Queer Kid of Color

Friends & Lovers: The Ski Trip Part 2

Openly Black gay director Maurice Jamal returns with a second installment to his hilarious first feature The Ski Trip with Friends and Lovers. I own The Ski Trip on DVD and the picture quality wasn’t really up to par. However, it was made on $10,000 and the writing was great, and at the end of the day it showcases the images of Black queer men. So thanks Maurice Jamal!

Friends and Lovers synopsis:

Maurice Jamal returns to Outfest with the premiere of his new film FRIENDS AND LOVERS: SKI TRIP 2. Part romantic comedy, part drama, part Hollywood spoof and all signature Jamal, the story follows the lives, loves and mishaps of three diverse couples living in Los Angeles, and their eccentric circle of friends. Featuring a multiracial cast that crosses orientation and gender, FRIENDS AND LOVERS is a bold, brazen and totally outrageous look at life in LA.

Friends and Lovers debuts on July 13^th at LA‘s Outfest.

B-Boy Blues

So, what the hell is going on with B Boy Blues ?! Well I can’t tell y’all everything! There’s actually something MAJOR happening with B Boy Blues that I can’t spill! But all I have to say is the KIDS AREN’T READY! (And I never say that! But trust me y’all aint ready!)

In other B Boy Blues’ news: I bet you’ve been wondering who’s going to be playing Rahiem. That has been revealed. His name is Monte Frank (snappy aint it?).

Pictures are below.

Please stop drooling. This is a blog founded and written by a republican, drooling is unacceptable.

Side note: One of the follow ups to B-Boy Blues, The Day Eazy-E Died, is being adapted to film by director Kirk-Shannon Butts.

B Boy Blues will be released in 2009

Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom?

Alrighty, so who else is pretending like they don’t know who’s getting married on Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom? I would say who, but I’m going to keep my mouth shut for the 4 or 5 people that don’t know, plus you all know I’m not one to gossip. There was a screening last week of the film where a little over 100 people attended and thus far all of  the feedback and spoilers I’ve gotten tells me that the film is going to be amazing.

The film will be released in September 2008

Note to reader: When reading this please keep in mind that I’m writing it in a calm tone, not in a shady ranting tone. Thanks!

I blamed it on the alcohol that night. I called him 12 times to curse him out, and to tell him how he made me depressed, and why because of him I lost my ability to try to love again. I told him I was failing in class because I couldn’t stop thinking of him dating that other guy (who he’s now broken up with) and how much it hurt when I found out 3 days after we decided to part he found a new man. I revealed to him how I’ve lost 13 pounds thanks to him, because I couldn’t eat, and when I did eat it would be in small portions. Or how the lack of sleep I was getting was messing up my breathing. He’s never apologized for the way he’s treated me the last few months and I’m not ever expecting him to apologize, because in his mind he could do no wrong. 

He was That Nice Guy when we first met, but now he’s something different. I was no fool for liking him though. Looking back in retrospect at the dynamics we’ve held, I really can’t blame anyone for our “break ups” except myself. After all, I let him go three times because of my insecurities, and three times he took me back. When I told my friends about him, I pretended like he was the cause of all our issues, when in fact it was I. However, it takes two to argue, and two to disappoint, and most certainly two to create the foundation of any relationship. So therefore, he’s 50% of the dichotomy that is us. But today, finally, after numerous times of us disowning one another, arguing on the phone, not ever departing on good terms, losing all hope that things would some day be restored, I have finally decided that I would take the selfish act of cutting all ties with Triston, and take back me again. I stopped convincing myself that the phone calls he gave me ever so often were signs that he wanted me back, or the fact that his replies to my messages is his way of telling me that I’m worth his time. I’m a fool for letting this escalate, I lost my authenticity to him. I sacrificed my integrity, because of some guy who I knew I could do better without. I’ve never liked someone like I liked him. I liked him almost to the point of love. Almost.

Triston was everything I could have possibly asked for under my 19 year old dating naivety. He was a terribly dressed masculine guy, with an appeal you’re not typically attracted to initially. He was smart and candid, and while I may not date 20 year old guys who aren’t in college, or for that matter 20 year old guys who don’t give a damn about politics, he was different. Amazing even. Amazing though does not eliminate agony, and amazing certainly does not create tranquility.  Unlike all the other guys I’ve dated, I thought he would be the one I settled down with. Certainly, he emotionally drained me at times, and yes our arguments were always less than pleasant. But for the time that we knew each other, he became my vacation, my therapy, my best friend, and even after things broke apart between us both, we still found ways to come back to one another. But there’s only so much I could bare. Yesterday was our expiration date. He is spoiled and moldy milk that has been kept for far too long in my space. And today, the unbearable smell of the spoil and moldy milk is too much for me to inhale. He must be thrown out.

What Triston has made me realized is that love affairs may not happen at 19, and that I am a smart Black queer man who will someday make someone else happy. I have all these years to meet both nice and mean people who I can chill and hang out with. These nice and mean temporaries will teach me lessons, will help me package and market myself better, and hopefully be the pieces that helps me become a better me for someone else. 

Patrik-Ian Polk leaves a comment on my blog posting. Patrik just know I still appreciate your work and as I said the film clips look amazing and hilarious!

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While I appreciate you promoting the NOAH’S ARC movie, you should be a bit more careful about quoting second or even third-hand rumors and gossip that has no basis in fact or reality. The NOAH movie was written by myself and one of the other writers from the series, John Gordon. We went through three or four re-writes (which if you know absolutely ANYTHING about how movies get made, then you know that is more than standard for ANY script development process). But I’m less interested in quibbling over some random person’s opinion, than i am in asking why you, in what I gather to be an attempt at a thoughtful and thought-provoking gay/black-themed blog, would quote some hazy friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend source as though you had read it in the New York Times. As you continue to grow and pursue your own goals and dreams of making films and TV, I hope people will be as kind to you as they have been to us- and I hope the ones who aren’t kind won’t have too much of a negative effect on you and your ambitions.

I, along with everyone involved, am very proud of the NOAH’S ARC movie. I’m proud on a personal level because for me it’s the realization of yet another dream. And I’m proud for us as a community, because it’s one more step in my mission as an artist to bring thoughtful and thought-provoking representations of the black gay lifestyle to film & television screens. I learned a long time ago that you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and to try to do so is foolish. I’m the first person to admit that NOAH’S ARC is not for everyone- no single piece of art can be for everyone. But for those who do enjoy the show, our goal was to continue the series in a bigger and bolder way, befitting a move to the big screen- and thankfully, I feel we have accomplished that. I’ve said it before, but trust me when I say it again-y’all ain’t ready. September 2008…

xxoo, Patrik

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Thoughts anyone?

The film clips look amazing and are hilarious! Though, I was told it is a horrible script, it does look promising!

CLICK HERE!

Great new blogger on deck! And, um, he’s a Black gay atheist. Isn’t that more oxymoronic than a Black gay republican?!

You all know I have an eye for great bloggers, right?! And trust me he’s good!

Check him out HERE

Read this wonderful paragraph:

If there is someone in your life that has inspired anger and animosity within you forgive them and let go. It really is that simple. Now I know what some of ya’ll are probably thinking! “Oh hell no! That bitch did me dirty! Do you know that bastard ________ (insert whatever transgression you wish on that line)?!” Look, I’m not telling you to forget ANYTHING. If someone punch’s you in the face and says they’re sorry it’s quite okay to (reflexively) duck and cover if they reach to pick their nose in front of you. That is just self preservation. It is a human coping mechanism for survival. We would be stupid if we didn’t learn from our mistakes, right? No friend, what I’m saying is that you should never allow hatred for another to consume you. And the best way to severe the tie that binds is forgiveness and separation.

Lets show him some Black gay blogger love.

link: http://toddyenglish.wordpress.com/