Sex, lies and filmmaking

My takes on the Oscar nods, Usher, Alyssa Milano—and oral sex

Note: This Substack entry contains graphic descriptions.

—Line of the week: Being with you feels like home—but I left home for a reason.”—Jennifer Lopez in This Is Me … Now, coming out Feb. 16

—Headline of the week: “123 men were arrested in Florida for human trafficking—not one was a drag queen”—The Advocate

—Barbie-cue: The 2024 Oscar nominations were recently announced—and a lot of history was made.

A Black gay actor (Colman Domingo) is nominated for Best Actor for playing … a Black gay man (in the Netflix movie Rustin, about the late civil-rights figure Bayard Rustin). A queer Indigenous woman (Lily Gladstone) is nominated for Best Actress for playing a Native American woman. And a movie about Black stereotypes (American Fiction) has two acting nominees: Sterling K. Brown and the always-deserving Jeffrey Wright.