REVIEW: 300

The movie 300 (an adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel directed by Zack Snyder) has had huge buzz for weeks and a very effective marketing and advertising campaign that has been emphasizing the amazingly unique look of the film, the breathtakingly beautiful nearly-nude male physiques and the violently bloody hand-to-hand combat scenes. The result is packed theaters, lines around the block and record box-office.

MadProfessah had every intention of seeing the movie this weekend and called up some other black gay men to see if they wanted to join me. "What's the movie about?" one of them texted me. "Look it up! Hot Nked Guys. Violent. Spartans vs Persians" I replied. Two of them said yes. Although it opened up on over 3000 screens nationwide, it didn't open on the Arclight Cinemas so we decided to see it at the Vista Theater at the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards in Silverlake. When we got to the theater about 40 minutes before the showing there was an impressive looking line stretching about a block and a half down Hollywood Boulevard. Clearly we weren't going to make it to that screening. Buying a paper quickly from a newspaper dispenser (where the heck is a free LA Weekly when you need one?) I saw that the movie was showing at the Glendale Mann Showplace 4 theaters a 10 minute drive away an hour later than our original showtime at the Vista.

Arriving at the theater in Glendale (which is near the corner of Brand Boulevard and Harvard Boulevard about one block away from The Grove owner Rick Caruso's Americana at Brand development set to open next year basically adjacent to the Glendale Galleria) about 45 minutes before our showtime there was a short line to get tickets but a very long line of people waiting to get into the theater. Clearly, 300 was going to have a huge opening weekend box-office total.

The movie is about a famous battle (The Battle of Thermopylae, or "Hot Gates" in Greek) between a vastly outnumbered group of Spartans (Umm, 300 of them, get it?) and a huge army of invading Persians. The (mostly phenotypically White) and uniformly muscular) Spartans are led by King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler) wearing a fetching black letaher jock strap while the (mostly phenotypically Black, and bizarrely pierced) Persians are led by Xerxes (played in a curiously gender noncomforming way by Lost's Rodrigo Santoro) in a gold mesh jock strap.

Spartans, the audience is told by a helpful narrator, are raised from a young age (in an environment which modern day sensibilities would characterise as child abuse) to be violent, courageous and indomitable. We are shown a young teenaged Leonidas, practically naked except for a loincloth in a wintry blizzard being stalked by a giant wolf. The young Leonidas cleverly manages to kill the wolf and returns home to his people (who seem surprised he survived the challenge) to be declared their king.

The highlights of the movie are the unique canvass painting look of the film, the stunningly beautiful examples of male physique voyeuristically displayed and the non-stop bloody violence which saturates the film.

There's quite a difference between how regular viewers are embracing the film (89% positive at rottentomatoes.com, B+ average at movies.yahoo.com) compared to film critics (62% positive, B- average). I must say that I agree more with the users in regards to this film.

GRADE: A-.

Breach of Confidential HIV Data Reported

The very useful resource Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Reports had this item recently:

The California Department of Health Services last week inadvertently revealed the names and addresses of up to 53 residents enrolled in the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program by mailing benefit notification letters to the incorrect ADAP members, department officials said Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to Sandra Shewry, director of the department, a newly hired clerk did not realize that each letter was personally addressed and put the 54 letters into envelopes. The clerk then attached 54 preprinted mailing labels to the envelopes, according to Shewry. At least one letter was placed in the correct envelope, according to the Times. The letters were sent to people in 16 counties, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego. The letters also included Medicare Part D plan names and premium payment amounts but not Social Security numbers, medical record numbers or other confidential information. According to Shewry, the department learned of the mistake after 12 people called to say they had received letters addressed to someone else. Many of the callers were concerned they had not been approved for benefits, according to Kevin Reilly, director of prevention services (Engel, Los Angeles Times, 3/3). The clerk who made the error has been reassigned, according to Shewry (Feder Ostrov, San Jose Mercury News, 3/3). The department on Friday through certified mail informed the ADAP enrollees of the error and asked that incorrectly addressed letters be destroyed. It also notified the California Highway Patrol, as is required under state law for security breaches. According to the Times, the error comes after the California Legislature last year changed the state's HIV reporting system from a code-based system to a names-based system (Los Angeles Times, 3/3).

REACTION
Shewry said the department has a "no-excuses, zero-tolerance policy" regarding infringements of patients' privacy, adding that the error is "extremely regrettable." Shewry said the agency would take steps, such as using envelopes with address windows, to ensure a similar mistake does not happen again (San Jose Mercury News, 3/3). Shewry said the department is "investigating and interviewing all the employees who are involved in the chain of command" that led to the error. Jeff Bailey, director of client services for AIDS Project Los Angeles, said he hopes the error is an "anomaly." Bailey added, "I would not want to give way to panic about this release. It did not go to random citizens of the state, where this information might be shared with someone outside the HIV and AIDS circle." Lori Yeghiayan, spokesperson for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said that the error is "unfortunate" but that it does not signal a systemwide failure (Los Angeles Times, 3/3).

Well, isn't that special? From 2004-2006 when I was on the board of directors of an organization (one of the very few AIDS organization in the the state to do so) that opposed California's switch to reporting HIV infections using name-based data instead of by alpha numerical code I was told repeatedly that "there had never been a serious breach of confidential HIV data in the state of California" and that it was very unlikely there ever would be one.

What strikes me as poignant in the news reports of the latest breach of confidential personal data in California (there have been others, those just have not usually been HIV/AIDS specific) is 1) The employee who made the error was only reassigned, not terminated; and 2) Why the heck is the California Highway Patrol the state agency responsible for policing confidentiality breaches?

Federer Attempting To Break Numerous Records At Pacific Life Open

Roger Federer has his eyes set on surpassing several records during the 2007 Pacific Life Open:

Currently on a personal-best winning streak of 41 matches, Federer would set a new Open Era record (since 1968) for the longest winning streak (47 matches) if he
wins the title. Guillermo Vilas currently holds the record of 46 matches.

Federer has 495 career match victories. He would reach the elusive 500 match wins milestones if he advances to the final.

With $29.88 million in career earnings, Federer is poised to top $30 million during the tournament.

If he wins the title Federer have won the past eight tournaments he has played, tying the record currently shared by Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl.

Federer opens his defense of his 2006 Pacific Life Open title on Saturday. He has won the last three Pacific Life Opens (2004, 2005, 2006).

Leenah Friday

I know it's been awhile, but I thought I would revive the tradition of Leenah Fridays! Here she is...

An Amazing Video Depicting HIV Replication in 3-D

This is an amazing animated video from drug manufacturer Boehringer-Ingelheim depicting HIV replication in full 3-D which explains all the steps in the process and where anti-AIDS drugs currently disrupt it. It's encouraging to see that this level of detail is so well understood and bolsters the news reported by Mad Professah last week that there are new promising anti-AIDS drugs in the pipeline. (If you don't see the video below, you should be able to access it at this link.

California Legislature Passes February 2008 Presidential Primary Bill

As MadProfessah mentioned earlier, California has been considering adding a third statewide election on February 5, 2008 to the June 3, 2008 statewide primary and the November 4, 2008 presidential election. Yesterday, the California Assembly passed SB 113 by a
vote of 46-29 to move the Presidential Primary election to February 5, 2008. Governor Schwarzenegger has previously announced his support for the idea.

California will likely join nearly 20 other states to form a "Super Duper Tuesday" Primary Day where nearly half the United States population will be living in a state with a presidential vote on February 5 of next year.

However, what really is behind the move of California's presidential primary election (without moving the statewide presidential primary) is the political ambitions of California's legislative leaders Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate Leader Don Perata who would both be barred from seeking re-election in November 2008 and termed out of their positions according to the current statewide term-limits law. However, with a February 2008 election a ballot proposition (which is currently being circulated for citizen signatures) can be put before voters to relax term limits and take away redistricting powers from the state legislature.

The current term limits law allows three 2-year terms in the State Assembly and two 4-year terms in the State Senate for a total of at most fourteen years of service in the State Legislature (at a salary exceeding $100,000 per year). The proposed amendment would reduce the total time served to 12 years but would force it to all be served in one chamber (6 terms in the Assembly or 3 terms in the Senate). This would allow Perata to serve another 4 more years and Nunez another 6 years.

MadProfessah thinks that the current term limits (which was enacted by a 1990 ballot proposition which passed 52-48) is simply too strict and should be amended. If Californians get an increased say in presidential politics as a bonus then that is icing on the cake.

Pacific Life Open Men's Draw Preview

This post is cross-posted to Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog:

1)FEDERER, Roger SUI vs BYE
Q vs HAJEK, Jan CZE
MOYA, Carlos ESP vs Q
BYE vs (25)STEPANEK, Radek CZE

"The Mighty Fed" will get through this section easily, probably without dropping a set. The pulchritudinous Moya versus the unprepossessing Stepanek could be interesting as the Spaniard has been playing well recently while the Czech is struggling with the Hingis (Black Widow) curse. MadProfessah Pick: Federer.

(19)HEWITT, Lleyton AUS vs BYE
TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB vs SRICHAPHAN, Paradorn THA
HORNA, Luis PER vs VOLANDRI, Filippo ITA
BYE vs (14)FERRER, David ESP

The odious Hewitt is fresh off his win at the Tennis Channel Open in Vegas last week but Ferrer is another of the very talented Spaniards. Tipsarevic versus Srichapan should feature great shotmaking but in the end I think Hewitt will get through to set up another shellacking by the World's #1 who will be gunning for his 44th consecutive match win, on track to end Guillermo Vilas' all-time record of 46 consecutive match wins. MadProfessah Pick: Hewitt.

(12)DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB vs BYE
GINEPRI, Robby USA vs (wc)KENDRICK, Robert USA
KOROLEV, Evgeny RUS vs GREUL, Simon GER
BYE vs (20)TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS

Djokovic will destroy Ginepri (that will be a fun match to watch, hubba hubba!) as well as Tusunov to get through this section as long as he has no problem breathing the Coachella Valley air. Mad Professah pick: Djokovic.

(27)MELZER, Jurgen AUT vs BYE
MONFILS, Gael FRA vs BENNETEAU, Julien FRA
PLESS, Kristian DEN vs SERRA, Florent FRA
BYE vs (6)BLAKE, James USA

Melzer got to the final against Hewitt last week and is playing well but I don't think Blake will have any problem getting through this section to set up a hard-fought 3rd round match against the young Serbian player. Mad Professah pick: Blake.

(4)DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs BYE
ROCHUS, Christophe BEL vs (wc)QUERREY, Sam USA
HENMAN, Tim GBR vs HERNYCH, Jan CZE
BYE vs (28)CALLERI, Agustin ARG

Davydenko should get though here. I doubt that the rusty and rickety Henman will even make it to the 3rd round. Mad Professah pick: Davydenko.

(23)SAFIN, Marat RUS vs BYE
MONACO, Juan ARG vs MAHUT, Nicolas FRA
Q vs Q
BYE vs (13)MURRAY, Andy GBR

Safin and Murray will have a slug fest which (as most matches involving the big Russian are) will be decided by which Marat shows up. Mad Professah pick: Safin/Murray toss-up.

(9)HAAS, Tommy GER vs BYE
Q vs Q
VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL vs Q
BYE vs (24)HRBATY, Dominik SVK

The talented but somewhat insane German is playing very well this Spring and should get past the even crazier Hrbaty. Mad Professah pick: Haas.

(26)SODERLING, Robin SWE vs BYE
GIMELSTOB, Justin USA vs BRACCIALI, Daniele ITA
DANCEVIC, Frank CAN vs Q
BYE vs (5)GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI

I have one thing to say: FoGo! MadProfessah pick: Gonzalez.
=============================================

(8)LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO vs BYE
BECKER, Benjamin GER vs Q
MIRNYI, Max BLR vs JOHANSSON, Thomas SWE
BYE vs (31)ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP

This is an interesting little section. Ljubicic seems to have issues with big matches that are non Davis Cup-related. His performance in slams is dismal. I still expect him to get through here but both Mirnyi and Almagro are good players. When Becker is on he can be very tough to beat as well. Mad Professah pick: Ljubicic.

(21)FISH, Mardy USA vs BYE
MARTIN, Alberto ESP vs MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA
KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GER vs LEE, Hyung-Taik KOR
BYE vs (10)NALBANDIAN, David ARG

Fish is playing well but Nalbandian wins a lot more matches than I expect him to do. I understand and appreciate is a very solid ballstriker and grinder but why does he have the body of a baseball player? Mad Professah pick: Nalbandian.

(15)GASQUET, Richard FRA vs BYE
*(wc)KUERTEN, Gustavo BRA vs DEL POTRO, Juan Martin ARG*
ROITMAN, Sergio ARG vs GOLDSTEIN, Paul USA
BYE vs (18)NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN

I do like the Lefty Finn but I think Gasquet will (barely) get through this section to face Roddick in a marquee 3rd round match. Mad Professah pick: Gasquet.

(29)MALISSE, Xavier BEL vs BYE
KOUBEK, Stefan AUT vs SPADEA, Vincent USA
LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP vs ROCHUS, Olivier BEL
BYE vs (3)RODDICK, Andy USA

The New Roddick™ should do quite well in this year's Pacific Life Open. The match against Gasquet in the 3rd round should be excellent. Mad Professah pick: Roddick.

(7)ROBREDO, Tommy ESP vs BYE
SIMON, Gilles FRA vs Q
PHAU, Bjorn GER vs BJORKMAN, Jonas SWE
BYE vs (30)CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG

Tommy Robredo is my favorite of the Spanish players, for obvious reasons. He should get past Chela easily. Mad Professah pick: Robredo.

(17)BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP vs BYE
GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP vs MASSU, Nicolas CHI
(wc)RUSSELL, Michael USA vs GICQUEL, Marc FRA
BYE vs (11)BERDYCH, Tomas CZE

Hopefully Berdych is on the mend and Baghdatis is recovering from whatever has been ailing him recently. Mad Professah pick: Berdych.

(16)YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS vs BYE
GROSJEAN, Sebastien FRA vs ACASUSO, Jose ARG
MAYER, Florian GER vs KUNITSYN, Igor RUS
BYE vs (22)FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP

Mikhail Youzhny is hot (in more ways than one) right now and should get past Grosjean and Ferrero to a 3rd round match with the World #2 player. Mad Professah pick: Youzhny.

(32)VERDASCO, Fernando ESP vs BYE
Q vs (wc)KUZNETSOV, Alex USA
Q vs CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA
BYE vs (2)NADAL, Rafael ESP

It's always sad when the Spaniards have to play each other early in tournaments but since there are so many of them it happens fairly regularly. Nadal more often than not gets the better of them and I expect him to do so here, to set up a grudge match with Youzhny, who has already beaten Rafa once this year. Mad Professah pick: Nadal.

Best (Mad Professah reviewed) Films of 2006

Now that the 2006 Oscars are over and I'm going to begin watching movies released in 2007 this weekend (one of my favorite books, Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake has been made into a movie starring Kal Penn by Indian director Mira Nair and Frank Miller's 300 looks too homoerotic too miss) I can finally provide the list of the Best reviewed films of 2006 that I saw and reviewed. (The link in the list below goes to the original Mad Professah review)
10. An Inconvenient Truth.
9. Casino Royale.
8. Blood Diamond.
7. V for Vendetta.
6. Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno).
5. Little Miss Sunshine.
4. The Queen.
3. The Prestige.
2. Akeelah and the Bee and Charlotte's Web.
1. Dreamgirls.

Notice the Best Picture Oscar winner The Departed is not on the list, though it probably would have been #11. Also, I actually never reviewed Dreamgirls on this blog, though I have been calling it "a religious experience." I may try and see it again this week and attempt a review that gives it justice.

Endorsements For Tuesday's City Election

There's an election tomorrow in the City of Los Angeles. Yes, THIS Tuesday. March 6.

MadProfessah lives in Mayor Antonio Villaraigoas's former City Council district, Council District 14, where Jose Huizar is now the incumbent. Huizar is being challenged by a former employee named Alvin Parra who has run for this seat a number of times before without success. Mad Professah's endorsement for this race is for the incumbent, Jose Huizar.

However, there are a number of other races which you may not be aware. There are 4 seats on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District up for election on Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times published an article on the fact the incumbents and the challengers are both running as slates of candidates last Friday. Mad Professah endorses the slate of incumbents with Sylvia Scott Hayes, Mona Field, Georgia Mercer and Warren Furutani.

Last (and least) there are two City of Los Angeles ballot measures: Measure L and Measure M.
Measure L is the controversial one. It is sponsored by Huizar and would "reform" school board elections by placing City Council-like limits on financial contributions and on terms (12 years). It would also establish a commission to study whether school board members should become full-time employees with commensurate pay. Although generally opposed to term limits the rest of measure sounded reasonable and thus Mad Professah endorses passage of both measures L and M.

Why Do Lost Objects Stay Lost? A Meditation on Ethics With A Miraculous Twist

I've been thinking about the state of the social compact recently after some incidents with lost articles. Last week I was at an ATM on President's Day and I found an ATM card sitting on the ledge of the machine. "Oh my, that can't be good," I thought. "Surely that person will be ripe for identity theft if that bank card falls in the wrong hands." However, the bank was closed so there was nothing I could do to safeguard the card so I just did my transaction and left it there.
My thought was that the card must not have been there long and maybe the person was on their way back to find the card right this instant. Was that the socially conscious thing to do? What would YOU want someone to do if they found YOUR bank card outside a closed bank? The card only contained a generic Latino name (I kid you not, I think it was "Jose Martinez") with no other means of contacting or identifying them.

What people who find lost articles do with those items always fascinates me. Yesterday I finally got around to having my car's oil changed and while I was waiting I read part of a library book I borrowed from the Glendale-Pasadena Public Library system: Stephen Baxter's Manifold: Time. However, when I got home after work I couldn't find the library book anywhere. I'm 99% sure I left the book on the counter of the Alhambra, CA branch of Bridgestone-Firestone Automotive Center. This is pretty shocking to me because I have never ever lost a library book before and I feel awful about it happening now. I'll happily pay whatever the penalty is (it looks like it is $7 plus a replacement cost for the book of $15) but the incident has spurred me to think again about why lost objects stay lost. Surely someone must have seen a library book somewhere in that office and they had a choice: they could take it for themselves or they could turn it in to the employees. Since I have been back to that office (twice!) and the employees report that they haven't seen any library books, I must conclude the former choice was taken.

In the grand scheme of things a lost library book is not a debilitating blow but it does make me think about luck and karma. For example, last year when Mad Professah was visiting the other half for a few days in New York City in early December we bought tickets to see the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q and ate at the best burger place in the city before the show (it's called "The Burger Joint" and its hidden inside the Le Parker Meridien Hotel down the street from Carnegie Hall on 57th street). Anyway, somehow on the walk down from 57th street to 43rd street & Broadway our ticketshad disappeared! They were for 5th row center seats we had paid for wth cash at half-price from the TKTS booth in the Wall Street area (always less crowded then the Times Square booth!) Crestfallen and half a block away from the theater we didn't know what to do but we decided to go to the ticket booth of the theater and say what we could do. It turned out someone had found the tickets and returned them to the theater (and somehow beaten us to there even though Mad Professah is a notoriously fast walker). The tcket booth guy said he was just going to see if anyone walked in sheepishly asking if someone had found some tickets. We fit the bill. This was a Miracle on 43rd Street! Rejoicing we walked in to the theater and enjoyed the show immensely.

It just goes to show you, lost objects do not always stay lost. Who knows, maybe someone decided to return my lost library book themselves. Stay tuned (but don't hold your breath!)

Leno versus Migden Political Smackdown

LGBT and political circles are buzzing with news of Assemblyman Mark Leno's decision to challenge State Senator Carole Migden in the June 2008 Democratic primary election. Both are openly gay politicians currently representing the City of San Francisco. Leno is termed out in 2008 while Migden has atleast one more term left in the State Senate, and possibly more if voters approve the proposed term limits amendment on the proposed February 5th statewide presidential primary election.

Today, Mark Leno is officially kicking off his campaign to win the 3rd State Senatorial District Democratic Party nomination with a public rally in Yerba Buena Park.

Deciding between these two effective, highly successful legislators will be an extremely difficult choice. Senator Migden carried the very first domestic partnership bill, has served on the statewide Board of Equalization and the second lesbian elected to the Assembly. Assemblymember Leno was the first gay man elected to the Assembly and carried the marriage equality bill which passed the Legislature but was vetoed by the Governator.

AIDS Conference in Los Angeles Ends With A Bang

The Los Angeles Times has a report from the 14th Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections currently being held in Los Angeles February 25-28th which reveals results which support the efficacy of two new effective classes of HIV drugs, CCR5 inhibitors and integrase inhibitors. The CROI conference is generally regarded as the most scientifically significant HIV/AIDS conference of the year. In recent years there has not been very much encouraging news emerging from the annual CROI conference but this year was an exception. Eric Daar, chief of HIV medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA called the news "a pivotal moment" for patients infected with resistant strains of HIV. There were as many as four promsing anti-HIV drugs discussed at this year's conference.

The new drugs are Pfizer's maraviroc, Merck's raltegravir and Gilead's elvitegravir (who thinks up these names?). The first drug maraviroc is called a CCR5 inhibitor; it disrupts HIV from using a particular receptor on human cells (called the CCR5 receptor) to infect them. The Times says it is "the first class of HIV drugs to target the human immune system rather than the virus itself." Pfizer has already applied for FDA approval, which is expected by the end of the year.

The drugs raltegravir and elvitegravir are called integrase inhibitors, which target HIV by inhibiting from using integrase, one of the three enzymes the virus uses to replicate itself in CD4 immune cells.

The other drug is called TMC278 and is developed by a little-known company called Tibotec. It is in the class of anti-retroviral drugs called reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which were some of the first drugs approved to combat HIV. However, TMC278 appears to be as effective against the virus with far less side effects.

The very useful Kaiser Family Foundation Network Daily HIV/AIDS Report has even more details.

Terrance Breaks It Down On Money, Marriage & Race

In a piece of writing which is destined for wider recognition, TerranceDC of Republic of T posts a diary to dailykos.com entitled "Money, Marriage & Race" where he clearly and forcefully articulates why the impact of the denial of equal marriage rights is a pressing issue for people of color.

And before you start in on "legal documents," remember Lisa Kebreau and Mikolle Mozelle spent $6,000 on legal documents to give them just a few of the rights that heterosexuals can get for the cost of a marriage license and a short wait. The cost of a marriage license is $55 in my area of Maryland, and the wait is about three days. That and a blood test gets you about 1,040 federal rights and protections in addition to whatever you get from the state. And those rights, the federal ones at least, will follow you anywhere you go. Marry in Maryland, and you're married in Mississippi, Montana, Mexico, and Moldavia. And no matter what happens, you don't even have to draw up so much as a will, because your spouse will automatically inherit a portion of your estate. (Business licenses in your name are inheritable too, as part of those 1,040+ rights and protections you got for $55 and a 3-day waiting period.)

By contrast Kebreau and Mozelle spent something like 109 times the cost of a marriage license, for legal documents that get them a tenuous hold on maybe three of the 1000+ benefits and protections of marriage, and the process of drawing up their documents probably took more than three days. And even then there's no guarantee those documents will be recognized or honored when presented at the hospital, as happened to Bill Flanigan. And the few rights you may secure at a much higher price, you must leave at the state line if you so much as take an overnight trip or a vacation, because you can't take them with you. So, if you're gay, you pay more, wait longer, and get less. And what you get may turn out to be nothing, but you won't know that until you really need it. Nevermind that some states have tried to nullify even those few meager, shaky legal protections. Meanwhile, you keep contributing to Social Security, pensions, and health insurance your partner can't share or inherit; basically subsidizing heterosexuals who do get all the rights and protections of marriage, at a discount compared to what the "gay tax" gets you.

You really should go read the entire thing. Right now.

REVIEW: Little Children

Todd Field's Little Children is a fascinating little film. This is his first film since his debut In The Bedroom which was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture five years ago. What both of Field's films have in common is that they are highly emotional, intricately plotted movies built around relationships between a few main characters. Field wrote, directed and produced both films and has been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for both films. In the Bedroom featured tour-de-force acting from Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei. Sadly, the acting in Little Children is not as spectacular.

However, Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley both earned Oscar nominations for Field's latest cinematic outing. Patrick Wilson's cheekbones, cleft chin and full lips sadly were sadly not recognized by the Academy, though well appreciated by this reviewer. Jennifer Connelly (Best Supporting Actress, A Beautiful Mind) is consistently alluring as Wilson's working wife who doesn't suspect her studying-for-the-bar, stay-at-home husband may be wandering.

In fact wandering is a central theme of the film. Both Winslet's and Wilson's character wander through life somewhat aimlessly, and eventually fall into each other. Another theme is voyeurism. The audience is encouraged to be voyeurs (literally) as we watch the beautiful bronzed body of Patrick Wilsom couple with Kate Winslet's pale pulchritudinous form. A comically booming narrator enhances the sense that the audience is o n the outside looking in on these curious sububraban characters. The main subplot of the film involves Haley's character, who is a convicted child molester , goes to the municipal pool with a snorkel and mask so he can ogle little children under the surface of the water.

GRADE: A-.

REPORT: Williams Institute's National Update on Sexual Orientation

The Los Angeles Times reports about the Williams Institute's 6th Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy in today's edition with an article coyly entitled "UCLA to establish unique law chair." The story is about a 1-million-dollar gift to the UCLA School of Law to establish the McDonald/Wright Professorship in Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy by a well-known gay philanthropic couple. John McDonald and Rob Wright had previously given $100,000 to the Williams Institute to support its judicial education and training program and years ago in 1996 had given $1.5 million to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center to refurbish its headquarters building, which was renamed the McDonald/Wright building.

MadProfessah attended the cocktail reception in the Darling Library of the UCLA Law School at which the announcement of the establishment of the nation's first endowed academic chair in sexual orientation law and public policy was made. Also in attendance were many of the nation's leading scholars in the field: Yale Law's William B. Eskridge, UCLA Law Professors Brad Sears, William B. Rubenstein and Russell Robinson, USC's David Cruz, Williams Institute benefactor Charles R. Williams, Lambda Legal's Jenny Pizer, Alphonso David and Jon Davidson as well as Freedom To Marry's Evan Wolfson.

Also announced at the reception were the winners of the 3rd Annual National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competion, the final round of which was judged by two sitting Justices of the Washington State Supreme Court (Barbara Madsen and Susan Owens) and members of the "infamous" Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals (Raymond Fisher). MadProfessah had been a volunteer judge in the first two rounds and took the picture above of the final round on Friday February 23rd.

2007 Oscars Results

MadProfessah correctly predicted 7 out of 8 of the top 2007 Academy Awards.

Best Picture: The Departed
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best Supporting Actor Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Supporting Actress Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Best Original Screenplay Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay William Monahan, The Departed

Films winning multiple Oscars were:
The Departed 4 Oscars (Picture, Directing, Adapted Screenplay, Editing)
Pan's Labyrinth 3 Oscars (Art Direction, Cinematography, Makeup)
An Inconvenient Truth 2 Oscars (Song, Documentary)
Dreamgirls 2 Oscars (Supporting Actress, Sound Mixing)
Little Miss Sunshine 2 Oscars (Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay)

The biggest surprises of the evening were Arkin's win over Murphy (Norbit, anyone?), Germany's The Lives of Others win over Mexico's Pan's Labyrinth and Dreamgirls loss in Best Costume Design to Marie Antoinette.

Dreamgirls Producers Apologize to Motown!

MadProfessah has been following the story of tension between Dreamgirls and the legendary Motown record label for weeks, which was recently fueled by Smokey Robinson's comments. The studio behind the hit film Dreamgirls is David Geffen's DreamWorks Pictures (which Geffen sold to Paramount Pictures last year). A few days ago the studio took out full-page ads (hat tip to blogger Clay Cane for the image above) in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter essentially apologizing to Smokey and Motown:

"Dreamgirls is a work of fiction. It is also an homage to Motown.

"For any confusion that has resulted from our fictional work, we apologize to Mr. Gordy and all of the incredible people who were part of that great legacy.

"It is vital that the public understand that the real Motown story has yet to be told."

The response from Berry Gordy, founder and driving force behind Motown, was magnaminous in victory. "I applaud DreamWorks and (parent company) Paramount Pictures for doing their part to clearly differentiate the fictional movie Dreamgirls from the real Motown. I wish them all the best in the forthcoming Academy Awards."

What is curious about the producer's apology is that it came out after all Oscar ballots had been returned so it could not have had any impact on Oscar voting. Although Dreamgirls has 8 Oscar nominations, it is only up for awards in 6 categories, since it has 3 Best Song nominations (which actually may hurt its chances of winning in that area). However with Jennifer Hudson the prohibitive favorite to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar tonight for her portrayal of Effie White and Eddie Murphy my pick for Best Supporting Actor it is very likely that Dreamgirls will be certified an Oscar-winning classic tomorrow.

On another note, tongues are wagging about E! Television's decision to invite Jennifer Holiday, the singer who originated the role of Effie in the Broadway version of the musical over 20 years ago and who won a Tony and Grammy for her stunning rendition of "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)", to perform the song on the red carpet hours before the Oscars are given out later on today.

REVIEW: Letters from Iwo Jima

I finally got around to seeing Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima last Sunday night after the film I was going to see (Rag Tag, a British film about a romace between a Nigerian boy and a West Indian boy in London) at the Pan African Film Festival got its screening time postponed from 7:10pm to 11:10pm suddenly.

Anyway, although I am generally a fan of Clint Eastwood's films (I agreed with the Academy two years ago that Million Dollar Baby should win Best Picture ahead of The Aviator, Sideways, Ray and Finding Neverland (or as the other half likes to call this last one, "the pretty mommy dying of cancer movie.") However I completely disagreed with the kudos heaped upon Mystic River since I think it's a bad adaptation of a pedestrian novel. I just saw The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for the first time last weekend on television and although some people think that's the Best Western ever made I would put my money on the Eastwood-directed Unforgiven. It can't be denied that three Best Directing (and Best Picture) nominations in four years is pretty impressive. However, again I must dissent from the kudos showered upon an Eastwood picture, this time it's Letters from Iwo Jima.

The premise sounds promising, especially after stinking up the joint with Flags of our Fathers, Clint decided to tell the story of the famous World War II battle from the perspective of the Japanese combatants. For me the script (by newcomer Iris Yamashita and Paul "the man" Haggis) is predictable and sloppy. The audience goes into the film with the knowledge that almost all of the Japanese soldiers must die, but it is very clear that one particular soldier must survive since the film follows him so closely. The screenplay loses credibility and reduces verisimilitude by saving the life of this soldier not once, not twice, but three times through too-neatly timed coincidental interventions.

My other complaint is that the film is quite bloody and explicitly violent, which, yes, is an unusal complaint for war movie. We already know "war is hell" and we don't need images of bloody body parts and badly mauled corpses to confirm this.

The most interesting aspect of the film to me was the depiction of the different mental states and psychologies of the Japanese. They ran the gamut from the officers who desperately wanted to kill themselves with their "honor" intact, to soldiers who were just mindlessly following orders to soldiers who just did not want to die.

Although it is refreshing to see a World War II movie where Americans do not play the central or starring role Letters from Iwo Jima still disappoints on other levels.

GRADE: B-.

REVIEW: Babel

I finally got around to seeing Babel this long weekend. It was the last of the Best Picture nominees that I saw and this may have influenced my impressions of the film. I am generally a fan of the director Alejandro González Iñárritu's work. I loved his films Amores Perros and 21 Grams, which were also both written by Guillermo Arriaga and directed and produced by González Iñárritu.

Babel has the now-familiar structure of seemingly unrelated stories following a particular theme with characters whose relatedness the audience has to figure out during the course of the film.

The four stories are: a member of a bereaved American couple (played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett)visiting Morocco gets hit by a stray bullet, two young Moroccan brothers who try to alleviate their goat tending boredom by firing a long range rifle at a faraway tourist bus, a deaf-mute Japanese teenaged girl (played by Best Supporting Actress nominee Rinko Kicuchi) who is estranged from her recently widowed father and desperately seeking intimate (male) attention from strangers in Tokyo and two very young white children who live in San Diego go on a road trip with their Mexican nanny/housekeeper (played by Best Supporting Actress nominee Adriana Barraza) to her son's wedding across the border in Tijuana with her irresponsible nephew (played by hottie and González Iñárritu favorite Gael Garcia Bernal) at the wheel.

As you may have noticed, one of these stories is not like the other: the Japanese teen angst story. The other arcs follow the travails of innocents who are put into mortal peril due to circumstances beyond their control (a stray bullet through the tour bus window hits Cate Blanchett's character, the two boys are caught up in an anti-terrorist militaristic response by the investigating Moroccan authorities and the two kids and caregiver are abandoned in the deadly Mexican desert due to some questionable behavior by Garcia Bernal's character. I am pretty sure the fourth story was included so that the director and writer could include Japanese sign-language as a mode of communication displayed in the film, enhancing it's multicultural bona fides by supplementing the more prosaic languages of (American) English, Spanish, Japanese and Arabic which had already been included.

The score by Gustavo Santaolalla (Best Score Oscar for Brokeback Mountain) is quite interesting and inventive with a sonic palette which includes Mexican hip-hop, Japanese disco, Moroccan vocal pieces as well as his own signature evocative string arrangements. I particularly mention the music because there are many significant scenes of the film without dialogue where the score communicates the emotion of the moment.

All in all, though it's hard to say what Babel means in the end. I believe the inclusion of the fourth story dilutes the narrative impact of the film. I sort of agree with what one wag said on public radio: "Babel should get an award for most directing in a film" (and that's not really a compliment).

GRADE: B+.

REVIEW: The Departed

I saw Martin Scorsese's The Departed in mid-December at the second-run Regency Academy Theaters in Pasadena.

The first thing I noticed about this film is how overwhelmingly white (some would say aggressively racist) it is. The very first lines of voice-over dialogue by 3-time Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson casually includes the word "n-gg-r" and other racially derogatory epithets (I think "sp-c" and "w-p" were also included). It's difficult to recall a single Black face in the entire movie.

One of the central themes of William Monahan's Oscar-nominated adaptation of the Hong Kong action thriller Infernal Affairs (2002) is tribalism. This theme manifests itself in a variety of incarnations. Just some of the examples which leap to mind are cops versus robbers, "good guys" versus "bad guys," crooked cops versus decent cops, college-educated versus street smart, Irish versus non-Irish, "us" versus "them."

The story follows Billy Costigan (Leonardo Dicaprio) and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) as two South Boston boys who join the Massachusetts State Police and follow parallel but divergent career paths. Damon's character becomes a rapidly rising star of the department and joins an elite Special Investigations Unit led by Alec Baldwin while secretly reporting to Jack Nicholson's Frank Costello, the all-powerful neighborhood mob boss. Dicaprio's character takes on a special deep undercover assignment in Costello's crime syndicate under the aegis of two decent cops, Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Dignan (Mark Wahlberg). Queenan and Dignan are the only people on the Massachusetts State Police Force who know Costigan's true identity as a police informant.

The symmetric nature of the two main characters, a cop who is undercover with the mob (Dicaprio) and a cop who is undercover for the mob (Damon) is fascinating to watch. Of course the two characters are connected via common acquaintances: mob boss Frank Costello, and police psychiatrist (and love interest) played by Vera Farmigia. Farmigia's role is particularly shallowly written. As the other half put it, her character is not really a person, she is a trope for the notion that "women can see through into the core of a man's soul." Farmigia's character's understanding of the nature of her boyfriend's character is a barometer of the film's choice between the Costigan (Dicaprio) and Sullivan (Damon) characters.

The acting is excellent throughout with particularly outstanding performances by Wahlberg (he actually grew up in South Boston and has the most authentic accent in the entire large cast, because it's absolutely real), Damon, Dicaprio and Nicholson.

GRADE: A-.