Easy Come, Easy Go the new album by iconoclast Marianne Faithfull seems custom made for me and my frequent film collaborator, actress Crystal MacTaggart. A sequel of sorts to her brilliant 1987 Strange Weather, Easy Come Easy Go is a collection of covers of such diverse artists as Smokey Robinson, Neko Case, Morrissey, Merle Haggard and the Decemberist. Faithfull's gravely lived in vocals add a new depth to familiar tunes and her brilliant lineup of guest "backup singers" is pretty much a who's who of impressive talent (Antony, Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainwright, Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) Teddy Thompson, Nick Cave and Faithfull's ex-Keith Richards!!!)
The album was largely recorded live in the studio in 8 days and has a lived in yet off the cuff feel of a classic sixties jazz recording, albeit one with very rough experimental edges. While I do miss the rich original songs of 2005's brilliantly stunning Before the Poison I really enjoy the radical re-imagining of many of these tracks, Dolly Parton's classic Down from Dover in particular. It's been amusing too the ire that she has drawn (as well as the odd opposite) for covering Neko Case's Hold On, Hold On (from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood) with people falling in polarized camps of Neko versus Marianne.
Andrew Bridge (also known as Andrew Farris) was the "witness" who accused my husband Taylor Vineyard as well as another Portland State University student Stephen Priest of being involved in an "orgy" at Peter-Stott Center , the gym on the PSU campus. It lead to my husbands arrest and a four and a half month long court battle which ended on March 26th with the charges being "Dismissed in the Interest of Justice" due to , well my husband being innocent and the witness being a liar.
KATU investigative news reporter Dan Tilkin (who is a brilliant and brave man by the way!) interviewed us a few months back about the case and followed the case through to it's happy ending- well it keeps getting better. After interviewing us for the follow-up just a few short hours after the dismissal he then tracked down the "witness" who seems to have quite the history of accusing gay men of public sex acts as well as a bit of a criminal history ( it's a matter of public record in case you are wondering how I know this.)
What happened next has to be seen to be believed. When approached by Dan Tilkin and his intrepid camera man Andrew Bridge threatened to get a gun and shoot them, babbled insanely, sprayed them with a water-hose and all around acted like deranged bully.
God the only thing more I'd have loved was for Dan to point out in no uncertain terms- "hey asstwat, you are NOT a witness anymore. Your vigilante days are over bub! "
I want the whole LGBT community to know this guy's face, a self loathing gay man who perpetrates legalized gay bashing by deception and perversion of the legal system for his own twisted amusement. He even states as to how he was at the scene of F-O-U-R recent scenes of "public gay sex" ... the punch line He himself is a gay man, so he "knows what to look for."
Yeah I think he looks for attractive (and thin) young men who are innocent of a crime and happy with themselves to accuse falsely, because that's about all he has found.
So you may have noticed Update 6 mysteriously disappeared this morning. Well that's because as of this morning at around 9:30 am PST Taylor Vineyard my wonderful husband of 5 years was cleared of any fucking wrong doing! The charges were formally "Dismissed in the Interest of Justice" !!!! We've done a second interview with KATU News' Dan Tilkin (to be posted here later) .
As much as it pained us (and nearly broke us financially) the DA's office did their job well (as did our amazing attorney Eileen O'Reilly) and the charges were dropped upon a thorough investigation.
More to come latter, but right now we're gonna take a well deserved nap.
Radiology student/artist Satre Stuelke made this amazing CTscan of Barbie (among other toys) resulting in a strangely ethereal work of art from an otherwise common place and sometimes considered anti-art object. Check out more here! including amazing 3d radioscopic quicktimes.
OMG GOD! The Trailer (to run before Monsters VS Aliens) for Spike Jonez' much delayed adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved classic is finally HERE! Set to Wake Up! by theArcade fire I must say i might have teared up a bit when I watched it. It looks brilliant and beautiful and just about as god damn perfect as I could have possibly dreamed it could. Enjoy!
With the conclusion of the Rupaul's Dragrace, I wanted to take a moment to mention my admiration of some of the contestants. Ongina won my heart with the Oprah challenge and then continued to do so with the Viva Glam challenge. Ongina's use of the publicity to raise awareness and spread knowledge and solidarity in our community is getting a big applause from me. She isn't just going around yelling "Look at me I'm so pretty", she is educating and using her fame to make our culture a better one for all of us. I am proud that she is taking on the burden and brining all of us closer as a united front and a culture who needs to stick together.
This is also true of the winner, Miss Bebe. Congratulations to her as she challenges the definitions of what a man is, what an African man is, and what a Drag Queen is. Kudos to both of these fine individuals who aren't just in it for themselves.
Anne Hathaway (Brokeback Mountain, Rachel Getting Married) has been cast as none other than Judy Garland in a film adaptation of the 2001 Gerald Clarke biography Get Happy: The Life and Times of Judy Garland. She really really wants that Oscar (and our forgiveness for that Bride Wars mess.) and I think she has the potential to really be great in this role.
No word yet on who's playing everyone's favorite celebuspawn Liza!
As if the timing couldn't be worse, here's our first look at the May issue of Unzipped with cover boy Beau Breedlove. I love that the copy says Fresh from his affair with Portland's Mayor. Let's be real folks it was four-fucking-years ago and Beau has made the rounds sleeping with just about any and every sugar daddy in town since (according to VERY reliable sources).
He's pretty much the definition of not-so-fresh. He's a bottom feeder pure and simple. The worse kind of gay young man, one who's too stupid to see he's playing to the enemy, but just smart enough to be dangerous. Opportunistic and selfish, this shoplifting predatory little office skank is now a national cover boy. Here's your 15 minutes of fame Beau. enjoy it and then go away so our city can get on digging it's self out of the mess you helped make.
Gentleman Reg's new album Jet Black is brilliant, Plain and simple. It's fey and fierce and rousing and soothing all at once. The simple refrain in Rewind "there's no point in going back when the masterpiece is crumbling." speaks volumes of the emotional destruction at the end of relationship. While Darby and Joan mined similar territory Jet Black is a more mature polished work from one of Canada's most idiosyncratic and gifted young artists. His lilting falsetto is that baby breathed angel singing the woes of modern living. This is shaping up to be one of my favorite releases this year already (along with Morrissey and Grace Jones)
The much delayed film adaptation of bestselling children's author (and just recently openly gay genius) Maurice Sedak Where the Wild Things are is finally getting an October release date a full two years after that first test screening that sent one child out crying and executives scrambling. Visionary director Spike Jonez (Being John Malcovich, Adaptation) is at the helm of what was being called an adult adaptation of a kids classic. I'm hoping despite tons of re-shoots and delays that the film is every bit as wonderful as the still images make it out to be. A dark and fantastical rendering of our childhood favorite.
Check out the newly arrived one-sheet .
-(unrelated side note apparently the wild things are HERE- my cats Ted and Kickers are currently fighting over a rarely occurring sunspot -damn Portland weather)
Patrick Wolf- Holy fucking hotness! Here's a still from the video for "Vulture" from The Bachelor (due out 6/1 on Patrick's own Bloody Chamber Music label) The song is great, it's gonna be a double album and Tilda Swinton is on it sounds like a perfect match to me, he's a genius! I still listen to Wind in The Wires at least once a week. Check out the song below , the video should be ready in the coming weeks.
So debate returns about who the hell actually authored the dead seas scrolls and what these implications are to biblical teachings and yadda-yadda-yadda
So it's a bit involved so you can read the whole mess here
Biblical scholars have long argued that the Dead Sea Scrolls were the work of an ascetic and celibate Jewish community known as theEssenes, which flourished in the 1st century A.D. in the scorching desert canyons near the Dead Sea. Now a prominent Israeli scholar,Rachel Elior, disputes that the Essenes ever existed at all - a claim that has shaken the bedrock of biblical scholarship (via Time)
Thanks so much for all the readership and support as of late, whether it's about my films, blog, art or music (or my husband's bizarre court trial) we here at Digging to China really appreciate all the love and support. It's been a crazy year and it's only 3 months in, but wanted to take this moment - at oh nearly 2 am PST while listening to Adele on Carson Daly (hey anyone else think he looks like a meth addict?) - and ask for some reader feedback: What do you think of Digging to China? What would you like to see more of , less of, etc. ?
So apparently Barrett Long, the long openly bisexual G-A-Y porn star who's work I've -er-um- "enjoyed " in the past was recently interviewed on Howard Stern where he kinda-sort may have tweaked some details of his personal life like saying he gets $400 bucks (instead of his advertised $300) escorting and -oh yeah- he calls himself straight. So THE BIG LEAD, a sports blog had this to say about Barrett Long's appearance on Howard Stern where he claimed to have been paid for sex by various members of the Dallas Cowboys.
"Around 8:55 this morning, Barrett Long, an a male adult film actor, was on Howard Stern. He admitted to accepting oral from males for cash when times were rough, but insisted that he’s straight. He also said a member of the Dallas Cowboys once went down on him. Refused to mention the player’s name. Artie Lange instantly yelled 'Tony Romo!' but Long denied it was him. Then Long asked about Emmitt Smith, to which Long also said no. It almost sounded like Long recanted the whole thing when Artie asked about Michael Irvin, but we’re not 100 percent sure if he was kidding or not."
So yeah he also made it out like he barely does anything with guys in porn. So I thought I'd do something I've never done at Digging to China, post some of his work and let's see if you think that this is not really doing that much.
WARNING! Extremely
NSFW!!
Side note- cutie Mason Wyler who is his co-star in this video makes no bullshit claims to being gay-for-pay (straight men who do gay porn for the money)
As for the whole gay-for-pay thing, yeah there are a lot of them out there but seriously if HALF the guys who claimed to be gay-for-pay porn stars actually were there would be a mass shortage of homosexuals in the industry. It's just a bullshit marketing brand folks.
I'm sorry, but I like my I SAW YOU's and Missed Connections as much as the next guy/gal, however this is something that must stop. I see this more and more frequently on sites like craigslist, not that I spend that much time on there. Actually in my entire life I've only had ONE craigslist hookup and that was with someone I'd already met and used missed connections to get in touch with so I don't know if that even counts. This is from today's Missed Connections here in Portland.
Thursday night. Just came in from a walk, 10 30 pm. I was a couple blocks off Burnside, in NE. Walked by your house, and thru the window saw 2 young cleancut HOT guys sitting at the computer. One was on the other's lap. I stopped for a second look because it at first appeared he was passed out or something. But then I realized it was just some romantic, tender, intimate time between you two. You lifted him into a sitting position, and tenderly kissed his neck a few times, all the while your arms wrapped around him. You both had clothes on (unfortunately!!!), but when you each got up to walk around, I swear there was swelling in the crotches.
Just wanta tell you how it made me feel! HAPPY for you two, that you have such a warm, loving relationship with each other. But a wave of LONELINESS swept over me, and I walked slowly home, alone, hands in pockets where they were slightly massaging the hard-on you guys gave me. HOW MUCH I would LOVE that ... someone to hold and kiss, someone to hug me back, the spontaneousness of "cuddling" on a chair in front of the computer, and then heading off to bed together for some further snuggling, making out, and more. Any chance you two would include a third guy?? Or is there anyone else out there, legal age but less than 50, who would enjoy the same?
I saw this on the Portland Craigslist and just wanted say Hi, you are kinda a creepy/pervy peeping tom AS WELL AS a needy clingy possible sociopath. Seriously, you think whining about how (presumably) happy people make you feel lonely while you are spying on them through their window, then you ask if you can be their third?! You don't even know these guys names! That's not a relationship. Look I know this is a mean post but sometimes tough love is the best thing for a person. I'm a big proponent of it. and clearly here it's needed.
As my friend Matthew would say, "Whoopty Ding-Dong Nuts."
Yet another reason I live in unholy fear of saltwater crocodiles.
This 15 footer on the Wildman River near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia snagged this shark of undetermined species just meters from fishing boat. YIKES!
While not my thing, I do find Ashton to be oddly charming and a sweet guy despite he duffus persona. So he hurt his wrist at the gym on a punching bag (another reason I don't hit things) and someone called him gay on his twitter page. So this was his response. Kudos to Kelso (er I mean Kutcher) and good for Demi Moore, her man's a good egg.
Here's the trailer so judge for yourself, but if you, like me have fond memories of Michael Chabon's debut gay/straight/bisexual lovefest then I think you may want to skip this. Arthur and Cleveland have been combined into one character to make the film a more palatable and one dimensional affair (read less explicitly gay). A shame as I expect better from Chabon than allowing this. Ah the de-gaying of art (pun not intended) continues.
Congrats to Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams for tying the knot in my former adopted hometown of Savannah , GA. It's a fabulous place to do such a thing- I mean if one legally can and has the rights and mind to (bitter party of one, well two actually)
Okay so this may turn out to suck but based on the treatment I read I'm so fucking psyched!
`A 20-something girl trapped in a house with her extremely autistic little brother during a dangerous hurricane, and all the little brother wants to do is pet the kitty- by which I mean the 500 pound Bengal tiger running loose in their house. I don't want to say why the tiger is there, but it will make total sense in the story I promise. I also hear it's not too gory going for high suspense PG-13 thing which can be fine, though I sadly expect the tiger may buy the farm by the end (shades of Cujo, Jaws, or well just about every other animal on a rampage film) which means my husband will most likely be teary eyed at the end. I could be wrong- maybe the tiger just stalks and torments the poor kids before devouring some asstwat supporting character that we all hate before being put safely back in it's cage(fingers crossed). they also get major points from me for using a real tiger and not some ad looking cgi thing.
American photographer Joshua Hoffine's work is so provocative that some have accused the father of 3 of abuse (his daughters are often models, and like any good dad-it's playtime and safely guarded from danger.). Inspired by the hyper colored animation of classic Disney and the dark metaphors of horror stories Hoffine's elaborately staged photographs are striking stills of childhood doom. Using the over-blown drama of a Hollywood spectacle (hot lights, taxidermy, prosthetic make-up, fog machines, an good dose of blood and suspense) Hoffine transports the view into a horror film at the threshold of revelation, often involving a child's discovery of the menacing creatures that lurk in the dark.
Am Eschewing Photoshop collage (not that there is anything wrong with that) for more practical setups I immediately made the correlation between Joshua Hoffine and rising art star (and good friend) Holly Andres, who's own work explores the anxieties of childhood, the female in culture and the place of woman within the binary framework of the fantastical(see her recent Sparrow Lane exhibit). I'm not sure when viewing the horrific and violently suspenseful images of Hoffine that connection would be immediate to the casual viewer but for me the compositions and the deep attention to detail and cinematic nature o the work make Hoffine Andres' evil cousin (at least)
Early in Joshua Hoffine's career he ran a profitable wedding photography business (another correlation to the illustrious Ms. Andres). While the hyperbolic horror of his current work may not be to the taste of some it does speak deeply of the primal concern of childhood : death. Horror taps the primal scream within us all, that grand guignol tradition of exposing the truth in death and life.
While some may dismissive the transgressive imagery as base sensationalist they would miss the deeply symbolic truths that horror allows one to see. Shock value does not deplete from the value and the deeply technical detailed aesthetic at work here. Hand crafted , costumed and beautifully albeit disturbingly provocative compositions showcase a immensely talented photographer.
Floria Sigismundi, the brilliant visionary video director pretty much responsible for Marylin Manson's career highs, turned her stylish eyes to MAC cosmetics new Hello Kitty related line. In proper fashion we are treated to an Alice in Wonderland theme ad-film complete with dancing leather boys in Hello Kitty heads (no really-just watch!)
Ok, so I know this video has been out for a while but I think it is a good example of some thoughts I have been having lately. In conjunction with Andy's "Think/Feel" post and the social/political climate, not to mention the fact that there was a guy at school who got pissed off at what he thought was the pushing of a "Feminist, Homosexual agenda in academia" I figured it would help illustrate my point. The story really being that with everything I have faced down in my young life and the hurdles I have been forced to step over I am still constantly amazed at how stupid people are. We have entered a new era in which the old ways don't work and the walls separating classes and genders are crumbling around us. Even with the obviousness of this I still see people clinging desperately in a pointless attempt to squash the voice of those they still deem lesser. Women, gays, ethnic minorities, children even, are STILL not being given the respect and possibilities that your average white guy is. No one seems to think that their actions have any impact on others, or if they do they use them to control, hinder, and oppress those they disagree with and keep themselves far removed from the old adage, "live and let live". If people would take a second to think about the fact that they are not God, or any other deity, maybe they would take a step back and pay attention to their own lives and not the going- ons of everyone else. But I guess everyone needs a hobby. Everyone is so busy blaming someone else for the unraveling of the fabric of society that they don't seem to be taking the time to do some introspection and figure out who they are. This is one of the things I like about the video I put on here. A woman, who is independent, self assured, and has taken charge of her own sexuality and life gives us a sampling of her own vulnerability, and emotional fragility. This, to me, is a great moment. Yes, we can be strong, yes we can take charge, but to balance that, cause we all need balance people, we need to know our selves well enough to say "Hey, I got my feelings hurt." or "Hey, I need this from you." Whatever the this may be is up to the individual. But to acknowledge that just because you are tough and in charge of your own life doesn't mean that the vulnerable parts are eradicated. To acknowledge this and be one with it actually makes one stronger. Everyone has needs, and fears, and desires, and everyone of these aspects helps construct the fully realized person that we all strive to be. From this inner sojourn would also come a respect for others as knowing thyself would also create and awareness of others that so many today seem to be lacking. Gone are the days of sitting around having others tell you what to do, command your actions, decide your fate, and tell you who you can love, what you can do, and what worth your life has. Now if just these people looked outside and realized this. I imagine a big collective "Ooohhhhhh...." would follow.
Diggin' to China is the arts and culture blog moderated by award winning filmmaker and writer Andrew Klaus. Politics, pop culture, porn-obsessions: nothing is off limits to critique.
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