
...and (this is important) she can pour a Guinness without being a jackass and making a fucking mess.
Now I'm nervous.
Back to Harvey Milk:

I'm still confused by the timing of the film's release. I have no doubt that it would have heavily influenced the end result of the same-sex marriage ban on multiple ballots last month, especially Prop. 8 in California. A couple of websites claim that its initial release date was slated for sometime in October, but I can't find any official information to back that up; nor have I seen any mention of why it would have been delayed were that the case. (Of course I spent all of five minutes in research, so it's probably out there... Let me know if you find it.)
From the Alternative Film Guide:
"And I can't help but wonder what Milk might have meant for today's cause, if anything, had it landed in the marketplace last month.
"Some of the film's most inspiring and, indeed, captivating moments come during the sequence that details the Prop 6 fight. Consistently, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn's career-best portrayal) makes the point, to paraphrase, 'We have to make them understand that they know us.' That message, I think, might have carried a lot of heft if voters had made it to the polls four weeks later."
***
I doubt that Milk itself would have had any impact on the Prop. 8 vote. That said, I believe that if an early Milk release had been surrounded by loads of publicity, at least some voters would have understood that just like California didn't go under after the anti-gay Prop. 6 was defeated back in 1978 it wouldn't go under if the anti-gay Prop. 8 got defeated as well.
In fact, I can't understand why Focus Features, which is releasing Milk on November 26, didn't open the film in September or October, when the Prop. 8 debate became quite heated not only in California but elsewhere in the United States as well. That would have meant lots of free publicity for their film, which they hope will be a contender for the 2009 Academy Awards.
The Austin Chronicle had this to say about the film:
I'm a little pissed by the slight negativity in the review, but then, I've never really had much respect for "professional" critics.
Mural by John Baden of Harvey Milk at 575 Castro Street, the former site of Milk's store, Castro Camera. Emerging from the gun at left is a quote from Milk: "If a bullet should enter my brain, let the bullet destroy every closet door".
