Lindsey Lohan in court

There are times when one can seriously suspect that a performer’s agent plants a story just to follow the reaction in the press and public. This is one of them. Allegedly, according to “an individual familiar with the negotiations” that Lindsey Lohan is in early talks about starring in a Lifetime TV movie about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

And if the story’s response from commenters on-line is any indication, Lohan’s agent should start looking for small roles for her. For a couple of years now, the public response to Lohan’s legal dramas has been “Throw her ass in jail. It saved Robert Downey’s life.” Now, the take-away from the outrage over her playing Taylor comes down to “Do a Winona Ryder.” Ryder came out of her legal problems with a couple of

Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra" -- when she met Richard Burton

uncredited parts, a string of minor supporting roles, larger supporting roles and finally is co-starring again. It’s taken seven years, and no one ever publicly referred to Ryder as a skank. Rebuilding a career is not an overnight thing. Even Robert Downey, Jr., had to slowly rebuild his career after being in jail and has only broken out into major hits in the past four years.

Lohan sank too low for her to be in consideration for any starring role at anything. She now has to do what she didn’t do in her first career arc – prove herself. Going from child actress to teen star is not proving any real acting ability. She’s an adult now. Being a former teen celebrity doesn’t carry films. An incredibly small percentage of teen actors transition into respected adult careers with taking a break to learn their craft or separate themselves from their teen persona. Roddy McDowall took a few years off to do his transition on the Broadway stage, even though he had access to the same studio system that carried Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland into their adult careers.

And now, having been very polite and very nice, it’s time for the big question: Look at these two women. Can you see Lindsey Lohan, who is just 25 as Elizabeth Taylor at 31? That one goes way beyond the “suspension of disbelief” needed for any performance.

Related articles

• Hicks: Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor? (mercurynews.com)
• Lindsay Lohan to Star in Elizabeth Taylor Biopic? (thehollywoodgossip.com)
• Lindsay Lohan In Talks To Play Elizabeth Taylor (newsy.com)
• Lindsay Lohan Is In Talks To Play Elizabeth Taylor In A Made-For-TV Movie (pinkisthenewblog.com)
• No way! Lindsay Lohan in early talks to play Elizabeth Taylor on the small screen (bazaardaily.com)
• Lindsay Lohan’s Comeback Role: Elizabeth Taylor?! (eonline.com)

The 9,000 square foot termite house

Last week, the headlines screamed about how Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods’ ex-wife, was cavalierly knocking down a $12 million mansion. The comment streams went nuts. How awful of her, how wasteful, how utterly 1%!!!

The headlines today told a slightly different story. It turns out the mansion was a steal at $12 million, prime beachfront property in North Palm Beach, Florida. Well, that looks like beach in the aerial photos, but it might be a huge golf course sand trap. Would probably have gone for a few million more if it didn’t have a bevy of tenants in it – a massive colony of termites.

Ms. Nordegren could have let the house fall over in a hurricane next summer, if she was fortunate enough to have one take a bead on North Palm Beach, but then she could not have let Habitat for Humanities do a salvage job on whatever was reusable in the buildings.

Since no one who reported this story last week bothered to pick up a phone and get an explanation, thereby exposing Ms. Nordegren to a lot of very hostile criticism, the very least all those breathless reporters could do is apologize. The pond scum who took her apart on the comment streams could do the same.

Related articles

• Elin Nordegren Demolished $12 Million Mansion Due to Termites (celebs.gather.com)
• Why Did Elin Nordegren Demolish Her $12 Million Mansion? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Elin Nordegren Demolishes $12 Million Home In North Palm Beach (now1031.radio.com)
• Elin Nordegren knocks down house (examiner.com)
• Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods’ Ex-Wife, Demolishes $12.3 Million Florida Mansion (newsfeed.time.com)
• Elin Nordegren is still standing but her $12 million North Palm Beach mansion isn’t (onlineupdaters.wordpress.com)

J. R. Martinez and Diana Gonzalez-Jones

On Thursday, December 15, 2011, President and Mrs. Obama welcomed our troops home from Iraq. On Friday, Secretary of Defense Panetta oversaw the hand-off of our facilities to the Iraqis, and veteran Jessica Lynch graduated from college. And on Saturday, we learned that Iraq veteran J. R. Martinez is going to be a father. Sometimes, a war can end with good news on top of good news.

Martinez, 28, who was severely burned in an IED explosion and underwent 33 operations, won the 13^th season of Dancing With The Stars just weeks ago. He has started an acting career, overcoming the conventional wisdom that says men with extensive facial scarring can only play psychotic villains. And now, he and girlfriend Diana Gonzalez-Jones are expecting their first child in the spring.

Martinez told People magazine, “We found out just last week it’s a girl and we are over the moon. Diana has a little baby bump now and it’s the cutest thing ever. With the holidays coming up, this is the biggest and best gift we could get.”

Martinez has been a gift to all of us who served and who have loved ones who served, and those still serving and their loved ones. We wish all the best for J. R., Diana and their daughter.

Related articles

• ‘Dancing with the Stars’ JR Martinez, girlfriend expecting child (digitalspy.co.uk)
• J.R. Martinez expecting first child with girlfriend (ontheredcarpet.com)
• J.R. Martinez Is Going to Be a Dad (people.com)
• Jessica Lynch’s New Life (lezgetreal.com)
• Baby Girl On the Way for J.R. Martinez (celebritybabies.people.com)

A Very Gaga Holiday EP

The thing about writing for a small blog is we don’t have someone to sub for us so we can take time off. We risk losing readers if we don’t post daily. It’s a situation that leads to burned-out writers.

After almost a year of doing this full-time, even on days when I have to work at my paying job, I desperately needed a vacation. We go to Georgia every year to spend Thanksgiving week with my younger daughter and her husband. I don’t own a laptop and I can’t take my computer with us, so this was a perfect excuse to take ten days off and hope the world didn’t implode over the holidays. It didn’t. Very little happened that wasn’t an extension of the stories we’ve been covering for the past year. Today and tomorrow will be taken up catching up a few stories, and hopefully there will not be anything earthshattering before December 1^st. I really, really need to take an hour or so and restock my empty frig.

We also had an absolute deadline over the holiday. Bridgette had to submit her Master’s thesis, and then do the revisions. Since it seems that she has been working on this Master’s Degree for eternity, that took precedent over the blog. If she missed these deadlines, I would have done serious damage to her person.

Obviously, the Thanksgiving to New Year’s arc is not a time of world-wide holidays. Christmas to New Year’s comes close, but Thanksgiving is uniquely American. Nonetheless, this month to six weeks tends to be fairly calm internationally unless there is a natural disaster.

So, by way of thanks for sticking with us while we scaled back or did nothing for eleven days, a small piece of news…..

Lady Gaga has released an EP over iTunes called A Very Gaga Holiday. It is four songs from her Thanksgiving special – “White Christmas,” “Orange Colored Sky,” “The Edge of Glory” and “You and I.” Though some people have objected to Gaga expanding the lyrics of “White Christmas,” the rendition is excellent. One thing needs to be remembered about “White Christmas” – it was written for a movie called Holiday Inn. The length of the song was determined by the script for the movie, not by the normal three-minute duration for songs of that era. The song was an introduction to an unveiling of a snowfall just in time for the Christmas celebration. No one ever asked Irving Berlin if he felt the song was half-done, in part because it was common at that time for small, bridging songs to be inserted in musicals. One of the best examples is a less-than-one-minute song called “The Touch of Your Hand” from Roberta. Beautiful song, just not something that people remember because it is a very short dramatic bridge.

Judging from comments on news stories about A Very Gaga Thanksgiving, the show impressed a lot of older people who, like me, had ignored Stephani Germanotta’s music because of Lady Gaga’s stage persona. This show was a good beginning of a career transition. Eventually, Lady Gaga may be left behind, just as John Cougar and The Rock have been left behind by John Mellencamp and Dwayne Johnson.

Enjoy the EP. It’s worth the $3.99 not just for Gaga, but also as a nice introduction to some classic jazz. That’s a weird idea – that Lady Gaga could do what Rod Stewart, Harry Connick, Jr., and Michael Buble haven’t been able to do, convert a lot of younger listeners to the classic American songbook.

Now, on to the pile of stories sitting in my inbox……

Related articles

• Gaga Stuns For The Right Reasons (lezgetreal.com)
• Lady Gaga Releases Holiday Songs (justjared.buzznet.com)
• Distract Yo’ Self: Lady Gaga’s “White Christmas” (thekenyonthrill.wordpress.com)
• Lady Gaga Releases Holiday Mini-album (socyberty.com)

 The Savannah College of Art and Design and the National Cartoonists Society are honoring the “usual gang of idiotswho created MAD magazine and are in part responsible for my warped sense of humor. I began reading MAD as soon as I was old enough to go to the store alone and hide it when I got home. Ah-h-h, the thought of it — Sergio Aragones, Al Jaffee and Jack Davis all in one place, holding seminars, exhibiting their distinctive art work, greeting fans.

The late Bill Gaines (separated at birth from Jerry Garcia)

MAD premiered in 1952, and under the direction of William Gaines became a comic book for adults, and precocious children who could appreciate satire and political commentary masquerading as cartoons. There’s a whole long history involved in the creation and metamorphosis of MAD and you can look it all up on Wikipedia if you like. This is a love letter, not a history lesson.

My elder daughter once told a friend that I was in a permanent state of mourning. In the course of eight months, all my personal gods had passed away – Gene Roddenberry in October, 1991, Isaac Asimov in April and William Gaines in June. Gaines’ image had frequently shown up in the pages of MAD, most often in Dave Berg’s “The Lighter Side Of….” strips. I cried when Berg started putting a framed picture of Bill Gaines on the walls of the “offices” he drew.

Sergio Aragones drew the teeny, tiny, complex margin cartoons that drove me nuts and forced me to buy my first magnifying glass. Al Jaffee created the hilarious fold-in back covers that went from serious statement to gut-busting parody in two simple folds of the paper. But Jack Davis – well, Jack was in it from the beginning, from the very first issue, with the horror spoof “Hoohah!” – with its layers of statement. MAD was the last thing standing when both Congress and the industry went after Gaines for his horror comics.

I stopped reading MAD when it went from being the inspiration for The Onion and became the precursor of South Park. It wasn’t funny any more. It also started accepting advertising. Nothing kills creative freedom faster than corporate money.

Al Jaffee

There is an irony to this tribute being held this weekend….it was the mainstream comics industry that forced William Gaines to give up comic books and create a magazine, free from the censorship that was being imposed on comics in the 1950s.

Davis retired more than two years ago, but Jaffee and Aragones still draw for MAD. Davis’ decision to leave was based on the direction MAD took in the early 2000s “I felt like it kind of got a little raunchy.” Aragones credits the magazine with keeping him young. “It’s not stressful. Being a cartoonist is taking out all your frustrations on paper. You don’t have to get road rage. You just draw a cartoon.”

Sergio Aragones at WonderCon 2010

And in the process, let thousands of others divert their road rage into laughing over the same frustrations. Thank you, gentlemen….and I am incredibly jealous of anyone who can be there this weekend.

Related articles

• Magazine’s first MAD men have rare reunion (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• An Interview with Al Jaffee, Creator of the Mad Magazine Fold-In (laughingsquid.com)
• Scott Beale: The MAD Fold-In Collection, Al Jaffee Fold-In Cartoons From 1964-2010 (laughingsquid.com)

One of Lindsay Lohan's mugshots.

I have this thing about judges. I’ve known a couple of great ones. The late Federal District Judge Anthony Alaimo is at the top of that list. You know that movie The Great Escape? It was based on a real event and Judge Alaimo helped dig the tunnel. I have some pretty high standards when it comes to judges. I demand integrity and impartiality. I demand ethical behavior. And I have no patience for judges who enable criminals.

California Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner is an enabler. There is no other word for how she has handled Lindsay Lohan. She is enabling Lohan to commit suicide one day at a time.

Sautner needs to be removed from the case. I’m sorry. Maybe on other cases she’s a good judge, but in this case she is failing the people of Los Angeles and failing Lohan. This girl has failed, what, five attempts at rehab? She’s as incapable of being cleaned up and rehabilitated as Robert Downey, Jr., was. There is only one rehab that will work and it shouldn’t matter if they have to shoehorn Lohan into the jail. She needs to be incarcerated. Period. End of sentence, no pun intended. Stop treating her like she has some kind of life outside of getting into trouble and getting high. Posing for Playboy is not a job. She hasn’t had a job in ages. Like Downey before he went to jail, she’s uninsurable so no one in their right minds is going to hire her for a movie anymore.

Since jail, Robert Downey, Jr., has become a fantastic actor. I was prepared to hate Sherlock Holmes, it was just too un-Holmsian. Jeremy Brett was Holmes, the ultimate Holmes.  How could Downey compete with that?  He was great. I loved the movie.  Downey is better now than he ever was. Anyone remember the 1987 movie Less Than Zero? Downey’s character Julian died in the back seat of Andrew McCarthy’s car from drug use. Before he was jailed, I really thought that was the way Downey would end up. Jail saved his life and restored a talented actor to the film industry. It might do the same for Lindsay Lohan.

But it won’t as long as Judge Sautner keeps enabling Lohan. Whoever Judge Sautner’s superiors are need to be made aware of how the judge is just dragging out this sick young woman’s troubles.

Related articles

• Lindsay Lohan: In and Out Of Jail (fresh1027.radio.com)
• Lohan Heading Back To Jail For Violating Probation (lezgetreal.com)
• Lindsay Lohan Released After Four Hours in Jail (mtv.com)
• Lindsay Lohan reports to jail, released hours later (theglobeandmail.com)

So apparently Kris Humphries has been hiding out here in Minnesota while recovering from his “wife” filing for divorce.  I’ve decided I’m using quotes around all heterosexual marriage terms.  If some straight people are refusing to recognize or respect gay relationships, I’m refusing to recognize theirs.  I’m also going to use air quotes when talking to my straight friends.

Oh, you’re inviting me to your “wedding”? (air quotes)

My friends wouldn’t hit me, would they?

Poor Kris.  Pick a nice Minnesota girl next time.

I can’t believe I’m even writing about this.  I’ve been back and forth about it all week, not wanting to contribute to hype and yet wanting to contribute to the hype.

I wonder, do you think they were prepared for the level of backlash they’ve received from the gay community?  Was it planned all along, the “divorce”?  Is Kris hiding out here in Minnesota just part of the act?  I’m gonna go find him and ask him.  I wonder what gym he goes to.

The internet has certainly exploded with commentary, and many of my gay friends have been discussing/arguing/venting their views on Facebook.  E! Network has been in damage control-mode, and Kim herself, as attention loving as she is, canceled the remainder of her Australia trip.

On a side note, Kim and Kris renewed their “wedding vows” (can’t stop with the quotes) on The Ellen Degeneres Show last month.  Ellen has been curiously silent since the news broke.  C’mon Ellen, where’s the gay outrage?

Actually, I don’t even think my voice of gay outrage is any different from anyone else’s in the matter.  I’m mad for all the same reasons everyone else is – they have the legal right to get married and then divorced in a few months, and yet people believe gays getting married would undermine the “sanctity” of straight marriage.  That’s why we’re all mad about this, right?

I do think, however, I can fix Kim’s PR problem.  Why would she want to lose her gay fan base; we can make or break a show.  (Does she HAVE a gay fan base?)

Really, my solution solves all her problems by keeping her in the spotlight AND allowing her to show her support for the gay community.  It’s easy.

Kim, get gay married!

Everyone knows you were shopping for a basketball player boyfriend for your show long before you met Kris (who wasn’t even your first choice) so, time to start shopping for a nice Minnesota boi.  NOT me, I’m taken.  Actually, probably shouldn’t pick a Minnesota boi, either, as long as we have Michele Bachmann in this state, we’re not going to be getting married any time soon.

So, how about New York?  Any New York bois willing to step up to the plate?  Who would you like to see Kim coupled with?  I bet Dani Campbell wouldn’t mind 15 more minutes of fame.  Do we even want Kim on our team?  Share your thoughts below!

Have something to say to Riley?  Email her at RDylan1980@gmail.com or find her on Facebook.  http://facebook.com/rdylan1

Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1957

Very few writers lead lives interesting enough to warrant a biographical feature film, unless they suffer from bouts of depression and kill themselves like Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf, or harbor unnatural thoughts about small children like Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), or put themselves in the middle of a whole social milieu like the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, or run with the bulls between torrid love affairs and wars like Ernest Hemingway. Most writers just write and it is a solitary pursuit.

Occasionally, there is the rare writer whose work can be woven into a biography or into an otherwise straightforward rendering of their stories to create a magical film. J. M. Barrie and James Thurber have been treated this way, as has Dodgson. One writer whose life and work can be overlaid to great effect is Theodor Geisel, the beloved Dr. Seuss.

Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, and Illumination Entertainment are in the earliest stages of creating a film biography of Geisel, who died in 1991. Keith Bunin, who wrote In Treatment, has begun a preliminary script. In addition to Depp and Bunin, Christopher Meladandri and David Kennedy of Illumination Entertainment and Christi Dumbrowski of Infinitum Nihil are the only people currently involved in the proposed film. The only information about the film refers to it as “a perspective” on Geisel’s life, which adds to the idea that the film would weave together Geisel’s fairly ordinary physical life with his extraordinary imagination life.

News of the proposed film comes just six months after Random House released a volume of seven “lost” Seuss stories. They were published individually in magazines in the 1950′s, never collected with any other stories into book form and pretty much forgotten by all but the most dedicated Seussian scholar – like Charles D. Cohen who tracked down the original magazines. The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories was released in print and digital format for the technically minded small child in mid-April. The digital format includes the option of an audio track of professional book readers.

Depp had been set to star as Tonto (the Native American sidekick) in a new version of the venerable Lone Ranger, but the film hit some major snags and is currently on the shelf. Having grown up on Jay Silverheels, one of Hollywood’s few openly Native American actors, as Tonto, I would have preferred Depp as the LR and Adam Beech (or any of half-a-dozen young Native actors) as Tonto. There is no word on if or when The Lone Ranger might resume production and take up a few months of Depp’s time. The best thing about the Lone Ranger project is that it could really, really suck and still be better than the last time.

Rumor has it that Depp might decide to play Geisel, which would be a smart choice. The role is going to need someone capable of portraying whimsey, which is entirely different from playing comedy.    Depp has already proven he has a talent for whimsey.

Mary Stuart Masterson, Johnny Depp, Aiden Quinn in "Benny and Joon", 1993, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer

Related articles

• Depp will produce, possibly star in, Dr. Seuss biopic (canada.com)
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• Oh, the Places He Goes: Johnny Depp May Star in Dr. Seuss Biopic (newsfeed.time.com)

Rush Limbaugh, by the incomparable Donkey Hotey, Creative Commons, Flickr

Bridgett Nicholson Boyd’s car broke down on the side of a Houston freeway on October 4, 2010. A Harris County sheriff’s deputy named Mark Goad decided that she was actually driving on the shoulder, not broken down, so, instead of offering her assistance in accordance with Sheriff’s Office policy, he wrote her a ticket then decided to arrest her. Boyd started to suffer a racing heart, so paramedics were called. After Boyd was treated at the hospital, Goad arrested her and transported her to the sheriff’s office in his patrol car. The handcuffs he used were “painfully tight” and Goad “tortured” her by using his patrol car’s radio to make Boyd, an African American, endure a Rush Limbaugh broadcast in which Limbaugh was making derogatory remarks about African Americans. Boyd has sued the Harris County Sheriff’s Department for her torture and false arrest.

The only response to the suit that has come from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office is an explanation of their roadside assistance program. Limbaugh, in typical Limbaugh fashion, insists that he is not a racist and never, ever, cross his heart ever made any racist remarks.

Google “Rush Limbaugh racial slurs” and you get 191,000 hits. Google “Rush Limbaugh racist slurs” and get 2,380,000, and for “Rush Limbaugh Racist Quotes,” you’ll get 802,000. Let’s just average them out at 1,124,333 references to Rush’s racism. But we’ll just touch on my favorite “Top 10 Racist Limbaugh Quotes” from NewsOne for Black America, written by Casey Gane-McCalla on July 16, 2010:

1. “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?

2. “Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela – who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing.”

3. “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”

4. “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

5. “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”

6. [To an African-American female caller] “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

7. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”

8. “We need segregated buses….This is Obama’s America.”

9. Obama’s entire economic program is reparations [for slavery.]

10. Take you pick of the slurs aimed at President Obama…from “halfrican-American” to saying the President isn’t black, but Arab because Kenya is an Arab region (that may explain the lady at the McCain rally), to calling the President the “affirmative action candidate” to calling the Prez “Barack the Magic Negro.” And that’s just the President. Then there’s the personal attacks against Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Colin Powell, who Limbaugh said was not as important to the 2008 campaign than the endorsement of Joe the [not a] Plumber.

And of course, there’s all that socialist/communist/fascist/Hitler-esque/Marxist/Maoist/anti-American stuff about the President that all the right wing radio hosts indulge in until their listeners are chanting “kill him” “terrorist” “traitor” “off with his head” “socialist” and all the rest of that nonsense that just proves none of them know the meaning of the words they are using.

There are two more quotes on Gane-McCalla’s list, but they have been contested:

“I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite, slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed killer of Martin Luther King] We miss you, James. Godspeed.”

The first one, at least, sounds very Rush. It sounds very Glenn Beck as well.

Not in a racist vein, but I’ve always liked “If they pass the health care bill, I’m moving to Costa Rica!”  We’re still waiting.

I once had to accompany my mother on the disabled bus that our city runs. It’s a door to door service for the handicapped to and from doctors’ appointments and such. The driver had Rush on the radio. Trust me…..no matter what his topic is for the day, listening to that man in a closed space when you have no control over it really is torture.

Related articles

• Cruel and Unusal Punishment? Woman Sues Over Arrest and Being Forced To Listen To Rush Limbaugh (jonathanturley.org)
• Woman Sues for Torture by Rush (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
• Rush Limbaugh: They Had To Send The First Lady To Target To Buy Lysol™ ? (mediaite.com)
• Rush Limbaugh: CNN Unfairly Covering Wall Street Protests Compared To Tea Party (mediaite.com)
• Rush Limbaugh On ‘N**gerhead’ Scandal: Such An Obvious Setup (mediaite.com)
• Rush Limbaugh: Obama Plagiarized Me In UN Speech (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Did Gary Johnson Borrow Dog Joke From Rush Limbaugh? (huffingtonpost.com)

Leonard Nimoy

At a Chicago Star Trek convention, celebrating the 45^th anniversary of the premiere of the most iconic science fiction television/movie franchise in American entertainment history, 80 year old Leonard Nimoy announced that he is finally hanging up his ears and will no longer be trekking.

At the conclusion of an hour-long speech about his life and career, Mr. Nimoy thanked the fans for their support and affection over the years. Some were holding signs saying “We love you Leonard! Live long and prosper!” For almost thirty years, Mr. Nimoy has attended conventions, maintaining a very positive relationship with the fans.  In between conventions and Star Trek movies and television shows, Mr. Nimoy was a very talented actor with an extensive resume, a director, an author, a poet, a photographer, singer, songwriter, and a husband and father.

When Star Trek premiered on NBC, 45 years ago last month, when it was cancelled two years later and then revived and recancelled a year later, no one thought it had made such an enormous impression on its fans that public demand would bring it back to life in so many forms. It was a true grass roots movement – the fan magazines, the fan-created stories and books, the networks of fans who eventually created the first conventions…..and all of this before the internet, when people had to do this stuff with snail mail and landline telephones. And just for the bloody, damned record, we were Trekkies and proud of the term. That whole “call us Trekkers” thing came from the next generation of fans.

Six series, eleven movies, magazines, comics, games, hundreds of novels, the conventions and a fully functional language…all from those simple words “These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.”

My children once figured out that if I cried, the new series or movie would be a hit. In the first movie, it was when the transport moved around the dry-dock and you caught your first sight of the Enterprise. In the first episode of Next Generation, it was the moment when DeForest Kelley said “treat her right and she’ll always bring you home.” When Spock died in The Wrath of Khan, I was bawling. As the years went by, I cried less, until 2009. By then, we had lost both DeForest Kelley and James Doohan. When Karl Urban nailed Def Kelley’s so-subtle Southern accent, that did it. And then the marvelous Simon Pegg….I was a lost cause.

Leonard Nimoy has been a true gentleman about Star Trek. Though he had his share of wishing people would forget Spock and let him get on with the rest of his career, he came back to Spock over and over again, providing the needed bridge to the new incarnation, the logical explanation of how and why they could restart a beloved myth.

To anyone who has managed to get through a few centuries of the reinventions of King Arthur, the 2009 re-invention of Star Trek makes perfect sense. A great myth is adaptable to the times. The origins are never really forgotten, but the manner in which the story is told can be altered to match the way people prefer their stories to be told or to reflect changes in the culture. King Arthur changed over time, forever being relevant to England and its problems. Star Trek has also proven it can change over time, reflecting our changing culture and problems. It was born at a time when the United States was in flux, generations, classes, races and ideologies warring with each other. The series took the freedom of science fiction, the ability to, as Robert Burns said we could not, “see ourselves as others see us,” and held a magnifying glass to our traumas. By the time we hit Star Trek: Voyager, our nation was in the midst of a cultural lull, a quiet before the next storm. 2009 was exactly the perfect time to re-invent the myth and explore new conflicts, explore the mechanics of the creation of a world government and the Federation.

Leonard Nimoy has been a vital part of the myth, the parenthesis on the first incarnation of Gene Roddenberry’s universe, there at the beginning – the real beginning, that first failed pilot – and there as the torch was passed. For forty-five years, he personified the ideal of Star Trek, a universe in which infinite diversity lives in infinite combination. We thank him, so very much, for those 45 years, and sincerely hope that he will “Live Long and Prosper.”

Related articles

• 45 Glorious Years Of Star Trek (webnerhouse.com)
• Leonard Nimoy Hand Draws STAR TREK Shirts and Sells them on Etsy (geektyrant.com)
• Sept. 8, 1966: Liftoff for the Starship Enterprise (wired.com)

Sean Maher

The explanation for why the “I don’t do LGBT stories” lady got this one is simple – I’m the only staff member who’s a devotee of Firefly.

For seventeen hours – a two-hour pilot, thirteen episodes and a feature film, we watched poor Kaylee pining away for the aloof Dr. Simon Tam. As she so graphically put it in the film, “It’s been nigh on six months since I had anything twixt my nethers weren’t run on batteries.” Kaylee may have finally gotten her man, in fact Jewel Staite got him again on an episode of Warehouse 13, but that’s fiction and in the real world, no woman darkens Sean Maher’s door.

Anyway, Sean Maher has finally, after 14 years in Hollywood, come out of the closet, just in time to really confuse people over his new role in the series Playboy Club.

Surprised? No, not really. Frankly, my dear, he’s too damned good looking to be straight. Lesson learned frm 1950′s heartthrobs like Richard Chamberlain and Tab Hunter. It’s part of why people thought Paul Rudd was gay – he’s too gorgeous to be straight.

Thirty-six year old Sean came out in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine given at Little Dom’s Italian bistro in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles where he lives with his partner of nine years, Paul, and their two children, Sophia Rose, 4, and Liam Xavier, 14 months. Now how the hell he kept that a secret in a town notorious for a media that turns rocks for fun is the real mystery.

Also not surprisingly, Sean is feeling very liberated right now. It has been standard advice in Hollywood since coming out became possible at all, that keeping gayness a secret helped fuel female fantasies and bolstered an actor’s acceptability. It’s the kind of advice that comes from male agents and publicists who don’t understand straight women. It doesn’t matter what a man is in real life, the fantasy is in the characters he plays. Real live men scratch in embarrassing places, belch at the wrong times, smell when they sweat and have advanced cases of selective hearing – as in they never hear what their women say. No one really adores Fabio, they adore the image of Fabio.

Jewel Staite and Sean Maher

So, congratulations to Sean Maher on his liberation. As much as I like him as an actor, and he’s a very good actor, I’m not planning on watching Playboy Club anymore than I’m going to watch Pan Am. I lived through those times. I don’t need to see them rewritten by someone who didn’t. But I will keep an eye out to see if Jewel Staite shows up because I like the chemistry between them.

Related articles

• Firefly Alum Sean Maher’s Coming Out Ball (geeksaresexy.net)
• ‘Playboy Club’ star Sean Maher opens up about his sexuality: ‘This is my coming out ball’ (insidetv.ew.com)
• ‘Firefly’ Actor Sean Maher on Coming Out as a Gay Actor (aoltv.com)
• ‘Playboy Club’ and ‘Firefly’ Actor Sean Maher: I’m Gay (towleroad.com)
• Actor Maher reveals he’s gay (hollywood.com)

1 September 2011 by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

By now a lot of people have heard about the sexual woes of Irish singer Sinead O’Connor. If you had not, you are probably in a better position than the rest of us who have. Still, it should not be surprising that various groups are already offering their services to O’Connor including at least one site that bills itself as a casual personals community. The President and Founder of Swurve.com, Michelle Giallo has offered O’Connor a lifetime membership in order to work out her tensions.

Of course, failing that, she could always contact Dr. Franknfurter to make her a man or that Young Dr. Frankenstein.

In a recent blog entry published on her site, O’Connor went into the difficulty that she is having finding a sexual partner. She said “Needless to say what I do for a living makes it hard for me to find men that only want me cuz they like my (legendary) arse. Yet I am in the peak of my sexual prime and way too lovely to be living like a nun. and it’s VERY depressing.”

According to PRWeb: “The online hookup site which claims to offer a casual, judgment free environment where women can openly explore a less committal variety of relationship options feels its community is a perfect fit to meet the distressed songstress’s needs.”

Michelle Giallo, the founder of Swurve, stated

“There are many women that can identify with Sinead’s situation, women who are hitting their sexual peak but due to career or status have found difficulty satiating their needs. That’s where our service steps in.”

“Meeting the needs of sexually active women has always been core to our vision. Our goal for Swurve has been to create a community where women could comfortably explore and embrace their sexuality in an environment that is not abrasive or vulgar to feminine sensibilities.”

“Our website provides the anonymity someone in Sinead’s position could enjoy, allowing her to easily connect with others, screen potential partners and build relationships while removing the obstacle of her fame and notoriety from the equation.”

The offer was extended by the website through O’Connor’s representative, but the company will not comment further on this matter.

O’Connor did lament that she was absolutely ready to sexually assault a variety of vegetables and her truck.

Related articles

• OKAY Sinead (O’Connor) That Was TMI About Your Sex Life (lezgetreal.com)

1 September 2011 by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

There is a reason humans invented electronics…and this would, we would hope, prevent blog posts with way too much information in them from being released. There are things that should probably never be written in a blog post, and that includes the images of a woman sexually assaulting her truck. Unfortunately, given the technology out there, what was once just shared with close friends has ended up going into the ether…and we often wish it wouldn’t.

Sinead O’Connor recently took to her blog and bemoaned the fact that, well, she has not had any sexual action in a while. The bisexual Irish songstress titled the entry “IS SINEAD ABOUT TO HUMP HER TRUCK?”, and went on to write “My sh-uation sexually/affectionately speaking is so dire that inanimate objects are starting to look good as are inappropriate and/or unavailable men and/or inappropriate and/or unavailable fruits and vegetables. I tell you yams are looking like the winners. . .Needless to say what I do for a living makes it hard for me to find men that only want me cuz they like my (legendary) arse. Yet I am in the peak of my sexual prime and way too lovely to be living like a nun. and it’s VERY depressing.”

Might I recommend the “Personal Health” section of Amazon?

The availability of not very expensive toys that actually can do the job does not seem to have helped out much since O’Connor went on to, well, start trying to find a suitable mate through Twitter and Facebook. According to the Huffington Post:

This call to arms for a “sweet sex-starved man” does not come without its stipulations.

The singer has crafted a rather thorough list of musts (“Must be blind enough to think I’m gorgeous”) and must nots (“Must not be named Brian or Nigel”).

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the good times don’t stop at the produce section.

“Let me now take time to make VERY clear that yes I ‘do anal’ and in fact I would be deeply unhappy if ‘doing anal’ wasn’t on the menu, amongst everything else$$ So if u don’t like ‘the difficult brown’.. Don’t apply…”

Also, women “will also be very much considered.”

Okay….this was just way too much information. Of course, if you are that desperate, hop over to the countries in Europe where prostitution is legal.

Though, for some reason, what comes to mind is this most definitely NSFW comic strip with regards to what O’Connor is looking for. I hate having a mind that does side steps like this. On the other hand, the strip is a lot of fun to read, and the art is good.

Related articles

• Singles Site Offers Sinead O’Connor Lifetime Membership (lezgetreal.com)

Amber Heard is one of those young actresses that, well, not a lot of people have heard of, but she recently appeared on Top Gear, the BBC television show which not long ago made some headlines with a joke that caused George Michael to attack the host with a rather misogynistic comment. Still, Heard, who is openly lesbian, was a perfect fit for the show because of her love of muscle cars and guns. She appeared on the show around the time that the movie Drive Angry was released.

Unfortunately, the movie did not do well, but here is the interview from last February, which has finally made its way to the US.

In the past, Heard has stated about having to be open about her relationships:

“A lot of the media attention surrounding my relationship has been frustrating simply because I’m a private person. At the end of the day, I think there is an important moment happening in our society right now, and I have to do the right thing. I don’t label myself one way or another. I come from a place where I find it hard to identify with a label. I’ve dated men in the past and now I’m dating a woman, and I see it as ultimately no big deal.”

“I have had successful relationships with men and now a woman. I love who I love, it’s the person that matters.”

30 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Staying on the theme of sports, Adam Lambert and Selena Gomez have joined a number of other celebrities to help raise funds for Little League Baseball and Softball with the help of SUBWAY Restaurants. This past Sunday, baseballs designed by Little League players and autographed by various celebrities were auctioned off after having traveled the nation. The tour ended at the Little League Baseball World Series this month, and the balls then went on auction at eBay.

No word if any balls signed by Tauranga Leela were auctioned off.

The auction website stated that the funds were going towards the Little League Urban Initiative for inner-city youth leagues and teams, and that “The Little League Urban Initiative funds start-ups, developments, equipment and field maintenance for inner-city Little Leagues.” In total, there were some sixty-three balls that were auctioned off.

The Examiner reported that:

Adam Lambert’s signed ball sold for $305, while Selena Gomez brought in $802. Other artists brought in varying amounts, such as the Katy Perry signed ball, which raised $393.88 and the Maroon 5 signed ball, which ended at $108.05.

It is not surprising that Lambert would be willing to donate something as simple as a signature to a worthy cause. Lambert has been donating a lot more than just that to various causes all over the country, especially those that help the nation’s youth.

If you want to see the various designs, including Lambert’s pink baseball, you can at Subway Kids.

Adam Lambert has certainly made a name for himself as a role model for young celebrities.  After all, if you compare the young singer to, say, Lindsay Lohan, you probably wish not only that you had not, but that Lohan had been a better person.  The singer took to his Twitter feed to
discuss the MTV Video Music Awards, but he also recently said in a YouTube clip that appears to be hard to track down that he is lucky to use his celebrity for good.

He recently stated to Icon news:

“Shortly after American Idol, as things progressed with my career, I became very aware of the importance of being really involved and using my celebrity for a good cause. Started working with The Trevor Project a lot and other charities. I just feel like that’s, you know, if we’re lucky enough to have that type of visibility we should use it. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

Meanwhile, Lambert hit the Twitter account to talk the MTV VMA’s.  Discussing Lady Gaga’s appearance as her alter ego Jo Calderone, Lambert stated “Gaga looked like Ralph Macchio last night. Ha. Bitch got BALLZ. Long live performance art” and later said “@TommyJoeRatliff haha when you called the Ralph Macchio look- on the head Glitterbaby. Nailed it. Lol”

Lady Gaga has been making some waves with her appearance as Calderone.  She won several awards at the VMAs including several for the LGBT anthem “Born This Way”.

Lambert is working on his sophomore album which is due out in November.

29 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

“I have a surprise for you!” Those were the words that Beyonce uttered before she set the Twitterverse and the Media all a buzz. The twenty-nine-year old entertainer was on the red carpet at the 2011 MTV VMAs this Sunday when she showed off her small, but noticeable baby bump. She and husband Jay-Z are expecting their first child. The two were married in April of 2008.

While on the carpet, Beyonce also told the crowd “I want you to feel the love that’s growing inside me.” Her representative told JustJared.com that, yes, she is pregnant.

Congratulations to the two expecting parents.

Related articles

• PHOTOS: Beyonce Flaunts Baby Bump On VMA Red Carpet (huffingtonpost.com)
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23 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

The exact cause of death for Amy Winehouse has not been established, but it is now clear that there were not illegal drugs in her system at the time of her death. The family has stated that there was some alcohol present in her system according to the toxicology report. The family maintains that her death was likely caused by her suddenly going off of alcohol. She had battled drug and alcohol addiction for years.

The report comes a month after her death. An inquest into her death is scheduled for October.

According to her father, Mitch Winehouse, Amy had beaten her drug addictions three years before she died, but she was still trying to get alcohol. At her funeral, he recalled that she said to him “‘Dad I’ve had enough of drinking, I can’t stand the look on your and the family’s faces anymore.’”

The charitable foundation in her name has hit a snag because someone has already registered the name Amy Winehouse Foundation.

Source

21 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

For country music singer Chely Wright and her long time girlfriend Lauren Blitzer, today was a magical day. The two married at Blitzer’s home in Connecticut even though they live in New York. When they announced their nuptials, New York had not yet passed a same-sex marriage law. The two wore Jose Dias designed white gowns, but decided not to wear veils (“We like our hair too much!” was what Wright told People Magazine).

Wright and Blitzer’s wedding was overshadowed by the celebrity-for-nothing Kim Kardashian’s, but then again, Wright and Blitzer’s was much more romantic and much nicer than anything put on by the fembot crowd.

The happy couple served barbecue from New York’s Blue Smoke restaurant. They had some 200 guests at their wedding. Ontopmag.com notes “Wright, 40, met her thirty-year-old future wife through her work as a board member of Faith in America, a non-profit that counters ‘the bigotry, prejudice and hostility toward the LGBT community being sold to the public for several decades under the guise of religious belief and religious teaching.’ Blitzer is the group’s development director.”

Wright also told E! Online “It’s been a really exciting time. We fit so well. And the best part is that our families go so beautifully together. We want a family. The benefit of being out is I get to have everything that everyone else has.”

Wright came out last year.

17 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Adam Levine, the star of The Voice, has hit out at the bosses behind the TV talent show American Idol largely over the show’s treatment of its gay competitors. He has accused them of hiding ‘basic components’ of the contestants’ lives. This is especially evident in the fact that Idol runner-up Adam Lambert has claimed that the executives behind Idol advised him to stay quiet about his sexuality until after the competition was over.

Levine is furious over these allegations, largely because his brother is gay. He recently told Hollyscoop “What’s always p**sed me off about Idol is wanting to mask that, for that to go unspoken. C’mon. You can’t be publicly gay? At this point? On a singing competition? Give me a break. You can’t hide basic components of these people’s lives. The fact that The Voice didn’t have any qualms about being completely (open) about it is a great thing.”

Levine, who is part of the group Mroon 5, also offered some advice to families who are coping with a relative’s sexuality. He stated

“I can single-handedly dispel any ideas that sexuality is acquired. Trust me, you’re born with it. My brother is gay, and we knew when he was two. We all knew.

“A lot of people don’t want their kid to be gay and will fight it at all costs. But I’ve got news for you – it’s a losing f**king battle. The more you fight it, the more f**ked up your kid’s gonna be. You’ve just got to embrace it from the beginning. That’s the only way to deal with it as a family.”

Source

17 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Wedding bells are in the air for country music singer Chely Wright and her girlfriend Lauren Blitzer. The two will marry this Saturday in Connecticut. On Monday, Wright tweeted to her 20,000+ followers “And so begins the fun. Friends and family are driving/flying in from all over for our special day! @lulublitzer and I feel lucky!” She followed that up the next day saying “We’re having a little party in four days.”

The two had announced that they would be marrying in Connecticut on 20 August back in April. While they both live in New York, when they made the plans, New York did not have same-sex marriage. Wright told E! Online “It’s been a really exciting time. We fit so well. And the best part is that our families go so beautifully together.”

Wright and Blitzer met through the group Faith in America which is a non-profit that counters “the bigotry, prejudice and hostility toward the LGBT community being sold to the public for several decades under the guise of religious belief and religious teaching.” Wright is on the board and Blitzer works as the group’s development director.

Wright has also said “We want a family. The benefit of being out is I get to have everything that everyone else has.” Wright, who is 40, came out as a lesbian last year to People Magazine. She has since talked about her life as a closeted celebrity in the memoir Like Me.

Wright has said that the decision to come out has hurt her career. This is likely due to the demographic that tends to listen to Country music while others such as Adam Lambert, Rob Halford (of Judas Priest), have had little or no damage done to their careers because they tend to be in Rock or Pop music.

Source

Jailhouse Rock

It was August 16, 1977, my niece’s third birthday. We were all putting on brave, happy faces for her party because her Daddy was a continent away fighting a raging forest fire in California. The phone rang and we all hoped against all hope and reason that it was my brother-in-law calling his little girl. Instead, it was my sister’s best friend, hysterical, sobbing, barely comprehensible – Elvis was dead!

So, here we are 34 years later. Someone in Michele Bachmann’s entourage had noted the news reports of “Elvis Week” in Memphis and assumed it must celebrate something, so they pipelined the info to Bachmann and she started off a campaign speech in South Carolina with a shout out of “Happy Birthday to Elvis Presley. We played you a little bit of ‘Promised Land’ when we pulled up. You can’t do better than Elvis Presley.”

Well, actually you can. I prefer Dwight Yoakum’s version of “Suspicious Minds,”even if it makes me want to scream ARTICULATE! at the radio.

I have always assumed that Memphis made a big deal over the anniversary of Elvis’ death because even in Tennessee it’s freaking cold in January. I can’t see a lot of people doing a candlelight vigil in winter anywhere north of Atlanta, and even Atlanta might be a mite chilly.

Oh well, we’ve heard worse from her: Americorps is a re-education camp, Congress should be investigated for anti-Americanism, the Revolution started in New Hampshire, the Founding Fathers fought on until slavery was abolished – about half a century after the last one died. At least she didn’t pull this gaffe in Memphis – they’d have chased her down Beale with tar and feathers.

In the meantime, 9 p.m. Eastern on TNT tonight, season finale of Memphis Beat. If you haven’t caught this one yet, give it a try. There is no way this show, knowing in advance when it would be aired, will not do something about Elvis. The show tends to be quirky, eccentric and funny, with occasional moments of crime drama.

Related articles

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• Michele Bachmann’s Elvis Birthday Message Comes On Anniversary Of ‘The King’s’ Death (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Elvis Presley PHOTOS: 12 Timeless Images Of The King To Remember Him By (huffingtonpost.com)
• All shook up: Bachmann flubs Elvis birthday (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• Michele Bachmann Confuses Elvis’ Birthday And Date Of Death, On Anniversary Of King’s Death (dekerivers.wordpress.com)

11 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

As Adam Lambert surpasses 2 million fans on Facebook, there is always good news out there. As it has been reported, singer Adam Lambert will be receiving Equality California’s Equality Idol Award because Lambert has been such an exemplary role model for the LGBT Community. It has now been revealed that singer Sam Sparro will be both attending the Equality Awards, which will be held on 13 August, but he will also be giving the award to Lambert.

Also in attendence will be Kathy Griffin. The awards will be held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA.

Griffin will be there to present Facebook with the Equality Advocate Award.

EQCA Executive Director Roland Palencia said in a statement “We’re thrilled to honor Adam Lambert and Facebook, whose work has been a catalyst for social change and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. Their courage and leadership in entertainment and social media have helped Californians become supportive of LGBT rights.”

Lambert, who is 29 and openly gay, stated

“I am so honored to be invited to and recognized by the Equality California event. It’s a pivotal time in the progress of equal rights and I’m very grateful to be the subject of such broad visibility. I strive to lead by example by making no apologies for or withholding my identity as a proud and comfortable gay man. I strongly believe that ALL people have a fundamental right to love who they want to love and if they so choose, have their union recognized by the laws of this country regardless of sex, age, race or religious affiliation. I am hopeful that we are getting closer every day to this idea of Equality.”

EQCA is especially honoring Lambert’s work with the It Gets Better Project and The Trevor Project, both of which deal with LGBT teens.

http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=9177&MediaType=1&Category=22

Related articles

• EQCA To Honor Adam Lambert (lezgetreal.com)

09 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Gawker is reporting that Britta Hanson, the wife of Track Palin, has had her baby some three months after the two were married. This is not, well, unexpected. It was already suspected that Sarah Palin was a grandmother again because, well, the signs were already there. Still, like father like son. Track was born less than nine months after his parents got married.

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06 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Adam Lambert has changed agents. This is not necessarily an uncommon occurrence. Recently, JK Rowling parted company from hers. Still, Lambert’s decision comes right before his sophomore album is set to be recorded and right before his VH1 Behind The Music Special (see clip below) is set to air. Lambert has signed with Direct Management Group.

DMG handles the ‘80 group The Go-Go’s as well as Katy Perry. In signing with DMG, Lambert parts ways with 19 Entertainment, which is the company that has exclusive rights to American Idol contestants in the beginning. Others have started their careers with 19 Entertainment before moving on.

Still, 19 Entertainment gets a cut of the royalties from Lambert’s next five record release as well as merchandise sales.

Tomorrow, Lambert’s Behind The Music premieres on VH1. The special will detail his life, and this clip which was first posted by Entertainment Weekly goes into his very early years. The special airs tomorrow night at 10pm.

Source

Ever since the major networks decided to limit their fictional offerings in favor of “reality television” the cable networks like AMC, SyFy, TNT and USA have stepped in to provide viewers with the best in fictional programming. They operate on a very British scheduling concept – short half-seasons averaging 7 to 8 episodes. The half seasons not only avoid the old network problem of running everything against each other in September, they keep the programs fresher. It’s very easy for a show to get repetitive and boring when it’s doing 21 to 24 episodes a year one after another starting in the fall. (Having said that, so far, Castle is doing a great job of avoiding that pitfall.)

TNT has developed a reputation for showcasing female characters in well-written, well-produced dramas, and they have attracted top-level talents for their shows. Their flagship is Kyra Sedgewick’s The Closer. Holly Hunter took us for a wild ride through Oklahoma City and God in Saving Grace. The latest ratings hit is Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander.

Set in Boston, the show focuses on the exploits of an Italian-American cop with a family that just manages to not be an ethnic stereotype and a medical examiner who was adopted by one of the old-money, Hahvahd Yahd families. Just don’t look for much in the way of resemblance to Tess Gerritson’s books. As developed by Janet Tamaro, Rizzoli & Isles stands alone, just as Bones stands alone from Kathy Reichs’ books.

The show premiered last year and is in the middle of this year’s offerings. TNT has announced that it has been renewed for next year already.

Angie Harmon is a veteran of Law & Order, wife of former football player Jason Sehorn and mother of three adorable kids. She brings a very street-wise, smart-ass attitude to Jane Rizzoli along with the believability needed to watch her shoot herself to take down a bad guy. Sasha Alexander was a regular on NCIS until her character Kate took a bullet for Gibbs, and is Sophia Loren’s daughter-in-law and mother of two kids with great genes. Her character’s upper-class upbringing is neither overdone nor overbearing. Maura Isles is Temperance Brennan with a wicked sense of humor – the consummate detached professional in the lab. And there are the shoes – the four-inch designer shoes that Alexander wears so very well. But at a crime scene?

The supporting cast is also excellent, with Lorraine Bracco going back to the city roots we haven’t seen from her since Medicine Man and one of my favorite character actors, Bruce McGill, who has built a solid career since riding a motorcycle up the frat house stairs in Animal House as the “old man” in the squad.

The show is fast, funny, engaging and original, well, as original as any crime drama can be as television pushes past its sixtieth birthday. Rizzoli & Isles has settled in as TNT’s second-highest rated series after The Closer, which is also its time slot, Monday at 10 p.m. Eastern, right after Ms. Sedgewick . They debuted this year at 8.6 million viewers. As Michael Wright, executive vice president and head of programming at TNT, TCM and TBS said, “This summer, Rizzoli & Isles has proven that last year’s record-breaking ratings were just the beginning of this show’s remarkable track record.”

If you are a fan of the television show, don’t hesitate to check out the books. Though very different from the show, they are the best things veteran crime writer Tess Gerritson has produced and well worth the time.

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• Angie Harmon Gives a Glimpse of ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ Season Two on ‘The View’ (VIDEO) (aoltv.com)
• Rizzoli & Isles (dalypics.wordpress.com)
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05 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Louis Black is a man who will not pull punches. In fact, it is apparent that he is someone who won’t shy away from just about anything…except for Sarah Palin. On “The Green Room With Paul Prevenza” Black explains why Palin is verboten in his acts. He actually said “I could not live in this world if I believed she was a real person.”

The show airs on Thursdays at 11pm on Showtime.

05 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

The Daily Star is reporting that Lady Gaga is in “secret talks to play Amy Winehouse” in a biopic about the late singer’s life. It is not surprising that the Hollywood moguls are ready to capitalize on the outpouring of grief that has followed the death of Winehouse on 23 July. Why Winehouse died is still a mystery, but it is believed that she died because of the effects of suddenly quitting alcohol.

According to a “Hollywood insider”, “Lady GaGa worshipped Amy and would love nothing more than to transform herself into her idol on the big screen. She’d be spot on performing Amy’s songs and has got the right look and bolshy attitude. GaGa’s been itching to make the transition from music into movies and sees this as the ideal role to launch her film career.”

The moguls would also like to tap into Lady Gaga’s celebrity. Apparently, she was swamped by film offers after finishing up her two-year long Monster Ball tour, but she has also apparently been waiting for the right part.

That same insider told The Daily Star “GaGa’s management team had been discussing possible film ventures before Amy’s untimely death. But there’s only ever been one role she wants and that’s to play Amy.” Winehouse was two years older than Gaga when she died.

Lady Gaga said of Winehouse after the latter’s death “I am just so devast-ated and so sad. I really could not speak for 48 hours straight, I was in such shock. She was the most lovely and nice and kind woman.”

It is unclear how much of this is accurate, and how soon this movie would be made.

05 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

For Michael Kors and Lance LePere, wedding bells have finally arrived. The New Yorkers got their marriage license on Wednesday according to the tabloid Life & Style. They were told by a passerby “They were both very casually dressed. [Kors] was really nice and let the girls at the office take his picture.”

Women’s Wear Daily and Page Six were able to confirm it when a rep for Kors issued this statement on behalf of the lucky couple “Lance and I are very excited to finally be able to have the opportunity to marry in our home state after many years together. We have no plans for a major party, but we will be getting married privately.”

Last summer, New York Magazine reported:

It was in Paris that he and LePere fell in love. They’d known each other since 1990, when LePere joined the company as an intern, but there was something about being together abroad that solidified things. “We share a certain level of taste,” LePere says, “an American point of view, and I think we like to play with Americana. Over the years and the day-to-day process of dreaming together, things just naturally fell into place.” They started taking their meals together at the Parisian outpost of Joe Allen. “We could have quesadillas, they had cranberry juice,” Kors says. “I don’t know that either of us was really accepting the French lifestyle.

No word was given when the Project Runway designer and his boyfriend were going to be married.

Photo and story via Huffington Post.

03 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Adam Lambert is one of those celebrities that, even if you don’t like their music, you love the good stuff that they do. Lambert, who has already contributed to the Do Something campaign as well as the Treavor Project, is set to be one of several celebrity mentors on a reality children’s program to air on The Hub. He will be joining “Avril Lavigne, Colbie Caillat, Claude Kelly, Brandy, Leona Lewis, Jordin Sparks, Sean Kingston, Mike Posner and Ryan Tedder of One Republic.”

The show Majors & Minors will “follow 12 young artists, ages 10 to 16, from around the country as they train to become successful recording artists. The participants will work with mentors in a collaborative environment, and while none will be eliminated, only one will have the opportunity to win a recording contract with the RCA/Jive Label Group and the chance to go on tour.”

Do not be surprised in Lambert has a lot of good advice. He has become a star since his near win on American Idol in 2009. He is currently working on his sophomore album on which the recent song “Outlaws of Love” will appear. He said about that song “All of the things I’ve been talking about over the past year, all of it boils down to acceptance and this is a song that I wrote about how it feels, that no matter where you go or where you turn, sometimes it feels like you’re just running from the law.”

Lambert has earned a reputation as a caring celebrity. He donated the proceeds from the acoustic single version of his song “Aftermath” to the Trevor Project.

The show premiers on 23 September.

02 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Sam Ronson may not be taking things well lately.  The death of Amy Winehouse certainly hit the family because her brother Mark was Winehouse’s brother.  Now, she has been arrested outside of Baker, California, which TMZ reports is the home of the world’s largest thermometer.  The ex-girlfriend of Lindsay Lohan was driving home from Las Vegas “in her black Porsche when she was pulled over for speeding.”

The 33-year-old was given a field sobriety test, but did not perform well according to TMZ.  She then refused to take a roadside breath test, which is not mandatory, and was then arrested at the scene.  She then was takent o the Baker substation where she did blow a test over the legal limit.  She did cooperate with the police.

According to TMZ “Sam DJ’d last night at the Lavo nightclub in the Palazzo hotel in Vegas.”

02 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Adam Lambert recently sat down with US Magazine to discuss VH1′s Behind the Music and the issue of marriage. With the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York, well, the hope for some people was that fans would be treated to a spectacular wedding, but that does not appear to be in the cards any time soon. According to Lambert “I don’t see myself getting married in the future.” Which is just fine. Not everyone wants to get married, and, oddly enough, it really is lesbians who are more interested in getting married than gay men.

With regards to his boyfriend Sauli Koskinen and how his sexual orientation has been a part of his career, here is the exchange:

US: Do you think your sexual orientation has affected your career?

AL: It has caused controversy and at first I got nervous. This is a tricky career path, especially since most musicians aren’t as open as I am. At first I thought, did I go too far? Was this a mistake? I realized I have to trust my gut and be myself. I can’t please everyone.

US: What is your relationship like with boyfriend Sauli Koskinen? Any marriage plans yet?

AL: I don’t like to talk about my relationship so if you see pictures of us out to dinner together, then great! I don’t see myself getting married in the future.

The VH1 Behind the Music which will focus on Lambert airs on 7 August at 10pm EDT. When asked about doing the show, Lambert said “I have seen previous episodes and it has always been something I have been interested in. I did not have any doubts about doing the show because I had previously done E! True Hollywood Story, which was more biographical. This episode focuses more on my music.”

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Lambert is working on his sophomore album right now, which he is heading in to record shortly. He has also worked with both The Trevor Project, which is aimed at curbing LGBT youth suicides, and the Do Something campain. While Lambert may feel more like an entertainer than a politician, he has managed to use his celebrity to raise awareness of some very important causes.

01 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

The death of Amy Winehouse was and is tragic. She was twenty-seven years of age and a rising star in the world. Unfortunately, there are those who want to make the tragedy all the more tragic. Tabloid newspaper The Daily Mirror reported that Amy Winehouse was in the process of adopting a ten-year old girl from St. Lucian. The story itself has a lot of problems, most notably the addiction problems that Winehouse was still struggling to get past.

The Mirror claimed that lawyers were hired, plane tickets booked and that the girl herself had confirmed the adoption. The report, though, is false according to E! Online. According to Winehouse’s representative “There’s no truth to it.”

According to E!:

So where’d this tall tale come from? Well, Amy had obviously taken a shine to the young Dannika Augustine, having been photographed with her several times during her lengthy stay in St. Lucia.

But by the Mirror’s own admission, the girl has ample family on the island, a grandmother, who also got roped into seemingly corroborating the story and through whom the odd couple met (Marjorie Lambert runs a beach bar on the island which Amy frequented), and Dannika’s single mother.

The family does come from poverty, and The Mirror reported that Dannika had told them “Amy way already my mother. I would call her mum and she would call me her daughter. She took care of me and we had fun together. I loved her and she loved me. She was the most amazing person and I was looking forward to living with her here or in London. I cannot believe she is gone. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.”

A far more innocent explanation with regards this is that the Winehouse was just very close to the girl and they were like family, but that Winehouse was not planning on adopting her. Sometimes, family is not about adoption or blood.

31 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

At the rate she is going, Miley Cyrus is going to be covered with more ink than a book. At least this means that, when she gets a steady boyfriend, he won’t have to worry about bringing along reading material. Still, this latest tattoo of hers has an interesting little message– marriage should be equal.

Cyrus, the daughter of one hit wonder Billy Ray Cyrus, tweeted this weekend “All LOVE is equal,” along with a photo of her ring finger with a tiny equal sign on it.. She also has tattoos of “a dream catcher on her torso; the phrase “Just Breathe” on her ribcage; an anchor on her wrist; the word “LOVE” on her ear; and a cross and heart on her hand.”

Cyrus made fun of current Presidential Republican idiot…er…candidate Rick Santorum with a tweet about man on goldfish marriage. It was a reference to Santorum’s statement about man on dog sex.

Source

Angelina Jolie holding the Heart of Sarajevo award

When Angelina Jolie chose the subject for her first film as a director, her decision met with protests in Bosnia. The film, In the Land of Blood and Honey, tells the story of a young Bosnian Muslim woman and the Serbian man she falls in love with during the 1992-5 war. The rumor went out that in the film, the man rapes the woman and then she falls in love with him. That rumor caused “victims of violence” women’s groups in Bosnia to protest the movie and Jolie’s permit to film there was revoked. She ended up filming in Budapest, Hungary, instead.

But, Jolie has also been the United Nations High Commission for Refugees ambassador and has worked with refugees in Bosnia and funded the construction of several houses there.

At the Sarajevo Film Festival today, Jolie was honored at the closing ceremony. Festival director Mirsad Purivatra presented Jolie with the heart-shaped award and said “Tonight we are giving the honorary Heart of Sarajevo to a great artist, not only for the great impact she has in the world of cinema, but also for persisting and her active engagement in the complexities of the real world we live in.”

Holding the award, Jolie waited the applause to die down, saying with her voice breaking, “I told Brad in the car I was afraid I was going to cry.” And she did. “I am so honored to be here at this festival. There is no greater example of the strengths of the artists and the festival that began during the war and grew stronger every year.”

The festival was started toward the end of the 43-month siege of Sarajevo by Serbian forces that turned a city that hosted the 1984 Olympics into piles of rubble. The bridges and streets became shooting galleries for snipers while Serbian military forces shelled the city relentlessly. The objections to the film were understandable, even without the idea of the heroine being a rape victim, because during the war for Bosnian liberation, rape of Muslim women was a common tactic for intimidation.

Angelina Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt are known both for their generosity in donating to a variety of causes and their hands-on work where work is needed.

Well, that and their Academy Award-nominated-and-winning acting gigs and six completely adorable kids.

Related articles

• Angelina Jolie Honored at Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia (omg.yahoo.com)
• Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt: Sarajevo Film Festival! (justjared.buzznet.com)
• Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt in Bosnia for film fest (ctv.ca)
• Sarajevo Film Festival Kicks off in Bosnia (abcnews.go.com)
• Angelina Jolie’s Controversial Directorial Debut Gets Title, U.S. Distributor and Award Season Release Date (moviefone.com)
• Angelina Jolie in Bosnia for film festival (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Angelina Jolie in Bosnia for Film Festival (abcnews.go.com)
• Angelina Jolie Takes Vivienne and Knox to the Movies! (popsugar.com)

28 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictorie

Oh no he didn’t! Tim Gunn in a fit of cattiness said some things about Secretary of State Hilary Rodhamn Clinton that really may have been a bit too far. Sure, some of us have wondered whether or not Clinton was, well, a bit on the butch side, and maybe a bit on the lesbian side, but maybe this is a bit too much.

Gunn appeared on George Lopez’ show last night where the host asked Gunn a lot of questions about bad fashion. Playing up his normally snarky self, the host of Lifetime’s Project Runway, threw a lot of barbs including at Jersey Shore’s Snooki, but he also went after the strong Clinton.

Here is what happened, according to the Huffington Post:

“WHY must she dress that way? I think she’s confused about her gender.”

Audible gasp by the audience.

Lopez doesn’t do much to help with his follow-up question:

“But how can someone hide cankles?”

Cue second audience gasp.

The gender confusion line has been used by Gunn before to describe Clinton. He used it back in 2008. Clinton, for her part, has tended to come off as being rather butch, but then again, some women, even straight women, can be pretty butch.

28 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

That Lady Gaga wants to become an ordained minister is something that we’ve heard before, but now that New York has passed marriage equality, she is really serious about it and the reason why is that she would like to be able to marry her gay friends. Gaga recently told Kiis FM ”My yoga instructor Trisha, a lesbian, has lived with her partner for years now and they have a beautiful daughter. They asked me to marry them. So, yes. I’m going to do it. It’s their private wedding but they’re very proud of it. They’ve waited a long time to legitimise their love. Congratulations to Mama T and T Mama.”

Gaga is thrilled that the legislation went through saying “I just think for myself as an activist it’s always about being positive and honouring and being excited about the small steps that are taken toward equality. I’m excited about the things that are happening and I’m going to continue to band together with all my friends and with my generation to continue to fight for our rights,”

Source

28 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

The family of the late Amy Winehouse appears to believe that it may have been sudden abstinence from alcohol which caused Winehouse’s abrupt death at the age of 27. Withdrawl from alcohol can be fatal depending on how much damage the body took during the abuse. In all likelihood, this is what happened. It is still speculation even if it is coming from someone who is a lot closer to the information than the rest of the world.. Official results may not be known until October.

Winehouse’s fortune could very well grow with the increased demand for her music. She left about £15.3million. That could very well triple with 50,000 of her albums being sold in the short period since her death. Her parents- Mitch and Janis Winehouse- are planning on infusing funds into creating an Amy Winehouse Foundation to help those struggling with substance abuse. Her father wants Labour MP Keith Vaz, the chair of the Commons Home Affairs committee, to help found it and for the committee to look into treatment for addicts. Two years ago, Mitch Winehouse told the committee that there were not enough places for people to get treatment.

Source 1
Source 2

28 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Now if we could just get, oh say, Olivia Munn or Kristen Schaal to come out….but Mo Rocca, who has been a frequent contributor to
The Daily Show, has come out of the closet. In a podcast interview with The Six Pack, Rocca says “I’m just more comfortable with myself now. It’s taken me until I’m 42 to begin feel this way.”

Rocca is also a CBS Sunday Morning contributor and the host of The Tomorrow Show. He has almost half a million followers on Twitter. He also recalls being outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City when the marriage equality bill passed. He said “I tweeted about it. It was very memorable, very emotional, it was a great place to be.”

According to the Advocate:

The sardonic journalist was surprisingly frank on The Six Pack, for instance, talking about some Fire Island gays who, he says, “combine desperation with ruthlessness, and it’s just not a winning combination. To see someone who looks terrified, and kind of hungry and scared, and at the same time it’s vicious. They’re like starving jackals!”

So, yeah, we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re popping up everywhere you look…

28 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Katy Perry released a song called “I Kissed A Girl” which, in all honesty, is not that great. It plays into the ‘girls play at being lesbian in order to get guys’ mentality and has none of the innocence that the song from a decade prior by the same name penned by Jill Sobule had. Of course, Denise Richards wants to get in on the Perry act as well with a recent appearance on the Howard Stern show in order to hock her new tell-all book “The Real Girl Next Door.”

Richards describes an encounter in the book with a woman that she describes as a ‘girly-girl’ and ‘beautiful’, but refuses to name names in order to get people to read her book and find out. For a lot of us, this moment is about yawning. Why should we care?

Queer Gossip wrote:

I hate Denise Richards. I always have. She is one of the worst actors ever and she is smart enough to have thought marrying Charlie Sheen was a good idea. Since the only thing that she ever did that anyone liked ever was to make out with Neve Campbell in “Wild Things” she decided to dish about a lesbian experience with an unnamed but supposedly famous woman directly before releasing her autobiography. Blah. Maybe I’m just cranky because I haven’t had my morning coffee, but I’ve never been less interested in a woman’s curious experiment than I am in this one…

Honestly, Denise, with the number of openly lesbian and really bisexual women out there who are successful, why should we give a rats backside if you had a bi-curious adventure with some woman? Sure, you’ll get a bunch of boner popping young men rushing to read your book, but honestly, most of us won’t give a crap.

So, excuse me if I seem a bit less than impressed. Heck, this isn’t even as interesting as Coupling’s Susan and Jane making out in the middle of a bar. (It’s the first part in this clip)

28 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Adam Lambert is a talented man with a great voice and a wonderful presence on stage. This has made him a celebrity even after he did not win American Idol. He is also, from what people say, a really nice guy. He came out back in 2009 as gay, and has been helping the LGBT Community ever sense as well. While we here at LGR appreciate his music, we also really love that he is working hard for the LGBT Community as well unlike some other openly gay celebrities out there.

Lambert is going to be featured on VH1′s Behind the Music, and a preview clip from it has been released. In it, the “For Your Entertainment” artist discusses how he was presented as a stereotype on American Idol as well as having to keep quiet about being gay. The man who eventually went on to win that season of American Idol, Kris Allen, is also interviewed.

The two discuss how they were, basically, marketed by American Idol with Allen being marketed as the love song singing ‘boy next door’ and Lambert being the effeminate metrosexual guy in makeup. Allen states “The show knew exactly what they were doing, obviously. They wanted to pit us against one another.”

Lambert had to deal with the press speculating about him being gay, which he did not think was important. He did feel that he should have been part of the conversation. He says “It was hard for me, because technically, I wasn’t able to talk. It felt out of my control.” Idol contestants are not allowed to talk during the season.

Still, it would have been better for the LGBT Community if Lambert had been able to come out during the season and show LGBT youth that it is possible to get ahead as a gay man, and that is something that he seems to know well. When the season came to an end, Lambert talked to Rolling Stone about being gay and said “I wouldn’t want to go through my career hiding anything, or covering up. It’s just not my style… I’m proud of my sexuality.”

Lambert is working on his sophomore album which is due out in October.

7/27/2011

Gaga and Midler in feud?  How did that happen??

Bette Midler became one of the biggest female talents on the face of the earth when she first performed her cabaret act at famed gay men’s club, The Continental Baths, in the 70′s with piano accompaniment from Barry Manilow.  Lady Gaga Became one of the biggest female talents on the face of the earth when she released her first album, The Fame, in 2008.  What else do these lovely ladies have in common?  They have now both pulled out a character that can only be explained as a swim-impaired mermaid with a lack of water.

When Gaga revealed her wheelchair toting mermaid character, Yuyi, at a performance in Sydney, Australia, Midler was not the happiest person.  She was upset at the thought that someone was using, and copying, an act that she has perfected by performing for more then 20 years as wheelchair toting mermaid, Delores DeLago.

“I’ve been doing singing mermaid in a wheelchair since 1980,” Midler said in a livid response, “You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker tits–Mermaid’s mine.”

Gaga responded with timeliness.

“I had no idea that she did that and I’m a huge Bette Midler fan.” Gaga explained after hearing the accusations, “It was not a Midler tribute in the beginning…because I didn’t know that she’d done it, but I do now and I think it’s great.  Obviously I feel connected to women in theater and women from the past.”

Gaga also added, “Maybe we’re just cut from the same cloth.  I couldn’t hop around in that tail so I just stuck myself in a wheelchair.  All I’ll say is that I admire her and find her to be one of the most brilliant and incredible performers, so that’s all I’ll say.”

27 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Caroline Murphy remembers what it was like to first meet Heather Matarazzo, and what she told her mother that day.  She called up her mother and said “Mom, I just met my wife.”  Murphy and actress heather Matarazzo are planning on getting married now that New York has legalized same-sex marriage in that state.  Matarazzo has played characters like Dawn Weiner in “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and Sadie Atkins in the upcoming “Manson Girls.”  Still, she and Murphy are not only planning to get married, but to start a family.

Matarazzo has said that she sees herself and Murphy as complete beings who came together to help one another grow.  She stated “I don’t believe that I’ve found my other half.  That would mean I was thinking of myself as incomplete.”  She also said “My eyes and spirit have opened up since I found someone that I get to share my life with.”

Still, they did not want to get married this past Sunday.  Murphy said “I always wanted a wedding, not a trip to City Hall.”  The couple have begun to plan their dream wedding for this fall or spring surrounded by friends and family- which given their large families would be about 200 guests.  Matarazzo wants to wear a simple, off-white dress but hasn’t found the one she likes yet saying “When I see it I will just know.”  Murphy, who is working on her first album, is planning on wearing a white, sexy pants suit.

The couple has been engaged for three years, and were planning on marrying in California, but Prop 8 put an end to that.  Of course, further heart ache came when they returned to New York and met with former governor David Patterson.  According to Murphy “He led us to believe gay marriage would be legal last September, and he even agreed to marry us.  We started planning on that, and that went away.”

They are planning on starting a family.  According to Matarazzo “Wee’ve always talked that Caroline would have a child first, and then I will go.”  After that, the couple plans on adopting.

Related articles

• Heather Matarazzo & Caroline Murphy Engaged, Planning Family (huffingtonpost.com)

26 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Amy Winehouse was laid to rest today. Friends and family paid their final respects to the singer. Winehouse’s remains were cremated at the Golders Green in north London, and that was followed by a private service which was held at Edgwarebury Cemetery in Edgware. Among those there were Mark Ronson, Winehouse’s producer, and Kelly Osbourne. Some of the women, including Osbourne, wore their hair in the same style as that which Winehouse favored in life.

Reporters and fans descended on the crematorium. Traffic going by the area was slowed due to the number of people who were there. The BBC has reported that “Unconfirmed reports said a private ambulance carrying her remains used another entrance of the building.”

The family now will go into the two-day Shiva, which is a traditional period of mourning in the Jewish faith.

Hayley of Watford, 27, told the BBC “She was the same age as me. It’s just a waste, but she left us with some great music.”

Winehouse’s death has been incredibly private, which stands in contrast with her life. The family has been pushing for this to be as private as possible despite attempts by fans and the media to get glimpses of her funeral. By and large, the area outside of her Cambden home has been the focal point for the grieving fans and the media.

At the service, Winehouse’s father Mitch read a eulogy. At the end, he said Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much.” He apparently also told some stories from her childhood about how headstrong she was. A family spokesman said “He stressed so many times she was happier now than she had ever been and he spoke about her boyfriend and paid tribute to a lot of people in her life.”

The service was in English and Hebrew, lead by Rabbi Frank Hellner and ended with a rendition of Carole King’s “So Far Away.” It was apparently Amy Winehouse’s favorite in life. Between 300 and 400 people attended the service.

Related articles

• ‘Good Night, My Angel’: Friends and Family Gather for Amy Winehouse’s Funeral (newsfeed.time.com)
• Mark Ronson, Kelly Osbourne Among Mourners at Amy Winehouse Funeral, Cremation (eonline.com)

25 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Amy Winehouse’s funeral will be held on Tuesday according to a family spokesman. It will be for family and close friends. The time and place of the funeral will not be made public. The autopsy was performed this morning, but was inconclusive, and the cause of death will probably not be known until October when the public inquest into her death is held. Police are awaiting the results of toxicology reports that will be two to four weeks.

Fans have been gathering outside the late singer’s Camden home where she died after a long struggle with alcohol and drug abuse. The crowds have left candles, flowers and other tributes to the singer. Amy Winehouse’s parents, Mitch and Janis, visited the home on Monday to speak to those who were there and to see the memorials. Mitch Winehouse said “I can’t tell you what this means to us – it really is making this a lot easier for us. devastated and I’m speechless but thanks for coming.”

Winehouse was 27 when she was died and was best known for the album “Back to Black”. She is among the more famous musicians who have died at this young age and that includes Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison of the Doors, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

25 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

The autopsy of Amy Winehouse has taken place, but do not expect any results any time soon. It is expected tot ake at least four more weeks for the toxicology report to come in. The singer’s body was found on Saturday. “I can’t tell you what this means to us. It really is making this a lot easier,” said her father Mitch Winehouse to fans who had come out to pay tribute to the tragic singer.

Rumors have abounded since her death of her drinking heavily ahead of her collapse or even her taking drugs. These are completely unfounded. Police have declined to comment on the cause of death. Police spokesman Supt Raj Kohli stated “It would be inappropriate to speculate on the cause of death.” He went on to say “My sympathy extends not just to her immediate family but clearly to the thousands and millions of fans across the world.”

While the death could be related to alcohol or drugs, it is also possible that her system just shut down after long abuse and that is what is being determined. So far, there have bee no arrests. What is known is that she was found dead by one of her security team.

Mr. Winehouse told fans gathered in Camden Square in London “Amy was about one thing and that was love. Her whole life was devoted to her family and her friends and to you guys as well.” Amy Winehouse’ mother and brother also visited the site of the tributes which include flowers, cards and photos. It is not clear when the funeral will take place, but it will not be held today. Traditionally, Jewish funerals are suppose to take place as soon as possible following a death, typically within 24 hours.

An inquest into her death is scheduled for October.

The singer’s Back to Black album, which was released five years ago, rose back onto the charts hitting 59. Mark Ronson, brother of Lohan ex Samantha Ronson and producer of Amy Winehouse’ second album, said “She was my musical soulmate and like a sister to me. This is one of the saddest days of my life.”

Russell Brand, comedian and actor as well as Katy Perry’s husband, said “We have lost a beautiful and talented woman.” Brand has also struggled with addiction in the past and talked about seeing Winehouse perform saying “Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with [Paul] Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius.”

According to the BBC:

Winehouse made her last public appearance on Wednesday night when she joined her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, on stage at the Roundhouse in Camden.

The singer danced with 15-year-old Bromfield and encouraged the audience to buy her album in the impromptu appearance.

Just two hours after news broke of the singer’s death, Bromfield took to the stage at a festival in Pontypridd in Wales and did not mention her godmother.

Music promoters said she had been under no pressure to perform and commended her professionalism.

24 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Ewan McGregor is famous for being the second man to play Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. The first was Sir Alec Guinness, who happened to be gay. Well, McGregor has said something rather interesting. For a man who has played gay or bisexual characters in several films including Velvet Goldmine, The Pillow Book and I Love You, Philip Morris, he has no problem whatsoever playing gay.

He recently stated “I’ve never been scared to explore sexuality in my work because I think it is very important. It’s a big area of what makes us us, the desire to sleep with men or women, and I never wanted to have limits in any of my work other than my own morals. Through my career I’ve played gay or bisexual characters whenever they’ve grabbed me.”

McGregor is married to Eve Mavrakis, and has four daughters. He also feels ‘blessed’ to work in the industry given its few prejudices about people’s sexuality. He said “There’s no room for those prejudices in this business, or there shouldn’t be. Maybe I’m just blessed by being able to do this kind of job.”

Of course, Rupert Everett would probably disagree, but then again, he is a man with a classic villain face, but has always wanted to play leading man roles. Of course, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen, Neil Patrick Harris and others have done well being openly gay in this business.

21 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, apparently. Just two months after the wedding, it appears that Track Palin and his wife Britta Hanson are already expecting, and Hanson is way more than two months pregnant. Track Palin was conceived before his parents got married.

According to Rosie Pope of the Bravo show “Pregnant in Heels”, “I’d predict she is well into the second trimester, around six months, even seven.” Pope’s reaction comes from recent Facebook photos which show the mother-to-be surrounded by gifts as a baby shower. Pope also said”In my opinion it looks like she is more than four months along, as it is not customary to have a baby shower so early in a pregnancy and first-time moms usually take longer to pop.”

The founder of Savvy Mom on Call Baby Planner, Ingrid Prueher thinks that Pope is off on the timing of the pregnancy. She said “The picture where they show the [wedding] she’s covering her stomach so she was probably showing then.” Prueher thinks that Hanson is about eight months along. Track Palin and Britta Hanson married this past May at a small famly gathering.

Sarah Palin is very strongly opposed sex-ed in school, premarital sex, and homosexuality. So far, she has refused to comment about this.

21 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

It is a movie that gets you catching yourself and saying “really, they named a movie that?” Well, for Olivia Wilde, the Irish actress who has appeared in Tron: Legacy among other film, it was a chance to see if she could hold her own against the likes of Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Apparently, being near the latest Bond actor and the man best known as Indiana Jones and Han Solo caused the actress a bit of stage fright.

Wilde, who takes her stage name from Oscar Wilde, said “It was unbelievable. The first day we had a script reading and I couldn’t believe I was sitting anywhere near them. I just felt very lucky to sit with them. I was in awe but they made me feel like one of the guys. I was fine after that first day.”

Wilde recently divorced her husband whom she eloped with. She finds the tabloid rumors of her being linked romantically to every guy under the sun to be rather silly. She said “It’s hilarious. I wouldn’t have the energy to date all those different people. I am a real girl’s girl but I have a lot of male friends. Now I’m single that’s getting me a lot of attention. I have no dating life because I’m so busy working. Maybe when it calms down I’ll have a dating life.”

Well, luv, if you don’t like the rumors about you being romantically linked to all those guys, then we could always start with rumors about you and a variety of ladies….Wilde and Emma Watson, perhaps?

20 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Emma Watson may be coming back to the big screen a little sooner than expected, and this time, in a classic tale of love, beauty, magic, and ugliness. According to Denise Di Novi, the producer of Crazy, Stupid Love, Watson is lined up to start in a new adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. In this case, the adaptation would be helmed by Guillermo Del Toro who is best known for the Hellboy movies and especially for his dark fairytale-esque Pan’s Labyrinth. Di Novi is developing the project.

Watson currently has an upcoming lead part in the drama The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and she is in a supporting role in the movie My Week With Marilyn. How and when this first movie to star Watson will happen has yet to be disclosed. Watson returns to her studies next semester at Oxford.

Watson recently told Vogue that she does identify deeply with her Hermione Granger character, and that “I’m literally rediscovering what it means to be an actress.”

Del Toro is currently working on Pacific Rim, a sci-fi robots vs. aliens film. He is also supposedly working on an upcoming adaptation of Pinocchio.