Smoking and A Frustrated Four Faced Liar

Childhood sweethearts Greg and Molly are new to New York. They left their quiet corner of America for the Big Apple to start a new life. They hope that life becomes more exciting and interesting. One night they decide to go to a hip Greenwich Village bar called the Four Faced Liar. They don't smoke in the bar - smoking is banned in bars in New York. They sip their drinks. They meet a couple, Bridget and her best friend Trip. Sparks fly immediately between Molly and Bridget. The two couples start hanging out after meeting in the bar. Molly and Bridget develop a steamy relationship challenging Molly's relationship with Greg. And so goes the drama of the Frameline movie The Four-Faced Liar.

Imagine if Greg and Molly could smoke in the bar. Molly lights up and sucks on the noxious death sticks while simultaneously nursing her beer. How gross! I can only imagine what smoke tastes like with the sudsy beverage. I don't know about you but I don't like to mix the taste of ashtrays with my beverages. I can never understand why smokers like to smoke while drinking and eating. Doesn't it kill the flavor of the food?

Anyway, picture Molly cocking her head back and blowing smoke rings into the air. Greg doesn't find it cool - he can't wait for Molly to quit smoking. He can already picture the walls of their new apartment turning yellow. Echh!

Molly thinks she is sexy smoking. That is the furthest from the truth to Bridget. She and Trip are sitting at a nearby table drinking jack and cokes. The smoke wafts their way. That's one way to kill a buzz. Bridget feels her personal space, not to mention her health, being violated. Bridget thinks Molly is kind of cute but she would never approach her. Bridget has a strict no smoker policy for dating.

Bridget tells Trip to move to another table.

Bridget spies another cute woman - a non-smoker - exchanging witty banter with her friend. Bridget decides to approach the girl. She takes a deep swig from her drink for added courage and motions Trip to walk to the two women. Bridget and the woman immediately hit it off. They exchange numbers and agree to go on a date. One date becomes two dates becomes moving in on the third date becomes marriage in Massachusetts two months later. Bridget has found her life mate.

Molly and Greg meanwhile start a life in New York. They eventually marry too. Life moves on day to day. In the back of her mind Molly has this nagging feeling that life is missing something, that Greg might not be everything for her. She can't pin down what she is missing. Is this all there is?

Greg still wants Molly to quit smoking. Her worries about both of their healths. Can't she just quit!

What a different movie The Four-Faced Liar becomes when smoking is allowed in the bar! Smoking turns people off and harms their health. Unlike the claims of some people, smoking bans in bars adds to the atmosphere in the establishment and promotes business. Nonsmokers can enjoy their time in the establishments without the interference and hazard of smoke. Smoking bans can even promote love!

Have fun at Frameline and look out for Butt Out's PSAs. We hope you find someone special at any of the film festival's smoke free events. Enjoy!

Stay in Touch!

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

It's Movie Time!

Frameline is coming right up this June! Frameline is the film festival that portrays the diversity of our queer lives. Butt Out is right in the middle of the action. We are the official sponsor of a collection of short films, The Golden Pin, and we are the Community Partner of a feature film, The Four-Faced Liar. Butt Out is also helping to counteract the impact of the smoking that takes place in these films by running two different public service announcements that creatively address the hazards of smoking.

The two movies that Butt Out is connected with are pretty good. The Four-Faced Liar is a flick about a hetero couple, Greg and Molly, that moves to New York City looking for new adventures. They find it when they meet Bridget and Trip at a bar called The Four-Faced Liar. Molly and Bridget become friends - the dangerously smoldering kind. Molly has to sort out her feelings when she has a fight with Greg and runs into the arms of Bridget. The movie is playing June 20 at 6:30 at the Castro Theater. This should be a good one!

The Golden Pin should be a good time too. This is a series of shorts featuring Asian characters that is geared toward the boys. The films include Waiting 4 Goliath, The Golden Pin, Little Love, Peking Turkey, Masala Mama and Little. The Golden Pin is a diverse assortments of stories about gay love and experience. Butt Out's PSA that will run before this collection of shorts is an encore of last year's popular "boys" PSA that humorously discusses the link between impotence and smoking. The Golden Pin is playing June 23 at 4:00 PM at the Castro Theater. Mark your calendar!

It is really important that Butt Out is running these PSAs. Smoking is endemic in the movies. The tobacco companies love it that way and pay for product placements. Smoking in the movies is harmful to people, particularly children and young adults. The more smoking young people see on screen, the more likely they are to become smokers and, later in life, to die from tobacco-related diseases. R-rating future smoking would avert 60,000 tobacco deaths a year in the U.S. This is a really big deal to our community especially since so many LGBT films contain smoking and our queer young adults smoke more than twice as much as others their age!

Think about the impact of smoking in the movies the next time you go to the movies. In the meantime, check out Butt Out's sponsored and Community Partner movies at Frameline and enjoy our PSAs. I'll be there, popcorn in hand.

Stay in Touch!

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.