There's a terrific new interview with Peter Paige, written by Dan Munn, publisher of the "Buzz", who travelled to La Jolla to chat with the actor about his current play, Eden Lane, and his work on QAF. Read it online: Queer As Folk Actor Performs in San Diego. [Production photo from the La Jolla Playhouse website. Photo credit: Scott Humbert]

It's official! RHINOCEROS EYES (featuring Gale Harold as a detective with musical aspirations) will premiere in the Discovery programme at the 28th Toronto International Film Festival in September. Says the TIFF site, "Discovery offers a unique window on contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to gifted and innovative new directors (like Aaron Woodley)."

While the main TIFF site had not been updated as of this posting (6pm ET), the complete lineup for the Festival has been posted at indieWIRE.com. The special Toronto 2003 section is available at: http://www.indiewire.com/toronto/. The Hollywood Reporter says, "This year's Discovery program, featuring first- and second-time filmmakers, will present 23 feature films from 16 countries, including Yann Samuell's Jeux D'enfants, Aaron Woodley's Rhinoceros Eyes, starring Paige Turco, Manish Jha's A Nation Without Women, from India, and Adam Goldberg's second feature, I Love Your Work, starring Giovanni Ribisi and Christina Ricci." Read more from this article here.

Screen Daily.com has an interesting article entitled, "UK strong, Brown Bunny Redux at Toronto", in which author Denis Seguin tells us, "Engaging in some nationalist nepotism, TIFF director Piers Handling also pointed to an obscure debut in the Discovery sidebar, Rhinoceros Eyes, by filmmaker Aaron Woodley, who happens to be the nephew of Canadian auteur David Cronenberg." Talented family!

Advance single tickets for the Festival go on sale September 3. Visit the box office for details on purchasing tickets, and drop by my Rhinoceros Eyes page for more details on the film.

Unfortunately, Particles of Truth is not among the films to be screened at the Woodstock Film Festival. Plans for the fourth annual event were unveiled on Monday night with a celebration at Manhattan's Knitting Factory. Read more about it on indieWIRE.com: Woodstock Sets Slate for 4th Annual Fest.

From the Chart Attack site's CD Reviews - interesting mention of QAF soundtrack... who knows?
(BT gathered some friends and reprogrammed his synths for his latest album, Emotional Technology. Touches of hip-hop, rock ("Superfabulous," featuring Rose McGowan and some Pac Man bleepity bloops), country are thrown in with a whole lotta techno and dance club material (expect to see some of this album on the next Queer As Folk OST). Standard four-four technobeats and some effects reminiscent of Dirty Vegas are surrounded by so many layers of synth that you wish he would strip away the extra blubber and cut to the meat already. For the most part, the fatty deposits don’t taste that bad — just don’t expect high nutritional value.

Queer As Folk UK, the Channel 4 series that started it all, is back in the Definitive Collector’s Edition and is available to buy on VHS and DVD on September 8, 2003! To celebrate, Channel 4 Video has teamed up with RainbowNetwork and is giving three lucky winners the chance to win a fantastic night’s accommodation at the Novotel Manchester Centre, to tie in with the Manchester EuroPride weekend extravaganza! For more contest details, visit the Rainbow Network website.

Are you in Gale withdrawal? Well never fear... he'll be back on our TV screens in no time! The two episodes of Street Time that he recently filmed in Toronto will air on Wednesday, September 24th and Wednesday, October 1st at 10:00pm ET/PT. If there are no gaps in the schedule, these should be episodes 208 and 209, respectively.

You know that light blue t-shirt with the word "Jerk" on the front that Hal Sparks has worn to a few recent appearances? "It's a verb," he tells fans. Very funny, Hal. Those who attended his private concert on Sunday night report that the show was very entertaining, and that the band made them feel right at home. Hal and his band "None" are at the Viper Room tonight... more stories to come, I'm sure!

VH1's "Totally Gay" aired tonight... while Hal Sparks was only on screen for a short time, both Peter Paige and Robert Gant both had a lot to say on the subject of gays and lesbians in popular culture.

Scott Lowell chatted with fans on Showcase.ca tonight and was in good spirits. He said he thoroughly enjoys chatting with the fans, and answered questions from what we can do to get Ted in leather more often (answer: Petition the writers and the producers) to what makes him smile (somebody else smiling). The transcript will likely be up on Scott's official site soon, or check back at Showcase on the features page in a day or two.

Peter Paige's play, Eden Lane, is currently in previews. Calendarlive.com printed the photo seen here in yesterday's Los Angeles Times with the accompanying caption, "In the world premiere of Tom Donaghy's drama, a woman tries to convince her interior designer to give her a room with a view." Jennifer de Poyen, Arts Critic for American Theater Web presents the article: "The Accidental Playwright: 'Eden Lane' author Tom Donaghy began writing because a theater couldn't afford royalties for plays."

From CBC News Online: Some of Canada's top directors were among the nominees for this year's Directors Guild of Canada Awards, announced in Toronto Thursday. The awards honour outstanding achievements in film and television by members of the guild. Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Guy Maddin, Bruce McDonald (he directed a few episodes of Queer As Folk) and Lynn Stopkewich were among those who received nods for direction. Television productions nominated include Trudeau, Random Passage and Torso, as well as episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest, Queer As Folk, Made In Canada and Degrassi TNG. The Awards will be held on Saturday, October 4th, 2003 at The Carlu special event venue in Toronto.

Peter Paige and Hal Sparks are featured along with many other celebrities on VH1's "Totally Gay" -- "an explosive, sexy, fast-paced take on the new openness of sexuality in the twenty-first century," according to the network's website. "It will look at how lines are blurring and document the dramatic changes that have turned the mainstream into the mixed-stream." The series premieres on VH1 on Monday, August 18 at 11:00 pm. More info is available here.

Don't forget that also on Monday evening at 11pm et, Scott Lowell will be chatting live on Showcase.ca. And, to round out the QAF "hat trick", at 11:30pm that same night, Hal Sparks will be performing live at the Viper Room in Hollywood with his band "None" (that's their name).

Today's Hollywood Reporter features an article entitled " 'Fathers' family tree grows by nine":
Bradley Whitford, Samantha Mathis, Kathy Baker, Clea DuVall, Ron Eldard, Gale Harold, John Mahoney, Vinessa Shaw and Barbara Barrie have teamed to star in the indie feature "Fathers and Sons." The project is broken up into three stories, each written and directed by a different helmer: Rodrigo Garcia, Rob Spera and Jared Rappaport. Fathers and Sons revolves around the intertwined tales of three families who grew up on the same street focusing on the relationship of fathers and sons. [...] The final chapter with Rappaport at the helm, follows the homecoming of Elliott (played by Gale) to his estranged family (Barbara Barrie, Joe Bologna, Lisa Edelstein). As his father dies, Elliott meets and falls in love with a woman (Vinessa Shaw).

Visit Showcase.ca Monday, August 18th at 11 pm et/8 pm pt for a LIVE chat with Scott Lowell (Ted), who will answer your questions about QAF.

The August Q&A is up at Scott's website. Some of the answers are a little more "serious" than usual this month, as Scott talks about playing Ted in the final episodes this season.

G4, the TV network about video games and the gamer lifestyle, announced the winners of its first video game “Glow Awards” July 30, 2003 at G-Phoria, the network's location-based and televised mega-event held at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, celebrating the massive phenomenon of video games. Hal Sparks was on hand and posed for a couple of pictures with G4 CEO Charles Hirschhorn, which you can view at filmmagic.com.

Short notice, but a great opportunity for fans of Harris Allan (Hunter) - A public reading of three winning screenplays from CBC Television and BC Film's Signature Short Screenwriting Competition will be held Friday, August 8, 2003 at 6pm at the CBC Studios in Vancouver (700 Hamilton Street). The winners of this years competition include Heart of Flesh by Michele Adams, Sarah's Room by Ita Margalit and Rugged Rich & the Ona Ona by David Taylor. Their screenplays will be brought to life by some of Vancouver's hottest actors, including Harris Allan, who plays Hunter on QAF. For more information, go to vancouver.cbc.ca/signatureshorts or http://www.alibiunplugged.com.

I've updated the Toronto page for those of you who like to go behind the scenes on location with QAF, in the city that recently smashed the SARS stigma with the largest gig ever for the Rolling Stones!! Yeaah, bay-bee!

Simonsays.com has the new synopsis up for the "Never Tear Us Apart" novel: "They've been to the prom and signed the yearbooks. Now Brian and Michael are apart for the first time since grade school. Brian's soccer scholarship takes him to Carnegie-Mellon where he finds that he's a fresh -- if not a small -- fish in a big new pond. Meanwhile Michael, Deb, and Uncle Vic embark on the annual Novotny family vacation in the Poconos, where Michael makes some "new" friends. When the trip is cut short because Vic doesn't feel well, Michael learns that his uncle has AIDS and that their family must come together more closely than ever. Soon classes begin for both boys, and new passions and adventures put their friendship to the test. Lindsay, a pretty, talented art major at Carnegie-Mellon, is quickly becoming a fixture in Brian's life, and Emmett, whom Michael met at Babylon, becomes a good friend outside the club too. As sex becomes more than experimentation for both, Brian and Michael struggle with jealousy, homophobia, the realities of HIV, and finding a place of their own as they find their way back to each other."

Particles of Truth has been submitted to the Haifa International Film Festival 2003, to be held in Israel in October. The official site is in Hebrew, but you can find more information (in English) at the Directory of International Film and Video Festivals.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has officially announced that it will present Thea Gill with a 2003 National Leadership Award at the Provincetown Sunset Deck Party on August 24. Read A Task Force Exclusive Interview: Thea Gill by Michelle Klemens and Freda Ready, in which she says of her character, "I would want people to think that Lindsay was a character of great heart and a character who struggled a little bit with her inhibitions, but was victorious over them and victorious over her fears and her own struggles of being a women from a traditionally conservative family. I hope people think she had warmth and a nurturing attitude toward life, family and friends."

The movie Bang Bang You're Dead, produced by Vancouver-based Legacy Filmworks, is being released on video under the Paramount label on September 16, 2003. Randy Harrison plays Sean, a bad high school student and potential shooter in the film. Read more about it here.

Patrick Antosh appeared on The Crystalite Show on Pridevision TV this weekend, talking about his work on Queer as Folk. He spoke candidly about everything from the production schedule to who has the biggest "package" (and we're not talking groceries, folks). Andrea recorded the interview and has made it available for download here (thanks, Andrea!)

New pictures of Hal Sparks are up at wireimage.com from the Nintendo Fusion Tour Presents Evanescence - Arrivals and VIP Lounge at Universal City in California.

NEW: As some of you know, Hal will be performing at the Viper Room later this month (August 18). However, since the infamous bar is always packed, Hal is concerned that some fans might not be able to get in, and he is therefore planning to have another, 'fans only' show at an undisclosed LA rehearsal space, if there is enough interest. If you are going to be in the area, and would be interested in seeing Hal perform, please send an email to KC at kinneycutie@yahoo.com and let her know.

There is new cover art available for the latest Quinn Brockton QAF novel, "Never Tear Us Apart", at simonsays.com. Barnes and Noble is featuring yet another version of the cover art for the new book. See it here.

[unconfirmed]:

PeterPaige.net is holding a contest where fans can win two tickets to Peter's play Eden Lane in La Jolla, CA later this month. Contest details are under the "Notes" section on his website. There is a new message from Peter himself in the "Connection" section, where he tells fans that he is in rehearsals now, and "Even if you don't win the freebies, it would be nice to have you come anyway!"

Check out the celebrity interview at queerplanet.com. This week queerplanet spoke exclusively to Queer as Folk writer Shawn Postoff. Of the upcoming season, the scribe shares this: "We recently re-convened to begin writing Season 4 of the show – and it’s shaping up to be an impressive season. I think die-hard fans will be quite inspired by where the show takes them next year."