This Can't Be Broccoli

  Before we go very far, let me preface all this by saying-- I do not care about the royal family. I mean, I do. I care in the same way we should all care about an institution that's been around for hundreds of years, has an ungodly amount of wealth, and oversaw one of the largest empires in human history whose influence still reverberates today throughout the world. But yeah, if you're just in it for the hats and the cheating, then I can see why you'd write the entire subject off as gossip and frivolity. When Oprah's interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry debuted, it felt exciting because how often do any of us actually tune into network television anymore? It felt like the good old days of the Barbara Walters interviews or Diane Sawyer intensely staring at a pop star until they admit they ran somebody over with their car. That's what I found enthralling about it at first. I also found some of the news that came out of it to be, if not shocking, sobering, an...

  Two years ago, I started interviewing people in the theater world about the problems within that community. All the subjects of the interviews remained anonymous to encourage people to speak directly and plainly without worrying that there would be consequences down the line. (Of course, even then, some people felt like outing themselves and getting in hot water, but we're going to leave that water under another bridge.) When I decided it was time to bring the series to a close, it was partly because I thought it had run its course, and partly because I had a new topic I wanted to tackle. While I've had my issues with theater and the people who do it, I've never felt like I didn't belong there, whereas from the moment I came out, I've never truly felt like a part of the gay community. To be clear, that probably has way more to do with me than the community, but it's something I wanted to explore, and I knew how I wanted to do it. The theater interviews were al...

In Chronological Order Beginning with the Earliest Post 1.   The Community and COVID 2.   The Community and The Comments Section 3.   The Community and Coupling 4.   The Community and The Gym Selfie 5.   The Community and The Gaycationer 6.   The Community and The Third Man 7.   The Community and The Duo 8.   The Community and Sex Work 9.   The Community and the Guest List 10.   The Community and the Doublemint Twins 11.   The Community and the Dirt 12.   The Community and the Bartender 13.   The Community and Chet 14.   The Community and the Title Holder 15.   The Community and The Gossip Blog 16.   The Community and The Hypnotist 17.   The Community and The Anchorman 18.   An Interview with The Host 19.   The Community and The Lost Boy 20.   The Community and Self-Improvement 21.   T...

  In 2003, I was just about to enter my twenties, and I was already madly in love with the movies and with acting and with thinking if I watched as many movies as possible, I could become a better actor, seemingly through osmosis. One way to do that was to start going on Oscar Runs. Seeing every movie that was--or could even possibly be--nominated for an Oscar. That's how I wound up, at the impressionable age of nineteen, seeing Mystic River  and thinking Sean Penn was turning in the greatest performance ever put on film. And it all rested on one moment. (Spoiler Alert if you haven't seen Mystic River  even though it's decades old at this point.) When Sean Penn's character arrives at the crime scene and realizes his daughter is the murder victim there, he flips out. He starts screaming " Is that my daughter? " A crowd of men have to restrain him. It's the kind of raw and gut-wrenching moment that wins an actor an Oscar. And it did. Penn won his first Oscar...

Two years ago, I started interviewing people in the theater world about the problems within that community. All the subjects of the interviews remained anonymous to encourage people to speak directly and plainly without worrying that there would be consequences down the line. (Of course, even then, some people felt like outing themselves and getting in hot water, but we're going to leave that water under another bridge.) When I decided it was time to bring the series to a close, it was partly because I thought it had run its course, and partly because I had a new topic I wanted to tackle. While I've had my issues with theater and the people who do it, I've never felt like I didn't belong there, whereas from the moment I came out, I've never truly felt like a part of the gay community. To be clear, that probably has way more to do with me than the community, but it's something I wanted to explore, and I knew how I wanted to do it. The theater interviews were alwa...

Whenever somebody tells you that Cancel Culture is running rampant, just remind them that, as of now, Woody Allen is still allowed to make movies. Not only is he allowed to make them, he has been celebrated for a whole slew of them even after he married his stepdaughter. Just saying that so plainly feels liberating, because for years, you weren't allowed to put it that simply. Even mentioning Woody Allen and his marriage to his stepdaughter would result in some slovenly mansplaining, film student rushing to his defense by explaining that it was all okay, because she wasn't really his daughter, or even technically his stepdaughter, and who are we to judge, and gosh, wasn't Annie Hall  so brilliant, and sometimes they would toss in that Mia Farrow is kind of nuts as well, and somehow, that all makes it okay. And it was all bullshit. But what could you do? The media had decided that while Woody Allen was absolutely ripe for dragging and late night jokes for a period of time in...

Two years ago, I started interviewing people in the theater world about the problems within that community. All the subjects of the interviews remained anonymous to encourage people to speak directly and plainly without worrying that there would be consequences down the line. (Of course, even then, some people felt like outing themselves and getting in hot water, but we're going to leave that water under another bridge.) When I decided it was time to bring the series to a close, it was partly because I thought it had run its course, and partly because I had a new topic I wanted to tackle. While I've had my issues with theater and the people who do it, I've never felt like I didn't belong there, whereas from the moment I came out, I've never truly felt like a part of the gay community. To be clear, that probably has way more to do with me than the community, but it's something I wanted to explore, and I knew how I wanted to do it. The theater interviews were alwa...