TLS: Take Three

Jim Howley, one of the eight bachelors competing for Calpernia Addams' attention and affection on Logo's Monday-night dating series Transamerican Love Story, phoned into the World of Wonder offices again to dish the dirt on last night's episode. Listen to Jim's new voicemail here, and visit Jim's MySpace here.

TransMission

Thairin Smothers, producer of WOW's moving doc TransGeneration, alerts the Report that the series' top trannie, Raci Ignacio, is featured on Linda Simpson's My Comrade blog. Simpson apparently found Raci looking, you know, racy on her MySpace space (see above).

Meanwhile, as a kind of footnote, here's a photo of Smothers with Amanda Lepore at an official Party Monster party. The picture was posted on Friendster back in 2002. That Smothers – always with the trannies, bless him. Um, what's a Friendster?

Shameless Plug

The Variety hed, "Doc org lock noms," runs atop the piece about the International Documentary Association's announcement of its 24 finalists in four categories for the 22nd Annual Distinguished Documentary Awards, so you understand why the succinct hed. The big news lies in this paragraph:

Nominees in the limited series category: CBC's "China Rises," VH1's "The Drug Years," Discovery Times' "Off to War," Sundance Channel's "Transgeneration," and PBS' "RX for Survival: a Global Health Challenge."

Yes, TransGeneration is the fabulous and moving WOW documentary series, so kudos and hat-doffing are in order for director-supervising producer Jeremy Simmons and producer Thairin Smothers. Fingers crossed.

Shameless Plug

Been wondering what the students from TransGeneration have been up to since you saw them last? Well, wonder no more, because Gabbie, Lucas, Raci, and TJ have reunited for TransGeneration Reunion, a special where-are-they-now episode airing tonight on Sundance at 10PM E/P. Check out the students' cool photo diaries on the Sundance website, with new boyfriends, surgery pics, and tranny picnics a-plenty.

A Program Note

The four college students you fell in love with in WOW's 8-part Sundance series TransGeneration, are back together for a reunion special, airing on Monday, August 28, with an online moderated discussion with the students on August 21. Get a sneak peek here.

The Devil Is in the Details

Finally, we got our dealer to procure us a bootleg copy of The Devil Wears Prada (don't ask) so we could once and for all see for ourselves this TransGeneration bus ad that appears at the end of the movie that has everyone so excited for us. Well, no wonder we missed it. And we wonder how anybody who didn't know about it spotted it. You can watch the clip, but should probably find the bus in the still provided here first so you know what to look for. Of course, everything in Manhattan is a Waldo.

Addressed to Kill

Just saw The Devil Wears Prada yesterday. Did you know that in the very, very last scene there is a NYC bus with an ad for TransGeneration on it? Very cool,

– Sid

[Ed note: Actually, Sid, yes, we did know that. But thanks for reminding us. We've been told by a couple of other people, too. In fact, we knew about it before we saw the movie, but were so carried away and uplifted and swoony from the good feeling we got toward the end that we forgot to look for the bus, damn it.]

Change for the Bus

Hiya, hot stuff: The very last shot of DWP (you know, The Devil Wears Prada) is of a giant New York City bus with a gigunda ad for TransGeneration on the side. So y'all have the last word in the last word on style! Clink-clink, darlings. Gird your loins, world! (That's a paraphrase of a line from the beginning of the movie. Yes, I give away beginnings too.)

– Michael Musto

GLAAD Tidings

First you heard about it, then you read about it here, watched it aired on TV, and now we've got the footage of the TransGeneration win at the GLAAD Awards ceremony at the Kodak Theatre the weekend before last – complete with that goosebump-inducing onstage marriage proposal. (Watch it and weep)

Just Gimme Some Tooth

Today on what amounts to Daily Variety's party page are snaps from Saturday's GLAAD Awards ceremony honoring positive gay images in the media. There's a photo of the freshly engaged couple from WOW's GLAAD Award-winning doc TransGeneration, with the unidentified mug of the beaming, proud-as-a-papa director of the series, Jeremy Simmons, in the upper corner. It's rumored he has the best set of choppers in the industry. If he didn't, we never would have spotted him.

Kodak Moments

The GLAAD Awards was a really fun experience. All four students were flown in for the red carpet extravaganza at the Kodak theatre and I managed to get some shots throughout the night. World of Wonder and the Sundance Channel are also filming an upcoming reunion show.

– Thairin Smothers

Here's Raci and her boyfriend at check-in

Gabbie on the red carpet with the cast

Lucas getting swarmed by the cameramen. Isn't he hot?

Snap!

One of these sisters is not like the others. Rosanna, Alexis, and Patricia Arquette took the stage at the Kodak Theatre to announce the GLAAD Awards nominations for Outstanding Documentary, then Alexis, a sister who's definitely doing it for herself, presented the award to the TransGeneration group.

Look at Us, We're Winning!

World of Wonder's winning streak continues with the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary for its TransGeneration series that aired on the Sundance and Logo channels. Accepting the trophy at the glamorous, star-studded ceremony Saturday night at the Kodak Theatre were the show's stars (from left) Raci Ignacio, Gabbie Gibson, TJ Jourian, and Lucas Cheadle; its director-supervising producer Jeremy Simmons; and producer Thairin Smothers (front). The ceremony, which honored the best in film and TV, will air on Logo April 15 and VH1 April 16.

Says Randy: "It was an amazing moment! TJ went to the microphone to speak – and proposed to his girlfriend Stacey (who was in the series) right there in the Academy Awards theater. The place went CRAZY. Standing ovation. It was a HUGE MOMENT!"

King Con

No one was more surprised than us here at WOW to see one of our documentary series stars spoofed on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Who knew? Natalie Portman got dolled up as TJ from TransGeneration and had to fend off some baffling interview questions from Fred Armisen as a cuckoo "Larry King."

Shameless, Self-Congratulatory Post

Today, at a press conference in the Queer Lounge at Sundance, GLAAD announced the nominees for its 17th annual Media Awards. And the nominees are, as they say... In the Outstanding Documentary category:

American Experience: Kinsey (PBS)
Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She (HBO)
Same Sex America (Showtime)
TransGeneration (The Sundance Channel/Logo)
We Are Dad (Showtime)

(Full list of nominees)

A Program Note

Wondering what to watch tonight? Why not catch the premiere of WOW's moving series, TransGeneration, on Logo. Episode 1 begins at 10PM.

Out Last Night

Last night was the Out 100 party at Falcon celebrating Out magazine's top 100 movers & shakers of 2005. Below is Raycee's take on the night:

The OUT 100 Bash in hollywood last night was awesome! Me and Apple had a great time... wow i feel like a star... am i a star? I dont know if I am... Despite all these things happening to me after TransGeneration... I still feel like the same old Raycee... flirty, funny, and oh well...cant hear..haha! Muah! i hope U like the pic...

(Photo: TransGeneration producer Thairin Smothers, Chris McKim, Raycee, Apple)

The Times It's Not About A-Changin'

The online edition of The New Republic has a story today that wonders why the mainstream media has ignored WOW's Sundance documentary series, TransGeneration, especially now that there are more television shows about sexual and lifestyle issues than ever before. Because TNR is a subscription site, we've reproduced the piece for you here, hassle-free:

Trans Mission
by Lee Siegel

Only at TNR Online | Post date 11.15.05

"Transgeneration"
Sundance Channel, reruns through December

The response to "Transgeneration"--a documentary that follows four transgender college students through one year at their four respective schools--has been extraordinary. There's been no response.

Not a single major news publication has reviewed the series, which has just concluded on the Sundance Channel but will air in reruns through December. The mighty New York Times has neither run a review of the eight-part series nor a feature article about it. You might think the lack of interest means that the media has gotten tired of covering lifestyle stuff, and sex stuff, and what it regards as the cutting-edge convergence of the two, except for the fact that there are more shows about sexual and lifestyle "issues" than ever before. Just the other day, the Times published a long article about someone who's been a college student for twelve years and is getting book, movie, and television offers because his thrilling life-story seems to involve lots of sex, drinking, and drugs. The tenured undergraduacy hardly deserved 1,400 words in the paper of record, and the commercial response to the story was blandly predictable. But the Times's editors must have caught wind of the item and thought, along with all the other media: Here comes the 18-34 demographic! Its long-lasting blindness to Judith Miller's unforgivable venality and dishonesty isn't the only scandal at the Times. The paper is trampling its own standards in undignified pursuit of young readers.

TransGeneration in Transit

Raci and her friend Apple plan a trip to the Bike Out organized by the LBGT Center to see and talk to other transgenders, and also decide to do some shopping in this deleted segment from episode 8 of TransGeneration, airing tonight at 9PM on Sundance Channel. (Watch it here)

Staci's Status

TransGeneration producer Thairin Smothers talks to TJ's vivacious girlfriend, Staci, about the series – which she says is immortalizing "this nostalgic piece of our lives." Now a hard-working member of SOFFA, the transgender organization comprised of Significant Others, Families, Friends, and Allies, she says that even if she weren't TJ's significant other, she'd still be a part of the community – as an ally. She and Thairin talk about – among other things – her life with TJ, their parents, the misuse of pronouns, and what she'll be wearing on Halloween. Episode 7 of the series airs tonight at 9 on the Sundance Channel. (Listen to the conversation)

Separate Loads

In episode six of TransGeneration tonight (9PM, Sundance), T.J. and some of his friends visit the parents of his girlfriend; Raci attends a campus meeting for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students; Gabbie's behavior when her close friend undergoes surgery prompts a frank discussion; and Lucas and Kasey celebrate another turning point. In this webisode, Gabbie's friend Kate takes her clothes out of the dryer (subtle symbolic airing-of-laundry) and explains the difference between her and Gabbie's approach to transition. (Watch the clip)

Crossing Jordan

TransGeneration producer Thairin Smothers makes a call to TJ's friend Jordan, in Michigan, to get his take on last night's episode and trans life in general. (Listen in here)

Raci Gets Racy

Tonight at 9:00 on Sundance, episode 3 of the TransGeneration series airs. To get you in the mood, here's an extended scene from the show (what we call an "added value" when we're not calling it a "webisode"). While being driven to San Francisco, Raci tells her aunt that she's been offered a job dancing in a club, and all she has to do is "dance and show my boobs."
(Hey, watch it!)

TJ Jourian

TJ is one of the stars of the WOW documentary series TransGeneration, which airs on the Sundance Channel on Tuesdays at 9PM.

1. Describe yourself as if you were writing a personals ad.
Fun-loving critter, enjoys good food and political banter, seeks one with car, money, and cooking skills willing to share.

2. If you had two tickets to paradise, where would you go and who would you take?
A sandy-white beach in Honolulu at a hotel with internet access (!) and I'd take Diana Taurasi with me.

3. Who plays you in the movie?
Tobey Maguire.

4. Who do you go to for advice?
Staci, Jordan, Arielle, and Erin.

5. What makes you cry?
Thinking about my ex-fiancee or my family.

T.J. Talks

College student T.J., one of the stars of WOW's 8-part documentary series, TransGeneration, airing Tuesdays on Sundance, talks about his reaction to the first episode.

• Now WOW has an Enhanced Podcast for users of iTunes 4.9. It includes chapters, images, and links. Download it here.
• For those of you who don't use iTunes or an iPod, a standard mp3 file is also available. Download here.
• Remember you can always subscribe to all our podcasts in iTunes here.

TransGeneration Transport

Most mornings I go through a little ritual where I scan Technorati subscriptions in my news reader for anything WOW Related and to see if my name is mentioned. It never is.

One thing I've noticed is that TransGeneration is being talked about all over town, 120 posts so far. Some have the channel wrong, but for the most part it seems to be well received.

Some of my favorites:

Yellogirl - "This is a good thing, a good show. For once, college-age transyouth have a voice that's not just a segment in a show focused on mostly older transitioners."

Transsexuality in Kuwait - "I wish such shows air in Kuwait to give people there an insight of what we face in real life."

SpeakSpeak News - "A sticker now covers that portion of the poster, reading 'Go see Transgeneration.'"

You can find all the posts on TransGeneration (and a lot of other things) at Technorati.

– Tom Wolf

Raci Ignacio

One of the stars of the WOW documentary series, TransGeneration, premiering tonight on the Sundance Channel

1. Describe yourself as if you were writing a personals ad.
Hi! I'm Raci Ignacio. 20/ts/Los Angeles. Im 5' 6" tall, 130 lbs. brown-skinned, brown-eyed, black-haired, Filipina-American girl. I go to school, majoring in History on pre-law option. I love watching movies, the outdoors, shopping, and eating at expensive restaurants. I'm funny and talkative but I can be smart when it comes to serious conversation. I'm loving and caring but NOT understanding... well, sometimes... but not most of the time. =)

2. If you had two tickets to paradise, where would you go and who would you take?
I would go to New Zealand and I would take my one and only love, Mr. Nathan Thomas Sewell. Could I possibly get another ticket? I'd bring my cousin Kate cuz she's like my closest relative.

3. Who plays you in the movie?
Halle Berry!

4. Who do you go to for advice?
I talk to my ts friend Nicole. She understands me better than anyone because not only does she know how it's like being a transsexual but also she is of the same age and we enjoy the same things.

5. What makes you cry?
Whenever I feel unspecial. It doesn't matter who makes me feel like it, as long as I don't feel special, my eyes just start getting watery. Yeah, I'm lame like that, but oh wells. LOL

Boy Girl Boy Girl

If you're interested, and you should be, the documentary special, TransGeneration, from the good people at World of Wonder and the Sundance Channel, can be watched right now in your home or office at PlanetOut, way before its September 20 premiere. A kind of television pre-op, if you will. Takes a while to download, but not as long as transition surgery, so stop whining and get your income-tax receipts in order or something while you wait.

TranScreening

Tonight there will be an 8PM screening of the WOW doc TransGeneration at UGA in Athens, Georgia. Be there. (More)

Meanwhile, here's the tastefully inappropriate location of the TransGen billboard at Sunset and LaBrea in Los Angeles.

TransPoster

The poster for the documentary TransGeneration, which features a college student's checklist of such things as "Hang Posters, Buy Textbooks, Drop Calculus, SEX CHANGE," has been altered at Boise State University. "Go see Transgeneration" has been plastered over "SEX CHANGE," a victim of the humor police. Autumn Haynes, interim director of the Women's Center, was quick to point out she did not consider the change to be censorship, but said she thought the inclusion of a sex change on the list trivialized transgender persons. She felt uncomfortable with it and "thought it was truly insensitive." She said others who sponsored the screening agreed with the change to the poster. (Arbiter Online)

Transfer Students

TransGeneration, the WOW doc that observes four college students over the course of a year as they contemplate sex change surgery, is receiving a lot of press attention, from Orlando ("a most sympathetic exploration of sexual identity") to Anchorage ("spellbinding, intimate"). Here are some other reviews and screenings:

North Carolina
San Francisco
Hollywood
Boise
Austin
Houston
Hartford
Ohio State
Wyoming
Denver
Indiana

Snap!

I spy with my little eye something beginning with T. Can you see why we're posting this picture of a Manhattan intersection? (It helps if you click to enlarge.)

Trans Position

In an outbreak of rivalry among colleges at the University of North Caroline over which is the most diverse campus, UNC-Ashville recently showed a porno film to 200 students. Not to be outdone, UNC-Wilmington will screen the WOW documentary, TransGeneration, on September 14. The screening is a coproduction of the Office of Campus Diversity, the Office of the Dean of Students, and the UNCW Women's Resource Center. As you already know, the documentary is not porn; it follows four students as they wrestle with gender transition and college studies over the course of one year. Two female-to-male, two male-to-female.

In a snarky column on townhall.com, Mike S Adams, author of Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor, says he'll attend the movie, and plans to ask a few questions, among them:

Is the Women’s Resource Center offended by the two women who wanted to become men? Will the two new men get their new hoo-hoo dillies from the two new women? How does that work, exactly?

When a woman has a hoo-hoo dilly surgically attached, does that not legitimize Freud’s sexist notion of penis envy? Is that something the Women’s Center really wants to touch - figuratively speaking?

In the past, UNC has spent tax-dollars to address the problem of teen self-mutilation. Why is the system now spending tax dollars to encourage self-mutilation in the form of sex-changes? Are we, a) having trouble making up our minds or do we, b) enjoy going in complete circles at tax-payer expense?

Talking About My TransGeneration

Thairin Smothers: We love San Fran and Frameline. Having a break this morning from a grueling morning of interviews after last night's premiere sprinkled with two standing ovations. There was something really magical about the whole experience and was glad to have shared that with the cast and crew family. I was speechless, so I just did a little dance on stage – the energy was just that good. Jeremy, what were your thoughts?

Jeremy Simmons: The magic moment was when we were inviting the students to come on stage and, as they walked down the aisle, row after row began to stand up and cheer. This is what it's all about. A single moment where it all comes together and makes it worth everything we've been working for. I was high for the rest of the nite. Any other thoughts, Thairin?

Thairin: Jeremy, you are right, the Castro is the best joint! Another good moment was that Raci's family was there and brought her a tootbrush and toothpaste and handed it to her on stage and told her not to forget to brush her teeth. That put a smile on my face.

Festival Frenzy

Last night, the WOW documentary TransGeneration had its world premiere at the Frameline festival in San Francisco. Randy Barbato sends us this preliminary report:

It was a SRO crowd for TransGeneration at the historic Castro Theatre and director Jeremy Simmons and producer Thairin Smothers were met with a standing ovation at the end of the film. And yet another standing ovation occurred when they were joined on stage by the film's subjects. TransGeneration will play at Outfest on July 9 at DGA 1, and is scehduled to premiere in the fall as an eight-part series on the Sundance channel.

(Photo by Chris McKim. Back row: Jeremy Simmons, Thairin Smothers, Gabbie. Front row: Raci, Lucas, TJ)

Indie Place to Be

This past weekend I attended the world premiere of Tammy Faye: Death Defying at the Provincetown Film Festival. The screening was held at the Crown & Anchor, a cabaret that proved to be the perfect screening setting thanks to the adjoining bar which allowed the audience the luxury of knocking back a few beers while watching the film.

Less of a scene than some film festivals, there were no agents scurrying about or beached Weinsteins gasping for air. What the cape did have was John Waters riding his bike through town, Christine Vachon on her way to a clambake, and Series 7 director Dan Minahan and his partner sporting matching full-length fur coats. I Shot Andy Warhol director Mary Harron received the festival’s Filmmaker on the Edge award and showed a clip of her upcoming film, The Notorious Bettie Page. Sadly [Ed note: for us, that is, not you], the juiciest bits of the weekend are too scandalous & catty to report, but I can say it was a great time!

Double Feature

Tickets are on sale NOW for Outfest, the 23rd Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (July 7-18). This year features screenings of two fabulous WOW films, Tammy Faye: Death Defying and TransGeneration. For tickets, you can go online at www.outfest.org, or call 213 480-7065. Outfest is the oldest and largest continuous film festival in Los Angeles, Outfest 2005 features 232 films and videos from 28 countries in 9 different venues over 12 days. Outfest offers outdoor screenings, family programs, dozens of hot parties, provocative panels, documentaries, live performances, experimental works, celebrities and more. Heralded by the Los Angeles Times as "more than just a film festival; it's a full-on happening."

Extreme Makeovers

The annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival will be getting underway on June 16 and will continue through June 29. Since last year, the festival is called Frameline and this year, its 29th, the festival's director, Michael Lumpkin, decided to "give props" – finally – to the transgender and bisexual communities. "We needed to do something to strengthen the diversity and further the visibility of our community," he said. Among the 268 films from 33 countries are the world premiere of WOW's documentary, TransGeneration, that follows four transgender college students over one year, and Transamerica, starring Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman as a woman undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

This just in. Frameline will be showing WOW's heartwarming doc Tammy Faye: Death Defying at 6:30PM at the Castro on June 25. And the dynamic gay icon herself will be present at the screening.