Very interesting column by (the highly influential) Peter Bart in Sunday's Variety, with that headline.

It opens by posing this intriguing question, and answering it abruptly:

Consider the following chain of events:

A mainstream movie about two gay cowboys opens in several weeks. Gay cable channels are kickstarted in the U.S., Canada and France. A new memoir about Tab Hunter describes the hypocrisy of living a gay private life and a simultaneous movie beefcake life. Another new book relates how the fabled gay Svengali, Henry Willson, brilliantly agented careers for gay stars like Hunter and Rock Hudson, re-inventing their names, personal histories and sexual preferences.

What all this suggests is that we're in a period of change, right? Wrong.

Though gay lifestyles have certainly moved into the open, there's little evidence that society has become more open in its basic attitudes or that entertainers should feel cozy in emerging from the velvet underground.

A bit later he gets to this slightly chilling take on Brokeback Mountain:

And there's still no evidence that the mainstream audience will accept a scene showing two guys making out.

Yup. Can't deny that. As I've pointed out here before, the studio isn't even willing to show to guys kissing in the previews. They included two kisses, both with women. The guys only get to hug.

(Much like the entire infuriating mess that was Alexander.)

But he ends on a hopeful note which I share:

Having said all that, hats off to Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for tackling the roles of gay cowboys. Brokeback Mountain won't change the world, but its potential success could affect the way studios view the sensibilities of their audience.

Nicely put.

In honor of--or rather in order to market--the new Capote film, The New York Times is running something called "A Sponsored Archive," with free links to some of its most important pieces published about him over the years.

(Normally, they charge for archive stories.)

Can't wait for the film. In Cold Blood has been in my top five books ever since I read it about five years ago. And I do hope to knock it off its pedestal one day. Eager to see Hollywood's take on the ghastly compromises he made to create it.

(And as a bonus for visiting the site, you might get to see it much earlier. If you live in Denver, just clicking on it will generate an invite to a free preview screening this Thursday. I assume similar previews are set in other cities.

I am still wading through the archives, but the two richest pieces I found so far are A Book in a New Form Earns $2-Million for Truman Capote, published two weeks before the book, and The Story Behind a Nonfiction Novel, an interview by George Plimpton. The intro to the latter:

"In Cold Blood" is remarkable for its objectivity - nowhere, despite his involvement, does the author intrude. In the following interview, done a few weeks ago, Truman Capote, presents his own views on the case, its principals, and in particular he discussed the new literary art form which he calls the nonfiction novel. . .

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Note: Had to break my weekday silence to let you know about the free tix, and cause it's nearly 11 p.m. and I'm done working for the day. So one more in a sec, since I'm here.

Update:

Trailer for Capote. And great story in the Times: Answered Prayers: How 'Capote' Came Together.

Synopsis from RT:

In November, 1959, Truman Capote ( Philip Seymour Hoffman), the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and a favorite figure in what is soon to be known as the Jet Set, reads an article on a back page of the New York Times. It tells of the murders of four members of a well-known farm family—the Clutters—in Holcomb, Kansas. Similar stories appear in newspapers almost every day, but something about this one catches Capote's eye. It presents an opportunity, he believes, to test his long-held theory that, in the hands of the right writer, non-fiction can be compelling as fiction. What impact have the murders had on that tiny town on the wind-swept plains? With that as his subject—for his purpose, it does not matter if the murderers are never caught—he convinces The New Yorker magazine to give him an assignment and he sets out for Kansas. Accompanying him is a friend from his Alabama childhood: Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), who within a few months will win a Pulitzer Prize and achieve fame of her own as the author of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Though his childlike voice, fey mannerisms and unconventional clothes arouse initial hostility in a part of the country that still thinks of itself as part of the Old West, Capote quickly wins the trust of the locals, most notably Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent who is leading the hunt for the killers. Caught in Las Vegas, the killers—Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino)—are returned to Kansas, where they are tried, convicted and sentenced to die. Capote visits them in jail. As he gets to know them, he realizes that what he had thought would be a magazine article has grown into a book, a book that could rank with the greatest in modern literature. His subject is now as profound as any an American writer has ever tackled. It is nothing less than the collision of two Americas: the safe, protected country the Clutters knew and the rootless, amoral country inhabited by their killers. Hidden behind Capote's often frivolous façade is a writer of towering ambition. But even he wonders if he can write the book—the great book—he believes destiny has handed him. "Sometimes, when I think how good it could be," he writes a friend, "I can hardly breathe."

Hey. You might have noticed I'm rarely here during the week these days.

Yes, by design. Trying to keep my focus entirely on my book during the week. Hence the big one-day bursts on Saturdays and Sundays. So look for me then. (Or on Mondays when you get back to trolling the web at the office, while your boss is away. heeheehee.)

OK, better try that bigger:

LOOK FOR ME MOSTLY ON THE WEEKENDS UNTIL THIS BOOK IS DONE!

Occasionally I may stop by in an evening, if I've had a great day and deserve an indulgence, or maybe once in awhile for a quickie. (Like just now. I figured since I was here to let you know this, I could pound out a quick reaction to the Housewives.)

But hopefully you'll see a lot of self-control.

See you Saturday.

Who could resist a show with that kind of dialogue?

(Perhaps less impressive out of scene. If you didn't see it, picture a sweet little suburban home, with a kindly mother picking up a delightful lunch tray with a rose on it, smiling at her teen son.)

Ah, the Housewives are back. Those desperate Desperate Housewives. (Not the show I would have predicted falling in lust with last season.)

Sure did enjoy last night's ep. Howling out loud at Bree Van de Camp changing the tie on her husband's corpse at the end of the funeral. It was one of those things were the idea was moderately funny, a bit too cartoonish to seem real enough to really tickle me, but the image of it . . .

Well, watching it play out, watching her have to actually sit him up and lean his body against her so she could get it around his neck . . . Funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

And I still think the short little Latino woman's reaction shots are priceless. Just watching her watch Bree prowl the pews searching for the perfect tie had me smirking. She's the one who should have won the Emmy. (Along with the woman who used to play Frasier's agent.)

Hennyway. Loved it. Glad to see they didn't lose it over hiatus.

The big thing that struck me was the glut of movie ads, though. This must be one powerful demo. Seemed like every film on the fall roster was on there.