that he could not separate from his religious teachings," she says, adding that he felt "anything positive about being gay was from Satan and it was not valid. The psychological terror just tormented him.

Those feelings came from their faith. They felt that homosexuality was sick perverted, sinful and condemned by God. For her part, Mary just knew that homosexuality was "an abomination to God." And even before she knew Bobby was gay, she conveyed her feeling to him in no uncertain terms."You can't love God and be gay," she told Bobby. The family Bobby felt was a sinner, that he had to be cured by prayer and Christian counseling. Mary told him he had to repent or God would "damn him to hell and eternal punishment." She had faith that God would come to Bobby's rescue, but only if he read his Bible.

The Christian counselor recommended prayer and suggested that Bobby spend more time with his father. But Bobby's diary revealed that nothing was changing. "Why did you do this to me, God?" he wrote. "Am I going to hell? I need your seal of approval. If I had that, I would be happy. Life is so cruel and unfair."

His mother kept telling him he could change. "It seems like every time we talked, I would tell him that," she says. "I thought Bobby wasn't trying in his prayers." When Bobby became more withdrawn, she simply chalked it up to God's punishment. "Now," she says, I look back and realize he was just depressed."

When Bobby was twenty, in desperation the Griffiths decided he should move to Portland, Oregon, and live with a cousin. At first, the move seemed to help. He later took a backflip off a overpass bridge into the path of an oncoming truck. The guilt, the shame was too much for him.

The family devastated. The Griffiths met with their pastor for grief counseling. In her despair, Mary was seeking ways to atone for the loss of Bobby. She told the pastor she knew there were "other Bobbys out there" and asked how she could help them. The pastor merely shrugged his shoulders—and Mary never again returned to that church.

Mary did not lose her faith, but found a very different God from the one she worshiped at Walnut Creek Presbyterian. She reread her Bible with fresh eyes, and sought out secular books about homosexuality. She concluded that there was noting wrong with Bobby, that "he was the kind of person God wanted him to be...an equal, lovable valuable part of God's creation." She says now, "I helped instill false guilt in an innocent child's conscience."

Shortly after Bobby's death, Mary Griffith discovered PFLAG. For some years, she was president of an East San Francisco Bay PFLAG chapter and appeared frequently on television talk shows, usually wearing a button with Bobby's picture and another with the PFLAG message, "We love our gay and lesbian children." She has cooperated in the filming of documentaries about the Griffith family tragedy, and is the subject of a the book Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son, by Leroy Aarons, founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and a former national correspondent for the Washington Post. Now being filmed for Lifetime. She campaigns tirelessly for the cause of public school counseling supportive of gay teenagers, believing that Bobby would still be alive if his high school had had such a program.

She testified before the House Economic and Educational Opportunities subcommittee investigative hearing on Parents, Schools and Values, trying to prevent any sex education from being taught in the schools, especially anything to do with homosexuality. "I gave them a description of my son and how religious ideology and their stands on homosexuality caused him a lot of guilt and depression, and how the dehumanizing and demoralizing slander led to his suicide," she said.

"Seeds of fear are planted in the mind of ignorance," she told the subcommittee. "From then on, ignorance listens, and believes without question the demoralizing and dehumanizing slander spread about our children. This rhetoric destroyed our son's life, and countless children today. I have learned all too well that hell has no fury like that of ignorance and fear. Special interest groups use them to promote prejudice, discrimination, rejection, and violence against our children.

"Suicide is the ultimate form of censorship," she continued. "Daily, our children are being accused, judged, convicted and sentenced to a life of spiritual poverty, degradation of self-esteem and personal worth. An epidemic of violence and suicide among our children is the ultimate result. All because of hearsay, ugly rumors, half-truths and outright lies."

She has taken such tragedy and turned into triumph helping parents, friends, family and those coming out understand, accept, and embrace the gift of life and their creation just as they are.

Mary Griffith has since accepted that there was nothing wrong with Bobby in the eyes of God. "God had not cured our son. Why? Because Bobby was created in God's image. There was nothing to cure."

OMG Movie Club Summer Fun Edition

Summer brings summer movies. Light like popcorn, nothing heavy, or deep. Many comedy and guilty pleasures are release during the lightheartedness of summer, and what a perfect time for a comedy or guilty pleasure or maybe even a musical on the OMG Movie Club. Let's us know what would be fun to watch and share together.

Just a few movies to consider or to jumpstart your movie thinking: Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Sordid Lives, Kiss Me Guido, Rent, or maybe South Pacific will rise some attention in the musical category. And there are many more out there. Let's us know what you think.

What is that great fun movie you want to see and share?

We'll take suggestions for today and through the week, vote next Saturday, June 28th for our choice and discuss on Saturday July 19th. BYOP (Bring your own Popcorn)

Summertime...the living is easy

According published studies, today is the happiest day of the year. Because it's the solstice? That's That the Celtic beat LA? (sorry had to go there once) Longest amount of sunlight of the entire year? The first official day of summer for many? Or is it just because it's Austin Friday?

Starmaking

Austin filming Prayers for Bobby, it great news, and it has been too long since we have seen him in front of a camera. While we think he not working enough, he is working more than the majority of actors in Hollywood who are out there trying to get parts. But that's not the focus here, its the parts he's taking that are interesting. And not just for the obvious this time.

Not worried about small screen or large he seems to bounce back and forth, just looking for projects that interest him, and more from the artistic perspective as an actor than for career building momentum. After the title lead in a series he has no problem picking up small guest roles, and supporting acting roles rather than waiting on more lead role offers. Seems that their is no ego or sense of entitlement to his acting. Yes he starred in a movie that made well over 500 million, and had a budget of more than entire budget of Lifetime Television but he has no problem playing a second, third or forth support role in a Lifetime movie. He doesn't seem to throw what he did for work, he just let's the performance he's done speak for themselves.

Bottom line: Austin doesn't seem to be chasing fame, but just wanting to act. Acting in what he likes more than anything else.

Could be completely wrong and maybe he is taking the only parts being offered to him. Tend not to think so but what do you think?

And for more pictures and information about Austin and Prayer for Bobby - check out Spooky2th's.

Monkey Business

Hate to break it to you but there's no monkey in Prince of Persia, that was Aladdin. No no, I'm sure. I have the script. No monkey. But if you do something with the hair, the backhair, the brows, and start wearing pants, I will see what I can do about some stand in work.