Pink Sauce

Here is a much extended version of my earlier review of the film Crash. It was published on the blog of (now defunct) Design for Diversity. Hollywood is often used as by-word for easy mindless mass entertainment devoid of any educational or intellectual value. The selection of contenders for the 78th edition of the Academy Awards (aka the Oscars), earlier this year, however, put a strong case against such sweeping statement. From politics to homophobia, gender and identity issues to sexual harassment and misogyny or social responsibility, a wide range of unusually “serious” subjects were brought to the fore. Crash, the winner for Best Film and Best Screenplay (and a raft of other awards around the world), itself focuses on race relations in Los Angeles but the irrational fears and reactions it portrays feel sometimes very close to home indeed. Using a similar structure to Robert Altman's Short Cuts, where the lives of the characters intertwine over twenty-four hours, this sometimes...

This Incas by Daniel Peters Tags: book , books , reading .

A survey to be published soon shows that up to 25% of voters would consider voting for the BNP. A Home Office minister dismisses the trend as "protest vote" as if this would make it less dangerous. It is due to such foolish and ill-considered "protest vote" (as well as low turn out) that Jean-Marie Lepen, leader of the National Front party in France found himself in the run for the second round of the presidential elections in 2001. A true protest vote would, I think, be one with little political implications other than the defeat of the party voted against. Voting for the BNP and other far right parties is in no way neutral and people should consider this before casting their vote, as I am sure they do. My view is that the results of this survey have much more sinister implications. It is also part of trend in several countries on Europe. [...] we have Jorg Haider's Freedom Party in Austria, Le Pen's Front National in France, the Vlaams Blok in Belgium, t...

Come back home, Oscar! All is forgiven! I am just back from seeing Crash , the surprise winner of this year's Oscar for Best Film. It seems that most people were expecting Brockeback Mountain to win and there were more than a few disgruntled people after the results were finally known. I have to say, I tended to share the general feeling. No so anymore. I think Crash deserved to win as much as BBM. Using a similar structure to Robert Altman's Short Cuts , this sometimes distressing, sometimes funny film is a powerful tirade against stereotypes and prejudice. Focusing on race relations in LA, the plot highlights the complexity of people's motives and the importance of treating people as individuals with their own stories, qualities and defects. Despite a rather grim start, the film offers the possibility of redemption and some hope that things may improve, thankfully without falling the trap of the usual happy-clappy american happy ending. Walking out in this first balmy nig...

Easter by Michael Arditti The retelling of the Easter week from the perspective of the congregation of St Mary-In-The-Vale, Hampstead. A funny and moving parbol about God, relationships and AIDS coloured by the blood of human experience. Well written, very perceptive and probably unsettling for those "Good Christians". Tags: book , books , reading .

Started as planned on Friday with Slightly's Birthday dinner with a few old friends. As planned too , he received the book I found on the bus on Thursday; wrapped in the first page of Creative Week . I have a feeling a was a bit more impressed by his other present though. I had jokingly included small folding maps of London to the packages and he seemed to like those to. The dinner went well and Slightly did indeed seem to forget his birthday blues . I had an all day rehearsal for the upcoming show on Saturday... On Sunday, after the Weekly-Cultural-Outing-to-Tesco and scrumbing the bathroom (I live such a glamourous life!), I met up with Slightly again for an introduction to his brother TE. Things seem to be getting serious between us if he is starting to introduce me to his family! Although the two brothers don't exactly look alike, they are very clearly made from the same clay. Between running the shops of the a military jacket and going to see a film, we did not have to m...

I had two interesting emails in my inbox this morning, showing the diverging tensions within the Christian movement in the US. First an email sent to the Boston Gay Men's Chorus membership (and forwarded to us by one of our members (of the London Gay Men's Chorus) whose boyfriend sings with them) warning of a possible demonstration by local right wingers during one of their concerts at a local school (which took place yesterday) in support of PFLAG . The email included this link to the Christian activists' site and a revealing letter from one of those people to the Headmaster of the school in question. And let's remember that this is Massachusetts, one of the more progressive States. The other email I received went as follows: My name is Jim Johnson and I write a blog titled “Straight, Not Narrow.” It promotes GLBT equality in Christianity and politics and addresses the agendas of those narrow minded people who are determined to prevent it. I am a member of Equality ...

My 76 year old mother (yes, they married late), who bought herself a computer a couple of years ago after only a few evening classes on Word, has got got herself an MSN account. Of course she has a young guy from the village to do all the tecchy bits for her but I think this is quite impressive... The next thing, she is going to tell me she has a blog going. Just going to have to stop using those rude pics when I log on... Tags: MSN , old age , mother , computers .

Last night I went to the Women's Library to see a screening of Orlando based on Virginia Woolf's book of the same name . Although I read the book some years ago, I had never seen the film and was quite curious. I got to the venue early and had the time to check out an small exhibition they have on display at the moment, called "What Women Want". It charts the feminist struggles from the suffragettes movement till the end of the 1970's. All along I was expected to see a picture or mention of the name of my new (business) partner, Linda Bellos . Although there were a few copies of Spare Ribs at hand (of which she was a member), the exhibition was probably not in depth enough to focus on individuals. There were also very few mentions of lesbians and lesbianism in the exhibition, which seems a little surprising considering, that this "alternative" sexuality was often used as a political devise for segregationist feminists who didn't want anything to d...

Parallele Lies by Stella Duffy This is for the next meeting of my reading group . The author has kindly agreed to attend... Tags: book , books , reading .

It started like many other evenings with Master Slightly. A phone call or an email lamenting the wind-swept horizon of an empty evening with nothing planned. A suggestion to meet up for "food and stuff". The unexpected, this time round, however, was that Slightly, for cosmetic reasons (I would have to take a shower to feel at ease if he cycled to far), requested that we meet in deepest “sarf” London; in Forrest Hill, which he ended up reaching by train anyway. After an aimless walk uphill and back to try and see some evanescent converted 1930’s hotel which had apparently in its hay-days offered shelter to Noel Coward and his lover as well as Agatha Christie, we decided it was time to try and get something warm inside our poor clamouring bodies. The local Wetherspoon pub is located in the Capitol, a former music hall, where Mr Coward was, at some time, equally generous with his dear person as he was in the hotel up the hill, albeit in different ways. The impressive space was u...

The London Gay Men's Chorus are celebrating their fifteenth anniversary this year. fifteen years of entertaining and educating the crowds through music. From humble beginnings in Angel Station (which had to be closed due to the number of people who stopped by to listen), we have gone from strength to strength to turn into a major player on the London gay and arts scene. With about 200 members, we are Europe's biggest a gay choir and one of the best all male choirs in the UK. Within the first six months of my joining the Chorus (in 2002), I had performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (twice), the Royal Albert Hall, the Aussie Stadium and the Sydney Opera House to name but the most prestigious and I had recorded my first CD... And all this with an open access policy, which means that anybody can join regardless of their musical abilities. Oh! and did I mention we are fun to watch too? Far from being your usual "en-penguined" choir, we sing everything from classical to pop...

I was walking home from the West End tonight after a long afternoon all filled up with Chorus stuff (a extra rehearsal with some of the tenor 1 section followed by a meal and a stop at the Yard ) when getting ready to cross the Cut just outside the Old Vic, I notice that Baylis Road was closed to traffic and blocked with a number of lorries and a massive crane. I walked slowly one when I spotted on the other side of the little bit of greenery at the corner of Baylis Road and Waterloo Road what looked like a tube carriage. I got closer and realised that I wasn't mistaken. There were two other carriages already at the back of lorries parked along and ready to go. These are carriages from the Waterloo and City line which is being closed for a while for engineering works. As I had realised earlier, the batteries of my camera had decided to die to tonight. I took of couple of bad pictures with my camera phone and rushed home in the hope of finding spare batteries before going back. Th...