Last Week in Links

Photo by Gordon Parks

Photo by Gordon Parks

First Kisses, Beautiful Ladies, Heart-Wrenching Tributes and Happy Families

Happy Monday, Lovers! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of my Irish friends, especially my LBGTQ Irish pals.

I’m coming down off the high of what I’m calling ‘Toddlerpalooza”. Two of our favourite families joined us for a weekend of boisterous little-boy fun. It’s also been a slow start back to school (homeschool, that is) post March Break.

My week is shaped by many variables, but here are the online snippets that spoke loudest to me last week. Grab a whiskey or a gay-friendly beer and enjoy!

First Kiss by Tatia Pilieva

If you missed this video last week, please do watch it. In fact, if you watched and enjoyed it as much as I did, please watch it again. It’s inspired plenty of parodies, and some controversy when people realized it was an ad for an indie clothing company. This video features the first kiss between various strangers, and I don’t care if these people were models or actors, even when you’re on set kissing someone for the very first time is nerve-wracking and delightfully awkward. This video is beautiful, and funny, and really, really, really sexy. Here it is, and I’ve included a link below with a great post from the filmmaker who created the piece, explaining her inspiration and defining the project.

FIRST KISS from Tatia Pilieva on Vimeo.

Here are Tatia’s words on this piece from Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tatia-pilieva/the-story-behind-first-ki_b_4980015.html 

 

Gordon Parks’ Showgirls at Work and Play

This Life gallery from a 1958 edition of the magazine was sent to me by my dear friend Josh. It’s eye-candy of the most exquisite and decadent variety, and captures just the kind of behind-the-scenes magic that I will miss when I retire from show biz.

http://life.time.com/culture/showgirls-gordon-parks-color-photos-new-york-nightclubs-1958/#1

 

Just When You Thought You Were Over Deadwood

I’ve tried for years to make peace with the fact that Deadwood, the mind-blowingly fantastic HBO series, was gone and would never return. Nothing I have seen in the world of television can touch this show, which is why I’m usually just fine to go without TV. I thought the hole in my heart had been filled with books, and more time for knitting, when along came this tribute from New York magazine’s TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz, which has made me want to sit down and watch the entire series for a fourth time. His compelling video essay can be found in this great write up Roger Ebert:

http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/a-lie-agreed-upon-david-milchs-deadwood

A LIE AGREED UPON: DAVID MILCH’S DEADWOOD from RogerEbert.com on Vimeo.

 

News on the Family Front

I saw this next video posted on Facebook, and I thought the timing was uncanny. When asked why we went public with the story of our non-conventional family, my partners and I came up with the perfect response. It’s simple – we think everyone with love in their hearts and the ability to create a loving home should be able to have a family. I don’t know if the people at Honey Maid care as much about family rights. Maybe they just realize what a wealthy demographic gay families are, unlike some idiot Arizona law-makers. At any rate, enjoy this touching commercial, and some witty remarks from Slate:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/11/gay_family_in_commercial_this_ad_with_gay_dads_is_intensely_moving.html

 

We’re Not Brave, These People Are

Our community of family and friends, and even a few kind strangers congratulated us on our bravery for coming out publicly. I don’t think we’re even a bit as brave as these incredible young parents. Heather Walker was outraged when photos of her son Grayson James were pulled down from Facebook because they were ‘offensive’. Her little boy was born with a severe deformity, where he was missing part of his skull, and his mamma shared photos of him without his tiny little cap on. She and her husband knew that when their baby was born, they would only have moments to enjoy him, and that he was not going to survive. Still, they cherished and loved him, and then had the courage to create this incredible tribute video of his few precious hours of life. We should all cherish each moment of our precious lives, and our precious families. I hope this will inspire you the way it inspired me. I think these parents are heros because they faced such a devastating tragedy with so much grace and love.

This video is highly emotional, so kindly be your own judge about whether or not you’d like to view it.

Sending you all light and love, and wishes for a beautiful week ahead.