“I want you to teach me how to be fabulous,” pleads Macaulay Culkin inhabiting the role of infamous club kid Michael Alig in 2003’s cheeseball Party Monster. In response, Seth Green’s James St. James spits back, “We have nothing in common,” picks up his metal lunchbox/purse, and changes his mind, quoting William Blake: “The road … Continue reading
Political attack ads are almost always trashy–lurid details about an opponent’s sordid life, wild speculation, tasteless graphic design and distorted mask-like images of politicians’ bloated, malevolent faces like cartoon villains. But, few ever strive to become art or at least be so bizarre that they reach a level of aesthetic greatness that can only be … Continue reading
Can humor be a form of resistance in our increasingly dystopian era? I certainly think so, as I’ve argued on Filthy Dreams previously (and repeatedly). Recently, though, comedy, mainly stand-up, is being reevaluated due to comedian Hannah Gadsby’s highly emotional and now, greatly hyped special Nanette. Continue reading
“Whores have the ability to share their most private body parts with total strangers,” begins a list of Forty Reasons Why Whores Are My Heroes made in 1998 by sexologist, artist, activist, performer and sex worker Annie Sprinkle. Continue reading
After laughter comes tears. At least that’s what Wendy Rene sang in 1964 and over fifty years later, those lyrics still ring true in our farcical age. Of course, “After Laughter (Comes Tears)” is just one of many songs that take up crying as its subject, joining others like “The Weeping Song,” “96 Tears” and “Crying,” which was … Continue reading
“It’s about twenty minutes later. I just can’t stand my self-consciousness when talking into this thing,” says David Wojnarowicz, speaking into an audio recorder in November/December 1988. One of his eleven tape journals he made from 1981 to 1989, he later admits on the same tape: “I don’t know. I really can’t get at this … Continue reading
*boom* *bang* Why hello there, dearest Filthy Dreams readers! And happy 4th of July! What’s that? You weren’t sure if those were fireworks or gunshots? Me neither! Welcome to America in 2018! No matter which it was, pull up a lawn chair, grab a beer and let’s celebrate our centuries-long democratic experiment that seems to … Continue reading
