A couple of nights ago I watched the 1984 Academy Award winning documentary "The Times Of Harvey Milk".

A powerful film,about which I'm still thinking. I was appalled to learn the man who murdered both the Mayor and Harvey was convicted only of voluntary manslaughter,whatever that is; we don't have that offence here. He served 5 years.

Quote:The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) is an American documentary film that premiered at The Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival,[1] and then on November 1, 1984 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.[2][3] The film was directed by Rob Epstein, produced by Richard Schmiechen, and narrated by Harvey Fierstein, with an original score by Mark Isham.

Quote:The Times of Harvey Milk documents the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Francisco's first openly gay supervisor. The film documents Milk's rise from a neighborhood activist to a symbol of gay political achievement, through to his assassination in November 1978 at San Francisco's city hall, and the Dan White trial and aftermath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_Harvey_Milk


Highly recommended.


I have not seen and have no interest in another Sean Penn film with yet another self consciously brilliant performance.

The Sean Penn film was awesome. If you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend it. Also watch his passionate speech about gay rights when he accepted the Oscar for Best Actor.

My parents actually won't let me watch it because it's about a gay man. Talk about parental restrictions

Download it and watch it, don't tell them.

(September 10, 2010 at 10:07 am)Eilonnwy Wrote: Download it and watch it, don't tell them.

Haha. Bad idea. If they find out somehow I'm screwed. But I read the link and got the point of it. I'll survive without seeing it.

(September 10, 2010 at 10:02 am)HeyItsZeus Wrote: My parents actually won't let me watch it because it's about a gay man. Talk about parental restrictions

Play a recording of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings just to spite them. He was... one of them.

(September 10, 2010 at 6:29 pm)Entropist Wrote:

(September 10, 2010 at 10:02 am)HeyItsZeus Wrote: My parents actually won't let me watch it because it's about a gay man. Talk about parental restrictions

Play a recording of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings just to spite them. He was... one of them.

No, that would probably just depress them. You should probably do Judas Priest. Their lead singer Rob Halford is gay, as you might have guessed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXCpwtPhOLQ&ob=av3n

Throw in a little Elton John and Queen, too. I know it's hard to believe, but Elton John and Freddy Mercury... both gay. I know... shocking!

(September 10, 2010 at 10:02 am)HeyItsZeus Wrote: My parents actually won't let me watch it because it's about a gay man. Talk about parental restrictions

That's deplorable. Anyone can have a kid, but you need a license to have a dog.

I've occasionally used the Samuel Barber Adagio because its such a sublime piece of music, and has become "official" mourning music (played at FDR's funeral, played on the air only moments after JFK's assassination, performed at many memorial services after 9/11, etc.) and has often moves listeners to tears, even removed from that sort of context. Then, after hearing something that has moved them so much, I tell them "Oh, by the way, the man who wrote that was gay." Its amusing to see them trying to reconcile this emotional experience and this fact-- it really gets under their skin.