Tonight I’m Takin’ No Calls, ‘Cause I’ll be Dancin’

What event would open with Candis Cayne and Wilson Cruz dancing to Lady Gaga’s Telephone? It was the 2010 GLAAD Media Awards and Cayne and Cruz hosted the colorful event. I was in attendance that evening, as SAGIndie is a sponsor of the GLAAD Awards. The event featured a pre-event cocktail party with a silent auction, where everything from a spa weekend, to wine baskets, to a new car was available for bids. My roommate and date for the evening, Megan Roy, and myself had a chance to get our picture taken at the photo booth (pictured at right). This was followed by a live auction. At the live auction trips to London went quickly as did personal redecorating sessions with a top designer. The raised funds went to GLAAD to help the organization continue spreading its message of equality and peace.

During the awards show, GLEE took best comedic series and the cast, including Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jane Lynch, and Kevin McHale were there to accept it. Outstanding film went to A Single Man and Outstanding Reality Program went to RuPaul’s Drag Race. The event had some serious moments, including a speech by Constance McMillen, the young teen whose high school cancelled prom after she asked to bring her girlfriend. She presented one of two special awards that evening.

The two special awards were handed out to honorees, Drew Barrymore and Wanda Sykes, who took home their awards for their success in entertainment, as well as their support and positive inclusion of the GLBT community in films, television and the media in general. The event ended with a spirited performance by American Idol winner Adam Lambert. Decked out in a leather studded jacket and blue-streaked faux-hawk he performed a couple rock-heavy songs that got the audience on its feet. All in all, a successful evening.

I Went to Joshua Tree National Park and All I Got Was This Rattlesnake Bite

Just Kidding! Neither myself nor one of my five friends saw or was bitten by a rattlesnake. We did see a rabbit though and a really large crow (?) as well as a bunch of lizards (size varied).

Google maps listed Joshua Tree as two hours and thirty-eight minutes from my apartment. I was concerned about this since my trip to San Diego had a similar forecast and my friends and I ended up in the car for about five hours. The Saturday morning drive, however, was painless and basically traffic-free. It really only took two hours to get there.

It costs fifteen dollars per car to gain entry into the park, but with three people per car, the five dollars wasn't bad.

After perusing a useful book on trails that my friend Jennie picked up we planned our day over lunch at one of the picnic sites. Our plan included a visit to the dam and Keys' View. We also had another potential hike in mind, but once we got started on the first trail that led us to the dam, we couldn't help ourselves. We ended up climbing rocks and creating detours that ate up most of our time, which was really quite OK.

Going in a group had its advantages. There were many items needed to enjoy the day at Joshua Tree: sunscreen, water, water, water, packed lunches/snacks, cameras, paper towels, first aid kit, etc. But, of course, the best reason to go with a group is to enjoy the vast, open, uninhabited land together.
(View from Keys' View above) After Keys' View we didn't have enough time for a hike but we still had another hour and a half before sundown. We decided to visit Pioneer Town, an old collection of saloons and town stores that used to function as a Western film set...

Rebecca, among the willows.
Cor and I, off to get some Apple Jack.



(That's a lil Western slang for ya.)


(Photography by Rebecca Lear and Cricket Demasi)


I'll leave you with some Western wisdom: When in doubt, let your horse figure it out.

Books ----> Movies

After recently finishing Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card I read that its potential film is currently living in limbo with a director no longer attached. It could make a compelling film, now that special and visual effects are more sophisticated. It would be a challenge though, to balance the emotion with the action.

This got me thinking...what other books would I like to see turned into movies?

Prey by Michael Crichton. We've already seen Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, the Lost World, Disclosure, etc. etc. What's one more? I think it's the best choice for a film compared to State of Fear and Next.

Also, it looks like the Help has been optioned to be turned into a film. It's a colorful, well written story about the lives of maids in the rural South in the 1960s. With the right cast, I can see it as a great drama on screen.

What about Computer Animated films?

A book from the Redwall series! Yes. Come on. Computer Animation has now entertained adult themes (Up), as well as sword fighting and bloodshed (Beowolf), why not the anthropomorphizing world of dueling rodents? The adaptation of the Redwall series was attempted in a short-lived cartoon-animated TV series, and there may be an Austrialian cartoon-animated movie of Redwall(?) But still, it's time to give a big-screen, CGI vision to the children series that focuses on battles and feasts, slavery and freedom, life and death, rats and ferrets versus squirrels and mice. I vote Mossflower first before Redwall.

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. It is already a live-action movie with Antonio Banderas that I guess I need to see (the Thirteenth Warrior), but after the release of Beowolf, mentioned above, I can't help but think that this would make a similarly good film, maybe too similar, Eaters of the Dead is loosely based on Beowolf, maybe I'm changing my mind as I write this...

I thought I would come up with more...I'll have to start a running list and update as necessary. Stay tuned!

How about one book that I don't need to see on screen as it is now? Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club is a great film so it makes sense that it set the stage for future Palahniuk movie adaptions. The adaptation of Choke had a far less impressive run, but it was a smaller scale film. I can't really comment on it because I haven't seen it. So, Rant. I read this book while interning in the entertainment business. It was passed around for possible acquisition. The story of Rant is strange and other-worldly. No huge surprise there. It exists in an alternate present with day-time people and night-time people. The main character, Rant, is a legend for what he did in defiance of the norms in this world. You find out very slowly what that defiance is.

Usually, when I see a film adaptation of a book I think that the more the filmmakers strayed from the original text, the more they messed up. In the case of Rant, however, it would only survive as a film in spite of its original plot. It would need to be re-molded for the screen for a few reasons. As it is now we only get snippets of story, small impressions of this world given out in small doses. There wasn't a compelling action that made me want to keep reading. What made me want to keep reading was the voice and interesting world. Plot was secondary. The ending isn't enough of a pay off either. It didn't strike me the same way the end of Fight Club did. It's not the same kind of ending where all is revealed and explained in a world we can all relate to.

The most cinematic aspect of Rant is the idea of Party Crashing. Party Crashing is the recreational activity of racing and bashing up your car with other cars who are playing the "game." It's a secret club that comes out at night. The people who play want to feel a genuine, raw emotion, very similar to why people fight in Fight Club. Party Crashers signal that they're "in" by tying some identifying feature to their car, for example, a Christmas tree, or something else that wouldn't necessarily seem out of place. The stylistic world, the energy involved in Party Crashing and the character Rant would be unique and visually impressive on screen, but I don't see how the story would translate. The dynamic between party crashers would have to be expanded and become the focus of the film, while a lot of Rant's childhood would have to go, including the emphasis on time travel and Rant's sordid family history. It's complex and it is interesting, but on screen, I don't think it would have the right effect if it was the focus of the film.

Not all books are written to be easily translatable to film and that's fine. Don't get me wrong, I'd probably go see an adaptation of Rant, but I'd hope it would be adapted with care and thought and with a little bit of absurdity, imagination and madness.