Oct 29

MLR Press Call for Submissions: Mix Tape

MIXED TAPE – an anthology based on love songs

Okay, be honest…how many of you have made one? Have you had one given to them?  What? You don’t know what I’m talking about? Way back when, when you needed to tell that special someone how you felt instead of writing a note you put together a compilation cassette tape of music. Songs that reminded you of that special someone, songs that told them how you felt so you didn’t have to say it to their face (just in case they didn’t feel the same). MLR Press Executive Editor Kris Jacen is putting together a mixed tape of stories inspired by love songs (especially from the 1980s). So break out those cassette tapes, acid wash jeans and neon colors.

Stories will:

  • Range between 5 and 40k
  • Be inspired by a love song that plays a part in the story.
  • Flashbacks, paranormal, contemporary, historical (apparently the 80s counts),  all genres are welcome
  • Must abide by MLR submission guidelines

Stories due by March 15, 2013 to special_submissions@mlrpress.com

Questions should be sent to Kris Jacen at KrisJacen@mlrpress.com

Oct 16

Legally Blonde the Musical Preview, Wednesday 3rd of October

Lucy Durack peforms 'What You Want'

Lucy Durack peforms ‘What You Want’

Legally Blonde the Musical is perhaps the biggest blockbuster musical to hit Australia since Wicked. Unlike Wicked, Legally Blonde hasn’t made it into our public consciousness, and as a result is a fresh, new and surprising show for the majority of those who see it. Coming to us via London’s West End, Australia has picked up the London version of the show, with its various changes, and unfortunately, we’ve lost some of the budget along the way. The sets are less elaborate than the Broadway originals, most notably the Delta Nu Sorioraty house in the opening number Ohmigod You Guys and the missing revolving door in the Act 2 number Legally Blonde which prompted a number of lyric changes. Perhaps more importantly, the cast size has shrunk by at least one member, with the ninth Delta Nu girl being cut and most obviously replaced by a bag in the Act 1 finale.

Legally Blonde Act 1 Finale

Legally Blonde Act 1 Finale–note the missing cast member.

From a cast perspective, the big names are of course Lucy Durack and Rob Mills, both of whom we last saw in Wicked. While Durack is certainly the leading lady of Australia’s musical theatre scene, I question whether she has the warmth in her lower register to do justice to the role of Elle Woods. Mills has been perfectly cast as Warner, oozing happy-go-lucky charm and just a little smarm and misogynist condescension. Credit must go to David Harris as Emmett and Erika Heynatz as Brooke who were easily the best performers on the night, and Cameron Daddo cut an imposing figure as Professor Callahan, although he faltered a little in Act 2. Surprise of the show goes to Mike Snells as Bredan the UPS guy, who we last saw on TV’s I Will Survive.

Production-wise the sets still look awesome, and the production team have made good use of the stage lighting to frame the scenes and the delivery is tight, although some of the songs were a little below tempo and Durack appeared to be pacing herself or concentrating very hard on nailing the choreography, at the expense of performance. Of course, with what I saw being a preview, it is fair to expect the show to get tighter as the cast settle into it, and I fully expect audiences to be wowed by production numbers like Whipped Into Shape, and Bend and Snap.

For me, the biggest throw was Durack’s affection of the Californian Valley Girl accent. While it made perfect sense for Elle as a character, and gave her more room to grow, it made her appear to be dumber than I think she was meant to be, particulary because her accent was not backed up by the rest of the Delta Nu girls, with Margot in particular sounding more Bogan than Valley Girl. The message of Legally Blonde, to me, has always been that you can be both beautiful and smart, and in the musical, Elle always struck me as someone smart who had always put her energy into the superficial, and shone once she got a chip on her shoulder and applied herself to something else. The lone accent undermined that for me as it seemed to single her out as stupid by association, which coloured the rest of the performance. Still, as I said, I saw a preview, and I think I’d like to see it again–preferably if it comes to Melbourne. If it does, I hope they bring some merchandise for guys as well. I really wanted a T-shirt. If you go and see it, I recommend getting a seat in the centre, as the blocking is such that seats on the far left or right of the stage will spend a fair bit of time looking at the back of heads, even if the main action should be clearly visable.

Legally Blonde the Musical plays at The Lyric Theatre at The Star in Sydney, Tuesday to Sunday with Matinees Wednesday and Saturday. Book at Ticketmaster or call 1800 795 267.

Oct 10

Screens Cover Art, Sashimi and Halloween

Well, I’m back after a week and a half away and I’m already behind on everything. On the bright side, I’ve managed to get quite a bit done, not the least of which done with my input and someone else’s effort: the new cover art that will soon grace the stand-alone ebook of my short story, Screens.

Screens Cover

Click the cover for a full sized image

In non writing news, I managed to see Legally Blonde at the Lyric Theatre, climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge and made it to the Fish Market for sashimi. There will be show and food reviews, which I’m sure everyone will dread, but I highly recommend Mamak, which is the best Malaysian style roti I have had in Australia, and Chat Thai in the new Sydney Westfield complex, which was picked as a food destination on account of being the only restaurant there with a queue outside of it, which is always a good sign in my books. Figuratively speaking of course.

The big technology experiment has also come to an end, and I have my desktop, mouse, printer and software packages of MS Office and Scrivener. Also, I have found TextMaker, a fantastic software package for android that allows for true track changes, which was, of course, one of my primary concerns. It’s in beta at the moment, but I highly recommend you check them out if you’re going to be doing any serious writing on an android based system. Overall, I’m happy to report the experiment a great success, the Asus Transformer works fantastically as a netbook, and having both WiFi and sim card capability, keeps you connected outside of hotspots or friends’ modems. The keyboard is easy to use and the ability to plug in a USB thumb drive gives manual document control that is not reliant on internet solutions (such as Dropbox, Google drive and of course, email). It doubles as an eReader, works as an email client with K9mail, and even allows for blog updates through the WordPress app. Frankly, I now get into trouble when someone hands me a laptop because I poke at the screen and then go ‘Why isn’t it working?’ before realising laptops aren’t touch screen and looking even more stupid.

On side note, as a true tablet, the Transformer works in either portrait or landscape mode, and the background image shifts to give a visual indicator of the screen you’re on, requiring images that work in both portrait and landscape across various slices. Currently I’m using an awesome lightning background by Lachlan Downing, and you can check out the rest of his work here if you’re so inclined.

Melbourne Docklands by Lachlan Downing

In other news, Australia has voted against marriage equality federally as well as in Tasmania, where it was defeated by two votes. Attention is now swinging to New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, where there appears to be more support for equality. Across the pond, the New Zealand Presbyterian Church is going to defy its governing body and perform same-sex marriages if New Zealand legalises them, as expected, and the internet is exploding into early Halloween fever. Check out Tara Lain’s Trex or Treat Halloween excerpt, Gay Halloween Costumes on Facebook, and my blog post on the Zombie Apocalypse over at Brynna Curry’s blog as day 9 of her 31 days of Halloween spectacular.

Oh and… braaaaains!

Oct 03

Scissor Sisters-Magic Hour Tour. Sydney 27th September Sydney

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NB: This review was originally published at SameSame

“I’m not objectum sexual but I am objectum-curious,” Ana Matronic shouts from the stage to the delight of the audience. “And if there’s one building I’d want to do, it’s the Sydney Opera House! So to be inside her tonight…”
The Scissor Sisters in concert were both different and awesome. Different in that there was no support act and no interval, and awesome in that there was no support act or interval. Instead, there was a great mix of the last eight years of music, even if the kids in the row ahead of me had never heard Take Your Mama before.
Perhaps the best thing about the Scissor Sisters is the range of their music. Personally, I fell for the disco electronic sounds and throbbing dance tunes, along with the idea that finally there would be decent music that spoke of life within the GLBT community, and thankfully for us, they’re still going strong.
Lead singers Jake Shears and Ana Matronic were in top form as they belted out hits past and present. The set was arranged to keep the audience on their feet, with tracks Comfortably Numb and Baby Come Home interspersed with slower songs like Mary and Inevitable, although to be fair, the crowd was up and grooving for a good hour before the show began. I was kind of hoping for Filthy Gorgeous, but it’s entirely possible I’m showing my age there. Following the band for so long, it’s been great to hear Matronic step into the limelight a bit more, even if Shears still the frontman by good musical mile. Their newer music has also leant towards theatrical showing, and having a stage as grand as the Opera House certainly added to the drama of their more rock oriented songs.
Special mention has to go to their latest hit, Let’s Have a Kiki, which was performed a total of three times, once at the concert, and twice at the official Klub Kiki Mardi Gras Afterparty. There’s video somewhere, and it may even get uploaded, and yes, I did get to touch both Shears and Matronic, although Del Marquis and Babydaddy retired from the party quickly, to the disappointment to more than a few fans.

Regardless of what you think of their sound, or their refusal to follow trends, the Scissor Sisters remind us of just what it means to be an ‘us’. “I want to dedicate this performance to a very dear friend of mine who is no longer on this earth,” Matronic said, stepping out on stage at the Oxford Art Hotel. “Please raise a glass and dedicate this song to anyone you have lost and let’s party and have a kiki tonight”. I think that sums up the Scissor Sisters better than anything I can come up with, and eleven years on, they still make us feel like dancing.
And for a Melbourne boy’s first concert in Sydney, it was a kiki I won’t forget in a hurry.

Oct 02

Ode To A Nightingale performed in Klingon

It’s been a few months since Geek Mook launched, and a bit of digging in Matt’s phone has uncovered this little gem, which we are delighted to share with you today: John Keat’s Ode to a Nightingale being performed in Klingon by editors Aaron Mannion and Julian Novitz.

You can pick up a copy of Geek Mook, feature Matthew’s Random Geek Generating Tables in print or ebook format:

Oct 01

Visiting Sydney

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Sneaky Sound System performing at Spinout

It’s been a while since I went anywhere–near on a year actually–and I decided it was high time I had a holiday. And if I could work some actual work in with it to justify the trip to myself and the tax office, so much the better. As it turns out, my ebook cover artist, Richard Stansfield lives in Sydney, and we’re currently working on a cover for a standalone version of Screens, so visiting made perfect sense, especially as I was also able to drop by The Bookshop to sign some copies of The Secret of Talmor Manor for them. I’ve also spent the last few days hanging out with Matt Akersten of SameSame, who I’ve been corresponding with–keep an eye out for my review of the Scissor Sister’s concert and my entry for Q in their ongoing Gay-to-Z features, and ended up heading to Daywash, one of the big dance parties on the gay calendar. More importantly, I got to see Sneaky Sound system perform live, and if you haven’t heard Miss Connie remix herself, I recommend checking her out.

This Sydney trip is also my attempt to find out once and for all if I can survive without a PC. I’m currently running around with my HTC Sensation phone and my Asus eee pad transformer (with docking station), so essentially a touch screen netbook running an Android Operating system. I’m happy to leech wifi where I can, use apps to make blog posts, read and respond to emails, and even keep writing my next novel. Frankly, I bought the tablet because it was lighter than my laptop, had better battery life, and promised the excitement of being one day able to sign ebooks and manage esales if need be. I’ll keep you all posted on my progress, but so far it’s been brilliant for procrastination and reading and working in the QANTAS lounge, and not so good for the writing, largely because I’ve yet to find a decent MS Office app for Android that lets me use the Track Changes function I need for getting edits back to my long suffering editor. Polaris Office, the default is too basic, Olive Office was too slow, and Documents To Go refused to download when I needed it. Frankly, until something better comes along, I’m going to have to seriously consider refurbishing my laptop–for you geeks out there, it’s running Vista.

Anyway, it’s nearly 4:30 AM and the Scissor Sister’s videos are nearly uploaded. Happy Big Gay Weekend everyone, and I’ll see you on the dancefloor if you’re in Sydney!

Sep 14

All Love is Equal

So, we’ve finally managed to pry Matthew’s phone away from him long enough for us to get some of the nifty videos he’s been promising us, and here’s the first one: Adam Bandt, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens speaking at the Equal Love rally last month. We could talk more about it, bur frankly, Adam’s a better speaker and we have other video to edit.

If you’d like to send a message to your Member of Parliament, visit GetUp, and sign their petition.

Aug 21

Not All Christians are Bigots

At a time when South Australia and Tasmania are making headway in ending marriage discrimination, our Prime Minister has agreed to be the keynote speaker at the national conference of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) – a group who campaign consistently against ending marriage discrimination, and who have likened the campaign for marriage equality to nazism[1] and homosexuality to pedophilia.[2]

In response, Baptist Minister of ten years, Rev. Carolyn Francis started a petition on CommunityRun. Rev. Carolyn Francis has joined with other Christian leaders in an effort to demonstrate to the Prime Minister thatthe ACL is not representative of Christian attitudes on marriage equality.

In Rev. Francis’ petition to Julia Gillard, she asks her to meet with clergy who support ending discrimination. She says “I’m disappointed that the PM is ignoring the other side of this issue” and “at the very heart of my faith are values of love, compassion and inclusion. For me, that means being able to celebrate relationships based on love, no matter who is in them.”

Most Australians, and most Christians, stand for equality, not discrimination. That’s why Reverand Francis is asking the Prime Minister to hear both sides; so she knows that the ACL’s views on marriage equality are not representative of all Christians. We can help her get the word out.

Join Rev. Francis by signing her petition to Julia Gillard:

http://www.communityrun.org/p/marriageequality

The ACL is predominantly focused on condemning same-sex attracted Australians, even though a recent poll shows that 53% of Christians support an end to marriage discrimination[3] and 40% of gay couples identify as Christian.[4] This focus has led to Christian leaders speaking out and openly distancing themselves from the group.

Between January and July this year the ACL made more than 120 statements condemning gay Australians, and said virtually nothing about poverty, homelessness or any other issue.[5] Yet Julia Gillard has agreed to be the keynote speaker at their conference this year.

Julia Gillard should hear both sides of this issue, and meet with people who represent the majority of Christians who support ending marriage discrimination. Will you ask her to meet with both sides? Sign Rev. Francis’ petition:

http://www.communityrun.org/p/marriageequality 

—
[1] ‘ACL backs gay Nazi claim’, Sydney Star Observer. 15 July, 2011.
[2] ‘Anger over rally to ridicule gay marriage’, Sydney Morning Herald. August 16, 2011.
[3] Galaxy Poll, August 2011.
[4] 2012 Australian Census, Australian Bureau of Statistics.
[5] ‘Christian Lobby analysis reveals strong gay focus’, Brisbane Times. 9 June, 2012.