Future blogger, Ed, the host of GuyDads making a mix tape.
This is Part 2 of a blog entry I did just over a year ago. The original
entry was in response to Record Store Day and to share images of famous men and
their record players.
Here is a another selection of photographs gathered from
the Internet of turntables, record players and jukeboxes posed with well-known,
celebrated men that listen to music on them.
We recently saw the documentary "Bully" with our 13- and 15-year-old kids. We urge everyone to try and see this film in the next couple of weeks while it is showing in theaters. Take your middle & high school kids, or your nephews and nieces or grandkids. The message of 'it only takes one to make a difference' is so powerful. Stopping bullying starts with each of us and how we respond when we see it occurring. It is a Great film. And it should be an Oscar contender!!
Why you should see the documentary "Bully".
The problems of today's youth are different then the parents. It will give you insight of this different envorinment.
The movie goes beyond homophobic, antigay bulling. The most compelling story is of a straight kid named Alex.
The stories are more than just the abuse heaped on the tormented kids. It is also about the adults that can help but ignore or dismiss them.
Despite the depressing sounding premies of the movie "Bully," it is also a movie of abiding hope. It shows that adults and students can do something about bullying.
The documentary is not out to trash public education and public school employees. Instead it shares the good and the bad of trying to eliminate bullying from our schools.
The impact of unchecked bullying carries over beyond the school years and affects the behavior of adults and society as a whole. The lesson is that it will take the whole community to end it.
The film also highlights the role of bystanders. These are students (and sometimes adults) who probably would not engage in bullying themselves, but who either do not have the courage to stand up to the bullies or may even feel protected by the fact that they are not the targets of the bullying.
"Bully" will make average kids want to be "upstanders" or someone who takes action on behalf of others.
Despite 48 states having passed bullying prevention laws, despite a mountain of research documenting the negative impact of bullying on students' health and education, and despite intensive media coverage of bullied students' suicides, the myth that bullying is a harmless rite of passage still persists.
Human connection is the key to bullying prevention.
I experienced his sexy smile and blond-haired, youthful and heroic body in the local cineplex during junior high and high school years back in the early seventies. My appreciation of Michael York began with his performance as D'Artagnan in the "Three Musketeers" and the sequel "The Four Musketeers". I followed him in Agatha Christie's mystery "Murder on the Orient Express", the sci-fi movies of "Logan's Run" and "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and the comic spoof "The Last Remake of Beau Geste". It would be a few years before I saw him in "Cabaret."
York as D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers
I loved the variety of fantasy characters he played whether they were dashing heroes or upper-crust socialites. In the "Musketeers" films, he was the young, sexy apprentice-Musteteer to a trio of swashbuckling older bearish men. In the two sci-fi movies (Logan's Run, The Island of Dr. Moreau) he was the handsome hero that uncovers a dark, sinister secret and must make the hero's journey to save the day. In the mystery thriller (Murder on the Orient Express) and comic spoof (The Last Remake of Beau Geste), he played one of the leading ensemble players in an all star cast.
The blond hair, blue-eyed British actor with the strong but boyish looks began his acting career in the 1960's. His acting career spanned five decades and has included award-winning turns in theatre, movies and TV. He is fondly remembered for a string of films in the late 1960s and 70s and his TV appearances in the mid-1970s. York's long-lasting Hollywood marriage has endured 45+ years.
Throughout his long career he has played a number of iconic gay roles. He played an amoral bisexual drifter in Harold Prince's film "Something for Everyone" (1970) opposite Angela Lansbury as the countess who hires York as her footman. He then went on to portray the bisexual Brian Roberts in Bob Fosse's film version of "Cabaret" (1972), opposite Liza Minnelli. His character in "Cabaret" was a fictionalised version of writer Christopher Isherwood. On stage, he succeeded Richard Gere in the Broadway production of "Bent" (1979) where he had the lead role of Max, a homosexual concentration camp inmate who pretends to be Jewish. York's highly distinctive voice made him perfect for recording audio books, in which he was credited with over 70 productions, including Anne Rice's homoerotic thriller "The Vampire Lestat". He is more recently known among mainstream audiences for his role as Basil Exposition in the "Austin Powers" series of comedy films.
Extra: Michael York just turned 70. His birthday was a couple of weeks ago. This year is also the 40th anniversary of the film version of "Cabaret". Co-star Joel Grey also just turned 80 in April. Grey still performs on Broadway. We've seen him in the musicals "Wicked" and "Anything Goes".
Racquel Welch and Michael York in The Three Musketeers
Entertainment magazine, After Dark, cover.
York as Basil Exposition in Austin Powers
Michael York and Burt Lancaster in Island of Dr. Moreau
