Beer as costume...

Yahoo! this morning had a news clip on this exhibit of gowns made out of beer cans, by Nikos Floros.



I was fascinated. I like his point, too - "I consume, therefore I exist." Seems we need artists to point these things out; awareness is good.

Curious, and looking for something more about Nikos Floros, I came upon this article, in which they are trying to make clothes not out of beer cans, but out of the beer itself.

It's a strange world.

The Adventures of Donald Strachey...

maaseru and I watched the first two Donald Strachey movies, and maaboroshi saw the first one too. maaseru ordered them online; they're from a US TV network called Here! that I never heard of. Based on the novels by Richard Stevenson. The movies:



Third Man Out. Starring Chad Allen and that cutie, Sebastian Spence. I’m not even sure whether to call this a TV show or a movie. It’s part of a series of TV movies made in Canada about Donald Strachey, a gay detective in Albany, New York. His cases are usually concerned with the Albany gay community. Strachey is played by Chad Allen. Albany is played by Vancouver.

I loved this one. It’s smart, funny, suspenseful and sexy. After seeing way too many TV detective stories that are mostly bland, this was a treat in every way. The cinematography, the composition, the flm noir pastiches – all were terrific, and we loved the hero and his lawyer boyfriend, Timmy. Timmy wears glasses and looks bemused in the style of Clark Kent or Daniel Jackson.

The story: a ruthless journalist specializes in outing closeted gays whose actions harm the gay community – senators who voted against gay marriage, for example. He is blackmailed and hires Stachey to find out who the blackmailer is, but manages to offend Strachey to such an extent that he quits. The journalist is murdered. Feeling guilty, Strachey goes back to the case: was he killed by someone who was blackmailing him, or someone he was blackmailing? Was he killed for his files or his money? Who is framing whom? And what does the unconscious Bishop have to do with it?

I particularly loved a scene with big arched windows and gangsters – worthy of Frank Miller’s Sin City.

Shock to the System A young man hires Donald Strachey to find someone – but before he can explain who it is, he dies. Suicide? So it seems: the client was undergoing a psychiatric programme to ‘cure’ him of homosexuality. Suspecting murder, Strachey goes undercover at the clinic to see if he can find out what happened. Though he believed himself comfortable with his own sexual orientation, the situtation raises memories of his own past and unresolved pain that put a strain on his relationship with Timmy. And someone connected to the case is angry enough to come after Strachey with a gun.

There’s an interesting return of a former incidental character – a gay Asian motel clerk who lost his job because of something Strachey did. Believing that Strachey owes him, the kid moves into Stachey’s office as secretary/office manager. And Strachey admits he could use the help.

More! I want more of these. I haven't enjoyed a TV mystery so much in a long time.

Templars, Templars, who has the Templars...

My goodness - this is an afternoon for Templars. First I read this article on Yahoo! Then silverwhistle sends me a link to this book, which I can't help thinking I should have written myself.

The world is feeding into my Templar habit! (Er, no pun intended. No, really.) I suppose I have Dan Brown to thank for that.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age...

I went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age this afternoon with maaseru.

I loved it. I've been feeling starved for historical movies, and I was defending The Tudors just because, but... this made The Tudors look like scrap lumber.

It's sumptuous and grand and clever and it has scope and a sense of romance and all those other things I love so much about historical movies. There's some taint of epicness but it's a wonderfully personal and humanistic story - showing Elizabeth I through Raleigh's eyes, and him through hers.

I take back every less-than-enthusiastic thing I have ever said about Cate Blanchett. She was magnificent. Beautiful. And Clive Owen - very sexy. Not only was the dialogue and characterization good, but it's one of those movies where the people who were intelligent really sound intelligent.

There's a sympathetic portrayal of John Dee, too. (Is that the obligatory Dunnett connection? We all know that all roads lead to Dunnett.)