Anyone in the entertainment industry is gay. Everybody in Hollywood is gay.  Gay is a learned behavior that can be deprogrammed with intensive moralistic training.  Gay-straight is a sexual continuum, a bell curve, over which all human beings fall, some at the 0-gay/100-straight end, and others at the 100-gay/0-straight end.

Take your pick.  Who knows?  And who really cares?  THE ART OF BEING STRAIGHT doesn’t try to solve this social dilemma.  It just takes us on a sexy ride in the life of one 20-something, Jon, played by JESSE ROSEN, as he maneuvers through the maze of sexuality and sociality in the rough and tumble world of a Los Angeles advertising agency.  Jon is an entry-level employee who has just moved to LaLaLand and he must deal with life without his girlfriend, life as the hot new guy at work, and life with a boss of the same sex chasing you around the office inappropriately.  Who hasn’t lived through that?

They say that gay/straight has little meaning for the 20-soemthing generation.  But these are issues that everyone has faced over their lifetimes, in some context or another.  And even if peers of the younger generation are more understanding about homosexuality, a fact that has long been evolving as people in their lives become more exposed to gays ad lesbians, the pitfalls of negotiating just how one plays his or her sexuality, in the unfolding game of maturation and social climbing is universal, and of interest to all.

This is a coming of age story that all can relate too. Jon is just out of college, fresh and full of hope, with promise for the future. But he finds himself not knowing what to do or where to go, so he does what any freshly graduated guy does. He drops his girlfriend, moves across country and crashes on the couch of his best friend from college, Andy, played by JARED GREY.

That's where this story begins. In his attempt at trying to get a job, he lands one at a gay friendly advertising firm as a intern / personal assistant-low pay, no creative skill- you know the kind, but a job never the less. 

As Jon slowly gets familiar with the new job, one of the bosses, Paul, played by JOHNNY RAY RODRIGUEZ starts to make his feelings known to him. He lures Jon back to his apartment with the promise of fame.  Paul will get Jon’s photography work seen by people “in the know” if Jon gives a little something back. Haven’t we all been there?

It's the beginning of the end for Jon, well at least the end of his straight life, that is. He goes though a struggle with his identity, every time he has sex with a man, the guilt takes over and he looks for girls to cover his shame. Again, who hasn’t done that?

After some time, therapy and a lot of herb he realizes the pain he is causing these girls and stops.  And, with the help of his friend Maddy played by RACHEL CASTILLO, he starts to see that it’s not that bad being gay.  If your friends really are your friends, well then, it shouldn’t matter to them.  Actually, that is the art of being gay.

The moral of this story, always have great pot on hand, and be yourself, the rest will find its way.

THE ART OF BEING STRAIGHT, written and directed by its lead, JESSE ROSEN, opens today in select theaters.  For more info, go to: theartofbeingstraight.com

Rap music is an island in the world of tolerance, long allowed, even revered to bad mouth and bash the gay and lesbian lifestyle.  But, once you’ve seen PICK UP THE MIC, available now on DVD, you will release hip hop is so, so gay.

What is hip-hop, after all?  It’s just raw, emotional, angry music based on the real life, on the street experiences of young people.  It’s gritty poetry, put to break beats.  And who the hell says straight African-American people have a monopoly on that.    Gay people have plenty to be angry about; they live gritty, emotional lives; and they have just as much artistic talent as any other race or social class out there.  So, of course, hip-hop is so gay.

Not all the vibe in the homo rap scene is angry and intense.  Some of it is just plain fun, as CAZWELL relates:

“See, some rhymes are mental
This rhyme is dental
So let’s not get all mutha-fuckin’ sentimental
Know what I’m sayin’

Watch my mouth
Read my lips
Shake that ass
Move those hips.”

Check out the artists on PICK UP THE MIC, and you soon won’t be listening to gay rap, or homo hip-hop, you’ll just be hearing music, plain and simple, and sometimes fun.

Many of the artists don’t consider themselves gay rap performers, just rap performers, and that is how it should be.  KANYE WEST just announced he will be adding “bisexual” pop diva LADY GAGA to his rap tours, so maybe things are beginning to change.

In the meantime, check out the talented performers in this well made documentary.  DEADLEE, CAZWELL, QBOY, SCREAM CLUB, SOCE, KATASTROPHE, ANDRE THE URBAN HERMITT, TORI FIXX, GOD-DES, TINA G, JOHNNY DANGEROUS, JenRO, MISS MONEY, AGGRACYST, SHAWREE, DEEP DICKOLLECTIVE and RAINBOW FLAVA.

The movie mixes well between performance clips and interviews of the subjects, with some interesting look-ins at the family lives of some of its stars.  The interviews with the parents of Jen-RO and KATASHTROPHE are particularly interesting.

PICK UP THE MIC has been exhibited at more than 50 film festivals all over the world, winning honors as Best Soundtrack from OUTFEST and Best Documentary at the Seattle Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.  The DVD has 41 minutes of bonus footage not screened at these fests.

For more information, go to pickupthemic.com

To view our coverage of PICK UP THE MIC screening and performances from Los Angeles in 2006 click here.

Also you may wanna see CAZWELL performing at MJ's Los Angeles, April 19 2009.

An intersting film with a revival of the silent cinema. Loo Zihan took a big leap on the making of this film and as interesting as the film itself there is a disc 2 with some really interesting conversations with Sir Ian McKellen about coming out and being gay,

"Every gay person that comes out it's a better citizen, more estable, honest, brave, it should be wolcome by society". Sir Ian Mckellen.

A realistic, but smartly stylized portrayal of the selfishness of love, Solos narrates the tale of a 15 year-old consumed by a torrid first love affair with his 30-something high school teacher, and the love of a mother who fears her son will never return to her. Solos is a naked and brave first film for young Singapore filmmaker Loo Zihan to tell in a country where homosexuality is not even legal. Banned in Singapore and withdrawn from the Singapore International Film Festival after the country’s censors demanded that graphic homosexual lovemaking scenes be cut. A daring film, not just in subject matter, Solos runs against the current cinema trend: no dialog, no moving camera, long takes, few cuts . . . the story is told with only sound and body language in deep focus black and white and dreamy saturated color. Although Solos is a film that shifts back and forth in contrasts of reality and surrealism, the unifying factor underlying them is still the depth of emotions expressed by the characters.

“The film's achievement lies in its ability to imply complex entanglements and shifting emotional states without a shred of language. Seeming to recover cinema's original syntax, pic plays out in purely physical terms (and not just erotically), even at times like a dance performance -- including some stunning moments of choreography with dancer Chew Peishan...Darren Ng's intensely moody music and sound design are seamlessly one, giving the film an uncommon audio dimension.” -- Robert Koehler, Variety

For more information go to: http://www.solosmovie.com/