Channel 4 signs agreement to portray trans people "positively and realistically" from now on
According to Pinknews.co.uk, Britain’s Channel 4, responsible for bringing such landmark shows as Queer As Folk and Skins (via it’s subsidiary E4) but also Too Fat To Walk (WTF? Oh, it’s been renamed “Too Big To Walk”, well, that changes everything) to the British public and henceforth the world, has now signed a sensitivity agreement, weightily titled “Trans Media Watch’s Memorandum of Understanding“.
In this progressive new step, Channel 4 is the first of any UK TV channel to publicly pledge it’s commitment to portraying trans people and their lives “positively and realistically”, while supporting trans employees and their families by treating them equally to cis-gendered people and their families.
Not everyone knows that The Land of Faraway was Christian Bale‘s first feature movie, but everyone should. As a child, I’d rent any fantasy movie I could get. Unicorns, witches, has-been actors in animal costumes, poorly dubbed foreign films about magic… you name it and I rented it. The Land of Faraway was one of my favorites, and at the time I wasn’t conscious of how homo this movie really was.
Purrrfect Brandie hosts Mrs Pussy Poppin' Friday night
Thursday
Don’t forget the jam packed 30th Annual Gender Symposium at Lewis and Clark going all week long and continuing into Thursday and Friday. An extra special highlight will be Homomentum‘s foray into the all ages space. Minors get ready for a raucous good time!
Trans Life open house – Every Thursday is a chance for trans folks to get together and find out about the programs, support groups and social outings that the Q Center has to offer. This night, allies, friends and partners can also get in on the cross gender fun. Great day for tranny chasers.
From left: Rebecca Cole, Carrie Brownstein, Mary Timony and Janet Weiss from Wild Flag
Lots of excitement has been accompanying new Portland supergroup Wild Flagsince their formation last Summer. The quartet featuring Janet Weiss and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Helium’s Mary Timony and The Minders Rebecca Cole been playing sold out shows locally and outside of the area sporadically in the precious few months of their existence. They are also slated to play at SXSW on March 18th.
Now, they’ve made their first single, “Glass Tambourine” available for online listening. A combination of 70s jam rock and 90s indie pop with a healthy dose of grownup 2011 revamping, “Tambourine” is a full and nuanced aural pleasure which you experience for yourself right here below.
Homomentum performs Friday as part of the Lewis & Clark Gender Symposium
For the pop-academia lovers among us this week presents one of the better college conferences on gender and sexuality. Beginning tomorrow Lewis and Clark will kick off the 30th annual Gender Studies Symposium titled New Directions: Gender in the Future. Organized by a committee of students, with support from faculty and staff, the Gender Studies Symposium brings together representatives from academia, activism, and the arts for three days of workshops, roundtable discussions, lectures, film screenings, readings, performances, academic panels, and other intellectual and creative explorations.
This year doesn’t have as big of names as have some past years (i.e. Dorothy Allison, Leslie Feinberg or Angela Davis) but it has a great program nonetheless.
Julia Serano’s Compulsory Genderqueerness: Transsexuality, Feminism and the “End of Gender” on Thursday afternoon should be particularly fascinating. Author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity Serano is an artist, wordsmith, slat poet, and Ph.D. holding science geek.
Welcome back to the glamorous world of flaming film! For all of you with a taste for the absolutely absurd I’d like to proudly present to you…
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T
You know what they say about people with 5,000 fingers...
“The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T” is definitely a contender for the weirdest children’s film. I mean, maybe the wacky Czech stop-motion “Alice” with dead animals is crazier, but animating taxidermy is really just cheating your way to the top.
Portland Open Studios PR contact Careen Stoll is looking to expand the diversity of POS artists and wanted to reach out to qPDX readers specifically in her search for queer artists.
Special thanks go to Comcast this week. Technical difficulties made it impossible for this post to get done last night and this weekend is front loaded with goodness. So as soon as you’re done reading this, go out and get the party started!
Thursday
Summing at the Parts – new works by Gia Goodrich– Installation art provocateur Gia Goodrichis back. This time she explorers the self-creation of gender as it relates to queer identity using a very (pseudo?) intellectual scale she designed herself called the Gender Perceptivity Scale. I’m sure there will also just be plenty of hotness to perceive.
Portlandia‘s not the only place the 90s seem to be making a comeback. Compared to Sleater-Kinney and The Breedersriot grrl/punk outfit Sick of Sarahis wooing ladies and winning hearts across the music industry with their genuine sound that calls upon their riot grrl roots while still remaining current.
The Minneapolis based band is currently on tour promoting their new album 2205, and will be playing tonight in Portland at Backspace (115 NW Fifth Ave).
Who rocks sequins during the day, has a room devoted to Marie Antoinette, and drinks gin like water without losing a single social grace (besides my friend Rachael)? Why, Auntie Mame, that’s who!
