Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1425

LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY: A new Donna Summer remix album is on the way featuring new mixes like this one from Giorgio Moroder.

THE ART OF STOP-MOTION: How it's done.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN: "DNA".

EMAILS: Why they're weird.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

News: Miley Cyrus, Van Gogh, Poaching, Rural Gays, Russia

David Mixner: America is weary of war.

Track and protect animals from poachers with the Instant Wild app.

New Van Gogh painting identified in Amsterdam. "The Van Gogh Museum said that a major discovery like this hasn’t happened in decades."

VIDEO: Eminem's super-awkward appearance on an ESPN halftime show.

Anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion groups uniting to donate lots of money against gay NYC City Council candidates: "Paul Schindler at Gay City News was first to spot the group's expenditures, reporting Friday that City Action " has devoted roughly 60 percent of its spending" to defeat just three candidates: Rosie Mendez, the Lower East Side's incumbent, Carlos Menchaca, who's running in Brooklyn's District 38, and Torres, running in the Bronx's District 15. Guess what all three have in common."

150 protesters hold kiss-in against anti-gay laws outside Russian Embassy in Helsinki.

Study: Rural gays report better health, happiness. "Chris Wienke of Southern Illinois University and Gretchen J. Hill of Arkansas State University looked at the well being of gays and lesbians living across the urban-rural continuum – from the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, to midsized cities, suburbs, small cities and rural areas."

David Beckham's infant daughter steals fashion show.

Miley Cyrus loses Vogue cover because of VMAs performance. (image) Of course, Anna Wintour hadn't seen the naked "Wrecking Ball" video yet.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield reviews Gravity: “Fortunately, the five months I spent on the space station were way calmer. But the visuals were spectacularly good. I don’t know how you did it.”

Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent are saying good-bye to the L.A. home they "burst into tears" for: "the property has hit the market for $2.95M."

Matt Bomer looking polished at the Billy Reid show at New York Fashion Week.

Provo, Utah to host Pride festival: "On Sept. 21 at Memorial Park, Provo Pride will host an all-day, free and family-friendly festival that between 800 and 1,000 people are expected to attend, and it will all stem from a conversation in a Wendy’s a few months back."

Homeboy documentary explores gay gang members: "Gay gang members who are in Latino gangs not only have to deal with the stereotypical machismo seen in Latino culture, Dinco said, they have to contend with the hyper-masculine posturing within the gang microculture."

Male model fix: Noel Kirven-Dows.

Paul Rudnick has several Vladimir Putin-penned revisions for popular works of culture, including this: "5. In the Russian release of the film 'Brokeback Mountain,' the film should be edited to remove all hints of homosexuality. The film will then be shown in a seven-minute format, under the title 'The Cowboy Who Never Met Anyone.'"

Out singer-songwriter Eric Himan talks to The Backlot: "Pride represents an opportunity to reflect and see artists be strong, shine, and show who we are, and show who we have in our community — to not feel so bad about ourselves and don’t feel like we’re not represented!"

Elton John to perform Liberace tribute at Emmys on September 22.

Michele Bachmann facing new ethics inquiry: "Michele Bachmann is facing yet another ethics inquiry, this time over whether her campaign coordinated with a Super PAC, in a violation of election laws. The investigation began after former staff member Peter Waldron complained to the FEC and FBI he overheard a conversation about advertising spots ahead of the Iowa caucus. The self-described whistleblower—the campaign is going with "disgruntled employee"—also revealed an email in which Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, solicited donations in excess of the $5,000 maximum allowed to be raised by campaign staff. The House Ethics Committee is currently looking into allegations that the onetime Republican front-runner misused campaign funds and staff to promote her book."

Gay Marriage Proposal Video of the Day: Kunal and Jason at Broadway's 'Cinderella'

Jason and Kunal, a couple from San Diego, got engaged after the September 4 performance of the Tony Award-nominated Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Cinderella after they were brought up on stage with Jason thinking they had won a special contest, the HuffPost reports.

Watch the real-life fairy tale go down, AFTER THE JUMP...

Don't miss our other recent Gay Marriage Proposal and Wedding videos...
Gay Wedding Video of the Day: Johnny and Sebastian [tlrd]
Gay Marriage Proposal of the Day: Adam and Nathaniel [tlrd]
Gay Marriage Proposal of the Day: Danielle and Her Girlfriend [tlrd]
Gay Marriage Proposal of the Day: Carl and Andrew [tlrd]
Gay Marriage Proposal of the Day: Shaun and Michael [tlrd]

Transgender Student Vies for Homecoming Queen at Southern California High School: VIDEO

Cassidy Campbell is among ten nominees for Homecoming Queen at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California, CBS Los Angeles reports:

These days, Campbell has nothing but excitement as the majority of students have embraced her being transgender. To many, it’s no big deal.

“Yesterday at school during 4th period the announcements came on to name the official top ten [nominees] and I was one of them. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! Are you serious? I actually got it?’” said Campbell. She told Butler she’s always known she was a girl despite being born a boy.

In two weeks, Campbell finds out if she officially becomes Homecoming Queen — she would be one of the first in the nation to be transgendered.

She said it would be great for the school to recognize what she has always known.

Watch CBS LA speak to Cassidy and her mom, AFTER THE JUMP...

Mister Chase's 'Wonderful' Video to the LGBT People in Russia: WATCH

Singer-songwriter Mister Chase (you may recall his cover from last month of Bonnie McKee's "American Girl") has a message for the LGBT people of Russia: you are wonderful.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Movies: Two Provocative Queer Films Hit Toronto Int'l Film Fest

 
Stranger by the Lake stirs and disturbs

BY NATHANIEL ROGERS 

The French famously call an orgasm "la petit mort" or, the little death. In two new French-language films playing at the Toronto International Film Festival (in full swing through next weekend) this euphemism forgets to be euphemistic. If you like your sex all mixed up with danger -- you know, the way straight people did during the mainstream erotic thriller years (the Glenn Close thru Sharon Stone continuum) -- consider these films 'must sees' when they hit your city. IF they hit your city. It's tough out there for art films, especially gay ones, as recently discussed in a fascinating piece at IndieWire mapping out the problems.

Prolific twenty-four year old writer/director/actor Xavier Dolan has been a sensation on the festival circuit and in Canada since his award-winning debut I Killed My Mother in 2009. Despite the accolades Dolan has yet to win the Stateside following he deserves, even among LGBT audiences. This is largely because his films are in French and they have had a weirdly hard time making their way onto US screens. I Killed My Mother was famously delayed and delayed and delayed again. Before I received a screener a couple of years ago I was convinced that it was an imaginary movie, dreamt up by journalists to make the rest of us feel jealous that we aren't fabulous enough to party in Cannes with them each May. Dolan's subsequent features, the stylish unrequited love triangle Heartbeats (also known as Imaginary Lovers) and the recently released three hour trans drama Laurence Anyways only increased his wunderkind reputation. His latest TOM AT THE FARM may well be his most accessible but reviewing it presents a challenge because the less you know about it going in the better.

Let's keep it very simple AFTER THE JUMP...

The kick-off premise is this: a young man shows up at his lover's funeral in the country only to discover that the lover's family has no idea who he is or even that their son was gay. That's a wide open premise. It almost sounds like a creative writing challenge. "And then...?" You could spin a dozen different dramas or comedies from that sentence. Dolan, adapting from a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, takes it immediately into genre territory. The tension and danger mount as the mystery of his partner's family and Tom's own hopes for departure begin to unravel.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Franck at the beach, who shares with Tom a certain willful masochism (though his is less self aware), is initially having a much better time of it. In STRANGER AT THE LAKE, Franck (gorgeous Pierre Deladonchamps) spends every summer day at a remote beach where gay men wander about, often naked, having anonymous and often unsafe sex in the surrounding woods. Franck, unlike Tom, is a cypher in his own story. This beautiful young man seems to have had no life prior to or possibly after the events of the picture (in a bold but fascinating move from writer/director Alain Guiraudie, virtually everyone in the picture might well be its title character, including our protagonist). We learn so little about any character really but the disturbing allegorical thriller is so strongly conceived and composed, that we end up invested anyway. Franck falls hard for Michel (Christophe Pau), a handsome but obviously deadly looker and we worry for him far more than he worries for himself. 

Sometimes it's fun to watch provocative foreign films and wonder what their dumbed down American remake would be like. Stranger by the Lake, would be virtually unrecognizable since it couldn't be made in the first place though if it were they'd obviously reverse its habit of close up nudity and long shot violence. This shocking French film caused a stir at Cannes earlier this summer with its brief moments of explicit sex but more, I would propose, for its unwavering gaze at its willing sacrificial lambs. Stranger won two prizes at Cannes both for best queer film and for its inspired direction. Guiraudie's camera watches the violence and the sex boldly, unblinking and impassive, recording rather than judging which proves far more unsettling. 

Tom at the Farm on the other hand, might survive a more mainstream translation since much of its raciest content is implied or spoken. On the other hand why make one when Dolan's is such a success and so blessed with weird nooks and zigzags of personality and a truly idiosyncratic rhythm. Dolan and his editor usually cut right past the action you're expecting which forces you offbalance at all sorts of key moments, and leaves you racing to catch up to stay with its sick games. Dolan has received some criticism that he shouldn't be starring in the pictures he also writes and directs Dolan's bratty prodigy response "you can kiss my narcissistic ass" is crush-worthy but I can't help thinking that it's also maybe a little true. Tom at the Farm is a major success but the one thing that doesn't always quite work is Dolan's star turn at center. He's a totally solid actor but the complicated psychological twists would've benefited from an acting prodigy every bit a match for the terrific director behind the camera, and not just in the mirror. 

Nathaniel Rogers would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr.