P.H.Davies

Jun 12

Ten of My Favourite Gay Pop Albums – Part One

Music has always been an important part of my life and I think this is generally true of all gay men. Growing up as a gay child and teenager I sought escape in the music I listened to – the hedonism of eighties synths, the metallic dance beats of the nineties, and latterly the coolly ironic pop of the new millennium. Despite being closeted during my younger years, pop music was always the one medium in which I could proudly wear my sexuality on my sleeve. Half the time my parents didn’t know what a song was about lyrically, they could only hear the irritating thud of the beat. I would increasingly seek out music by gay artists, whether they were ‘out’ at the time or not, and their words and accompanying music became the soundtrack of my life. Read more

Jun 9

2 Comments

Frustrated Creatives

This past week I have found myself in an interesting position – I have been on the other side of recruitment, having been asked to be on an interview panel for a post that has become vacant in my department. I have had some experience of this in the past but never formally and never for a post that has had sixty-six applications. To start with, it is a pretty mammoth task – every application has to be reviewed, each has to be scored against essential and desirable criteria, and then each person is weighted to decide whether or not they are selected for an interview or rejected. It took the best part of two days, on and off, to sift through them all and it was a sobering experience. If I ever have to read another cover letter about how someone has a ‘can do’ attitude or is a ‘self-starter’ or is a ‘team player’ I might actually kill myself. Read more

Jun 8

3 Comments

North Sea, Texas (Noordzee, Texas) (2011) Review

The ‘coming of age narrative’ in gay cinema has over time become something of a cliché, so it’s rather a nice surprise when a film comes along that gets it so right. North Sea, Texas (2011) is Flemish director Bavo Defurne’s feature length debut after a number of award-winning gay short films, most notably Sailor (Matroos) and Campfire (Kampvuur) released in the late nineties. The lyricism and innocence of these shorts is very much in evidence in North Sea, a handsome film that also contains the director’s poetic flourishes with brooding images of the sea and young love bounded by nature. Defurne’s short films are often about longing between male teenagers, often on the cusp of discovering their sexuality and this is central to North Sea, though he effortlessly manages to extend his narrative beyond the short-film format. Read more

Jun 8

Poem of the Week: Strange Fish

Each week I post a poem from one of my previous poetry collections to give readers a bit of a taste of the kind of poetry I write. This week I give you ’Strange Fish’, a poem featured in my first poetry book, A Marriage of Sorts (2007). If you would like to read more, you can purchase A Marriage of Sorts by clicking here. Read more

Jun 7

4 Comments

Journal and Diary Writing

While having lunch with some people I know in London the other day, the conversation turned to diary writing. One person said that they kept a diary when they were younger but “grew out of it and couldn’t imagine doing it anymore.” Another said that his wife had kept a diary well into her twenties but stopped. Surprisingly, she let him read them all and he was struck by her psychological development which ran through the text. Having had a glass or two of wine, I admitted that I had kept a diary or journal on and off since I turned sixteen and they were all astounded. How did I find the time? What did I write about? Have I ever let my husband read them? It made me realise that keeping a diary marked me out from everyone else, that it was an unusual thing to do into adulthood and I wondered if they viewed me differently as a result. Read more

Jun 2

Scenes From a Gay Marriage (2012) Review

When a film has been written, directed, and stars an individual we tend to either think of them as auteurs or megalomaniacs. They fall neatly into the Woody Allen or Barbra Streisand camp – genius comedy or mildly entertaining vanity project – with almost no room in between. It is hard to say which of these Matt Riddlehoover (with that name how can he ever hope to be taken seriously) falls into because he doesn’t have the talent of either of the aforementioned. From watching his latest film, Scenes From a Gay Marriage (2012), one suspects that as a failed actor he woke up one day and had the brilliant idea of writing and directing a film, just so someone would cast him. The resulting film is another depressing example of gay cinema with absolutely no brains, no craftsmanship, and a one-dimensional view of gay relationships. I wrestled with myself several times while watching it wondering if I could please just turn it off now. Read more

Jun 1

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Poem of the Week: Mosquito

Each week I post a poem from one of my previous poetry collections to give readers a bit of a taste of the kind of poetry I write. This week I give you ’Mosquito’, a poem featured in my most recent book, Suburbanite (2012). If you would like to read more, you can purchase Suburbanite by clicking here. Read more