There Is A Chinese Version Of FRIENDS Called PLANET HOMEBUDDIES

As many filmmakers know, when you make a movie and sell it overseas, the title often changes...sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad.  My short POOL DAYS is known in France as MES JOUR A LA PISCINE, which actually sounds lovely.  However, sometimes the translation can be odd to say the least. Which is the case with a new Chinese version of the American sitcom FRIENDS, which begins airing in China next week.  It's called PLANET HOMEBUDDIES. No joke.

I heard about his on JIMMY KIMMEL last night and he had a great joke about how it only took them 18 years to do this. Basically, it's the same setup as FRIENDS but set in China and will even have a theme song specially made for them by the same guy who wrote the anthemic FRIENDS song, "I'll Be There For You"...Danny Wilde of The Rembrandts. I wish there were some clips available but all there is now is this weird still, which sorta does look like the '90s. 

Steven Soderberg Lets It Fly In NEW YORK Magazine

There's a long and discursive interview with one of my favorite contemporary directors Steven Soderbergh in this week's NEW YORK magazine. He talks about his well-publicized "retirement" from feature filmmaking and how the system of Hollywood features is broken....and, more specifically, how directors are treated so poorly. (Agreed!)  His next project, a Liberace biopic, is going to HBO starring Matt Damon, with Michael Douglas as the piano man. And they apparently really got into their big gay scenes too!

It's a very entertaining interview as the outspoken Soderberg goes on about many topics beyond filmmaking. Soderberg is a very modern Renaissance man and talks about his interest in painting and making collages with US magazine(!) as well as a new sidebar, importing a special kind of liquor from Bolivia. In assessing his eclectic film career, he says the one movie of his he wouldn't change is OUT OF SIGHT. I would have to agree with that as it's one sharp and sexy movie....with J. Lo's most decent performance to date. Worth adding to your Netflix if you missed it the first time around.

Adam Levine Gets Judged And Goes Topless On SNL

The cold open for this week's SNL was unusually star-studded and quite funny too. Adam Levine, of Maroon 5 and THE VOICE, was the host and they did a set up where he was judged on his monologue ala his own show by a panel of celebrity comedians; Andy Samberg, Cameron Diaz, and (surprise!) Jerry Seinfeld. Jerry had some of the best lines about giving advice to some "looks less Jewish than his name" but Cameron Diaz was hysterical doing a send-up of Christina Aguilera and, well, herself. 

The whole thing ends with Adam Levine taking his shirt off to reveal his infamously tatted torso.  Which actually turned this cold open into a hot one. After this turn and his guest starring on AMERICAN HORROR STORY, what could be next for this hot hypenate....maybe a cool indie fillm? We shall see...

JJ Abrams To Direct STAR WARS: EPISODE 7

After a few months of wild speculation in Hollywood, the announcement yesterday that JJ Abrams would be directing the new Disney STAR WARS movie was a bit of a surprise (and blew up the Twitterverse). He'd publicly taken himself out of the running last fall, saying he had a number of his own projects to work on after the new STAR TREK movie was done. But either this was a PR fakeout or something convinced him otherwise as now he will be reviving the STAR WARS franchise with the new film, currently being scripted by Michael Arndt.

Given the way Abrams revived the defunct STAR TREK franchise a few years ago, this news bodes extremely well for STAR WARS fans. It will be exciting to have him bring the franchise back from the dead after Lucas's 1,2,3 prequels which may have looked cool but were dramatic duds. Abrams has been a vocal and rabid fan of that galaxy far far away so he will certainly bring to it his passion and his talents for making entertaining blockbusters that are not stupid. The new movie is due summer 2015.

Old Times Square Photos Of Follies Burlesk And The Gaiety

One of my favorite blogs is Jeremiah's Vanishing New York where the motto is "A New Yorker is someone who longs for New York." Sometimes, when I'm walking through the super corporate, blazingly bright Times Square of today, I long for a time a few decades past when things were a little more run down and rough around the edges. 

Back when I first arrived in town, one of my favorite spots for drinks and "a show" was the old Howard Johnson's on 48th and Broadway where, on the second floor, you could see a classy male strip show at The Gaiety (a joint made famous when Madonna shot part of her SEX book there). It was classy in that there was seating, a runway, and even punch and snacks in the back. Ah those were the gays... 

Anyway, today Jeremiah features some great old photos that predate my memories of that corner, when the Gaiety was a female "Burlesk" joint with a crazy old neon sign that promised an "all-live whirly girly revue." You know, when they put it like that, I think that's even something I'd have been interested in checking out way back in the day. This is the kinda place where ladies who wanted to by Gypsy Rose Lee would have strut their stuff so I'm sure the place was chock full of characters, and a few New York nuts too. 

Country Music Returns To NYC With NASH-FM

It's been 17 years since you could hear country music on the radio in NYC. But, over the holiday weekend, WXRP or NASH-FM went on the air with an all-country format and yesterday, the station was featured today in the NY Times as well.

My love of country music is maybe my most shocking cultural secret for a gay man who lives in Manhattan. But I have to admit that I used to be a regular listener of the last country station that operated in the city back in the 90s. I've also spent a lot of time at the Big Apple Ranch in Chelsea, where you can two-step every Saturday night with some like-minded country afficiandos (not to mention some professional dancers who put on quite a show!). And I enjoy stopping by Flaming Saddles, a surprisingly friendly nightspot in Hellsea, where they have guys doing the boot scootin' boogie on top of the bar.

My interest in country started accidentally, when I was working as a newscaster before I moved to NYC for an AM/FM station in Frederick, MD where the AM side was a country format (now it's gone country on the FM side).  Anyway, I got used to hearing it in the booth and really enjoyed it.  And now at least I can listen again by tuning my snooze alarm to the new 94.7 FM station. And you know what? I think I just might wake up a happier person.

SAVING LINCOLN, The Other Lincoln Film And Its Digital Creation

I read about this film over at IndieWire this weekend. It's a bio pic about Lincoln told from the perspective of his colorful Southern bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon.  Smartly capitalizing on the current Lincoln-mania and piggybacking on Spielberg's Oscar front-runner LINCOLN, this low budget indie has taken a very different approach toward telling the period story.

Using green screen technology, the film was shot on stages and the backgrounds were created from old Civil War-era photos scanned from the Library of Congress' archive. It makes for some stunning backdrops for sure (especially a birds eye view of the White House that opens the film's trailer below) but it also creates a highly stylized look that seems like an uneasy cross between a music video and a video game. Some of the effects are a little rough too, which might be due to uncompleted process shots in the trailer--a situation that often happens with big budget movies.

Anyway, the film stars mainly unknowns (like any true indie) with the exception of Penelope Anne Miller as Mary Todd Lincoln. You can judge for yourself whether this is an exercise in digital filmmaking or a worthy biopic in it's own right when the film comes out next month...on Lincoln's birthday of course.

SATURDAY SPECIAL: Eliot Glazer's Speedwalking Video

Oh remember the 80's. Remember instructional videos. Remember speedwalking. This is a comic short from Eliot Glazer on Broadway Video's (SNL's production company) YouTube channel. Hilarious!

Feature Film AUGUST Now Available Online At Wolfe Video

The feature film AUGUST, that I co-wrote with Eldar Rappaport and helped produce, is now available online at Wolfe Video's website. AUGUST is the story of two ex-boyfriends who meet again a few years later and complications ensue. Set during a heatwave in L.A., the film is sexy and real and has been compared to another festival favorite--the British indie WEEKEND.

Anyway, you can now rent the film there directly or purchase it as a digital download with extra features include a behind-the scenes featurette. A special online bonus is that if you want to share the link, you can earn a 10% commission for referring it to others on Facebook or Twitter. Details are at the linnk above. And, of course, if you want to kick it old school, you can purchase the DVD on Wolfe's site or Amazon.com.

Mani Te'o Got CATFISH-ed, Or Was It A Gay Cover-Up

Queerty and Out Sports today are reporting that there may be more to the tragic Mani Te'o fake girlfriend story than just a hoax.  After Deadspin.com shocked the sports world and broke the incredible story yesterday, Te'o and Notre Dame released statements saying the whole thing is a terrible hoax that has been played on Te'o.  It's eerily reminiscent of CATFISH, the indie doc  where a young New Yorker is taken in by a Facebook friend's web of lies and falls for a person who does not exist.  When he meets her, though, the ruse is up.  When Te'o met his love at a football game in 2009, according to his story, the ruse was just beginning. So something seems a little off here...

Out Sports claims that the Twitter account of Teo's fake girlfriend was run by a good friend of his, Roniah Tulasosopo (a fellow football player and devout Mormon). The allegation is that this was all some sort of cover for a possible affair between the two men. That seems possible if not entirely plausible (especially over the last six months when he's been living in the spotlight). But the idea of creating a tragic girlfriend story would certainly give Te'o the advantage of looking straight while actually not being straight. All this sounds much fishier than CATFISH though. And as details come out as part of an investigation into the whole thing, we'll know more. It's disappointing though to see yet another inspirational sportsman caught up in a story of deceit.