'Still Alice' Writer-Director Richard Glatzer Dead At 63
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Glatzer, who co-wrote and directed the Alzheimer’s drama “Still Alice” alongside his husband, Wash Westmoreland, while battling ALS, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 63.

Diagnosed in 2011 with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, the pair took on the project of “Still Alice” in a very early stage of Glatzer’s disease. During the 23-day shoot, Glatzer communicated with one finger using a text-to-speech app on his iPad. By the time of the press tour for the film in late 2014, Glatzer was only able to communicate by typing on the device with his big toe.

Their film earned star Julianne Moore her first Oscar for her portrayal of an academic suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s. Unable to attend the ceremony, Glatzer watched Moore’s win Feb. 22 from a hospital, where he had been taken two days prior for respiratory problems. Westmoreland watched by his side.

“I am devastated. Rich was my soul mate, my collaborator, my best friend and my life,” Westmoreland said in a statement Wednesday. He added that he takes consolation in the fact that Glatzer saw “Still Alice” delivered to the world.

“Richard was a unique guy— opinionated, funny, caring, gregarious, generous, and so, so smart. A true artist and a brilliant man. I treasure every day of the short twenty years we had together,” he said. “I cannot believe he has gone. But in my heart and the hearts of those who loved him he will always be alive.”

A New York native, Glatzer started out his career in academia, earning a doctorate in English from the University of Virginia before turning his attentions entirely to film and television.

He met Westmoreland in 1995. The couple collaborated on four films as co-writers and directors, including the 2006 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience winner “Quinceañera.”

Glatzer also worked on a number of television shows including “Road Rules,” ”Divorce Court” and “America’s Next Top Model.”

But it was “Still Alice” that seemed to be Glatzer’s crowning achievement.

“It’s ironic that in my deteriorated state I’d be able to make a film that was creatively everything I’d ever wished for,” Glatzer reflected to The Associated Press in late 2014 while promoting the film.

The parallels between Glatzer and their lead character’s degenerative diseases helped to inform the adaptation of author Lisa Genova’s best-seller.

“Many of the neurological appointments that Alice had in the book echoed appointments that Richard had had when they were testing to see if he’d had a stroke — like what’s today’s date, where are we, all that stuff. It was eerily similar,” Westmoreland said during the same interview.

“Rich is an incredibly strong person, and never let the disease get him down. He always wanted to keep life as normal as possible,” he added.

Moore was particularly moved by the similarities and how Glatzer’s condition made the story much more personal and emotional.

“It’s about the universality of our own experience and what we care about and that we all live and we all love and we all are going to go away some day. To look at that and to really examine that, but to also be present in it, is kind of an extraordinary thing to do. I think that’s what Wash and Rich are doing with this movie,” she said.

While the logistics of co-directing a film while suffering from ALS proved challenging, the entire production was committed to supporting Glatzer throughout.

“We had a little personal agreement that Richard has to be heard, even if it’s inconvenient, even if it’s longer to wait,” Westmoreland said.

Glatzer, who was in good spirits sitting next to Westmoreland, also weighed in.

“I felt very much heard by everyone, every day. And it’s so very important if you’re struggling with a disease like this to feel you still matter,” Glatzer said.

In addition to Westmoreland, Glatzer is survived by his daughter, Ruby Smith; his sister, Joan Kodner, and her husband, David; and his nieces and nephews.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/11/richard-glatzer-dead-still-alice-writer-director_n_6852128.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

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Man Pleads Guilty To Blackmailing Two Married Men He Hooked Up With In A Park

A man just received seven years in the slammer after pleading guilty of blackmailing two men he had anonymous sex with at a park in Worcester, England.

24-year-old Lee Taylor’s (pictured) strategy was simple: He’d hideout in the men’s bathroom at Gheluvelt Park. Another man would enter the facility. The two would have sex. Afterwards, Taylor would threaten either to reveal the men’s secrets to their families or accuse them of rape unless they forked over £100 ($150 U.S.).

According to court documents, the first incident occurred on November 12 of last year. Taylor met a married man in Gheluvelt Park. They did the nasty. Then Taylor requested a ride home.

“As they drove off, Taylor asked his victim for money for what had happened or he would make sure his family and his employer would know,” prosecutor Patrick Sullivan told the court.

The man managed to get out of paying Taylor by tricking him. He drove a random house and told the 24-year-old that it was his home. As they headed up the front walkway, the victim lied and said he had forgotten his keys. Then he jumped back into the vehicle and drove off.

A similar incident happened on November 20. Taylor hooked up with a guy in Gheluvelt Park then asked for a ride home. In the car, he demanded £100 in exchange for keeping quiet. The victim drove to an ATM and paid him the cash.

This week, Taylor pleaded guilty to two charges of blackmail.

Taylor’s lawyer, Jason Aris, said his client was homeless and didn’t have a job, so extorting money from innocent victims was his own means for survival. He promised he was sorry and that it wouldn’t happen again. The only problem? This has happened before.

Taylor just finished serving four-and-a-half years in jail for the exact same crime. He was released less than a week before committing the same offenses again.

A judge sentenced him to seven more years behind bars, telling the young man, “There needs to be a deterrent not just for you but for others.”

The judge also issued a restraining order against Taylor, banning him from entering Gheluvelt Park indefinitely.

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