Alec Baldwin Sure Does Hate Ben Brantley

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Photo: from Vulture. Ben Gabbe | Getty Images

Alec Baldwin Sure Does Hate Ben Brantley — Vulture.

Baldwin writes that a critic should “never say ‘why bother?'” about something he or she is reviewing, and that “[in] the case of Orphans, Brantley wrote ‘Why bother?'” Actually, Brantley didn’t — though he did call Baldwin’s performance “a mutating cartoon … with only hints of the requisite menace” and said the production was “dispiritingly pallid.”

Okay, this is probably a way for Baldwin to vent his spleen a little, but, you know what? When you strip away all the vitriol from both sides, Baldwin is dead right.

Look, critics have way too much power.

Critics who are looking for a way to tear down a performer or a performance sadly outnumber those who are offering legit criticism.

If theatre marketers were doing their jobs correctly — and I say this with impunity because I was one for years and years — you can make your shows immune in critics. Of course, doing so requires changing your business model and investing more money in marketing, so I’m pretty certain that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

What the World is Reading…

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Not your grandpa’s reading material.
Image: Front porch, Sunday Afternoon, Vincennes, Indiana, 1941. Photo by John Vachon for Farm Security Administration/WPA | Wikimedia Commons

…on my blog.

I’m endlessly fascinated by statistics. (Don’t judge.) According to WordPress, here are the 10 most read pages/posts on my blog in the last week, month, and year.

LAST SEVEN DAYS
1. Home Page
2. Finnish Soap’s Gay Storyline Finds International Fans Thanks to YouTube
-originally posted Jan. 4, 2013 — fascinated by the legs this one has
3. Gay Teen Boys and Highschool Romance
-originally posted Jan. 26, 2013 — link to a great story on HuffPo
4. Jake Silbermann: Just My Type
-originally posted Apr. 30, 2013 — link to Silbermann’s terrific essay + my thoughts
5. How the Supreme Court’s DOMA Ruling Could Upend the Immigration Debate
-originally posted May 4, 2013 — link to great analysis on BuzzFeed and my thoughts
6. EastSiders Debuts on LogoTV.com
-originally posted Apr. 18, 2013 — one of many posts about Kit Williamson’s great crowd-funded gay Web series
7. Gay Marines Talk About Falling in Love
-originally posted Mar. 11, 2013 — glad this post has a long tail as, socio-culturally speaking, it’s wildly important in understanding perceptional shifts. (Also, they are adorable.)
8. Durang’s Best Chekhovian ‘Spike’
-originally posted Apr. 30, 2013 — a quick piece about “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” and the Tony Awards. A tangential companion to the Jake Silbermann piece at No. 4.
9. Pine Valley Is Open for Business Again
-originally posted Apr. 29, 2013 — a riff on the premiere of the online roboot of “All My Children”
10. Gay West Point Cadet Escorts Boyfriend to Winter Weekend Formal
-originally posted Feb, 6, 2013 — another one with surprising legs

LAST 30 DAYS
1. Home Page
2. Finnish Soap’s Gay Storyline Finds International Fans Thanks to YouTube
3. Pine Valley Is Open for Business Again
4. EastSiders Debuts on LogoTV.com
5. Gay Marines Talk About Falling in Love
6. Gay Teen Boys and Highschool Romance
7. Chris Kluwe, Minnesota Vikings Punter, Rocks
-originally posted Apr. 3, 2013 — headline says it all!
8. Like Sands Through the Gay Hourglass — Ticked Off at American Dramas. Again.
-originally posted Nov. 12, 2012 — riff on American vs. European soaps and how backward American soaps are … even when there is some forward progress.
9. Seven Reasons to Watch (or Rewatch)  ‘The Outs’
-originally posted Apr. 4, 2013 — BuzzFeed list about one of my favorite Web series
10. Jake Silbermann: Just My Type

LAST 12 MONTHS
1. Home Page
2. New Kids on the Block — All My Children, That Is
-originally posted Mar. 17, 2013 — Cady McClain tweeted this link and the thing just exploded. The viral power of social media.
3. Finnish Soap’s Gay Storyline Finds International Fans Thanks to YouTube
4. Like Sands Through the Gay Hourglass — Ticked Off at American Dramas. Again.
5. Gay Marines Talk About Falling in Love
6. “Bare” Off-Broadway: Cover It Up [review]
-originally posted Dec. 9, 2012 — my thoughts on the disappointing revival of “Bare”
7. Pine Valley Is Open for Business Again
8. Gay Teen Boys and Highschool Romance
9. Sam Champion Engaged: ‘GMA’ Weather Anchor Comes Out, Plans To Marry Rubem Robierb
-originally posted Oct. 6, 2012 — I don’t understand this one at all. I was just being snarky; I didn’t think anyone cared!
10. ‘Scut Farkas’ Takes Bully Battle to Court
-originally posted Dec. 20, 2012 — this one pops up every now and then, maybe when people see Zack Ward on TV? No idea.

A FEW OTHER TIDBITS
15. Grandmother’s Pound Cake
-seriously, a cake recipe? I mean, it’s a good cake, but….
19. In With ‘The Outs”
-one of my many posts on this Web series, which I think is terrific
39. John Lithgow, the National Theatre, and my own Name-Dropping Memory of the Best New Year’s Eve Ever
-my story about spending New Year’s Eve with Sir Ian McKellen
51. Eine Kleine Ukulele Muzik
-link to a great video: the Queen of the Night aria accompanied by ukulele
53. Cleveland Street Comes to Broadway
-a review of “A Christmas Story: The Musical,” which I loved (as did this year’s Tony nominating committee)

TAKEWAYS
-People are eclectic.
-You can’t pinpoint what people will read.
-Interesting how some posts that you never thought would be that popular, are. Consistently.
-Thanks for reading — whatever is is you like to read!

P.S. — If you read it and like it … hit the LIKE button! Thanks!!

And Delaware Takes it to ‘Leven

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In numerology, 11 is one of those ‘magic numbers.’ There’s some serious partying happening in Rehoboth Beach tonight!

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Image: AFER

Boy Scouts’ Gay Debate — Religion Beyond the Right

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“I find it perplexing the way the ‘moral values’ phrase is used,” said the Rev. Mark Greiner, the pastor at the Presbyterian church that Ward attends. “Concern for the environment, concern for workers’ rights: those are moral values,” he told me. “But the phrase ends up being limited to matters of human sexuality, as if Jesus was primarily concerned with what people did with their reproductive parts. It’s crazy-making.” Greiner wants the ban on gay scouts and leaders lifted.

via In the Boy Scouts’ Gay Debate, Religion Beyond the Right – NYTimes.com.

From Frank Bruni’s excellent column in the Times. It’s a great quick read. I am so appalled and disgusted at the Boy Scouts of America I just can’t see straight.

Steven Soderbergh on Art

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It was on the wall of a cave in France 30,000 years ago, and it’s because we are a species that’s driven by narrative. Art is storytelling, and we need to tell stories to pass along ideas and information, and to try and make sense out of all this chaos. And sometimes when you get a really good artist and a compelling story, you can almost achieve that thing that’s impossible which is entering the consciousness of another human being – literally seeing the world the way they see it. Then, if you have a really good piece of art and a really good artist, you are altered in some way, and so the experience is transformative and in the minute you’re experiencing that piece of art, you’re not alone.

from a speech given by Soderbergh at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival

via The Dish. (Thanks, Andrew Sullivan, for posting this. Most excellent, indeed)

Incoming NRA President Calls Civil War The ‘War Of Northern Aggression’ | ThinkProgress

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Incoming NRA President Calls Civil War The ‘War Of Northern Aggression’ | ThinkProgress.

“The NRA was started, 1871, right here in New York state. It was started by some Yankee generals who didn’t like the way my southern boys had the ability to shoot in what we call the “War of Northern Aggression.” 

That’s a quote from NRA President Jim Porter. Are you freakin’ kidding me? 

Let me tell you something: I am from the South. I am from the Deep South. (And, oh my God, I can’t tell you how happy I am to say I LEFT!) And there’s no one in the South who calls the Civil War “the War of Northern Aggression” unless they are trying to deliberately raise some hackles or they are drunk-ass windbags. Never, ever in the 21st century would you say such a thing. In the South or anywhere else. (Hell, I kind of find it hard to believe that it was that prevalent in the 19th century; but I’ve been wrong before….)

Or course, this is the same imbecile who goes on to say that people who join the NRA are people who are ready to “fight tyranny.”

Right. Because there is so much tyrannical behavior going on right now that we are desperate to take to the streets like our forebears did against the Continental Army. Because despot-loving mad men (presumably who vote the straight Democratic ticket) are readying themselves to take to the streets to despoil your wives and children and turn everyone gay. And socialist.

Sic temper tyrannis. Fine.

But Jim Porter: bliteus belua es — not that I expect you’ll know how to translate it.

P.S. — Sic temper tyrannis is the motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia. I always heard it said that it translated as “get your foot off of my neck!” Here’s why.

Roller Derby Provides a Model for Acceptance of Gay Men

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New York Shock Exchange players scrimmage at a recent practice. (Photo by Jim Flood) Huffington Post

Well, good on ya, roller derby dudes. Who knew? Great article by Jim Flood, BTW.

Joe Andreone, aka Truth Hurtz, said he thinks of his two gay teammates on Baltimores Harm City Homicide as “brothers” just like the rest of the team. Andreone said that roller derby accepts anyone who wants to compete, regardless of race, sexual orientation or body type. “It has changed my life for the better,” he said, “and I wish that other sports would take notice of the roller derby community and all it has to offer anyone thats interested.”

via Jim Flood: Roller Derby Provides a Model for Pro Sports in Accepting Openly Gay Men.|Huffington Post|

Today’s Best Tweet

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Good grammar is the best revenge!!

enhanced-buzz-9985-1367617432-6H/T BuzzFeed

 

How The Supreme Court’s DOMA Ruling Could Upend The Immigration Debate

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This is a decent analysis by Chris Geidner on BuzzFeed. It takes a very complex legal issue (made overly complex by the masters of over-complexity, the U.S. Congress) and makes it easy to digest.

Truth be told, this just infuriates me. I simply do not understand what the Republicans think they have to gain by ruining these peoples families.

Because the Defense of Marriage Act bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples’ marriages, binational gay and lesbian couples — those where one partner is not a U.S. citizen — have been denied the ability to seek a green card that straight couples have been eligible to obtain for their spouse in a similar situation.

The legislation aimed at addressing this issue is the Uniting American Families Act, and it would create a new category, called “permanent partners,” that would make same-sex couples eligible for green cards. The “Gang of Eight” senators did not include the measure in their immigration reform bill, but LGBT advocates have been pressing for Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy to add the provision into the bill during the committee markup, which is slated to begin May 9.

via How The Supreme Court’s DOMA Ruling Could Upend The Immigration Debate.

Rhode Island Legalizes Gay Marriage

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Image: glaad.org

Rhode Island Legalizes Gay Marriage.|Huffington Post

Rhode Island became the tenth U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage Thursday with a 56-15 vote.

Just before he signed the legislation into law, Gov. Lincoln Chafee took to the steps of the Rhode Island State House, where he told a jubilant crowd, “Today we are making history … we are living up to the ideals of our founder.”

He went on to note, “When your belief and heart is in something, it’s easy work. I am proud to say that now, at long last, you are free to marry the person you love.”

By the way, the official name of the smallest state in the Union is the longest: the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The state bird is a chicken: the Rhode Island Red hen, and the state drink is “Coffee Milk,” which, I believe, is something like a coffee flavored milkshake.

The state motto is “Hope.” We hope that the next 4/5ths of the United States will follow Little Rhody’s lead down the trail of equality.