Easier With Practice: DVD Review

By Jeff Walsh

Easier With Practice is one of those movies that is impossible to review on a gay site, especially for someone as spoiler-adverse as me.

Because the distributor sent me this with another title, and I didn't even bother to read about it in advance, I just converted it so that I could watch it on my iPad and review it on the plane to or from Hawaii. And, for 90 percent of the movie, my thought was "Why did they send me an interesting, albeit seemingly heterosexual movie?"

In the back of my mind, of course, I thought, "The only way this would be a gay movie is if..." and, of course, that is what ends up being the case. So, we have a gay movie that is sort of a twist gay movie, except to review it on a gay website almost requires you to tell people the twist, so that it actually seems like a gay story.

The question I have, of course, is... if you watch this movie based on knowing it will eventually be a gay movie, even though it doesn't seem like it for most of the film and, because of that knowledge, figure things out in advance that you otherwise wouldn't or shouldn't, is it still a satisfying movie?

And I don't know the answer to that question.

Contest: Win a copy of Strings Attached

"Strings Attached" by Nick Nolan is a great story of how a closeted teen's life changes and he becomes a man (see review below).

We have three copies of this book to give away. One grand prize winner will get a signed copy, and two others will win copies of the book, as well.

To enter, send me a private message with a subject line of Strings, before July 6, and you're entered. Only one entry per member. And, of course, if you enter, you have to be Ok receiving a gay book in the mail, obviously.

Good luck!

Strings Attached: Book Review

By Jeff Walsh

Nick Nolan's "Strings Attached" is a fun beach read of a book. I can safely say that, as I read it on a beach all day today. But seriously, this novel starts out like your typical gay young adult novel, but then adds a lot of additional layers and metaphors to make it an even more compelling read.

When the book starts, Jeremy has to call 911 for his drunk mother, who almost died... again. He ends up living with his aunt, with whom his mother had a falling out after the death of Jeremy's father. This aunt is incredibly rich, with butlers and a huge mansion overlooking the ocean. In short order, Jeremy goes from poverty to posh.

As you know is a gay young adult novel, you start lining up all the things that will likely happen, and most of them don't. Or few things happen as you initially suspect. If anything, I'd go as far as to say Jeremy's awakening about being gay, while integral to the story, is less dramatic than the family drama around which it is set.

Latest journal entries.

ahumancondition's picture

My mom knows I'm gay!

I went to a party on Saturday night. While I was gone, my mother, by stealth, found my diary and stories I

adrian's picture

Piktchas

some fresh pics of myself =) dfgsdfgsdfg

Well then, there we are.. finally ..

JB's picture

I am A cutter

So today, I come to work, and find myself presented with a brand new corner cube. nice eh? and all it took was a trailor trash hoochie to sexually harass me and fuck up my old work station. nice. why can't I be sexually Harassed by attractive men?

I am also recovering nicely from the Testicle slashing incident. which from now on will be refered to as "section E" which Jules has coined it.

Formerly Scott's picture

Woody's Boys: How you pain me!

Well, last week I returned to Woody's for the first time in a few months. I've lost a little weight since the last time and I donned a new shirt that made me look even thinner, so I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I mean, I'm not hideous; surely someone would find me attractive enough to dance with me, and I was in the mood for some fun.

My friends and I decided to go at the last minute; the night actually started as a gay bowling night, but after an hour of some really bad bowling we decided that we should go somewhere that was more suited to our strengths. We packed my car with two of my girl friends (one a lesbian, one straight), a girl and guy from the gay union whom I didn't know very well before then, and me. After a good amount of time listening to various bad club songs and me singing along to Cher (whom I LOVE because she sings in my range), we finally started seeing the city in the distance. That was when I sort of freaked because I've never driven in the city before, but with the help of my friends and the fact that there were almost no cars on the roads because it was late on a Wednesday night, we finally maneuvered to a parking garage and got out. Then we did the usual "take only what you need: license, " discard thing, and we left the car to walk to the club in the bitter cold without jackets because we weren't sure if there was a coat check or not. The streets were very different from the way they were in October. There were no cute boy couples walking with their arms around each other or groups of guys laughing loudly and greeting the friends they ran into on thre street; the streets were very empty right up to the club. We finally got there, paid, and entered.

linds's picture

snow day

snow day, snow day, Linds doesn't have French today...

ahumancondition's picture

blood hangs in the pine soaked air

I think about Chris intermittently through the day, but I mostly think of him at night before I close my eyes and try to sleep in earnest. I don

Sunny's picture

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

Assuming, of course, that these "blogs" take the place of our much coveted discussion boards... Here we go...

My girlfriend and I broke up last week. She lives in Toronto... I live in Vancouver. It just wasn't going to work out, I guess. But you know how it is? You really love someone and you're really intimate with them and then *POOF* its over. Sigh. I'm not as Sunny as I normally am. I guess it's for the best though. We can both meet people in our own region now... the long distance thing just shouldn't have happened. I don't know how we managed to keep it alive this long. heh. It makes me laugh thinking about it. I miss her though. I wish she'd hop on the next plane home just so we could make love for the weekend. Sigh. It's a delusion. Nothing more.


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