Queer Sounds For Getting Down (Or For Life In General)

I had a witty opener all lined up, but then my cat did a flip while chasing a dustball and I completely lost my train of thought. Sorry, I'm sure you know how these pet things are. Or maybe you don't. It's ok, we can't all grow up to be cat ladies.*

Anyway, Lorena has a bug of some sort and I do not want to get that** so this week we are separately sharing some queer music videos with you instead! Maybe you can rock out to them while you cook up your own creation or use them as mood music or something. It is entirely your call, I just wanted a title that rhymed.

Avicii - Silhouettes
So depending where you hang out on the internet you may have heard about this, but just incase I thought I'd share. While neither the song nor artist are particularly queer, the video focuses on the transition of a trans woman. Aside the swift and unsubtle cucumber chop, I think it is a pretty well done video that doesn't sensationalize it or anything. It is not positing that to be a woman you need "the surgery," or that you need to be femme, that is just this particular character's life. Illustrating just changing pronouns or a less "traditional" journey would be tricky. Maybe they didn't even change pronouns! The point is just that they have moved into a new life adventure and are not looking back, and that Avicii, a comparatively mainstream artist, chose to illustrate that this way is kind of nice. But maybe you think otherwise? Holla.


Avicii - Silhouettes from House of Radon on Vimeo.
L.P. - Stupid Song
Aight, less chatter this time since L.P. can pretty much speak for herself. Androgynous queerio that can play the ukelele and whistle something fierce. I can't actually decide if I like her voice, but she seems way cool regardless. I really wanted to embed this video, but I can't, but you should watch it too. She's also done some good covers.


Bonus: Sam Sparrow's Black and Gold has been my latest guilty pleasure earworm, and he is a gay boy. Also, this Kaki King cover of LoveStoned. Also also Le1f, because he is proud to be a gay rapper, but yo, gay rap is not a genre.

So, that is what I am bringing to the musical potluck. What are you bringing? That's right, comment. I'm starting to feel like an angsty teen with a shitty xanga or something.    -Syd

*As people have pointed out, and I agree, I am actually already a grouchy old man. In the body of an artsy-grunge boi.
**Kind of kidding, but a chicken noodle soup dinner and a sickly video didn't sound like a good crowd-pleaser.


I have indeed fallen ill... I tried to ward the sickness off with lots of vitamin C pills and echinacea, but I suppose the road trip to San Fran didn't help much and may have even countered the effects of the aforementioned...
I have queer musical videos for you as well. My theme is silly pop.

Valeria (ft. Aria)  - Girl I told Ya
This song is very silly. This video is very silly. It is all just VERY silly. My friend Sarah and I discovered it a while back and I still think it's absolutely hilarious. I'm 99.9% sure this artist is actually straight and I don't really know what the reasoning behind this video was, but I totally dig the Victorian theme and video gaming going on here... amongst other things. Yeah, hate all you want, I think it's sexy:

Before Katy Perry's song about kissing a girl, but not actually kissing a girl for real, made it big, there was another artist who came out with a song of the same title. The video is also very silly, but I have a deep appreciation of what it was for the mainstream in the 90s and how progressive it actually continues to be today.
This is also one of the first songs I learned to cover and I enjoy it so very much.
I Kissed a Girl - Jill Sobule

Great! Hope you guys enjoyed, let us know what you think. 

We'll be back next week with a sweet video of US reviewing a movie and eating some food.

-Lore

Cilantro Pesto Appetizer and Tomboy

Heyyy youuu guyyyyssss,
Sorry, anyway, here we are! I've been meaning to watch this movie for awhile so it's nice we got around to it. Queer children seem to be a very happening topic these days—the J.Crew lady lets her boy paint his toenails, a few parents have refused to tell the sex of their child and everyone was making a fuss about it ruining hir identity but pretending to be progressive (pft, please), there was even a New York Times article (although I could not actually get through it, ught) about trans* kids. But then I read something awful and remember that I frequently lurk on the queer side on the internet, where it is easy to forget that Fuck Yeah Trans Parents is not a sentiment the majority stands behind. 

But I guess you hang out there too, because here you are!   -Syd


Cilantro Pesto
This recipe is for a very satisfying appetizer that turns out different every time I make it.

Ingredients:
Cilantro bunch
Handful of almonds (or other type of nut variation)
A few garlic cloves
Olive oil
Bread (I would suggest a nice baguette, but any bread sliced into fun shapes will do)
Possible extra ingredient *

Chop up all of your ingredients and put them in a food processor. Drizzle in olive oil and mix to your desired consistency. (In the video we mixed our ingredients in a blender, making the end result a bit chunky, as opposed to a more creamy pesto that the food processor creates.)
Scoop spoonfuls of pesto onto the slices of bread and place them in (preferably) a toaster oven, or normal oven if you don't have the former.
In about 5 minutes your impressive appetizers will be ready to be enjoyed by you and your date!

*In the past I've also topped the pesto with pureed carrots. Feel free to experiment with different things.

Tomboy (2011)
Céline Sciamma
Trailer

It's summer somewhere in France. Mikhael and his family have just moved into a new home. Though a little shy, he is befriended by a neighborhood girl who introduces him to the rest of the kids in the building. He soon becomes one of the group and joins them in their daily outdoor fun. Life seems good; innocent and uncomplicated.

We come to find that Mikhael is actually assigned female and is referred to in her house as Laure. She has an adorable (and very intelligent) little sister and two wonderful parents. Her mother is pregnant with a third child and stays at home with the kids, while their father is at work. Once Laure steps out of the house she is able to secretly (and very craftily) pass as Mikhael to the neighborhood kids, until the inevitable happens, and the secret is revealed.

What's interesting about this movie is the different perspectives we get. We see gender and identity through the eyes of all these characters of varying ages and experiences. We see Mikhael's very conscious observations of boy and girl behaviors, as well as the moments of discomfort and satisfaction he experiences trying to fit into his identity. We see how the other children, the little sister and the neighborhood kids, perceive and accept gender in different ways. And we see the individual adult's reactions and behaviors in response to Laure's "pretending."

This is a wonderful movie that will definitely inspire some thought provoking dialogue. Enjoy!

-Lorena

Queer Rating
Lorena: 8 - I just love the way this movie gets into the simplicity and complexities of gender.
Syd: 7.5 - sidenote, I am not sure why I referred to the main character as "she" the whole time except that that was how the premise of the movie was presented when I encountered it, but clearly Laure would choose to be "he," but is that because then he gets to play soccer and take his shirt of or is it because he "feels like a boy" or or or….

General Rating
Lorena: 7 - Amazing acting from these kids.
Syd: 6 - Seriously, what does the casting call look like, "Awesome emotionally developed children?"