And this news just in, from New Zealand.... although Americans will not grasp the really important part of this story.... THAT THERE WERE TWO WOMEN AT THE CRICKET!!
Ur, and staying on topic, I thought the Larry David piece was satire. Obviously wrong there. And is it important that Leonard Pitts is a "black writer". Not having a shot at Kirby in any way by asking that, but I'm becoming increasingly curious about the obsession with labelling people as black or gay. For example, do we say, "so-and-so, one of our very best Caucasion writers"? Locally, whenever a news story breaks about something, there's always a label... unless it's a Caucasion.... and then there isn't a label. Anyway, here's the New Zealand version of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN at the cricket. I get hot just reading it. Just as well it wasn't two blokes having a pash, or I would have felt that someone had dropped a trouser snake in the bed. Phil Girl's warned over kiss at cricket Same-sex kissing appears to have been added to the growing list of things banned at the cricket. Two women in the crowd who locked lips at a one-day international in New Zealand on the weekend were surprised to receive a visit from a security guard warning them not to do it again. The women's smooch while dancing to music between overs at the New Zealand-Sri Lanka match in Napier on Sunday had been flashed on the ground's big-screen monitor amid much cheering. One of the kissers, Richelle Fitzgibbon, said it had been her first time at a live cricket match and she having "a bit of fun" when the pash happened. "The security guy came up and said that we were distracting the crowd and we would get kicked out if we did it again," Fitzgibbon, 29, told the /Hawkes Bay Today/ newspaper. "I thought if it was a guy and a girl kissing, would they have done that?" the mother-of-three said. "I doubt it would have distracted the players." Her kissing partner, Kelly Holdway, 20, was also taken aback by the warning. "When I sat down the security guy came over and said 'that'll be enough of that'," Holdway told the paper. "My boyfriend was quite shocked. He couldn't believe it. It just got a bit overboard. It was all in fun." Redback Security spokesman Andy Gollings said the women's amorous behaviour had "upset two of my more sensitive staff". He admitted no one had complained about the pair. Local cricket official Blair Furlong said he laughed when he saw the two women kissing on the big screen and described the security guard as "overzealous". New Zealand cricket authorities last month introduced strict crowd security measures including switching to light beer and a ban on drink containers after missiles were thrown at Australian players. Kirby McDaniel wrote:
Not that there's anything wrong with it. Comments from one of the best black newspaper writers, Leonard Pitts. Proof that there is nothing so uncommon as common sense. Kirby McDaniel www.movieart.net Why 'Brokeback Mountain' is so frightening Leonard Pitts Salt Lake Tribune I went to see ''Brokeback Mountain'' last week, mainly to prove to myself that I could. This was after reading a New York Times piece by Larry David of ''Seinfeld'' and ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' fame in which he wrote that, though he loves gay people and supports both gay marriage and gay divorce, he does not plan to see this critically praised movie about gay cowboys. David said he's discomfited by the idea of watching two men fall in love and fears it might make him gay by osmosis. ''Not,'' he added, ''that there's anything wrong with that.'' It strikes me that David's essay amounted to the smiley-face liberal version of what is being said more bluntly in conservative circles. ''Gay love story carries a high 'ick' factor'' reads the headline of a story on the American Family Association Web site. It quotes a prediction that people will leave the theater vomiting. How asinine, I think. Yeah, says a little voice in my head, but if that's how you feel, why haven't you been to ''Brokeback Mountain''? Now look, I say, and suddenly there's this wheedling tone to my voice, some of my best friends are gay. Heck, my own brother's gay. But you know, we are talking about a love story between two guys, and they might be kissing and, you know, touching and . . . stuff. The little voice falls silent. It is a put-your-money-where-your- mouth-is silence. So I went to see ''Brokeback.'' And I can report that it was as shattering and powerful as advertised. People were moved. Nobody threw up. Which brings me back to that ick factor. I find myself wondering if this primeval revulsion doesn't speak less to our antipathy toward homosexuality than to our fears about masculinity. I mean, while a movie about two women in love would surely be controversial, I doubt it would present the visceral threat ''Brokeback Mountain'' does for some of us. I doubt Larry David would be scared to see it. Indeed, the idea of women who can't keep their hands off each other is a staple of so-called men's entertainment. Visit a magazine stand if you don't believe me. Point being, when it's women, we - meaning straight men - tend to find it titillating, exotic, arousing in its very forbiddance. When it's men, we - meaning straight men and women - tend to react as if somebody dropped a snake in the bed. Small wonder the FBI reports that while 902 men were reported victims of sexual orientation hate crimes in 2004, only 212 women were. We seem prone to find male homosexuality the more clear and present danger, the more urgent betrayal of some fundamental . . . something. Some will say it's - and I will finesse this for a general audience - the nature of man-to-man sex some of us find off-putting. I think it's more basic than that. I think gay men threaten our very conception of masculinity. The amazing thing about ''Brokeback Mountain'' is its willingness to make that threat, directly and overtly. These are not cute gays, funny gays, ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' gays. These are ''cowboys,'' and there is no figure in American lore more iconically male. Think Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, the Marlboro Man. The cowboy is our very embodiment of male virtues. In offering us cowboys who are gay, then, ''Brokeback Mountain'' commits heresy, but it is knowing heresy, matter-of-fact heresy. Nor is it the sex (what little there is) that makes it heretical. Rather, it's the emotion, the fact that the movie dares you to deny these men their humanity. Or their love. Ultimately, I think, that's what the Larry Davids among us sense. And why for them, ''Brokeback Mountain'' might be the most frightening movie ever made. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.