Boulevard and Robin Williams
Last week a good friend told me he’d seen Boulevard starring Robin Williams and he recommended it highly. It’s the last film Robin Williams made before he died.
So on Saturday night I looked for it On Demand on Verizon Fios in the “New Release” section. I found nothing there. Then I looked for it in several other categories, and still found nothing. I finally did a detailed “search” on Verizon and the film came up. I still have no idea where they categorized the film (probably in Drama) but I’m not surprised I had such trouble finding it. The heteronormative cable companies tend to do this with films that have gay content, especially films like Boulevard. There was no sex in Boulevard, but it had G-rated Gay content and that’s still not considered mainstream unless it’s homogenized (and twisted) the way they do it on TV shows like Modern Family. This is why I now prefer NetFlix to cable TV on almost every single count.
In any event, I watched Boulevard and loved it. No spoilers, but it is a serious film. I would recommend it to anyone. It’s one of those rare films out there that show what it’s like to live a lifetime in the closet and be married to a woman. It also shows how dangerous it can be to come out of the closet that late in life. I can’t say enough good things about it without giving out a spoiler so I’ll stop here.
And for the record, Robin Williams was a straight actor playing a gay role in Boulevard and he nailed it the same way he tackled every other role he ever played in his life. I honestly don’t think any other actor out there could have played that role as well as Williams did…not even if he was gay.
Are E-Book Sales Really Falling? Really?
For some reason I spotted several people sharing articles about e-book sales vs print sales on Facebook yesterday. All are claiming that e-books sales are dropping and everyone’s running back to print books in the droves. It never seems to fail either. I’m not sure if it’s the older generation mind set of the average Facebook user or it’s just a coincidence. But each time I see another questionable article about print books making a comeback and e-books going away it’s always on Facebook. And the most popular comment is they love the smell of old print books. Yes. The smell.
With that said, I went out and looked for other articles that could dispute the articles about lower e-book sales. You see, these pro print book articles aren’t always accurate and many times they’re slanted for a reason…by big publishers and literary agents who make a lot of money on print books and by controlling the traditional publishing system.
Here’s one I found from Fortune:
“In nearly all media coverage of the AAP’s declining ebook revenue, their sales — the sales of just 1,200 traditional publishers — are being conflated with the overall sales of the entire US ebook market. The substitution is so automatic, that most of the journalists breathlessly repeating stories about a ‘shrinking US ebook market’ are completely oblivious to the difference.”
It’s interesting to read the other side of the story. Basically, we’re not getting all the information from traditional publishers and journalists are clueless beings who don’t know much about it.
Another huge reason why e-book sales with trad publishers are down is because people like me are passing on their e-books because of ridiculously high prices trad publishers are charging and we’re opting to read indie authors instead.
I’m not anti-trad publishing by any means and I honestly don’t know where any of this will lead with print vs e-books, but I do know I’m not giving up my digital library any time soon to go back to reading print books. I think the balance between pint and digital will be around for at least another decade.
Gus Kenworthy’s Boyfriend
This might not be as interesting as the “red cup” war going on with Starbucks, but I like Gus Kenworthy and I’m glad he has a boyfriend.
Not that we really ever had a chance, but our fantasy reality was a bit disappointed when freshly-out Olympian Gus Kenworthy revealed he isn’t on the market.
“It’s still new,” the skier told People about his unnamed love interest.
You can check that out here, with photos of the boyfriend. They’re a nice looking couple.
Michael Angelakos Is Gay
And water is wet, fire is hot. I’m not joking around about that and I’m not trying to minimize coming out as a process. I don’t know who Michael Angelakos actually is but I find it refreshing to feel this carefree about someone else coming out of the closet. In other words, the shock of coming out as gay is wearing off fast for me and I think for many other people. So he’s gay. Good for him. Tomorrow is Wednesday. I think the fact that the shock is wearing off makes it easier for other closeted gay men…and all gay people in general.
In fact, this kind of thing is making me reevaluate many things in my own life and in my career as a writer.
Appearing on author Bret Easton Ellis’ podcast Monday, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos spoke candidly about a number of difficult topics, from being diagnosed bipolar to struggling with authentic identity in the music industry. He also discussed his marriage and subsequent divorce last year, telling Ellis that he is, in fact, gay.
“It’s always been about putting it off in my head — not consciously,” the 28-year-old told Ellis. “I just wanted so badly to be straight, because I love her so much. I think that was one of the most painful things when we decided to separate.”
