The Word Of The Week Is "Haboob"

Yes, it is a real word. No, it doesn't refer to an idiot.  A "haboob" is the Arabic name for a dust storm and the word was being bandied about all over the news this week when a huge haboob hit Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday.  You can watch the incredible video which looks like something from an apocalyptic Hollywood thriller. In fact, it looks like the exact thing Tom Cruise is trying to out-run in the newly released MISSION IMPOSSIBLE trailer.

Anyway, here's the video of the Haboob Of The Week that hit Phoenix.  Note that this is time lapse to that makes it look a bit scarier than it really is. But the dust apparently did get all over everything....it even set off a lot of smoke detectors in people's homes.  Some think it was the large haboob to hit the city in a century.

He Lights Up His Life--Mark Sam, Celebrity

I have spent a lot of time in the last couple months tooting my own horn on the blog, with WTC VIEW Onstage and AUGUST making their debuts.  Well, today I'm going to take a break from all that tireless self-promotion and toot someone else's horn for a change!

My good friend Mark Sam Rosenthal is doing a show next month in the NY Intl. Fringe Festival called I LIGHT UP MY LIFE: THE MARK SAM CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  I saw the first iteration of the show at Dixon Place last summer and it was fantastic.  It's a spoof of the whole celebrity autobiography genre but also a spoof of celebrity in general and filled with wonderful, true stories of Mark Sam's glamourous life.

He's just started putting out some promo videos for the show on YouTube which give you a sense of the whole thing.  The first one is posted here with more to come.  And the show itself will hit town in August, running for 5 performances the 12th through the 16th at Dixon Place.  Tickets will be available July 22nd on the Fringe NYC website.  Check it out and hope to see you there!

AUGUST On The Radio & AUGUST Tickets On Sale

While I was in San Francisco for the Frameline premiere of AUGUST, Steve Pride of KPFK radio interviewed the director and me as well as our lead actors.  The interview, which is part of an Outfest LA preview show, aired last night on the West Coast.  But you can listen to it here online as a podcast.  I've been on Steve's show a number of times before, for my film and book projects, but this was special in that it was a sort of audio portrait of the main creative teamof the project  (minus our amazing cinematographer James Adolphus) as we discussed it's unusual journey from short to feature film.  The portion about AUGUST is about 10 minutes long and starts around the 40:10 mark.

Next up for AUGUST is the L.A. premiere, which happens next Sunday July 10th at Outfest with a screening at the Directors Guild of America theatre.  This is one of my favorite places to see a film....a beautiful auditorium with fantastic sound and a huge screen.  After that, the film will be in Philadelphia the weekend of July 16-17th, where I will be representing the film as the west coasters take a fest off.  Then, the week after that, the film plays here in New York City at The NewFest, July 22nd and 23rd.  Tickets for that screening just went on sale today so get them while you can at the NewFest website.

On the 4th, Remembering The 14th State That Never Was

Ever heard of the State of Franklin?  I hadn't until today when I stumbled upon a mention about it in an article about a documentary filmmaker doing a feature on the lost State of Franklin...or "Frankland" as it was going to be named.  This was an area west of the Appalachia mountains that was originally part of North Carolina but ended up as it own independent territory around 1785.

There was even a resolution presented to the Continental Congress in 1786 to make "Frankland" the 14th State of the nascent United States.  That resolution obviously did not pass and the territory as eventually turned into the eastern end of the state of Tennessee.  Today, there are still remnants of this "ghost state" in the names of institutions like the State of Franklin Bank!

I'm always fascinated to read about these little lost bits of history, especially on a day like today when we celebrate our nations' 235th anniversary.  Here's hoping you have a fun Fourth filled with fireworks and Frankland flag waving!

Marriage Equality Passes in New York

After years of trying, marriage equality finally passed in Albany last Friday night.  With the leadership of Governor Cuomo and the remarkable votes of four Republican senators, the bill was signed into law by the governor shortly before midnight.  The support from across the aisle was key and notable too for one senator's moving statement describing his vote: “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”  Thank you Senator Mark J. Grisanti....for your vote and your simple eloquence. 

To celebrate the event, there was an impromptou street party in the Village on Friday night in front of the historic Stonewall Inn.  It was there that 42 years ago, almost to the day, gays and lesbians and transgenders stood up for their rights for the first time as they fought back against a police raid on their bar. The ensuing riots lasted for 3 nights.  I stopped by the Stonewall on my way home later that night and, instead of bricks and broken glass, there was confetti and glitter and plastic champagne flutes on the sidewalk. It was a stunning sight to see.

Flipping through the TIMES photos of yesterday's gay pride parade, there was another image that got my attention.  It was a picture of a female police officer along the parade route, down on one knee, as she proposed to her lesbian partner in front of a receptive crowd.  Wow....to see it for yourself, just click here.  This is one of those pictures worth a thousand words as it captures the incredible story of the progress of the modern gay/lesbian civil rights movement....from police brandishing riot sticks to offering a glittering engagement ring.

The Swedish Lady With The Laptop

The quasi-widow of famed Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson is profiled in todays NY TIMES and she has quite a story.  Larson, author of the "The Girl With The Drago Tattoo" series of books, died in 2004 before his books took off and ultimately created a literary estate worth upwards of 10 million dollars.  Unfortunately, his companion of 23 years (they never married) Eva Gabrielsson received nothing and Larsson's father and brother has refused to give her anything.

What she does have is an amazing bargaining chip; Stieg's laptop computer with the remains of an unfinished novel on its hard drive.  Score! She has tried negotiating with the father/brother over this issue but the talks broke off.  In addition to that, she now has her own book with the great straightforward title "There Are Things I Want You To Know About Stieg Larsson And Me".  OK then...sounds intriguing.  I'd be interested in taking a read though I guess i should probably read the Millenium triology first.

AUGUST's SF Premiere & A Great Review in VARIETY

AUGUST had its San Francisco premiere at the historic Castro Theatre on Saturday night.  It was a sold out house of 1,400 (yes, the balcony was open!) and the response was amazing.  Even the Q&A after was interesting as, in true SF-style, someone asked about all the tobacco smoking in the film and whether it was stylistically intentional (A: Yes!).

Also, someone else asked if the actors were gay or straight.  Eldar's answer to that question, which is that he essentially hired who he thought were the best actors for the roles and did not quiz people on their sexual orientation, drew a hearty round of applause from the crowd.  I remember being asked this question some 17 years ago with my short film POOL DAYS....when will people stop asking this inane and insulting question?  Hopefully sooner than later....

Anyway, VARIETY published our first major review for the film and it was great! You can read the full review here and there should be more coming out soon.  I will try and link/post them here as well.  Next stop for AUGUST is Outfest in L.A....the film will screen at the Directors Guild Of America main theatre on Sunday, July 10th at 9:45pm (with cocktail reception beforehand at 8pm).  Tickets are onsale at www.outfest.org.  Hope to see you there!

F-Word Kids Book Hits #1 On NYT Bestseller List

There is a very unusual book at the top of the NY TIMES bestseller list this Sunday; not only does it have the F word in it but, ostensibly, its a book by and about children.  "Go The Fuck To Sleep" is a storybook in rhynme which deals with every parent's greatest challenge of getting their kids to go to bed.  There is a story about the whole thing in today's Hollywood Reporter which, as an author, I found interesting in the unusual way the book made it from idea to bestseller in under a year.

It started out as an online gag on Facebook by author Adam Mansbach and then became a PDF that he started sending out to independent book retailers.  It was originally due out in October but when it shot to Number 1 on Amazon 7 months before it's pub date, they decided to move up the release.  They even did a  hilarious recording of the book in which none other than Samuel Jackson himself tells the little kiddies to "go the fuck to sleep".  You can listen to that below....

What If Ferris Bueller Had To Grow Up

I got this from a friend of mine who knows my love of all things FERRIS.  It's a cute fake trailer for a new version of FERRIS BUELLER in which Ferris has become an adult and must take some responsibility for his actions.  I think the funniest bit is with the ATM, spoofing the scene in the art museum from the original.  The Ferris is okay but the guy they got for Cameron is a total ringer for the original.  He's mastered that same Cameron-blank-face-thing.  And there is a crazy cameo towards the end playing the sausage king of Chicago.  Too bad they clearly shot this in NYC!

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Trailer For A New TV Series HALF-SHARE Hits Web

Last fall, I worked on a hilarious pilot for a TV series about Fire Island called HALF-SHARE.  It's about the antics in a group house of gays in the FIP, featuring Alec Mapa (UGLY BETTY, THE VIEW) as the ultimate house mother.  The show has an incredible cast of talented comic actors, including Sam Pancake (SHIT MY DAD SAYS), Jack Plotnick (GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS) and gay rom-com "queen" Jesse Archer (SLUTTY SUMMER, VIOLET TENDENCIES), who wrote and directed the pilot with Sean Hanley.

You can now watch the trailer on YouTube where it is blowing up....over 2,000 hits in less than 24 hours!  There's more info about the show too on the official website including lots of fun and sexy behind-the scene pics. Hopefully this will be coming to a net-werk near you soon....LOGO, are you listening?