Oscar for Femulator?

Mickey Mantle’s nephew, Kelly Mantle, is making Academy Awards history. The gender-fluid Confessions of a Womanizer performer is eligible for Oscar nominations in both male and female categories for portraying a transgender prostitute named Ginger in the film

The film’s producers submitted Mantle in both male and female categories when the paperwork for Oscar submissions required the actor be classified by gender. The Academy granted their request and Kelly is eligible for either the Supporting Actor or Supporting Actress category.

This comes in light of my post last week about femulator Paolo Ballesteros winning the Best Actor award at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Kelly Mantle in the 2014 film Confessions of a Womanizer

Femulate reader Julie Shaw.

"Hi, I'm Julie M Shaw - 58, currently living in Spokane WA.  I've been dressing since I was a young child. Not out, but getting closer and closer each day."

Femulator Wins Film Award

Actor Paolo Ballesteros won the Best Actor award at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival for his portrayal of a transgender woman named Trisha in the film Die Beautiful. Paolo, known for his makeup transformations, accepted the award in a gold sequin gown while femulating Hollywood actress Julia Roberts. Wow!

Read all about it here and here and see the award presentation here.

Wearing Ida No.

Paolo Ballesteros femulates Angelina Jolie at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival.

It Fits

The dress I ordered online from Dress Barn arrived and fit perfectly. It is gorgeous and will be the dress I wear when I accept my award at Hamvention next month. I just have to decide how to accessorize.

Wearing BCBGeneration.

The 2016 Miss Koovagam Transgender Beauty Contest in Villupuram, India.

The Voice

...not!

As I mentioned here last week, I am the recipient of a ham radio award, the 2016 Special Achievement Award. I will receive the award when I make my annual trip to Dayton, Ohio, in May to attend Hamvention.

I viewed last year's awards dinner on YouTube and saw how the attendees were dressed ― men in jackets and ties, women in dresses or tops and skirts.  I also noticed that each award recipient spoke briefly  (5 minutes, more or less) after they received their award.

I will have no problem speaking for 5 minutes; I could probably speak for 55 minutes, but it is how I will speak that is a little worrisome. I plan to accept the award as a woman, so in addition to looking like a woman, I should speak like a woman, too, don't you think?

Many years ago, I bought Melanie Anne Phillips VHS video course "Melanie Speaks," which is intended to teach you how to speak like a woman. I watched the video and was impressed with the Melanie's method, but finding free time to practice with the video at home was a problem. So I copied the audio portion of the course to a cassette tape and practiced during my 35-minute commute to and from work.

In about three weeks, I got the hang of it and the voice that came out of my mouth was scary... in a good way! I sounded like a natural born woman!

Although I could sound like a woman, I seldom used that voice because I was embarrassed to do so with friends and acquaintances who were familiar with my usual soft male voice. And when I was out among civilians, my soft male voice usually did not give me away. So why bother?

But I think I will bother for the award ceremony as well as my whole weekend in Dayton. I want to make a good impression. Dressing as a woman, but speaking like a man would impress, but not in a good way.

So as a refresher, I listened to Melanie's course again and have been practicing and practicing and practicing some more. I am using a digital voice recorder to hear what I sound like and I think I am sounding pretty, pretty good. When I reach the point of no return, I will post an audio clip for all of you to hear and critique.

Wearing Forever 21.

Freddie Fenwick, Arthur Holland, Leonard Young and Ross Hamilton entertain Canadian
troops during World War I appearing as "The Dumbells" in The Duchess Entertains.

A Major Award

Going out to dinner during the 2010 Hamvention

This is huge! I just won the ham radio equivalent of an Oscar!

Frank Beafore, chairman for the 2016 Hamvention® awards has announced winners for the annual Hamvention awards convocation.

...

Special Achievement Award: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU

The Special Achievement Award recognizes WA1LOU as an advocate for cutting edge technologies that are now commonly used in amateur radio. Stan authored five books and wrote over 1,200 pieces for the ARRL and TAPR while evangelizing the use of home computers, packet radio, APRS, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Software Defined Radio (SDR) in amateur radio. Licensed in 1969 as WN1LOU, Stan has sampled almost every entrée on the ham radio menu and served in a slew of roles including Section Manager of Connecticut. Presently, Stan is a director and secretary for TAPR and serves as editor of TAPR’s newsletter (PSR). “LOU” has driven the 735 miles to Hamvention most years since 1978 and looks forward to doing so forever. “My fondest memories of ham radio are rubbing elbows and making friends with the makers and shakers of our hobby who show up at Hamvention every year.”

I received a phone call two weeks ago informing me that I won the award, but I was asked to keep it to myself until an official announcement was made, which occurred on Friday.

When I took the call, I was floored. The award was totally unexpected and is a very big thing. I follow in the footsteps of astronauts, scientists, broadcasters and a U.S Senator who have won Hamvention awards in the past. I was so excited that I was physically shaking hours after receiving the news.

I informed the fellow who phoned me that I was trans, have been attending Hamvention as a woman since 2010 and would there be a problem? He was surprised, but did not think it would be a problem. However, he said he would pass that information along to the awards committee.

I waited for the other shoe to drop, but the only thing that happened was that the awards chairman asked me for a photo and a short biography to use on the Hamvention website and in 25,000 copies of the printed Hamvention program book.

I don't know all that winning the award entails. I hope free parking, but I do know that I will attend an awards dinner during Hamvention and that I will be presented with the award at the end of the event in an arena full of all the attendees who are still around. (There is usually a good crowd because the awards ceremony is followed by the prize drawing.)

My only concern now is what to wear to the awards dinner!

Wearing Boston Proper.

Allied Prisoners of World War II at Stalag 383

Hollywood en femme

Sunday, I watched the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on the tube. Yes, I still watch television on a tube; on a 20-year-old Sony no less.

I watch entertainment industry award shows mainly to see how the females dress and perhaps be inspired on what to wear to my next formal or semi-formal affair.

In this fashionista's opinion, the dresses at the SAG Awards were better overall than the dresses at the Golden Globe Awards a week earlier. Mostly the same people showed up at both events, so maybe their fashion senses improved during the ensuing week.

As in past SAG Award broadcasts I have viewed, I was again taken aback whenever I heard a participant refer to an actress as an "actor." The same people were using the word "actress" a week earlier. It's as if the word "actress" had become the eighth word that you can't say on television.

I don't get it... or maybe I do!

Perhaps all those actresses are actually actors impersonating actresses.

No wonder they are all so tall! They sure have mastered their femme voices and mannerisms. But afterall, they are professional actors; if they can't sound convincing as females, who can?

And they have the best makeup artists and special effects people in the world to girl them up. So, it does not surprise me that all those gorgeous Hollywood starlets are actually guys en femme.

But now, I'm jealous. Now I want to be an “actor,” too!

A Major Award

Petra Bellejambes of Voyages en Rose fame bestowed a major award upon yours truly: the Beautiful Blogger Award.

Sure I am a "blogger," but I dunno about the "beautiful" part. However, I am honored to receive recognition for this little spot on the Internet. Thank you, Petra, for the tribute.

The award does come with the some responsibilities.

1. I must thank the person who bestowed this honor upon me. Thank you again, Petra.

2. Copy the award and place it on my blog. Done.

3. Link to the bestowers’ site. Done.

4. Enumerate seven interesting things about yourself. Here they are:

• I own 64 pairs of shoes; two male pairs, 62 female pairs.

• I am such a perfectionist, i.e., anal retentive, that I actually counted my shoes before I wrote the previous entry.

• I attended the original Woodstock Music & Art Fair back in 1969.

• My first book sold enough copies to pay off the mortgage on my first house.

• I have an excellent sense of humor.

• I am a left-wing liberal and an atheist.

• I wanted to be a female impersonator when I grew up.

5. Nominate seven bloggers that you find beautiful. Here are my nominees for the Beautiful Blogger Award (in alphabetical order):

• Calie at Calie's Chronicles

• Diana at Diana’s Little Corner in the Nutmeg State

• Elaine Armen at Elaine's T* Art Blog

• Helen Boyd at en|Gender

• Jenna Elizabeth at Non-Cisgender

• Jodie Morgetron at Tres Bizarre

• Rebecca at Beck's Cafe

All seven of my nominees are bloggers, who are classically beautiful and most deserving of the award. Congratulations to them all.