The Advocate
Hot Sheet: Darling Nicky
Our top 10 entertainment and events highlights this week include the LGBT pop-culture extravaganza Bent-Con, Lisa Kudrow’s Comeback, Bette Midler, the hilarious memoir Porn Again, and those sexy sounds of Nick Jonas.
BY ADVOCATE.COM EDITORS NOVEMBER 07 2014 8:00 AM ET
10. EVENT: Bent-Con
Bent-Con, the premier convention celebrating LGBTQ contributions to pop culture, kicks off today at the Los Angeles Burbank Marriott Convention Center in Burbank, Calif. In addition to the wide range of exhibitors to be found on the convention floor, the queer geek celebration boasts a robust programming schedule this year including a cosplay costume contest, a presentation on Wonder Woman’s BDSM roots (“The Kink in the Golden Lasso”), and several panels on the state of LGBT representation in comics and pop culture. A slew of special guests are also slated to appear throughout the weekend including superstar artist Phil Jimenez, actor Sean Paul Lockhart (Brent Corrigan), and best-selling author Anne Rice. Check out the full schedule of events at Bent-Con.org. – Jase Peeples
9. BOOK: Porn Again: A Memoir
Former Hollywood executive Josh Sabarra takes readers on a Hollywood thrill-ride through growing up, coming out, coming of age and finally finding himself at 40 in his new memoir Porn Again. Severely bullied for being “different” from a young age, Sabarra found the shame and contempt that grew from his sexuality as a gay man led him to dismiss any semblance of a love or sex life and instead focused on his career. Still a virgin at the age of 31, despite being a high-level entertainment executive, Sabarra soon shed his former shell and found himself in a whirlwind of celebrity lovers, sexual fetishists, and porn stars for hire. A poignant memoir that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, scandalous, and hilariously honest. Read an exclusive excerpt here. – Jase Peeples
8. MUSIC: It’s the Girls, Bette Midler
Bette Midler pays tribute to some of the greatest harmonies performed by girl groups throughout music history with her new collection of covers, It’s the Girls. Available now from Warner Bros. Records, the album features 15 classic tracks made famous by legendary ladies including the Ronettes, the Supremes, TLC, and the Chiffons, among others. Check out a sample of the album in the trailer below – delivered as only the Divine Miss M can. – Jase Peeples
7. ART: “Keith Haring: The Political Line”
The late Keith Haring was a deeply political artist, with works that spoke to gay life in the 1980s (including his iconic image for National Coming Out Day), responded to the AIDS crisis, and protested against a variety of social ills. San Francisco’s de Young Museum is hosting the first major West Coast exhibition of Haring’s work in two decades, with 130 pieces, many on loan from the Keith Haring Foundation and others from public and private collections. “Haring understood that art was for everybody – he fought for the individual and against dictatorship, racism and capitalism,” says guest curator Dieter Buchhart. “He was no utopian, but he had a dream that ”˜nothing is an end, because it always can be the basis for something new and different.’” The exhibition opens Saturday and continues through February 16; in conjunction with the show, there will be several special events, from educational symposia to festive dance parties, this weekend and throughout the run. Get all the information here. – Trudy Ring
6. DVD: Tru Love
This intergenerational lesbian love story has been a hit and an award-winner on the film festival circuit, and now you can own it on DVD thanks to Wolfe Video. Tru (Shauna MacDonald), a 37-year-old with commitment issues, falls in love with elegant 60-year-old widow Alice (Kate Trotter). Alice’s daughter Suzanne (Christine Horne), who has a history with Tru, worries that her mother is in for heartbreak – but will love conquer all? MacDonald and Kate Johnston wrote the film together and collaborated in directing it as well. Bonus features include Johnston’s short comedy-drama Stormcloud, in which a lesbian who’s just gone through a breakup is visited by a couple of evangelical Christians, and deleted scenes. Order at WolfeVideo.com and watch a trailer below. – Trudy Ring
5. MUSIC: Nick Jonas
Sweet boy-bander turned sex symbol Nick Jonas delivers the goods with his self-titled sultry sophomore solo album. “In making this record, I really allowed myself to be vulnerable and open up emotionally,” he told Rolling Stone. “This record is a combination of R&B, soul and pop, with musical influences from legendary artists that I’ve always admired such as Prince and Stevie Wonder – and more modern artists such as the Weeknd and Jhene Aiko. My plan is to surprise the world with the unexpected.” His plan appears to be working. The album, available Tuesday, will be the studly singer’s first to be slapped with a Parental Advisory warning label – in case it wasn’t clear from those recent nearly naked photo spreads that darling Nicky is all grown up. Listen to the boy-band graduate get down and dirty in the remix of his hit single “Jealous” featuring Tinashe below. – Jase Peeples
4. FILM: The Way He Looks
As the winner of the LGBT Teddy Award and the official Oscar entry for Brazil, The Way He Looks is remarkable as one of the year’s most beautiful stories of young love, which just so happens to focus on a gay and differently abled character. Leo (Ghilherme Lobo) has charmed audiences as a blind teenager who struggles with bullies in school and parents who are afraid to let their son have independence. However, the arrival of a new student, Gabriel (Fabio Audi), stirs new feelings in Leo, and the two form a bond that deepens into something much more. Calling to mind coming-of-age classics like Edge of Seventeen, The Way He Looks is a fresh take on the bildungsroman, one that will open your eyes to the pain, joy, and love of those who were once considered “different” from others. The Way He Looks comes out in select theaters this weekend. Watch the trailer below. – Daniel Reynolds
3. EVENT: Greater Palm Springs Pride
Pride season continues in the endless summer of the California desert. The weekend-long Palm Springs celebration, with the theme “I Am Pride: Stonewall 45″ kicks off tonight with performances by Lorie Moore, Jeremiah Clark, and other musicians; continues with a street party Saturday, with headliners Amanda Lepore, Ian Thomas, Steed Lord, and more; and culminates in Sunday’s parade, with Lepore as celebrity grand marshal, and a concert by the Psychedelic Furs. And there’s much, much more throughout the weekend, including a festival, drag pageant, awards ceremony, and parties, parties, parties, including the Saturday night Express Yourselfie gathering sponsored by our sibling publication Out and hosted by Courtney Act of RuPaul’s Drag Race at Copa Palm Springs. It benefits GO! Athletes, a national network dedicated to empowering LGBTQ athletes and allies. Visit PSPride.org for a list of events, and RSVP for Express Yourselfie here. – Trudy Ring
2. FILM: Interstellar
Christopher Nolan, known for blockbusters like Inception and the Dark Knight trilogy, sets his sights to infinity and beyond in his latest science fiction adventure. Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, and Michael Caine are cast as a team of astronauts who are seeking a new planet for humans after climate change renders Earth inhabitable. On an experimental craft known as Endurance, they must navigate a wormhole and survey faraway solar systems in order to save the future of humanity. Will they succeed? See Interstellar in theaters this weekend to find out, and check out the trailer below. – Daniel Reynolds
1. TV: The Comeback
It’s been almost a decade since The Comeback first aired on HBO, when Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) first titillated audiences as an aging it girl trying to revive her career through reality stardom. Created by Kudrow and Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City), the critically acclaimed comedy and biting Hollywood satire saw its life tragically cut short, as it was not initially renewed. But at long last, Cherish returns Sunday, and her attempts to maintain the limelight lampoon phenomena such as social media, Real Housewives, dramas masquerading as comedies for awards consideration. Popular gay characters like publicist Billy (Dan Bucatinsky) and hairstylist Mickey (Robert Michael Morris) will return, and there will be guest appearances from Andy Cohen, Lisa Vanderpump, and RuPaul, guaranteeing The Comeback a spot as one of the gayest shows of the fall season. – Daniel Reynolds
