Way back in 1990, when I was a freshman in college, I had a film professor who was absolutely and completely obsessed with Sandra Bernhard.

At the time, I was absolutely and completely oblivious to who the hell she was.

But my professor had just moved to Denton, Texas, from New York City, and carried himself with the kind of calm, big-city confidence that made me think he probably knew a thing or two about art, glamour, nightlife, and the fabulous gay underground world I was only beginning to discover.

So I did what any closeted, confused gay college kid would do: I studied. Hard.

My source material was the live recording of Without You I’m Nothing, which I scored at a local record store buried deep in the remainder bin. How appropriate.

Back then, so much queer culture existed in the margins. In remainder bins, hidden shelves, whispered recommendations, and late-night discoveries. You usually had to go looking for it. And when you finally found it, it felt less like shopping and more like uncovering buried treasure.

Not long after that, my professor recommended I check out the film adaptation of Without You I’m Nothing. It was part concert film, part comedy special, part fever dream performance art piece, and somehow also a masterclass in queer storytelling before I even understood that’s what I was watching.

Sandra didn’t perform like anyone else I’d ever seen. She was funny, confrontational, messy, glamorous, vulnerable, and fully in control all at once. Watching her felt like being let in on a secret world where identity itself could be theatrical. Fluid. Invented. Reinvented.

And her rendition of “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” by Sylvester? It’s absolutely hilarious and unexpectedly moving!

Ms. Bernhard transforms a classic disco anthem into something sharp, funny, and painfully honest. What starts as a campy performance slowly reveals itself as a deeper commentary on sexuality, masculinity, and the exhausting lengths queer people have often gone through to find our tribe and finally let our freak flags fly.

Ms. Bernhard’s performance taught me more about queer pride, storytelling, and emotional honesty than anything I learned in college.

Looking back now, I realize she didn’t just entertain me. She educated me and expanded my idea of what queer people could sound like. Look like. Say out loud.

In other words, Sandra Bernhard helped make me gay.

Keep calm and sashay on!
Clint 🌈✌️

P.S. I’ve been doing some digital housekeeping this week, so please check out the newly-revised COLLIDEPRESS.com. Some new categories and updated navigation. Plus, an easier way to find all my links. If you find any problems or have any feedback, please let me know:

FROM THE ARCHIVES

BORN THIS WAY ON THIS DAY

• 05-15 = Archduke Ludwig Viktor Of Austria (1842-1919) = Austrian royal 🌈

• 05-15 = Barbara Hammer (1939-2019) = American filmmaker 🌈

• 05-15 = Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu (1972- ) = Native Hawaiian activist 🌈

• 05-15 = Jackie Shane (1940-2019) = Canadian-American soul singer 🌈

• 05-15 = Jasper Johns (1930- ) = American artist 🌈

• 05-15 = Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) = English aristocrat, medical pioneer, and writer 🌈

• 05-15 = Richard Avedon (1923-2004) = American photographer 🌈

• 05-15 = Stella Maxwell (1990- ) = Belgian-New Zealander fashion model 🌈

MAN CRUSH(ES) OF THE DAY

“As one gets older one sees many more paths that could be taken. Artists sense within their own work that kind of swelling of possibilities, which may seem a freedom or a confusion.”
Jasper Johns

“All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”
Richard Avedon

STOP MAKING SENSE On Just Watch

TRUE STORIES on Just Watch

I was just a kid in the early days of MTV. Back when the channel still played music videos around the clock and transported me to a bigger, stranger world.

Like a lot of kids my age, I was drawn to the motley crew of singers and performers flashing across the screen. Most of them were pinup pretty boys and pretty girls making pop music for the lowest common denominator.

And then there was David Byrne. And Talking Heads.

When “Burning Down the House” landed on MTV, it rocked my little world.

Not just because the song was great. It was. But because I found myself thinking something no other pop act had made me think before: “What the hell is this tall weirdo singing about?”

Byrne wasn’t posing like a rock star. He wasn’t smoldering for the camera. He stood there in his oversized suit, moving like some kind of alien antenna picking up signals the rest of us couldn’t hear. The delivery was dry. The rhythms were infectious. And the whole thing felt slightly…off in the best possible way.

I didn’t fully understand it yet, but something about his strangeness felt familiar.

Like a signal meant for people who didn’t quite fit the mold.

Then came the concert film Stop Making Sense.

Most twelve-year-old boys I knew weren’t begging their dad to take them to see an art-house concert film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring David Byrne.

But I wasn’t like the other boys. I was fascinated by anything wacky, weird, and wild. Luckily, so was my father. So he took me to see the film and I was mesmerized.

The film begins with Byrne walking onto a stage with a boombox and an acoustic guitar. Just one guy and one song. Then, piece by piece, the band joins him. The stage fills up. The music grows bigger. The whole thing slowly transforms into this electrifying machine.

But what really grabbed me was Byrne himself.

His dancing.
His twitchy movements.
His strange gestures that somehow made sense once the music kicked in.

Looking back, I realize what I was seeing wasn’t just performance. It was permission.

Permission to be weird.
Permission to be theatrical.
Permission to be whatever kind of man you wanted to be.

For a gay kid just coming into his own, that mattered more than I knew at the time.

A couple of years later, David Byrne made another film, True Stories.

Parts of the film were shot not far from where I grew up. I was already obsessed with filmmaking, so the proximity made it feel personal. Hollywood didn’t seem quite so far away anymore.

The movie itself was unlike anything else I’d seen. A surreal little tour through a fictional Texas town filled with oddball characters and musical interludes. A satire made with sincere affection, love, and respect.

Like Byrne himself, the film didn’t behave the way movies were “supposed” to behave.

It wandered.
It observed.
It celebrated weirdness instead of sanding it down.

And teenage Clint loved every second of it.

Byrne wasn’t trying to be the coolest guy in the room. He was trying to be the most interesting. And for a kid who already felt like an outsider, his influence was powerful.

Looking back, I realize how lucky I was to encounter artists like David Byrne so young.

Between Stop Making Sense and True Stories, I got a crash course in a few important lessons:

Weird can be wonderful.
Art doesn’t have to follow the rules.
And sometimes the people who seem the most unusual on the surface are the ones quietly expanding the possibilities for everyone else.

Did the straight singer-songwriter-artist David Byrne “make me gay”? Of course not. But he did help me see my otherness as a feature, not a bug. And he demonstrated an alternate version of masculinity that was:

Curious instead of macho.
Expressive instead of guarded.
Intellectual and playful and theatrical all at once.

And for a closeted gay kid watching MTV in the early 80s, that was more than enough.

Keep calm and remember on!
Clint 🌈✌️

FROM THE ARCHIVES

BORN THIS WAY ON THIS DAY

• 03-25 = Andrew Goldstein (1983- ) = American athlete 🌈

• 03-25 = Danton Remoto (1963- ) = Filipino writer, editor, and professor 🌈

• 03-25 = Elton John (1947- ) = English singer-songwriter 🌈

• 03-25 = Gene Walsh (1955- ) = American firefighter and activist 🌈

• 03-25 = Glenn Ligon (1960- ) = American conceptual artist 🌈

• 03-25 = Lee Pace (1979- ) = American actor 🌈

• 03-25 = Sheryl Swoopes (1971- ) = American former WNBA player 🌈

• 03-25 = Susie Bright (1958- ) = American journalist, author, and critic 🌈

MAN CRUSH OF THE DAY

“I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. I don’t know why anyone would care.”
Lee Pace

“If I’m, like, in a grocery store, I don’t get recognized that much, but it’s like, you know, when someone comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, I’m a big ‘Pushing Daisies’ fan,’ you just feel like, ‘Oh, wow - you’re the one who watched it. So nice to meet you.’”
Lee Pace

🌼 WATCH PUSHING DAISIES PILOT 🌼

DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS (1919)
(Ander Als die Andern)

Directed by Richard Oswald
Written by Richard Oswald + Magnus Hirschfeld
Produced by Richard Oswald
Starring Conrad Veidt + Fritz Schulz + Reinhold Schünzel
+ Anita Berber + Magnus Hirschfeld + Karl Giese
Cinematography by Max Fassbender

Widely regarded as the first pro-gay film in cinema history, Different From the Others (Anders als die Andern, 1919) is a groundbreaking German silent film co-written by sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld.

Made during the Weimar Republic era, the film boldly challenged anti-homosexual laws and societal prejudice, telling the tragic love story of two men in a society that criminalizes their relationship.

Courageous and compassionate, it remains a landmark in LGBTQ film history—a defiant call for understanding and reform nearly a century ahead of its time.

MUSIC

• Piano Concerto, Op.3 (1874)

• Composer: Moritz Moszkowski

• Performer: Ludmil Angelov

• Courtesy of MusOpen

RELATED READING

Read more

STRAIGHT GUYS (2014)
A Film By Daniel Laurin

”This film was my thesis for my Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Media at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.”
Daniel Laurin

Featuring: Bravo Delta + Bryan Ockert + ChaosMen Performers + Conner Habib + Dave Allen + Gavin Sevin + Kellan Chestnut +Jeffrey Escoffier + Sharif Mowlabocus

Description = “‘Straight-Guy Porn’ is a wildly popular subgenre of online amateur pornography that features supposedly heterosexual men having sex with other men for a gay male audience. Why do some gay men prefer to watch sex between two heterosexual men? Where does this desire come from? Is it innate or is it learned? And why would men who identify as straight choose to perform in gay porn? Straight Guys follows filmmaker Daniel Laurin on his journey to answer these questions and reconcile his own relationship to this type of pornography. Daniel speaks to porn historians, porn theorists, porn producers and the performers themselves.”

“I'm kind of unlucky in love and I have, for some reason,
always fallen for the straight guy.”
Calum Scott

Read more

If you do too, consider one or more of the gay holiday-themed adult films below to help you get Merry like Christmas, Mary.

Whether you’ve been naughty and/or nice, Old Saint Nick sent me a list he’s been checking—and clicking—at least twice. ‘Tis the season for sharing, right?

From campy gay-for-pay and gay-for-gay elves to decking the halls while doing Santa cosplay to daddy-son gift exchanges, these are not the movies you’ll watch with your extended family, but maybe a near, dear, and/or queer or two. The best part? They’re free to watch online.

Ready to jingle those bells? Here's a sleighful of NSFW holiday cheer to get you in the mood...for whatever you enjoy.

Cheers!
Clint

P.S. A VPN and a box of tissues are optional, but recommended.

Read more

When Good Will Hunting hit theaters in 1997, it marked the big-screen breakthrough for best friends and actor-screenwriter partners-in-film Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Directed by Gus Van Sant, the film had all the makings of Miramax award bait—and for me, it delivered. Nominated for 50+ awards and winning at least 25 that year, the film laid the foundation for Damon’s and Affleck’s careers as Hollywood heavyweights.

It also gave audiences a few lessons about hearts and smarts.
How do you like them apples?

For all the film’s accolades, its true magic lies in Robin Williams’ human, sensitive, and thoughtful portrayal of Sean. Though the character is technically a “supporting” role, Williams got top billing for more than just his good looks and name recognition.

Robin Williams’ performance, as Will Hunting’s tough-but-tender therapist, brought a gravitas and humanity to the film. For me, it turned a movie-of-the-week screenplay into a work of cinematic art. It also earned Williams several awards, including an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. But I don’t think Robin Williams did the film for the awards, the fame, or the money. At least not primarily.

Don’t believe me (or remember)? Watch this scene…and try not to cry. In case you don’t remember it—or never saw the film—it’s where Sean gets to the heart of their personality conflicts. Not with anger or force but with compassionate truth bombs.

Why is this scene coming up—over 25 years later—for me? Well, let’s just say I’ve seen far too many folks recently popping off, thinking they’re Will Hunting. In real life, in the media, and online.

Folks so full of bravado. Folks so eager to prove they’re smarter or stronger than everyone else. Folks so quick to burn bridges and whole towns down just to protect their fragile egos and opinions. In other words, folks too dumb—and too full of pride and prejudice—to grow and shut the fuck up.

The “truth”—from my perspective—is that what the world needs now is more folk like Sean. And more actors like Robin.

I think it’s safe to say most of us are looking for more leaders who lead with empathy, more listeners who listen with open hearts and minds, and more superheroes who are super because they realize vulnerability is most heroic superpower in the universe.

In my book, Robin Williams wasn’t just a comic genius or an acting giant—he was a “real” man. Warts and all. For better and worse. His portrayal of Sean Maguire is far more than the performance of a lifetime. For me, it’s a reminder of what being a “real” hu-man can look and sound like.

In a world of Wills and Matts, let’s aspire to be more like Robin and Sean.

Thanks for reading!
Clint

ON THIS DAY = DECEMBER 19

BIRTHDAYS

• 1910 = Jean Genet = French novelist and activist 🌈

• 1915 = Édith Piaf = French singer-songwriter and actor

• 1920 = David Susskind = American talk show host and producer

• 1924 = Cicely Tyson = American actor

• 1924 = Edmund Purdom = British-Italian actor

• 1925 = Robert B. Sherman = American songwriter and screenwriter

• 1928 = Nathan Oliveira = American painter and sculptor

• 1944 = Tim Reid = American actor and director

• 1946 = Robert Urich = American actor and producer

• 1960 = Michelangelo Signorile = American journalist and author 🌈

• 1963 = Jennifer Beals = American model and actor

• 1967 = Criss Angel = American magician

• 1969 = Kristy Swanson = American actor

• 1971 = Amy Locane = American actor

• 1972 = Alyssa Milano = American actor and activist

• 1980 = Jake Gyllenhaal = American actor and producer

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• National Hard Candy Day

EVENTS

• 1776 = Thomas Paine publishes "The American Crisis", as part of his series of pamphlets The Pennsylvania Journal.

• 1843 = A Christmas Carol, the novella by Charles Dickens about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve, is published.

• 1900 – French parliament votes amnesty for all involved in scandalous army treason trial known as Dreyfus affair.

• 1922 = God of Vengeance opens at the Provincetown Playhouse. The drama, translated from Yiddish and performed in English for the first time, includes the first lesbian scenes on the American stage.

• 1924 = In Hanover, Germany, a gay man named Fritz Haarmann is found guilty of 24 of the 27 murders and sentenced to death. The case ultimately becomes one of the inspirations for Fritz Lang’s classic film M. The publicity surrounding the case results in a major setback for the German homophile movement.

• 1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.

• 1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

• 1958 = POTUS Dwight D Eisenhower relays a Christmas message to the world from the SCORE satellite, his voice becoming the first ever to be transmitted through space.

• 1958 = “The Little Drummer Boy” is released as a single.

• 1971 = Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange premieres in NYC.

• 1974 – Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

• 1980 = Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull is released in theaters.

• 1986 - The made-for-tv musical Babes in Toyland, based on the 1903 operetta and starring Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves, premieres on NBC.

• 1997 = James Cameron’s Titanic is released in theaters.

PHOTO + QUOTE OF THE DAY

Read more

Read more

Long before I shifted my focus to art and graphic design, I wanted to be a filmmaker.

I spent years working behind the scenes on film/tv sets while writing screenplays and searching for my break into directing and producing. But after working in Hollywood’s sausage factory long enough, my dreams faded.

Turns out the only thing more creative—and outlandish—than Hollywood’s films and tv shows are its accountants and lawyers.

Behind the “lights, camera, action” lies a labyrinth of labor unions, marketing costs, production budgets, and profit participation deals. Each adding up to make making entertainment as expensive—and exclusive—as possible.

The bigger the production, the bigger the stakes.

Most in Hollywood seem more invested in preserving the industry’s escalating budgets and overhead than in fostering creative innovation or truly embracing technological efficiencies.

Take Star Trek: The Motion Picture, for example, which premiered on this day in 1979.

Production began with a modest $15 million budget, but by the time the film was released, costs had ballooned to $44 million—a staggering sum at the time.

The film grossed $139 million worldwide, which might sound like a success, but it fell short of Paramount’s pie-in-the-sky/high-on-their-own-supply expectations. The financial disappointment prompted the studio to “propose a less expensive sequel.”

Released in 1982, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan reportedly cost just $12 million to make and grossed $97 million worldwide. While it earned less than the first film, it was likely more profitable. Many fans and critics also consider The Wrath of Khan as not only the best Star Trek film but the one that reignited interest in the franchise.

Fast forward to 2016 and the release of Star Trek Beyond. This time, the budget had exploded to $185 million, with the film grossing $343.5 million at the box office. (And the end credits were longer than some Academy Award-winning shorts.)

On paper, those numbers might seem like a win. But when you factor in marketing costs—which often exceed the production budgets—and Hollywood’s notoriously “creative” accounting, the margins get razor-thin.

Studio films rarely break even, despite their massive earnings. At least on paper.

At some point, I realized that the dream of directing or producing in Hollywood just wasn’t happening for me. I saw too many friends going bankrupt producing indie films and shorts. And the few who managed to carve out successful careers did so not as creatives….but as executives. Not my cup of tea.

So, I shifted gears and pivoted to other creative roles. After a few years working as a freelance designer, I returned to the Hollywood sausage factory, this time behind the scenes in a different way—helping to market films, TV shows, and ancillary products. It wasn’t always fun, but allowed me to stay connected to the entertainment world.

Off and on for a few years anyway…

When I was a freelance, non-union crew member—based in a right-to-work state—I knew the jobs were short-term. Only a few productions lasted more than a few days or weeks.

When I became a full-time designer, I mistakenly thought some semblance of job security would be amongst the corporate job perks. I quickly learned that stability doesn’t really exist in Hollywood—or anywhere anymore, for that matter.

A typical Hollywood production has hundreds of cast and crew. A typical Hollywood studio employs tens of thousands to manage its media empire. But when the “magic” isn’t that magical, producers and studios are quick to fire, lay off, and/or retire as many of its worker bees as possible.

Even after its many rounds of layoffs, Parmount Studios’s parent company, Paramount Global still has around 20,000 employee. Compare that to MrBeast—the biggest content creator on YouTube—who recently said he emploees, on average, 400 people across all his businesses and ventures worldwide.

And most content creators—myself included—are one-man bands.

This shift has sparked an entertainment revolution that Hollywood seems reluctant to acknowledge.

When SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America went on strike in 2023, shutting down most of Hollywood—with the industry still recovering from the pandemic—many audiences simply turned to independent creators for their entertainment fixes.

And not all of them have turned back.

Why? Because today, with the right combination of skills, stories, and tools, it’s easier than ever to bypass the Hollywood sausage factory entirely.

Thanks to platforms like YouTube and Substack, content creators, filmmakers, and storytellers of all kinds—and all locations—now have a direct line to their audience. Without gatekeepers, labor unions, or studio bosses to get in the way.

No one needs a $100 million or a team of hundreds to make a movie anymore. You can “make it work” without Hollywood’s brand of “lights, camera, action.” You just need a camera, a computer—or a smartphone—and the determination to bring your vision to life.

It’s a far cry from the Tinseltown of my childhood dreams, but it’s a more attainable and rewarding reality. Technology has changed and democratized filmmaking and storytelling forever, putting the power back in the hands of creatives and creators.

While Hollywood will always hold a special place in my heart, I’ve found greater fulfillment as a one-man band, creating and sharing my work on my own terms.

I count my lucky stars to have connected with so many who appreciate and support what I do. People like you, boo.

Thanks for reading!
Clint

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

• How to Master the Art of Filmmaking (Dan Mace) 📺

• Why Hollywood Fears the Sony FX3 (Anthony Aguiar Organalog) 📺

• Upside Down & Inside Out (OK Go) 📺

ON THIS DAY = DECEMBER 7

BIRTHDAYS

• 1863 = Richard Warren Sears = American businessman and Sears co-founder

• 1873 = Willa Cather = American novelist, short story writer, and poet 🌈

• 1904 = Clarence Nash = American voice actor and singer

• 1917 = Hurd Hatfield = American actor 🌈

• 1923 = Ted Knight = American actor and comedian

• 1928 = Noam Chomsky = American linguist and philosopher

• 1932 = Ellen Burstyn = American actor

• 1948 = Tony Thomas = American screenwriter and producer

• 1949 = Tom Waits = American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

• 1956 = Larry Bird = American basketball player and coach

• 1958 = Rick Rude = American wrestler and sportscaster

• 1960 = Jane Castor = American politician 🌈

• 1964 = Patrick Fabian = American actor

• 1965 = Jeffrey Wright = American actor

• 1966 = C. Thomas Howell = American actor and filmmaker

• 1979 = Sara Bareilles = American singer-songwriter

• 1982 = Jack Huston = English actor

• 1987 = Aaron Carter = American singer-songwriter and actor

• 1989 = Nicholas Hoult = English actor

OBSERVANCE

• National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

EVENTS

• 1732 = The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London, England.

• 1776 = Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arranges to enter the American military as a major general.

• 1842 = The New York Philharmonic holds its first concert.

• 1917 = World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.

• 1932 = German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.

• 1941 = World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

• 1963 = Instant replay makes its debut during a Army-Navy football game.

• 1970 = Painter Romaine Brooks, dies in Nice, France, at the age 96.

• 1984 = Leonard Cohen releases “Hallelujah” as a single.

• 1995 = The Grateful Dead break up after the death of Jerry Garcia.

PHOTO + QUOTE OF THE DAY

VINTAGE EPHEMERA

Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I spent many a weekend watching movies. Sometimes in a clean, first-run movie theater. Sometimes in a dingy, second-run dollar theater. My first job was even in a movie theater.

Around the same time Video Killed The Radio Star came out, local cineplexes were being replaced by local video stores.

While the heydays of Blockbuster, VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray were relatively short-lived, film and film history keeps on keeping on.

While I love the latest and greatest as a kid, as a 50-something gay man, I prefer the hidden gems from years past. Especially films that Vito Russo wrote about in his 1981 classic Celluloid Closet. Or newer films that I think Mr. Russo would have loved.

On my YouTube channel, I started a playlist of these films…some just clips, but many complete movies. Just in case you’re looking for some classic films, below are a few of my personal favorites from the playlist.

Enjoy!
Clint

THAT'S (LGBTQ) ENTERTAINMENT!

VINTAGE EPHEMERA

MUSIC

• Orchestral Suite no. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
  Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1738-1739)
  Performer/ Recording by Franz-Peter Müller
  Public Domain Composition + Recording

• Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D major, BWV 1069
  Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1730)
  Performer/ Recording by Franz-Peter Müller
  Public Domain Composition + Recording

• Orchestral Suite no. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 (reprise)
  Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1738-1739)
  Performer/ Recording by Franz-Peter Müller
  Public Domain Composition + Recording

• Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, BWV 1048
  Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1721)
  Performer/ Recording by Franz-Peter Müller
  Public Domain Composition + Recording

VINTAGE EPHEMERA

MUSIC

• The Entertainer

• Maple Leaf Rag

• Frogs Legs Rag

• Onion Capers

• Wagon Wheel

• Run Amok

• Amazing Plan

• Royal Banana

• All Music By Kevin MacLeod

• Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

When I first saw this monologue, not long after its home video release (on VHS), I had no idea that all these years later it would remain one of my all-time favorite character introductions in the history of film. And theatre.

Recently, I wanted to rewatch it only to discover the DVD was missing (in action) from my dusty DVD collection. Maybe I loaned it out? Or it’s somewhere I haven’t look yet. Either way, the Internet has everything, right? Sure…if you look hard enough.

While the film wasn’t on streaming last I looke, I did manage to find a Spanish-subtitled version on the Internet Archive.

Since the original poster tagged themself in a video they posted but did not make, I covered it up. And made some color corrections to make this SD video look a little less like it was found in Blockbuster’s bargain bin.

Thanks for watching!
Clint

Since I first heard about Everybody Dance, Dan Watt’s feature documentary about Bonnie Schlachte and her Ballet For All students/team, I knew I would both appreciate and love it.

A dance school founded by a dancer and occupational therapist that works with kids of ALL abilities AND disabilities? Yes, please.

While I encouraged others to watch this I-think-AND-know-I-can film, I still somehow managed to keep coming up with excuses not to watch it. Until last night.

"Dancers don't need wings to fly."
Bonnie Schlachte

Simply put, I hadn’t watched it yet because I worried I would need a box of tissues.

And while I don’t want to ruin the film (STREAM FOR FREE), I will say the only tears I shed were tears of joy. And wonder.

Everybody Dance is filled with things I think the world can always use more of: Art, Creativity, Education, Kindness, Love, Passion, Respect, and Teamwork.

This labor-of-love film is a bright and light visual tapestry, its 85 minutes are filled to the brim with stories of real-life challenges and triumphs.

Choosing to highlight many stories rather than focus on a few, queer filmmaker Dan Watt and editor/producer Isiah Camp weave such a compelling, whirlwind narrative that left me wanting more…and completely satisfied all at the same time.

In my book, that’s the very definition of a successful documentary: One that doesn’t wear out its welcome and leaves room for the story and its subjects to live on in our imaginations and in their real lives.

Kudos to Ms. Schlachte, her dedicated volunteers, her inspiring students, and the loving parents who provide the foundation and patronage for a school like this not only to exist but to thrive. Also, big thanks to them and the filmmakers for sharing some of their collaborative magic and shine with the world.

I not only recommend this film…I hope you recommend it too.
I also hope you dance.

Thanks for reading!
Clint

MORE ABOUT EVERYBODY DANCE

NEWS + VIEWS

• Whitney Biennial Heralds a New Kind of Body Art

• Picasso Museum Will Show Work by Françoise Gilot

• The kids really are alright, photographer finds

• Ten of the most beautiful graffiti murals

• Photographer David Johnson, who chronicled SF's Black culture, dies at 97

In honor of the Oscars (which is airing as I post this), I’m remembering a few of the best and worst past moments I've witnessed over the years:

THE GOOD

• 2012 = Octavia Spencer Wins Academy Award

THE BAD

• 1989 = Rob Lowe + Snow White Duet

THE UGH-LY

• 2003: Adrien Brody + Halle Berry

THE WTF?!?

• 2017 = La La Land/Moonlight Mix-Up

I’m not sure I had ever gotten over Crash winning over Brokeback back in 2006. But the 2017 mixup was probably the last time I’ve watched the actual broadcast.

Films (and award shows) just aren’t as interesting to me as they used to be.
Maybe it’s just a phase…a seven-year bitch?

Even though I decided to skip watching this year’s Oscar ceremonies, I was feeling a little nostalgic about years past, so I found a Wikipedia list of LGBTQ nominees over the years.

From that list, I made my own of the actors and filmmakers whose films I’ve actually seen and enjoyed over the years.

While I haven't been a regular movie-watcher in a long time, I still revel in the art of Hollywood "magic" and storytelling.

OSCAR-NOMINATED “CONFIRMED” LGBTQ ACTORS & FILMMAKERS
Films I’ve Personally Seen + ALL CAPS = WON

• 1930 = Marlene Dietrich = Morocco

• 1951 = Marlon Brando = A Streetcar Named Desire

• 1954 = MARLON BRANDO = ON THE WATERFRONT

• 1951 = Vincente Minnelli = An American in Paris

• 1955 = Sal Mineo = Rebel Without a Cause

• 1951 = Vincente Minnelli = Gigi

• 1964 = George Cukor = My Fair Lady

• 1969 = JOHN SCHLESINGER = MIDNIGHT COWBOY

• 1971 = John Schlesinger = Sunday Bloody Sunday

• 1972: = JOEL GREY = CABARET

• 1972 = MARLON BRANDO = THE GODFATHER

• 1973 = Marlon Brando = Last Tango In Paris

• 1975 = Lily Tomlin = Nashville

• 1976 = Jodie Foster = Taxi Driver

• 1981 = JOHN GIELGUD = ARTHUR

• 1984 = ROB EPSTEIN = THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK

• 1984 = Tom Hulce = Amadeus

• 1986 = James Ivory = A Room with a View

• 1988 = JODIE FOSTER = THE ACCUSED

• 1988 = JODIE FOSTER = SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

• 1989 = ROB EPSTEIN = COMMON THREADS: STORIES FROM THE QUILT

• 1992 = Jaye Davidson = The Crying Game

• 1992 = Susan Sarandan = Thelma & Louise

• 1993 = Ang Lee The Wedding Banquet

• 1993 = ANNA PAQUIN = THE PIANO

• 1994 = Jodie Foster = Nell

• 1995 = KEVIN SPACEY = THE USUAL SUSPECTS

• 1995 = SUSAN SARANDON = DEAD MAN WALKING

• 1997 = Gus Van Sant = Good Will Hunting

• 1998 = Ian McKellen = Gods and Monsters

• 1999 = ANGELINA JOLIE = GIRL, INTERRUPTED

• 1999 = KEVIN SPACEY = AMERICAN BEAUTY

• 2000 = Stephen Daldry = Billy Elliot

• 2001 = Ian McKellen = The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

• 2002 = Christopher Walken = Catch Me If You Can

• 2002 = Pedro Almodóvar = Talk to Her

• 2002 = Queen Latifah = Chicago

• 2002 = Rob Marshall = Chicago

• 2002 = Stephen Daldry = The Hours

• 2007 = Elliot Page = Juno

• 2007 = TILDA SWINTON = MICHAEL CLAYTON

• 2008 = Byron Howard = Bolt

• 2008 = Gus Van Sant = Milk

• 2009 = Lee Daniels = Precious

• 2009 = MO'NIQUE = PRECIOUS

• 2010 = Dean DeBlois = How to Train Your Dragon

• 2010 = LEE UNKRICH = TOY STORY 3

• 2012 = David France + Howard Gertler = How to Survive a Plague

• 2014 = LAURA POITRAS = CITIZENFOUR

• 2016 = BYRON HOWARD = ZOOTOPIA

• 2018 = Lady Gaga = A Star Is Born