Steamy Summer Entertainment

Tuesday night's screening of Fishnet was AWESOME! It was a really fun movie and I enjoyed getting to know the director, Brian Pelletier, at the after-party where we had some burlesque dancers performing. I found out that he'd made the film in just TEN days, and was really impressed.

Matt & Brian

Hilariously, he and Matt look so similar they could have been long-lost brothers! Brian was kind enough to give me a DVD copy of the film, so those of you who know me and want to see it can borrow it sometime, if you like :)

Yesterday, I went with my little brother and some friends to the Shakespeare in the Park production of MacBeth. We were very warm, but by fanning myself the entire time, I managed to stay reasonably comfortable.

It wasn't the absolute best production of MacBeth I've ever seen, but it was well done, the costuming was great and the acting all believable (which can sometimes be hard given the odd characters Shakespeare often uses for comedic relief).

A blurry shot of the cast about to take a bow

If you haven't been out to see this yet, you have til the Sunday, the 3rd of July, to do so.

And TONIGHT is the OUT HERE NOW Short Film Competition for the KC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. I helped to curate this, which means I had almost final say on the films we're showing and I got to pick the order they're in. I'm excited to see them all together in one sitting, which I haven't yet, and I'm excited that we have such a diverse selection: documentaries, dramas and comedies that address bisexual, trans, gay and lesbian points of view. It's free, so come on out to the Tivoli tonight, enjoy the cool air conditioning and see something I've been working on! I hope to see you there!

Related posts:

What I've Seen in the 2011 KC Gay & Lesbian Film Fest So Far

Kansas City Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

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What I've Seen In 2011 KC Gay & Lesbian Film Fest So Far

The KC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival started last Friday, and will continue til this Thursday. I've made it to 5 of the 9 screenings so far and have seen:

Beginners - starring Ewan McGregor & Christopher Plummer, about a gay father who comes out to his son at the age of 75 and his son's romantic relationship with a woman after his death. This will have a theatrical release, but we got to see it first :)

Gun Hill Road - an incredible, poignant and tragic drama about a trans son Michael/Vanessa (Harmony Santana) of ex-con Enrique (Esai Morales) and Angela (Judy Reyes), who finds herself prostituting herself in exchange for money for estrogen shots, etc. and who is in turn taken to a prostitute by his father to "become a man" after he finds Vanessa's wardrobe hidden in Michael's room. Enrique's prison stint also haunts him, as he finds and attacks the man who raped him in prison. Everything about this movie was perfect, but it was so damn tragic, I almost couldn't believe it!

Leave It On the Floor - is an original musical about the LA "ballroom" scene, where "houses" of queer dancers compete against one another. Brad, the main character, is kicked out when he comes out to his mom, stumbles into the scene and then tries to get into the House of Eminence, where he is wooed by two of the members - usually, in song. Brad grapples with suicidal thoughts as he tries to be accepted, but the love-triangle causes more than a few problems for him and the House of Eminence. The dancing was great, especially the very last one by Brad and the rooftop tango between Brad and one of his love interests. I've never seen anything like this before in my life. It was great, but darker than I expected it to be.

A Shorts Romance - was a screening of 4 short films about relationships, "Candy Apple Red," "Gayby," "GaySharkTank.com," and "The Colonel's Outing." My favorites (cause they were hilarious) were "Gayby" in which a gay man and straight woman are old friends and decide to have a baby together "the old fashioned way," and "GaySharkTank.com" which is a spoof of the Chat Roulette experience, and which actually managed to tell several characters' stories through a collection of short interactions.

MANGUS! - is a dark comedy by 24 year-old director Ash Christian. Mangus (Ryan Boggus) has dreamed about carrying on the family tradition of playing Jesus in the local production of "Jesus Christ Spectacular" since he was a kid. He wins the audition, but has the part taken away from him after an accident destroys the use of his legs. When his dad goes back to Iraq, his step-mother takes him to his mother (Jennifer Coolidge AKA "Stiffler's Mom") in her trailer park. He and his half-sister, Jessica Simpson (Heather Matarazzo), who comes out to him as a lesbian, decide to run away to Hollywood... hijinks ensue, John Waters makes a cameo as Jesus, and somehow everything turns out just right for Mangus. This cracked me up, and, I think, might be my favorite film of the festival so far.

I'm excited tonight to see Fishnet, about a couple of lesbian burlesque dancers who cross the mob and escape to Texas, where they turn a small town upside down with their performances. Afterwards there will be a burlesque-themed party with a couple of dancers and some drinks. It's going to be a lot of fun!

Watch the trailer:

(Click here to see embedded video)

Plus, Thursday is the FREEEEEEEE short film competition, OUT HERE NOW, which I helped curate this year. We'll show 7 short films and, based on the audience voting, we'll give the winning film director a cash prize. That's at 6 PM.

There's more going on that I'm even mentioning, just to try and keep this short(ish), so go to the Festival website to see all of the awesome screening opportunities we have to offer! You won't see this anywhere else!

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Kansas City Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

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KC Crafters Society Event Tonight!

There are a couple things I want to tell you about in regards to a group called the Kansas City Crafters Society. I found out about them when Teresa, their organizer, came to a Create Your Own Reality events. Teresa is full of energy and interesting ideas, and she is always putting on one amazing event after the other through KC Crafters.

Tonight, the KC Crafters Society is hosting an arts & crafts event at the Scarlett Garnet Gallery at 18th and Oak in the Crossroads. Event activities will include "works on display and for sale from a variety of artists and crafters of all different mediums as well as information tables for the group... a few make and take stations, prize drawings, party favors, snacks and beverages and more."

I will be there, showing 7 of my recent creations, all of which are assemblages. Here's a sneak peek of one for ya:

"Tightly Woven"

ONE MORE THING I have to mention about the Crafters Society: they are currently working to fundraise from Pepsi in order to create a free space for artists and crafters to work. You can find all about the details here (including the projected budget), and you can VOTE EVERY DAY to help make this happen! I hope you'll bookmark this link or at least click through today and vote for this creative space! And if you'd share it with your friends, that would be AWESOME!

P.S.
I want to remind you that the KC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival starts TOMORROW! All of the trailers and film details are up on the website, and I know I personally plan to attend about 70% of the screenings. This is going to be so much fun!

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Event Pics: Empowered Art, NOW Benefit
KC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

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Event Pics: 2011 Chalk & Walk Festival

By the time I'd arrived at Crown Center Saturday, the Chalk & Walk was already hopping....



and my friend Amy (who I happily was placed next to this year) and her crew were hard at work:

I got started with the outlining, which I always forget takes quite a bit of time!

If you forgot, I was drawing an image from the movie Pan's Labyrinth:


Barnes & Noble on the Plaza sponsored my space this year, which was appropriate since she was reading in the picture.


My friend Darcy assisted me Saturday since Matt was working:

It was hot, dirty work, as usual, but we moved along pretty quickly.




This is what we had by the end of Saturday:

I was disappointed by how bland the colors seemed against the brick, and knew that Sunday would be all about adding shading, making the colors more vibrant, and finishing off the last bits of the image.

Luckily, Matt and Darcy were able to help Sunday! And happily, the rain hadn't washed much away since we'd covered it the night before.




I used warm tones to brighten up the sunlight coming in through the windows, because just using white, like in the movie, wasn't working at all:


Matt finished off the background tiles for me, which I was grateful for:


Then, sooner than I'd expected, we were done!

Happy to be finished!

There were lots of lovely creations this year:

My friend Nicole's unfinished drawing

My friend Natalie's drawing

Drawing by a 14 year-old girl

My friend Amy's nearly-finished Koi fish

Also some performers showed up:

There was also a guy walking around dressed as/talking like Batman for both days. I have no idea how he survived. Each day I nearly swooned from heat exhaustion (I'd start to stand and suddenly the world would start tilting away from me) and I wasn't wearing nearly as much clothing as he was!

If you attended, which drawings did you like best?

Related posts:
2011 KC Chalk & Walk Festival
Event Pics: KC Chalk & Walk (2010)

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