Joseph Wilson : Drag Is My Ecstasy

A couple of months ago we stumbled upon a extraordinary and wonderfully exhilarating short movie called "Stance" about 'drag boxing' which was set in a Working Men's Club in London.  It literally blew our fishnets off.  It was made by Joseph Wilson a 27 year-old Brit filmmaker who is one of the leading figures in the alternative drag movement that is currently revitalizing the East End.  We finally caught up with him in a cafe in  Hackney recently and talked to him about how his very first movie "Drag Is My Ecstasy" has literally become his mantra and his life these days too.  He doesn't just possess an exceptional talent but he's quite the charmer too.

Whilst we edit our detailed interview to publish very soon, take a peak at this trailer of his showreel to discover why we are so excited about Joseph Wilson.

Lord Of The Fraud

The main thing about large scale fraud ( apart from the greed) is the sheer audacity,  and no-one has more of that than convicted felon Lord Edward Davenport.  This new short movie by Vice Media tells the true story of his rags to riches story of this high class confidence trickster.  Also known as 'Fast Eddie' he gave the filmmakers unfettered access after his short stint in Prison for a large scale fraud that not only netted him millions of pounds but also he had duped  Sierra Leone out of their London Embassy, said to be worth some £30 million too.  He evidently loves the fact that this film is about him, as he has supplied them archival footage of his early days too.

He started off young in the 1980's by throwing the infamous hedonistic Gatecrashers Balls in London purely for the underage members of the British aristocracy (which despite his claim, he is not a member off) which were essentially drunken sex-orgies for teenagers.  Later on after swindling a few business partners out of their share of the profits, amongst other things he ended up running debauched private sex parties in his London mansion, but this time for adults.

The man oozes more than the traditional amount of British charm and he still steadfastly maintains his total innocence even when confronted with the evidence.  Now freed from a London prison ahead of time because he needed a kidney transplant, it  looks like from his attitude in the film that it will not be too long before he relieves someone or some company or more vast sums of money by fair means or foul.  It's amazing what you can still get away with when you have a Title.

The whole short film is shown below.

Abby Says Please Forget Her

In case you've been nowhere the sports pages this week, then you may not know that Abby Wambach has just played her very last game of soccer. Wambach openly gay and  a six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award,  has been a regular on the U.S. women's national soccer team since 2003 earning her first cap in 2001.  As a forward, she currently stands as the highest all-time goal scorer for the national team and holds the world record for international goals for both female and male soccer players with 184 goals. In 2012, Wambach was awarded the FIFA World Player of the Year, becoming the first American woman to win the award in ten years, and earlier this year she was included in Time Magazine's Time 100 list as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

In this real tearjerker of a goodbye that is actually an advert for Gatorade, Wambach wants to now quietly disappear "Forget me," she says. "Forget my number. Forget my name. Forget I ever existed."

From the mouths of drunks and children......

We vowed we would never use the T word once in these pages but we came across two hilarious videos that we wanted to share as what is currently happening in the US Presidential Campaign is so Tragic, we need to laugh with the sheer hope that we may just wake up Tomorrow and realize that it has all been just a bad dream.

Meanwhile here are actual words coming out of the uncontrollable mouth of the Leading Candidate for the Republican Nomination but acted out in this video by your drunk next door neighbor, and they are a perfect fit.

If you have been questioning the IQ of this particular would-be-President, you will know it's hard to guess it exactly.  BUT here is a good clue, in this second video his actual words are read out by an 8 year old boy and suddenly they make much more sense.  Sort of.

Mink Ear Muffs For Everyone (on Liz's List anyway)

Christmas is a time for giving : especially if it is something from N.Y's favorite Department Store Bergdorf Goodman which has been a New York institution for the past 111 years.  Stretching a whole block of Fifth Avenue between 57th & 58th Streets it is the high temple of fashion's elite that has the very best for the very well-heeled Manhattans who love it so much that they literally want to be buried there when they die.  Or at least have their ashes scattered over it. 

If you cannot afford to go shop with the well-heeled then you can at least grab a a copy of Matthew Miele's delightful documentary on the Store from 2012 which squeezes in some 175 interviews and tells the history of the establishment right up to the current day with designers who still have yet to be chosen, and an assortment of celebrities who like having their clothes picked out for them.  

Best of all it stars the legendary Betty Halbreich the veteran personal shopper with impeccable taste, razor sharp wit, and no-nonsense approach to dealing with customers with suspect taste who is an essential pillar of the whole place. Ms Halbreich stole all her scenes and a couple of our favorite anecdotes of hers relate to the Festive season. Like when Elizabeth Taylor ordered white mink ear muffs for her entire Christmas gift list, or the Christmas Eve Yoko Ono asked that they bring some fur coats over to her apartment that night, and John Lennon snapped up 80 of them there and then.

Read our full review of the movie from our sister site http://www.rwd5minmovieguide.com

Keep Your Hair On

An advert on Australian TV for a Lynx grooming product encourages men to style their hair and make the most of it while they still have some. (we all know how that feels...) ‘Get an amazing job. Kiss the hottest girl. Or the hottest boy,’ says the narrator.  And that's exactly what the (equally hot) man above does and whilst we all sigh .....aaagh .....some very uncool people Down Under just bitched about it to the Authorities making it one of the most-complained-about commercials in Australia this year

We think its a very touching wee film especially as it contains such excellent advice that we wished someone had told us before we went bald ..... and hot men to kiss started to get thin on the ground too.

It's a Kylie Christmas

For some reason or enough we had always assumed that Kylie Minogue had recorded a Christmas Album years ago, but it turns out that she has only just got around to making one.  We are glad she waited as the result is wonderfully festive as only she, Australia's favorite singing gay icon,  could make it.  

There are 13 tracks in all (on this her thirteenth studio album) and includes duets with sister Danni, Iggy Pop, Frank Sinatra plus our favorite song of collection "Only You" which she sings with TV's Late Late Show Host James Corden.

1.	"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"	Edward Pola George Wyle	Steve Anderson	2:44
2.	"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (featuring Frank Sinatra)	John Frederick Coots Haven Gillespie	Charles Pignone Anderson	2:15
3.	"Winter Wonderland"	Felix Bernard Richard B. Smith	Anderson	1:53
4.	"Christmas Wrapping" (with Iggy Pop)	Chris Butler	Anderson	5:05
5.	"Only You" (with James Corden)	Vince Clarke	Anderson	3:05
6.	"I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter"	Hank Hunter Mark Barkan	Anderson	2:29
7.	"Every Day's Like Christmas"	Chris Martin	Stargate	4:12
8.	"Let It Snow"	Sammy Cahn Jule Styne	Anderson	1:56
9.	"White December"	Kylie Minogue Karen Poole Matt Prime	Prime	3:07
10.	"2000 Miles"	Chrissie Hynde	Anderson	3:34
11.	"Santa Baby"	Joan Javits Philip Springer Tony Springer		3:22
12.	"Christmas Isn't Christmas 'Til You Get Here"	Minogue Poole Anderson	Anderson	3:03
13.	"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"	Hugh Martin Ralph Blane	Anderson	3:22

Here is Kylie singing "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" live at last month's "Royal Variety Performance" in London.