This Saturday was National Coming Out Day, though that’s an odd name for an increasingly international observance.
We’ve both been out since the Carter administration, so in lieu of coming out (again), we’re celebrating with this list of our favorite out actors in sci fi and horror. And just think, not too long ago we would have had trouble coming up with a list half this size!
As usual, pick your favorites and tell us in the comments who we might have overlooked.
Read the rest of this entry »
It’s no secret that I have a minor fetish for over-exaggerated Welsh accents, from Dawn French’s Catherine Zeta Jones impersonation to Little Britain’s Myfanwy and Daffyd. Of course, now that we know there’s a rift in spacetime in Cardiff (thanks, Torchwood), I’m no longer the only gay who can’t get enough Cymric in my life. (See AfterElton’s recent interview with Gareth David-Lloyd, who plays Ianto Jones, for example.)
So, imagine my delight on reading about this low-impact, hobbitesque home in Wales. OK, so the doorways aren’t completely round, but I think this is about as close as you’re going to get to a livable Hobbit home.
The owner/architect/builder, though, draws no explicit connections to hobbits. According to the website:
“The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings”
Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to get the right permits to build one of these in the East Village.
Via Popsucker
According to a recent interview, and certain lawsuits aside, there is still some uncertainty over del Toro’s participation in the film versions of The Hobbit.
“I wish it was definite, but it isn’t. It’s still in talks, there are still a lot of ‘T’s to cross and ‘I’s to dot. It’s certainly not certain yet…But, as far as I’m concerned, [if it was definite] I would be packed in ten seconds”.
He also says that he won’t be worried about the legal troubles between the Tolkien estate and New Line until he’s “on board” and that he would “absolutely” ask some of the LOTR cast to reprise their roles.
Good stuff. So, let’s get all the paperwork signed, pay off the Tolkien estate and get this thing moving.
Via Empire Online
There are a couple of unfortunate lawsuits in the news right now.
Just as The Hobbit was headed smoothly toward two profitable (and most likely excellent) movies under the directorship of Guillermo del Toro, the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien has sued New Line Cinema for over $150 million plus punitive damages, claiming that they didn’t get enough money from the blockbuster trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Fine.
How does this affect The Hobbit films? The estate also seeks the right to take other Tolkien works (The Hobbit included) elsewhere. I am sure the movie(s) will eventually be made, but if anyone other than New Line takes the helm, it will introduce delays and the chance that the finished product won’t have the same tone as the LOTR.
In other news, Fox has sued Warner Bros., seeking to halt plans to release a 2009 film version of Alan Moore’s (most definitely excellent) graphic novel Watchmen.
It’s the usual chain-of-ownership confusion, but in a nutshell, Fox believes that they have held the film rights since the late 80s and now want Warner Bros. to compensate them appropriately - or halt production.
Via /Film and SuperHeroHype
Remember Leonard Nimoy’s “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”, which got passed around a lot back when the Lord of the Rings trilogy was still hot?
Here’s the title track from that same album, Highly Illogical.
From far beyond the galaxies I’ve journeyed to this place
To study the behavior patterns of the human race
And I find them highly illogical
You can get the album from Amazon
. Here’s my favorite review:
One balmy summer evening I sat listening to this CD on the lawns of my Hampshire summer home. As the opening bars of the “Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins” tinkled out of the speakers, the skies darkened and a massive thunderstorm broke above me. Torrents of rain came lashing down, cruel winds upturned the gazebo and knocked the canapes and chinese straw mushroom vol-au-vents onto the grass. A bolt of lightning struck the east wing clock tower, causing £2.5 million worth of structural damage, and consigning to memory one of the largest private collections of Salvador Dali oil paintings known to man. The following morning, when I awoke, I stumbled outside. The grass around the gazebo had turned brown, and died. Small piles of dead earthworms lay scattered around like piles of vomit outside a Chinese restaurant on a Friday night. Lying unscathed amongst this devestation I found this CD, glinting in the sunlight. Needless to say I buried it at midnight at a crossroads just outside Winchester, and scattered the earth with salt to prevent it rising up again. Do not buy this CD if you value your life. Mine has never been the same since it passed its terrible curse onto me. I must go now, lest Nimoy use his dark powers against me once more. Farewell.
Via Star Trek Forum
