Moretz and Stewart and Binoche – oh my!

There's this upcoming film called Clouds of Sils Maria. And it is giving me dome serious feels. I had seen a bunch of behind the scenes photos and some red carpet ones from Cannes. I was intrigued of course: it stars Chloë Grace Moretz (whom I find interesting), Kristen Stewart (whom every young gay seems to be crushing on and who does, yes let's admit it, have a special place in my heart, too, because when I was younger Safety of Objects was such an important film to me and she plays a gender bending preteen in it, and also because she really is pretty hot) and the crazy attractive and talented Juliette Binoche.

PLEASE.

But it was the trailer that got me pretty much rolling on the floor. (Because. You'll see if you haven't already.) In the film a successful actor (Binoche) is asked to be in a movie based a play that made her famous. Only that then she played the young girl and now she's to play the less flattering role of the older woman. So she becomes haunted by her past and gets obsessed with the girl playing the part (Moretz). And there definitely is a Certain Vibe between her and her assistant (Stewart). Oh what a time to be alive and a gay movie buff! The fore mentioned trailer:

 

Can't. Wait.

I'm a late bloomer, I am a slow learner

What is this that I hear and why haven't been up to this forever ago (which in this case is last July when pretty much all the news on the topic are dated)?! So, just yesterday I was gushing about Jennifer Jason Leigh and inspired by that I ended up doing some serious googling and Tumblr tag search and apparently she is to appear in an upcoming HBO series called Open. 

That alone is cool and all but there's more! Well, what could possibly make me all jazzed about this? Why yes, she IS playing a lesbian character. Also that character is in a love triangle with women played by Anna Torv and Michelle Monaghan. Is this the real life?! Is this just fantasy?! Why isn't there more information on this?! I have too many questions and too few answers?! I have too many sentences with question marks and exclamation points?!

What I've gathered is that apparently the series is about multiple main characters, the themes are relationships and sexuality, it's often described as being ”provocative”, it'll be on HBO and it's written be Ryan Murphy. Apparently the last fact gives people some Feels. I have given up on Glee ages ago so I really have no opinion on that but I've definitely enjoyed American Horror Story and the film Running with Scissors so I am quite pleased by this! Also gay people writing gay people = the best. So back to the questions: when will this happen?! Is it happening yet?! Can it please happen now?!

 Michelle Monaghan, Anna Torv & Jennifer Jason Leigh. Sweet dreams are made of this.

I kind of already ship Anna's character Windsor with both. Oh yeah and it seems that this Windsor is also yoga teacher. Say what?! Hearts in my eyes.

I knew we'd meet again some sunny day: the return of Bomb Girls

Let's just ignore Ivan (Michael Seater) on the right shall we and concentrate on these glorious ladies: Charlotte Hegele, Meg Tilly, Jodi Balfour, Anastasia Phillips and Ali Liebert. (And Marco. Played by Antonio Cupo.)

Okay, so basically this blog seems to be about me being an exclamation point about various semi gay pop culture news. But this just in: the Bomb Girls TV film has an air date (it's March 27th which is really soon and I literally just wrote it down on my calendar)! Because guys - you don't know how much I have waited for this! Well, not as long as some for it was only last summer that I watched the series but knowing it was cancelled, it was pretty much a hopeful wait from the very beginning.

Like stated when gushing about The Bletchley Circle, I have this thing for 20th century period drama and women kicking ass. These things definitely met in Bomb Girls and I was smitten. As an added bonus, there actually was a gay character. Not just an implied one. Not just on subtext level. But as a main character whose love life and other aspects of live were treated equally to her straight friends. And which is always thrilling, is having women of different age. So one of the main characters being old enough to be mother to the others was also pleasing. Her story lines had definitely that extra something the younger ones couldn't have.

source of both photos

 Meg Tilly as Lorna Corbett and Ali Liebert as Betty McRae.

 The film is to wrap up the things that were left open at the end of series two - and boy were there many! But two hours is pretty much no time at all to cover the few months that have passed (the film, Facing The Enemy, sets in spring 1943, four to five months later as the series finale) and there are so many people. I want to know how each and everyone is doing! So that can't be the end of everything?! At least this article gives some hope on that matter. But as for now, I'm just super grateful for this. I mean, that's way more than you usually get when your favourite TV show gets cancelled. And these girls, I've missed them so! For those of you who haven't seen the show: what a time to check it out. Which is obviously something you should do asap. I myself just may have to go look at some gifs of Betty McRae.

Julianne + Ellen = love

What, what, what?! Sometimes life's just so good I feel like bursting into a million pieces because I cannot handle such a crazy amount of happiness. This is pretty much the exact description of my current state. Not only is certain pretty fine woman called Julianne Moore all "hell yeah!!" about Ellen Page coming out - after all, she's been snogging ladies pretty often in her films which is something I definitely don't mind. But it turns out but they are to appear together in a film. And not just appearing really. They'll be playing lovers.  LOVERS. I have no words. I can't say anything that makes sense to express how I feel. I don't even know how I feel. What is feeling? What is life? OMG what?

With this film that will be called Freeheld and Carol to look forward to, I feel so spoiled. You don't often get to look forward to lesbian themes films. And these actually sound so good and promising. Interesting stories and casts to die for?! Can this became the new norm? Also is this middle-aged women and younger ones the thing now? Can it please be a thing? Because I'm all for it.

 And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

Ellen Page in Time to THRIVE Conference

I just wish to dedicate this post to Ellen Page because she's amazing.

This just really moved me to tears. It's so honest, raw and beautiful. You can really tell how nervous she is and how much it means to her and also, what kind of bravery it shows. And even though this doesn't directly connect with the concept of this blog I wanted to write about this because it matters so much to me. It also made me think about my own identity and at the moment I just feel really emotional and really grateful of all the love and affection I have in my life. I'm not taking anything of this for granted.

Orla Brady: There's a woman in Ireland to whom my singing is sweeter than the music of strings

Who's totally hot, middle aged and apparently doesn't have a vast fan base on the world wide web for even finding photos of her is kind of hard (having hots for super famous people has its positive sides)? There are definitely quite a few but Orla Brady is one that fits the description. And that woman would really deserve an army of swooning fangirls.

Our paths must've crossed probably first time when I watched the film The Luzhin Defence but it was the BBC series Mistresses in 2008 that made me rush in like the fool I am. I don't know how many times I've seen the first series and just recently I took a trip down the memory lane and re-watched all three of them. I'm not even getting started on it for I could talk about it forever and then some. Like now when re-watching, I felt a need to recap it all to a friend to whom I had obsessed over it back in the 2008 and so. She could probably recite the main story lines never having seen even a minute of it. So likely this won't be last time I vent about Mistresses: believe me you, I am so going to dedicate a post to each main cast member sooner or later. But we're kicking it off with the glorious human specimen that goes under the name Orla Brady.

Even though I fell for the entire cast separately and together and cared for each character, it was pretty clear it wasn't Siobhan Dhillon but the woman who played her, i.e. Orla Brady who had me all hot and bothered. Although troubled characters are my weakness, too: Siobhan seemed cool and collected but she was all over the place. Her storyline was heartbreaking, frustrating and her self destruction and shitting where you're eating had some appeal to me. But I think it really was mostly that the actress physically reminded me a lot of the teacher I spent my last two high school years drooling after. Also, it was her voice. And her eyes. I've never quite gasped the idea of "bedroom eyes" but I think it's safe to say this woman has that game going on strong. Basically all she has to do is... exist and I find her to be pretty much the hottest thing ever.

Recently I've been spending time digging more into her work for not only did we have one surprise encounter in Hercule Poirot but also she made my Yuletide gay by appearing in the Doctor Who Christmas Special. I thought the most thrilling thing in the episode would be the regeneration and meeting Peter Capaldi as the Doctor but the entire episode pretty much left me asking Doctor... who? Thanks to Orla Brady who appeared as Tasha Lem – a rather sassy and seductive Mother Superious of a space church. I mean, just look at her:

 Definitely a church I would consider going to. Intergalactic nuns! And then there's the  one leading them.

While doing this recent research I learnt that her latest project is called The Price of Desire. Orla Brady will be portraying Eileen Gray: a furniture designer and architect who was a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture. So in other words the film is about an artist, played by Orla Brady, set in the 1920's and 30's. Which itself sounds very much like my cup of tea. But it gets better, folks: Eileen Gray was bisexual and judging from the images released for the film, her intermittent relationship with French singer and actress Damia isn't overlooked.

 Orla Brady as Eileen Gray and Alanis Morrisette as her lover Marisa Damia. I'm shipping it.

I have so many feels about this I can't even tell. To quote a certain song to express some of them: I'm so exited and I just can't hide it!

I'm just a prisoner of love

One of the best things and somewhat a phenomenon of summer 2013 was the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Everyone seemed to have binge watched it in a couple of days (by everyone I mean myself, three friends, a punch of queers I follow on Tumblr, and some folks I don't actually hang out in real life or in virtual world like Tegan and Sara Quin and Sarah Paulson: I lead a very limited social life so I consider this a big enough crowd to prove the point). It is just something that happens because it is so good and you don't want to stop but then again you don't want it to end either. And with all your feels you end up in an emotional void because hello, what am I going to watch now and what am I going to do with my life in general and what's the meaning of my existence (I personally continued with the colour theme and watched Orphan Black in two days: it's a vicious circle and only gave answer to one of these questions). Well, you know what I am talking about because you probably had a rewarding marathon with it, too.

While watching, working as drug mule for international drug cartel started to sound a considerable career choice for more people that ever before thanks to one Alex Vause.

Not enough people on TV shows wear glasses. They should because that's just hot. I mean just look at this exhibit A.

Thanks to this certain Alex Vause indeed, Tumblr pretty much exploded and the dash was flooded with shippers and people whose lives were ruined hopefully in the best possible way. I want to take this moment to thank these gif making folks for I found endless comfort in the that form for my lonely and empty nights when I missed the happy two days I spent with the show and pondered if life in prison would actually be bad at all and I'd meet more ladies than in my current life (more clear minded state made me realise it's probably not worth it, though...). I should never watch anything: I get too emotionally involved. I fall for fictional characters and I fall hard. Especially in this particular case. Yes, Alex Vause, I'm talking about you.

You never know what upcoming series bring. You wish for the best and fear for the worst and this wait for Orange is the New Black series two has been one emotional roller coaster. It hasn't been just the anxious ”oh, I can't wait I think I have to watch the first series three times until it airs again” or ”oh, I hope the second series lives up to all the expectations because I would really appreciate new episodes in addition to these I know by heart”. No, it's been a constant thriller whether or not Laura Prepon playing Alex Vause will return to the second series and if for how many episodes. It started from maybe none, to one and then four and I then don't even know: I think at that point I curled up in a ball and concentrated on crying about it. But yesterday it was revealed that she's apparently returning for ”most of it”. I don't know what that means. I don't care. My baby's back and those tears running down my face are tears of joy. Looks like all those, mostly metaphorical, pies thrown for Alex Vause weren't in vain.

Oh just sue me, already

You've been dreaming about it...
You've been wishing for it...
You've been also secretly praying for it...

... and it's Cate Blanchett playing a lesbian lawyer on ABC's Drama Series called Rake. She's also meth addicted and alcoholic so I'm excepting it to be at least intriguing. Unfortunately her role lasts only for one episode. But otherwise, sounds rather delicious and only leaves me to wonder how she'll actually express her sapphic tendencies?

Carol! Carol! Carol!

When rumour had it that no other than Cate Blanchett was to star in a lesbian themed film I pretty much flipped. I watch way too much stuff, it's become my main hobby really, and if anyone even hints of possible lesbian content, I will be watching. Or at least checking out if it's worth it. But it hasn't been just once or twice that I've spent more time pondering on why am I watching the film in the first place than on any other aspect of it. Let's face it, when it comes to motion pictures, queers and quality don't often go hand in hand. I thought that I wouldn't set my expectations too high for the upcoming film: seeing Cate in it would actually be more that one could ask for. But turns out there really might be more into it!

The film is called Carol and it's based on Patricia Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt. (There's a hot reading tip for you: it's a great read so maybe that's the next book you should grab if you haven't done it already! Or actually, there's no better time for re-reading for now that you know the cast you can imagine the characters as them – sweet!) The description on IMDb says this of it: ”Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.” Gay old times and falling for older woman? A.k.a. a way to my heart!

Chances are I got a tad bit obsessed when I found about the project. To the extend I checked the film page on IMDb on weekly basis trying to find if there would be more information. Or well, any information. The film was announced in Cannes in 2012 and then for a year nothing happened – except scheduling conflicts. I was worried these Hobbit people would take possession of Cate and she'd have to drop the project. As this thing now finally seems to make progress, she's the only one of the original combo left standing: Mia Wasikowska (cast as the department-store clerk) was replaced by Rooney Mara and the director John Crowley by Todd Haynes. The latter fact sent my expectations through the roof, to the skies and to space and to other galaxies and I thought it couldn't get any better really.

Until it did. Because just recently it was revealed that the one playing this fore mentioned older, married woman's (i.e. Cate Blanchett's character's Carol's) ex-lover and confidant is is played by Sarah Paulson. I had just marathoned American Horror Story for hours and I was an emotional mess so when reading the news I was ready to shed tears of joy. Plus you know, more gays not only the merrier but also probably believable and just better. This may be the most expected film of my entire existence. Even more so than Spice World. And that's something.

Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Sarah Paulson. The dream team? Soon not only in my dreams.

Old and beautiful, please

It really made my (terribly cold) day to find out there's a new movie coming with Charlotte Rampling. She seems to do quite small but sophisticated and intriguing roles nowadays. Sadly I can't remember where I saw her the last time but I'm glad to see she has worked with François Ozon again. Such a wonderful director who seems to cherish many of my favorite ladies. 

 

So there's no Charlotte in the trailer (I wonder how small her role really will be this time?) which leads me to comfort myself with some Patricia Kaas since the song in the trailer reminded me of her. I love french cinema though and I can't wait for the movie. I hope I just won't be having my oh she'sthere... oh it's 30seconds -- she's gone moment with Charlotte like I did with Cate Blanchett in The Hobbit.  Traumatic.

This song really makes me wish to start stabbing my hear with a quill. I love melodramatic tunes like this one and it's one of my all time favorites when it comes to french songs. A true lady doesn't even need heels to seem elegant and graceful. Formidable!