Lily formerly Andy, one half of the amazing Wachowski siblings comes out as transgender.

The Wachowski siblings are up there with Spike Lee as my favourite film makers.

Peace to Lily

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http://www.rollingstone.c...r-20160308

Filmmaker Lilly Wachowski, formerly Andy, has come out as a transgender woman in a periodically funny, often moving note published via Chicago's LGBTQ paper, Windy City Times.

The statement recounts the events that prompted her decision to come out, and also touches on the numerous issues facing many in the transgender community, including a lack of support networks and rampant violence.

Wachowski opened her post with a cheeky faux-tabloid headline, "Sex Change Shocker — Wachowski Brothers Now Sisters," referring to her sister Lana Wachowski, who came out as a transgender woman in 2012. But Lilly went on to note that prior to her decision, she'd long been dogged by tabloid reporters and publishers threatening to out her against her will.

"I find talking about my art frustratingly tedious and talking about myself a wholly mortifying experience," Wachowski wrote. "I knew at some point I would have to come out publicly. You know, when you're living as an out transgender person it's… kind of difficult to hide. I just wanted — needed some time to get my head right, to feel comfortable."

While those aforementioned stories never came to fruition, Wachowski said a reporter from the U.K. tabloid, The Daily Mail, recently showed up at her door and insisted she tell him her story. The encounter spurred her to come out on her own, as she recalled the Daily Mail's significant role in the public outing of a British teacher,Lucy Meadows, who went on...it suicide after the British rag dragged her through the mud.

"Being transgender is not easy," Wachowski wrote. "We live in a majority-enforced gender binary world. This means when you're transgender you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you… In 2015, the transgender murder rate h...-time high in this country. A horrifying disproportionate number of the victims were trans women of color. These are only the recorded homicides so, since trans people do not all fit in the tidy gender binary statistics of murder rates, it means the actual numbers are higher."

Wachowski closed her note with a meditation on queer theory and the terms "transgender" and "transitioned," especially as both continue to enter the mainstream lexicon. While she noted such terms are "understood within the dogmatic terminus" of binaries like male or female, and before and after, Wachowski wrote, "But the reality, my reality is that I've been transitioning and will continue to transition all of my life, through the infinite that exists between male and female as it does in the infinite between the binary of zero and one. We need to elevate the dialogue beyond the simplicity of binary. Binary is a false idol."

Lana and Lilly Wachowski have worked extensively together throughout their careers, breaking through with their hit Matrix trilogy. The pair's most recent film was last year's Jupiter Ascending, while they're also behind the Netflix sci-fi drama, Sense8.

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[Edited 3/9/16 6:18am]

EmmaMcG said:

I thought he did that years ago? Anyway, slightly off topic for a moment, the first Matrix film was fantastic. One of the best sci fi movies ever. The second was ok in terms of spectacle but the story was rubbish. The third was just complete crap. Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending were almost as bad as Cloud Atlas. I haven't seen Sense8 yet but I'm intrigued by its premise. Up to now though, they've only directed 2 movies that I liked (The Matrix and Bound) so I don't have high hopes for it. Assassins is a guilty pleasure of mine too. I know they didn't direct it but they wrote it. I'd like to see them do something like that next instead of trying to emulate the success they had with The Matrix. Something a bit simpler would do and might give them another hit after the run of flops they've had.

Her sibling Lana came out as transgender years ago.

Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending were fantasic movies. Sense8 was one of the best TV series I've seen.

EmmaMcG said:

I thought he did that years ago? Anyway, slightly off topic for a moment, the first Matrix film was fantastic. One of the best sci fi movies ever. The second was ok in terms of spectacle but the story was rubbish. The third was just complete crap. Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending were almost as bad as Cloud Atlas. I haven't seen Sense8 yet but I'm intrigued by its premise. Up to now though, they've only directed 2 movies that I liked (The Matrix and Bound) so I don't have high hopes for it. Assassins is a guilty pleasure of mine too. I know they didn't direct it but they wrote it. I'd like to see them do something like that next instead of trying to emulate the success they had with The Matrix. Something a bit simpler would do and might give them another hit after the run of flops they've had.

oh my...Bound...lemme go give htis a spin.

hausofmoi7 said:

EmmaMcG said:

hausofmoi7 said:

EmmaMcG said:

I thought he did that years ago? Anyway, slightly off topic for a moment, the first Matrix film was fantastic. One of the best sci fi movies ever. The second was ok in terms of spectacle but the story was rubbish. The third was just complete crap. Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending were almost as bad as Cloud Atlas. I haven't seen Sense8 yet but I'm intrigued by its premise. Up to now though, they've only directed 2 movies that I liked (The Matrix and Bound) so I don't have high hopes for it. Assassins is a guilty pleasure of mine too. I know they didn't direct it but they wrote it. I'd like to see them do something like that next instead of trying to emulate the success they had with The Matrix. Something a bit simpler would do and might give them another hit after the run of flops they've had.

Her sibling Lana came out as transgender years ago.

Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending were fantasic movies. Sense8 was one of the best TV series I've seen.

I don't know why, but I thought both of them did... Anyway, they both have now

I didn't like those movies, personally, but I'll definitely give Sense8 a chance. I don't believe The Matrix was a fluke. They have to have another classic in them. The problem is though, that if they're movies keep flopping, they won't get the budget to make their next big movie.

hausofmoi7 said:

EmmaMcG said:

I don't know why, but I thought both of them did... Anyway, they both have now

I didn't like those movies, personally, but I'll definitely give Sense8 a chance. I don't believe The Matrix was a fluke. They have to have another classic in them. The problem is though, that if they're movies keep flopping, they won't get the budget to make their next big movie.

Sense8 is very good. Its a socio -political, sci-fi, spiritual, romance mystery.
Wachowski's, Spike Lee & Michel Gondry are the GOATS fuck the box office.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet is great too, his cinematography is always on point and MIC MACS is one my favourite movies. Anyway I digress

EmmaMcG said:

I thought he did that years ago? Anyway, slightly off topic for a moment, the first Matrix film was fantastic. One of the best sci fi movies ever. The second was ok in terms of spectacle but the story was rubbish. The third was just complete crap. Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending were almost as bad as Cloud Atlas. I haven't seen Sense8 yet but I'm intrigued by its premise. Up to now though, they've only directed 2 movies that I liked (The Matrix and Bound) so I don't have high hopes for it. Assassins is a guilty pleasure of mine too. I know they didn't direct it but they wrote it. I'd like to see them do something like that next instead of trying to emulate the success they had with The Matrix. Something a bit simpler would do and might give them another hit after the run of flops they've had.

But Cloud Atlas was quite successful, wasn´t it?

At least here in Germany it was.

I liked it but it didn´t live up to my expectations. So many of my friends and all the critics praised this film, and it was ok, but I expected a bit more. Pretty good film though.

I find it strange that they are both transgender now.

And why did it take them this long to realize that they are?

Then again, it took Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner even longer to realize he´s transgender.

I like the Speed Racer movie a lot. I never understood why it was panned by most critics.

My 17 year old nephew niece recently came out as transgender. I am proud of her. She is beautiful inside and out.

So basically, we can now call them The Wachowski Sisters. OK, got it! Now what new films they going to have out this summer 2016?!?

KoolEaze said:

EmmaMcG said:

KoolEaze said:

But Cloud Atlas was quite successful, wasn´t it?

At least here in Germany it was.

I liked it but it didn´t live up to my expectations. So many of my friends and all the critics praised this film, and it was ok, but I expected a bit more. Pretty good film though.

It wasn't a big hit. It barely made its shooting budget back and when you factor in expenses on marketing, it made a loss. These days if a movie has a budget of 130 million, it needs to make twice that at the box office to be seen as anything other than a flop.

The quality of the movies are good, there is an audience as there are many who enjoy them.

Once the product is made the rest is up to marketing and promotion and that is not something creatives are necessarily good at or need to be good at really or should have to take into consideration when creating. It shouldnt be the measure of the success or the quality which too many times it is attributed to.

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[Edited 3/10/16 2:16am]

hausofmoi7 said:

EmmaMcG said:

hausofmoi7 said:

The quality of the movies are good, there is an audience as there are many who enjoy them.

Once the product is made the rest is up to marketing and promotion and that is not something creatives are necessarily good at or need to be good at really or should have to take into consideration when creating. It shouldnt be the measure of the success or the quality which too many times it is attributed to.

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[Edited 3/10/16 2:16am]

Correct, it SHOULDN'T be judged on its box office performance, but in the eyes of the money men in Hollywood, it is. Even movies that had universal praise but struggled at the box office, have seen franchises cut short. Take the latest Judge Dredd movie. Scored high with critics but flopped and the sequel was cancelled. Now, Cloud Atlas wasn't to my taste, but it got as many good reviews as bad so it's not as though it was universally detested, but it's considered a failure. Same with Jupiter Ascending. Even if their movies were critically acclaimed, the fact that they don't do much business means their Hollywood careers could be cut short. Which, on one hand, would be unfortunate because even though I'm not their biggest fan, I can appreciate that they at least try to do things differently. However, a silver lining would be that it might encourage them to do something on a smaller scale, like Bound, which I thought was really good.

As someone who enjoys and is inspired by thier work I wish them the kind of success that will allow them to continue creating.

You must check out Sense8.

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[Edited 3/10/16 5:32am]

hausofmoi7 said:

sexton said:

I like the Speed Racer movie a lot. I never understood why it was panned by most critics.

Because it had the plot of a 10 minute cartoon, blown into a two & 1/2 hour snooze fest. Even my kids hated it.

JediMaster said:

sexton said:

I like the Speed Racer movie a lot. I never understood why it was panned by most critics.

Because it had the plot of a 10 minute cartoon, blown into a two & 1/2 hour snooze fest. Even my kids hated it.

I completely disagree of course. I watched it in IMAX when it was released and did not snooze once. On the contrary, it was a wonderful explosion of action and colors--a great and faithful tribute to the cartoon.

sexton said:

JediMaster said:

Because it had the plot of a 10 minute cartoon, blown into a two & 1/2 hour snooze fest. Even my kids hated it.

I completely disagree of course. I watched it in IMAX when it was released and did not snooze once. On the contrary, it was a wonderful explosion of action and colors--a great and faithful tribute to the cartoon.

I too saw it in IMAX upon release...and I agree that it was faithful to the cartoon in spirit, but the problem is that the plot of those cartoons were paper-thin, only needing to be around 20 minutes of story max. The fact that the film was over two hours made it into a bloated, mindless spectacle with no soul whatsoever.

JediMaster said:

sexton said:

I completely disagree of course. I watched it in IMAX when it was released and did not snooze once. On the contrary, it was a wonderful explosion of action and colors--a great and faithful tribute to the cartoon.

I too saw it in IMAX upon release...and I agree that it was faithful to the cartoon in spirit, but the problem is that the plot of those cartoons were paper-thin, only needing to be around 20 minutes of story max. The fact that the film was over two hours made it into a bloated, mindless spectacle with no soul whatsoever.

Looking at the huge disparity in average scores on Metacritic between critics and the general public, your opinion is in the minority among the latter.

sexton said:

JediMaster said:

I too saw it in IMAX upon release...and I agree that it was faithful to the cartoon in spirit, but the problem is that the plot of those cartoons were paper-thin, only needing to be around 20 minutes of story max. The fact that the film was over two hours made it into a bloated, mindless spectacle with no soul whatsoever.

Looking at the huge disparity in average scores on Metacritic between critics and the general public, your opinion is in the minority among the latter.

Fine by me! The general public tends to have shitty taste. How else to explain the success of people like Nikki Minaj or Beiber?

JediMaster said:

sexton said:

Looking at the huge disparity in average scores on Metacritic between critics and the general public, your opinion is in the minority among the latter.

Fine by me! The general public tends to have shitty taste. How else to explain the success of people like Nikki Minaj or Beiber?

Sure you can say that on occasion, but Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber both average favorable reviews from critics on Metacritic. Justin actually averages a worse rating from the general public so you chose two bad examples there.

sexton said:

JediMaster said:

Fine by me! The general public tends to have shitty taste. How else to explain the success of people like Nikki Minaj or Beiber?

Sure you can say that on occasion, but Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber both average favorable reviews from critics on Metacritic. Justin actually averages a worse rating from the general public so you chose two bad examples there.

Point being, I could give fuck all for what the general public thinks is great, and I don't view majority opinion to be a validation of anything. Maybe the general audience thought it was a great film...I still say it's a bloated, colorful turd.

JediMaster said:

sexton said:

Sure you can say that on occasion, but Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber both average favorable reviews from critics on Metacritic. Justin actually averages a worse rating from the general public so you chose two bad examples there.

Point being, I could give fuck all for what the general public thinks is great, and I don't view majority opinion to be a validation of anything. Maybe the general audience thought it was a great film...I still say it's a bloated, colorful turd.

And my point was when so many people feel the opposite about a work of art then maybe it deserves a second look.

sexton said:

JediMaster said:

Point being, I could give fuck all for what the general public thinks is great, and I don't view majority opinion to be a validation of anything. Maybe the general audience thought it was a great film...I still say it's a bloated, colorful turd.

And my point was when so many people feel the opposite about a work of art then maybe it deserves a second look.

If it was a film that I was somewhat ambivilant about, maybe. I fucking HATED it, so I see no reason to revisit. It's in a league with Batman & Robin, as far as I'm concerned. Certain films are so bad, I don't need to see them again. This is definitely one of them

JediMaster said:

sexton said:

And my point was when so many people feel the opposite about a work of art then maybe it deserves a second look.

If it was a film that I was somewhat ambivilant about, maybe. I fucking HATED it, so I see no reason to revisit. It's in a league with Batman & Robin, as far as I'm concerned. Certain films are so bad, I don't need to see them again. This is definitely one of them

Except Batman & Robin is not looked at favorably by either camp so it's not in the same league.

sexton said:

JediMaster said:

If it was a film that I was somewhat ambivilant about, maybe. I fucking HATED it, so I see no reason to revisit. It's in a league with Batman & Robin, as far as I'm concerned. Certain films are so bad, I don't need to see them again. This is definitely one of them

Except Batman & Robin is not looked at favorably by either camp so it's not in the same league.

But it's equally looked down on by ME, which is all that matters in this case. Not sure why you are evangelizing on this film to me. You like it, fine. I don't, and that is equally valid.

JediMaster said:

sexton said:

Except Batman & Robin is not looked at favorably by either camp so it's not in the same league.

But it's equally looked down on by ME, which is all that matters in this case. Not sure why you are evangelizing on this film to me. You like it, fine. I don't, and that is equally valid.

I'm "evangelizing on this film" to you because you sought out this debate with your reply to my initial post. Apparently that is no longer the case and it's irritating you so I'll bow out and allow you to have the last word here.

sexton said:

JediMaster said:

But it's equally looked down on by ME, which is all that matters in this case. Not sure why you are evangelizing on this film to me. You like it, fine. I don't, and that is equally valid.

I'm "evangelizing on this film" to you because you sought out this debate with your reply to my initial post. Apparently that is no longer the case and it's irritating you so I'll bow out and allow you to have the last word here.

Fair enough...I did reply to you at first. My apologies...didn't mean to come across that way. I do actually respect your opinions on things like this...and I shouldn't have gotten testy. Lots of crap going on in my personal life that may be tainting my reactions to things overall (not intentionally). You didn't deserve my reaction, and I'm sorry for being a dick.