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Lou Grande (148 KP) rated Latter Days (2004) in Movies

Jun 20, 2018  
Latter Days (2004)
Latter Days (2004)
2004 | Comedy, Drama, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Contains spoilers, click to show
I saw this movie back when it was released fourteen years ago, when I was still young and had faith in things. I picked it up again to see if it held up, and you know? It's not bad. Usually romantic comedies don't do much for me, gay or straight, but I have a thing for Mormons--what can I say?

So Christian is a gay party boy livin' it up in LA, but ultimately lacking in purpose and drive. Aaron is a Mormon missionary from Iowa, who experiences culture shock and desire for the first time, because of course they become neighbors and hijinks ensue. Fun fact! This movie also stars Joseph Gorgon-Levitt as a total butt, which is quite a contrast to his role in Mysterious Skin, another gay-themed movie which came out in the same year.

The acting is actually not as horrible as you would think from the production value/budget, and the story is typical romantic comedy fare. Still, I think it would strike a chord with anyone who is queer and was brought up in a religious household. It doesn't shy away from how agonizing it can be to be betrayed by family, especially fourteen years ago. And you know, some of the dialogue is actually really poignant. If you can get over the vaguely "afterschool special" feeling of this movie, it's definitely worth a watch.

(It has a happy ending!)
  
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Holly Johnson recommended Transformer by Lou Reed in Music (curated)

 
Transformer by Lou Reed
Transformer by Lou Reed
1972 | Rock
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I'd heard of Andy Warhol, but I'd never heard The Velvet Underground until David Bowie talked about them in interviews in the NME, and of course Transformer. I'd rather talk about Transformer than the banana album actually, because Transformer sums up the era. I do believe that Mick Ronson was very instrumental - like a classically trained musician as well as a gorgeous rock god lead guitarist. His arrangement abilities for both Ziggy Stardust and Transformer have not been fully recognised in the history of pop music. I don't think David would've broke through without that. I remember dancing to 'Vicious' in a nightclub called Masquerade in Liverpool - a really eccentric gay bar full of diesel dykes, prostitutes and older gay men with dyed black hair and toupees. It was a strange netherworld hidden up a back alley that embraced a bunch of freaks of my generation like Pete Burns and me, Jane Casey, who wore too much make-up. That was the thing about a gay club, you were safe almost in there. A strange refuge. I suppose in a way, punk kind of helped that. Absolutely. One minute you were queer on the street, the next minute you were a punk. It normalised that sort of behaviour really, you know; ""Oh, they're just punks"", and it was a diversion away from sexuality. Punk was strangely non-sexual. Even the main protagonist John Lydon had something of a 'neither here nor there' about him."

Source
  
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Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Openly Straight (Openly Straight, #1) in Books

Jan 12, 2018  
Openly Straight (Openly Straight, #1)
Openly Straight (Openly Straight, #1)
Bill Konigsberg | 2013 | LGBTQ+, Young Adult (YA)
10
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
[Openly Straight] gets a new perspective on being a gay teenager. Rafe does not have the stress of coming out because in Boulder, CO he is out. In fact he is the face of being out and popular. He is just tired of being paraded around as the "gay" kid who is doing well.

When he transfers to an all boys boarding school in the east he decided to go back in the closet and just be Rafe, the boy. Unfortunately it is hard to shove things back in when they already are out.

I really think this book is a great read for anyone but especially those young people who are questioning. The characters are genuine and even Rafe wanting to be normal is, well, normal. Labels are over rated and over used in our world and I think that is one of the points Konigsberg is trying to make. The other big point is just be yourself.