Sunday. Soho. Shortbus.

(Jackie Chills with Julias the Monkey on the street. Just a normal day in NYC.)






It happened again. As much as I decided I was over Soho, yesterday I journeyed out of my apartment and like a lazy magnet just ended up there. Lots of romping around and shopping seeing as I find any change of season an adequate excuse to throw out excessive amounts of money on new clothes. The true highlight of the day was seeing the brilliant new movie “Shortbus.”

Whenever I am pressed to answer the “what’s your favorite movie” question, I always stutter thinking for an answer. One movie always pops into my head though and that is “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” Finally the creator of that masterpiece is back with a new movie “Shortbus,” which is an ode to sexuality and New York City.

First things first, this is the most graphic movie you will probably ever see in the theater. The sex is all real and everything is shown, which amazingly never seems pornographic. John Cameron Mitchell has done an incredible job at making the sex stem from the characters wants and needs. Immediately you are invested in these people and the dialogue always seems realistic. There are no “did you call for a pizza” porn scenarios here, but the sex all comes across as both sexy and liberating. The whole movie seems to represent the idea of sex as a liberation of your senses that allows you to really exist in the world you trudge around in.

At times the movie is hilarious, at times you want to cry, but at all times it was completely engrossing. It brings up interesting ideas of existence in general but never seems preachy. That is mirrored by the fact that the shocking sex never seems unnecessary. It acts as a perfect “fuck you” to the Bush Administration’s never ending reign on censorship; something John Cameron Mitchell has expressed as one of the movie’s purposes. I cannot praise this movie enough, but don’t want to over-hype it too much. Go and see it for yourself and sit down with an open mind.

On the way back home from the theater my friends and I stumbled over to the closing of CBGB’s. I won’t pretend like I had any personal connection to the club but even I find it sad that it is closing. We came back to my place and honored it in our own way, by blasting some Blondie.

(My poser shot of New York Landmark CBGB closing down.)