Dangerous to Know

2008-09-09T19:09:00.000+01:00

So, I'm on my own again. Not exactly, but it feels like that when Doyler is more than a city away. Our older brother has called him back to London, something to do a shit storm he found himself in the centre of when he went off touring with Charlie and her dumb-fuck boyfriend. He may only be gone a few days, maybe the rest of the week, either way it's left me bored and alone.

The boy James appears to be defrosting, maybe he's forgiven me for running out on him and leaving him with Laura for a couple of months. I've not asked him if her appetite stretched to running her hands over his body yet? Not sure I want to know given the circumstances. The idea of the object of my lust and her may drive me out one more time. I don't know what the difference between me fucking her and him fucking her really is, I've never seen him with a hard-on with anyone other than me so maybe he couldn't manage it. Maybe he's just into cock. Fuck! So am I and I still manage to get it hard enough to slip her when I have to. Just because I can doesn't mean I should right? I dunno.

Edie has been gone for a couple of days too, some gig in some armpit working mans club in the Borders where the laughter comes out of fear of discovery. So until she gets back I either have no one to talk to or no one who will talk to me. I must be real charming fucker huh?

oh...

Found this the other day and wanted to include it beacause a) it's funny and b) it's true, but I knew Doyler would veto it so I'm doing it while he's away. If it alienates anyone who reads this piece of shit of blog then fuck you, I don't want you here anyway.

2008-09-08T19:50:00.000+01:00

2008-09-07T11:23:00.000+01:00

Starting out as an extra in Nickelodeon show "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" Austin Butler has quickly moved through the ranks at Nick to a lead role in "Zoey 101," replacing Sean Flynn as Jamie Lynn Spears love interest.

Born in Anaheim, California on the 17th of August 1991, 17year-old Austin had been on "Zoey 101" before in a guest spot but was more than happy to return. "I thought coming into the show so late would make me somewhat of an outsider, but everyone was so nice, and the cast was so welcoming, that I felt right at home. I had such a great time with everyone on set."

Having only been involved with acting since 2005 his filmography is till in it's infancy, mostly playing the hot teen boy who gets the girl on numerous shows for Nickelodeon including "Hannah Montanna" and "iCarly." He does, however, have a new film in the pipeline with 20th Century Fox "They Came from Upstairs." Probably best left to Autin to describe: "It is a movie about a group of kids who defend their summer house, and the world, against aliens, while keeping it all a secret from their parents." Sounds like an award winner huh? But then with looks like Austins who needs Oscars.

2008-09-05T16:14:00.002+01:00

Title: Chicken
Director: Barry Dignam
Starring: Darren Healey
-------------Niall O'Shea
Running Time: 2 mins 53 secs
English Dialogue

Two Irish teen lads Mick and Kev are wasting time by the shore, throwing rocks at empty cans and drinking cider. When one engages the the other in a game of mumbly peg, as a train approaches the real reason for Micks pushiness may yet be revealed.

As metaphor goes, the game of chicken can be over used. In Dignams' short however that very game is what drives the characters urges. Mick may aswell be daring Kev to kiss him. This brief short, sharply focusing on a single moment of revelation for both boys is a tight and strong piece.

Chicken - Short Film
Uploaded by doyler1985

2008-09-04T17:16:00.000+01:00

2008-09-03T13:29:00.002+01:00

Ma Vie (variously known as Ma VraisVie a Rouen or My Life on Ice) focuses on the story of 16 year-old Etienne (Jimmy Tavares), who living alone with his single mother (Ariane Ascaride) charts a rather turbulent year with his video camera. The year is spent charting conversations with bestfriend Ludovic (Lucas Bonnifait), Etienne's training as an ice skater and his almost stalker like obsession with his Geography teacher (with whom initial plans seem to be to set up with his mother.)

As a charming, heart on it's sleeve, emotional rollercoaster Ma Vie achieves exactly what it sets out to do. Tavares is a handsome and charming lead, characteristics required when some of his actions with the camera stray closer to uncomfortable obsession than video diary nonsense. His handheld Sony camcorder lingers a little too long for comfort in the changing rooms or over his mothers new boyfriends face but we follow that perhaps he is less aware of what he is doing than those he spies on.

This isn't really a "Coming Out" film but more a "Coming to terms" film, Etiennes discovery of his desires is a slow process for him and one that isn't helped by his best friends unwillingness to broach anything close to the subject, instead trying to get him with girls he dscribes as easy. Etienne however finds his feelings difficult to contain however and it leads on to an uneasy and emotional ending.

While the technique of filming the whole movie through a camcorder grows tiresome in places it is pulled into place courtesousy of some fantastic performances. Tavares in particular (in his only role to date) is an affecting and engaging actor and Ariane Ascaride as his put upon but never less than loving mother offers a wonderful emotional anchor for the whole film.

2008-09-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

This is the last of the post from the old blog that I'm just gonna copy and paste over here, I'll start fresh next time or else Doyler'll kick my arse. I'm back at the hostel now so we'll leave what happened inbetween for a more approriate time, we'll get there...

When I cracked open my eyes this afternoon it was quarter past 5. The half winter light trying to break from behind the curtains. Laura had already climbed over me in my sleep, her coat was still on the floor by the door so she was around somewhere. The boy James still asleep on the cot. I seemed to have slept through the worst of the hangover, just the dry taste of vomit in my mouth and the dull thud behind my eyes remained.

I hauled on a pair of jeans, leaving my t-shirt on the floor and trudged out of the red room and into the hall. Edie sitting on the wooden chair by the balcony still in her dressing gown, blowing smoke out of the window. The two of us have an understanding. We don't talk until later, until the two of us are capable of speech. I sat at the table across from her, grabbed her packet of Richmond and helped myself to a cigarette. She passed me a half smile and a wink, i responded likewise. After a moment she threw her cigarette butt out of the window and pushed what was left in the packet across the table to me before walking back into her room.

And this is how most days start.

Laura padded back from through the front door, a blue towel wrapped around her, leaving little puddles behind her. As quickly as passed by me and into the red room James stepped out, nodded his head to me, grunted and headed downstairs to the shower block.

I weighed up the options as I finished the cigarette. I could've gone back into my room, fucked Laura and guaranteed my rent paid for the next week or I could've headed down the stairs and jerked off with James in the showers. Truth is I couldn't've done either. When hungover I'm soft for the long haul. So I just sat and chained another of Edies smokes.

Then the memories from last night started to kick in bit by bit. Tequila and speed at Doylers before I headed over to Haymarket and let the Austrian boy blow me for a eighth of his Morrocan... The next thing I remember is sitting on the curb at the top of Leith Walk. All the gay guys and their hags trying to squeeze into Habbana and CC Blooms. Both are dives but Edinburgh falls a little short on the gay scene. The Emo kid! Shit! This cute as fuck dark haired lad in skinny black jeans and a too small Akira T-shirt that flashed his tight little stomache when he raised his arms. I gave him a couple of joints worth of the Morrocan and he gave me his number but it's not in my jeans anymore. I must've turfed it out somewhere absent mindedly. I just about remember hooking up with Mark and Warren, sharing a cab back to theirs and watching a porno while we smoked the rest of the hash and drank Jack Daniels. They started getting into it and began fucking on the couch next to me. I watched them for a while before I realised it was getting light outside and headed back to hostel.

I don't remember how I got back, or what time. Laura was asleep and James was sitting reading. I think we talked for a while. Maybe not, we don't really have that much to say to each other. Crawling into bed, I let Laura cuddle up into me as the Poles in the Yellow room began moving about.

2008-08-31T12:55:00.000+01:00

New York based photographer Bill Travis was not someone I had known, until he contacted me last year about doing a feature on his work for my old blog Current Obsessions. And I was very glad he did.

Trained in art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, Bill Travis has shown his work in New York, Berlin and Argentina as well as having his work on medieval sculptures published in countries around the world.

But it is his photography of the male nude that brings his exquisite images here to this blog. The male nude, that for him, has been too long over shadowed by its more socially acceptable female counterpart. Indeed, as he says himself: "Not so long ago, few people were willing to accept that the male nude and art belong together. The female nude had a long and glorious tradition in art, but the Classical tradition of the male nude had somehow become the province of stuffy professors and men who lingered over the “wrong” gender. All of this has changed today, especially over the past generation, as artists and photographers have given the male nude a new complexity, ranging from humor to compassion, disease, vulnerability, homosexual longing..."

Powerful and daring portraits that bristle and crackle with life. Reminiscent of unrestored paintings in dilapidated galleries or cracked vases featuring the forms of Ancient Greek Gods, each one of his pictures feels like it exists because it always has. In no small part, this can be put down to his unusual and highly stylised technique: "Technically, I do alternative-process photography, taking digital prints through successive manipulations with oil paint, gold, and other substances. These manipulations are never an end in themselves, but, rather, a way to enhance the images’ sensuality, whether the object represented happens to be a body or a building."

I for one am now a fan, and urge readers of this blog to visit his site and view his galleries. Who knows, you may even have found that you have a new favourite artist.

Bill Travis Photography

this post has been reviewd and updated from a previous piece in on my old blog

2008-08-29T06:01:00.002+01:00

Romeo (formerly Lil Romeo) was born Percy Miller Jr in 1989. As the son of legendary Master P. it was probably unquestionable that he would do anything else but go into the entertainment business.

His career as a rapper started in 2001 with the self titled album "Lil' Romeo" and it was from that album that he released the song "My Baby." The song charted at number 1 in the US charts and made him the youngest performer ever to achieve this feat, squashing Michael Jackson's record at the same time. Two more albums followed but negative reviews and a saturated market slowed things down for him. But with his sixth album "High School Romance" out this year he could be about to change that.

He has also featured in Movies "Max Keebles Big Move" to this years "Internet Dating" as well as having appeared in numerous Nickelodeon shows.

As a Basketball player, he plays point guard for USC where he studies and has a glittering career lined up for him as an athlete if he so chooses, hoping to play for The Trojans. That combined with his P.Miller clothing line he's the closest thing to a Renaissance man as you're likely to see.

Last year in November he became an unlikely hero to the gay community as well by speaking out against Ja Rule who had a homophobic rant not untypical of Hip Hop stars. Slamming Ja Rule as "ignorant" he went on to say "It was ignorant of him to say. Gays are everywhere in the industry and society in general. That’s not changing. So why shouldn’t they get to be on TV and in the movies like everybody else?! He can’t really believe that none of the peeps who bought his records were gay, and I bet that he wouldn’t give any of ‘em a refund."

Like most civilized people Romeo believes that it's character that counts in everyone regardless of their sexuality. "It doesn’t matter. I’m cool with everybody who is cool with me. So long as you’re not hurting nobody, I’m not gonna hate on peeps for who they are. I have a few friends who are gay and why not? They alright with me."

2008-08-28T00:10:00.000+01:00

2008-08-27T09:00:00.002+01:00

Title: Different
Director: Tyrrell Shaffner
Starring: Ben Hogestyn
-------------Emily Stiles
-------------Scott Lembke
Time: 10 mins 41 secs
English Dialogue

In this parallel universe where gay is the norm, Homecoming is rearing its ugly head and Justin needs a date. Lucky for him that Bobby, the most popular guy in the whole school has set his sights on our hero. The only thing is that our hero isn't like all the other kids at his school. Justin is straight.

In this endearing, light hearted take on the perils of being different at school, the roles have been reversed. Shaffners short feels like part of a larger movie, the only thing that sets the film apart from other teen comedies is that it is challenging that which we see as normal. A socio-political comment or dreamy wish fulfilment short? That's for the viewer to decide.

Different - Gay Themed Short Film
Uploaded by doyler1985

2008-08-26T13:13:00.002+01:00

Eleven year-old Andy is a precocious boy who enters sixthh grade with ideas of being one of the popular kids. Abandoning his friendship with the obviously gay James, Andy begins to court the attentions of the star football player Mark and his crowd. Not counting his days of playing "Doctors" with James, Andy is determined that this will be the year he finally kisses a boy.

It's easy to forget that all too brief time in our lives between wanting to be play with toys to be wanting to play with boys, but Babcocks charmingly disarming novella manages to bring it flooding back. Andy's internal struggle, the inability to understand his own feelings for heart throb Mark and why he doesn't have those same feelings for Marks girlfriend are extremely relateable. Babcock's writing is wonderfully simplistic, keeping it on the same level as Andy's thought processes will make this book an excellent read for young gays who find themselves in our leads situation.

Andys' relationship with James throughout this book is something keenly insightful. Perhaps just two sides of the same character. While James is portrayed as overly emotional (something Andy hates him for) Andy keeps his in check, focusing all his pent up feeling into writing a fairy tale of a girl abandoned in the forrest with only talking animals for friends and dreams of a handsome prince. James is known as the "school faggot" and Andy teases him in front of the other boys while still calling him at night and inviting him for 'sleepovers.' James is the part of Andy that he, himself must learn to accept and only by accepting his friend as he is can Andy move forward.

This charming, wry, coming of age story is unlike most others because that's exactly what it's not. There's no huge life affirming discovery here, just a quick snapshot of who we were even if it's only who we were for the briefest of times.

2008-08-24T12:00:00.002+01:00

As these Screencaps were such a big draw in my last blog and because I have a thing for, the most beautiful, Hayato Ichihara I thought I'd transfer the posts from Waterboys 2. A comedic JDorama about a group of boys trying to start up a synchronised swimming team at their school.

2008-08-24T11:59:00.001+01:00

2008-08-24T11:58:00.001+01:00

2008-08-24T11:57:00.001+01:00

2008-08-24T11:56:00.001+01:00

2008-08-24T11:55:00.001+01:00

2008-08-24T11:54:00.001+01:00

2008-08-24T11:53:00.001+01:00

2008-08-24T11:52:00.001+01:00

If these posts have interested you at all I urge you to get the series from Sensasian.com. At only $21.99 USD (about £11) for the full 12 episode series it's well worth the cost. Ok so it's cheesy as hell at times but you're easily swept up in it.

2008-08-22T11:00:00.000+01:00

Again, like the last, this was put up on my old blog first, but I'm posting it here again, just for those who missed it first time around , that and it gives me a couple of weeks to catch up on shit here. Anyway, Doyler made me take this stupid Personality Test because he thought it might help people understand me a bit better. Fuck people, right? Anyway it was 126 questions long so I'll leave the jist.

A few examples :

9) My main motivation is to express my individuality.

What kind of question is that? Individuality? Like the fucking Emo boys and Goth kids or the Chavs? I wear what I wear, I'm not trying express anything. I don't push the gay agenda on anyone or swish around like some limp wristed queeny boy. Are all these people trying to express their individuality or following some fucking set pattern put out by their own social groups in some unwritten code? What do I know?

11) I come from a wealthy family.

It's a question that's got fuck all to do with fuck, right?

13) I am supernatural.

Wank!

24) My thoughtfulness and charitable nature are my foundation

Who am I? The Dali Lama? I'll leave that Buddhist shit to Doyler.

29) I would not go on a date with someone that I did not find physically attractive

And the point in that would be? Who would?

35) I am uncomfortable being subject to the authority or control of someone.

What? Yeah, who the hell isn't? Tell me who does feel comfortable being subject to the authority or control of someone. There's a reason I don't work and that's because I've never met someone with power that I've liked. So I make do on what my older brother Carter squirrels away out of the trust funds our mother left us. I'd rather that.

44) I am prone to skin problems (acne, pimples, etc.).

What the fuck has that got to do with anything? For the record I've got great skin.

50) I think the dangers of drinking and smoking are exaggerated.

Well, no fucking shit!

52) I like the band The Pixies.

Love Them. Top five bands of all time, The Pixies are floating around there. But what does that have to do with anything?

61) I am mystical.

What like I believe in Unicorns or fanny around with half wits who read Tarot cards or follow their star signs? Who's got time for that shit?

69) Being ignored is intolerable.

Too Fucking right it is!

73) I am somewhat into myself.

No Shit!

89) I am very impressive.

Damn right!

99) I am sexually attracted to members of my own gender

I've never met a guy who isn't.

110) I think an asteroid may someday destroy civilization

Another "What the fuck!" question.

So after answering 126 of these questions I get my results:

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion		60%
Stability		46%
Orderliness		36%
Accommodation		23%
Interdependence		43%
Intellectual		50%
Mystical		16%
Artistic		63%
Religious		10%
Hedonism		83%
Materialism		83%
Narcissism		63%
Adventurousness		70%
Work ethic		16%
Self absorbed		76%
Conflict seeking		76%
Need to dominate		70%

Romantic		30%
Avoidant		70%
Anti-authority		63%
Wealth		63%
Dependency		36%
Change averse		43%
Cautiousness		30%
Individuality		56%
Sexuality		90%
Peter pan complex		76%
Physical security		76%
Physical Fitness		77%
Histrionic		83%
Paranoia		56%
Vanity		76%
Hypersensitivity		36%
Indie		66%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

and all of this apparently means:

Stability results were medium which suggests you are moderately relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.

Orderliness results were moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment.

Extraversion results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

or basically i'm:

messy, outgoing, open, self revealing, ambivalent about chaos, unpredictable, not good at saving money, social, likes large parties, likes to stand out, risk taker, quick to make friends, does not like to be alone, rash, sarcastic, craves attention, social chameleon, low self control, food lover, not rule conscious, weird, assertive, not a perfectionist, anti-authority, thrill seeker, vain, likes to fit in, reckless, emotionally insensitive, leisurely

Now, most of this I could've told you in a few lines, but mainly I wanted you to see the shit Doyler makes me do to keep himself amused. Truth is I agree with most of it and these are traits that run in the family, which explains why the only one I have any real contact with is my twin brother. That and the fact that we've got too much shit on each other to try and pretend otherwise.

2008-08-20T20:36:00.000+01:00

2008-08-19T12:00:00.003+01:00

Director: Paul Oremland
Starring: Steve Bell
-------------Ian Rose
-------------Roger Daltry
-------------Dani Behr

Running Time: 93 mins
UK 1997 Available on DVD

Young Craig (Steve Bell) is a closeted bare-knuckle fighter barely surviving the rather seedy streets of Blackpool by night. When a chance but disasterous encounter with Matt (Ian Rose) shows that Craig that no matter how tough he is intamacy is what he needs.

Following Matt to London, Craig clashes with the characters populating the capitals gay scene, from sinister music mogul Kelvin (Roger Daltrey) to fag hag Paula (Dani Behr). When all both want, is to rip apart Craig and Matt and keep the pieces for themselves Craig finds himself facing a tough decision. To leave the game to the players and lose his chance at love or to fight for Matt without resorting to his fists.

"Like It Is" is a raw, passionate and violent movie about first love, coming out and the strain these place on the characters lives. But unlike some gay movies it doesn't moon about the subjects, it instead deals with them quite acutely. Easy answers are hard to come by and that is one of the movies the strengths. The script isn't faultless but it never feels like the gay wish fulfilment cinema I've come to expect from films of it's ilk. The bare-knuckle fighting scenes, with Bell stripped to the waist while a crowd of onlookers bay for blood are handled with a gritty realism. The homo-erotic elements of such an event aren't over played for our or of the directors voyeurism but instead show through because those elements exist in such an event anyway.

The stunning Steve Bell (in his first acting job) is fantastic in this, caught between the tough kid who knows his place in Blackpool to the deer in the headlights in London. Ian Rose doesn't come across as a natural actor but he handles his scenes well and is beliveable for the most part as the more worldly music promoter who falls for Bell. But its Daltry who very nearly steals the show, veering between camp, scenery chewinig pantomime villain in one scene and sensitive, lonely, older gay man in the next.

An unpretentious thoroughly watchable film that deserves to take place among the dvds of any collection.

2008-08-18T06:50:00.001+01:00

Title: Summer
Director: Hong Khaou
Starring: Jay Brown
------------ Peter Peralta
Running Time: 9 mins 11 secs
English Language

Two friends, roam the woods of Hampstead Heath on a project for school. As the walk they talk, and boys being boys talking leads to bragging, sexual exploits are embellished and the rough housing begins but with the bravado a little too much truth is revealed.

Hong Khaou's short is a tender, tough and identifiable film. So easily relatable is the story that it may cut a little close to home for some. Growing up gay has never been easy but as long as you've got friends...

Summer
Uploaded by doyler1985

2008-08-17T01:03:00.000+01:00

Born in Chichester in 1988, Edward Speleers had a couple of close calls with fame before landing the lead in 2006's 'Eragon'. He very nearly found himself playing Peter in 'The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe' before losing out to William Moseley. Ed was also lined up to appear as a young Hannibal Lecter in the then titled 'Behind the Mask' but again found himself ousted, this time by Frenchman Gaspard Ulliel.

When his time did come around, it was for the highly anticipated 'Eragon'. The phenomenal success of Christopher Paolini's rip-offs of everything from 'Lord of the Rings' to the Narnia books, managing to take in a bit of 'Star Wars' in between was down largely to it's youthful fan base of tween readers. Tween readers who were desperate for their new favourite fantasy to become the next big movie series.

A couple of rounds of auditions later and he'd quit his A-Levels and a role as Hamlet in a school production. “Next thing I knew, I was signing up for a movie. LA phoned my Dad, who told me, ‘You’ve got the part’ . . . I started yelling and screaming.”

After the release of the film and it's poor box office receipts it became apparent that the series ended with the beginning. The books, however, continue to grow beyond the originally planned trilogy with the third out soon and another in the pipeline.

After a year in the wilderness, Ed signed up Storm Models agency and did a couple of shoots with talented young photographer Kai Z Feng, Including one for an article in British gay mag Attitude.

Last seen playing both himself and hunk-about-Cornwall Jimmy Penwarden in show within a show, the surprisingly good, 'Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach', Ed has gone quiet again. Here's to hoping we'll see more of him in the near future on screen and in print.

2008-08-05T13:10:00.000+01:00

2008-08-05T13:09:00.000+01:00

So here I am, but not really, while others have found time to swan around the globe sucking every cock that winks I've been trying to pull all my shit back together from New Years fallout, still am, so for now this has been elsewhere before...

The room i share is over crowded. Too many heartbeats for the small space. There's only three of us, Me, Laura and the boy James. But in the confines of a 12x15 ft red painted bedroom it's too much to bare. The bed I share with Laura is a small double and my feet stick out over the end while it fits her shorter frame perfectly. Across from us James sleeps in a fold out cot that during the day doubles for a couch. Her clothes litter the floor while his sit in folded piles by the window, mine are kept in a holdall under the bed.

There's a dirty full length mirror that sits on the sanded down floor by the door. Lipstick smears from Laura and splashes of cum from where James jerks off for me when she goes out at night.

The only time we're all in there together is early morning to afternoon when we sleep. Her breath on the back of my neck and my eyes fixed on the boy sleeping naked beneath his cotton sheet across from me. Sometimes his are fixed too, mostly he sleeps. It's then that I trace the lines and bumps he creates. The sheet, commonly down below his waist exposing a small amount of dark pubic hair, His chest exposed, slim and muscular, cut, like cut glass or chiseled into marble. The definition of his pecs and his small dark nipples rising from milky coffee coloured skin. He has scars below them and across his stomach. Thin white ridges from when he would cut himself, never deep enough to do any real damage just enough to serve as a reminder to why he left school at sixteen, to why he was kicked out of his home and to why a year later he now stays with us in this halfway hostel near Leith.

Across the hall in the green painted room is Edie. A forty something drag queen who can be seen touring the Scottish cabaret circuit telling jokes about under-age sex and miming to Judy Garland numbers. She's past her prime, has never been as successful as she was in the eighties but never successful enough to pull herself out of the shit heap we share. She's been living here for two years, flirting her way around the fat Greek who runs the place when she can't make rent. I think I love her more than I have allowed myself to love anyone in the longest time. A platonic love. We'll sit in the hall or on the balcony that hangs three floors up above the pavement and drink cheap whisky, telling each other tall tales and swapping dirty jokes or listening to her radio.

The yellow painted room opposite hers is the largest of the three and has 5 sets of bunk beds in it. It's occupants change, sometimes it's Australian or Canadian backpackers, sometimes a group of guys in town for a stag night and couldn't afford anywhere else, now it's only three Polish labourers trying to get their work visas sorted and a guy called Mike whose wife threw him out of their house after finding out he was cheating on her.

The bathroom is in the basement of the building, a key kept by Edie opens a black metal gate on the ground floor where you descend to two rooms. A shower block with three stalls and toilet with two cubicles. Everything down here is painted brown and although you can always count on hot water, the rooms themselves have no heating and once you step out from the hot spray you're greeted by ice.

2008-08-05T13:06:00.022+01:00

Waking from his dreams, Chris cracks the sleep from his eyes and turns to the bed inches to his right. His blond room mate has pushed his covers down to his knees, his hands caress his smooth, strong chest, sliding down his firm abs and are pushing at the white Tommy Hilfiger boxer briefs that cling tightly to his frame. Chris calls to him but he doesn’t respond, he’s lost in his dream. Chris raises himself from his bed and looks around the room, at the four other boys. Each of them lay in their underwear, writhing on their beds groping their young bodies, sweat glistening on each muscle. From a peep hole in the wall some one is watching…

Welcome to “Voodoo Academy” and the world of cult horror film maker David DeCoteau. “I wanted to make a movie I wanted to see. That was it. When it became a hit, I realized my calling…”

Working in the film industry for nearly 28 years DeCoteau carved himself a niche, pretty much creating his own sub genre in 2000 with the aforementioned “Voodoo Academy,” a low budget horror movie shot over 4 days and with a small cast. A cast mostly made up of attractive Abercrombie and Fitch types who spend no small amount of the films running time in their tight boxer briefs.

Many films in the direct-to-video horror market have doubled up as sexploitation flicks before, but where previous entries in the genre would have the teenage nymphets stripped and running up several flights of stairs, DeCoteau reversed the trend. A daring move that could have proved a career killing mistake.

The film was felt too homo-erotic by producing partner Charles Band and the film was cut from 90 minutes to 70 for its original release (later fully restored in a directors DVD cut) and had production company Full Moon hiding their involvement until the credits had rolled. But the film made money and DeCoteau had found a new audience.

Setting up his own production company Rapid Heart Pictures, he continued with the new formula, “I wanted to try to make homoerotic, non violent, Cinemascope, shot on 35mm movies. I set up shop on my dining room table and started to develop ideas and raise funds.” said David. And he began with ‘Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy.’ But nobody, least of all DeCoteau expected the success of his next venture ‘The Brotherhood.’

“THE BROTHERHOOD franchise is a phenomenon. I can’t explain it but it has provided a type of movie that key audiences have not seen. Mainly gay men, teenage girls, straight women and couples. We’ve made four and will make more.”

When a film features a protracted scene with two of it’s stunning male leads in their underwear drinking blood from the arms of a dressed female student it’s no surprise that the film was taken to the hearts of many a gay man. The camera lovingly flows over their tanned, toned bodies, paying particular attention to those tight fitting now signature boxer briefs. “Actors want to be sexy and appealing. They know with me they will look terrific, because I really care about them. I want them to look like movie stars.”

His films are charged with homo-eroticism, whether it be the Vampire frat boys of ‘The Brotherhood’ trying to turn a new straight laced student to their side or an undead boy band lead by Baywatch’s Jeremy Jackson trying to convert a new member in ‘Ring of Fire,’ the metaphors are hardly subtle, but in the world of low budget horror film making, there really is no use or time for subtlety.

And it hasn’t bothered any of the films stars either, with Alumni including the previously mentioned Jackson, Sean Farris in ’Brotherhood II: Young Warlocks’ or Josh Henderson, playing to his obvious strengths as Speedo wearing swim team hero, Jason in ’Leeches.’

Things continue to go well for DeCoteau whose company has now produced 15 films and has many more in the pipeline with his take on Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ out so far this year. And the future? “ To make genre movies that I wanted to see and keep doing it until the market says stop. All indie filmmakers are slaves to the market anyway, and so far people are supporting my movies.”

And I have no doubt that the support will continue unabated.

Source 1
Source 2

Rapid Heart Pictures Blog

2008-08-05T12:04:00.000+01:00

2008-08-05T12:02:00.004+01:00

Title: Dirty Love
Director: Michael Tinge
Starring: Dustin Varpness
------------- D.T. Matias
------------- Matt Ryan
Running Time: 5 mins 54 secs
No Dialogue

Teenager, Derik (the more than easy on the eye Dustin Varpness) escapes his from his home town for L.A. in the hope of finding anything Lost in the city he becomes seduced by a street hustler who has has his eye on more than Deriks status as a trick.

Michael Tringe's dialogue free short film doesn't have to work hard to show the disconnection of gay youth from home town life and how easy that, that disconnection can be exploited by those of a less scrupulous nature.

Dirty Love
Uploaded by doyler1985

2008-08-05T12:01:00.009+01:00

13 year-old Robin Mckenzie knows that the monthly trips to New York City he and he his mother Dorothy take mark him out as different. Together they visit ithe cities Art Galleries and parks and cast their eyes over her old haunts as she regails him with conflicting stories of her life as a single high flyer in the time before she married his father.

Robin also knows that fantasising over his seventeen year-old neighbour Todd Spicer marks him out as different, as does his attraction to freshman stoner Scott Schatz.

As he stumbles through his first year of high school he questions his feelings for these boys, his best friend Victoria (Todd's younger sister) and even the relationships he has with his over-protective mother and distant father. But it's not until a tragedy hits the family that the dots start to connect and he realises that he may never belong to that elusive world of normal boys.

K.M. Soehnleins debut novel (published in 2001) is a tender coming of age story that is highly reminiscent of Ron Moody's "The Ice Storm" and not just that both are seventies set character pieces, both pulling focus on the slow disintegration of the suburban family unit. Both also contain a lilting and dreamy quality that while far from the social and political turmoil of the seventies, it's undercurrents bubble away, ever present in the back ground.

Reading through this novel is bound bring up some long buried high school memories for most gay readers. It's depiction of Robin's sexual awakening is sensitive but vivid, his mind a mess of feelings and moral dilemmas that are immediately identifiable. The compelling narrative has been given so much thought and detail that it's hard not see this as autobiographical for the reader.

A great Summer novel, compelling and beautiful and a great cathartic read.

The World of Normal Boys at Amazon

2008-08-05T12:00:00.003+01:00

26 year-old Jody Latham is best known for his role as jack the lad scally-boy Lip in C4's acclaimed comedy drama series"Shameless" but he's no new kid on the block and has been knocking around on UK television. Back in 1998 he had a small role in the realistic police drama "The Cops" for the BBC when he was sixteen. After that roles followed in the usual bland Brit TV fare beloved by mothers up and down the country like "Casualty," "Holby City" and "Heartbeat."

Born in Burnley, Lancashire, Jody comes from a close family, not unlike that of the Gallagher's and their neighbours so lovingly portrayed in "Shameless." Indeed it seems like Paul Abbots semi autobiographical series also has links with Jody's own life. As he has said: "The house I grew up in was a real homely home in a little village where everybody knew everybody. My dad built the house. I helped him, reluctantly. I was a teenager so I should've been hanging around town looking hard. We had a big comfy couch for us all to crash out on, dogs and a big garden. Everyone used to come over. Neighbours never had to knock; the door was always open. It was busy and noisy."

He's been somewhat reluctant to accept his status as a sex symbol among both women and gay men. But hasn't been shy in coming forward by appearing wearing very little in Gay mag Attitude and as a centre fold in British Cosmopolitan. He was even voted 84th sexiest man in the world by readers on New Woman magazine. "..it can be quite daunting but it's all part of the job - and I'm quite a pleasant person, I'm a chit-chatty sort of guy anyway, so I just go along with it"

Starring along side Bob Hoskins in last years "Ruby Blue" and with his final season of "Shameless" as Lip under his belt Perhaps it's time for Jody to move on to bigger things? "As an actor you want to be as versatile as possible and I want to try different things… I want to do something more challenging now, to be someone different."

And that he has, playing petty thief in ITV's "The Fixer" and as associate producer and part player in the gritty new crime film "Act of Grace" directed by "Life on Mars" very own Phylis Dobbs aka actress Noreen Kershaw.

So with things on the climb for Jody it looks like the last ten years have just been a warm up, shortly they'll be little else to do but to pay attention to this guys rising star as his career goes from strength to strength.

Jody Latham at IMDb

This post is an expaned and revised piece previously posted on my old blog Current Obsessions