Movie Review: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

 

Movie Review: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Judy Blume is the author of many stories near and dear to the heart's of girls coming of age. Though I am trans, I grew up muddling my way through what passed as a boy's life. Most of the movies I've seen that deal with adolescents coming of age were from the boy's perspective, and I've been curious about seeing a movie from the girl's perspective.

When I saw the advertisement for this movie a few months before its release, I told my friend Gloria about it. She read Judy's books, and this is one she read many times. She said she was up for seeing this movie when it came out. As it turned out, she saw that it was coming out a day earlier. We ended up going to a different theater than we had been. I could write an article about how nice this theater was, and I might.

Margaret is a young girl going into the sixth grade. She grows up in New York with a Jewish father and a mother raised by Christian parents. Because she married a Jewish man, her parents ended up disowning her before Margaret was even born. This is revealed as the movie goes on.

I can sympathize with Margaret growing up in a neighborhood with kids she knew. In her case, she also had a close relationship with her grandmother, played by Kathy Bates. She didn't want to move to New Jersey, but her father got a better job opportunity. This happened to me as a kid.

Margaret and her family barely moved into their new home when a girl her age named Nancy befriends her. She's invited to go run through the sprinklers and then invited to join her special girl's club. The catch is she's not allowed to wear socks. Then, all the girls have to wear a bra.

Again, this is something I can only imagine coming from a girl's perspective. I've come into the bra discussion as an adult trans woman. Of course, Nancy says she's already got a bra bigger than the other girls. They're all wanting to fill out their bras, but puberty is just around the corner for them.

 

There is a girl named Laura who's the subject of ridicule from the other girls because she has developed quicker than the others. They spread rumors about her.

You see the certain rights of passage that girls Margaret's age go through. When they first get their periods, and who's going to be the first? Then, they have the topic of kissing a boy. There's a special moment where Margaret actually gets to kiss a boy. It's a moment that her friend Nancy is just a little bit jealous of.

From a standpoint of the rights of passage that girls go through, this movie covered the bases as far as I understand them. I can't tell you how well the movie adhered to the book. I've never read the book. If I were to make my guess, I am sure the movie interpreted it a little bit differently. I would guess they missed some things.

This is where I am going to offer my criticism. The movie just wasn't compelling as a story. There were moments that were interesting to me. The soundtrack from 1970 and the look of the movie were nice. I grew up in the late 1970s, so I appreciate this. I don't know exactly what the movie was trying to say otherwise.

There's no special goal that the girls are really trying to achieve. They sort of have a plot where the teacher is giving them their subject for the year. He instructs Margaret to do a story on religion when he finds out she really isn't religious. She does pray to God a lot. Hence the title of the movie. That's how she usually starts her prayers, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret."

When she starts looking into religion, her grandmother is thrilled to find out that she wants to learn about the Jewish faith. Then, her grandparents on her mother's side decide they want to get into her life. Immediately, they want to talk about the Christian faith and whether Margaret would be interested in that. This part seems a little bit forced to me.

I don't understand why her mother's parents would want to see her and mend fences, but immediately their interest would turn to weather Margaret wanted to become a Christian. She's tried all of these religions, and although there's some interesting things, none of it is for her. At a point, she even says she doesn't really know if she believes in God.

This is what passes as a plot in this movie. I don't normally like to go this detailed, but I would advise that if people are watching this movie for the actual plot, there is none. It's more about the rights of passage of a young lady. I won't give away the ending. I will say that you won't be particularly overwhelmed by anything. It's not that kind of movie, and it's easily digestible.

Book readers may find something in it they like, and those curious about the rights of passage of a young girl coming of age might be interested as well. But those looking for a compelling story with interesting plot twists won't find much that they can get into here. It's a good movie for what it is, and I did enjoy it. I think what made it more enjoyable for me was the company I was in. 

I'll just add that at some point I want to go and find discussions online from book readers. I'd love to know if they feel the movie was loyal enough to the book. If not, where did it fail to do its job? Either that, or I need to sit down and read the book. These days I don't read much, so the likelihood of that isn't very good.

A Little Appreciation For The Band Men At Work

 A Little Appreciation For The Band Men At Work

This band from Australia called Men At Work hit the scene in the early 1980's with an album called Business As Usual. Some of the songs were kind of silly, but they were catchy tunes. Who Can It Be Now and Land Down Under were being played everywhere. Be Good Johnny was another fun song from the album.

 

The band was so popular at that time that they ended up getting a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. As luck would have it, they won. I'll never forget when lead singer Colin Hay, as part of the acceptance speech, said, "We are the men, and we'll see you again."

 

What's funny is this happened around the time of their second album, Cargo, but the band broke up after their third album. It was almost like Colin jinxed the guys from there on out, and it was really a shame. As pop rock bands go, these guys were good.

 

Their best songs may have been on Cargo with It's A Mistake and Overkill. Overkill isn't just my favorite song by these guys, but it's one of my favorite songs period. It's one of those songs that has something to say that many people can relate to.

 

Overkill is about the anxiety we all feel about life sometimes. We start worrying over things like bills, relationships and everything else. Will it be okay? Then, we get to the point where we can't even fall asleep because of the stress. The message of the song is that it will all be okay.

 

The band's third album, Two Hearts, was their last studio album before they broke up, but they managed to leave their mark on the industry. Land Down Under and Who Can It Be Now are still playing on the radio, and they have sold over 30 million records. There are many bands who only dream of that kind of success.

Why Matrix Resurrections Was A Good Movie, And Why The Matrix Needed No Sequels

 

Why Matrix Resurrections Was A Good Movie, And Why The Matrix Needed No Sequels

First of all, I want to say that this isn't going to be a typical movie review. I will speak on a few aspects of Matrix Resurrections that I thought were good. I will speak on why The Matrix was a good enough movie on its own that needed no sequel. I will also speak on Lana Wachowski and the fact that I think she put the franchise back on track with this movie.

Let's start with Lana. I am proud of this woman, who is an inspiration to the transgender community. I'm sure I'll upset people who would rather I not talk about this, but Lana is such an inspiration to me and others in the trans community. The Matrix is the movie that put her and her sister Lilly on the map. Obviously, the fact that there could be more money to be made is a good enough reason to return to this franchise, but I think what she did was take the story and put it back on the right track. This was a good movie.

While I thought the second and third Matrix movies were visually impressive, I didn't really care for the story being told. The Matrix itself was such a good movie, and it felt like the premise offered up in that movie was abandoned for something much different. I think one of the reasons why people are divided on this franchise is because the first movie and the second and third movies were so different. If a sequel really needed to be made, it should have stuck closer to what was offered in the first movie. I will return to that thought, but I want to talk about why I thought this movie was the second best movie in the franchise.

It was good to see Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss reprise their roles. At the heart of The Matrix franchise is the love story between Neo and Trinity, and I felt that they did a good job of capturing that here. The cast is impressive. Neil Patrick Harris takes a role as the main antagonist, and he does an exceptional job here. We see the characters of Morpheus and Smith. Neither Lawrence Fishburne nor Hugo Weaving were cast in this movie. 

I understand Fishburne was interested, but Weaving had another obligation. The depiction of Morpheus was fine, and the new actor did a good job. However, the absence of Weaving in this movie was noticeable. He did such an amazing job in the previous three movies that he was missed in this one.

 

Basically, the Morpheus we knew from the previous movies wasn't alive, so this was another version of him. We're supposed to believe that the person on the screen calling himself Smith is the same Smith, and the absence of Weaving doesn't help that.

I didn't think too much about this in the previous three movies, but something struck me during the first 50 minutes of this movie. The Matrix in this movie felt more like a world that would keep the humans' minds occupied and mentally engaged while they were trapped in the pods. It felt like a real world and not just a place filled with props for Neo and the others to knock down like bowling pins.
 

I got sort of a Last Action Hero vibe from this portion of the movie as there were references to the fact that The Matrix was a franchise. In this case, Tom Anderson (Neo) was the creator of a series of video games called The Matrix. This was well executed in my opinion.

Another aspect I liked about this movie was the fact that some machines and the humans alive outside of The Matrix were aligned. I did not like the direction the second and third movies went, but if we are to take that at face value, there should have been at least some machines aligned with the humans who were resisting The Matrix. I thought it was a nice touch to have some machines helping the humans survive on the outside. The humans on the outside have given up on Zion and created a new homeland. Some of the machines live alongside them.

I'm not doing an analysis of the movie itself. There's quite a bit I could get into, but I'm just talking about aspects of this movie that helped me enjoy it. These are reasons why I feel this was the best of the three sequels. I like that the story of Neo and Trinity is a love story, and the point was driven home more in this movie.

 

Most of us were under the impression that Neo and Trinity were dead after the third movie, but we find out that they are alive. It's explained why that is, and I felt that the explanation was plausible within the confines of The Matrix universe.

The Architect isn't going to debate with the Oracle over how the Matrix should be run. Both are out of the picture, replaced by The Psychiatrist, played by Neil Patrick Harris. I have to say that Neil has had some memorable roles throughout his career, and this one ranks high among them. 

 

The character is basically running The Matrix now and has a new way of doing things. Neo and Trinity figured prominently in those plans. The alliance forged at the end of the third Matrix movie has been done away with. That could prove to be trouble for those on the outside, although there seems to be peace at this time. 

The movie held my attention from start to finish, and I liked the things mentioned above. People might have been wondering how there could even be a fourth movie after the way the third one ended, but I thought the writing explained that pretty well. The actors for the most part did a good job in their roles. 

 

I felt like the story was executed well, and I give a lot of credit to Lana as one of the writers and the director. I know there are people being critical of this movie, but it's isn't a terrible movie. It may not have done as well as it could have at the box office given the time we were going through and the fact that it was also available for streaming on HBO Max.

The main thing I felt this movie needed to do was put the franchise back on the right track. I don't think the second and third movies, which really didn't need to be made, left the franchise in a good place. What this movie did was pick up the pieces, put the story back together again and leave it pretty much in the same place the first movie ended. 

 

It's almost like we have a do over here, and maybe Lana has done some thinking. This is just speculation, but if she is planning to do any more of these movies, I'm thinking she might have a better idea of where to take it that might build up support once again.

This movie was very self-aware during the first act. We had references to the fact that The Matrix was a franchise. It's almost like a nod to the actual impact that this franchise had on popular culture. 

 

People talk about being red pilled, which means being woken up to something that's happening that is a paradigm shift. The phrase came from this movie. 

 

Bullet time was a game change for movie special effects. That first movie was visually stunning, but the actual story being told in the first movie was something different that demanded attention.

What we had with the first movie was a slow burn. I don't know if the studio knew at the time that they had a hit on their hands, but people started to get on board. I don't really care what was said, I don't believe that there were sequels planned when the first movie was being made. 

 

You can look at the way the first movie ended, and the story was pretty much over. However, if a sequel needed to be made, we didn't get what we should have gotten. That's why ending the fourth movie the way they did makes me feel like they have a new plan for how to go about it.

When you look at it, Neo won his battle in the first movie and let the machines know that he was going to wake the people up to the truth. The second movie should have been about that effort and how things were going. Obviously, there would have been resistance to being pulled into the world that awaited the people outside The Matrix. There would have been resistance from the machines. 

 

I really don't feel like this was the story we got in the second and third movies. It was more about whether we have free will or not and that sort of stuff. Was Neo really "The One" in a spiritual savior sort of way or was he just a tool to be used by the machines to maintain control? That's the biggest reason why the audience slowly abandoned the franchise and it took nearly 20 years to come back to it with another movie.

While I don't believe sequels needed to be made for The Matrix, Matrix Resurrections justified its existence in the way the story unfolded. I can't really say the same for the second and third movies. I'm not sure what measuring stick this movie will be put up against to determine whether a fifth installment will be made. 

 

I can only say that I was hoping this movie would put the franchise back on the right track. It managed to accomplish the task. Therefore, I am interested in a fifth movie and where things might go. I have a hunch that Lana will do it right this time if they give her a chance.

Movie Review: The Invention Of Lying

 Movie Review: The Invention Of Lying

There's something about Ricky Gervais I've always liked. I'm not sure what it is, but I find him to be charming. I'll overlook the fact that the man is an atheist and I've seen him stir the pot on Twitter. He seems to love tormenting Christians. To be fair, some of them make it easy to want to pick on them, but still...

I bought a movie of his a couple years ago called The Invention Of Lying and never actually got around to watching it. I have a few DVD's I have yet to watch, and I finally watched this one last night. Ricky's character lives in a world where mankind has no ability to lie. They don't even have a word for it.

It seems like a silly idea, even more so when you see that not lying apparently makes most of the people heartless jerks too. Just because you don't know how to lie doesn't mean you don't know when the truth is hurtful. If you're not being asked an opinion, why offer it? In the movie, it's done to show how honest people are with each other.

Ricky's character is a self admitted loser. He knows he's about to get fired, and somebody set him up on a date with this beautiful woman who rejoices in telling him how out of her league he is. His character finally gets fired from his job as a script writer for what passes as movies in that reality. 'Basically a news guy reading stories of history.

Then, he finds out that his landlord wants all of his rent money or he can get out the next day. This is where the first lie comes in. As he goes in to draw out his $300 to get a truck to haul his stuff from his apartment, the teller lets him know that the computer is down. She will gladly give him the money if he tells her how much. Knowing he needs more for rent, he tells her $800.

What's funny is the computer comes back on and says he only has $300, but she takes his word over the computer. Nobody knows how to lie, you see. From there, he does a series of things to make himself rich, get his job back and become a famous script writer and even helps others. But, he won't lie to the woman he loves. He wants her heart the honest way.

One day at the hospital, his mother is about to die, and he tells her a lie to comfort her. Apparently, nobody believes in God in that time line, so he starts making up a story about the place she will go to when she dies. The doctor hears this and wants to know more. He ends up creating a religion similar to Christianity and is seen as somebody who speaks to God.

I'm sure Christians will be annoyed with that idea. I sort of doubt that nobody would believe in God or an afterlife just because lying didn't exist in that world. Lying and faith are two different things. Since Ricky was one of the writers, I know what he was trying to do here.

However, his faith that there is no God is no different than a Christian's faith in their story of God. None of us know. Our opinions are based of faith. Atheists claim some sort of high ground based on the idea that they can't see God so God doesn't exist. I can't see air, but it certainly exists. I breathe it ever day.

I enjoyed this movie. It was funny, and I don't think you have to be an atheist to get the humor. It might be off putting to those of faith. The other thing is once he figured out how to lie, others would too. It's like the idea that the same thing gets invented at the same time all around the world. Once the idea is out there, others can access it and understand it.

In the midst of the spiritual and philosophical concepts of the movie is a nice little love story. He could easily lie to her and win he over, but he won't do that. So, does he get the girl? That's something you'll have to see for yourself.

Trailer For The Invention Of Lying:

My Reasons For Why Queen + Adam Lambert Is A Good Show

I was somebody who once sided with Queen fans who felt the band was done after Freddie Mercury died.  How can you replace somebody like him?  You can't.  He meant way too much to the fans.  It seemed to me that in his later days, as the band made a lucrative record deal, he was working himself as hard as he could.  In part, it's my belief he did this so that they would all be well enough off that they didn't need to tour as Queen anymore. 

When they toured with Paul Rodgers as lead singer, I felt it was a terrible fit.  That's just not Queen.  I don't even believe Freddie would have approved.  John Deacon had since walked away, and I believe the fact that Freddie was no longer alive was part of the reason.  Teaming with Paul did not go over well with some fans and proved a very important point.  You can not replace Freddie Mercury.

Then, Adam Lambert was on American Idol.  He has an amazing voice.  He even did a song with the band.  There was something there.  I was skeptical of this teaming until I saw footage of him at one of their shows.  At that moment, I said to myself that Freddie would likely be smiling down in approval of this.  Plus, this isn't Queen.  It's Queen + Adam Lambert.  They showed respect to the man who helped take them to rock legend status.

Queen being back on the road means a whole generation of new fans gets to enjoy this experience.  Adam doesn't try to be Freddie, but he's close enough that you'll get goose bumps listening to his versions of some of these classic songs.  That was enough for me to approve of this lineup.  Let them rock on.

In addition to that, if you do your Queen research, you'll learn something very important.  That distinct sound on the early Queen records was being developed by Brian May and Roger Taylor when they were in the band Smile.  Freddie himself was a fan and wanted to be a member of the band.  His good friend Tim Staffell was lead singer and bassist at the time.  The music and harmonies were Queen before there was a Queen.  When Freddie joined and they added Deacon to become Queen, it became legendary. 

Freddie not only loved what Smile was doing, he understood what they were going for and added his amazing touches.  Queen wasn't just Freddie.  He was a big part of it all.  He was irreplaceable.  However, Brian and Roger started this thing before there was a Queen, they want to keep playing and they are being respectful to the legacy.  Why should they not be allowed to tour under a name they created and made famous?  Give it a chance, and you'll find out that Queen With + Lambert will indeed rock you.

In A Way, Eden's Death Was Both Suicide And Murder

In A Way, Eden's Death Was Both Suicide And Murder

For more on this story, read Her Name Was Edin by Erin In The Morning

Other people are going to report this story with more details than I am. A trans woman by the name of Eden is said to have committed suicide. She's from Saudi Arabia originally, but I'm sure she came to the States for the freedom to be able to become who she truly is. By all accounts, she was happy and had friends here.

As I understand it, her father is somewhat influential in Saudi Arabia and sent people to get her. She was sort of lured in under the guise that her family was worried about her and such. Then she started getting messages from the person she started to depend on. It would be better if she were a boy and kept all of the "trans things" inside of her. A bunch of BS garbage that we trans women hear. 

I want to say it for the record. There's nothing wrong with Eden being trans. There's nothing wrong with anybody transitioning. It affects them personally, and most of the hate from people comes when they assign their own feelings to somebody else's transition. Like they'd never do it, so they can't understand why somebody else would. And of course, there's the religious aspect that probably was a major factor in Eden's story.

Eventually, she was back in her country living as a boy. At this point, we could even say that Eden was murdered by her family. That may sound harsh, but hear me out. Eden was a happy young trans woman, living her life and pursuing her dreams in this country. She was forced to be a boy by a family who wouldn't accept the girl. She was murdered.

At first, Eden coped. She tried to tell herself it wasn't so bad living the life of a boy, but then it started to get to her. It didn't take long, really. Then there were attempts to take hormones to feel normal again. Then there were the inspections that her mother made, checking her electronics and whether she had hormones. A lot of guilt and shame was thrown at her by her parents.

Think about it. She's already not living the life she wants to live, and now she has to feel guilt and shame that the way she feels inside is bad. With all due respect, this is where religious people have their heads up their asses. It's up to God to judge, and that's a message that resonates in some religious circles. Yet people think because they're of faith in that particular religion, it gives them the right to judge. That's not the God I know.

In any case, it got to be too much, and here's the second death of Eden. The family would look at it like their boy committed suicide. He wasn't strong enough to be who they wanted him to be, and in shame he killed himself. That's the way her shortsighted, uncaring family would look at it, and it makes me sad.

Call me harsh for saying her family murdered her, but I don't care. Eden was happy here in The States, and when she was forced to be a boy, she was effectively murdered once. It became official when the boy that the family thought she was killed himself. Congratulations, family. Now you've got nothing but a grave site.

This is the problem we're facing when people want to blame the wrongs of society on transgender people. This is what's going on. It's not our greed or our selfishness, it's trans people. Therefore, we must stop transitioning. We must eradicate transgenderism. That's the sort of rhetoric these people are now spewing out of their pie holes, and it disgusts me.

I don't mind somebody saying they don't understand trans people. I don't mind people not wanting to associate with trans people. What I mind is these people acting like somehow their lives are being ruined because trans people exist. What I mind is people saying that they must now destroy the lives of trans people to make their own selves feel comfortable. 

There have been a few trans suicides in recent days as I write this, and they're going to continue. Why? Because of people who lay all these guilt trips and shame on somebody for transitioning. Yes, people really are born in the wrong body. That is the say that their very essence, their being, does not align with the body they have. They do not identify with the gender of the body they were born into, so they seek to line it up with how they feel inside.

Transgender people matter. We are often the most underemployed, under housed, maligned, beat up and bullied segment of society. We can become the punching bag of people, and it plays with our heads even as we transition. Eden was trying to make the most of her life in this country, but her family couldn't have it that way. They had to bring her back and basically kill her to be the boy that they wanted. Then, the boy killed himself. 

What was accomplished? Another senseless transgender death. You think we'd have this figured out by now. It's 2023, and it feels like we're moving backwards when we were gaining so much ground. Ultimately, there will be trans acceptance, but we still have to work our way past the hate that's fueled by ignorance and misinformation.

 

A Rolling Stone Magazine article about Eden

The Importance of Phil Ehart in Kansas

The Importance of Phil Ehart in Kansas

The rock band Kansas has been touring and recording new music throughout the last 50 years. It's remarkable to think of a rock band staying together that long. Despite the fact that personnel has changed through the years, this band has had very few years in which they weren't out touring or at least making new music.

The people that get the glory in Kansas are songwriter Kerry Livgren (Dust In The Wind, Carry On Wayward Son, Hold On, Song For America) and lead singer Steve Walsh, (Songwriter for Point Of Know Return, All I Wanted, All The World).

What people who are casual fans of this band may not know is there wouldn't be a Kansas without drummer Phil Ehart. Phil didn't write a bunch of songs for this group. He and guitarist Richard Williams had a hand in writing the song Can I Tell You, which got the band their record deal in the first place. Both are still touring to this day as the only original members left in the band.

While Phil was doing his thing with a band named White Clover and Livgren was touring with the band that he called Kansas, it was dwindling down to the musicians who really believed in the dream. Others were slowly moving on with their lives. Phil was the first to really make that move to form a band dedicated to making it.

This is when he came back from Europe and made phone calls to the people he wanted in his band. He called Williams, he called Walsh, he called bassist Dave Hope and violinist/vocalist Robby Steinhardt. With this lineup, they recorded the demo tape that got the attention of Wally Gold and eventually Don Kirschner. They got the record deal, but Phil knew they needed more.

Livgren was definitely the most progressive member of the band. The music and lyrics that he wrote were a notch above, and Phil knew he needed to get Kerry into the band. Though Livgren was trying to get a record deal of his own, he wasn't having much luck. He had recorded demos as well, but he decided to join Phil and bring the name Kansas with him. The rest is history.

Phil played the part of guiding the ship. He was in charge of designing the album covers and he and Rich tended to be the critics when it came to the songs being brought to the band. Not every song that Kerry or Steve brought to the band made it, but the ones that were chosen created that signature sound that we know as Kansas.

The 1970s saw this band go from being a bar band to an arena band with some of the biggest hits coming from the Leftoverture and Point Of Know Return albums. The band then enjoyed enough popularity that they spent a year touring and did their live album. It was followed by two more albums with the original lineup, but eventually things changed. Phil was in charge of keeping the band together.

Walsh was the first to go, followed by Steinhardt. Eventually new lead singer John Elefante, Livgren and Hope all left to pursue Christian music. It could have been over for the band at that point, but Phil got in touch with Walsh and brought him back, which also led to them adding current bassist Billy Greer, who's been with the band for 40 years.

When the band has lost certain members, Phil has went to the family first. David Ragsdale convinced him that the violin needed to be in the band. After about a 10-year stint, Ragsdale left as Steinhardt had just emerged to make more music. Robby rejoined and stayed with the band for a decade. When he retired, it was time to bring in Ragsdale, who was ready to come back.

The hardest challenge might have been replacing Walsh. Some people weren't big Elefante fans, but he had an amazing voice that kept this band on top and relevant through his two album run. When Walsh decided he could no longer tour with the band, Elefante was called upon first. However, he politely declined.

This led to a man who had been the lead singer in a tribute band, Ronnie Platt. Ronnie didn't have a lot of recording experience, but he had toured throughout the Midwest. He had just the voice for this band. With other people brought into the lineup, Kansas not only recorded two new albums, but these albums, the Absence Of Presence and Prelude Implicit, stack up well next to their classic sound of the 1970s.

Phil Ehart and Richard Williams never let go of the dream. When others left them in a position where there wasn't much of a band left, Phil's determination kept things going. We're in 2024 as I write this, and the band continues to tour celebrating their 50th anniversary. They even made a new recording of the song that got them the record deal, Can I Tell You.

I don't know how much longer bands like Kansas will be able to go on with at least some of their originals, but I appreciate this band for what they represent. It's about the music and playing to the old fans and the new fans that come out to appreciate their extensive music catalog. 

Without Phil Ehart, there would be no Kansas. I just wanted to make that known for any casual fan who didn't understand. He didn't write any of the hits and didn't write much music at all. Without him, however, the lineup wouldn't have been assembled, they wouldn't have created the image and logos the way they have and their sound wouldn't be what it is today. Thank you Phil.

Livestream Raises $6,000 For Again Again On Twitch

Livestream Raises $6,000 For Again Again On Twitch

Friday was Trans Day of Visibility. Given the attacks against the trans community on many levels lately, it's more important than ever for those who are able to do so to be visible. Obviously, some in the trans community aren't quite there yet.

As the Indiegogo campaign to raise $80,000 for the movie Again Again nears the end, Mia Moore and Bugs Maytrix had planned to do a Twitch livestream, while playing the video game, Life Is Strange. This was billed as a fundraiser, but it was also so much more.

It started at 10:00 in the morning and lasted for about 12 hours. The last day and a half has been big for the campaign to raise money to make this movie. Sometime during the evening hours the day before, a supporter of the movie effort purchased a Signed Script Level pledge, worth $5,000.

Throughout the broadcast, the duo raised over $6,000 in pledges at various levels. This was only part of the fun. We also got a glimpse into who these content creators are. Moore and Maytrix are a fine example of trans creators who are now coming into their own. Both have very creative minds.

We got little bits of insight into things that are planned for the movie, which will begin shooting in a few months in Aberdeen, Washington. This is where Moore grew up. Mia has a few ideas that she'd like to incorporate into the movie, which will see a large portion of it filmed inside of a trailer, at which she and Maytrix will be staying throughout filming.

One of the things she would like to do is film some of the movie at a Destruction Derby, and there's been some negotiations to make this a reality. The decision was made to film this movie independently, thereby avoiding studios and their demands for changes. The producer Moore and Alexa Feeney have for this movie only wants to see a reason for the things they ask for to be included.

Again Again will focus on character development of a couple, Agatha and Tess, who get trapped in a time loop and relive the same day over and over for what amounts to 10 years. Moore's character, Agatha, breaks free from this loop, and her life isn't just fine and dandy at that point. This is where we see some fascinating character development.

Moore is trying to make a point with this movie. Just because you have trans women involved in every creative aspect does not mean it has to be about their transness. These are trans queer women, having life experiences.

 

This is the kind of thing that needs to happen, in my opinion. Being transgender should only be a part of who we are. We all have hopes and dreams, whether trans or cisgender. 

Throughout the day, there were several guests popping in. This included Stacy Cay, a comedian who has been very active in the trans rights movement. Stacy has even appeared before the state legislature to speak on behalf of the trans community in Missouri.

Also showing up to give her support to the cause was Lily Wachowski. Lily is 1/2 of the creative team behind The Matrix trilogy and also a member of the trans community. She shared some of her experiences in the projects she's been involved with and offered strong support for this movie.

Several others came to visit, capped by a special appearance of the mothers of Maytrix and Moore. Through it all, they played the game, Life Is Strange.

One thing has been abundantly clear about this campaign. Moore and Feeney aren't well experienced in the art of crowdfunding. It's obvious that they'd rather just be creating, but there is one nice thing. They are receiving support at all levels except for Executive Producer, and it's paying off.

A few weeks ago, Moore and Feeney went live to give an update on how the effort was coming along, where they revealed they had $10,000 in donations for this movie outside of Indiegogo. As of this writing, they are approaching $60,000 on Indiegogo, meaning they are just $10,000 short of their goal.

However, they will be able to access the funds since they set this as a flexible goal. They will put this money to use, and the movie will start being filmed in the very near future. There are very few trans creators making movies like this, and this is important. Trans voices need to be heard and given a seat at the table.

Moore and Maytrix revealed other ideas they have for the future. They won't be stopping at Again Again as they have other stories to tell. If you'd like to see them tell this story and contribute to their budget, you can still donate to the cause for two more days at https://igg.me/at/AgainAgainFilm/x#/