DENAE'S COMEDY IS COMING TO THE NORTH SHORE OF BOSTON!

DENAE'S COMEDY IS COMING TO THE NORTH SHORE OF BOSTON: Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010, Place: 338 Grille, 338 Squire Road, Revere, MA, 02151 $25.00 includes: All you can eat buffet from 6:00-7:30, Comedy Show: 8:00 PM. Message: Denaecomedy@gmail.com to purchase tickets.

Halloweeen costumes!

Any crazy Halloween costume ideas this year, ladies?? I think I'm gonna try Superman, but I haven't put anything together yet... we'll see what happens! =D

*sends gay magic love*
Brittany

To Dream In Spanish

I've been working on a short documentary film for the last year. I'm still in post-production and hope the film will be done in December. It's been a lot of work. It's such a different project from any of those that I've done on GayMagic, but I'll posting more about the film as it gets closer to being done. Man working on films takes a lot of time.
-Rina

Hi

So I totally have to post a link to Blaire Miltenberger's website. She's a very talented queer artist and animator. Her animations are adorable, funky and cool with of course a queer edge to them. Her characters are all amazing. She has yet to make me a character in her animated world, which of course I'm still waiting anxiously for.

http://smokeanimals.com/wahzill/

Her website is filled with short animated films and comics.

She also has a blog you can follow.

Oh yeah and she's Brittany's twin sister.

Seriously folks she is amazingly talented. I love the Evil Ducklins video.

Congrats Katie!

Katie's film A Square with three sides will be shown at the Santa Barbara film Festival and the Chicago LGBT Film Festival. Congrats Katie!!

Also, next episodes of the Retro Review show will show our highest rated lesbians films.
Hope that you will check back with us for the episodes. It should be great. I'm so curious to hear what people will think of the list.

-Rina

FAVORITE SCENE FROM A MOVIE

I'm going to get a little deeper with my favorite scene. It's from If These Walls Could Talk 2 with Ellen's and Sharon Stone's character. They are trying to make a baby together and Ellen's character replies why can't our love just make this baby. It's really shows the truth of the difficulty gay parents go through in trying to conceive their own children and how just the 2 of them can't make it happen. I thought the scene was really real and an honest portrayal. 

Katie

My favorite Scene from a Lesbian Movie

Okay Can I just say one of my favorite scenes or perhaps I should say its the most memorable in my view point is the sex scene in Tipping the Velvet. Can I get a "Hollar" or a "Hells Yes" from anyone? If you've seen the movie you know EXACTLY what scene I'm talking about.


Let's just say it involves extra instruments and yeah it's a memorable scene. The film is about six hours long.. or something like that... Its a ridiculously long film, so I think that's why we haven't rated it yet, but man is it memorable.. or at least that scene is..
-Rina

What character would I be?

If I had to pick a character out of the movies we have reviewed I would have to say I'd like to be Amy AKA Sara Foster from D.E.B.S. (mainly because I'd like to end up with Lucy Diamond AKA Jordana Brewster). They are both so strong, sexy, and overall fabulous. To second what Rina said...I also think it would be pretty fabulous to be a secret agent.



If that didn't work out I could see myself being Annabelle AKA Erin Kelly in "Loving Annabelle." I have always found myself drawn to older women (don't even get me started on my high school psychology teacher) and figure I might as well keep that theme going, LOL. -Denae-

What character would I be?... *ponders*

I must admit that I haven't seen ALL the movies that were Retro Reviewed *gasp*.. I have some catching up to do!! Off the top of my head.. I would love to be Kim (Better Than Chocolate) for a day, just so I could drive around in that crazy art van and hit up random coffee shops, and of course be fabulously gay all the time!

I couldn't choose just one... another character I would LOVE to play is Queen Latifa in Set It Off. She's so badass in that film.











Frankie: I know you out of money by now, Cleo. Now what you going to do?

Cleo: Rob another goddamn bank! What the fuck is ya'll thinkin?

Brittany =D

Drool

So I just have to mention Katie and I saw Drool in Los Angeles and it's absolutely fabulous.

The film is about a married woman with an abusive husband. She meets a woman of course and they go on a little adventure. (without revealing too much)

I was extremely impressed by the movie. The film was funny yet had a dark humor about it.

What impressed me the most was the cinematography in the film. The film had a wonderful color scheme. It had a lot of purple which made the film look beautiful, which is ironic because the film is so dark.

I recommend it if you haven't seen it. -Rina

WHAT CHARACTER WOULD I BE

Either Jennifer Tilly or Gina Gershon in Bound because that is the hottest sex scene ever.


Katie

If I could be one character from the films we reviewed on RR which would I be?

I think if I had to be any character from the movies we reviewed so far I think I would want to be one of the D.E.B.S. girls. It sounds like fun being a super secret government crime fighting team. They also have fun gadgets and who wouldn't want to hang out with those girls all the time. I would be down for being a D.E.B.S.

The other characters I would probably be would be would be either characters that Sharon Stone plays in Basic Instincts or If these Walls Could Talk Two. First off because the character in Basic Instincts is cool, sophisticated and hot. She's also a writer which I think is awesome. In If These Walls Could Talk Two Sharon Stone plays a normal lesbian in a married couple situation which is adorable. It seems like Sharon Stone and Ellen have a very fun, enjoyable relationship, so she seems like a great character to be.. or perhaps I would want to be Ellen whose married to Sharon Stone.... either way works for me.
Thanks Brittany for coming up with a cool question for this weeks topic. If anyone who is reading this thinks of a fun topic for us to answer let us know and we'll make it the next week's topic.

-Rina

The Short Film that started it all

Here is the film that started in all for us. It was a film for a 72 hour film competition and it ended up leading to the RR show which of course lead to everything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Y1ceuS-Tg

-Rina

My Favorite Moment

Well, you can't go wrong with letting your cast start drinking at 11am. Yes, there was beer in that bottle kids. Other favorite moments, every time Danielle spoke you never knew what was going to come out of her mouth. In episode 3 where her and Rina are talking off camera I literally had to go into the other room because I couldn't stop laughing and I kept ruining the takes.

And the last episode, I'll try not to spoil it, but I give Denae's character a lap dance and I couldn't stop laughing while doing it.

Overall, the shoot was a lot of fun, a lot of eating, and a lot of drinking. The way all shoots should be.

Love and miss my ladies,

Katie

I. Had. The time of my liiiiife...

I think the funniest moments for me always circulated around Christa's monologues. I remember having to literally close my eyes and and ears, or walk into the other room, to avoid convulsing in laugher that would get picked up by the mic. !FUN TIMES!

Speaking of microphones... when I episode 2 was shot (the big "coming out" scene outdoors), I remember muttering "ho bag" at the end of my lines. A little extra improv that I didn't think would get picked up. It did. Re-shoot. Oh, and Denae sitting in the sand and listening to her iPod was epic! Loved it!

I also remember being given a bottle of JD that I alone managed to kill over two weekends of shooting. Drinks for breakfast, anyone?

Good times, good people! Can't wait to start more projects with all these lovely ladies!

\m/

Brittany

Denae's Favorite Moment of Making Gay Magic/Retro Reviewing

Do you have one particularly favorite moment on the set of Making Gay Magic or RetroReview show if so what was it?

Honestly the entire production of Making Gay Magic was my favorite moment. It was the first time I really got to sit down and bond with the entire cast and crew. All of the encounters we had prior to this shoot were always quick and dirty (wink, wink-totally kidding).

Since we shot the series over a period of two weekends (and an additional day) it was pretty much like a productive/silly slumber party. I don't think I've ever laughed so much.

One of my fondest memories is when we were shooting a scene that included Katie & Brittany being romantic and falling onto a bed, but during this particular take both Katie and Brittany wacked their head against the wall (Danielle needs to upload this). It was HYSTERICAL!

In terms of Retro Reviewing my fondest memory was filming "Loving Annabelle" and Danielle was singing to the projector. That cracked me up. I also loved the corny slow dance between Katie and I.

My Favorite Moment of Making Gay Magic

There were a couple of scenes that didn't make the final cut that I absolutely loved.
One of my favorite lines was from Denae when she said, "I should know I slept with everyone here, want to know which ones were crap?" That was one of my favorite moments, but sadly it didn't make it into the final cut.

I also enjoyed the moment that Danielle and I had with the jelly on the bread. I had a lot of fun with that scene. OH and let's not forget the scenes when Danielle and Katie were cuddling in bed while I was shooting video of them. I love the idea of the filmmaker in bed with the actors in the film.

What were everyone else's favorite moments?
-Rina

Katie.. we miss you already!

Katie is sadly leaving for Los Angeles today =( But we know she'll rock it on the West Coast and spread all of the lovely Gay Magic out there. Good luck and Best Wishes, Katie! Hope to see you soon!

-Brittany

I love this video

What do you have when you combine the powers of Kit Yan and Katie? Only this Awesome third Gender video. I absolutely love it. Kit is so talented.

Oh, Dolly. What are we ever to do with you?

Finding the inspiration for the character of Jessy was easy because it is literally me, to a T... :) Acting awkward in girly clothes comes naturally. It worked out really well for me to be cast as in this role. I have very little acting experience, but "Making Gay Magic" was a very painless rite of passage for me. As Katie mentioned, having the freedom of improv made this experience more creative and fun (hilarious at times!... just wait, you'll see.)

*tips a 40 to the gay magical memories*

Stay tuned to official site and blog for more updates! And of course, be sure to catch a new episode of "Making Gay Magic" next Thursday on AfterEllen.com

RAWK!

Brittany

The inspiration for Celine

Where did I get the inspiration to play a straight woman who turns gay? Let's just call that post-college for me! Then, I tried to remember all those times men hit on me and I would have no interest and tried to reverse that with Samantha advances. Of course in the end I end up falling for her because in the end everyone would be happier if they were gay. (I'm kidding, well kinda).

I think making these webisodes were so easy and fun for us because we have known each other for years now and Danielle pretty much gave us free reign to improv whatever felt natural to us. I know I don't have any sort of acting experience, except with these young ladies, and I learn a lot from them every time we work together.

I will have everyone know those lovely checkered shoes and knit hat are actually mine, and yes I did buy it in the little boys section at H&M.

Thanks so much for watching,

Katie

Sam's Character

What was your inspiration for playing the part of Sam in Making Gay Magic?

Sam's character is extremely sarcastic and flirty with a bit of an edge to her. I wanted to make sure to have this come through when playing her. I actually used my friend Sarah as part of the inspiration for her personality. Sam is extremely loyal to her friends (which is why she agreed to help Rachel make the movie to begin with) but is also not afraid to make it known when she is annoyed. This is my friend Sarah to a T.

I had a blast with her character because her sarcastic flirty nature is very similar to my personalty in real life (minus the blunt-bitchy delivery). I have always wished I did not have a filter in life so playing Sam was a lot of fun.

The set was non-stop laughs and I really grew closer to all of the cast when filming this. Someday I hope Danielle will upload the outtakes because they are beyond fabulous. :-)

-Denae-

Julie and Julia Short Review

Last night I saw the movie Julie and Julia and I absolutely loved it. I really was hesitant to see it because I thought there was going to be nothing special about it, but boy was I wrong.

Why am I bringing this movie up? Well, because for one we are just starting to write on our own blog and the movie is very much about blogging. The second reason is because Julie wears the exact same checkered shoes that Rachel makes Celine wear in Making Gay Magic. When I saw them I could not help but laugh. It absolutely killed me. So straight women do wear checkered shoes and straight filmmakers do make their actors wear them. Although, now we do have to wonder about the filmmaker just a little bit.

Julie and Julia was witty and clever. You can't help but love Meryl Streep in her performance as Julia Child. Aww Meryl Streep we love you!!! Julie and Julia was just a fun film to watch. It's also a film about women finding their passion in life through the help of other women, which technically the RetroReviewers have done that for me. (I know I know another cheesy moment brought to you by Rina) The film keeps you laughing the whole way through and of course lets not forget the checkered shoes. The ending though left a little to be desired but I had so much fun watching it that it didn't bother me too much. -Rina

Thoughts from the director

Hi everyone, this is Danielle speaking (writing?). I just wanted to share a few thoughts about the series, now that it's finally getting some air time.

It's incredibly weird/cool to actually see this puppy up and living on AfterEllen. Three years ago, when I started writing for the site, this was exactly the sort of thing that I wanted to do - to combine my love of film with a little filmmaking magic and yes, making fun of lesbian movies. Now, here we are in 2009, with my master's thesis project (yeah, I actually got to do things like this in school, be jealous!) finished and ready for the world.

I wrote this series while sitting in the Boston commons about a year ago. I came up with the idea one morning, and over the course of two days, I sat in the park and hashed it out, with the intention of making it an improv-driven movie (that is, the lines would be more of a guideline than gospel).

Then, once we were ready to go into production in November, we spent two full weekends (back to back) shooting at Katie's lake house, with a final shoot in February. I've never had more fun making a film in my life - we would shoot scenes, crack up laughing, and shoot more. A lot of it had to do with the fact that all these ladies are such good friends - and a lot had to do with all the improv-ing we were doing, but I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

As a director, you are always panicking about whether your movie is going to be complete crap. It's always in the back of your mind (well, mine, at least). Thankfully, the response has been good thus far - at least, out loud!

Rachel's Character

What was your inspiration for playing the part of Rachel in Making Gay Magic?

I used my experiences working with other filmmakers as an inspiration for creating the character of Rachel. The honest truth is film production is a stressful thing especially for the producers and directors who have to make sure everything goes as planned. I think even in productions I've been a part of it's always a struggle to balance being assertive without being too bossy.

As a director you want the job done right, but you also need to maintain the respect of your cast and crew. What was fun about Rachel is that I could just forget about being P.C. or about treating the "pretend" cast and crew in a respectful manner. If something went wrong on set for Rachel I just went with that anger rather than thinking about what I was going to say or do. I figured if this was Rachel's first film she probably had no idea how to properly manage people.

I have to be honest though I think it's really hard for any director to get the job done well and still have people like you at the end of production. How many of us haven't had a bad manager? How many of us haven't had a situation that didn't go our way but we had no idea how to control the situation?

Danielle also mentioned that the Rachel character is a exaggerated version of herself. I know that to an extent Rachel is also an exaggerated version of myself as well. -Rina

The Making of Gay Magic World Premiere is

today on Afterellen.com. New episodes every

Thursday starring the whole RetroReviewing Cast.

It's a mockumentary about the making a

Lesbian Film.

Check it out and don't forget to comment.

Thanks

YEAH DENAE!!!

Hey everyone this is Katie. Just wanted to say congrats to my girl Denae for winning the comedy competition and going onto the finals. I'm flying home just to see it!

CONGRATULATIONS TO DENAE FOR WINNING THE BEANTOWN COMEDY RIOT COMPETITION SEMI FINALS (Week #4)!! The final round of the competition is August 27th..Call in advance to reserve tickets to the final.
1-800-401-2221
Dick's Beantown Comedy Vault @ Remingtons $15 admission

Possible new comedy series on Afterellen.com

You heard it here first.. or at least rumor has it that the retro reviewers will be starring in a new comedy series on Afterellen.com. Hope you can check it out. Of course this is just a rumor....

Denae will be performing a Comedy Show on August 6, 2009

Denae will be performing in the Beantown Comedy Riot competition on Thursday, August 6, 2009. The audience has 1/3 of the vote, so the more people come out to support her the better her chances are of winning. Plus she's also wicked funny. Reservations are required so make sure to call for seating. She looks forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

BEANTOWN COMEDY RIOT with Denae Pachucki!
$1500 Cash Prizes for Funniest Amateur Comics
Host: Dick's Beantown Comedy Vault
Date: Thursday, August 6, 2009
Time: 8:30pm - 11:30pm
Location: Dick's Beantown Comedy Vault @ Remingtons $15 admission
Street: 124 Boylston Street
Boston, MA
Phone: 8004012221

A Special thank you

A VERY special thank you for Brittany for setting up our new site. It has been in the works for some time now and she did such a great job with it.

Tomorrow we are shooting the final scene for Danielle's lesbian Mockumentary. I am excited to see how her film comes out.

Links of love!

Hey gay magical people,

This is Danielle speaking (actually... writing). I wanted to use our blog to promote a bit of my lesbionic/woman-related/totally geeky work with you all. As you may or may not know... I'm a writer for AfterEllen.com, GameShark.com, Gamertell.com, the Healthworks fitness blog, and soon to be a contributor to Curve Magazine. It's true, I have no life.

So, check out:

My new weekly column at AfterEllen - Following the geek/tech/web-savvy world.

Or, if you're an even bigger dork (like me!) you can check out a recent feature I wrote about boring content in good videogames.

Alternatively, you could see what I think of top 5 lists.

Keep on rocking in the free world, kids.

"Invisible" nominated for Best Short Film!

"Invisible" is nominated for Best Short Film @ Afterellen.com. Please go and vote (look for gray box on the right side of the screen). Thank You! Your support is appreciated!