Ellen 'n' Drew.

Ok, so I hate Hollywood., in the obvious sense that we all do. I never thought I'd blog about a celeb story, and am somewhat ashamed of myself for doing so, but I'm bored right now- so live with it.

First thing's first. I LOVE Ellen Page. Adore her. She's smart, charismatic and endearing. Her mannerisms, dress sense and overall air have left me one hundred percent smitten (to the extent where I blush and get that 'big goofy grin' when I see her on T.V.- I'm patheitc, I know.) We've all felt this way about a celeb before I'm sure, but it's a little different for us big ol' gays when we have crushes- because it's usually on the straight girl. All you guys who drool over Angelina Jolie (sexiest person on the planet? Uh, YES.) know fine well that you'd never stand a chance with her. Not just because she's got this big family and a husband (who also happens to be Brad freakin Pitt), but because Angelina Jolie is out of everyone's league. However, imagine that not only is she out of your league, but she feels no attraction what-so-ever to men anyway. That means she's even more out of your league, if that's possible. So, even though you'll never even meet the women, you would still rather that she liked men, right? Because you can relate to it, imagine your that guy etc etc. Well, that's how it is for us. Am I ever going to meet Ellen Page? Of course not. But would I rather she was gay anyway? Yes, yes I would. I don't really know why. But Straight people would rather their crushes were straight, and gay people would rather their crushes were gay... right?

But I digress! So I have a crush on Ellen. So I wish she was gay.. yeah, yeah. The reason I mention this is to be honest and make it clear that these things have not clouded my judgement.

See, I'm getting vibes. Yup, every lesbo with a keyboard has posted this sentence at least a gazillion times. "Anyone else getting some strong gay vibes from Ellen Page?" is a sentence I've seen a lot over the last few years. And yeah, I get vibes. Whether or not she is gay, I don't know, but my gaydar beeps the tune of p!nk songs when I see her. If she ever comes out (see what I did?) and says she's not gay, then I'd still like to think that she is but just doesn't know it. Wishful thinking I believe it's called. Or delusion, brought on by being pathetic... take your pick.

Anyhoo, this whole thing with Drew Barrymore (who is also quite awesome, and adorable). In particular that photoshoot. My take on it? A mixture of two friends messing around, and perhaps a bit of a stunt. Stunt probably on the side of their agents. However, I do think that if they aren't dating, they very may well do in the future. Because from what I've seen, they seem very comfortable with each other, and seem to feel attracted to one another (not necessarily romantically or sexually). So yeah. Also, they are so freakin' cute together! Drew's the older lady here, but Ellen's so mature and sophisticated it evens out into a wonderful, fun, well-balanced relationship. Heck, I hope they are dating- I would feel all squishy inside (no, not really, but I'd be pretty darn pleased- for reasons I'm not really sure of...)- but I don't think they are... right now. See what I did there? That was dramatic!

Anyway, I really wanted to use this story to highlight a lil sumthin'. A little bit of hypocrisy I've noticed among the gay populace (I refuse to say community. Are brunettes a community?). Some double-standards.

Remember the whole Megan Fox thing? (And not just how pathetic it was). Well, I think gay women everywhere were right to kick up a fuss about how shameless and seedy and wrong it was for lesbian imagery to be used to sell a movie, an actors image or whatever. There is nothing more annoying than to see two girls kissing and being sexy on a poster for a movie about cars! Especially when said kiss never happens in the movie, nor is any lesbainism ever even implied. Worse yet, the girls on the poster aren't even in the movie!! See how angry that makes me? I used two (count 'em TWO) exclaimation marks! Oh I'm a badass; watch it or I'll write you an angry letter.

Anyway, I do have a point. How come when these photies were published, our jaws (including my own) all hit the floor, and we were all so thankful to be blessed with such smexiful hottness? Hmmm? Come on girls. Have some principles. If it was all in good fun, then ok. But really, a shoot to romote a new movie in which Page stars and Barrymore directs and cameos? Come on. There was publicity whoring in there somewhere- regardless of whether it was friendly fun or a real couples kiss. I saw lots of comments along the lines of "Omg, I'm going to watch that movie!" or "Are they gay in the movie? Ellen and Drew?! OMG!! awesome, these photies are uber hot!!! Man I really wanna see whip it now! Wooooo I'm a loser!! LOLZers." And the promoters are sittin' readin' the box office charts thinkin', "Ha, that was rather easy. An adorable bi-sexual and an adored, rumoured-to-be-gay cutie was all it took."

See, any lesbian-orientated promotion for a product aimed at a male audience includes blondes with big boobs and fake tans, being slutty and sexy and blah blah blah. Lesbians are outraged when such imagery is used to sell products. Anything aimed at gay women, on the other hand, has two adorable, pretty girls looking like they are in love, but still with a touch of sexiness, and usually looks more tasteful all round. The Drew 'n' Ellen photoshoot resembled the second, rather than the first, scenario. And suddenly we think its ok and don't get angry at what appears a publicity stunt? (For the record, again, I don't think Drew and Ellen meant it as a stunt but were, as Drew said, goofing around. But promoters of Whip It sure were lovin it).

Come ooooon. How will people take things seriously (which they should) when we're being such hypocrites?

That said, they looked adorable and it was all very fun and hot and pretty and happy and awwwww bessies. The movie itself looks the same. I for one, will be seeing it. They are both awesome people and whatever the situation is, leave em alone, eh?

Book Reviews 1

Blind Faith
by Ben Elton

Ah, there is a very easy place to start with this one- and I'll answer the question no doubt in your head this very moment. Yes. Yes, Blind Faith 'borrows' a lot (I won't say rip off and I'll explain why soon), from George Orwell's masterpiece 1984, which also happens to be one of my all time favorite books.

However, I do not believe that Elton tried to 'rip off' the book and hope to get away with it, but in fact that he deliberately mimicked Orwells well known story in order to convey his own point. After all, most of what Elton writes is satire- and what better way to write satire than by parodying something?

There are obvious similarities quite easy to highlight; torture; betrayal; the idea that everything the society does is watched and documented; people having to get up and say things like "Praise the Love!" and take part in 'Gr'ugs'* (similar to people rushing to yell abuse about Eurasia and Eastasia) for fear of Big Brother, The Temple or The Love growing suspicious. Privacy, in both novels, is seen as a sin, morally wrong, perverted or evil. 'Screens' appear in both novels, though Elton, as usual, relates these invasions of privacy to tecnology, the future and our growing obsession with the internet (blogs, video uploading and profile pages). The similarities are endless, and I cannot possibly believe Elton was attemping to actually steal the ideas of a very well-known piece of work and pass them off as his own. On the contrary, I believe what Elton has done is a rare piece of brilliance.

Orwells masterpiece was an analysis of Totalitarianism, and dystopia. Elton has parodied 1984, but with focus on religion, faith and dogma, drawing clear comparisons between his subject of choice and Orwells. The reader is therefore forced to awknowledge the obvious similairties between religion (dogma, beliefs etc) and Totalitarianism. Quite genius, no?

In fact, I actually think Elton goes to great lengths to ensure that the reader knows what he is doing. Perhaps I am wrong, but after the first few chapters, just when one is beginning to think "This is a rip off..." or "This story feels familiar.." a character actually mentions the novel 1984 and is clearly about to go onto compare it with his own society.

As well as being very intelligent and insightful, there is also Eltons trademark humor. Although the theme of the novel is serious, and most of the time dealt with as such, Elton still manages to make us laugh with the ridiculousness of names like Happymeal, the insanity of the act of 'perving' on people talking, breast-feeding and having sex, and the pathetic inconsistancies and idiocy of the Temples teachings and dogma. As well as giving us a chuckle, the wonderful humor also helps highlight the hilarity and ridiculousness of dogma and ignorance itself.

The story itself is written decently enough; very easy to read and engaging. Even though I saw all of the twists coming a mile off, I still very much enjoyed it as the story unfolded and often found myself wanting to read on even when tired.

In conclusion, this is a good, though not incredible, novel. The characters can sometimes seem bland and unengaging (I for one felt very little emotion during the torture scene) and it is definately not his best book, but it provides an intriguing insight into the religion-science scuffle and the CCTV-age, and will make you smile. Deliberately taking itself less seriously than the novel it appears to be parodying, Blind Faith is both entertaining and intelligent and is well worth the read.


7.5 / 10

Apologies

Ok, so, I have one lousy introduction post, no subscribers, comments or even views, so really I don't need to apologise to anybody, as there is no one there to forgive me. :) But I shall say sorry anyway.

I'm sorry I have yet to post a proper post about something interesting or what have you- and I have no real excuse as to why. Actually I do, it was the lack of people around my blog that kinda put me off. Why should I write anything if there is no one there? Then I realized that I'm a complete twat- people don't just appear and say "Oh yes, I'll follow your blog on the off chance that you actually write something." So, from now on I promise you (and by you of course I mean nobody.. :( ) that I shall actually use this bloody thing. Fair? Great.

Introductions

Hey, s'up?

So I created this blog for 3 or 4 different reasons:

• So that I'd have somewhere to rant about all the rant-worthy shit that happens in everyday life.

• So that I'd have somewhere to post my thoughts on issues that are important to me. These issues usually involve religion, for no other reason other than my loathing for the practice.

• So that I can share with people my artwork, my writing and my other interests.

Yeah, so that's 3, but I'm sure there are other reasons floating around in my head. I can't really be bothered to sit here for half an hour like a prat trying to think of a few more reasons.


To give a more detailed low-down on what you can expect from my blog, I'll actually be quite diverse in what I post. I plan to write A LOT of reviews for books and movies, and even games and music. Shit, I'll probably end up reviewing some artwork but I'm sure that'll bore the shit outta half of you. Fuck it, I'm doing it anyway.

Also, I'd love to get some serious discussions going. So if I post about a particular subject you have an opinion on- make sure to comment and reply to other people. Don't be put off by this first post by the way. I know it's simplisitic in language and whatever, but I'm actually somewhat well-spoken and will get serious in future. :D



Also, if you leave a comment I'll try my best to fly over and have a read, and hopefully join, your own personal blogs.