Heavyweights (1995)

Goodbye, summer! You were swell, but I'm so over this heat wave and ready to welcome fall!

I never went to summer camp as a kid, so I was always interested in movies that took place at camp (truthfully, I'm the least outdoorsy person ever so summer camp might have been torture for me). My favorite camp movie was always Heavyweights; it's over-the-top, a little cheesy, and totally fun. Needless to say, preteen Becca loved it.

11-year-old Gerry Garner (Aaron Schwartz) is horrified to learn that his parents are sending him to a "fat camp" for the summer. After arriving and meeting his fellow campers and the counselors, he starts to believe that he could have a great summer after all. Too bad a psychotic new owner (Ben Stiller) is taking over the camp!

Ben Stiller totally makes this movie. His insane performance is SO funny (kind of a precursor to his character in Dodgeball), and he keeps the movie watchable for me after all these years. The campers and counselors give the movie heart (Kenan Thompson is one of the kids, and Bridesmaids director and "Freaks and Geeks" creator Paul Feig plays "the fat kid turned skinny counselor"). It has go-kart races, junk food pig-outs, and a homemade prison! Woo!

So if you're feeling nostalgic for the mid-90s (and who ISN'T?) give this one a go. It's not high art, but it's silly and fun and that's exactly what I need to bid summer farewell.

Cinepalooza!

Summer's almost over and while the concert and festival season seems to be winding down, there's still one last big festival you should check out: Cinepalooza! It's the most diverse festival you'll ever encounter. With styles ranging from folk to glam to rockabilly, there's something for everyone! How do you attend? Well since none of these bands really exist, just rent all of these movies and crank the volume all the way to 11!

The Blues Brothers

That's What He Said: ParaNorman

Ain't No Party like a Jaws Pool Party...

Have you heard? Jaws is on Blu-ray! So, naturally, we had ourselves an End-Of-Summer Jaws Pool Party to celebrate! We pigged out on sharkie snacks, went swimming, set up a projector in the backyard and watched Jaws under the stars, went swimming again while we drank hot chocolate, and ended up watching Sleeping With The Enemy after midnight (nothing wrong with ending the night with a little trash!)...we had an absolute blast! Enjoy the photos!

The Hunger (1983)

Miriam (Catherin Deneuve) preys on urban clubgoers with her vampire lover John (David Bowie). When John suddenly starts aging, Sarah (Susan Sarandon), a doctor who researches premature aging suddenly becomes very imporant.

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I'd been meaning to see this film for years. I grew up with Top Gun and love love love True Romance. Its a shame that it took Tony's untimely death to get me to see this great film. The style in this film is so dense. The opening scene with Bauhaus is a thing of beauty that would make Nicolas Roeg smile. Though some might argue that the style is attempting to make up for a lack of substance, I on the other hand feel that it allows this film to be something we rarely see - pure cinema. While there isn't really a narrative in the traditional sense, it makes cinematic sense. Like David Cronenberg's Crash, you're not really sure how you got from A to B but you were completely riveted the entire time. This film is also a perfect double feature with brother Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Made within a year of each other, both films deal intensely with mortality and the desire for life. Could this have anything to do with the 1980 death of their brother Frank? A lot to chew on for a movie from the guy who directed Top Gun. Rest in peace Tony.

Double-Bill: Scotts In Mourning

Blade Runner and The Hunger

Listening to Amélie (2001)

Amélie is the tale of a sweet and quirky young woman living in Paris, who has recently decided to be a do-gooder and win the heart of a man she doesn't really know. The movie is colorful, whimsical, a bit like a fairy-tale, and it has a beautiful soundtrack to match (original music by Yann Tiersen).

The score to this film has a special place in my heart, because I actually bought the soundtrack before I had ever seen the film. When I was able to finally watch the movie it had a special sense of familiarity hearing the wonderful music again...it was like revisiting an old friend.

The music transports you right to a picture perfect ideal of Paris. You hear the accordions, and your mind's eye sees the little French cafes, the Eiffel Tower, the ferris wheels. Some of the tracks are upbeat, energetic, but my favorites are the piano pieces. They are truly gorgeous, melodic and more peaceful. I actually use a few of the pieces on a playlist I made for my job as a toddler teacher during naptime. The soundtrack also throws in a couple pre-1950s songs to add some vintage charm to the overall feel of the film. All in all it's a wonderful score that perfectly complements the film, but just as easily stands on its own.

I was going to find a youtube of a track from the film to share, and then I remembered that I uploaded a video of myself playing a piece from the film back in January! Pardon my slip-ups, and enjoy!

Home School: The Sundance Kids

With the invention of home video in the late 70s/early 80s, the course of film history was irrevocably changed. Film lovers no longer needed expensive prints and cumbersome projectors in order to own their favorite films. Practically the entire history of film was at their fingertips and they could watch it whenever they wanted, as often as they wanted. This is the generation that for better or worse, turned filmmaking into a rockstar profession.

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For a broad overview of the period I'd recommend both Peter Biskind's Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film AND James Mottram's Sundance Kids: How the Mavericks Took Back Hollywood. Though they cover a lot of the same people and films they are radically different books. While Biskind's principle concern is the drama and battles behind the scenes, Mottram seems more content to discuss the aesthetic values of the films in question. Two great tastes that taste great together.

If you want a more personal and ground-level look at the period, Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of Independent Cinema by John Pierson is the book for you! As a producer's rep, Pierson helped filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Roger Moore and Richard Linklater to get their careers moving. This man saw it all. Also - the little interview fragments with Pierson and Kevin Smith that are peppered throughout the book, are priceless.

Though slightly dated (in that the all of the practical filmmaking tips are pre-digital), the journals kept by Robert Rodriguez (Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player) and Spike Lee (Spike Lee's Gotta Have It: Insider Guerrilla Filmmaking) while making their first films are indispensable tomes for any aspiring filmmaker.

The British Film Institute's American Independent Cinema: A Sight and Sound Reader is a great resource of criticism on and of the period. Any book that collects the writings of Amy Taubin, Manohla Dargis and J. Hoberman is worth the price of admission.

For a little visual stimulation, check out the amusingly titled The Snowball Effect. Regardless of what you think about Kevin Smith, this documentary chronicling the making of Clerks serves as a great analogue for the story of many other Gen X auteurs. All the sign posts are there: raised on movies, video store regular,  maxed out credit cards, etc. This doc will also absolutely make you want to make a movie. Find it on the 10th anniversary Clerks DVD or the Blu-ray.

Celine Danhier's film Blank City is a wonderful chronicle of the New York indie scene from the late 70s to the early 80s. It's on Netflix Instant and will surely add a couple new titles to your queue.

Lastly, we'll end with the cautionary tale that is Overnight. What begins as a behind-the-scenes doc on the making of Boondock Saints quickly devolves into a fascinating study of the havoc that fame, ambition, and ego can wreak on a friendship. This is the dark side of Sundance. Check it out from Netflix. Disc only though...

Running For Cover(s)

Long time readers of this blog should be familiar with our hatred for crappy DVD cover art. Inversely, as you might have guessed, we really really love great cover art. While occasionally a major studio will put out a nice looking disc, the only place to go for consistent quality is The Criterion Collection. With a mixture of film stills, well chosen typefaces and art from brilliant illustrators, the Criterion gang continually impress month after month. Though many try to approximate their style, you simply cannot beat the real deal. Here are 10 favorites in order of their release. Some are out of print, all are worth tracking down.

#137 Notorious

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Ah, Forbidden Planet. A milestone in the science fiction genre, including smart-aleck astronauts, a genius who wears all black and looks like a supervillain, his hot and kinda skanky daughter, a super awesome robot, and invisible monsters! What's not to love?

I'm hoping movie fans, or at least fans of the genre, have already seen this movie. If not, here's a quick plot summary: A team of astronauts (led by Leslie Nielsen) have landed on this planet to find out what happened to a group of scientists supposedly living there. They discover that almost all of them have died, and the only remaining people are Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his daughter Altaira (Anne Francis). Apparently a murderous unseen monster also lives on this planet . WHAT IS IT???

The sets on this film are gorgeous, colorful and futuristic. The score is made up of "electronic tonalities" and Robby the Robot is the best robot ever, no lie. Altaira tells him to make a dress of jewels and he's like "Um, diamonds okay?" and she's like "I *guess* diamonds are okay." No, those weren't direct quotes. But you get the idea. This is a special film and it pushed audiences everywhere to take science fiction more seriously. The genre was here to stay. So if you've never seen it, watch it! Longtime fan? Revisit it. You'll thank me!

PS - Note the work of Disney animator Joshua Meador throughout the film! Incorporating the animation with the live-action makes this film truly stand out. Enjoy!

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

In an attempt to shorten his prison sentence, a young hooligan (Malcolm McDowell) agrees to an experimental treatment which will make him adverse to rape and ultra-violence.

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Though different in setting, character, subject matter etc. A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut all have precisely the same narrative structure, they're split right down the middle. Think about it for a sec. Everyone that Alex encounters prior to the Ludovico treatment, will be met again after. We witness Sir Redmond Barry's rise, then his fall. There is Jack Torrance before his first ghostly drink, and there is Jack Torrance after. Full Metal Jacket is clearly split between basic training and Vietnam. Lastly there is Eyes Wide Shut where all the places Dr. Harford visits at night are returned to in the clear light of day. This consistency of structure is then mirrored in the consistent visual style which was applied to all of these films. They were all shot with wide-angle lenses in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio, used natural/source lighting, prominently featured slow zooms and most importantly, they all made abundant use of symmetrical compositions. Symmetrical stories, symmetrical style. Just a thought...

Double-Bill: Cinematic Space Race

2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris

How to be a Psychotic Girlfriend

Normal girlfriends are soooo boring and forgettable. Want to be memorable like the lovely ladies of Play Misty for Me, Fatal Attraction, etc? Throw in a little psycho, with a dash of desperate, and you're gold. Here are some helpful tips!

*Have kinky sex with him. You've got to hook him somehow, and what better way than through his pants?

*Call him. Again. Maybe he's not home. Why else wouldn't he answer? Doesn't matter. Call him again. And again. And again. And again...

*Declare your undying love. Remember that time he told you he loved you? No? Well, it was implied. Tell him you love him and that NOTHING WILL KEEP YOU APART.

*Steal his keys and make copies for yourself. I'm sure he won't mind.

*Show up unannounced, everywhere. His work place, his job interviews, his house. He likes surprises, right? RIGHT??

*Kill his pets. Or his housekeeper. Or just take a knife and slash all his stuff. It's his fault, anyway!

I'm going to stop you right there. I'm not going to tell you to slash your wrists or actually kill anybody, ESPECIALLY his current girlfriend. As soon as you go after the girlfriend/wife/whatever, you will get shot in a bathtub or punched off a cliff. No, really.

But hey, at least they'll make movies about you!

Let me know how it goes!

Home School: New Hollywood

The late 60s and early 70s was a wild time in the world of film. All the original studio bosses were dead and their studios were now in the hands of corporations who knew absolutely nothing about filmmaking. Add to this the fact that "traditional" genres like musicals and the westerns were on their last legs as the younger more radical yearned for films that spoke to them. In desperation, the powers that be gave a bunch of young filmmakers the keys to the kingdom, and nothing was ever the same again. This is the era that gave us Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, et al and boy has it been thoroughly documented!

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Read

Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith gives a great look at what was going on in the rest of the cinema world during these heady times. America was actually pretty late to the game. Learn about the films and filmmakers that inspired our revolution.

Many of the greatest filmmakers of the so-called "New Hollywood" got their start making cheap genre pictures for legendary producer Roger Corman. Check out his autobiography How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime for a look at some of the down and dirty techniques imparted by Corman to his young proteges. There's also a great documentary available called Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel which features some amazing interviews with the likes of the late Dennis Hopper and an emotional Jack Nicholson.

Mark Harris' Pictures At A Revolution: Five Movies And The Birth Of The New Hollywood gives a fascinating look at the precise moment when the lunatics took over the asylum by following each of the five  films which were up for best picture 1967 as they made their way from script to screen. Quite a diverse slate: In The Heat Of The Night, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate and...Dr. Doolittle.

The Dream Life: Movies, Media, And The Mythology Of The Sixties by J. Hoberman is a thoroughly engrossing and well-researched examination of the ways in which politics influenced media and vice versa. I'm really eager to check out the prequel he recently published on film and politics in the 1950s.

Probably the most essential book on the period is Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How The Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. Though many involved have taken issue with Biskind's tendency to linger on who was screwing whom while on what, the book itself is still a treasure trove of insight into what made these young guns so great, and what eventually brought some of them crashing down. A documentary of the same name was made and is worth a watch, but it is by no means the definitive document that the book is.

Watch

If you want the definitive documentary on the era, look no further than Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese's three-hour opus, A Decade Under The Influence: The 70's Films That Changed Everything. So many great interviews and film clips. This is one of those films that will cause you to max out your Netflix queue.

Xan Cassavetes' Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession is also an amazing chronicle of this era shrunk down into the microcosm of one man, the cable channel he programmed and his descent into madness. It's so good I even reviewed it a while back.

Though it's a bit more expensive than anything else on this list, I highly recommend you pick up the Criterion boxed-set America Lost And Found: The BBS Story. In addition to the 7 wonderful films included, this set also features a treasure trove of interviews and commentaries with seminal figures of the time including the awesome Bob Rafelson. The booklet that comes with the box is also invaluable featuring essays by the likes of J. Hoberman and Kent Jones.

Lastly, let me end this post the way that the era ended, with Heaven's Gate. Michael Cimino's epic western went so far over budget that United Artists went belly-up effectively ending the era of the director in America. For insight into how such a debacle could happen, please check out either Stephen Bach's book Final Cut: Art, Money, And Ego In The Making Of Heaven's Gate, The Film That Sank United Artists or the documentary adaptation that is available on Youtube. Sadly this doc will not be included with the upcoming Criterion release of the film which seems intent on glossing over the films notorious legacy.

Mix Tape: Movie Mash

It's the middle of the week. Nice guy that I am, I made you a mix to get you through to the weekend. It's got some of my favorite songs from my favorite movies. There's little bit of everything in there. Hopefully you'll dig it and check out some of the movies where the songs were used.

The Songs

1. The Swag by Link Wray
2. Doctor's Orders by Carol Douglas
3. Jenny Take A Ride by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
4. Basketball Jones by Cheech & Chong
5. Jockey Full Of Bourbon by Tom Waits
6. Quizas, Quizas, Quizas by Nat "King" Cole
7. Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am The Japanese Sandman) by The Cellos
8. Wheel Of Fortune by Kay Starr
9. California Dreamin' by The Mamas & The Papas
10. Sacrifice by Motörhead
11. Hold Tight by Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
12. Goodbye Horses by Q Lazzarus
13. I've Told Every Little Star by Linda Scott
14. Girls It Ain't Easy by Honey Cone
15. This Bitter Earth by Dinah Washington
16. Somebody To Love by Jefferson Airplane
17. Oh Yoko! by John Lennon
18. Midnight, The Stars And You by Al Bowley

The Movies

1. Pink Flamingos
2. The Last Days Of Disco
3. Who's That Knocking At My Door
4. Being There
5. Down By Law
6. In The Mood For Love
7. Bringing Out The Dead
8. L.A. Confidential
9. Chungking Express
10. Tromeo & Juliet
11. Death Proof
12. The Silence Of The Lambs
13. Mulholland Dr.
14. Mi Vida Loca
15. Killer Of Sheep
16. A Serious Man
17. Rushmore
18. The Shining

A Clockwork Orange Soiree

Some of you may know that we've been doing monthly screenings of Stanley Kubrick's films (in order) for our little 12 Months of Kubrick 2012 film-festival-in-our-living-room-whatever. Last Saturday's film was A Clockwork Orange, so we thought we'd do it in style!

Ludwig Van, some dyed orange teddy bear sunflowers, our guest book and a droog slang cheat sheet!

Ali (2001)

A young man named Cassius Glay (Will Smith) converts to the Nation of Islam, changes his name to Muhammad Ali and does battle with the US Government over the Vietnam War. Oh did I mention he was also the greatest athlete of all time?

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A lot of people argue that this film was unnecessary as it covered much of the same material as the amazing and Oscar-winning documentary When We Were Kings. I am not one of them. As great and engaging as that doc is, the filmmakers (like most documentarians) were limited by the footage available as well as the technology of the times. In a documentary you often have to rely on some talking head in an interview segment to tell you about an important moment. With a fiction film you get to see that moment. Film is after all a 'show me' medium rather than a 'tell me' medium. And boy does this movie show! Director Michael Mann's use of tiny digital cameras takes us literally inside a boxing match for the first time ever. Inside all of those split-second decisions that can either make or break a fight. I don't know what this says about me but, after seeing When We Were Kings, I was able to understand why people called him The Greatest, after seeing Ali, I believed it.

Double-Bill: Demented/Depraved/Deneuve

Repulsion and Belle de Jour

Pixies on Film

Two days ago, I cut off my hair. It's been crazy hot, I've always wanted to try it, and I wanted to see if I  had the guts! Since I have pixie-cuts on the brain, I thought I'd give a little shout-out to some of my favorite short-haired ladies on the silver screen.

Natalie Portman in "Hotel Chevalier"

Sex on legs...Natalie Portman rocked a pixie like few others can.

All That Jazz

I kind of let my Soundtracks Of My Life series fall by the wayside as I became fixated on my Home School series. Sorry. Don't know if/when I'll get back to that. In the mean time, please enjoy this little piece which is kind of a hybrid of the two columns in that it attempts to educate AND features some great recommendations for film scores that also work as great albums. Enjoy!

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Picking music for a film is a very delicate process. Film music has gone through so many different phases over the years. It has evolved from simple piano accompaniment for silent films to soaring orchestral pieces and pop music collages. The right choice can make an average film into something more and the wrong choice can make a great film a chore to sit through. Though I am a big fan of properly used source music, my favorite scores tend to be jazz scores.

Whether performed by a large ensemble or by a single musician, Jazz has the ability to stir a wide range of emotions. It is incredibly diverse and workable music. It can be loud and bombastic for an action sting or it can be barely perceptible for a scene of deep introspection. However it is used, jazz can give most any film a real pulse.

Sadly not many filmmakers today are taking the jazz route. The only two that leap immediately to mind are Woody Allen and Spike Lee. Allen uses songs from his personal record library and Lee employs scores composed by skilled trumpeter Terrence Blanchard. Though both of these filmmakers have at times made period pieces, the bulk of their output is contemporary. Jazz does not have to be exclusively for period films.

Perhaps the days of jazz in film has simply passed. Hollywood is a notoriously fickle industry. But who knows? Perhaps the pendulum could swing back the other way. I can tell you one thing though: If I ever get the chance to make a film, you can bet your ass there will be some jazz in there.

Here are some of my favorite jazz scores:

Do The Right Thing by Bill Lee

Bamboozled by Terrence Blanchard

Taxi Driver by Bernard Herrmann

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud by Miles Davis

Alfie by Sonny Rollins

Blow Up by Herbie Hancock

Anatomy Of A Murder by Duke Ellington

The Pawn Broker by Quincy Jones

Behind The Shot: Week End

If you've ever seen Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 masterpiece Week End, chances are you'll remember the 8-minute tracking shot of a traffic jam. It's kind of hard to forget. Anyway, I'd always assumed this shot was accomplished by placing the camera in another car and running it parallel to the traffic jam...until I came across this photo on Criterion Corner's Tumblr. Mind. BLOWN.

Fatal Attraction (1987)

Gentlemen, a word of advice: DO NOT cheat on your wife. Don't cheat on her with a normal person, and especially don't cheat on her with a batshit-crazy knife-wielding Glenn Close. There's a chance you'll come to regret it.

Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) is a happy successful lawyer and loving husband and father. Also SCUM OF THE UNIVERSE. Okay, not really. However! He decides to risk it all and have an affair with his colleague Alex (Glenn Close). Bad idea, buddy.  He tries to break it off! But she "won't be ignorrrred!" And then she sets loose the crazy. She won't stop calling him. She gets too close to his family. She sits in the dark and flicks the light on and off. And that's just the beginning.

Glenn Close is sooo scary! Yes it's all a bit over the top, but it wouldn't be half as fun or disturbing otherwise. I imagine many a marriage was saved by this film. Thinking about giving into that flirty coworker? THINK AGAIN!

This movie is currently streaming on Netflix, so if you're in the mood for something a little freaky, give this one a watch. Enjoy!

List-O-Mania!

Due to some sort of gross oversight, the editors of Sight and Sound did not seek the input of This Cinematic Life and its contributors when compiling their latest list of The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time. Seeing as the US Postal Service is going through all kinds of financial woes, we'll just assume that our invitation was lost in the mail. But rather than wait around for them to correct this error in 2022...

WE CONDUCTED OUR OWN LITTLE POLL!

First up is what we're calling the Pantheon, which consists of films that turned up on multiple lists. Most mentioned film first, then working down. Films with the same number of mentions are listed in alphabetical order. After the Pantheon, feel free to check out the actual ballots that made up this list. Contributor lists first, then reader lists. They're all filled with great films that everyone should see. Thank you to everyone who participated in this little idea and happy watching!

Double-Bill: Hunting Season

The Rules of the Game and Gosford Park

High School at the Movies

I finally saw Mean Girls for the first time (I knooow) and it got me thinking about what the movies told me that high school was supposed to be like. According to the movies, it's full of cliques, wild house parties, having sex, crying over boyfriends, vicious gossip, and I guess the kids go to class once in a while.

Home School: Queer Studies

Though I'd been planning to do this post eventually, I decided that in light of insane Ukranian bills and all things Chick-fil-A, now was the time. Minority voices in film are important. Our world is more than straight, white males and our art should reflect that. Film in particular is important because it has the power to expose a wide audience to a perspective they might never have considered. No I'm not saying that movies are able to turn your kids gay (though if a movie does cause your son or daughter to realize that they are gay or lesbian, I'm 100% in support of that) what I am saying is that by honestly depicting homosexuals in film, viewers of all ages will hopefully come to the startling realization that gay people are...well...people.

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The most important queer cinema resource is, without a doubt, Vito Russo's seminal text The Celluloid Closet. In this meticulously researched book, Russo examines the history of homosexuality on film from the early days of the minstrel-like "sissy", to the (then) present where gay and lesbian characters were regularly depicted as miserable charity cases who often ended their own lives. Though there's still a way to go with our media's depictions of gays and lesbians, I really wish Vito had lived to see the flourishing of what film critic B. Ruby Rich labeled, "New Queer Cinema".

Speaking of New Queer Cinema, another great book to check out is Matthew Hayes' The View From Here. This easy to read book of interviews features conversations with filmmakers ranging from elder statesmen Kenneth Anger and John Waters, to young upstarts like Gregg Araki and John Cameron Mitchell. 

Reading isn't your bag? You can always check out Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman's excellent film adaptation of Celluloid Closet! It's filled with amazing clips dating back to the turn of the century.  The DVD even features a "commentary track" comprised of the audio from a lecture Russo delivered at San Francisco's Castro Theatre in 1990 shortly before his death. Also worth checking out is Jeffrey Schwarz's wonderful documentary Vito which recently aired on HBO, and if you're a subscriber it's available through HBOGo.

And if listening is your bag, I highly recommend you check out the Criterion DVD of Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho which features a fascinating audio-only conversation between Van Sant and director friend Todd Haynes. The disc also features an audio conversation between Tarnation director Jonathan Caouette and author JT LeRoy (who was later revealed to be a fictional character created by writer Laura Albert!) on My Own Private Idaho's influence.

While I'm sure that there are many wonderful books and films on the subject that I am leaving out, these are the ones I am familiar with and am confident in recommending. I'm also well aware that lesbians are drastically underrepresented in this post. And yes I know there was unfortunately not a single mention of the bisexual and transgender community. Hopefully in a few years I will be able to recommend a whole new slew of resources. Cut this breeder some slack!