As has been usual lately, I don’t have much to say. It’s funny really, spanking was once the biggest turn on in my life, and its like someone flicked a switch and made it a turn off, and that’s not just a metaphor. Perhaps by stepping back, one day the enjoyment will return in full. It’s hard to imagine at the moment because of how poorly I think of certain influences, but as I have said many times before, I have been nothing but blessed in the spanking world. Everything that I have ever wanted to do I have done, ten times over, I have been blessed with some of the nicest people I could have met. If it is indeed the end, then I couldn’t be happier, there are so many great memories and so many wonderful people who I have shared them with.
That of course weighs heavily into my decision, when you have reached the mountain top, where do you go from there? Well for me, and luckily for you guys, I do still have positively hundreds of pics that most of the spanking community hasn’t seen before, so I can still make a positive contribution to the spanking society. If the legacy that I leave is that I found some of the greatest spanking images out there, then that is something that I would gladly accept.
On the vanilla front, I am now very, very close to making my goal a reality. For two years straight now I have worked my tail off on my video project, and quite likely by the end of the year I will be able to start to earn money from it. It is a great feeling to have worked so hard for something and then have your hard work pay off in the end. There are many documentaries that I have made that I am really proud of. Again, long after I am gone, I have left a positive contribution to society that can be enjoyed for long into the future. It is a really exhilarating feeling, to leave a legacy of positivity.
I mean I have had some pay off already. One day a friend of mine sent me a picture of a class he was teaching in Thailand, and there, gathered around a small laptop, was a dozen kids watching one of my videos for a class project. There is no better feeling in the world, and I dare say that even better emotional payoffs are just around the corner in the near future as well.
Finally on the vanilla front, I am going to do something this week that I have never done in my life before, I am going to attend an opening day release of a movie!!
My favorite film to watch has always been West Side Story. I’m a sucker for the Romeo and Juliet fairytale set in the 1950’s. Which is kind of funny really, why would anyone want to watch a remake of their favorite film?
Well for me its simple, the original was lacking something that I can’t overlook. You would only have to look through the pages of this website to know how much I love Natalie Wood, but Natalie Wood did not deserve to play the role of Maria. In fact there were many people who didn’t have the right to play the characters that they played.
The fairytale was something that I have loved since I was a young boy, but the older that I got the more socially aware that I became. I mean we all did, right? As great as West Side Story is, it still has white people wearing brown face, it has white people imitating a Spanish accent. In today’s day and age that isn’t something that I would find acceptable. So while I realize that a film made in 1959 is different to the modern day (though some would rightly argue that not much has changed), I can’t in good conscience overlook what I know to be true.
So to have the movie remade, but still set in the 1950’s, and then to have an ethnically diverse cast appropriately playing the correct ethnic characters, I cannot tell you just how excited I am to see this movie. Rachel Zegler looks stunning as Maria, and I have this sneaking suspicion that Mike Faist is going to steal the show as Riff. This Thursday I will be in Manhattan like a fanboy, super excited at 58 years old to see if this film will live up to my extremely high expectations.
Anyway, here is the pic for this week, and underneath that is the extended trailer for West Side Story.
I’ll join you in the enthusiasm for a WSS remake! While I can’t say anything against Natalie Wood (she is exceedingly cute in that role) it will likely bring a new zest to the show to have a greater sense of authenticity. I’m curious to see how the dance scenes are handled and see if the musical arrangements have been updated.
As for the pic, I love it when everyone, including the spankee, is amused.
The 1961 film of WSS is a product of its time and it was made in all good faith. The demands of today’s secular Puritans (aka the politically correct) did not exist at that time. There was no requirement that actors play only characters of their own racial/ethnic/national origin group. In those days it was called … acting. Do you want to take away Greek American actor George Chakiris’s Oscar because he was not Puerto Rican although he was playing a Puerto Rican character? btw, he is gay (although the character he played in this film was straight). Do the secular Puritans want a war between the Puerto Rican community and the gay community? I have not heard his fellow Oscar winner from that film Rita Moreno (actually Puerto Rican) commenting on this issue.
The original script to WSS is scrupulously neutral on this issue that seems so important to us today. It takes the position that both gangs were wrong in their hatreds and their descent into deadly violence. It did not place the blame on the Jets for being white racists. The reason for this is easy to understand. The show’s creators (Jerome Robbins, et al.) were not thinking about politics. They were (naively?) just thinking about updating “Romeo and Juliet”. Shakespeare’s play presents characters of the same racial/ethnic/national origin group. They are all white Italians.
I agree with you that the trailer for the new film looks promising. But with Tony Kushner as the screenwriter I remain apprehensive. I just hope that political correctness has not spoiled the brilliant original.
Warmhand,
A portion of the film was actually shot in my neighborhood. Right at the same location where scenes from The French Connection, The Wanderers and Brighton Beach Memoirs were also filmed (all on the same block). It is so funny that I have always enjoyed the original, especially Russ Tamblyn and Rita Moreno, so you would think that I wouldn’t want it remade. But I do!! I just have this feeling that Spielberg has created an epic, I mean the cinematography that I have seen is outstanding. How awesome would it be to see Rita Moreno win a best supporting Oscar in a different role in the same film? 🙂 I will be seeing it this weekend for sure.
Rich
Yes it was a great movie and back when I first saw it in a theater I was only 10 and this was before the current rating system.at that time of course I did not know the actors were not who they portrayed and in the Midwest the city was different than my small town and most movies then were not something that you would have had your teacher talk about in class the next day. Thank you for the spanking pic as well.I do enjoy a picture where the spankee seems to be enjoying her otk experience.as you also said as a spanking icon we can thank you for all you have shared in your journey and shared experiences because you really have done it all(collecting,acting in,parties,writing and I could add to the list but you get my meaning) so yes people will comment on your work both vanilla and spanko.Thanks again for all you share and have a great day.
Jim
Jim,
Likewise, I grew up in England and as a young man I was not socially aware enough to see that there might have been some issues with the original West Side Story. As I mentioned, it is a film that I adore and one that I have always loved. It was a product of the times so you have to take that into account. Additionally though, like I said, I always felt that there was something missing and I am delighted that they are making a new version of the film with an ethnically appropriate cast. As a viewer that is important to me, and I am very excited to watch this portrayal. Unfortunately I wanted to go on Friday but it doesn’t look like I can get there until next Tuesday now. I have lofty expectations and I hope that the film can live up to them.
Rich
I’m going to have to agree with Steve here – there’s nothing wrong in general with casting “white” actors in “Hispanic” roles or even Asian ones as long as the stretch is not too unbelievable. There are exceptions; for example George Gershwin realized he needed a black cast for his opera “Porgy and Bess” because white actors would not have been believable – and that was over 80 years ago. But it was ridiculous when the P.C. police tried to tell Cameron Mackintosh he couldn’t cast Jonathan Pryce as The Engineer – the role he had originated in London – when Mackintosh wanted to bring “Miss Saigon” to Broadway in 1990. To his credit, Mackintosh stood up to Actors Equity and forced them to back down, and Pryce played the role.
Similarly, there was nothing wrong with casting Yul Brynner as The King simply because he wasn’t born in Thailand. Nor is this something that was o.k. in 1951 but not o.k. today: if “The King and I” were a new musical in 2021, and Brynner was still around, you wouldn’t find a better King.
It does appear that the cast of the new West Side Story has real talent, but I couldn’t care less about their ethnic backgrounds. I also share Steve’s apprehensions about Tony Kushner. Ernest Lehman, who did the screenplay for the 1961 film from Arthur Laurents’ book, kept politics out of it, and we can only hope Kushner has done the same.
Remaking a classic is always a perilous undertaking because you’re not really going to improve on the original. It seems more sensible to me to remake a bad film that had potential but was poorly executed. However, we should reserve judgment and give the new “West Side Story” a chance.