05/04/18
Dear White People
Dear LGBT People: Dear White People, the critically claimed Netflix series about identity politics, has returned for season 2. Created by out showrunner Justin Simien, DWP continues to explore how issues related to race and sexuality operate on a college campus -- and by extension, America. This season goes beyond the titular radio broadcast to explore how social media influences these conversations and at times inflames them. As a bonus, Lena Waithe also makes a hilarious cameo. Binge it this weekend on Netflix.
Janelle Monáe's "Dirty Computer"
In case you're one of the few who haven't gotten caught up in the Dirty Computer zeitgeist, the revelatory album by Janelle Monae, the out and proud pansexual who started a labia-pant revolution with her "Pynk" video, dropped last week. A 48-minute video "Emotion Picture" that depicts a Big Brother-like state in which people of color and queer people are punished for being other complements the album. "Ever the innovator, Janelle Monae has crafted a singular, youthful pop record that is the culmination of years of silence and deflection in order to one day be free," Pitchfork's reviewer wrote of Monae's opus. Get Dirty Computer here and watch the "Emotion Picture" below.
Tully
Tully, spearheaded by screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, features a bisexual lead character, played by Oscar-winner Charlize Theron. Theron embodies Marlo, an exhausted mother who just gave birth to her third (and unplanned) child. Days before delivery she runs into the love who ruled her long-gone 20s, another woman. Tully depicts Marlo's bisexually with subtlety and without making an issue of it, making it a rare film in which LGBT characters are allowed to exist outside their queer identities or, in Marlo's case, struggle to keep going.
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The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig
Social media phenomenon Esther the Wonder Pig has been making her millions of followers on Instagram and Facebook smile since 2012. A 650-pound pig who was supposed to be micro, Esther has continually inspired and moved her dads, Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter, since they adopted her in 2012. Esther, who has already been the subject of the book Esther the Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time, prompted her dads to switch to an "Esther-approved" diet that they share with followers and inspired them to open Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary, where they live with Esther, Cornelius the Turkey, two dogs, and a couple of cats. The children's book The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig tells the story of and how Esther's dads loved her more and more despite her growing into something other than the micro pig they thought they adopted. It's ultimately a sweet allegory about different kinds of loving families. Get the True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig here.
RBG
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, beloved by liberals and despised by many conservatives (although respected by some), is profiled in the documentary RBG, opening in theaters around the nation today and even more throughout the month. Director-producers Betsy West and Julie Cohen draw on archival material and interviews with a diverse group of people, including feminist icon Gloria Steinem, conservative Sen. Orrin Hatch, and, of course, the justice herself, who fought many a battle with sexism on her way to the nation's highest court. "The movie's touch is light and its spirit buoyant, but there is no mistaking its seriousness or its passion," writes A.O. Scott in The New York Times. Find a theater near you here, and watch a trailer below.
Voice Awards 2018
Ada Vox, the drag performer who stunned on season 1 of ABC's American Idol, will be performing at this year's Voice Awards, an annual singing showcase, dinner, and fundraiser for the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. Honorees include Billy Porter, Ana Navarro, Zach Johnson, and Shoshana Bean, who through their work have helped "advance our world, refute silence, lend a voice to the oppressed, exhibit leadership and give hope to those living under the weight of silence." The event will be held Saturday at the Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood. Learn more at GMCLA.org.
Vida
A master class on intersectionality, the new Starz show doesn't just represent queer Latinx women but empowers them offscreen. Vida explores the relationships of Latinx women in Los Angeles, particularly two sisters who come to claim the estate of their mother, Vida, and find a third of it has been left to her wife of two years, who they've never heard about. Faced with loss, gentrification, and the quiet violence of secrets, they try to make sense of the messes their Vida left behind, including their own lives.
