High in Chelsea

John Travolta's 16-year-old son dies in Bahamas

2009-01-02T15:06:00.001-08:00

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NASSAU, Bahamas - John Travolta's teenage son, Jett, died in the Bahamas after falling ill and hitting his head at his family's vacation home, police said Friday. A house caretaker found Jett, 16, unconscious in a bathroom late Friday morning. He was taken by ambulance to a Freeport hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement from chief police superintendent Basil Rahming.

The teenager had last been seen going into the bathroom on Thursday and had a history of seizures, according to the statement. Police said they are planning an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Another police spokeswoman, Loretta Mackey, said Jett apparently hit his head on the bathtub.

A spokeswoman for Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport said she could not release any information because of privacy concerns.

Jett was the oldest child of Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, who also have an 8-year-old daughter. The family arrived on a private plane Tuesday and had been vacationing at their home in the Old Bahama Bay resort community.

"The Travolta family has become like family to us at Old Bahama Bay and we extend our deepest sympathies to them," said Robert Gidel, president of Ginn Resorts, the property's owner.

Kathy Griffin and her heckler

2009-01-02T12:53:00.001-08:00

Don't watch if you're experimenting with acid

2008-12-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

The devil wears crap

2008-12-15T14:57:00.002-08:00

Biggest fashion faux pas of 2008 goes to... Vogue editor and style icon Anna Wintour

By Paul Thompson

Style queen Anna Wintour committed the biggest fashion faux pas of 2008.

The futuristic Chanel gown worn by the Vogue editor at a New York fashion event topped the list of the worst outfits compiled by prestigious Time magazine.

Wintour wore the Karl Lagerfield designed dress to what is described as New York's party of the year, was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May.

She was host of the £3,000 a head bash which attracted dozens of celebrities, including Tom Cruise, his wife Katie Holmes, George Clooney and the Beckhams.

But with her silver dress, which one critic described as a cast off from the sci-fi film "Dune", Wintour stole the show.

It also earned her the top spot on Time magazine's list of fashion faux pas beating out outfits chosen by Madonna, Janet Jackson and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Commenting on the dress, the magazine said: "When the history of modern fashion is written, this will be its Waterloo.

"The unimpeachably stylish Vogue editor Anna Wintour turns up at the fashion event of the year, the Met's Costume Institute Gala in New York City, in a dress that makes her look as if she were encrusted with giant fossils.

"Fashionistas, how they love to look old."

The event was based around the opening of the Costume Institute's exhibition, “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy.”

Wintour, 59, is known as a fashion icon on both sides of the Atlantic and in her position as Vogue editor can make or break a fashion house.

She is known for her distinctive pageboy bob haircut and insistence on always wearing sunglasses.

See more faux pas here

If you can't lay one, steal one

2008-12-15T14:50:00.002-08:00

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Gay penguins expelled from zoo colony for stealing eggs are given their own to look after following animal rights protest

By Caroline Graham

A pair of gay penguins thrown out of their zoo colony for repeatedly stealing eggs have been given some of their own to look after following a protest by animal rights groups.

Last month the birds were segregated after they were caught placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their eggs.

But angry visitors to Polar Land in Harbin, northern China, complained it wasn't fair to stop the couple from becoming surrogate fathers and urged zoo bosses to give them a chance.

In response, zookeepers gave the pair two eggs laid by an inexperienced first-time mother.

'We decided to give them two eggs from another couple whose hatching ability had been poor and they've turned out to be the best parents in the whole zoo,' said one of the keepers.

'It's very encouraging and if this works out well we will try to arrange for them to become real parents themselves with artificial insemination.'

Wildlife experts at the park explain that despite being gay the three-year-old male birds are still driven by an urge to be fathers.

'One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite the fact that they can't have eggs naturally, it does not take away their biological drive to be a parent,' said one.

One campaigner who did not want to be named welcomed the move and said: 'It wasn't fair to stop them becoming parents and keep them apart from all the other birds just because of the way nature has made them.'

Last month zookeepers said the couple were removed from the group not because of discrimination, but so as not to disturb the colony during hatching time.

Barack got back

2008-12-15T14:30:00.001-08:00

The holidays - perfect time to give up drinking

2008-12-15T14:23:00.002-08:00

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Tara Reid Heads To Rehab

LOS ANGELES — A publicist says Tara Reid has checked herself into rehab. Jack Ketsoyan said Friday that the "American Pie" star went to the Promises Treatment Center. He did not specify what she was being treated for or when she entered the facility.

"We appreciate your respect to her and her family's privacy at this time," he said in a statement.

Reid, 33, earned a reputation as a drunken partier after famously being photographed on a red carpet with her breast exposed, apparently unaware that the strap of her dress had fallen off.

Her film credits include "Van Wilder" and "The Big Lebowski." She also hosted the short-lived, half-hour show "Taradise" on E!

He deserves every penny

2008-12-15T14:15:00.003-08:00

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Madonna Pays Off Guy Ritchie To Finalize Divorce
RAPHAEL G. SATTER

LONDON — Madonna has settled her divorce with ex-husband Guy Ritchie by also parting with at least 50 million pounds ($76 million), the singer's spokeswoman said Monday.

Liz Rosenberg told The Associated Press the settlement was in the range of 50 million to 60 million pounds ($76 million to $92 million) as part of their divorce agreement, a figure she said included the value of the couple's country home, Ashcombe House in western England, which Ritchie will keep.

Rosenberg said the couple's west London pub _ the Punchbowl _ would also remain with Ritchie.

A representative for the British filmmaker declined comment.

The couple were reportedly worth some $525 million, the vast majority of which belonged to Madonna. Ritchie had an estimated $35 million fortune.

Their multimillion pound (dollar) settlement is about twice the size paid out in Britain's latest high-profile celebrity divorce, that of former Beatle Paul McCartney and model Heather Mills.

"I'd assume it's one of the largest payouts ever in a divorce settlement," Rosenberg said.

The biggest contested divorce settlement in English history was the 48 million pounds (about $90 million at the time) insurance tycoon John Charman was ordered to pay his ex-wife in 2006.

How to dress a president

2008-12-15T10:46:00.003-08:00

Inauguration '09:
What Should Obama Wear?

by David Lipke

Although the world now knows that President-elect Barack Obama will wear a Hart Schaffner Marx single-button, notch-lapel tuxedo for the evening festivities on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, that isn’t stopping others from lining up for the role of the administration’s First Tailor. So WWD asked men’s designers what they thought the new president should wear on his historic day.

With his lanky 6-foot, 2-inch frame, basketball-toned physique and sophisticated élan, Barack Obama has all the makings of a presidential style icon. With endless references to John F. Kennedy, designers are eagerly anticipating a return to Camelot-era glamour. But Obama has cultivated a style all his own. Kennedy was a product of the East Coast establishment and its preppy, New England aesthetic, while the President-elect has humbler roots — albeit roots that led him to Columbia and Harvard (Kennedy’s alma mater). Indeed, Obama’s style tends to reflect his political philosophy: practical but carefully considered; modern but accessible.

While JFK was said to be horrified when he appeared on the cover of GQ — he didn’t want to be seen as fashion-conscious — Obama has happily appeared on the covers of GQ, Esquire, Men’s Vogue and even Men’s Health (with all his clothes on). “This is the first president in a very long time that has a great body for clothing,” noted Duckie Brown’s Steven Cox and Daniel Silver. “Because that’s true, he can wear a more modern, slim silhouette.”

For Obama’s big day on Jan. 20 on the steps of the Capitol, designers mostly see him in updated yet classic sartorial style. Tommy Hilfiger envisions a patriotic color combo of a navy blue suit, white shirt and red tie, while Brioni advocates for the iconic three-piece gray flannel suit, with an Italian twist: double vents. Of course, with men’s wear, it’s all about the subtle details, so Paul Smith edges his suit lapels with black grosgrain tape, and Kenneth Cole suggests a Fifties-era — but chic again — tie bar. Come evening and the inaugural balls, Rag & Bone and Dsquared want Obama to don a full-on tuxedo with tails, but Savile Row’s Richard James really pushes the envelope with a sequined tuxedo jacket.

Interestingly, none of the designers include that pesky campaign issue in their sketches: an American flag lapel pin.

See more here

Colin Powell reflects on Don't Ask, Don't Tell

2008-12-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

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Colin Powell a Reformed Sinner?
by Emma Ruby-Sachs

There is nothing people like more than a reformed sinner and Colin Powell is doing one heck of a job campaigning for reformer of the year. Yesterday, he told Fareed Zakaria that he believes it is time to review Don't Ask Don't Tell because, "times have changed, it is not 1993, it's 2008." The talk with Zakaria is one of a slew of interviews and public statements made by the former Secretary of State on the military policy regarding LGBT personnel.

But this radical shift in Powell's stance on LGBT issues should not give him a carte blanche.

Let us not forget that it was Powell who led the charge for the implementation of Don't Ask Don't Tell in 1993. He said then, "I continue to believe strongly that the presence of homosexuals within the armed forces would be prejudicial to good order and discipline." (USA Today, November 16, 1992) In support of this position, Powell told Ted Koppel that in the military, "we have to shower together."

According to the San Francisco Chronicle's coverage of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testimony to Congress on DADT, Powell stated, "'cohesive teams of warriors who bind so tightly' that they can charge into machine gun fire could not be sustained with known homosexuals among their number." He further testified that he would be troubled if a soldier of his showed up at a gay pride parade dressed in drag. (San Francisco Chronicle, July 21, 1993).

The fact that these comments were made fifteen years ago does not make them any less offensive. Punishing LGBT soldiers because their very presence "outs" the homophobia of other military personnel is tantamount to segregating black students in high school because their presence upsets white teenagers and interrupts their learning process.

When presented with this logic, Powell told reporters that, "Unlike race or gender, sexuality is not a benign trait. It is manifested by behavior. While it would be decidedly biased to assume certain behaviors based on gender or membership in a particular racial group, the same is not true for sexuality."

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell justified homophobia as a simple objection to a behavioral choice. The obvious hypocrisy of condemning racism while upholding homophobia is easily obliterated by the "sexuality as choice" argument. Too bad Powell's analysis is not supported by factual evidence and most personal testimony refutes the choice theory.

Yesterday, Powell may have asked for a review of the discriminatory policy of the military. But he is still on record justifying the exclusion of LGBT people, equating sexual orientation with lifestyle choices and is personally responsible for the termination of 9,488 employees under DADT since 1993.

We may all love a reformed sinner, but pitching in for Obama and calling for a soft review of DADT shouldn't cut it when it comes to Powell.

Prince William daintily pees on a fence, no need for a royal flush

2008-11-20T17:09:00.001-08:00

Cheyenne calls Kathy Lee a bitch - no one disagrees

2008-11-20T15:24:00.000-08:00

"I just wish he’d come over on this side of the street."

2008-11-20T06:07:00.001-08:00

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NeNe: 5 Ways Housewives Has Changed My Life
November 19, 2008

The Real Housewives of Atlanta wrapped its first season with another dramatic episode Tuesday — but fans can’t get enough of the fabulous NeNe Leakes, the season’s breakout star. Before the cast reteams for what promises to be an explosive reunion special (Nov. 25 on Bravo), Leakes stopped by PEOPLE’s New York offices to talk about what’s different about her — and not just her new ‘do (pictured) — since becoming one of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Here, in NeNe’s words, are the five ways the Bravo show has changed her life for the better. – Brian Orloff

• “I have tons of fans who love me and come up to me everywhere I go.”

• “I’ve learned a lot of things about myself. I’m learning to be a little bit more patient. I’m learning to tone certain things down. I’m learning to be not as outspoken.”

• “My business has increased. My foundation Twisted Hearts brings awareness to domestic violence against women in the community. I have tons of people reaching out to me wanting to help me with my foundation. Had I not done the show, I would not have this platform.”

• “I have made new friends with the New York Housewives — Bethenny and Jill — and the Orange County Housewives. The one I love the most is Vicki. I’ve learned about my friendships that I’ve had throughout my life, too. There were definitely people that I needed to let out of my circle. So, I’m learning to keep my circle of friends very close.

• “I’m not surprised that Anderson Cooper is talking about me! Wouldn’t you talk about me? I’m not surprised. Anderson Cooper is gorgeous. He is THE silver fox, and I just wish he’d come over on this side of the street. And come over here and talk to me! Wendy Williams talks about me every single week. She sent messages to me. She said if she had to be any housewife it would be me. I’m not surprised. She has to change a few of her ways herself. We have a lot of celebrity people reaching out to us.”

Marc Jacobs Wants to Marry Lorenzo Martone

2008-11-19T19:44:00.003-08:00

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Remember the summer’s furious speculation over whether Marc Jacobs had married his boyfriend, Lorenzo Martone, in France? It may be that Lorenzo said no, or at least, not yet. After the Cinema Society screening of Milk, which tells the story of California's first openly gay elected official, Jacobs said marriage could be in his future. “I am seriously considering marriage,” he told us.

Gesturing to Martone at his side, Jacobs added, “If I can get him to marry me, I would.” Jacobs claimed that this was not just a case of post-Milk pride. “I’d do it in a minute,” Jacobs insisted.

He laughed when we reminded him that California is not an option. “I refuse to let anyone tell me who I can and cannot marry, and who I can and cannot love. That’s just bullshit,” said Jacobs. “Wherever we’d have to go. If he’s up for it, I’m up for it.”

What would it take for Lorenzo to say yes? “We’re just finding the right moment and the right opportunity, getting to know each other better and better, and make sure it’s the right choice,” Martone said quietly, in a soft Brazilian accent. “But we’re very … proud.”

Cheyenne to star in Mormon extravaganza

2008-11-19T19:15:00.003-08:00

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'South Park' Creators Take on Salt Lake in New Mormon Musical!

by Jarett Wieselman

It's a good thing Trey Parker and Matt Stone like controversy because it sounds like they're in for quite a lot of it with their newest project - a Broadway musical based on the lives and loves of Mormons! After getting their lyrical feet wet with an Oscar-nominated song from 1999's "South Park:Bigger, Longer & Uncut," Trey & Matt - along with Robert Lopez, the co-writer of "Avenue Q" - have finally settled on a script and are workshopping their new production aptly titled, "Mormon Musical."

Oh, and did I mention that Cheyenne Jackson - one of Broadway's most beloved actors - is the star of the potentially polarizing show? Yes, that brick wall of a man gave me the first show scoop at Friday's Out 100 Party, where he was honored. "It's hilarious - very acerbic and biting. It offends everybody but does what 'South Park' does best, which is by the end it comes around and has something great to say," Cheyenne told Pop Wrap.

"I play the main missionary, Elder something," he said, straining to recall the name of his character. But the biggest unknown still is who else will be joining the cast. When I asked Cheyenne which other actors would be co-starring, all he would say (through the world's largest grin) is, "a lot of people - all amazing." That naturally leads me to believe "Mormon Musical" is about to become one of the most star-studded shows to hit Broadway in years!

The show starts rehearsals in December, so expect to see it on the Great White Way sometime in 2009! Oh, and for all the Cheyenne fans out there, check out the rest of our interview after the jump!

Cheyenne-Jackson-new-play.jpgPop Wrap: I was such a huge fan of "Xanadu" - how difficult is it to get over a show closing?

Cheyenne Jackson: It's really tough because you become such a close knit group. My partner calls musical theater people 'carnies' because we bond into such an immediate family. So it's very, very hard not to see them every day.

PW: I read somewhere that the shorts you wore in "Xanadu" got progressively shorter as the show wore on, is that true?

Cheyenne: That's kind of true (laughs) but only because as jeans frey they just get shorter and shorter. I had like four pairs - shortest to longest - and which ones I wore depended on how sassy I was feeling. Like for the Tony Awards, I grabbed my sassiest ones and hiked 'em up. You gotta work it, I had been doing it for 513 shows, so I figured I might as well rock it on the Tony's!

PW: This was your first show where the audience was seated on the stage - what're your feelings on this new trend?

Cheyenne: It wasn't my favorite at first, to be honest because I don't like to be distracted and when I start the show on my hands and knees in the middle of the stage there were always people five feet away loudly whispering, "Hi Cheyenne! Woot!" I just need a little quiet but you get used to it and I think it's a trend that's going to continue so I better get used to it.

PW: How often do people shout, "Get out of here, Cheyenne Jackson" at you?

Cheyenne: Um, at least once every three days.

PW: Did you ever anticipate that a small cameo on an internet show would become such a huge phenomenon?

Cheyenne: No, not at all. It was an improv one night and it just happened. We were all laughing so hard, I kinda knew immediately that it was going to turn into something.

PW: So, we're here at the Out 100 Awards - where you're being honored - given what's going on in the world right now, is this night bittersweet or hopeful?

Cheyenne: A little bit of both, mostly inspiring though. As frustrating as Prop 8 has been, we have to look back at the last 60 years and see how far we've come. And with Barack Obama's election last Tuesday, we have to take stock and have hope.

PW: Do you think people have finally realized how much they can affect change?

Cheyenne: Yes, definitely. I think the election showed us that people can have a voice - a lot of people throughout my seven years here have always been like "meh" about politics, but now, people are so excited and empowered.

PW: I sat about three rows behind you at the "Project Runway" finale fashion show and I heard Michael Kors ask you from across the aisle if you were wearing breakaway pants - is that a norm for you?

Cheyenne: Ha! Michael Kors always teases me. He's been a dear friend and always comes to all my shows, I just think he gets a pseudo-stripper vibe from me.

Who cares if his face has more lines than a street map of Paris

2008-11-19T18:43:00.001-08:00

Tina Brown: Bush Library To Be "Halloween Shop Of Horrors," Presidency "A Chapter Of Hideous Accidents"

2008-11-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

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The Daily Beast founder and editor-in-chief Tina Brown appeared on "The Rachel Maddow Show" (guest-hosted by Alison Stewart, wife of executive producer Bill Wolff) Tuesday night. Brown's segment was focused on the 62 days remaining in the Bush presidency, and she did not mince words in dissecting the lame duck.

"One of the things that I'm told at the moment is that Bush is entirely focused right now on his legacy, on his library," she said. "That's all he really wants to talk about is his library. Because he's trying to build a legacy. But quite honestly, one can only think that that library is a Halloween House of Horrors. From the Guantanamo room to the Abu Ghraib room to the Hurricane Katrina room, this is going to be a very interesting library when it is built."

Brown also said that Bush's presidency has had "so many disasters" that, unlike previous lame duck Presidents, he is not "looking back in a mellow fashion on his Presidency, or even feeling that he has busy things to do so much as a President who is kind of punch-drunk with a series of debacles which even he — in his great denial and refusal to accept his own failures — has to accept at this point has been a chapter of hideous accidents, if you want to be charitable about it."

So what if she can't find L.A., at least she has her looks and youth...

2008-11-19T18:33:00.001-08:00

on, wait...

Oh Ne Ne she di'nt

2008-11-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

Reunion show of Real Housewives of Atlanta

Niles got hitched

2008-11-16T18:29:00.002-08:00

From Advocate.com

David Hyde Pierce is Gay, Married... and Marching Against Prop. 8

As Dr. Niles Crane on the hit sitcom Frasier, David Hyde Pierce had a great deadpan. That also extended to his own life: for years he wouldn’t confirm or deny being gay. Since then he thawed enough to thank his longtime partner, Brian Hargrove, in his 2007 Tony Award acceptance speech. And on Saturday, Pierce was one baseball-capped protester among maybe 20,000 others marching for equality in Los Angeles.

By Anne Stockwell

November 16, 2008

David Hyde Pierce is Gay, Married... and Marching Against Prop. 8

As Dr. Niles Crane on the hit sitcom Frasier, David Hyde Pierce had a great deadpan. That also extended to his own life: for years he wouldn’t confirm or deny being gay. Since then he thawed enough to thanked his longtime partner, Brian Hargrove, in his 2007 Tony Award acceptance speech.

And on Saturday, Pierce was one baseball-capped protester among maybe 20,000 others marching for equality in Los Angeles. He was still deadpan -- dead serious. But in five minutes he told me more than he’s ever said in his stellar career.

As we talked, I noticed Pierce was wearing a wedding ring. I asked, and he confirmed: “Yeah, we got married three weeks ago.”

Advocate.com: David, why are you here now? For a long time you’ve chosen to be circumspect about -- I remember you saying, “My life is an open book, I just don’t choose to read it.” Why now?

David Hyde Pierce: For one thing, I said that 15 years ago, so life has changed a lot in 15 years. But this is not about being gay. This is about having the basic right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and having that put up for a vote, not only here in California but across the country, and that is just fundamentally not what this country is about. And I completely understand the passions on both sides of this issue, but like I said, those rights are not negotiable no matter whether people like it or not. We’re not trying to force anything on anyone. We’re trying to go about our lives and live them the best that we can. So that’s why I’m here, and that’s why all these people are here.

Do you foresee now that more celebrities will become involved in speaking out against Prop. 8, now that it’s passed?

I have no idea what celebrities will do. I think the real issue for me is that this should never have been something that people voted on. This is not a country where people get to vote on people’s private lives, where people vote on whether we get to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. That’s part of the fundamental right of being an American. And so that to me is the miscarriage of justice—not the way the vote went. I’m proud that at least in California it was close. There are other states where it wasn’t close at all, and they even took away the right to adoption. To me the issue is, this should not be an issue divided by voters.

When friends ask you to separate, or distinguish between, religion and civil law on this issue -- it seems to be a point of confusion for so many people—what do you tell them?

A: Religion and civil law are already separated in this country. And I actually don’t think it’s so much an issue of separation of church and state; I think it’s a separation of emotion and fear, and passions getting stirred, from reality. The reality is, this whole marriage thing doesn’t affect anyone but the people getting married. And people have been led to believe and the passion’s been stirred up that it’s going to affect their children and it’s almost as they think, if gay people can get married, then the whole country has to turn gay. It’s craziness, and it doesn’t deal with the simple reality. The reality of the vote, what people were really voting on here, was, do you believe that the people of California should have a right to vote on who you choose to marry, whether you’re straight or gay. That was the vote. And miraculously, the people of California voted yes, we think everybody should get a vote in our marriage. They can’t have meant that. They can’t have really understood what they were voting for and voted for that, because it doesn’t make any sense.

The Advocate visits Rachel Maddow

2008-11-16T18:23:00.002-08:00

The New American Classic

Rachel Maddow’s not only bringing thinking back to TV news, she’s assuring herself a spot on the Mount Rushmore of broadcasting, right next to Murrow, Cronkite, and Brokaw.

By Suzan Colón
December 2, 2008

It’s deceptively quiet at 9 o’clock on a weeknight in the MSNBC studio at New York City’s Rockefeller Center. Shoulder-to-shoulder workstations rest on a rat maze of tables, and a smiling jack-o’-lantern sits atop the first desk at the door -- an indication that this might not be a typically staid newsroom. At the far end of the floor is a small show set, where Rachel Maddow is typing at breakneck speed during a commercial break, keeping up with the constantly altering face of the U.S. political scene even as her live show is on the air.

“Change” has been the promise of this year’s historic election, but in this small studio a big change has already taken place. MSNBC took a risk in giving a prime-time news show to Maddow, the host of an eponymous radio show on Air America; how would an unapologetically far left–leaning lesbian do with her own news show? The answer came when, her second week on the air, Maddow beat the ratings suspenders right off the mighty Larry King, topping King both in total viewers and in the 25–54 demographic. And in less than two months, MSNBC’s ratings during her time slot spiked from an average viewership of 800,000 to 1.7 million.

“I am a proxy for everyone I know,” Maddow says to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman as she looks for some sign of hope about the country’s financial free fall during that night’s “Talk Me Down” segment. (Things being what they are, even Nobel laureate Krugman is unable to help.) Her offhand statement sums up a large part of Maddow’s sudden, intense appeal: To her viewers, she’s a peer. Other pundits are white men as angry as the angry white men they grill; most political analysts seem detached from what’s happening around them. Maddow clearly knows what she’s talking about, but she speaks plainly, with the familiar pop-culture dialect used in real-people discussions at the bar; she described the presidential debates as “non sequitur-y” and used the jack-o’-lantern to illustrate the economy’s collapse by comparing Lehman Bros. bigwigs to kids who gorge themselves sick on Halloween candy. When exposing the rhetoric and outright lies of politicians, she ditches courtroom-style accusations for barely contained mirth. She’s sarcastic, but not bitingly so, and everyone is in on the joke—even those from whom she’s gleefully demanding honesty. Whether by nature or keen observation, she’s broken from both the holier-than-thou and gloom-and-doom approaches to punditry and offers something different: truth, with a twist. She’s now the go-to gal for people too embarrassed to admit they were getting much of their news from Jon Stewart.

Even more exciting than having achieved this level of success as an out lesbian is the fact that her intelligence, wit, and fresh take on politics have overshadowed the fact that she’s an out lesbian.

“Finally! Me being on television and being out is not a cover story in the mainstream news,” Maddow says after the show wraps and she heads to her office. There, she performs a fascinating transformation. First she switches from one of her tasteful, understated on-camera suits back into her off-duty uniform of baggy jeans, sneakers, a T-shirt, and a track jacket. (Actually, she undressed in the ladies’ room, explaining, “I was in my office, and I looked out the window and saw some guy changing his shirt in his office. And I thought, Hey, if I can see you…”) Then she makes a beeline for the makeup room, where she takes out five-week-old contact lenses -- “I’ve been too busy to get new ones” -- and smears goo all over her eyes, creating huge blue-gray eye-shadow circles that look like cartoon shiners. After it all gets wiped off with a tissue, the horn-rimmed glasses go on and -- ta-da! -- Lois Lane has morphed into Clark Kent.

Since becoming a “10-year overnight sensation,” as Maddow describes herself, she’s had to mix business with dinner, talking to the press about her program every night after the show wraps. “The trick is to find someplace that has decent food at 11 o’clock, good drinks -- I’m a big fan of old-man bars -- and is quiet enough to talk,” she says. Toward that end, she’s become a somewhat incongruous regular at the Waldorf Astoria’s Bull and Bear steakhouse. “You go in first,” she says, “because you’re dressed nicely, and I look like your nerdy cousin.”

There, over a perfectly made old-fashioned, Maddow -- out, proud, and unafraid to go head-to-talking-head with far-right Republican Pat Buchanan -- shows the first sign of not being completely at home in the spotlight. “I feel lucky to have all this attention and all of these people wanting to talk to me about what I’m doing,” she says. “The only hesitation I have is that I’m not interested in media about media. I feel like I sometimes struggle to be interesting in talking about how I got here.”

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Indian movie has fun with gay theme

2008-11-16T17:51:00.006-08:00

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Review: 'Dostana'

Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra star in a Bollywood comedy jampacked with fun. There's also a slightly rebellious nod to gay life.

By Mark Olsen
November 17, 2008

In the Indian feature "Dostana," two straight men pretend to be a gay couple to live in a luxurious Miami apartment. When they realize their new roommate will be a gorgeous (straight) woman, the charade immediately becomes more complicated. The film projects a fairly benign, effectively neutral attitude toward gay life, but homosexuality remains officially illegal in India, making "Dostana" playfully rebellious if not exactly a grand social statement. Rather, the film mines the situation as a freewheeling comedy of manners with an appropriate touch of weepy melodrama and, this being Bollywood, songs, songs, songs in the darndest places.

The film is the first feature for director Tarun Mansukhani, working with the successful producer Karan Johar, and "Dostana" feels like the product of a fresh sensibility overseen by a sure hand. Just in case the three leads -- Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra -- don't project enough eye-catching charisma for audiences (which they certainly do), superstar Shilpa Shetty appears during the musical number that runs under the opening credits.

At times, it seems as if Mansukhani is using the Miami locale to goof on the imagery of American directors like Brett Ratner and Michael Bay, and the film is invested with a cross-cultural media savvy. Besides one moment that riffs on the chest-waxing scene from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," the film includes a lighthearted discussion of which characters from well-known Indian films might have been gay, and a romantic dance choreographed to match up with the hit movie "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" playing in the background.

Running just shy of 2 1/2 hours, the film has too much of everything, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. By turns exuberant and goofy and mushy and yearning, "Dostana" plays like a super-sized pilot episode of "Three's Company: Miami" with crack tunes and jampacked with fun.

Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg get artsy, and naked

2008-11-16T17:43:00.001-08:00

One of the oddest sketches SNL has produced, it's definitely not for the squeamish.

Marines investigated over the 'kidnap and violent sex attack' on a Royal Navy man

2008-11-16T17:26:00.001-08:00

Source
By Mail On Sunday Reporter

A group of Royal Marines are being investigated over an alleged serious assault on a Navy rating.

The Able Seaman is said to have been hooded before being kidnapped, subjected to the violent attack and sexually assaulted.

Several arrests have been made over the incident, which allegedly took place after the 32-year-old rating argued with the Commandos during a shooting competition at the National Shooting Centre at Bisley, Surrey. A member of HMS Iron Duke's ships company manning a general purpose machine gun

Later the Marines allegedly took the seaman – based at the Navy’s HMS Raleigh training centre at Torpoint, Cornwall – to a secluded piece of land a mile from the firing range and carried out the attack.

A source said: ‘He was ambushed and had a sack put over his head. He was kidnapped and taken off to a lonely spot about a mile away.

‘The Able Seaman was forced to the ground and seriously assaulted both physically and sexually. He has been seriously traumatised.’

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the arrests.

It is understood that so far nobody has been charged over the incident in July.

HMS Raleigh is considered the Royal Navy's premier training establishment in the South West.

Recruits undergo a gruelling nine-week training course.

Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg like you haven't seen them

2008-11-16T17:05:00.001-08:00

Watch before NBC deletes it.

Gay reality tv, Australian style

2008-11-16T16:56:00.003-08:00

From SameSame
Surf Camp Is Coming

Local News, By Tim D, 13th November, 2008

You only need to look outside to get excited that Summer is on its way here in Australia – and this Summer we’re hitting the beaches with a brand spanking new online TV show. Welcome to Surf Camp!

Surf Camp will be rolling out over Summer on Same Same with a new episode every few weeks. The premise is simple: we follow 5 gay boys as they learn to surf for the very first time.

But the outcome of the show is in your hands. After viewing each 5-minute episode of Surf Camp, you’re invited to come back to Same Same and vote for your favourite boy. At the end of Summer, we’ll be left with the ultimate Surf Camper.

Over the coming weeks you’ll meet the five boys – Jesse, Brennan, Ryan, Ben and Josh – the surf instructor Raf and Surf Camp host Shane Jenek. Surf Camp is brought to you by Same Same and filmmaker extraordinaire Vincent Rommelaere.

Reaction to Prop 8 across the country

2008-11-16T16:48:00.002-08:00

Via 365gay.com

Gay rights rallies nationwide over Calif. ban
By The Associated Press

Gay rights supporters waving rainbow colors marched, chanted and danced in cities coast to coast Saturday to protest the California vote that banned gay marriage there and urge supporters not to quit the fight for the right to wed.

Many cast it as a civil rights issue.

Crowds gathered near public buildings in small communities and major cities including New York, San Francisco and Chicago to vent their frustrations, celebrate gay relationships and renew calls for change.

“Civil marriages are a civil right, and we’re going to keep fighting until we get the rights we deserve as American citizens,” Karen Amico said in Philadelphia, holding up a sign reading “Don’t Spread H8″.

“We are the American family, we live next door to you, we teach your children, we take care of your elderly,” said Heather Baker a special education teacher from Boston who addressed the crowd at Boston’s City Hall Plaza. “We need equal rights across the country.”

Massachusetts and Connecticut, which began same sex weddings this past week, are the only two states that allow gay marriage. All 30 states that have voted on gay marriage have enacted bans.

Protests following the vote on Proposition 8 in California, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, have sometimes been angry and even violent, and demonstrators have targeted faiths that supported the ban, including the Mormon church.

However, representatives of Join the Impact, which organized Saturday’s demonstrations, asked supporters to be respectful and refrain from attacking other groups during the rallies.

Seattle blogger Amy Balliett, who started the planning for the protests when she set up a Web page three days after the California vote, said persuasion is impossible without civility.

“If we can move anybody past anger and have a respectful conversation, then you can plant the seed of change,” she said.

Balliett said supporters in 300 cities in the U.S. and other countries were holding marches, and she estimated 1 million people would participate, based on responses at the Web sites her group set up.

“We need to show the world when one thing happens to one of us, it happens to all of us,” she said.

The protests were widely reported to be peaceful and the mood in Boston was generally upbeat, with attendees dancing to the song “Respect.” Signs cast the fight for gay marriage as the new civil rights movement, including one that read “Gay is the new black.”

But anger over the ban and its backers was evident at the protests.

One sign in Chicago read: “Catholic Fascists Stay Out of Politics.”

“I just found out that my state doesn’t really think I’m a person,” said Rose Aplustill, 21, a Boston University student from Los Osos, Calif., who was one of thousands at the Boston rally.

In San Francisco demonstrators took shots at some religious groups that supported the ban, including a sign aimed at the Mormon church and its abandoned practice of polygamy that read: “You have three wives; I want one husband.”

Chris Norberg, who married his partner in June, also referred to the racial divisions that arose after exit polls found that majorities of blacks and Hispanics supported the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

“They voted against us,” Norberg said.

Demonstrators in Washington marched from the U.S. Capitol through the city carrying signs and chanting “One, two, three, four, love is what we’re fighting for!”

A public plaza at the foot of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge was packed by a cheering crowd, including people who waved rainbow flags and wore pink buttons that said “I do.”

Protests were low-key in North Dakota, where people lined a bridge in Fargo carrying signs and flags.

Mike Bernard, who was in the crowd at City Hall in Baltimore, said Proposition 8 could end up being a good thing for gay rights advocates.

“It was a swift kick in the rear end,” he said.

In Chicago, Keith Smith, 42, a postal worker, and his partner, Terry Romo, 34, a Wal-Mart store manager, had photos of their wedding ceremony which they held even though gay marriage is not legal in Illinois.

“We’re not going to wait for no law,” Smith said. “But time’s going to be on our side and it’s going to change.”

Cynthia Nixon and Joy talk gay marriage

2008-11-16T16:45:00.001-08:00

Whoopi joins protest in NYC

2008-11-16T16:38:00.002-08:00

Watch Whoopi discuss it on The View.

वंदा आउट!

2008-11-16T16:13:00.005-08:00

A few years ago out on Fire Island I heard that there had been a bar brawl among the ladies in the neighboring town of Cherry Grove. What made it a less than routine story was that Wanda Sykes was there that evening. That's when I figured she liked the girls. It took longer than I thought, but she finally came out.

From the AfterEllen
Wanda Sykes Comes Out at Prop. 8 Rally

By Sarah Warn

Comedian and actress Wanda Sykes officially came out this weekend, announcing to the estimated crowd of 1,000 gathered in Las Vegas at one of the many rallies for gay rights taking place around the country on Saturday that she’s gay, and that she legally married her wife in California on Oct. 25.

Sykes (who divorced her husband of seven years in 1998), has spoken out about gay rights issues many times in the past, recently participated in a campaign to fight anti-gay slurs, and has openly referred to her wife in some of her stand-up routines.

But she has always declined to specifically discuss her sexual orientation publicly — until now.

“I don’t really talk about my sexual orientation," she told the crowd at the Las Vegas GLBT Community Center. "I didn’t feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life."

"Everybody that knows me personally, they know I’m gay. But that’s the way people should be able to live their lives.”

But the passage of Proposition 8, she told them, spurred her decision to officially come out. “ We took a huge leap forward and then got dragged 12 feet back. I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked — our community was attacked."

“Now, I gotta get in their face," she continued. "I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”

Sykes joins WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes as one of the few high-profile black women in America who have publicly come out as a lesbian or bisexual woman.

Just before the Nov. 4 election, Sykes talked about homophobia within the black community on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, acknowledging there are differences between the black civil rights movement and the gay civil rights movement, but saying, "discrimination is discrimination, and of all people, black people should know about discrimination."

Currently co-starring with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the CBS comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine, Sykes — along with Jasika Nicole on the Fox sci-fi drama Fringe, and Kristen Vangsness on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds — is one of the few out actresses currently playing a leading or supporting role on primetime broadcast television.

She and her wife are among the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who married during the four months same-sex marriage was legal in California, including many lesbian couples in the entertainment industry.

Sykes said in her speech that she believes passing Proposition 8 will ultimately backfire on those who are against gay marriage.

"They pissed off the wrong group of people," she told the crowd. "They have galvanized a community. We are so together now and we all want the same thing and we shouldn’t have to settle for less. Instead of having gay marriage in California, no, we’re gonna have gay marriage across the country."

Some vintage Wanda talkng about gay marriage.

And her classic "Detachable Pussy" act.

And check out the booty on Wanda's friend.

Joan's last original part is starting to go

2008-11-07T12:02:00.002-08:00

From Jezebel

Is Joan Rivers Too Old To Do Stand-Up?

I went to see Joan Rivers do a stand-up set at The Cutting Room in NYC this week. She spent her time cutting up celebrities ("Michael J. Fox is better in bed now that he has Parkinson's"), herself ("My breasts are so low, I kick them when I walk"), and Sarah Palin ("That baby isn't retarded. He's tired! That kid didn't sleep for two months straight on the campaign trail!"). But it was the jokes about old people that stood out the most. The 75-year-old entertainment icon went on and on about how much she hates old people, and how they smell and how forgetful they are. The irony is that in the middle of her act, she started repeating her entire bit about old people.

But that's not the only senior moment Joan had. In a bit about gold-digging wives, she referred to Heather Mills as Linda McCartney. Then, when she was talking about how glad she is that Barack Obama's kids are attractive, saying that they're such an improvement over Chelsea Clinton, whose name she couldn't remember at all, so she referred to her as "the Clinton thing."

Later, when discussing Madonna's divorce and alleging that Madonna is so sad and old, someone from the audience shouted out, "But she still has A-Rod!". Joan looked confused for a moment, and then said, "Well, I was on Celebrity Apprentice with Dennis, he's nothing to look at." She totally thought they were talking about Dennis Rodman, a guy Madonna dated over 15 years ago, before she even had kids.

Joan was still funny, but unless she wants to turn the act into some giant meta joke, she should lay off trying to get yucks about senility.

Singer Melissa Etheridge rails against the passage of the gay-marriage ban in California—and she won't be paying the state a dime.

2008-11-06T13:25:00.004-08:00

Source

Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.

Okay, cool I don't mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We're gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that's not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won't have to pay their taxes either.

Oh and too bad California, I know you were looking forward to the revenue from all of those extra marriages. I guess you will have to find some other way to get out of the budget trouble you are in.

…Really?

When did it become okay to legislate morality? I try to envision someone reading that legislation "eliminates the right" and then clicking yes. What goes through their mind? Was it the frightening commercial where the little girl comes home and says, "Hi mom, we learned about gays in class today" and then the mother gets that awful worried look and the scary music plays?
Do they not know anyone who is gay? If they do, can they look them in the face and say "I believe you do not deserve the same rights as me"? Do they think that their children will never encounter a gay person? Do they think they will never have to explain the 20% of us who are gay and living and working side by side with all the citizens of California?

I got news for them, someday your child is going to come home and ask you what a gay person is. Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.

I know when I grew up gay was a bad word. Homo, lezzie, faggot, dyke. Ignorance and fear ruled the day. There were so many "thems" back then. The blacks, the poor ... you know, "them". Then there was the immigrants. "Them.” Now the them is me.

I tell myself to take a breath, okay take another one, one of the thems made it to the top. Obama has been elected president. This crazy fearful insanity will end soon. This great state and this great country of ours will finally come to the understanding that there is no "them". We are one. We are united. What you do to someone else you do to yourself. That "judge not, lest ye yourself be judged" are truthful words and not Christian rhetoric.

Today the gay citizenry of this state will pick themselves up and dust themselves off and do what we have been doing for years. We will get back into it. We love this state, we love this country and we are not going to leave it. Even though we could be married in Mass. or Conn, Canada, Holland, Spain and a handful of other countries, this is our home. This is where we work and play and raise our families. We will not rest until we have the full rights of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us, that is not the American way.

Come to think of it, I should get a federal tax break too...

Melissa Etheridge is an Academy Award-winning and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter.

Gawker brings it up -"Changed America Still Hates the Gays"

2008-11-05T08:03:00.002-08:00

Source

We know it's too soon to bring you all down, because last night was indeed an inspiring and amazing night and John Lewis was so so so great to see and wow, it was just, man. But! Other things went down in the great nation of ours too! We began looking at the Ballot Initiative fights, last night. But then we got drunk and went to bed. So let's check in on how the gays are doing, this morning, in Barack Obama's hopeful New America.

Out in California, Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to ban all the wonderful, tear-jerking gay marriages that ruined all the straight marriages out there, is narrowly ahead in the polls. With 95% of precincts reporting, the ban is holding up 52% to 48%. :( California's Proposition 5, the one that would mandate lax penalities for all non-violent drug-related crimes, lost 59.8% to 40.2%. The only good news out of California is that Prop 4, the abortion notification initiative, looks to be failing.

Arizona's Proposition 102, the gay marriage amendment, passed handily. Fuck Arizona.

Florida's terribly worded gay marriage ban passed too! With the necessary 60% and everything! This amendment also fucks over every non-married cohabitatng couple as well, and seems to even outlaw civil unions. Sorry, gays, no hospital visits for you!

Similar great news for bigoted morons in Arkansas, where the measure forbidding gays and ummarried people from adopting or fostering children passed with flying colors. They did also vote to remove the outdated language in their constitution banning "idiots and insane persons" from voting, though they didn't replace it with language banning Arkansas from voting. (J/k, democracy's a wonderful thing, whatever.)

Michigan legalized medical marijuana, Colorado and South Dakota's abortion bans failed, and Massachusetts' marijuana decriminalization passed.

Want a break from election coverage for a half hour?

2008-11-04T15:07:00.002-08:00

Watch a very funny Mary Tyler Moore.

New York magazine explores Rachel Maddow

2008-11-04T11:02:00.001-08:00

The Dr. Maddow Show
The secret to the success of a wonky lesbian pundit with no TV experience? A Ph.D. from Oxford, a dry sense of humor, and the ability to be nice to Pat Buchanan.

By Jessica Pressler

Ever heard of something called Dada?”

Rachel Maddow is trying to make an analogy. It’s mid-October, two weeks before the election, and the MSNBC host is comparing the McCain campaign’s recent fixation on “Joe the Plumber” to the anti-bourgeois cultural movement of the early-twentieth century. But this is prime time, and Maddow first has to define Dadaism in as colloquial a way as possible. This is something of a challenge considering she only has about twelve seconds.

“Deliberately being irrational, rejecting standard assumptions about beauty or organization or logic,” she begins. “It’s an anti-aesthetic statement about the lameness of the status quo … kind of?” She twists her face into a cartoon grimace that morphs into a wide smile. “Why am I trying to explain Dadaism on a cable news show thirteen days from this big, giant, historic, crazy, important election that we’re about to have?” she asks with a self-deprecating laugh, as she recognizes the Dadaishness of her own quest. “Because that’s what I found myself Googling today, in search of a way to make sense of the latest McCain-Palin campaign ad!”

It’s hard to imagine many other cable news hosts going down that particular rabbit hole. (Can you picture Glenn Beck referring to the existentialists to make a point?) But then again, Rachel Maddow is not like other cable news hosts. A self-described butch lesbian with short hair and black-rimmed glasses, off-camera she resembles a young Ira Glass more than the helmet-headed anchoresses and Fox fembots who populate television news. Doing the press rounds when MSNBC first announced her show in August, she’d show up to interviews looking like, she says, “a 14-year-old boy” in puffy Samantha Ronson sneakers with iPod headphones dangling from her ears—but then she’d easily segue into an informed foreign- policy or economic discussion that ended with a Daily Show–worthy punch line. Her résumé is similarly unexpected: A Rhodes scholar and an Oxford Ph.D., she’s done stints as an AIDS activist, barista, landscaper, Air America host, and mascot in an inflatable calculator suit. She’s a civics geek who reads comic books, goes to monster-truck rallies, likes to fish, calls herself an “amateur mixologist” of classic cocktails, and even Twitters.

There’s something about the mix of personal details that is—to a young, educated, left-leaning, cosmopolitan audience—instantly recognizable. As one New York acolyte told me, “She is more like one of my friends than anyone else on television.” And her ratings have been astounding, especially in the coveted 25-to-54-year-old demographic. Maddow averaged a higher rating with that group than Larry King Live for thirteen of the first 25 nights she was on the air, enabling the network to out-rate CNN in that time slot for the first time. It’s an impressive feat, even given the fact that the show started two months before the election when political interest was at a fever pitch.

“You come out of the gate as fast as she came out, it gives me incredible excitement,” thunders MSNBC president Phil Griffin. “We are stronger than we’ve been in twelve years. We have more swagger today than we have ever had. It’s because of Rachel. And trust me. The other guys see it. They are watching. And they are scared.”

Read more here

Salon reviews this morning's View

2008-11-04T10:20:00.001-08:00

Source
"The View" explodes

It's been quite a season for "The View," a show that went from yappy, irrelevant punch line to must-see TV (even if your "TV" happens to resemble a computer). As has been eloquently pointed out by my colleague Rebecca Traister, "These ladies are a regular 'McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour' for the late-morning set, with [Elisabeth] Hasselbeck as the benighted Republican bugaboo." It's been nothing less than thrilling to watch the electricity of their political arguments, which mirror the country's water-cooler conversation without the smug and easy vilifying made possible by sharing a conversation with people who think exactly the same as you do. "The View" has been the recent subject of great (and mediocre) parody. And New York Times columnist Frank Rich went so far as to call "View" co-host (and "Larry King Live" regular) Joy Behar "the new Edward R. Murrow." (And, by the way, Frank Rich went too far.)

All of which explains why I am sitting in front of my television on the most fateful day of the year (decade? century?), watching "The View."

The show begins in a slump. Here they are, once again -- minus Barbara Walters, who has gone to vote and reported from the front lines that one of the machines has already broken down! -- and the air seems to have left the room. In other parts of America, the day is crackling with energy, anxiety, hope. But in this crowded New York studio, it looks like a cocktail debate that has dragged on far too long, snaked around the same old arguments time and again, and the only thing left for the participants to do is go home and pass out. (All quotes were typed in real time as the show aired and may be slightly paraphrased.)

"What about Barack Obama?" Hasselbeck says at one point during the "Hot Topics" opening segment, launching into one of her well-worn talking points about campaign finance.

Behar drops her head in her hands. "Isn't it over yet?" she moans.

The audience applauds.

But it isn't over yet, America. It's isn't! Stop your gloating already. No victors have been declared in this long battle. And sugar, Hasselbeck is going down swinging. "He's not my president yet," she spits, "and I can fight till the very end."

Whoopi Goldberg adjusts her seat, distracted. "We got it."

And for a moment, I thought that was it. No more fight in them. Too pooped to pop. An I.M. from my buddy Rebecca Traister pops up on the screen: "How's the view?" she asks. I write back: "Kind of boring, actually."

But then -- but then! -- the old fire returns. A tiny flicker of a flame: Hasselbeck mentions the Rev. Wright, refers angrily to her notes, starts sparring with Sherri Sheperd, spouting out stale Republican lines. Behar takes the bait, launching into a loud diatribe about how she, as a white woman, has no idea what's going on in a black church and doesn't pretend to know.

But then Hasselbeck says those magic words: "Goddamn America!" she repeats, as though the words themselves might turn her to sand.

And here comes Goldberg, guns blazing: "I have been guilty of saying 'Goddamn America!" she hollers. "We have not always put our best foot forward in this country! It is his right to be angry!"

Oh, oh, oh, and from there, it just doesn't stop. Hasselbeck is backed into a corner, and she is snapping like a pit bull. Ayers! Wright! Integrity! Tuh-tuh-taxes!

"A lot of people sat there for eight years while Bush committed his little atrocities," says Goldberg, calmly. And by the way, have I told you yet that I heart Whoopi Goldberg?

"I'm so tired of doing the tit for tat," Sheperd tells Hasselbeck. "You have a man who left his disfigured wife for Cindy McCain. Where is the integrity?"

Hasselbeck, at this point, looks like she might burst into tears.

The argument keeps unspooling: The Catholic Church, Jerry Falwell, 9/11, civil rights, the history of race. It could go on all day!

"We said we were going to leave right now, which is what we're going to do," says Goldberg, shaking her dreads. "Hot flashes isn't even the way to describe it!"

Cut to a commercial break.

"OMG," I write to Rebecca, "view just went insane. They all went insane."

"Awesome," she writes. And then again, "awesome." And this is the kind of exchange for which Rebecca and I make the big bucks.

Roughly two minutes later, back at ABC, it's as though the blowup never happened. The ladies joke, unruffled, about a new Web site you can use to find the cleanest bathrooms: sitorsquat.com.

"A good bathroom is always something we're looking for," says Goldberg. And really, who can argue with her there?

Dennis Hopper comes on to promote his new TV show, "Crash," announcing that he's voting Democratic for the first time. Country star Brad Paisley comes on, bizarrely not announcing who he's voting for, but wearing a shirt that reads, "Make good choices today." (Everyone gets a free CD! Woo-hoo!)

At the end of the hour, Goldberg signs us out: "Vote. Don't wear a button or any of those things. Take a little time. Enjoy your view."

And there you have it, folks. Election Day on morning television has come to an end. You should watch it, and as soon as I get the clips, I promise to embed them below.

Now: Who wants to watch some afternoon soaps???

― Sarah Hepola

A diversion on election day - MTC ass contest

2008-11-04T10:14:00.001-08:00

in which the gay contestants judges the three straight contestants.

Look out, Patty LuPone, there'sa new Evita in town

2008-10-28T09:52:00.001-08:00

Old codger mixed up again

2008-10-22T20:49:00.001-08:00

A little candy before Halloween

2008-10-22T20:12:00.001-08:00

Death in Kuwait

2008-10-22T20:03:00.001-08:00

Source

Man dead in kidnap, rape attempt : The Court of Appeals Monday set Nov 12, 2008 to look into the case of four Kuwaitis and two bedoun and allow the defense team to prepare their argument.

The accused are charged with causing the death of a Kuwaiti man when they kidnapped him and tried to rape him.

Case papers indicate on April 20, 2007, five of the six men agreed to kidnap and rape the victim. The fourth suspect chatted with the victim on the Internet and pretended he was gay.

The man invited the victim to his place to have sex. The men took the victim to a flat that was rented by one of the suspects for immoral activities.

When they arrived at the place, another man who was already inside locked the door of the apartment from inside and two other men appeared from another room. When they tried to rape the victim, he jumped from the window of the ninth floor apartment and fell to his death.

On June 18, 2008, the Criminal Court sentenced four men to 15 years in jail and the fifth to seven years and the sixth to three years. The court also ordered the deportation of the bedoun after serving the sentence.

The session was presided over by Judge Faisal Khuraibet.

Deputy to Austria's far right leader admits to gay affair

2008-10-22T19:55:00.004-08:00

Source

Haider's deputy reveals gay affair
By Tony Paterson in Berlin

Conservative Austria was in a state of shock today after the male successor to Jörg Haider admitted to having a longstanding “special relationship” with the far right leader who died dramatically in a high speed car crash earlier this month.

Stefan Petzner – the 27-year-old who recently replaced Haider as leader of the right wing Alliance for the Future of Austria and has often appeared in tears on television since his death - effectively outed himself as the deceased’s gay lover while being interviewed on an Austrian radio breakfast show.

“I had to go to him. I had to go to him,” Mr Petzner said in his highly emotional interview as he recalled how he rushed to the hospital where the dead body of 52-year-old Haider was lying after his fatal crash in early October.

Admitting that he felt a “magnetic attraction” for Haider, whom he met five years ago while working as a cosmetics reporter, Mr Petzner insisted: “We had a relationship that went far beyond friendship. Jörg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life.”

He insisted that Mr Haider’s widow, Claudia did not object to his relationship: “She loved him as a woman. He loved her as a man. I loved him in a completely different and personal way. She understood that,” Mr Petzner said. However, the young man’s sister Christiane suggested in a newspaper interview that Mrs Haider had not always been so understanding. “Sometimes Claudia was jealous because Stefan would spend more time with her husband than she did.”

Clearly embarrassed by the revelations, party officials today attempted to limit the political damage and cancelled forthcoming interviews with Mr Petzner. Their attempts to prevent his radio interview being rebroadcast, however, were unsuccessful.

The revelations came after photographs in the Austrian media showing Mr Haider in a gay bar shortly before his fatal accident. Witnesses who were present at a magazine launch party where the two men were seen together on the night of the crash were quoted today as saying that Mr Haider had left in a hurry after an emotional argument with his deputy.

The far-right leader crashed his Volkswagen limousine while drunk and driving at more than double the speed limit, as he made his way to his mother’s birthday party in the early hours of the morning. He is reported to have told his chauffeur to go home. More than 25,000 people flocked to his quasi state funeral in Klagenfurt, the capital of the Austrian province of Carinthia where he was governor for more than a decade.

He died just days after his party had more than doubled its share of the vote in Austria’s general election and speculation swirled that he would once again figure in Austrian national politics. Nearly a decade ago, Mr Haider had been part of the ruling coalition with his Freedom Party, triggering EU sanctions on Austria after he praised Adolf Hitler’s employment policies and described Nazi SS veterans as “decent men.”

Austrian attitudes to gays in politics contrast sharply with neighbouring Germany where numerous politicians have outed themselves as homosexuals without anyone batting an eyelid. Rumours that Haider was either gay or bi-sexual first surfaced in Austria nearly a decade ago. However the far right leader, who fathered two children with his wife Claudia, refused to discuss them, fearing that they would alienate thousands of his ultra conservative followers.

Although his party was nicknamed the “Haider’s boy party”, until today conservative Austria had preferred to embrace his public persona as a traditional family man. Mr Petzner’s revelations have shattered that charade, and there was speculation today that after not even a month in the job, he might soon find himself replaced as leader of the Alliance for the Future of Austria.

Ellen's message to Governor Moron

2008-10-22T19:32:00.001-08:00

More madness at The View

2008-10-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

A Pundit in the Country

2008-10-20T09:37:00.002-08:00

Source

Inteview by EDWARD LEWINE

Rachel Maddow, host of left-leaning chat shows on Air America Radio and MSNBC, both named “The Rachel Maddow Show”, spends downtime in an 1865 house in western Massachusetts.

Biggest misconception about pundits: That we all hang out together. I don’t know any of these people. Maybe all the pundits are hanging out and not inviting me.

Worst thing about job: My self-doubt that this is a worthy thing to contribute to the world. It’s fun, but I worry that it is self-indulgent.

Her 190-mile commute: It’s an opportunity for me to turn my brain off. My apartment in New York is only 275 square feet. So just being able to stretch out is great.

Always on her: A handkerchief. One of my liabilities as a broadcaster is that I am little teary. Having a handkerchief is handy. My partner, Susan Mikula, buys me cute ones.

Worst thing about Obama: He’s measured to a fault. He is so calm and cool and collected that sometimes I want to know what he feels.

Best thing about McCain: He’s very funny.

Morning routine: I arrive in Massachusetts around 2 a.m. Saturday. I wake up so that I can put the trash and recycling together and get it to the dump, which closes at 11 a.m. Me and the dog go to the dump. Then we drive to a sheep farm and I let the dog look at the sheep.

Gadget she can live without: We have no television. Susan wants to buy one, but where we live there’s no cable. So we’d have to put up a satellite dish, and we already have one for the Internet. To have two dishes on the roof would be crazy.

Prized possession: I have a file of letters and bits of ephemera from friends who have died. I have had lots of friends who died of AIDS.

Concession to vanity: I’ve had to get contact lenses. I only put them in while I’m on TV. They are a miracle device that allows me to be on TV without glasses, which everyone tells me I can’t wear on TV.

Favorite movie: “The Manchurian Candidate,” original version.

Always in fridge: Champagne. I always keep a bottle, because you might need to celebrate at any moment, and a bunch of mustard, because I am a mustard person.

Obsession: Loose nukes. I literally lie awake and worry that we haven’t paid attention to some of the real national-security threats that are out there.

Favorite item in house: The house mostly reflects Susan’s style, but I have to put my stamp on things. Once, I found a sculpture of a big, fat squirrel holding a reflector. You’re supposed to put it at the end of your driveway. We have it near the kitchen table; it’s the house mascot.

Obsolete item she won’t part with: I have a little stockpile of lawn mowers, some of which it has been years since they worked. But it seems wrong to get rid of lawn mowers, so I keep them.

Evening routine: Susan cooks dinner; I make drinks. We stay up all night talking or watching movies. Since we don’t have TV, we watch movies on the laptop. I do this whole arcane thing where I get cords and connect the laptop and the speakers to an outlet. It takes 10 minutes.

Clothing item a talk-show host needs: For me, it is sneakers, which I can wear 80 percent of the time, secretly behind the desk. That reminds me who I am, even though I am dressed up like an assistant principal in order to meet the minimum dress code for being on television.

Art collection: Most of the art in our house was made by Susan, who is a great photographer. She makes these wonderful abstract portraits. We also have a lot of other photos, most by people who are our contemporaries.

Fictional character she identifies with: Wally Cleaver. Cause he is a dork.

Favorite Fox News put-down: I don’t talk much about Fox. That’s more Keith Olbermann, but the only time Fox tried to book me on a show — ever — was for me to comment on Madonna and Britney Spears having kissed at an awards ceremony. I declined.

Favorite Republican: I like the congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, because I understand what he believes, and he is fearless and civic-minded in his beliefs, rather than personally zealous.

Favorite professional memento: I have clown shoes. They were from the first time I was asked to M.C. something due to being a radio personality.

Worst job: I had a waitressing job that was minimum wage; no tips. I had to wear pantyhose and be there at 6 in the morning.

She drives: I have a seven-year-old Ford pickup. Remember, I have to go to the dump.

By her bed: Comic books. I read comics sometimes and graphic novels. I appreciate that genre.

Last big purchase: I just completed one of the biggest purchases of my life, my new chimney. The chimney was made in the 1860s, and the bricks were turning to dust. The new chimney is beautiful and safe, and it was so much money.

Superstitions: Tons. A handkerchief can never be put in another pocket after it has been in one pocket. I don’t walk under ladders. I have items of clothing that are lucky for me. That rotates, but I am luck-oriented.

Favorite recent gift: A very old friend of mine gave me a fishing pole. I’d done a little fishing as a kid. Now, I have started fishing in the rivers around my house. I have my Massachusetts fishing license in my wallet and my pole in the shed.

Procrastination technique: Cleaning. Writing makes me want to blow my head off. If I have a writing project due, I will clean everything around me as a way of avoiding putting pen to paper.

Hobby: I am a hobbyist bartender. I have a liquor cabinet. I research classic drinks from the golden age of American cocktails and I make them for me and Susan.

Favorite obscure liquor: Rhum agricole. It is rum made from sugar-cane juice rather than molasses. It is freaking awesome.

Favorite place to shop: Not applicable. I don’t shop.

Favorite political memento: Two ashtrays from the Watergate Hotel. I bought them on eBay.

Nagging injury: A hurt shoulder from playing high-school volleyball. I can’t raise my right arm above my head while bearing weight.

Postelection plans: One, I won’t do anything I don’t have to for a while. No speeches. Two, Air America is having a cruise with its hosts. I have to do that, contractually. It is sort of work, but it is a cruise to Belize.

Cloris nails the tango

2008-10-14T12:29:00.001-08:00

Liz Smith loves "W."

2008-10-14T08:43:00.002-08:00

'I HAVE woven a parachute out of everything broken," wrote William Stafford.

The trouble with writing about the new movie "W." is that in print, one can't do justice to what appears onscreen. The startling W is followed by a scarlet red period. That does provide emphasis!

Filmmaker Oliver Stone is still the enfant terrible of movies, no matter his age. He has always been a pet of mine, even when I disliked his ideas. (I am thinking of the CIA-homosexual conspiracy in "JFK.") But he is a great storyteller. Yes, he takes facts and elaborates them. But . . . against all odds - because at first I thought I wouldn't even go to this film - I simply loved the movie "W."

Josh Brolin, as the president who doesn't know what he is doing, is award-winningly magnificent. Sometimes you don't even have to suspend disbelief; he is so convincing. Oliver, his screenwriter Stanley Weiser and Josh have even managed to make the president a sometimes sympathetic character. (Especially in the scene after the grandiose war comes a'cropper and nobody in his administration will take blame or explain to the bewildered chief executive.)

JOSH BROLIN plays a real live person in history via his DNA, I suppose. (His father, James, has impersonated both Clark Gable and Ronald Reagan onscreen.) But Josh didn't want this role. And who would have wanted it? Still, Brolin has George W. Bush down in all his swagger, his bravado, his impatience, his congeniality, his charm and his perplexed insistence (to both Dick Cheney and Karl Rove) that "I am the president!" Your heart might literally break for this guy had he not practically sunk the nation.

I loved the portrayal of the young Bush, drunk and in a tub of bourbon and water at Yale where a callow upper classman says of the hazing, "This, along with our family fortunes, is why we rule the world!" And there is the long-necked beer-swilling W, living it up in honky-tonks, "out-Texas-ing Texas!," falling for Laura, being lectured by Poppy, "Who do you think you are - a Kennedy?!" (Poppy is brilliantly played by James Cromwell, who we remember so well from his Oscar-nominated role opposite a pig in "Babe.")

Cromwell's Bush Sr. is at the heart of this movie, central to W's own lack of "measuring up," which propels him to run for governor of Texas against family advice. His mother, Barbara, (played by a much too attractive Ellen Burstyn) tells him he won't win because of Ann Richards' popularity. Determined to show up brother Jeb, W forges ahead.

MY FAVORITE moment in the film is the establishing shot of all the ad ministration biggies in a situation room soon after Bush ascends to the presidency. Here, you get to examine all of the actors who are playing a host of incredible people we have come to know only too well. Most of the players are brilliantly cast - Richard Dreyfuss particularly as Dick Cheney, Thandie Newton as Condi Rice, Jeffrey Wright as the sympathetic Colin Powell. (He is the only voice of reason, soon overcome by others' overreaching certainties.) We also get Donald Rumsfeld and George Tenet and, I fear, a miscast Karl Rove. There soon comes another situation meeting where war is decided to be "a go." W jumps up at the end, declaring with enthusiasm, "Great meeting - the best yet!"

These same arrogants are shown then after the Iraq war fails to produce WMDs, al Qaeda and/or results. The difference a few days make is telling, tragic. Bush exhibits fury and bewilderment, "Why the heck didn't anyone tell me this before?" His advisers slink in their chairs, transferring blame to one another like a bad cold.

The odd thing to me is how effective this film is. I was sure it wouldn't be, because we are so drastically overfamiliar with recent events harking back to 2001. But the aura created by re-creation of these disastrous years is part of the "charm." One's recognition turns it into something like a too-well-remembered, really scary folk tale. I have to say the movie is very compelling, funny, horrible, accurate, well-done and, yes, entertaining.

I highly recommend Oliver Stone's "W." It is another in the reminders he keeps offering this country. Maybe he's just making movies for profit and for the hell of it. But I think he is becoming a historian.

LEAVING THE screening room, I found myself haunted by an uncertain de pression. I had really liked the movie, but I hadn't needed to see it to remember the downward spiral of the Bush administration. So why my uneasy feeling? I guess the past was prologue.

Inescapably, I remembered America's dire financial straits, which came on as suddenly as the flat-out failure of the war in Iraq came to the Bush situation room. The current tragic state of Wall Street is just a P.S. to this movie. There is all that same lack of oversight, incaution, impulsiveness and raging overspending, un-realistic certainty, crass ambition and moral turpitude where nobody can even say they are sorry over what they have wrought.

Hugh Jackman turns 40, and like a fine wine...

2008-10-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

he makes you really horny.

Judge: Gay Pride firefighter appearance not illegal

2008-10-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

Source
By 365gay Newscenter Staff

(San Diego, California) A San Diego judge has ruled the city did not act illegally when it ordered four firefighters to take part in a gay pride parade. The ruling, by San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Anello, came a week after a mistrial was declared in a sex discrimination lawsuit by the firefighters.

In his ruling, Anello rejected a motion from the the firefighters’ attorney for an injunction barring the city from from requiring participation in parades.

Charles LiMandri had argued that pride parades are a political event whose purpose is to advocate for LGBT rights including “the controversial concept of gay marriage” and that the department improperly used the four to support a political cause. He said the order is a violation of the firefighters’ constitutional right to free speech.

In rejecting the motion, Anello cited rulings by other courts that held that when citizens enter government service they must accept some limits on their constitutional rights.

In his written ruling, Anello said the appearance by firefighters at the parade was part of the San Diego Fire Department’s “community building activities,” and was required under state and municipal anti-discrimination laws.

Anello also noted the argument was moot, since the city has already amended its policies to make future participation in parades voluntary.

The ruling came after a jury deadlocked last week on a sexual harassment suit brought by LiMandri on behalf of the four firefighters who claimed they had become emotionally distressed as a result of their treatment by crowds along the parade route last year.

The jury of six men and six women became hopelessly deadlocked after four days of deliberations.

LiMandri had urged the jury to award $500,000 to $1 million to each firefighter.

City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the lawsuit “was about greed” and declared the jury’s deadlock a total victory.

Last month, one of the firefighters told the court that he was sexually taunted by crowds on the street and has been undergoing counseling to try to cope with the aftermath of the experience.

Charles Kane testified that participating in the parade has affected his family life and that he has been ridiculed by some at his fire station.

“I felt confused, embarrassed, used, abandoned by my leadership … I had to fight through it,” he testified.

But under cross-examination by city attorney Michael Aguirre, Kane acknowledged that the fire hall is in the largely gay Hillcrest neighborhood, and that he actually lives in the area.

Anello has scheduled a retrial to begin on Jan. 16.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

2008-10-14T07:44:00.001-08:00

Source

A Very Brady Druggie? Maureen McCormick Spills

Growing up Brady wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Erstwhile Marcia Brady Maureen McCormick is telling all—and we mean all—about her formative years both on and off TV, revealing new details about her depression, drug addiction, unwanted pregnancy and what can only be described as an exhaustive history of suitors in her new memoir, Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice.

In addition to discussing an unusual string of relationships with Steve Martin, Michael Jackson and her TV bro Barry Williams, the actress and sometime country singer also reveals that she once traded sex for drugs and engaged in full-on binges at the Playboy Mansion and at the home of Sammy Davis Jr.

Marcia, Marcia, oh, Marcia.

"As a teenager, I had no idea that few people are everything they present to the outside world," McCormick, now 52, writes in the book, excerpts of which were released today. "Yet there I was, hiding the reality of my life behind the unreal perfection of Marcia Brady.

"No one suspected the fear that gnawed at me even as I lent my voice to the chorus of Bradys singing 'It's a Sunshine Day.' "
McCormick was 14 years old when the family sitcom began its four-year run in 1969 and apparently didn't have much personal experience to draw on for the character. In the book, due out tomorrow, the actress says she came to the feel-good show from an abusive family, with a father who abused and cheated on her mother.

When the show ended, McCormick says she turned to drugs, taking cocaine and Quaaludes among other illicit substances, a habit which failed to help her secure additional employment.

In the memoir, the actress also details a blown interview she had with Steven Spielberg, blaming the ill-fated meeting on her being high at the time.

What followed throughout the '80s was a battle with addiction and depression, including interventions and rehab stints galore along with various medications and therapies.

Despite her tumultuous road since then, McCormick seemingly has no regrets about her Brady gig and subsequent permanent place in pop culture.

"I'll always be struck by how much a part of people's lives Marcia is and always will be," she writes. "But now I'm not bothered by the connection. It took most of my life, countless mistakes and decades of pain and suffering to reach this point of equanimity and acceptance."

Come out against Sarah Palin

2008-10-13T12:32:00.001-08:00

Mark Wahlberg talks to animals

2008-10-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

Wanda takes 'em

2008-10-09T18:30:00.001-08:00

Good Lord, I share the same country with these people?

2008-10-09T13:30:00.001-08:00

Seth Meyers and the importance of proper grooming

2008-10-09T13:08:00.001-08:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Nothing to do this weekend?

2008-10-09T11:27:00.001-08:00

More information here

Some people have the best careers

2008-10-09T11:21:00.003-08:00

From Defamer

Which Recently Upped TV Exec Got His Start As A Gay Porn Star?

Simply reinforcing our long-held theory that anyone who works in Hollywood—regardless of age, gender, or genitalia size—has at least one gay porn credit buried somewhere in their resumes, it's been brought to our attention that a boldface name in yesterday's Trade Roundup also got his start in this town's storied sausage factory circuit.

Read more here

Surprise, Sarah Palin bans books!

2008-10-09T10:00:00.002-08:00

Source

The book Palin wanted banned
By Cole Wakefield

Rev. Howard Bess is not gay. He was not raised by gay parents and does not have gay children. Bess did not grow up with a gay family next door and his best friend was not gay. Rev. Bess might not have had a horse in the GLBT rights race, but that did not stop him from becoming a trailblazer for the issue in the American Baptist church and Christian faith at large.

Rev. Bess has recently enjoyed some time in the spotlight thanks to vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s attempt to ban his book, Pastor, I Am Gay, from the Wasilla Public Library.

The book, published in 1995, was received somewhat coldly in Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley, home to Rev. Bess and the soon to be Mayor of Wasilla Palin.

In fact, for a long time, the only places you could buy the book in Mat-Su were a barber shop and beauty salon. The book was also available at the Wasilla Public Library, a “problem” Palin infamously sought to solve. Wasilla’s librarian stood up to Mayor Palin’s rash and uninformed demands. The librarian was then fired by Palin only to be reinstated after the community objected loudly to the dismissal.

Rev. Bess’ book was just one of at least three books that then-Mayor Palin tried to yank off the shelf.

There has been some confusion regarding exactly what titles Palin sought to ban, but Rev. Bess has been told that Pastor, I Am Gay was among them, and he would be “flabbergasted” to hear otherwise. Pastor, I Am Gay had been openly ridiculed by the pastor of Palin’s church and Rev. Bess was fired from the newspaper column he had written for seven years. The fundamentalist outcry against Bess in Mat-Su was loud and local bookstores were afraid to carry the book. Sarah Palin and her church friends thought the book was obscene and that the public needed to be protected from its contents.

Pastor, I Am Gay is not an obscene book by any stretch.

It is the open and honest story of how Rev. Bess came to the conclusion that GLBT folk are just as blessed as everyone else and deserve to be fully included in the life and traditions of the church.

Rev. Bess admits his ignorance of issues regarding sexuality for much of his life. He discusses the first time a parishioner came out to him and details the personal introspection and experiences that brought him to his current understanding of the gay community and its place in this world.

Finding a copy of Pastor, I Am Gay today can be a chore. Most of the major booksellers are out-of-stock and the popular used book service list astronomical prices. Fireside Books in Palmer, Alaska still had copies as of press time.

Rev. Bess is happy to talk about Pastor, I Am Gay, but he matter-of-factly states that “the book has run its course.” Rev. Bess is most concerned that people learn about the beliefs of Sarah Palin and that her election would be “bad, bad news for the gay population.”

Bess describes Palin as a religious duelist, someone who sees everything as good vs. evil. Bess says that Palin and the churches she attends are “as anti-gay as they come.” He even described Palin, to Salon.com, as “…Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.”

Reverend Bess has been a crusader for GLBT equality in Alaska and his warnings should be heeded. Rev. Bess knows Sarah Palin and has struggled against her on behalf of more than one progressive cause. He has also fought against Palin for the rights of Mat-Su woman to have access to an abortion provider. Rev. Bess knows the GLBT community and its struggles. He has served as a regional director on PFLAG’s national board and has led the pro-gay fight in the American Baptist Church.

Rev. Bess has struggled for years to promoted gay equality and worries that the election of Sarah Palin could erode much of the work he has done. Bess has also expressed frustration and confusion toward members of the GLBT community who continue to support the McCain/Palin ticket. He states he was astounded by the Log Cabin Republican’s endorsement of the pair and that they obviously have little understanding of Sarah Palin and her beliefs.

Bess summarized his feelings towards Sarah Palin while talking to Salon.com, “this person’s election would be a disaster for the country and the world.”

'Botox made me miserable' says Courteney Cox as she admits having face-freezing injection

2008-10-09T09:52:00.001-08:00

Source
By Emily Sheridan

There aren't many women in Hollywood who would make such an admission, but Courteney Cox has revealed she has used Botox.

The former Friends actress, 44, admitted she tried the face-freezing injection and hated its muscle-paralysing effects.

Cox said losing her ability to make facial expressions seriously hampered her acting skills.

She told Marie Claire magazine: 'Botox? I think it's fantastic and also horrible.

'I mean, they've come up with this stuff that can make you not look angry. But you have to use it sparingly.

'I went to this doctor once and he was like, "Oh, let me do it just here and here and here." And I was miserable.

'I mean, I'm an actor, I've got to be able to move my face.

'When people start messing with their foreheads and can't lift their eyebrows, that's weird.

'It's not that I haven't tried Botox - but I hated it.'

Fortunately for Cox, she has found a down-to-earth husband in actor David Arquette, who is happy for his stunning wife to embrace the ageing process.

She enthused: 'He loves the ageing process. He thinks it's beautiful.'

Despite previous reports of trouble in their nine-year marriage, Cox insisted she was more in love than ever.

She explained: 'It's weird, because I'm so in love with David right now.

'I'm starting to really appreciate how 'there' he is for me.

'But in any relationship, there are times that you're disconnected.

'You can see how relationships end if you don't work through it.'

The couple have a four-year-old daughter, Coco.

Reality tv contestants show their stuff

2008-10-09T09:43:00.003-08:00

Some accidentally, like Marcus in Survivor...

And some like Dallas from The Amazing Race, who did so willingly.

145 complaints is flooded?

2008-10-09T09:39:00.001-08:00

Complaints pour into BBC after EastEnders screens gay kiss before the watershed
By Daily Mail Reporter

The BBC has been flooded with 145 complaints after screening a gay kiss on EastEnders before the 9pm watershed.

The 'offensive' scenes were screened on Tuesday's episode of the soap and showed Christian Clarke (John Partridge, 36) and Lee Thompson (Carl Ferguson, 27) engage in a passionate kiss.

In a statement the BBC defended itself by saying it was down to parents to decide whether the content of the show was suitable for children to watch.

But some viewers were left deeply unimpressed.

One viewer wrote on the BBC’s Points Of View internet messageboard: 'I am appalled by the display of homosexual kissing before the watershed shown on EastEnders.

'This is disgraceful whilst young children are watching and sets the wrong example.'

Another, Pat, wrote: 'I had to explain to my seven-year-old son what was happening.

'He now thinks he is gay because he kisses his dad.'

And another angry fan added: 'I think pre-watershed standards have been irresponsibly lowered in recent years.'

Tuesday night's scenes saw Christian and Lee caught in the act by busybody Dot Cotton as they kisses on Arthur Fowler's memorial bench.

She tells them that she is as liberal as the next person, but does not approve of canoodling in public places.

The latest outrage comes 21 years after EastEnders screened the first gay kiss in a British soap.

Back then, Colin Russell – played by Michael Cashman, 57, who is now a Labour MEP – gave Barry Clark (Gary Hailes, 42) a kiss on the forehead.

The move resulted in a record number of complaints and there were even questions asked in Parliament about whether the scene was appropriate.

In a statement the BBC confirmed it had received complaints - but refused to say how many.

The statement read: 'We approach our portrayal of homosexual relationships in the same way as we do heterosexual relationships.

'We believe that the general tone and content of EastEnders is now widely recognised.

'Parents can make an informed decision as to whether they want their children to watch.'

Ginger Spice

2008-10-06T07:14:00.003-08:00

"Fantasticks" actor on The Amazing Race

2008-09-28T17:24:00.003-08:00

Meet New York actor Nick Spangler. He and his sister are on this season's Amazing Race and look like stiff competition.

Visit his website. Unfortunately, his journal seems to be all about his work as an actor.

Gay Iraqi Leader Assassinated in Baghdad

2008-09-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

Source
LONDON, September 25, 2008 – The Baghdad coordinator of Iraqi LGBT has been assassinated, probably by one of the two religious militia .

Peter Tatchell of Outrage! issued the following statement at lunchtime:

This morning, I received news from Iraq that the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT in Baghdad, Bashar, aged 27, a university student, has been assassinated in a barber shop.

Militias burst in and sprayed his body with bullets at point blank range.

He was the organiser of the safe houses for gays and lesbians in Baghdad. His efforts saved the lives of dozens of people.

Bashar was a kind, generous and extremely brave young man – a true hero who put his life on the line to save the lives of others.

My thoughts go out to his loved ones and to the other members of Iraqi LGBT.

Their courage is an inspiration to all people everywhere fighting against injustice.

Mr. Tatchell said that the exact identity of the gunmen is unclear, but Bashar was probably murdered by the Islamist death squads who are targeting lesbian and gay Iraqis for ‘sexual cleansing’.

Out in Hollywood: Starring Roles Are Rare

2008-09-28T16:30:00.002-08:00

From the New York Times

By MIREYA NAVARRO

THERE’S a bisexual woman in “Bones” and a lesbian couple on “The Goode Family.”

“Dirty Sexy Money” features a transsexual and “Brothers & Sisters” a gay marriage.

In “Mad Men,” the Emmy-winning drama set in the early ‘60s, there’s Salvatore Romano, a self-loathing homosexual who marries a woman but pines for a male co-worker.

Never before have gay story lines been so prominent. Nor have there ever been so many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters on television — 83 by a recent count from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, not counting reality shows, daytime dramas or gay-oriented cable networks.

Hollywood, with its depictions of cowboy lovers and lesbian neighbors, has done much to make gay men and women part of mainstream American life.

At the same time, gay actors like Neil Patrick Harris and T. R. Knight play heterosexual characters on TV and in film, while couples — Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi — are covered by celebrity magazines as if they were any old romance.

“We’ve gone from the revolution to the evolution,” said Howard Bragman, a longtime Hollywood publicist who is gay and has advised actors like Amanda Bearse, of “Married ... With Children” and Dick Sargent of “Bewitched” on how to handle their coming out.

Yet for most gay actors, Hollywood is not a warm and fuzzy episode of “Will & Grace.” Today, it is certainly more acceptable to be openly gay. But these actors must still answer wrenching questions: Just how candid do you want to be? Would you be happy appearing only in comedies, or being pigeonholed as a character actor? And what does the line “You’re just not right for the role” really mean?

Jasika Nicole, 28, an F.B.I. agent on “Fringe,” a new Fox drama, said that as bigger parts became available, her manager, John Essay, sat her down and asked how public she wanted to be about being a lesbian. Some roles could be lost, he told her, as would some fans.

Mr. Essay, who is gay, said he encouraged openness but warned clients of the risks.

“If it becomes exaggerated,” he said, “you just become the gay actress instead of a wonderful actress.”

Perhaps, he suggested, she didn’t want to be too vocal about it.

Ms. Nicole, who has a girlfriend, said she would just be herself. She has been open about her sexual orientation since she started dating women about 3 ½ years ago, while she was filming “Take the Lead” with Antonio Banderas in Toronto.

Now, as she becomes better known, “There’s no way I can keep quiet,” she said. “I want to be clear this is my partner. I don’t want to make that shameful in any kind of way.”

But most other actors calibrate just how out they want to be. Openly gay can still mean they would rather not talk about it. Most gay actors are mum in public or on the set, even if they don’t hide their orientation in private, actors and others in the entertainment industry said. Although most may no longer participate in charades — the “girlfriend” on the red carpet, for instance — many adopt a don’t ask, don’t tell policy.

Why? For both men and women, being openly gay, at least for now, means giving up any hope of superstardom.

“The industry is persuaded that being known as gay will undermine your credibility both as romantic lead or an action star,” said Larry Gross, director of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and author of a book on media portrayals of gays and lesbians.

“They don’t test it,” he said. “We’re waiting for the Jackie Robinson moment when someone tests that assumption and discovers it’s not true.”

GAY actors don’t just lose the potential of becoming the next Brad Pitt or Reese Witherspoon, they lose the opportunities for fame that ensure plum jobs, said Jason Stuart, an actor and comedian who chairs the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender committee of the Screen Actors Guild. It is no coincidence, he said, that even the title role in “Milk,” based on the slain gay hero, Harvey Milk, went to Sean Penn, an Oscar-winning actor who is straight.

“There are not enough famous gay actors to play these roles,” he said.

Dan Jinks, a producer of “Milk,” agreed. The film’s director, writer and two producers are openly gay and so are a number of actors who play gay and straight roles, including the Tony Award-winners Denis O’Hare and Stephen Spinella.

But for the lead, Mr. Jinks said, “Our first concern was to get the best actor that we could get who was enough of a movie star to get the movie made.”

“When one is casting a film for a lead role we always have to ask that awful question: ‘Who puts bodies in seats?’ ” Mr. Jinks said. “Who has carried movies previously? Sadly, there don’t seem to be openly gay actors that could carry a movie, but I think that will change.’ ”

When they don’t land a part, some gay actors say they never know how much of a factor their homosexuality plays.

“There are definitely people who make the decisions who don’t care and there are people who do care,” said Abraham Higginbotham, creator of the Fox sitcom “Do Not Disturb.”

The actor up for the part, he said, “would hear, ‘You’re not right for the role.’ ”

But some casting directors said it was now much easier to cast gays. Mary Jo Slater, a film and television casting director, said barriers were falling because of the success of shows with openly gay actors in them.

Ms. Slater cast a transgender actress, Candis Cayne, in “Dirty Sexy Money,” and noted: “She’s, like, a big star now.”

“I look at their ability to perform the part,” she said. “I don’t really think it matters.”

But what about straight parts? Chad Allen, 34, a child actor on shows like “St. Elsewhere” and “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” said steady work dried up in 1996 after a tabloid ran a photograph showing him kissing another man. The “Dr. Quinn” cast was supportive and he remained in the family-oriented show, he said, but after the series ended, “It was tough.”

“I couldn’t get an audition for a pilot after that,” he said.

But Mr. Allen, who attended college and continued to do some work in film, found new roles a few years ago, with the advent of gay-oriented cable networks. In channels like Here! and Viacom’s Logo, openly gay actors have played lead roles as private detectives, vampires and superheroes. Mr. Allen stars in a mystery series on Here!, in a role he describes as “a good detective who happens to be gay.”

And in a sign of the times, the show gave him opportunities for gay and heterosexual guest roles in television shows like “C.S.I.: Miami” and “Cold Case.”

In 2006, Mr. Allen incurred the wrath of some conservative ministers after he was cast as the lead in “End of the Spear,” produced by an evangelical film company, about five American missionaries killed in 1956 by an indigenous tribe in Ecuador.

The church pastors objected to his sexual orientation and his political advocacy for gay causes, but Mr. Allen said the fear of casting someone like him is less and less an issue.

“We’ve been witnessing a slow erosion of this fear as audiences show up,” he said.

One test of how far things have progressed, some industry analysts said, will be the kind of roles Mr. Harris and Mr. Knight are offered once they end their current hit shows. Although they are openly gay, they landed the parts before they came out. And tellingly, they made statements about their sexuality only after being outed by bloggers in the case of Mr. Harris, and by a homophobic incident with a co-star in the case of Mr. Knight. For now, more gay characters and better scripts are adding up to more fulfilling work. It wasn’t too long ago that actors like Bryan Batt of “Mad Men” could find good parts only on the stage. Even in theater, he said, his agent was once told by a casting director, “I just can’t see Bryan as a baseball player.”

“I didn’t know what to make of that,” said Mr. Batt, 45, who came out publicly in the mid-90s when he landed the part of Darius in “Jeffrey,” the off-Broadway play about sex and romance in the age of AIDS.

As an actor, Mr. Batt said, he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed into playing only gay roles, but it’s hard not to feel “proud and happy” with Salvatore. He begged Matthew Weiner, the show’s creator, to let the character get married. “It’s a realm of reality that television had not really explored,” he said.

The character is addled by the kind of inner conflict — not able to be himself, forced to act like the sexist guys in the office — that “continues to happen,” and not just in 1960s period dramas, Mr. Batt noted.

That such a meaty part went to an openly gay actor “speaks volumes about how far we’ve come,” he said.

Gay Survivor speaks

2008-09-28T16:19:00.002-08:00

Gay Survivor Spills a Reality Secret
Twenty-nine-year-old Charlie Herschel, who makes his reality-TV debut on Survivor: Gabon Thursday night, was a confidant of Clay Aiken’s before Aiken decided to come out of the closet this week. Here, Charlie talks to The Advocate about their friendship, impending television fame, and how he managed to take seven weeks leave from his New York law firm to film in Africa.
Ross von Metzke

It’s a big week for Charlie Herschel. Forty-eight hours before his big debut on the 17th season of Survivor, the 29-year-old New York–based corporate lawyer is finding out with the rest of the world that his online chat buddy of two years, American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken, has announced on the cover of People that he’s gay. The two started chatting on social networking site Connexion.org during the whole Kelly Ripa hand-over-the-mouth hubbub, and those early chat fests developed into a casual friendship while Aiken was in New York starring in Broadway’s Spamalot.

“There was a point when I was in law school that I was on IM almost every day, so we used to IM almost every day,” says Herschel, who has maintained a friendship with Aiken ever since.

Then Herschel got the call to partake in the experience of a lifetime, packed up his life, and flew halfway across the world to Africa, putting those IM chat sessions momentarily on hold. He left his swank New York law firm behind to rough it in Gabon with 17 other reality-star wannabes. And as with past seasons of Survivor, the production pretty much guaranteed that Herschel was separated from the outside world for almost two months, so he missed all of the media attention paid to Aiken's baby, born August 8 through a surrogate, and the gossipy banter that followed.

Now that Herschel’s back in New York and awaiting the media firestorm that is sure to greet his big reality show debut, the strong but unassuming marathon runner is about to get a taste of what it feels like to be openly gay and in the public eye -- something he can now share in common with his fellow reality-star friend. But Herschel says he didn’t pursue Survivor for fortune or the gay media fame that is so often bestowed on attractive reality show grads. His reason for doing the show was simple -- it’s something he’s dreamed of since season 1…and if it helps him find the man of his dreams, all the better.

The Advocate: Was auditioning for Survivor something you’d actively pursued for a long time, or was it a spur-of-the-moment decision?
Charlie Herschel: I’d been a huge fan ever since the first season, but you just read about the tens of thousands of applicants, so I never threw in an application because I thought it would be a complete waste of time. Then I was twiddling around one weekend at my desk, procrastinating, and I was like, I’m never going to get this experience unless I at least try once to apply. One thing led to another and I finally got cast.

So basically, you’re telling me your boss has your procrastinating to thank for him losing you to Survivor?
Exactly.

How does one tell his boss, "Um, I need to take several weeks off to go live in the middle of nowhere and film a reality show"?
I went to my boss… I was very nervous. I work at a big corporate law firm, it’s one of the three biggest law firms here in New York. I was just completely honest with him. I said, "This has been a dream of mine forever. I love my job and my job will come first, but I’m hoping we can work this out that I can take off seven weeks for the summer." And he was like, "Charlie, if I can help you realize your dream, this is the best day of my year so far." They were really supportive of me, and it didn’t hurt that the economy is tanking, so taking me off payroll for seven weeks didn’t hurt them.

Continue at Advocate.com

Dolly's sassy new song

2008-09-28T16:09:00.001-08:00

Who knew Genre was still around?

2008-09-28T15:57:00.002-08:00

From Advocate.com

Genre Cover Model Sues Magazine for Gay Harassment

A cover model for Genre Magazine who claims a series of provocative photos intended for his personal use were reprinted without his permission is suing the magazine after he says he was subjected to unwanted advances and harassment from gay men.

Benjamin Massing appeared on the magazine’s March/April cover in what he considers to be a “cruel and vulgar” shot. Now, according to Queerty.com, he’s suing the magazine and photographer Rick Day for invasion of privacy.

Massing, who is straight, is majoring in molecular biology at the University of Southern Florida. Lawyers for the 20-year-old college student say the photo spread, which flanked advertisements for sex toys and lubricant, has made it difficult for Massing to book jobs.

The suit alleges Massing has been subjected to sexual solicitations from strangers and the model claims he’s suffered humiliation and damage to his career as a result of the photo spread.

"It's definitely put him in a class where he's going to have difficulty obtaining contracts for family-related shows," lawyer Liah Catanese told New York’s Daily News.

Previously, Massing appeared almost in the buff for another beefcake publication—an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue. The model also appeared in a pinstriped suit for an issue of Playboy spotlighting eligible college men.

Massing says in his suit he never expected his photos to be sold to a magazine that would make him look "lustful and sexually promiscuous."

Fey Day

2008-09-28T15:41:00.003-08:00

From Portfolio

by Sophia Banay Sep 26 2008
How much could the bespectacled, Palin-imitating, writer-producer-actor Tina Fey be worth?

At the 2008 Emmy Awards on Sunday night, Tina Fey wore a black strapless dress, her hair was in waves, and her trademark glasses nowhere in sight. But the smart-girl shtick that has propelled her into the spotlight was on full display.

"I want to thank my parents for somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities," she quipped as she accepted the award for best actress in a comedy series. "That is what all parents should do."

NBC would no doubt like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Fey too. Their daughter is the brains and the face of 30 Rock—she writes, produces, and stars on the show that, when it returns for a third season at the end of October, will help anchor NBC's Thursday-night comedy lineup. 30 Rock nabbed NBC's highest-profile Emmys on Sunday night. Nominated for 17 statuettes, a record for a comedy series, 30 Rock netted seven, three of which—for writing, acting, and producing—went to Fey.

Her value to the network "has jumped significantly" with the latest Emmy wins, says Steve Rossman, who leads the branded entertainment practice at R.P.A., a Santa Monica-based advertising agency. "She is becoming a brand unto herself."

That brand had been bolstered only a week earlier by the actress's guest appearance on Saturday Night Live's season premiere, playing Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. That skit powered the show to its best season premiere numbers in seven years.

Portfolio.com estimates that Fey has earned, at the very least, $17 million so far, with tens of millions—if not hundreds of millions—more possible down the road.

The Fey franchise has legs beyond the NBC family. She wrote and had a small role in the 2004 film Mean Girls, which bullied $130 million out of moviegoers worldwide. Baby Mama, which came out this past April, did a more meager $63 million. Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations, a Los Angeles-based entertainment-research firm, estimates that Fey could have made between $8 million and $10 million for the two movies combined.

Fey's deal with American Express, another marquee brand that has her teaming up with Martin Scorsese to extol the benefits of card membership, could be worth about $1 million, according to Andy Bateman, C.E.O. of branding consultancy Interbrand.

Of course, NBC likely isn't underpaying her either. In 2005, New York Magazine reported that her salary as performer and head writer at S.N.L. was $1.5 million a year; the peacock must be ponying up at least as much cash—if not more—for Fey's multiple roles in 30 Rock. Should 30 Rock enter syndication, Fey could earn an even bigger bundle (Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld, reportedly made $200 million when that show went into syndication.)

But if NBC were really smart, says Caroline Hirsch, proprietor of Manhattan stand-up comedy venue Caroline's On Broadway, they would lock Fey in right now for a movie deal with Universal, the movie studio that falls, like NBC, under the auspices of General Electric.

Christina Wayne is transforming plain-vanilla basic cable channels into must-watch TV.
"There'll be spinoffs, and she'll go on to produce other stuff, and her loyalty is to NBC," says Hirsch of 30 Rock. A multitalented star who can write, produce, and act on both the small and large screens would be their ace in the hole.

For now, Fey seems poised to expand her entertainment empire indefinitely.

"The critics like her, she's making money, her shows are good, and she was the only funny thing on the Emmys Sunday night," says Peter Gardiner, a partner and chief media officer at Deutsch, an advertising agency in New York. And despite its low ratings, 30 Rock isn't going anywhere. "As NBC knows, to get a show that does okay in ratings, has a young audience, and that people want to download and watch on DVD is the future of TV."

30 Rock, the core of Fey's franchise, only averaged 6.5 million viewers last season. But its audience is relatively young and affluent, and therefore attractive to advertisers. In addition, the show's popularity on DVD and Web outlets like NBC.com and Hulu.com represent additional platforms—and revenue streams—that Ben Silverman, NBC's co-chairman, has publicly said are valuable to the future of the company.

This season may deliver the long-anticipated ratings bump that NBC's been hoping for. After Sunday night's Emmys, the number of episodes of 30 Rock streamed on NBC.com was 250 percent higher than the daily average for the month of September, says an NBC spokesperson, which bodes well for the new season.

So what can't Tina Fey do?

"Comedy is fairly niche when it comes to branding and the relevant partnerships she might be able to bring," says Bateman. "Is anyone going to buy a Tina Fey fragrance?"

Well, perhaps not. But she could earn up to $15 million for writing and acting in any future films; more if she gets a box office cut. There's nothing sweeter than the smell of success.

Ah, the interesting creations of Shirtology

2008-09-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

Cooley apologizes for nude picture

2008-09-28T14:56:00.002-08:00

Source

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley apologized Monday for posting an explicit photo of himself on his Web site.

Cooley accidentally revealed more of himself than he wanted when he took a picture Sunday morning while preparing for the game against the New Orleans Saints. Cooley wanted to show the readers of his popular blog some of the study materials the players were given by coach Jim Zorn.

Cooley, however, was studying in the nude, and he didn't examine his photo closely before posting it.

"All apologies from the website. ... We did not want to offend anyone," Cooley said in a posting Monday afternoon after the photo was removed. "The picture wouldn't have been up for so long, but we were in the middle of winning a big game. Once again, this was a complete accident, and we regret not reviewing the post more closely."

Hot times on Fire Island

2008-09-28T14:49:00.003-08:00

From Out

Once On This Island
Exhibited for the first time, Tom Bianchi's Polaroids of Fire Island in the '70s preserve a world of sun-kissed young Adonises, more than half of them gone.
By Tim Murphy

Tom Bianchi, the gay erotic photographer who’s now 63 and lives in Palm Springs, remembers the first time he photographed a naked man. It was 1975; he was a young lawyer for Columbia Pict res in New York City, and a week or so after Labor Day he went out to the quieted-down Fire Is and Pines to recover from hernia surgery. He brought along a then-new-to-the-market Polaroid S -70 he’d been given at work. A newcomer to the camera, he was taking pictures of shells on the b ach when “this guy whom I’d often seen at my gym in Manhattan -- a demigod, V-shaped to so, beautifully muscled -- stopped and said, ‘What are you taking pictures of?’ ” Bianchi recalls. “I showed him, an he looked at me and said, ‘You should take me back to your house to make dirty pictures.’ It was, li Be still, my heart. I told him his invite couldn’t have come at a worse time, that I had stitches and they’d shaved my crotch. He said, ‘You have a shaved crotch? I think that’s hot.’ ” They went back to Bianchi’s house, and Bianchi snapped all afternoon. They had “very panicky, hot sex, because I was afraid I was going to burst my stitches,” then the guy left. “I never saw him again,” says Bianchi, “but he was the guardian angel who called me forth.”

Over the next five summers Bianchi took roughly 6,000 Polaroids of hundreds of gay men -- friends, lovers, and near-strangers -- who were posing, partying, or having group sex in the idyllic disco- and Quaalude-fueled setting of pre-AIDS Fire Island. In that more closeted time, few let him shoot their faces directly -- especially, he says, those who feared losing high-powered jobs. Still, Bianchi brought his camera everywhere, popping out pictures at poolside parties and midday orgies in the secluded dunes of the infamous “Meat Rack,” which separates the Pines from Cherry Grove. “I’d throw the Polaroids out on a table so that people could see exactly what it was I was doing,” he says. “I was like one of those anthropologists who the gorillas realize isn’t a threat, so they let him hang out with them,” he says, laughing. Once, he snapped pics at an alfresco sex party he participated in that was organized by Casey Donovan, the blond beauty famous at that time for his star turn in the 1971 gay porn landmark Boys in the Sand. When plans to publish a book of the images fell through, Bianchi stored them in one large box. He went on to bury a longtime lover (David Peterson, who died of AIDS complications in 1988) and received his own HIV diagnosis shortly thereafter, but he benefited from the lifesaving new medications of the 1990s and became a successful photographer of beautiful naked men.

More than 25 years later, Bianchi showed the Fire Island images to Rich Young, who owns Palm Springs’ Exposure Gallery. Thirty of the 1970s images now hang at the gallery in an ongoing exhibit, and more are at ExposuReps.com. Bianchi says he’s back in talks to have the images collected in a book. He lost touch with many of the men in the pictures but estimates that more than half of them have since died of AIDS.

“I remember sitting down with a friend on the beach,” he recalls. “He said, ‘My three best friends are dying right now. I can’t take it.’ ” Bianchi erupts into sobs. “He didn’t make it either. The sun was shining, and you’d walk by a house where all six people had died the previous winter. I kept a prayer list, but when I got to 200 I had to stop.”

Yet when he looks at the images now, they don’t sadden him but elate him. “I can’t help but be captivated by the sense of joy that’s so evident,” he says. “That’s what Fire Island was then -- a fabulous party that nurtured us and sent us back out into the world as happier men. It’s very important for me to tell this story.”

Oldest contestant on Dancing with the Stars does the Mambo

2008-09-28T14:41:00.001-08:00

Notice at the end when Cloris, unhappy with her score, calls the first judge a bitch

"Can I use my lifeline?"

2008-09-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

The REAL Wonder Woman on Sarah Palin: “America Should Be Very Afraid”

2008-09-11T12:07:00.002-08:00

Source

From Phillymag.com

In an interview this morning about her three-week run at an Atlantic City casino, I offhandedly asked “Wonder Woman” Lynda Carter how she felt about the media calling VP candidate Sarah Palin the “new Wonder Woman.” I wasn’t expecting her no-holds-barred response:

Don’t get me started. She’s the anti-Wonder Woman. She’s judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they’ve got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness … that’s just not what Wonder Woman is about. Hillary Clinton is a lot more like Wonder Woman than Mrs. Palin. She did it all, didn’t she?

No one has the right to dictate, particularly in this country, to force your own personal views upon the populace — religious views. I think that is suppressive, oppressive, and anti-American. We are the loyal opposition. That’s the whole point of this country: freedom of speech, personal rights, personal freedom. Nor would Wonder Woman be the person to tell people how to live their lives. Worry about your own life! Worry about your own family! Don’t be telling me what I want to do with mine.

I like John McCain. But this woman — it’s anathema to me what she stands for. I think America should be very afraid. Very afraid. Separation of church and state is the one thing the creators of the Constitution did agree on — that it wasn’t to be a religious government. People should feel free to speak their minds about religion but not dictate it or put it into law.

What I don’t understand, honestly, is how anyone can even begin to say they know the mind of God. Who do they think they are? I think that’s ridiculous. I know what God is in my life. Now I am sure that she’s not all just that. But it’s enough to me. It’s enough for me to have a visceral reaction. And it makes me mad.

People need to speak up. Doesn’t mean that I’m godless. Doesn’t mean that I am a murderer. What I hate is this demonization of everybody but one position. You’re un-American because you’re against the war. It’s such bullshit. Fear. It’s really such a finite way of thinking about God to think that your measley little mind can know the mind of God. It’s a very little God that way. I think that God’s bigger. I don’t presume to know his mind. Or her mind.

Clearly excited by his sport

2008-09-11T10:53:00.001-08:00

And the foreplay

Catherine Deneuve video for Vuitton - slightly old, like her, and smoking, like her

2008-09-03T15:01:00.001-08:00

Harvey Milk trailer released

2008-09-03T12:30:00.001-08:00

Bon Jovi helps build homes for poor, AIDS patients

2008-09-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

Source

By Angela Delli Santi, Associated Press

NEWARK — One of New Jersey's best-known rock 'n' rollers has teamed up with the state to provide affordable housing in the state's largest city.

Jon Bon Jovi's Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation is providing $1 million toward construction of a 51-unit building that will cater to homeless people with special needs, like AIDS patients.

The $15 million building, called Genesis Apartments, will rise where there is now a vacant lot. Joining Bon Jovi at Tuesday's ground breaking were Gov. Jon Corzine, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, fashion designer Kenneth Cole and his wife, Maria Cuomo Cole, who runs HELP USA, a national nonprofit that is helping to build the units.

"Today I believe we're starting something," Bon Jovi said. "Together, I believe we can make a difference, one street, one neighborhood, one city, one soul at a time."

Bon Jovi, who's foundation has built affordable housing in Philadelphia, New Orleans and other cities, said he teamed up with Cole to design and market a line of jackets in 2006 to raise awareness to combat homelessness. Profits from that line provided the money for the Newark project, he said.

"Just like a band, our family is a team effort," Bon Jovi said. "It's what I like to refer to as the power of weknow what the word 'American' means because my mom and dad told me every day: This country was born out of collective sacrifice. And those who can must do for others to continue the idea and the dream of America."

Corzine touted the public-private partnership building the Newark units, which are part of his administration's goal of building 100,000 units of low-income housing within 10 years.

"A housing-first approach is absolutely essential on a lot of fronts," Corzine said, especially when trying to treat HIV/AIDS patients.

Corzine also noted the state's contribution to the project: $3.6 million in financing and $7.5 million in tax credits, on top of $2 million from Department of Community Affairs.

Residents of the building will receive social services and job training. A quarter of the units reserved for tenants who have AIDS.

Killer smiled as he bragged to dad about chilling student murder

2008-09-03T07:52:00.003-08:00

Source

BY ALISON GENDAR, OREN YANIV and JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Wednesday, September 3rd 2008, 12:05 AM

A drifter who spent time in a psych ward confessed Tuesday to killing a Pace University student found with a cord around his neck and a plastic bag shoved down his throat, police sources said.

Jeromie Cancel, 22, brutalized 19-year-old Kevin Pravia, sat near the honor student's corpse to watch the horror movie "Saw" and then bragged about the murder to his father, the sources said. Asked why he did it as he was marched out of the 10th Precinct stationhouse Tuesday night, Cancel shouted, "Because I wanted to. You got a problem with that?"

Cancel's father, Jesus Soto, said his son had turned up to boast after the killing.

"All the time he was gloating, like it didn't mean nothing to him," Soto said, recounting Cancel's bizarre appearance at his Queens apartment.

"He was not remorseful, like he was happy with what he did," said Soto, 40. "He had this big smile on him."

Pravia's roommate, Josephine Madonna, found the victim, wearing only his boxers, in their W. 15th St. apartment Sunday night.

Police said Pravia, a sophomore at Pace, was drunk when he stumbled into a cab about 5:30 a.m. Saturday after leaving a party near the South Street Seaport.

Thirty minutes later, Pravia was in Union Square looking to score drugs and crossed paths with Cancel, the suspect told cops.

Cancel offered to sell him drugs and the two men then returned to Pravia's home, where the boozed-up student fell asleep.

Cancel confessed to punching the sleeping student, fastening an electrical cord around his neck, stuffing a plastic bag down his throat and smothering him with a pillow, the police sources said.

He told cops he did not engage in any sexual activity with Pravia and used the victim's TV to watch "Saw," a gorefest in which a serial killer finds ways to make his victims murder each other, the sources said.

"He's a monster," said a police source. "He smothers a guy and watches a ...horror movie ...before he leaves."

Cancel grabbed the honor student's laptop, cell phone and iPod before leaving the apartment about 11 a.m. He told investigators he sold the laptop on the street and the cell phone at a nearby store.

Investigators have recovered the cell phone, police said. Cancel has been arrested four times in Florida, including for drug possession and for stealing a car, officials said. He was charged with murder and manslaughter in Pravia's death.

Although previously estranged from his father, Cancel showed up at Soto's Ridgewood home in June and moved in with him. Cancel told his father he drifted between Pennsylvania and Florida and spent time in a New York mental institution.

Just weeks later, Cancel robbed his father, cleaning out the apartment of its PlayStation, video games, digital camera and other electronics, Soto said.

Cancel disappeared, only to return Tuesday at 1 a.m., Soto said.

"He has to be on some kind of medication or something. ...He kept repeating stuff," said Soto, his voice trailing off.

Pravia, who was gay, was known as a hard partyer who dated a lot of men and would sometimes use drugs in social settings, sources said. He and Madonna, friends from Massachusetts, had moved into the Chelsea building just two weeks ago.

Madonna, who had been out of town for several days, received several worried text messages from Pravia's mother, who had not heard from her son since Friday. Madonna found the body when she returned home.

Update

2008-09-02T15:29:00.001-08:00

Source
Stranger Allegedly Strangles Pace Student, Watches Horror Flick

NEW YORK -- A college honors student found dead with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck apparently was suffocated with a pillow during a robbery by a stranger he invited to his apartment, police said Tuesday.
Kevin Pravia, 19, was found in his bed Sunday night by his Manhattan roommate. He was last seen being helped into a taxi early Saturday after a party in Brooklyn and was reportedly drunk at the time.
Investigators said Tuesday a 22-year-old man, being questioned in an unrelated case, admitted suffocating Pravia and stealing his cell phone, laptop computer and iPod. They expected to charge the man in Pravia's death, said Paul Browne, deputy commissioner of public information for the New York Police Department.

The man claimed Pravia approached him in Union Square park around 6 a.m. Saturday looking for drugs and the two went to his apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood. After the slaying, the man, whose identity wasn't disclosed, stayed in the apartment to watch the gory horror film "Saw" before leaving before 11 a.m., police said.
No drugs were found at the scene, and there was no indication of sexual assault, police said.
The medical examiner's office said an autopsy was inconclusive and additional tests were being performed to determine what caused Pravia's death. There was no sign of forced entry, police said.
The suspect told investigators that Pravia fell asleep and he decided to rob him, so he punched the student in the face, stuffed a bag in his mouth and wrapped the television cord around his neck, then suffocated him, police said. He said he sold the laptop on the street after leaving the apartment, sold the cell phone in a store and couldn't remember what he did with the iPod, they said.
Browne said police recovered the phone where it had been sold.
Pravia, who was a sophomore at Pace University, originally was from Peru, Mass., near the Connecticut and New York borders.
Pace University officials said they were saddened by the news and offered sympathy to Pravia's loved ones. Grieving friends quickly cobbled a Facebook page dedicated to the student and expressing shock over his death.
Pravia was a 2007 graduate of Wahconah Regional High School in Dalton, where counselors were available Tuesday to help staff and students deal with the loss. Principal James Conro remembered Pravia as a "quiet, polite and respectful young man."
"My heart goes out to the family," Conro told The Berkshire Eagle, of Pittsfield, Mass. "It's a tough way to lose a son and a brother."
Pravia's brother Michael, 16, a junior at Wahconah, was scheduled to fly to Germany on Tuesday to take part in a youth exchange program but reportedly canceled the trip.

Murder in Chelsea

2008-09-02T08:15:00.003-08:00

Source

Pace University student found strangled in apartment
BY ALISON GENDAR, SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM and BILL HUTCHINSON

A Pace University honor student was discovered dead in his Chelsea apartment Sunday night, strangled with an electrical cord that was still wrapped around his neck, cops said.
The lifeless body of Kevin Pravia, 19, was found lying face up in his bed when officers were called to his apartment at 239 W. 15th St. just after 6 p.m., a police source said.
Pravia's roommate made the grim discovery and called 911, police said.
The sophomore standout's mouth was stuffed with plastic - and there was no evidence of a break-in, the source said.
While the death had all the hallmarks of a murder, an official police spokeswoman said nothing had been ruled out, including suicide.
Pravia was originally from Pittsfield, Mass., police and relatives said.
"This is terrible. He's such a good kid," said Ann Ford of nearby Dalton, Mass., whose daughter-in-law, Julie, is Pravia's aunt. "My heart goes out to the Pravia family."
His death came on a day that began joyfully for his family.
Their hometown newspaper, The Berkshire Eagle, ran a glowing profile yesterday about Pravia's 16-year-old brother, who had been awarded a youth exchange scholarship to Germany.
A friend of Pravia was in disbelief last night, saying he was well-liked.
"He is a good friend of mine," said the young woman, who asked not to be identified. "It is just really hard for me to believe this story."
Pravia is listed on the Pace University Web site as an honor student and a member of the school's Challenge to Achievement at Pace program.
"We have just learned of the death of Kevin Pravia, a sophomore at Pace University, and we are deeply sadden by the news," said Pace spokeswoman Cara Halstead. "Our sympathy and thoughts go out to Kevin's family, friends and classmates."
Neighbors gathered Sunday night outside the young man's apartment building, a five-story walk-up between Seventh and Eighth Aves., and expressed fear as a medical examiner's van pulled up to remove the body.
"This is crazy," said Noel Zasra, 23, who lives across the street. "Me and my girlfriend only moved in yesterday and this is not what we expected. We were told this is a really nice neighborhood. I can't believe this."
New York University student Sarah Whiting, 20, a Wisconsin native, said the thought of a murder on her block gave her the shivers.
"I could have seen the guy in the street every day," Whiting said of Pravia. "I can't let my folks know about this. The reason they let me live here is because it's supposed to be so safe."

And from the NY Post

DEATH MYSTERY
'RISKY SEX' KID PARTIED HARD
By JAMIE SCHRAM and STEFANIE COHEN

The Pace University student found dead in his Chelsea apartment with an electric cord around his neck and a plastic bag in his mouth partied all night and made several after-hours calls to male friends before he died, law-enforcement sources said.
Kevin Pravia, 19, was known to be "very promiscuous" and to "engage in risky sex," although there were no signs he'd had sex the night he died, a source said.
Cops have not yet determined whether the case should be ruled a homicide after the Medical Examiner's Office found yesterday that there were no marks or bruises on his neck that would indicate he had been strangled.
"We're shocked and we don't know what to make of it" said Pravia's uncle Mark Ford, of Dalton, Mass.
"He was respected by his peers. He was mild-mannered and polite," Ford said of his nephew, a cross-country skier and runner at his high school in Massachusetts. "He was a good kid."
The sources said Pravia, who had been at a party in Brooklyn until about 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning, was so drunk, he had to be helped into a yellow cab by other partygoers. He made several phone calls to male friends from his cellphone around the same time, sources said.
Cops, who have spoken to at least one of the men Pravia called and found he had an alibi, now want to speak to the cabdriver who took him from Brooklyn to his West 15th Street apartment. Police also are asking anyone who might have been at the party in Downtown Brooklyn, and helped Pravia into the cab, to come forward.
Pravia's cellphone and laptop were missing from his apartment, and a ring was found next to the bed, sources said, adding there were no signs of a break-in.
The sophomore honors student's roommate found him on his bed, a sheet over his head, when she returned home early Sunday evening. "I heard her in the hallway screaming," said a neighbor, Teresa Hicks. "She was saying, 'He's dead, he's dead, my roommate's dead!' "
Hicks entered the apartment with the girl and saw Pravia on the bed, dressed in only a T-shirt and boxer shorts.
Hicks said she heard loud music coming from Pravia's apartment Friday evening, but didn't complain because it was a holiday weekend.

Study: Gay civil unions may last longer

2008-09-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

Source
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Five years after Vermont approved gay civil unions, a study indicates legalized same-sex couples may be longer-lasting than those without legal status.
Kimberly F. Balsam and Theodore P. Beauchaine of the University of Washington, Esther D. Rothblum of San Diego State University and Sondra E. Solomon of the University of Vermont followed-up on a 2002 project that focused on legalized relationships of same-sex couples following civil unions in 2000.

Sixty-five male and 138 female couples who entered into civil unions during the first year were available were asked to provide information. They were compared to 23 male and 61 female couples not in civil unions and 55 heterosexual married couples related to the same-sex couples in civil unions.

The study, published in Developmental Psychology, said same-sex couples not in civil unions were more likely to have ended their relationship than same-sex couples in civil unions or heterosexual married couples in the study.

"Legal couple status may support a relationship -- more family understanding, acceptance by friends and co-workers, greater commitment from a public declaration and enhanced legal protections like healthcare benefits and community property," Robert-Jay Green of Alliant International University in San Francisco said in a statement.

Vogue’s Fashion Photos Spark Debate in India

2008-09-02T07:39:00.002-08:00

Source

By HEATHER TIMMONS
NEW DELHI — An old woman missing her upper front teeth holds a child in rumpled clothes — who is wearing a Fendi bib (retail price, about $100).

A family of three squeezes onto a motorbike for their daily commute, the mother riding without a helmet and sidesaddle in the traditional Indian way — except that she has a Hermès Birkin bag (usually more than $10,000, if you can find one) prominently displayed on her wrist.

Elsewhere, a toothless barefoot man holds a Burberry umbrella (about $200).

Welcome to the new India — at least as Vogue sees it.

Vogue India’s August issue presented a 16-page vision of supple handbags, bejeweled clutches and status-symbol umbrellas, modeled not by runway stars or the wealthiest fraction of Indian society who can actually afford these accessories, but by average Indian people.

Perhaps not surprisingly, not everyone in India was amused.

The editorial spread was “not just tacky but downright distasteful” said Kanika Gahlaut, a columnist for the daily newspaper Mail Today that is based here, who denounced it as an “example of vulgarity.”

There’s nothing “fun or funny” about putting a poor person in a mud hut in clothing designed by Alexander McQueen, she said in a telephone interview. “There are farmer suicides here, for God’s sake” she said, referring to thousands of Indian farmers who have killed themselves in the last decade because of debt.

Vogue India editor Priya Tanna’s message to critics of the August shoot: “Lighten up,” she said in a telephone interview. Vogue is about realizing the “power of fashion” she said, and the shoot was saying that “fashion is no longer a rich man’s privilege. Anyone can carry it off and make it look beautiful,” she said.

“You have to remember with fashion, you can’t take it that seriously,” Ms. Tanna said. “We weren’t trying to make a political statement or save the world,” she said.

Nearly half of India’s population — about 456 million people — live on less than $1.25 a day, according to World Bank figures released last week. But as any well-briefed luxury goods executive or private banker knows, India also has a fast-growing wealthy class and emerging middle class that make it one of the world’s most attractive new places to sell high-end products.

The juxtaposition between poverty and growing wealth presents an unsavory dilemma for luxury goods makers jumping into India: How does one sell something like a $1,000 handbag in a country where most people will never amass that sum of money in their lives, and many are starving? The answer is not clear cut, though Vogue’s approach may not be the way to go.

Marketers need to “create brand awareness” in India, said Claudia D’Arpizio, a partner with the consulting firm Bain & Company, who is based in Milan. She recommended the approach that some consumer brand companies took in China, opening big flagship stores and trying new forms of advertising like television.

As India’s population becomes more affluent, successful luxury goods manufacturers will “create aspirations,” Ms. D’Arpizio said, and people will buy their products to show their pride in their prosperity. On the other hand, she said, would not be prudent for marketers to open luxury stores on “streets where people are struggling for survival.”

Brands like Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Hermès have been bunking in high-end hotels or banding together in new superluxury malls, where guards are often stationed at the doors to keep the destitute outside. One new mall coming to south Delhi, the gold-leafed and marbled Emporio, even features a spa and a members club, developers say.

For now, the Indian middle and upper class — and the companies that aim to cater to it — are just getting used to having new money, said V. Sunil, creative director for advertising agency Weiden & Kennedy in India, which opened its first office here last September. “No one thinks they need to do something deeper for the public,” like address India’s social ills, he said.

The subjects of the Vogue shoot are the people that luxury goods manufacturers might hope to one day become their customers. Companies are attracted to emerging markets like India because of the millions of people who are “coming from no income and rising quite fast,” said Nick Debnam, chairman of KPMG’s consumer markets practice in the Asia-Pacific region.

The idea of being able to afford something but not buying it because you do not want to flaunt your money reflects a “very Western attitude,” he said. In China and other emerging markets, “if you’ve made it, you want everyone to know that you’ve made it,” and luxury brands are the easiest way to do that, he said.

Still, the in-your-face poverty of India, where beggars sometimes sit outside five-star hotels, does present challenges that companies do not face in other markets. In China, most of the very poor live in rural areas, said Mr. Debnam. “Most of the luxury companies don’t consider these people,” when they’re thinking of selling products, he said, “and even the consumer product companies don’t look at them.”

Not taking a close enough look at the “real people” is drawing criticism for Vogue, too. “The magazine does not even bother to identify the subjects” of the photos, said Ms. Gahlaut, the columnist. Instead, Vogue names the brands of the accessories in the captions, and says they are worn by a lady or a man.

Helen Mirren: why I stopped taking cocaine

2008-09-02T07:32:00.001-08:00

Source
Matthew Taylor
The Guardian

There are many reasons to give up cocaine: the price, the health risks, the illegality. But for Dame Helen Mirren the decision to turn her back on the drug was more specific: Klaus Barbie.

Mirren, who won an Oscar last year for her portrayal of the Queen, says she took the decision after discovering the Nazi war criminal had been making money from selling cocaine while he was in hiding in South America in the early 1980s.

"I loved coke. I never did a lot, just a little bit at parties," said Mirren. "But what ended it for me was when they caught Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, in the early 80s. He was hiding in South America and living off the proceeds of being a cocaine baron. And I read that in the paper, and all the cards fell into place and I saw how my little sniff of cocaine at a party had an absolute direct route to this fucking horrible man in South America."

Mirren says that from then on she never took cocaine again. "Until that moment I had never grasped the full horrifying structure of what brings coke to our parties in Britain."

In the interview with GQ magazine, Mirren, who starred in Prime Suspect as DCI Jane Tennison, says she has been held back by her looks. "I've always had big tits and blonde hair. That's an ... can be a terrible disadvantage," she said. "Because you're not allowed to be intelligent if you're a woman with big tits and blonde hair. And if you are, it offends people. Intelligence does not fit into that package, and you are patronised, condescended and insulted. Professionally."

What a charmer

2008-09-02T07:17:00.002-08:00

From Gawker

Gay sex scandal teacher quits

2008-08-26T08:20:00.001-08:00

Source
By Jesse Phillips

A SENIOR teacher at an exclusive $15,000-a-year Sydney school has resigned after students viewed naked pictures of him on a gay dating website.

The Pittwater House High School teacher, who had taught at the school for 15 years, used a strange word as his username while accessing an educational website during a presentation to Year 11 students.

The word he used was his profile name for a gay dating website and was visible on the projector for students to see.

Several students noticed the strange username and put the word into the Google search engine.

The first result that appeared was an explicit personal profile for the teacher, in which he advertised himself as a "40-year-old cuddly bear who is looking for (a) **** buddy/friend for fun."

Once the profile was accessed in full, it is understood to have contained a description of his genitals, sexual fetishes as well as several naked pictures.

The (Rivers) Still Wild

2008-08-26T07:56:00.003-08:00

From Advocate.com

The queen of the red carpet, Joan Rivers, talks about the state of the world while on tour for her one-woman show in Europe.
By Greg Archer

Getting old sucks, and same-sex marriage might suck for gays. At least that’s how comedy maven Joan Rivers sees it. Not that anybody was asking, really, but Rivers, who’s been getting rave reviews at Scotland's Edinburgh Comedy Festival for her London-bound show, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, pulled out all the stops in between performances recently. Beyond chatting up her recurring role in the IFC channel’s savage music-industry-skewed series Z Rock (premiering August 24), Rivers was more candid than usual on a number of issues: Obama’s hard to trust, our country is in the toilet, and why aren't the gays embracing Sarah Silverman? Oy, can she still talk…

You never stop moving. What do you love most about your life right now?
Are you kidding? I am here in Edinburgh doing a play that I wrote that is sold-out.

It’s going well?
The show has changed. It’s better and tighter. And these are very strange audiences over here. They are German and they are Polish and French. It’s a festival. It’s getting standing ovations here where they don't stand up in Europe. We go from here to London, and then we'll see.

You've dubbed the show "a work in progress." Can you talk about that, because it has some deep, candid moments.
It started out where I had a lot to talk about -- about aging and relationships, and about betrayals and things that everybody goes through. My philosophy has always been "Push forward and don't look back." You can't change the past, so why discuss it? Now all kinds of things are coming out in the show. I'd love to take it to New York. I think it’s finally ready.

There are probably so many stellar comics over there, but is there anybody back in the States that you’re jazzed about?
Lynne Koplitz, who plays Dina on Z Rock. I saw her act. Unbelievable! She is so ready to become big; to give birth! She can be as big as Kathy Griffin.

You like Kathy?
Oh, yeah. Kathy and I have known each other for 15 years already. She deserves everything she has gotten. She’s worked hard for it.

You and Kathy have a nice gay following.
Yeah. And does Sarah Silverman have that?

I am not so sure.
No? I don't know, and I find that interesting, because she is hilarious.

She is. I loved Jesus Is Magic.
Oh, having an affair with God -- fabulous! But gay people were the first in Greenwich Village to think I was funny, and they were there long after and in between. If I look out in the front row and see six gays, I know it’s going to be a good show -- that’s it, OK, we're home free. Gay men are willing to laugh at more risqué things. I know that sounds silly, but they are willing to go out on a line, and they are much more open to new kinds of comedy. I always say, "If I had a second child, I would have loved to have had a gay son after Melissa." I wouldn't be sitting here alone in Edinburgh not knowing what to put on.

Adorable - Matthew Mitcham

2008-08-26T07:47:00.000-08:00

Berlin gay monument vandalized

2008-08-19T09:56:00.001-08:00

Source
By 365gay Newscenter Staff

(Berlin) Police are searching for vandals who damaged a monument to gay victims of the Nazis in the German capital.

The monument, a gray concrete slab with a window allowing visitors to view a film projected inside that shows gay men and lesbians kissing, sits on the edge of Tiergarten Park near the memorial to the six-million Jews who died in the Holocaust. It was unveiled in May.
Berlin police say that the window was smashed over the weekend. Authorities say there were no witnesses and few clues, but gay activists believe Neo-Nazis may be responsible.

“Everything suggests that this attack was motivated by a hatred of homosexuals,” Germany’s Association of Lesbians and Gays said in a statement:

Berlin’s openly gay mayor denounced the attack on the monument.

“An attack against this memorial is clearly directed against homosexuals - that can be said without waiting for further police investigations,” he told Spiegel. “We must show our condemnation of this act of intolerance and homophobia.”

The exact number of gays killed by the Nazis may never be known.

Adolf Hitler declared homosexuality an aberration that threatened the German race. Some 50,000 homosexuals were convicted and an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 gay men were deported to concentration camps, where few survived.

The Nazi law against homosexuality remained on the books in West Germany until 1969.

In 2002, the German parliament issued a formal pardon for gays convicted under the Nazis.

There also are monument to gay holocaust victims in Amsterdam and San Francisco, and another is planned for Israel.

Christina Applegate fights the fight

2008-08-19T09:35:00.002-08:00

Source

Applegate 'Definitely Not Going to Die'
AP

NEW YORK (Aug. 19) - Christina Applegate is taking the long view of her battle with breast cancer - the really long view.

Speaking on ABC News' "Good Morning America" in her first interview since announcing her diagnosis earlier this month, the "Samantha Who?" star said she had a double mastectomy three weeks ago. She'll undergo reconstructive surgery over the next eight months.

"I'm going to have cute boobs 'til I'm 90, so there's that," she joked in the interview, which aired Tuesday. "I'll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I'll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table."

The 36-year-old actress elected to remove both breasts even though the disease was contained in one breast. She said she is now cancer-free.

Applegate called the operation a logical decision. Her mother battled breast cancer, and she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

"I just wanted to kind of be rid of it," she said. "So this was the choice I made and it was a tough one."

The experience has been an emotional roller coaster, she said.

"Sometimes, you know, I cry and sometimes I scream and I get really angry and I get really like, you know, into wallowing in self-pity sometimes," she said. "And I think that's - it's all part of healing, and anyone who's going through it out there, it's OK to cry. It's OK to fall on the ground and just scream if you want to."

The Emmy-nominated "Samantha Who?" star has kept her sense of humor intact.

"I've laughed so much in the last three weeks," she said. "I love living, and I really love my life, and I knew that from this moment on it was only going to be good that was going to be coming. Yeah, I'll face challenges, but you can't get any darker than where I've been. So knowing that in my soul gave me the strength to just say, `I have to get out there and make this a positive."'

Applegate's cancer was detected early through a doctor-ordered MRI. She said she's starting a program to help women at high risk for breast cancer to meet the costs of an MRI, which is not always covered by insurance.

Applegate is scheduled to appear on a one-hour TV special, "Stand Up to Cancer," to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sept. 5 to raise funds for cancer research.

She has been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the ABC show "Samantha Who?", in which she plays a woman who wakes from a coma with no memory of who she is.

Calif. Court Puts Gays' Care Over Doctors' Faith

2008-08-19T09:27:00.001-08:00

Source
By Ashley Surdin

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 -- Doctors may not refuse medical treatment to gay men or lesbians for religious reasons, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday.

The court ruled that physicians' constitutional right to the free exercise of religion does not exempt businesses that serve the public from following state law that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

That holds true, Justice Joyce L. Kennard wrote in the 18-page decision, "even if compliance poses an incidental conflict with the defendants' religious beliefs."

If a doctor wants to refuse a service because of religious beliefs, the court found, he or she must refuse all patients, or provide a doctor who can provide the service to everyone.

The decision, three months after the same court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage, stems from a lawsuit filed by Guadalupe "Lupita" Benítez, who said her doctors and their employer, a San Diego-based fertility clinic, refused her a standard fertility treatment because of her sexual orientation. The doctors, who are Christian, said that they denied the treatment because Benítez was unmarried, and that they were allowed to do so under the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion.

Benítez sought the treatment in 1999 after two years of trying to conceive using an at-home insemination kit. When she informed her doctor, Christine Brody, of her orientation, Brody replied that she could not perform intrauterine insemination, should it later be required.

What violated Brody's beliefs is disputed. Benítez asserts that Brody said it was her sexual orientation; Brody says she cited Benítez's marital status.

Benítez began treatment with the understanding that another doctor in the same medical group would be available to do the procedure. But eventually she was referred by a second doctor, Douglas Fenton, to another medical group.

An attorney for Brody and Fenton says the referral was prompted by a mix-up in Benítez's chart. Had it not been for the miscommunication, staff doctors could have performed Benítez's procedure, the lawyer said.

Jennifer C. Pizer, a lawyer with the gay rights group Lambda Legal who is representing Benítez, said that while the law protects doctors who refuse certain treatments on religious grounds, it does not allow them to do so on a discriminatory or selective basis.

A trial court sided with Benítez in 2004, ruling that doctors in a for-profit medical group must comply with California's anti-discrimination laws. An appeals court overturned that decision one year later, finding that the previous ruling had denied the doctors' religious rights. Monday's decision voided that ruling.

Madonna, Johansonn, Sarandon - When boobs support

2008-08-18T04:49:00.004-08:00

Source
Celebs: Dems got the party

Celebrities may be scarce at the Republican convention come September, but the Democrats have so many clamoring to get into their convention in Denver the week before, it's like the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

George Clooney, Madonna, Kanye West, Scarlett Johansson, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Matt Damon are just a few of the stars who want to be there when presidential candidate Barack Obama says, "Yes, I can."

The Republicans have even engaged top William Morris agent Jeffrey Barry to try to wrangle country western stars to trek to the Twin Cities, a political source tells us. He's garnered "Redneck Woman" singer Gretchen Wilson, the source adds, but Barry wouldn't answer questions about whether he's rounded up more.

The Republican convention "will be a snooze-fest. They're really worried," said a former political operative. "It's not the celebs going per se, it's the energy. Celebrities cause excitement. Your ability to get press is enhanced. You can get into entertainment sections of newspapers and TV, and that's where a campaign wants to go to spread their message in nontraditional places. Republicans don't have as good a shot at that."

When asked about Republican stars like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Grammer and Chuck Norris, G.O.P. convention spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said the party was not ready to announce its roster at this time.

But Minneapolis/St. Paul won't be a total drag, thanks to the nonpartisan but heavily liberal Creative Coalition, which is bringing a delegation to meet with the McCainites, including Tim Daly, Kerry Washington and Tom Fontana, said Coalition director Robin Bronk. "I would expect to see Kid Rock, Gary Sinise, Patricia Heaton and Taylor Hicks there, at least.

Republicans are strategically using the H[ollywood]-factor more than I've ever seen this time."

"I think it's a generational thing with [Sen. John] McCain. When the extent of diversity is how old all the white men on your ticket are, it doesn't make for four compelling days of political conversation."

Maybe Heidi Montag will show up.

Blond justice - Ellen and Portia get hitched

2008-08-18T04:36:00.004-08:00

Source

Ellen DeGeneres marries lesbian partner Portia de Rossi in sunset LA ceremony
By Daily Mail Reporter

Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi were married following an intimate ceremony in the grounds of their LA home.

Fewer than 20 of the couple's family and friends gathered at sunset for the civil service ceremony but the event attracted a swarm of press anxious to get a glimpse of the lesbian couple.

As they posed for official photographers, the loved-up pair were clearly enjoying their big day.

Former comic and sitcom star DeGeneres wore a loose-fitting white chiffon shirt, white waistcoat and trousers while de Rossi wore a cream and pale pink halterneck dress by designer Zac Posen.

The couple have been dating since December 2004 and DeGeneres announced her plans to wed her lover on her chat show in May.

It came after the California Supreme Court ruled that same sex couples have the right to wed.

When announcing the upcoming nuptials, DeGeneres said: 'It's something that we've wanted to do and we want it to be legal and we are very, very excited.'

She joked: 'Planning a wedding is very stressful. It's crazy. My gardener is now invited.'

But added: 'I think someday people will look back on this like women not having the right to vote and segregation and anything else that seems ridiculous that we don't all have the same rights.'

DeGeneres said at the time that she planned to fly de Rossi's family in from Australia and that 'incredible people' would sing at the ceremony.

She said she would show 'a tiny bit' of the nuptials on her talk show - and joked that she would use her latest Daytime Emmy as a wedding-cake topper.

After suffering heart-break following her relationship with actress Ann Heche, a legal commitment ceremony is sure to be a huge relief for DeGeneres.

The popular TV personality lived with Heche from 1997 to 2000 and at one point the couple even announced that they too would have a civil union if it was possible.

However, the actress split up with DeGeneres and went on to marry cameraman Coley Laffoon.

The 50-year-old, meanwhile, found a new girlfriend in L-Word actress Alexandra Hedison but it was all over as soon as she met de Rossi.

The pair met in 2004 but 35-year-old de Rossi has only been openly gay since 2005.

The Australian-born actress, who starred in Ally McBeal, previously dated Ringo Starr's stepdaughter, Francesca Gregorini.

Prior to that she was married to documentary filmmaker Mel Metcalfe, before admitting that she was a lesbian.

DeGeneres and de Rossi now live together in Beverly Hills with their four cats.

This is what happens when you're an irrelevant harridan

2008-08-18T04:20:00.005-08:00

Source

Madonna "Disappointed" by Friends' Birthday Snub
By Adam Nutburn

Madonna admitted she was "disappointed" that several of her close showbiz pals failed to attend her 50th birthday celebrations at the weekend.

The Material Girl, who turned 50 on Saturday, celebrated her big day at the swanky Volstead nightclub in London's Mayfair -- but noticeably absent at the $200,000 party were friends Gwyneth Paltrow and Stella McCartney.

So it was left to husband Guy Ritchie, 39, daughter Lourdes, 11, sons Rocco, eight, and David, two, around 50 of her dancers and some work colleagues to toast her half century.

In a 40-minute speech to her 90 guests, Madonna thanked Guy, her children and her Kabbalah religion, before admitting: "I'm really disappointed.

"There are a lot of people who are not here tonight, but thanks to everyone who did make it.

"I can't believe I have reached half a century. It only happens once and this is an event I'm glad to be sharing with you."

After the guests sang a round of Happy Birthday, Lourdes left her mum teary-eyed by playing a song from Fame on the grand piano as a surprise.

And, Despite reports of marriage woes between Madonna and Ritchie, the movie-maker spared no expense on his wife's birthday celebrations. The buffet, on tables adorned with roses and candles, included kosher-prepared Wagyu beef, foie gras and caviar, all washed down with $900 bottles of Krug Rose champagne, martinis, "Crackbaby" cocktails and mojitos. Dominating the display was a three-tiered chocolate, raspberry and vanilla birthday cake covered in silver balls and crystallized rose petals.

Guy also made a speech, telling the birthday girl: "Out of all your years, you look your most beautiful."

Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?

2008-08-18T04:03:00.001-08:00

By MICHIKO KAKUTANI
IT’S been more than eight years since “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” made its first foray into presidential politics with the presciently named Indecision 2000, and the difference in the show’s approach to its coverage then and now provides a tongue-in-cheek measure of the show’s striking evolution.

In 1999, the “Daily Show” correspondent Steve Carell struggled to talk his way off Senator John McCain’s overflow press bus — “a repository for outcasts, misfits and journalistic bottom-feeders” — and onto the actual Straight Talk Express, while at the 2000 Republican Convention Mr. Stewart self-deprecatingly promised exclusive coverage of “all the day’s events — at least the ones we’re allowed into.” In this year’s promotional spot for “The Daily Show’s” convention coverage, the news newbies have been transformed into a swaggering A Team — “the best campaign team in the universe ever,” working out of “ ‘The Daily Show’ news-scraper: 117 stories, 73 situation rooms, 26 news tickers,” and promising to bring “you all the news stories — first ... before it’s even true.”

Though this spot is the program’s mocking sendup of itself and the news media’s mania for self-promotion, it inadvertently gets at one very real truth: the emergence of “The Daily Show” as a genuine cultural and political force. When Americans were asked in a 2007 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press to name the journalist they most admired, Mr. Stewart, the fake news anchor, came in at No. 4, tied with the real news anchors Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw of NBC, Dan Rather of CBS and Anderson Cooper of CNN. And a study this year from the center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism concluded that “ ‘The Daily Show’ is clearly impacting American dialogue” and “getting people to think critically about the public square.”

While the show scrambled in its early years to book high-profile politicians, it has since become what Newsweek calls “the coolest pit stop on television,” with presidential candidates, former presidents, world leaders and administration officials signing on as guests. One of the program’s signature techniques — using video montages to show politicians contradicting themselves — has been widely imitated by “real” news shows, while Mr. Stewart’s interviews with serious authors like Thomas Ricks, George Packer, Seymour Hersh, Michael Beschloss and Reza Aslan have helped them and their books win a far wider audience than they otherwise might have had.

Most important, at a time when Fox, MSNBC and CNN routinely mix news and entertainment, larding their 24-hour schedules with bloviation fests and marathon coverage of sexual predators and dead celebrities, it’s been “The Daily Show” that has tenaciously tracked big, “super depressing” issues like the cherry-picking of prewar intelligence, the politicization of the Department of Justice and the efforts of the Bush White House to augment its executive power.

For that matter, the Comedy Central program — which is not above using silly sight gags and sophomoric sex jokes to get a laugh — has earned a devoted following that regards the broadcast as both the smartest, funniest show on television and a provocative and substantive source of news. “The Daily Show” resonates not only because it is wickedly funny but also because its keen sense of the absurd is perfectly attuned to an era in which cognitive dissonance has become a national epidemic. Indeed, Mr. Stewart’s frequent exclamation “Are you insane?!” seems a fitting refrain for a post-M*A*S*H, post-“Catch-22” reality, where the surreal and outrageous have become commonplace — an era kicked off by the wacko 2000 election standoff in Florida, rocked by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and haunted by the fallout of a costly war waged on the premise of weapons of mass destruction that did not exist.

MR. STEWART describes his job as “throwing spitballs” from the back of the room and points out that “The Daily Show” mandate is to entertain, not inform. Still, he and his writers have energetically tackled the big issues of the day — “the stuff we find most interesting,” as he said in an interview at the show’s Midtown Manhattan offices, the stuff that gives them the most “agita,” the sometimes somber stories he refers to as his “morning cup of sadness.” And they’ve done so in ways that straight news programs cannot: speaking truth to power in blunt, sometimes profane language, while using satire and playful looniness to ensure that their political analysis never becomes solemn or pretentious.

Read it all here

Well hello there

2008-08-15T11:21:00.003-08:00

Well hello there

2008-08-15T11:21:00.001-08:00

Ryan Phillippe still has it

2008-08-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

Source

America Ferrera Eviscerates Blake Lively Without Uttering a Single Word

2008-08-14T18:27:00.001-08:00

From nymag.com

The Soup has uncovered a brilliant clip of America Ferrera and Blake Lively talking to Good Day LA about their just-released movie, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. The co-stars have been all over the country together promoting the film, so they're probably a little bit tired of hearing one another banter witlessly. You can see a hint (well, more than a hint) of this in the above video of the two, in which Ferrera simply can't disguise her disdain for Lively and her show, Gossip Girl. As Lively blathers on about what's coming up on the show this season, Ferrera picks at her fingernails, grimaces, and even looks away in disgust. It's amazing. We can't tell whether she's thinking, "What is this bitch talking about? I'm on Ugly Betty! You know, a show that people actually watch? On a network that will exist past next year?" or "If I hear her swallow another goddamn syllable I will fucking claw out her larynx and feed it to her maltapoo." Either way, girl knows how to get that emotion across. Get her another Emmy!