Coming to see uber-brilliant director/producer Jonathan Caouette screen his award winning film Tarnation at Cinemark Tinseltown at 7pm? Yeah. I thought that's what you were doing.

I'll be hosting the FilmForward Spotlight Director segment immediately after the screening. If you've had a secret crush on Jonathan since his turn in Shortbus or if you like asking questions about the how's and why's of cinema, this is for you. I'm pretty sure I will make inappropriate sexual references. So come on down.

So who caught the latest round of Hook Me Up: I Want A Modeling Contract Sunday night at Pulse? Those models...ughn! Congrats to Rob and Brandon and team for putting on a great show. I hosted the bejeesus out of that shit with my partner in crime Rob Easton. Hope y'all had fun.

Okay. The countdown in on for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. In advance of the opening gala this Thursday, I sat down with Amber Dawn, who took over the role as Director of Programming this past January, for Up Your Alley's most recent Xtra Xposed segment. Former Hero of the Year winner, Amber is a writer, community activist and performance artist extraordinaire. I've had the pleasure of sharing a stage with her on multiple occassions. Here's what she had to say about the upcoming festival:

I would recommend “Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales of Queer Fear and Desire.” It’s an anthology which asks 15 women authors “what do you fear most?” and “what do you desire most.” The stories and poems range from lesbian vampire erotic fantasy fiction to a poetic conversation between a third-wave feminist and the Marquis de Sade.

I truly believe that my greatest art is “making sh*t happen.” I thrive on art that engages a larger community and I love to collaborate with others. Out On Screen is my perfect work environment. The have a 21 year history of making magic happen on a dime and a dream. The Queer Film Festival is like no other event I know of for it’s ability to bring our community together with integrity, spirit and celebration. I very much hope to do the Festival audience proud.

It was fairly easy to program a dynamic festival because there is an ever-growing pool of queer films to choose from. From horror flicks to sweet romantic comedies to eye-opening documentaries to family films … there isn’t a genre that queer directors have shyed away from. You’ll notice in the Festival guide the Focus on Hope and Focus on Asian Voices – Focus on Hope showcases documentaries that aim to inspire dialogue and change. These documentaries feature many outstanding queer heroes from around the world. Focus on Asian Voices brings us the best from queer Asian directors.

First off, it’s fun. Secondly, the message is about encouragement. We’re encouraging our audience to experience their desires, hopes, thoughts and passions to the fullest at our Festival. Last, it speaks to our aim that we bring a little something for everyone’s tastes, whether that be it political documentaries or quirky musicals or one of our many parties.

Gosh, it’s hard to say. FIG TREES is by my favorite Canadian director, John Greyson, and I believe it is his very best work. I knew within the first 5 minutes of watching that film that I wanted to bring it to our Festival. HALF LIFE is part of our Focus on Asian Voices and is a very unique, very beautiful science fiction domestic drama; very fresh story line that will keep you guessing what will happen next. The STRACHEY gay detective double feature on Saturday August 15th will be a ton of fun and was filmed here in Vancouver. And TARNATION … whether you’ve seen this film before or not, I’d strongly suggest coming out to meet our Spotlight Director Jonathan Caouette and watch his very brave and personal autobiographical documentary about growing up queer in Texas with his mentally ill mother; this is a hard knocks story with a lot of heart.

Are you kidding, I’m sticking around the Festival for the next three years at least. Oh, and I have my first novel coming out with Arsenal Pulp Press in Fall 2010; it’s a magical realism novel about runaway girls called SUBROSA.

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It's that time of year again, Vancouver. Pride has come and gone which means it's festival time. From the Vancouver Queer Film Festival to the Fringe to the Vancouver International Writer's Festival, there will be a lot of culture to cover over the next few months, so get your calendars out and start marking dates.

First up is the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, which runs from Aug 13 - Aug 23. Follow that link and you'll have access to a complete list of films and screenings, as well as background on the Festival. I've reviewed two films for Xtra West and my reviews will be appearing in the next print edition, which hits the streets on Wed Aug 12.

On Monday, Up Your Alley is going to feature a special interview with author-friend-celebutante Amber Dawn, who is the Director of Programming at this year's festival.

In advance of that interview, here is a VQFF commercial featuring Patrick Levesque, who is a co-founder of Homorazzi, co-owner of Masc (on Davie in Yaletown) and recently participated in the Celebriy Shower Power with me at the Odyssey during Pride Week.

Enjoy! And remember: Lady Miss Kier is spinning at Pulse tonight and Tiga is spinning at Celebrities. Get out and get your dance on!

Last week the Tweet-master for Pinq.ca re-tweeted a message he got from one of Pinq.ca's followers. To be honest, I don't post a lot of challenging material here. It's a personal thing - my time in university was too serious, life is short, wouldn't you rather laugh than anything else, etc...

Anyway, here is the link I received on Twitter. The trailer for From Beginning to End (a film by Aluizio Abranche) has now been pulled from that site. So here it is as found on YouTube:

The Vancouver Queer Film Festival is now officially over. The final screening (XXY) was one of the most brilliant movies I've seen in the last five years. Get your hands on a copy and watch it.

The end of the VQFF also marked the end of the 2008 Olympics. Congratulations to all of my homofication candidates. You will surely haunt my dreams for months to come. And to all the Canadian Olympians: thanks for putting on a wicki-wicked show.

Here's some of the best of the worst of the best photos from the Games. If you'd like to see more, click here.

And this last shot in the spirit of Saturday's Raunchorama - which almost made me puke a record four (4) times during its 1.5 hour course.