O tempora o mores !

Or: "The times, the customs" - as Cicero said. There, I felt like saying a bit of Latin (I did learn it at college after all).

We tend to stay out of politics and news stories here at The Projector, but sometimes one just has to comment. The gay marriage story rumbles on, not only in the UK but America and Europe, now with the first same sex wedding in France and continuing objections. What really got to me was that story here in the UK last year where a newly married hetero couple were used as figureheads to hand in a petition against gay marriage to Nr 10 Downing Street. They were happily married but pleased to be seen denying others that right. Like those owners of B&B establishments who could not understand how mean and petty and spiteful they were because they wanted to turn away gay couples from their establishments or deny them double rooms. Is that really Christian? Did they really check to ensure that hetero couples were really married when letting them have rooms? Did they have to produce their wedding certificates? I don't think so ...

Those who object to gay marriage are quite right in saying it will detract from the original meaning of the ceremony. Lest we forget, a wedding was traditionally an archaic ritual in which a woman (who was regarded as a chattel) had her deeds of ownership transferred from her father to her husband - back when people married (or were forced to) for property or dynastic reasons rather than love. Heaven forbid that this noble transaction might in any way be sullied by reducing the ceremony to one which merely allows individuals to express their love, dedication and commitment to one another before their families and friends or whatever deity they hold sacred. We are not in the Dark Ages any more when you could burn people who did not think as you did; if you are happy in your own life why be so concerned or against what others want or do, if it does not affect you? Is your marriage any less valid if gays can marry and show their commitment too? What about all those divorced people who marry time and time again - is that more real that a same-sex commitment? I just don't get it ...

4th June: The new Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev Justin Welby, says, or warns: "Allowing gay couples to marry would "diminish" Christian marriage and damage the fabric of society". Quite how this would happen he has not elaborated on, we wait with bated breath .... but would you feel that your marriage is "diminished" if gay couples could also marry? and as for the "fabric of society" - surely all these endless divorces and re-marriages, and affairs by couples not taking their vows seriously, is causing damage enough, as we see a young generation growing up without father figures, and unemployable due to bad education, and lack of role models - or is that just me? How many gays want to copy heterosexuals and be able to marry anyway - if a civil partnership gives you equal rights? Surely the plus point of being gay is that you can live with someone for as long as it works for you both, but don't have to bother with marriage and kids, which may be compulsory now as we have endless photo ops of the Quintos, the Bomers, the Eltons et al out with their off-spring ...  at least THE NEW NORMAL tv series makes it all seem funny.

Another equally serious topic is the spate of sexually-motivated child murders here in the UK - several high profile court cases just now, the latest is a father of 6 who killed and abused a 5 year old and cannot or will not reveal what he did with her body .... Those sick looking individuals (and they always look really sick) are always caught though by what their internet searches reveal .... they can't talk their way out of that!  Lots of serious comment now on how the ease of internet porn is feeding the depraved fantasies of these deranged individuals ... then there was the father of 17 (yes, seventeen children, think of the money he was raking in on benefits...) who burnt down his house, killing 6 of his own children. But at least he could get married any time he wanted ...

A new Baby Jane ?

Realistic aren't they? We enjoyed Greta Scacchi and Anita Dobson as Bette and Joan on stage in 2011 (Theatre label), now its that fantastic actress we like a lot Frances Barber as Baby Jane and comedian/writer Mark Gatiss as Blanche in PSYCHOBITCHES, a new Sky Arts comedy series here .... Can't wait ...

Romcom ?

It somehow feels dispiriting to see the lineup for a new comedy THE BIG WEDDING - maybe, unlike today's kids who are its likely audience, we are too used to De Niro, Keaton, Sarandon and Robin Williams in their glory days, to put up with them mugging here - and in other over-stuffed all-star comedies which somehow fall rather flat, like those FOCKERS films (the cat was amusing). We can't of course expect them to operate at the same level as they age (TAXI DRIVER and ANNIE HALL were 35+ years ago) as they head for the easy option of comedy romps to pay the bills. It somehow seemed fitting when the likes of Julie Harris and Barbara Bel Geddes went into television serials when they were older and were finally earning big bucks - they deserved it for all the years of toil. THE BIG WEDDING seems the kind of thing one may look at when it turns up on television, but I can't imagine rushing to see it ...

At least Sarah Miles, whom we like a lot here, is trying something different:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2337771/Sarah-Miles-affair-Olivier-accused-murdering-toyboy--shes-opened-healing-clinic.html 
Like some senior dippy hippie, Sarah, now 71, has opened a healing &relaxation centre, as per her website: 
chithurstmanorhealing.com
It looks absolutely lovely, with some great photos and I am temped to make a booking myself. I of course saw Sarah recently at that 50th anniversary screening of her 1963 classic THE SERVANT, as per Losey, Bogarde, 1963, James Fox, Sarah Miles labels. ...

The HBO BEHIND THE CANDELABRA which has already aired in the states, gets a commerical release here on June 7 .... I thought I would not want to see this, but the initial buzz is good and it may be jaw-droppingly amusing in that MOMMIE DEAREST kind of way ? Perhaps one should dig out that 1955 kitschfest (reviewed here at Trash label) SINCERELY YOURS with the "real" Liberace, where the likes of Dot Malone and Joanne Dru want to get romantic with him .... at least Michael Douglas and Debbie Reynolds (playing Lee's mother) knew the real Lee, so it should be fairly authentic. What would Liberace himself make of it? Probably still laughing all the way to the bank ....

J-Lo lives it up

Its the finals of our annual Britian's Got Talent shows, which also ups the ante with real live stars promoting their latest wares - this week we had Jennifer Lopez promoting her latest single "Live It Up" - J-Lo certainly stunned this family audience show with her bizarre outfit - the singer wore a black PVC leotard with matching thigh-high boots which she teamed with some feathered sleeves which made her seem like some sort of Big Bird. Her thighs and famous posterior were on show, which certainly made for eye-popping viewing. La Lopez is still dynamite on stage but does she really need to flaunt the flesh like this? - isn't it enough that Beyonce, Rihanna and others feel the need to ...  
La Lopez by the way would not walk through the canteen or mix with the ordinary folk, but then of course her diva demands are legendary ... We liked Jennifer back when she was doing "Play" (which had some good mixes) and "Waiting for Tonight" - gosh, was that the Millennium night, 1999 ? Now though its over-production with singing, dancing (can one sing and dance at the same time?) dancers, flashing lights; like Madonna and Beyonce, a performance is more like a gym-workout. 

J-Jo and Mary J. Blige did a terrific duet (The Beatles "Come Together") at the Twickenham Stadium Concert for Change, to "empower women" and were the best thing on the bill, topped by Beyonce and husband.