The F Word

I found out today that I will be a contributing author for a feminist anthology! I wrote an essay a couple months ago about my relationship to feminism - how it's changed over the years from my women's college days and Sociology studies, to now with the representation of gender roles and stereotypes in Butch Jamie. The book is called What We Think: Gender Roles, Women's Issues and Feminism in the 21st Century: An Anthology, and it is being put together by Liquid Words Productions. They contacted me after seeing Butch Jamie at The Michigan Womyn's Music and Film Festival. They are currently looking for a publisher, and it is expected to be released in the Spring or Summer of 2008. There will also be a book tour; I want to attend in a couple of cities if possible, so I'll keep you updated!

BTW, the "F Word" in my blog title refers to feminism. It's kind of a joke but also kind of not since apparently the word is somewhat of a stigma for younger generations. Part of the book's aim is to determine where feminism has gone wrong and what the solutions are. Although the other F word, the original one, is cool too. Fuck yeah.

In other news, my sister Kirsten is pregnant with twin girls!


Kirsten has a small part in Butch Jamie as the producer in Femme Jamie's audition; she's the one who yells at my character. I tried to tell her that she wasn't type cast but I don't know if she believes me.

At any rate, those will be her first kids and my first nieces, so that'll be exciting. She lives in Missouri with my parents. We grew up in the O.C. but they all moved to the Ozarks. I told a friend of mine a couple of years ago that my family lives in the Ozarks and after I talked about it for a minute she said - "Dude, I thought you were joking!" So I guess it's a joke all in itself, no punchline needed. To round out this lil' discussion, I'll throw in a couple of pics from the Ozark shootin' range taken awhile back.




The last pic is me trying to look bad ass, but really I just look bad.

Long-Giland, lesbian style

A couple weeks ago Butch Jamie screened as the Closing Night Women's Film at the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. I've never been to Long Island before and I thought it was really pretty. After the screening for the movie, there was an after-party, or "Gala" as they call it.


Here's a pic with my friend Sabra who took the train in from NYC. We went to Smith College together back in the 90's. That was in the 1900's before wireless internet and text messaging (I had a new computer ten years ago that had a 1GB hardrive; now I have a chip in my cell phone that is 1GB. I don't know if anyone else thinks that's amazing, but I sure do!) I haven't seen her in several years, but she read about the film in the Alumnae Quarterly and we got back in touch.


This is a pic with me and some of the other women at the party. As you can see, it's pretty casual for a Gala. It's called "lesbian style." Sabra is kind of dressed up but she's not a lesbian. Although it is true that you can't generalize because "lesbian style" in L.A. where I live is pretty fancy. They're a different species out here. Although being one of only a few butches in a city full of femmes does have its perks...

Below is a pic with Casper Andreas, the director from "A Four Letter Word," which was the Closing Night Men's Film.


...I think Casper is standing on a step or something. That must be why I look so short.

After the party, I interviewed for a local show called The Long Island Rainbow Connection (does that remind anyone else of Kermit the Frog? I looked up that song on YouTube but it's kind of boring. Kermit's cute, though. I used to want to be him when I was a kid). The interview won't be ready until January, so I'll post it then.

Well, that's all for today. I'll be back!

Naked Men in LA LA Land

Naked Boys Singing, the movie that lives up to its title. When I got back from the Portland festival, I went to the L.A. premiere of Naked Boys Singing. I met one of the directors, Troy Christian, and 2 of the actors at the film festival in Tampa, so I wanted to check it out and see what all this penis hype was about.

I do think I was the only lesbian there. I don't mind representin' my peeps, although I don't know if I can speak for everybody when I say that I was fascinated at the spectacle! 10 bouncing penises for an hour and a half -- it was unlike anything I had ever seen! I'm sure I found it much more educational than the gay men or straight women in the audience, although they may have gotten some other benefits out of the whole experience as well. Oh, and the singing and dancing were good, too...


Above is a pic taken with one of the film's actors, Kevin Stea, now fully clothed. He's in the middle and on the left is Chad Allen. Chad and his penis are not to be seen in this movie, although he does appear in several other movies without his penis. Well, he doesn't appear without his penis, but he appears while he penis doesn't. Ok, 'nuff said.


A few days after I went to Naked Boys Singing, my friend Karen and I did the L.A. AIDS Walk. For those of you who don't live near West Hollywood, the nun-looking people in the pic are the infamous WeHo drag nuns. I'm not sure what name they go by, but I guess WeHo drag nuns makes sense, or maybe something like "drag queens with bad habits."

The walk was a lot of fun -- if any of you are thinking about doing it next year, you definitely should. You walk 6 miles while eating free ice cream, cookies, and potato chips. I think I gained weight during the walk, but what the hell - it was for charity.

Ballerina Butches and more - oh my!

Hey, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I went to my friend David's, the same one who's in Butch Jamie. He played my gay, Asian friend named David in the movie, so the role was quite a stretch for him. David is an amazing cook and he made the biggest Thanksgiving dinner I have ever seen! He's not even an American, so that makes it extra cute. I don't have any photos from the dinner, but here's a pic of him onset:


So I'll pick up where I left off with my last entry. After I went to Tampa, I flew directly to Portland to represent the movie at their Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Portland was more low-key than Tampa, but still cool. There I met Kathy Belge, who is "Dipstick" from the Lipstick and Dipstick advice column in Curve magazine. She lives in Portland and was there to introduce the screening.


Here's a picture of us butchin' it up. I just noticed how both of her hands are in fists and mine has that slightly femmy straying pinky. Well...I guess I may as well come out and say it. ...I'm not really all that butch. Take a look at this video (it's terrible, I know) --



That's an excerpt from Ballet Diesel, a mockumentary short I made a few years ago. The film is fictional, but it is true that my girlfriend used to call me "Ballet Diesel" because she thought I looked like a diesel dyke but walked like a ballerina. I don't really walk like a ballerina, but I suppose everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Anyway, Iron Rod Motion Pictures is planning to distribute it soon on a DVD compilation, so I'll keep you updated on that. The other woman in the film is Leah Williamson (she's the one who said I looked like a ballerina in real life; she used to be my girlfriend but now we're just good friends. I live in L.A. and she's in Upstate NY, so I make sure to tell her on the phone how butch I am now). Leah helped me produce Butch Jamie and when I was in Tampa, she was representing the film at the Image Out festival in Rochester. Here are some pics:





So that's it for today. I'll be back again soon!

The Tampa Paparazzi

Welcome to my first blog entry! I've had some fun adventures lately in conjunction with my film, "Butch Jamie." For those of you who aren't familiar with the film, you can check out the trailer and more at www.butchjamie.com

OK, how about we start with the Tampa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival which I went to last month. It was a blast -- lots of cool people and great parties.















This photo above is great. I look like I just escaped from the hospital with my blotchy face, wrist band, and dixie cup. The gentleman on the far left is Duncan Roy, the director of "The Picture of Dorian Gray." I think he is pretending that he's Kenny from "South Park."


















Here we are onstage. The festival programmer, Roberta Munroe, introduced us at all of the screenings so that we could promote our films. I guess no one told me that we were all supposed to look off to the right...















Here we are hanging out in the Green Room backstage. This photo is a great one of Duncan picking his teeth and me looking up at the ceiling with a goofy look on my face. I think that if we ever get famous enough to have the paparazzi care about us, Duncan and I should take classes.















These are from the "Frisky Friday" girls party. Here I met Elizabeth and Jill who had seen two of my shorts, "Ballet Diesel" and "Half-Laughing." They told me that they were very excited to see my new movie; I had no idea that I already had fans! Elizabeth, the one on the right, interviewed me for ImGay.tv, featured at the top of this page.


Well, that's all for today. I have some more festival photos that I'll show you soon! To be continued...