By Jeff Walsh
"Were the World Mine" is the perfect wish fulfillment movie musical for gay youth once the only openly gay student at a homophobic all-boys school finds a magic potion that makes people fall in love with the first same-sex person they see. Hello there, straight crush…
The film, which opens in San Francisco, Berkeley and New York City this week (see the online schedule for future cities), is a joyous, heartwarming romp inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In the movie, Timothy (Tanner Cohen) is the classic gay outcast: picked on at gym, bullied in the locker room, with a crush on an athlete that he knows will go unfulfilled. He's out to his mother, and has supportive friends, but that doesn't make him feel less alone.
The school is putting on the Shakespeare play, and Timothy is cast as Puck. He has musical, choreographed daydreams starring the same boys who pick on him. Things really get going when, inspired by the play, Timothy follows a recipe for Cupid's love potion that appears within the pages of his script and a purple flower from his dream follows him back to the real world. He quickly discovers that anyone sprayed by the flower falls in love with the first person of the same sex they see.
By Jeff Walsh
I recently got the chance to sit down with actors Tanner Cohen (Timothy) and Zelda Williams (Frankie) and director Tom Gustafson from the new gay youth indie Shakespeare musical, Were The World Mine. The three were in San Francisco promoting the film in advance of its release in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City this week (see my review here).
We had a pretty fun discussion that touched on everything from the origin of the film, Cohen's reticence to label himself, trying to sing outdoors without inhaling insects, and we finished up talking about Zelda's famous dad, Robin Williams.
Here's what we said:
Since I did the interview with two of the film's stars and director in person, we took the opportunity to bring you a unique contest.
One lucky winner will get a poster of the movie signed by stars Tanner Cohen and Zelda Williams, and director Tom Gustafson.
To enter, send an e-mail to jeff-at-oasismag-dot-com with the subject "Were The Poster Mine" and your username in the body of the e-mail. The word Poster needs to be in the subject line, as that's how I'll sort the pool I'm picking from, before the random number generator seals your fate...
Entries must be received by noon on Tuesday, November 25. To keep things fair, only one entry per user.
Good luck!

i made alex want me today ....
i was just playing around though, i didnt mean anything sexually by it
i love him like a brother
i hugged him and just to tease him (i just wanted to see his reaction) i rubbed his back
V grabbed me frum behind and i thought it was J, she slapped my ass twice, i got turned on, cuz i thought it was J....

I've recently become a bit obsessed with Brooklyn-based band Plushgun, after hearing their first single, "Just Impolite" (video below). Even their EP has only whet my appetite for the full-length album due in February.
On Tuesday night, I got to see them play a small club date on their first-ever West coast tour, and was equally impressed with what I heard (despite the audio problems with the gig, and the guitarist sitting in the back of the stage on a chair with food poisoning).
Dan Ingala, the main guy behind the band, got the San Francisco crowd dancing despite these issues, because you could still tell the material was strong. I detect a bit of a Pet Shop Boys vibe in his music, but he also likes to hear that guitar cut in and rip it up beautifully, as in "How We Roll," which showcases the balance of electronic influence and rock guitar nicely.
You can check out more of their music on MySpace. It's definitely worth the time...
" Of course you know the difference between 'lose' and 'loose', 'their' and 'there' and 'too' and 'to'. However, these are typical examples of words that are often mixed up in writing because they are spelled or pronounced in more or less the same way. In order to prevent these mistakes, it can be very useful to focus your attention to these words once more. Compare answers with a partner when you have finished.
1. I advice/advise you to stop smoking.
2. Everybody excepted/accepted the new situation.
3. I don't know where/were you are going exactly, but I'd like to come too/to.
4. If you choose/chose that diet, I'm not sure whether you will really lose/loose weight.
5. I wonder/wander if he's really going to their/there wedding. "
This goes on for an entire page. And that is my homework for Monday, for English. While I am in the last form of the highest level of secundary education possible. I mean, seriously!! "I wander if he's really going to there wedding"? "The dog scratched it's back to get rid of the fleece"? Are they kidding??!
Oh, and apparently Dutch Santa Claus is on our team. This girl in my class was singing a Christmas song today, and I was like, but we still have Sinterklaas! (5th of december. something kind of the same. there's this very old guy (but he's not fat) with a beard and red clothes and all and he comes from Spain, where he lives with all these people who help him (although they aren't elves), and each year he comes to Holland by boat with all his helpers and puts things in childrens shoes when they give something for his horse (he has a horse on which he rides over the roofs to bring gifts), like a carrot or so. And they get to make lists with things they want which he brings by in a big bag on the 5th of December, which is his birthday. It's all really far-fetched, I know, but hey, so is Santa Claus, right? At least we don't have flying reindeer. xD )
And she was like, Sinterklaas is gay. And then one of my friends stood up for me (because it's really ridiculous how often she thinks something's gay. And I know I'm overreacting to people doing that, but it just bothers me and someday I will be able to say something in response to things like that). But still, it annoys me. ("annoys" is an understatement. I can't stand her. I hate her. I can't bear to be in the same room with her. Etcetera.)
My friend looked at me kind of shocked, by the way, because it'd been the first time she'd even noticed this girl saying it. Normally when I tel my friends that people say stupid stuff, I feel like they think I'm making it up. I'm not. They say stuff all the time. She was like, "what? why are you saying that?" and then she looked at me all weird, and all I could do was give her a well-there-you-have-it-expression. So welcome to my world.
Wednesday morning I skipped class because I really didn't feel like going to school. And normally I only skip PE. I never skip class. (PE isn't important and it makes me feel like someone who can't even do the most easy things in the world. I mean, I can't run for twelve minutes, which is something we have to do each year for a grade. I can't climb ropes. I can't catch a ball. I'm stupid.)
And this guy sitting next to in English me kept checking on my piece of paper for the right answers. That is even worse. That no one seemd to think the assignment was stupid. Because it is. We're seventeen, we should know this. And I know I'm not perfect, I make mistakes all the time, but if you get to choose between "he took they're advice", "he took there advice" and "he took their advice", after six years of learning English, you shouldn't be doubting.
Or maybe that's just me.
I wonder (I don't wander) how you guys manage not to be depressed. And not to wake up and think the entire day's gonna be useless. Explain to me how you do that. (A)
I'm actually a lot happier than I sound. It's mostly sarcasm, I think.
Anyway, I gotta go, I'm going to a friend's (see. that is something I do doubt about. if the apostrophe should really be there. give me an assignment about that!) place, she's living on herself, for dinner. I have no idea how we'll all fit in the like, ten square meters, the three of us. It's really small there.
see ya!

i just finished my first draft of my research paper. i'm three pages shy.
i don't care.
tomorrow is my longest day. i don't care how much i get done, i'm taking friday off.
sleeeeeeeep now.
caffeine tomorrow. sooooo much caffeine tomorrow.
egh.

I want to cut. I want to throw up. I will go crazy if I don’t do something soon.
Uh oh well... Hello there, first time I've ever written in here, I made this up when i was feeling bad, It's in spanish, and uh its the first time I've wrote something and didn't check the spelling, so uh well here it is:
tan facil te olvidas de mi?
asi de sencillo es dejar de pensar en mi
simplemente soy un pedazo de carne
pero tu querias algo mas grande
tu necesidad, tu lujuria le han ganado a tus sentimientos
simplemente no lo entiendo
a ti lo que te gusta es sufrir, tener la necesidad de problemas sentir
pero por satisfacerte, problemas as dejado en el camino
de los cuales no podran sanar con facilidad, ya que tu no los dejas cerrar
espero que seas feliz,
ya que te as quedado con mi felicidad
pero yo se que tu deseas algo mas,
que es satisfacer tu necesidad
sabes, siempre pienso que e de dejarte ir
pero simplemente no se como se puede dejar de sentir
es la peor tortura, simplemente vivir de ilusiones
y mas cuando e estado tan cerca, te e sentido y consolado
pero que es lo que paso?
simplemente te fuiste sin decir adios
pero al despedirte olvidaste una cosa
que el que se despide, sale por la puerta
para ya nunca regresar, y asi las cosas terminar
y tu preguntas que ha sido de mi?
simplemente sigo aqui
respirando, caminando, recordando
pero sin vivir con una plenitud
simplemente sigo aqui, viviendo en el pasado
el dia en que te olvide sere feliz
pero como e de serlo? si siempre estas ahi
cierro los ojos i te veo, me volteo i me llamas
que es lo que quieres? no te a sido suficiente mi cariño?
espero que te diviertas, ya que eso es lo que querias
simplemente vivir siendo un esclavo
en lugar de ser libre y volar junto a mi
y vivir en esta vida en la que hay que sufrir.

Hey Oasis.
Had my Media exam today. I wrote 1419 words in two hours. I don't know how impressive that is, but here's a rundown.
402 words: The Gun-Slingin' Western Hero (Western genre study)
411: Portrayal of violence in western films (Western genre development)
606: representation of Young Women.
Hells yeah! I think my Representaion essay got into a bit of a rant at the end, but I get all worked up about it, I can't help it.
Maths exam on monday and if I don't study my left butt cheek off I'm gonna fail. Oh boy! And then chemistry, and then I can burn my uniform and I'll be done forever! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XDDDDDD
I dreamed about a random african-american guy named Malcolm. He was pretty.... *drool,drool*
Where are you Malcolm? *sniffle*
I love you all!!!