Gay Radio Hosts Turn Hate Into Art

Craig Olsen and Robbie Laughlin, gay co-hosts of "The Craig and Robbie Hour" on Global Voice Broadcasting, don't have definitive proof that the second defacement of their billboard above LA's Beverly Boulevard was meant to be homophobic, but they're pretty sure it was. The sign had previously been covered with purple paint and replaced, and a search of the area saw no other examples of the second vandal's handiwork: white paintball smears.

Olsen's convinced this was an act of hate, especially after hearing that some people in the neighborhood had called the billboard, showing him and Laughlin fighting over a microphone, "too gay."

"Somebody had to take a gun, and I was a target. This felt more violent," Olsen told the Los Angeles Times. "I felt like somebody had smacked me across the face and said, 'Get out.' But I wasn't going to roll over.'

Rather than replacing the billboard again, Olsen and Laughlin would use the vandalism to spread "a message of hope."

[Olsen] hired artist Jaime Ochoa to incorporate the defacement into an artwork he calls a "message of hope."

The result is an unusual combination of advertisement and art rising over the westbound lanes of Los Angeles' Beverly Boulevard. Ochoa used the drips of white paint to create black-and-white religious symbols, a dove and a child holding a sign that reads, "PEACE."
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Olsen wanted Ochoa to find an artistic way to depict diversity without covering up the old image entirely. He wanted whoever vandalized the billboard to see some paint spots left behind as reminders.

As a Latino artist, Ochoa said he is part of two groups that are often discriminated against, so he was enthusiastic about the project. The Silver Lake resident said he used the paint drippings as a canvas and tried to layer them into his images. He chose mostly black and white paint for a design he called "bold and simple" and tried to include lots of religious symbols so as "not to leave anyone out."

Then he painted a globe on top of the photo of the two hosts and made it appear as though they were hugging the world instead of wrestling for the microphone.

Speaking with FishbowlLA last month, Ochoa said, "I wanted to turn this [gay] hate crime into a positive message for the community." Olsen, meanwhile, told the Times, "It's almost like my holiday card to my community."

Movies: Wild Things On Screen

NATHANIEL ROGERS

Nathaniel Rogers would live inside a movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience.

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This weekend's big deal is Spike Jonze's adaptation of the Maurice Sendak classic WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Jonze's keen visual imagination first won hearts in the realm of the music video and transferred well to the cinema with the absurdist instant-classic Being John Malkovich in 1999. Despite that Oscar-nominated debut effort, Jonze has only made one other feature film since then (Adaptation, 2002). This return to movie theaters has been a long time in coming and infamously troubled. The production stories roughly fall into the familiar camp of 'fiscally nervous studio vs. man with an expensive vision'. Pray that the director figured out a way to bring this beloved but minimalist classic to full movie life.

In addition to Wild Things, Jonze also made a documentary about the gay artist behind this children's classic. HBO is screening Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak to coincide with the film's release. According to the LA Times, the film is a wonderful informal portrait of an unhappy but entertaining man.

For all the cleverness and sharp-eyed originality in his work, Sendak turns out to be an unhappy guy, haunted by what he calls a "permanent dissatisfaction" in his life. Unwanted by his parents ("I was not intended -- it was an accident," he insists) and blessed with few social skills, he spent most of his time as a child alone, sitting at the window, drawing children playing in the street. He adored his older brother and sister -- he still talks about them with awe today -- but he was always an outsider, especially once he realized that he was gay, not an especially easy sexual orientation for a children's book artist in mid-20th century America.

As he bluntly puts it: "I didn't want to be gay. It was yet another sign of isolation. It was something that you hid.... It was extremely bad news."

Hopefully the genius artist has since found some joy knowing he's penned classics that continue to inspire other artists (not just Jonze) and will outlast us all.

Prince of Persia without Jake Gyllenhaal, Gerard Butler's bad taste in movies, and Heath Ledger's last role, AFTER THE JUMP...

Arizona Senate Rejects Ballot Measure to Ban Same-Sex Marriage

In a 14-11 vote, the Arizona senate today rejected a measure that would have placed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in front of voters in the November elections:

"Senators later voted to reconsider the measure at another unspecified date. The proposal would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Supporters say the proposal would provide additional legal protection needed to prevent marriage from being redefined by a court or future lawmakers. Opponents argued that the existing law makes the amendment unnecessary and that it insults gays and represents an attempt to exploit marriage for political purposes."

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New Bid to Ban Same-Sex Marriage Moves Forward in Arizona [tr]