Eyes Wide Open (2009) rating: 7/10

The director is straight, the writer is female, and the story is about a married ultra-Orthodox Jewish father and butcher falling for a young man studying in yeshiva. (Only after reading a recent NYT article did I realize that some men are paid to just study the Torah in Israel.)

The story is that both are closeted, but the proclivities of the young man are a spreading rumor in this very conservative community.

Some social commentary in the film interview with the director is that in Israel the ultra-Orthodox are having many babies while the secular Jews are having few. In the future will Israel become more extremely conservative? This perhaps does not bode well for gays even though thankfully they do have civil marriage in Israel today.

Brotherhood (2009) rating: 7/10

The Danish neo-Nazi thugs aren't really all that violent. They don't kill anyone. They just intimidate. On gay bashings, they don't want to be found to be responsible because that would be really bad publicity and might cause an over-reaction.

The story is quite implausible on two major counts: (1) the ex-army gay guy decides to join the neo-Nazis after he denounced their motivations to their face, and (2) one of the neo-Nazis sergeants is a closeted gay guy who is actively involved in luring and bashing young gay guys (after first telling them they are beautiful). Talk about hypocritical! Or are we really to believe he is filled with self-hatred? If one is willing to suspend disbelief of these two key points, the movie can be interesting to watch.

Is it me, or are late 2000 decade gay themed movies finally unapologetic-ally explicit about sex scenes so as to be comparable to straight Hollywood sex scenes? I must say this is a welcome change.

And I didn't know that the Danish translation for f**king (the expletive, not the act) is actually "f**king". (The act seems to be a different word.) It's almost as if the Danes prefer to curse in English.

The String (2009) rating: 7/10

Good casting: Salim Kechiouche is medium height, dark and handsome playing Bilal, the love interest of a mixed French Tunisian protoganist named Malik. He basically makes the movie worthwhile. This otherwise somewhat banal coming out movie lacks huge conflicts. Bilal is an illustrator/cartoonist, and the film includes some fairly explicit drawings however.

Pedro (2008) rating: 8/10

President Clinton speaks at the intro of the film about Pedro Zamora. A reality show re-enacted, dramatized and expanded on might seem superfluous, but the movie provides a more holistic view of Pedro's life and impact. Agreeing to be on MTV's Real World, Pedro became the face of someone real who America knew was gay and HIV positive. His relationship with Sean Sasser was nominated as 'favorite love story' on MTV. I was in college in 1993 and not really having time to see the Real World, but now after viewing the 3 included episodes, I can see how it made a difference.

Some IMDB reviewers had higher expectations and down-rated the movie. I think perhaps they wished there was more footage of the charismatic Pedro himself rather than an actor playing him. In the extras, we do get to see Pedro's Real World audition tape submission.

Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation by Simon LeVay; rating: 8/10

Taking a systematic approach of a scientist, LeVay captures all the latest findings in the area of how human (and animal) sexual orientation comes to be. In the process there are a lot of interesting lines of reasoning covered, many discounted and a few very suggestive. LeVay himself jumped into the controversy many years ago with his study of the size of INAH3 in brains of gay males being the same size as women (smaller than straight males) [Of course leading to the question of how/why?].

I believe it can be said that much remains a mystery. But if I might try to write my own summary of the current state, it might be something like this: (1) genetic studies of identical and dizygotic ("fraternal") twins show that homosexuality might be around 30-50% genetically determined, and (2) a lot of studies point to hormones in the womb contributing possibly to homosexuality. LeVay also tries to uncover possible reasons for the genetics and why it may not be selected out of the genome.

There are some interesting little tidbits in the book, such as some studies have found that the torsos of gay men are longer relative to their legs. (Someone could do a larger, more definitive online survey of jean inseams versus height.)

I guess overall, I found the information interesting and useful. I do think that all the science is just background for the political questions which may mainly not hinge on the biological mechanism behind homosexuality and its existence. Many people do not believe in science and so whether or not it occurs as a byproduct of an evolutionary purpose has no bearing on their opposition to it.

What's morally wrong with homosexuality? (2007) rating: 7/10

Video taken of John Corvino's (slightly dated 2007) talk at Wayne State University discusses reasoning people give to say that homosexuality is wrong. Of course, he debunks all of the common reasoning. Not "natural": okay, it may be relatively rare, that doesn't mean it's unnatural; some animals are gay; with the same reasoning, why isn't there a campaign against Diet Coke. Parts don't fit: yes, they do. Etc, etc. He's a little full of himself, but still funny. He does well in the Q&A also.

CJM: Reclaimed paintings of Jacques Goudstikker, rating: 6/10

When the Jewish art dealer from Amsterdam (Heerengracht 458) attempted to flee the country, he died in a tragic accident, though his wife survived. His collection of 1400 works left behind in Amsterdam was looted by the Nazis. "In February 2006, Goudstikker’s family successfully reclaimed 200 artworks from the Dutch government in one of the largest restitutions of Nazi-looted art." It doesn't seem like there are 200 items in the Contemporary Jewish Museum exhibition, but what's there gives an idea of the high quality of the original collection.

Legion of Honor: Japanesque: the Japanese print... Impressionism, rating: 6/10

Hiroshige and Hokusai created well known and loved wood block prints mostly of landscapes in Japan, including many of Mt Fuji. Many Western artists took this art as inspiration. The exhibition shows a number of striking examples of this.

I never noticed this before, but the Legion of Honor has a number of good Dutch paintings, though the early Rembrandt has his stylistic touch, it lacks the aesthetic beauty of the Rembrandt paintings in the Rijksmuseum. Perhaps it's just the model.

De Young Museum: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Orsay, rating: 7/10

Viewing this exhibition and Birth of Impressionism which preceded it, you could almost skip a trip to Paris and the Orsay. Still the Orsay has some wonderful Van Goghs which are not here. In addition, you can take photographs in the Orsay, but as is the custom for temporary exhibitions, you may not take photographs in the De Young. Nevertheless, there are in fact some lesser paintings you might not have seen or noticed at the Orsay which are here. Rating considers that even advance admission is relatively expensive at $20.

Rome (HBO series) rating: 8/10

Politics at its most Machiavellian and shrewd, violence -- gladiatorial and otherwise -- in gory detail, nudity (Mark Antony played by James Purefoy is hung like a horse), sex, slavery and a dramatic storyline from Julius Caesar's time.

It's so good that I watched the first season -- leading up to about the time of Julius Caesar's assassination -- plus bonus DVD (10+ hours) in about two days. Unfortunately the second season has less action and punch than the first. And there are only two seasons.

Beautiful Boxer (2003) rating: 8/10

A gay effeminate kid tries kickboxing to make money for his family. He finds a measure of success, and he decides to keep on doing it to try to make enough money for a sex change operation. Sound crazy? This movie is based on a true story.

Black Book (2006) rating: 8/10

On my visit to Amsterdam, I did see the Dutch Resistance Museum, which discusses the measures the Dutch took against the German occupation, including hiding or attempting to hide Jews. I remembered watching this film earlier but not really realizing it was depicting the Dutch. I just watched the film again and well it's actually kind of an action film with some surprising twists and quite watchable.

MacGruber (2010) rating: 6/10

I happened to ffwd to the point where VanCunth says: "you're like a broken record..." The line MacGruber says after that was worth the 25 minutes I spent watching this movie. Well, that and seeing usually straight-laced Ryan Phillippe walk around with a celery stick up his ass.

La Mission (2009) rating: 8/10

Benjamin Bratt plays a macho ex-con bus driver, Che Rivera, in San Francisco. He lives in the Mission District with his son who is gay, but not out to his father.

You might predict what comes next, but it's surprisingly well played.

Also, the music is quite good.

Steam: The Turkish Bath (1997) rating: 7/10

Better than expected. A married Italian man goes to figure out what to do with the Hamam left him by his aunt in Istanbul. Off on his own in a strange place, he finds a warm welcome in the family keeping up the building including especially the son.

# # #

I did a little investigation and Wikipedia does not do spoiler warnings. I was surprised to find the entire synopsis of the film on Wikipedia. I'll have to remember next time.

The Ghost Writer (2010) rating: 7/10

Ewan McGregor is great in this film about a writer of an ex-British prime minister's memoirs which is a bit of a conspiracy theory. Tony Blair is the film's de facto target, and it fully derides Blair as a puppet of the Americans and gives an (implausible?) explanation for why he might have done that. I watched this film end to end without much ffwding, so there's something to it. The only other Roman Polanski film that I've seen was Frantic which was also a fine thriller.

The Good Guy (2009) rating: 6/10

Rather blah, but why am I remarking on this film? A couple remarkable things: I found the portrayal of Tommy, the Wall Street hotshot strangely sympathetic. On the one hand, doesn't seem to respect his girlfriend and takes her for granted, though, to be fair, she refuses to have sex with him for some strange reason. On the other hand, he helped out the hopeless with the girls, but no obvious personality, honest guy underling, Daniel. I guess to some extent Tommy is being practical because he sees Daniel as a relatively unambitious but hard working guy who could never compete with him for his job (or his girlfriend). Still, it seems unnecessary and confusing for a shark like Tommy to be so nice to him. Sort of an unexpected display of gentlemanly and generous behavior.

The other remarkable thing is the surprise generated by the movie marketing materials and how weirdly effective it is...

** spoiler, read only if you don't plan to see this movie **

What I mean is that the materials try to indicate that Daniel himself could be kind of a duplicitous, dishonest guy also. I.e. things are not what they appear. I was always looking out for him to be a killer, blackmailer, or have some dark past, but he turned out not to be. Why was that effective? I guess it was one of those cases where I wanted to be able to cheer for someone and it turned out to be the right guy.

Cut Sleeve Boys (2006) rating: 7/10

Watched on Logo (turns out you can stream many movies and tv shows free from their website http://www.logotv.com, but I watched this on a DVR).

A couple of gay Chinese friends attempt to continue life in London after the death of their best friend, another gay Chinese. One guy has so absorbed the idea of (gay) class that he thinks he's better than everyone else because of his looks, including a significantly cuter white guy who says he loves him. (A casting error.) The other has such a low opinion of himself that he's willing to cross dress to get his guy. It's curious how it all turns out.

Inlaws & Outlaws (2005) rating: 9/10

Made back in 2005, it contains all the brilliance of a modern 2010 understanding of the same-sex marriage battle. Interviews. Young, old, gay, straight, single, married, divorced. I found a bit stunning the previously closeted man who had amicably but still painfully divorced his kindly school teacher wife (two kids), and as well the lesbian Mormon woman who had married -- with her lover as maid of honor -- and then divorced. But then get stunned again at the lengthy and happy relationships lasting decades.

# # #

In the extras, don't miss the insightful comments of the young gay male couple under the title Tradition. They somehow don't seem well matched, but who knows.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009) rating: 8/10

Such a concentration of women haters in one place gets to be rather monotonous and unrealistic, but that aside, the movie plays as a nice action packed psychological thriller. Good job by the actress Noomi Rapace playing bisexual Lisbeth of the best-selling novels by deceased novelist Stieg Larsson.

One complaint, something wasn't quite right with the English voiceovers -- the film is originally in Swedish. I wonder if I might like better watching the film in Swedish with English subtitles. I would try it, except I have a rule against seeing an unexceptional movie a second time. Perhaps the sequel.

Musee D'Orsay, Paris, rating: 9/10

The best museum in Paris. Unbelievable room after room of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings are the highlight. I went twice while I was in Paris, and it was still worth it to me (which is actually saying something, I think).

Photos: Allowed
Admission: Expensive, but worth it

Calder to Warhol: Fisher Collection at SFMOMA, rating: 7/10

GAP founders collection has some of the best Calder mobiles I've seen. The collection also has an affecting triptych by Warhol of Jackie Kennedy depicting her beaming happiness to immense sadness. And there's a huge Lichtenstein painting with a disembodied woman.

Concurrently SFMOMA is having its 75th anniversary show which also has some cool stuff.

Photos: Not allowed
Admission: Expensive, but worth going on the free day

Little Ashes (2008) rating: 7/10

The story of Federico Lorca, a famous Spanish playwright and poet, and Salvador Dali in their youth. Apparently backed up by research, there was an amorous relationship between these two famous Spaniards. Lorca's famous friend Buñuel is also shown here.

# # # Spoiler

It's a bit sad that the real life story was such a conventional bummer along the lines of Maurice and Clive in the Forster novel. Still the movie is well done.

A Single Man (2009) rating: 8/10

Tom Ford's first film turned out alright. I sort of wish I had read the book by Isherwood beforehand. It's possible the book would have been better. I did get a sense of the message of the movie which is one part exhortation to live in the moment (live every day as if it were your last -- the story takes place ostensibly around the time of nuclear annihilation concerns related to the Cuban missile crisis) and one part cherish past moments of happiness. But knowing the real life part of the Chris and Don story, it seems the book is written as a way the significantly older Isherwood reasoned he might or might not survive if Don were to leave him.

Matthew Goode is in this movie too, but unfortunately his part has too little screen time. In the making of DVD extra, it seems like the actors needed to work on better things to say about Ford. I did like the style and soundtrack (Polish composer: Abel Korzeniowski) of the movie. Perhaps my main disappointment was the emotional impact seemed a little too muted...

Go to the imdb website (scroll down to goofs section) to find out all kinds of 'errors' in the movie which I didn't notice.

Dear John (2010) rating: 7/10

The title and marketing treatment led me to think this would be a bad film. Surprise, it was tolerable. Better than that, actually I think it was good. Probably it has to do with the director Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, Cider House Rules). Wasn't a big fan of Channing Tatum before, still am not, but he's surprisingly not bad here, playing a soldier yet again.

Mulligans (2008) rating: 7/10

The script was written by Charlie David who is one of the hosts on Bump! (the show of gay highlights in travel destinations). This probably low budget movie mostly holds together well. The music is not quite inspiring in parts. The script has continuity issues. But overall, I liked it (gave it a pass). Perhaps it was Dan Payne, the actor playing the closeted father. Good casting! Would have been tricky (less believeable) with a less attractive dude there.


# # Major spoiler

How is it that Stacey character turns around so quickly after finding out about her husband? I got whiplash watching her flip around so quickly from anger to acceptance, and from annoying to wise. Needed something more to drive that epiphany.

Invictus (2009) rating: 7/10

The Clint Eastwood film is remarkably low key and probably didn't do all that well in the box office, but tells the story of how it came to be that Mandela put all his support behind what used to be the white Afrikaner's sport and team. Damon does well as Pienaar, captain of the South African rugby team (though perhaps a bit too short for that leadership position), and Freeman is outstanding as Mandela.

Hard Pill (2005)

What gay person would want to take a pill and be straight? I suppose some self-hating gays might. The same ones who try the conversion therapy run by 'ex-gays'. The reality of it seems ruled out by science, but the movie shows an interesting result.

Love Happens (2009)

(A big movie weekend for me, it seems) I thought relationship self-sabotage was the exclusive domain of the gays. But of course it isn't since gays aren't the only ones who sometimes think they don't deserve love as this movie demonstrates at a certain point. Has Aniston been taking all the cynical, dark and jaded roles of late or is it my imagination? But she's funny here and almost out of place elegant.

Head On (1998)

The protagonist is young, pretty Greek guy with some characteristics reminding me of a certain Queer as Folk character, although lives at home with his immigrant parents in Melbourne. Gets pretty explicit. Lots of sex and drugs. I must say his whole attitude seems dated. A more modern version of that character would never have such hangups and be so conflicted. As it is perhaps a snapshot of a certain time period.

Leap Year (2009)

I like this actor Matthew Goode, and it's not really because he's super tall, at least I don't think so. Amy Adams' character has to choose between a somewhat unimpressive Irish guy played by this dude and a shorter, marriage ambivalent cardiac surgeon [$$$ implied] played by Adam Scott. I wonder what the outcome will be? In this respect perhaps realistic.

The Country Teacher (2008)

This is probably the first Czech film I've ever watched. A closeted gay teacher goes to the countryside far from the gay metro areas and navigates the minefield of blending in with the straight population. Is it a masochistic self-punishment on the part of the teacher? Probably. The movie is not terribly rewarding, but not awful.

The Conformist (1970)

Bernardo Bertolucci's early masterpiece is surprising in having a closeted homosexual (technically bisexual) protagonist (played by the not unattractive: Jean-Louis Trintignant) and a lesbian side story. Well I guess it was made in that free lovin' late 60's era, though the plot covers the 1930s. The visuals are astonishing. Based on a novel, the end is also a bit of a surprise/stunner.

Born in 68 (2008)

French. Runs long at 166 minutes, covering some 30 plus years of participants in a hippie commune. Some nudity. Better second half (also when the gay storyline kicks in).

Also significantly better than "Ma Saison Super 8" which covers a similar period.

Bonus: Actor playing Boris is pretty.

Madagascar Skin (1995)

The movie has an otherworldly fantastical feel to it. The idea that gay males are so focused on appearances that no gay guy would get intimate with a man with a significant facial blemish seems a bit of an exaggeration. But this isn't the only unrealistic part of the film.

# # #

Major spoiler

Crazy crazy plot leads to a straight man deciding to be intimate with a gay man, seemingly out of loneliness, pity or friendship. But this is not just a one night stand. I'm guessing there might be some percentage of straight guys able to handle that, but it's somewhat akin to a gay man staying and having sex with his wife in a straight marriage after he's told her he's gay. The entire scenario would be impossible for me, but probably it's been done.

Newcastle (2008)

A gay interest movie with a tragedy in it, nothing new. Aussie boys surfing and lots of bare skin improves it only slightly.

David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall (Audiobook)

Sedaris has written what seems to be an impossible amount of memoirs. But they are undeniably hilarious, and no other form beats hearing the author speak the words himself.

From The Closet To The Courtroom by Carlos Ball

Probably what makes it interesting to me is the logical process which has been used to win cases for the cause. Five cases and rationales are highlighted, discussing the plaintiffs, the defendants, lawyers, and judges of each case.

It was surprising to me how recent the cases with positive outcomes for the LGBT community have been. Not long before them were the nearly apocalyptic ones, especially: Hardwick where the Supreme Court seemed to codify discrimination.

The book seems especially timely given the on-going case going through the courts challenging California's Prop 8.

The Young Victoria (2009)

I found out that I have no idea of British history. At least there's a good Albert in this story. (But come to think of it, there aren't many Albert villians in stories/movies.) He doesn't become king though, he's just a prince and queen's consort.

The weird thing I found out after some Wikipedia research is that much of British royalty is actually German. Sort of weird that later the countries fought two world wars against each other. Of course, the British monarchy already didn't have much power by the time of Victoria, and the German monarch abdicated in 1918.

The old King William before he dies has a bunch of hilarious moments in the film.

Outrage (2009)

Most people know about Larry Craig from his infamous airport bathroom foot dance. I had heard about Charlie Crist and his apparent beard from gay blogs. But even I had no idea about Ed Koch (former NYC major) or David Dreier (CA-Congress) or Shepard Smith who isn't a political figure, but is a visible public face for the anti-gay Fox News. The film highlights the hypocrisy of these closeted gay politicians who vote against gay interests and community and a couple prominent public persons who advance the cause against gays, such as Shepard Smith and Mary Cheney. Mary Cheney is a Republican puppet and essentially a non-benefit, a non-actor to the cause, a free-loader on liberal efforts. Except for the fact that at least she is out, Cheney has mostly been in fact a detriment, providing cover and is mainly a token to Republicans who essentially have no open gays in their ranks.

The additional materials are also interesting. In a Q&A, someone asks why they highlight McCarthy associate Roy Cohn as a big hypocrite, but not Joe McCarthy himself. The director seems to have found some risk in making that assertion and decided to remove McCarthy's "outing" in the movie. From the web: `Greenspun wrote that: "It is common talk among homosexuals in Milwaukee who rendezvous in the White Horse Inn that Senator Joe McCarthy has often engaged in homosexual activities." McCarthy considered a libel suit against Greenspun but decided against it when he was told by his lawyers that if the case went ahead he would have to take the witness stand and answer questions about his sexuality. In an attempt to stop the rumours circulating, McCarthy married his secretary, Jeannie Kerr. Later the couple adopted a five-week old girl from the New York Foundling Home.' and from Joseph McCarthy: reexamining the life and legacy of America's most hated senator By Arthur Herman: 'Two years later the [Las Vegas] Sun ran an article... insinuating that McCarthy was leading the fight against homosexuals in government in order to divert suspicion from himself. It mentioned that he had been seen kissing a Wisconsin Young Republican full on the mouth, had hired "tall, handsome, dreamy-eyed" David Schine, and had sent Jean Kerr off on an extended vacation to Hawaii in order to spend time alone with his homosexual lovers.' I guess I'm gullible that way, but I think McCarthy is so far perhaps the biggest hypocrite of all.

The movie was made after Mark Foley and before Roy Ashburn. In this context, the hypocrisy seems to be an on-going sad phenomenon. But f**k the public servants who hide behind the talk that it's none of anyone's business. May the Outing and Outrage continue until there are no more closeted gays in public office.

Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Didn't take the assessment since the code from the book was already used (from that perspective not a very environmentally friendly print book -- the print version cannot be fully used by more than one person), but I was able to somewhat guess what strengths I thought fit me. I guess it's useful in framing/categorizing what your strengths are in a more formal way and separating out similar, but actually disparate strengths. All this in a spirit of know thyself/to thyself be true.

I was at first surprised at the existence of strength categories like: context, input or significance. But these are actually: always seeing things in context, thirst for input (or curiosity), and wanting to be of significance. (My guess was none of these areas are my strengths.)

One insight perhaps of the book is that: people tend to focus on their weaknesses to improve, but then it goes on: why not improve on a strength, build on something you're already good at or have a talent for. (Somehow role playing game specialization and character points jumps to mind.) Being well rounded might just be overrated. Instead team up with someone else with similar or different strengths.

Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)

Liked the unusually drawn characters.

The Hurt Locker (2009)

Crazy wild man takes bomb disarming duty in Iraq. Not bad, but not great.

Two is Enough: A Couple's Guide To Living Childless By Choice by Laura Scott

I think one would only pick up this book if one had a hesitation about the question of whether to have kids. Since I did, and even though I'm not in a couple so the question is largely a theoretical one for me, I thought it might be an interesting read. And in fact it was. First of all, there is some relief in a misery loves company way in its discussion about how every (straight) couple of child-bearing age seems to receive pressure to have kids. I'm not sure it's the case in liberal metropolitan areas, but it appears to be true in 'family oriented' suburbia.

The main focus of the book is a non-statistical interview based survey by the author of childless (or the more positive: childfree) by choice couples. It presents their most common reasons for not having kids. (And no, "We are selfish jerks" is not one of them. In fact, sometimes it's very nearly the reverse, something like: we've thought it through and kids would not benefit having us as parents.) The basic idea being helping couples new to the decision process decide by looking at the satisfaction of other couples who decided one way or another and on what basis.

Red Cliff (2008)

Tells the story of the historically noteworthy battle at the end of the Han dynasty. But not a terribly notable film except for the somewhat good looking actor Takeshi Kaneshiro who is 3/4-Taiwanese, 1/4-Ryukyuan (Japanese) and plays the Shu strategist Zhūgě Liàng.

Departures (2009)

A film dealing with death in Japan, but interspersed with humor. There is a deft touch in the handling of the protagonist's own death in the family.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Liked London here. A bit of a buddy pic with the polished Watson looking after the brilliant (but somewhat unhygienic) Holmes and vice versa. Some pretty CGI.

Recent news: Copyright holder hostile to potential future gay portrayals

Up In The Air (2009)

Clooney plays an older single guy. The character is a free loving type, not wanting to be tied down. He's a bit of a misanthrope, seeing people and relationships as a burden, and in a strange way perhaps enjoys his job of firing people, which he rationalizes as a way to free people for a 'better' life. In a turn much like (500) Days of Summer, he falls for a woman who acts much like a man in that she doesn't want or expect exclusivity, just one night stands. At points, Clooney's character extols on the virtues of being single, so much so that we're surprised when he starts to have doubts. At his sister's wedding, he's presented with indirect evidence of the major trade-off of marriage: companionship over loneliness and burden of responsibility for someone else's happiness over free wheeling independence.

Chris and Don: A Love Story (2007)

Fascinating and pretty much unbelievable story of a 50 year old writer, Christopher Isherwood (author of A Single Man), who picks up a 20 year old 'boy', Don Bachardy, as a lover back in the late 1950s. Bachardy who is still alive as of this posting tells the tale from beginning to end, and it's quite riveting. I say unbelievable because Bachardy was young and attractive while Isherwood was already quite old and faded. But Isherwood supported his young lover and 'kept' him pretty much until the day Isherwood died.

The Art of Happiness In a Troubled World by the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler

I liked the first book in this series so much because it was such a new concept: the idea of a religion which did not look down upon other religions or even on not believing. It look a secular approach to showing how compassion and empathy could improve your life, rather than being instructed to do so as a moral and religious imperative. This book attempts to update and improve on the first. Cutler does a reasonable job with informing on the latest in happiness psychology and research. He is able to extract some nuggets from the Dalai Lama over his several interview visits. But I couldn't help but think that I might have gotten more out of a reread of the original book.

No Regret (2006)

A low class orphan boy, now man, struggles to make a living in Seoul. Eventually he turns to being a high-end rent boy. The protagonist is good enough looking. But they should have found a significantly less unattractive supporting actor for the love interest. Was he somehow a friend of the director? Or a well known straight actor? Sure, a more attractive love interest might have changed the script, but it would have also made a lot more sense within the existing framework.

Love of Siam (2007)

A longish Thai film with traces of a soap opera in the script, but I enjoyed much of it. Mario Maurer, probably 18 years old when the movie was made, plays one of the boys and is astoundingly pretty. Overall the film is very gay friendly. Even the straight boys are affectionate. One tongue kisses a friend during CPR drill and says he was just curious. Still it is a modern and realistic portrayal with homophobia still serving as a source of conflict.

# # # Spoiler

I was temporarily miffed at the non-Hollywood ending, but actually it made me think. Maurice was the story with an unequivocally positive ending which made watching gay movies finally worthwhile. With so many gay themed movies out there, I'm again ready for the less positive endings.

Fashion Victims (2007)

Florian Bartholomäi who plays the gay son is just cute enough to make this gay tilted comedy worth seeing. Apparently, he was in The Reader playing the older brother to the Michael Berg character though I don't remember that clearly. The script has some funny twists and conflict, but nothing really noteworthy. There is a very low key coming out scene. There is a slightly unsympathetic lesbian story line as well. Oh yeah, the movie is in German.

Intelligence and How to Get It by Richard Nisbett

Most interesting are the chapters on Asians and Jews. Nisbett goes out of his way to say that Asians don't have higher IQs than Europeans/European Americans. (Thanks, dude!) But Asians just work harder and the importance of family rather than individual results in increased motivation to success. Nisbett then tries to explain how Jews disproportionately obtain Nobel prizes.

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

I had low expectations for this anthology of New Yorker pieces by Gladwell. Well, I mean because usually such a conglomeration of stuff seems not very timely and jumbled. A surprising number of the chapters were quite interesting. And in fact, I felt the same way afterwards as when I normally read a Gladwell book: which is like I'm not sure what I've learned after reading it, except for some random interesting facts. A book of this style is uniquely suited for reading piecemeal.

(500) Days of Summer [2009]

I always liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt from his 3rd Rock days, though I had a thought that he wouldn't look so great grown up. In this film, he's got a mysterious attraction, despite the longish hair, angular face, and impossibly slim physique. I'm going to say something annoying here that girls say so often, but myself almost never: it's the eyes -- I think. Anyway, I really liked this film. The acting is great. I think it's said in other reviews, but it was a bit like falling in love as vicariously as that can be in watching a film. The way it ends is perhaps not a surprise, but the how and why are strangely intense. And the music is excellent.

# # # Major spoilers

After some discussion with friends, apparently the blue theme of the post-coital celebration apparently represents something. Except for in that scene, the female character is the only character in the film to wear blue (I never noticed this). And in a way, that color blue indicates something about the behavior of that character. She is not a typical female. In fact, she acts almost like a male in a female's body which leads to the gay interest tag here. How come I never noticed that she was always wearing blue? First of all, because I'm a male and I don't notice those sorts of things. Second, I'm gay and I never really looked carefully at the girl.