Sigfried & Roy in 2012 by Usien Via Wikipedia

A Nevada judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the footage of Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy fame sexually assaulting his male caretakers from being aired or sold. Horn requested the restraining order against the caretaker who allegedly shot the video who was shopping the disturbing footage to several media outlets.

According to TMZ, a hearing has been scheduled for 8 June to decide whether or not the restraining order will be made permanent.

Wile E. Coyote & The RoadRunner

Wile E. Coyote (also known simply as “The Coyote”) and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters (a coyote and a roadrunner) were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese. The characters star in a long-running series of theatrical cartoon shorts (the first 16 of which were written by Maltese) and occasional made-for-television cartoons.

In each episode, instead of animal senses and cunning, Wile E. Coyote uses absurdly complex contraptions (sometimes in the manner of Rube Goldberg) and elaborate plans to pursue his quarry.

Wile E. Coyote & Bugs Bunny

The Coyote appears separately as an occasional antagonist of Bugs Bunny in five shorts from 1952 to 1963: Operation: Rabbit, To Hare Is Human, Rabbit’s Feat, Compressed Hare, and Hare-Breadth Hurry. While he is generally silent in the Coyote-Road Runner shorts, he speaks with a refined accent in these solo outings (except for Hare-Breadth Hurry), introducing himself as “Wile E. Coyote — super genius”, voiced with an upper-class, cultured English accent by Mel Blanc.^[1] The Road Runner vocalizes only with a signature sound, “Beep, Beep”, recorded by Paul Julian, and an occasional tongue noise.^[2]

To date, 48 cartoons have been made featuring these characters (including the three CGI shorts), the majority by Chuck Jones.

Starving Coyote

Creation

Jones based the Coyote on Mark Twain’s book Roughing It, in which Twain described the coyote as “a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton” that is “a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry.” Jones said he created the Coyote-Road Runner cartoons as a parody of traditional “cat and mouse” cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, which series Jones would work on as a director later in his career.

The Coyote’s name of Wile E. is obviously a play on the word “wily.” The “E” was said to stand for Ethelbert in one issue of a Looney Tunes comic book, but its writer hadn’t intended it to be canon.The Coyote’s surname is routinely pronounced with a long “e” (/kaɪˈoʊtiː/ ky-OH-tee), but in one cartoon short, To Hare Is Human, Wile is heard pronouncing it with a diphthong (/kaɪˈoʊteɪ/ ky-OH-tay). Early model sheets for the character prior to his initial appearance (in Fast and Furry-ous) identified him as “Don Coyote”, a play on Don Quixote.

Another ACME product

Acme Corporation

Wile E. Coyote often obtains complex and ludicrous devices from a mail-order company, the fictitious Acme Corporation, which he hopes will help him catch the Road Runner. The devices invariably fail in improbable and spectacular ways. Whether this is result of operator error or faulty merchandise is debatable. The coyote usually ends up burnt to a crisp, squashed flat, or at the bottom of a canyon (some shorts show him suffering a combination of these fates). Occasionally Acme products do work quite well (e.g. the Dehydrated Boulders, Bat-Man Outfit, Rocket Sled, Jet Powered Roller Skates, or Earthquake Pills). In this case their success often works against the coyote. For example, the Dehydrated Boulder, upon hydration, becomes so large when it crushes him, or the Coyote finding out that the Earthquake Pills bottle label’s fine print states that the pills aren’t effective on road runners, right after he swallows the whole bottle, thinking they’re ineffective. Other times he uses items that are implausible, such as a superhero outfit, thinking he could fly wearing it (he cannot).

RoadRunner, Beeper, Wile E., and Calamity in Tiny Toon Adventures

How the coyote acquires these products without money is not explained until the 2003 movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, in which he is shown to be an employee of Acme. In a Tiny Toon Adventures episode, Wile E. makes mention of his protege Calamity Coyote possessing an unlimited Acme credit card account, which might serve as another possible explanation. Wile E. being a “beta tester” for Acme has been another suggested explanation. Wile E. also uses war equipment such as cannons, rocket launchers, grenades, and bayonets which are “generic”, not Acme products. In a Cartoon Network commercial promoting Looney Tunes, they ask the Coyote why does he insist on purchasing products from the Acme Corporation when all previous contraptions have backfired on him, to which the Coyote responds with a wooden sign (right after another item blows up in his face): “Good line of Credit.”

The company name was likely chosen for its irony (acme means the highest point, as of achievement or development). Also, a company named ACME would have shown up in the first part of a telephone directory. Some people have said ACME comes from the common expansion A (or American) Company that Makes (or Making) Everything, a backronym of the word. The origin of the name might also be related to the Acme company that built a fine line of animation stands and optical printers; however, the most likely explanation is the Sears house brand called Acme that appeared in their ubiquitous early 1900s mail-order catalogues.

In one Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short film, “Ajax” was used instead of Acme. In another short, the names “A-1″ and “Ace” are used.

Anyone have an Excedrin?

Laws and rules

As in other cartoons, the Road Runner and the coyote follow the laws of cartoon physics. For example, the Road Runner has the ability to enter the painted image of a cave, while the coyote cannot (unless there is an opening through which he can fall). Sometimes, however, this is reversed, and the Road Runner can burst through a painting of a broken bridge and continue on his way, while the Coyote will instead enter the mirage painting and fall down the precipice of the cliff where the bridge is out. Sometimes the coyote is allowed to hang in midair until he realizes that he is about to plummet into a chasm (a process occasionally referred to elsewhere as Road-Runnering or Wile E. Coyote moment).

The coyote can overtake rocks (or cannons) which fall before he does, and end up being squashed by them. If a chase sequence happens upon a cliff, the Road Runner is not affected by gravity, whereas the Coyote will realize his error eventually and fall to the ground below. A chase sequence that happens upon railroad tracks will always result in the Coyote being run over by a train. Its Formula. If the Coyote uses an explosive (for instance, dynamite) that is triggered by a mechanism that is supposed to force the explosive in a forward motion toward its target, the actual mechanism itself will always shoot forward, leaving the explosive behind to detonate in the Coyote’s face.

Too bad they can't read.

Similarly, a complex apparatus that is supposed to propel an object like a boulder or steel ball forward, or trigger a trap, will not work on the Road Runner, but always will on the Coyote. For instance, the Road Runner can jump up and down on the trigger of a large animal trap and eat bird seed off from it, going completely unharmed and not setting off the trap; when the Coyote places the tiniest droplet of oil on the trigger, the trap snaps shut on him without fail. At certain times, the Coyote may don an exquisite Acme costume or propulsion device that briefly allows him to catch up to the Road Runner. This will always result in him losing track of his proximity to large cliffs or walls, and the Road Runner will dart around an extremely sharp turn on a cliff, but the Coyote will rocket right over the edge and fall to the ground.

Good Book

In Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times Of An Animated Cartoonist, it is claimed that Chuck Jones and the artists behind the Road Runner and Wile E. cartoons adhered to some simple but strict rules:

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going “meep, meep.”
2. No outside force can harm the Coyote — only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products. Trains and trucks were the exception from time to time.
3. The Coyote could stop anytime — if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: “A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.” — George Santayana).
4. No dialogue ever, except “meep, meep” and yowling in pain.
5. The Road Runner must stay on the road — for no other reason than that he’s a roadrunner.
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters — the southwest American desert.
7. All tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote’s greatest enemy.
9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
10. The audience’s sympathy must remain with the Coyote.
11. The Coyote is not allowed to catch or eat the Road Runner. (The robot that the Coyote created in The Solid Tin Coyote caught the Road Runner so this does not break this rule. The Coyote does catch the Road Runner in Soup or Sonic but is too small to eat him.)

In an interview years after the series was made, writer Michael Maltese said he had never heard of the “Rules.”

In popular culture

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner have been frequently referenced in popular culture. The Villain (directed by Hal Needham) is a parody of these animated shorts as well as being a spoof of westerns. In The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, Road Runner gets run down and dies, after which Coyote commits suicide by shooting himself in the head with a prop gun.

In a sketch on In Living Color (Season 5, Episode 10), Wile E. Coyote (played by Jamie Foxx) is put on trial by Congress for displaying excessive violence in his cartoons; Elmer Fudd (played by Jay Leggett) is his lawyer. In the film UHF, “Weird Al” Yankovic’s character introduces a Road Runner cartoon as a sad, depressing story of a “pathetic coyote” futilely chasing a “sadistic roadrunner”. The characters were referenced in The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Bounty Hamster, Kick Buttowski, What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, Robot Chicken, and South Park.

On Family Guy

In an episode of Cheers, some bar patrons discuss the Road Runner cartoons. The discussion continues and builds in intensity as a minor subplot throughout the entire episode until at the end of the show some of the bar patrons are boisterously declaring that the Coyote character is meant to be symbolic of the Antichrist. Wile E. Coyote appeared briefly in an episode of the live-action show Night Court, where he was admonished by Judge Harry Stone for chasing a bird. Wile E. Coyote has appeared two times in Family Guy (voiced by Seth MacFarlane): his first episode, I Never Met the Dead Man, depicts him riding in a car with Peter Griffin; when Peter runs over the Road Runner and asks if he hit “that ostritch”, Wile E. tells him to keep going.^[13] In PTV, Wile E. appears in a flashback when Peter offers a store credit when Wile E. claims a refund for a giant sling shot that “slammed me into a mountain”. In the Dexter’s Laboratory episode “Road Rash” Dee-Dee does an impression of the Road Runner after Dexter falls down a man hole.

Humorist Ian Frazier created the mock-legal prose piece “Coyote v. Acme”, which is included in a book of the same name. Karen Salmansohn wrote an article on The Huffington Post centering on the characters. Guitarist Mark Knopfler created a song called “Coyote” in homage to the cartoon shows of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, on the 2002 album The Ragpicker’s Dream.

These days you can see new Wile E. Coyote & RoadRunner cartoons on Cartoon Network’s The Looney Tunes Show.

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Miss Alexandra Chase, VT drag queen & BFF

Do you miss a certain drag queen in your life? I know that I do. We used to co-DJ at a gay club that is now closed, shop for her gowns together (the ladies at Fashion Bug loved us.), and even did drag together the year I won my first drag contest singing Billy Joel‘s “Piano Man”. Over 10 years later, we are still good friends. She doesn’t do drag anymore because she doesn’t fit into her old gowns, but that is a different story.

–BUT if you are missing the queens from seasons past of RuPaul’s Drag Race, then have no fear my lovelies! They will be back as guest professors of RuPaul’s Drag U!!!

Check out the promo for it from LogoTV.com.

That’s right, if you love the drag queens from RuPaul‘s Drag Race, then have no worries darlings! You can watch them on the upcoming season of RuPaul’s Drag U, where they are drag professors helping ordinary women became absolutely fab! It’s basically “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy“, but with drag queens instead of gay men and women instead of straight men.

I know I’ll be watching because I can’t wait to see Sharon Needles, Chad Michaels, Raja Gemini, Latrice Royale, and others as teachers of their fabulous aesthetic craft. I hope you tune in as well. June 18th on LOGO. It will also be available for free online.

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Barry toking a Joint

New insight into the early life of Barack Obama has been recently made available in the form of excerpts from his forthcoming biography, “Barack Obama: The Story.” Apparently young Barry Obama, like countless of his contemporaries, enjoyed partaking in the use of marijuana. The president even was a trendsetter amongst his peers:

As a member of the Choom* Gang, Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends. The first was called “TA,” short for “total absorption.”

Roof Hits w/ Cheech & Chong

Along with TA, Barry popularized the concept of “roof hits”: when they were chooming in the car all the windows had to be rolled up so no smoke blew out and went to waste; when the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling.

He also was unafraid to go against proper smoking protocol:

Barry also had a knack for interceptions. When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted “Intercepted!,” and took an extra hit. No one seemed to mind

Barry giving a speech

What is clear from these anecdotes is that not only did Barry Obama try cannabis, but he was what many would refer to as a recreational user, a “stoner” if you will. Which begs the question, when exactly did Barry Obama, who participated in three foot bong hitting contests, become President Barack Obama, who laughs off the issue at town hall meetings and ramps up the war against medical marijuana to new heights?

It is time the President says publicly what he already knows personally: Responsible marijuana use should not be a crime and it is time we put an end to the war on cannabis consumers.

(Personally I’m all for a president that smoked pot over one that smoked crack. Just sayin’…)

*Choom is Hawaiian slang for smoking marijuana.

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So how to celebrate the changing of our culture? I’m looking back at how it changed my life. I was born a year before Return of the Jedi came out. My first Halloween costume was as a baby Princess Leia. My cousins also dressed as the characters that Halloween and we went Trick-or-Treating as the cast. Growing up with my grandmother I vividly remember the year she was given a 12″ Chewbacca doll for Christmas. I was about 4 years old. Around 5 years old my cousin, Paul, began having a Star Wars collection of action figures. I remember wanting to play with all of them, but always getting stuck playing Boba Fett when I really wanted to be Leia or C3-PO.

It was over 10 years later when I finally sat down and watched the movies that my life had evolved around. At age 15 I didn’t really know what to expect when I sat down to watch the first 3 Star Wars movies. I remember sitting with my mother and grandmother on a couch in Florida. It was a cool Summer night and they were showing the movies in a marathon on tv. Strangely enough the first thing I noticed about the first movie was the everyone’s outfits were really plain and uninteresting. I decided then that the future should have color in it.

When Lucas decided to do the prequels I didn’t quite know what to think. I’d never heard of a “prequel” before and it took me a bit to understand that it was an entire movie of backstory. That seemed odd to me at first. Now it is a norm in the movie industry. So I went to the prequels and learned a new story of the characters. What bothered me most was that while I now knew the characters Vader, C3-PO, Chewie, Yoda, the births of Luke & Leia, and R2-D2′s back stories, I wanted to know about Han Solo. I wanted to know how he and Chewie hooked up as friends, what type of life had turned Han into the swaggering, cocky pilot he was in the originals. What made him like fiesty princesses? When was Lucas going to answer these questions?…It’s 2012 and I’m still waiting….

And so today we celebrate the creation of a movie franchise that has found it’s way into every corner of our pop culture, from movies, toys, cartoons and music. Thank you Mr. Lucas for giving us new planets to dream about and new adventures to wonder about.

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I think I’ve know since I first laid eyes on her.

Apparently, what happened is that the “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef” host was sort of ‘outed’ by “Chopped” host Ted Allen. Most non-Food Network fans would know Allen from “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy”, and yes, he is openly gay. For that matter. . .do you know how many chefs on “Chopped” are openly lesbian?

Anne isn’t upset about it, though. Her rep told Page Six that “Anne doesn’t feel she was outed. She has made no secret of her relationship.”

Burrell is now the first confirmed openly LGBT cooking show host on the twin networks. Allen is a host of a cook off contest and Cat Cora is the only female Iron Chef.

The Huffington Post reports that:

A number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media outlets charged Allen, formerly of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” with “outing” Burrell, who had previously been mum about her personal life, in his radio interview. “I’m not going to put a label on Anne, but she is dating a woman right now,” Allen, who reportedly went on to explain that the woman in question works at Chicago eatery Avec, said. “She was really cool.”

Let us be honest here. None of this is a surprise. Anyone with decent gaydar could have told you that Burrell is lesbian. We just wish she could have won The Next Iron Chef as well.

Towel Day is celebrated every year on the 25th of May as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their appreciation for the books and the author, as referred to in Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The commemoration was first held in 2001, two weeks after Adams’ death on 11 May 2001.

He never got to see his books make it to the big screen. He died right before HGttG made its big screen debut.

Author Douglas Adams

I first read Adams’ books when I was a sophomore in high school. I fell in love with the characters and the vision of Space that I’d never imagined before with 2-headed politicians, book researchers from far off planets, and meals that sold themselves to you. By the time the movie came out in 2001 I had read every book of Adams’ that I could get my hands on. I read the whole Hitchikers “trilogy”, in addition to his other works like “Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency”, “The Meaning of Liff“, and “The Deeper Meaning of Liff“. The man knew how to write and how to enrapture the mind in ways no other man could. His work meant the world to me and when he died…I cried.

So to commemorate this man’s great, silly, wonderous works, don’t forget your towel.

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Actors Mike O'Malley (L) and Chris Colfer

If you are a fan of Glee and saw the finale, you know what Kurt‘s father, Burt, gave him for his graduation gift. When I first saw it, I laughed my ass off so hard. It was beautiful and funny and sweet. So awesome it is, that I’m sharing it with you. This is how every father with a gay son should show the pride he has for his son. So now, Senator Burt Hummel (Mike O’Malley) performing “All the single Ladies” with the help of 2 Glee members.

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Of course, OMM has had no success in actually getting anyone to listen to them. Archie Comics went through with their same-sex marriage storyline- and will have a story about gender swapping soon. Of course, that isn’t stopping OMM from issuing their usual statement condemning this move and crying “think of the children”- that’s right, we can use the children that’s why we’re forming a Children’s Brigade.

Sorry, drifted off into Futurama there.

Their letter, which is below, runs the usual line of thought about how children become gay if they are exposed to homosexuality at an early age. This is rather silly since many lesbians and gays who are adults today didn’t know that they were normal until AFTER they were adults. (Heck, the first time I even knew someone could be lesbian or gay I was 15!)

Here is OMM’s rant:

Part 1: DC Comics recently announced one of their most popular, but as of yet unnamed, prominent characters will soon be coming out of the closet. DC Comics, owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, has decided that one of their beloved superheroes will be homosexual. Who will they choose; Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, or another one of their characters that children look up to?

Last year, DC Comics Co-publisher Dan DiDio said that the company would not change the sexual orientation of an existing superhero and would bring in a new one altogether. Parents may have been able to avoid a new character since it would not be one many children have grown to admire. DiDio has changed his mind and will not be introducing a brand new character. They will feature an existing character who was previously assumed to be straight, will now become openly gay. Senior VP Sales Bob Wayne said DiDio’s view ‘had evolved’, comparing the shift to Barack Obama’s recent endorsement of same-sex marriage, according to a report. DiDio did not specify which character would ‘come out’ or in which issue it would be featured. It will likely be a June issue during LBGT month, joining lesbian character Batwoman.

Part 2: And to make matters more shocking, Marvel, now owned by Disney, followed DC Comics’ announcement with a surprise of their own. Northstar, Marvel’s first openly gay hero, is going to tie the knot with his boyfriend in the current issue of “Astonishing X-Men.” This is the first same-sex wedding in a superhero comic book.

In “Astonishing X-Men” #50, which hit comic shop shelves Wednesday, Northstar proposes to his boyfriend, Kyle, a fellow snow sports enthusiast who possesses no superpowers. The couple will seal the deal in issue #51, slated for a June 20 release.

“The story of Northstar and Kyle is universal, and at the core of everything I write: a powerful love between two people who have to fight for it against all odds,” said X-Men comic writer Marjorie Liu in a statement.

Children desire to be just like superheroes. Children mimic superhero actions and even dress up in costumes to resemble these characters as much as possible. Can you imagine little boys saying, “I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men?”

This is ridiculous! Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They don’t but do want to indoctrate impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light. These companies are heavily influencing our youth by using children’s superheroes to desensitize and brainwash them in thinking that a gay lifestyle choice is normal and desirable. As Christians, we know that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:26-27).

Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to homosexuality at an early age. Comic books would be one of the last places a parent would expect their child to be confronted with homosexual topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Children do not know what straight, homosexual, or coming out of the closet even means, but DC Comics and Marvel are using superheroes to confuse them on this topic to raise questions and awareness of an alternative lifestyle choice. These companies are prompting a premature discussion on sexual orientation.

Northstar’s wedding will be the first same-sex wedding in the world of mainstream superhero comics, but not the first gay comic books character. Earlier this year One Million Moms emailed Toys ‘R’ Us concerning the “Life With Archie” No. 16 with two gay characters getting hitched. Toys ‘R’ Us had the audacity to display “Archie- Just Married” at the front of the store by the checkout counters.

Sigfried & Roy in 2012 by Usien Via Wikipedia

Roy Horn is, apparently, livid over video being shoppted to the media showing him sexually assaulting and harassing his caretakers, and is threatening legal action if the tapes are not turned over to him. TMZ is reporting Horn is threatening to take the caretakers to court if the tapes are not turned over as a confidentiality agreement between Horn and his employees state that these recordings cannot be taken to the media.

TMZ reports that:

We’ve seen the 2010 footage — and it shows several instances of inappropriate behavior … including Roy forcibly kissing a caretaker, grabbing two caretakers’ penises, tweaking one’s nipples … and more.

Even if the tapes never see the light of day, the damage has already bee done.

Painting of 11th Dr.

Like most people I know who Dr. Who is. I also grew up on the show back when it was a very different doctor, one that was not making the audience swoon. Long scarf, afro hair, and a very British goofiness about him. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I found out who that silly man was on the tv travelling the universe in his telephone booth actually was. That man was…The Doctor. As an adult I’m a rather huge fan of the show. So let’[s have a look at how others have interpreted the on-going show.

Life of Dr. Who

Port-o-Tardis

Simpsons does Dr. Who

Baby Dr.

Dr. Whoess?

Rory the Roman

The Last 4 Companions

Dalek & Tardis COSPlay

Amy Pond

Who would win?

Nesting Who dolls

Amy & Rory dolls

River Song doll

The Dr., Amy & Rory

Yes, he had a cartoon.

Amy plays with self

River Song

Simpsonised

anime

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Sigfried & Roy in 2012 by Usien Via Wikipedia

TMZ is reporting that a graphic video of Roy Horn groping employees, grabbing their privates, and squeezing their nipples is being shopped around currently. They describe the video as “extremely disturbing,” and to on to explain “Roy — who was mauled by a tiger in 2003 — has been going through rehab to strengthen his left side. But the physical therapists tell us, Roy’s right side is ‘extremely strong,’ and the video clearly shows Roy sexually assaulting the male therapists.”

It should be noted that Horn suffered a stroke during the incident with the tiger Monticore, and that may be causing his behavioral issues. A Vermont politician suffering from brain damage was accused of having masturbated in the locker room of a gym that he was using even though he legitimately does not even recall the incident.

According to TMZ, the video from 2010 shows:

– As a caretaker helps Roy to the bathroom, Horn shoves his hand into the man’s butt crack in an aggressive manner

– On another trip to the bathroom, Roy thrusts his rear end into the male caretaker’s crotch

– In two clips, Roy grabs the genitals of two male caretakers

– Roy goes under the shirt of one caretaker and appears to tweak his nipples. The caretaker appears to writhe in pain

– It appears Roy gets frustrated with one of the caretakers and violently whips him with an oxygen tube

– Roy manhandles one of the caretakers and forcibly kisses him on the mouth

All three of the caretakers are straight men, and have families. They have sued Horn in court over the sexual assaults. They did try to take this to the police, but were informed that the statute of limitations- which is one year- had run out. So far, no comment from Horn has been recorded.

Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn quit the stage completely in 2010, some seven years after the incident with Monticore.

Elton John

Elton John is in a Los Angles hospital being treated for a serious respiratory infection, CNN reports.

The 65-year-old entertainer became ill last weekend in Las Vegas while performing his “Million Dollar Piano” show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. John returned to Los Angeles to undergo testing at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday.

“Those tests resulted in the attending Cedars-Sinai physician recommending that Elton not perform any concerts for approximately seven days with complete rest and antibiotic treatment to cure his respiratory infection and prevent any damage,” a statement from the publicist says.

We hope he recovers quickly.

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Dylan in 2011

Today we wish a very happy 71st birthday to a musical legend, Mr. Bob Dylan.

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan’s early songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”, became anthems for the US civil rightsand anti-war movements.

Leaving his initial base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan’s six-minute single “Like a Rolling Stone” has been described as radically altering the parameters of popular music in 1965. However, his recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.

Dylan age 19

Dylan’s lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, as well as the music and performance styles of Buddy Holly and Little Richard,Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning fifty years, has explored numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

Dylan with guitar

Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting.

Since 1994, Dylan has published three books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries.As a songwriter and musician, Dylan has received numerous awards over the years including Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.“  In April 2012, President Barack Obama named Dylan as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Let’s listen to some Dylan together with one of my personal favorites, Tangled Up in Blue from 1974.

Related articles

• Bob Dylan: 20 best lyrics on his birthday (csmonitor.com)
• Bob Dylan to the White House next week (politico.com)
• Bob Dylan, Albright to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom (dawn.com)

Actor Parsons

Award-winning actor Jim Parsons reveals he’s gay and in a 10-year relationship, according to a New York Times profile.

Parsons, best-known as Dr. Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, discusses his work in last year’s production of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer‘s searing chronicle of the AIDS epidemic in New York City during the early 1980s. The Times‘ Patrick Healy writes, “The Normal Heart resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship…”

Parsons & Spiewak

The 39-year-old (really?) actor publicly thanked his partner Todd Spiewak from the podium of the Golden Globe awards ceremony while accepting the trophy for best actor in a comedy series.

Parsons is currently headlining the revival of the classic comedy Harvey as Elwood P. Dowd which will open June 14 at New York’s Studio 54 theatre.

Related articles

• Theater: Jim Parsons Prepares for His Lead Role in ‘Harvey’ (nytimes.com)
• Harvey’s Jim Parsons featured on the cover of Time Out New York (boneaubryanbrown.com)
• Dr. Sheldon Cooper Does Broadway (lezgetreal.com)

Eugene Polley

Eugene Polley, an inventor whose best-known creation has fostered blissful sloth, caused decades of domestic discord and forever altered the way consumers watch television, died on Sunday in Downers Grove, Ill. Mr. Polley, the inventor of the wireless television remote control, was 96.

His death was announced by the Zenith Electronics Corporation, where Mr. Polley began his career in the stockroom before rising through the engineering ranks to invent the device, called the Flash-Matic, in 1955.

An ad for Zenith’s Flash-Matic. Zenith sold 30,000 televisions with the remote control.

“Just think!,” an advertisement breathlessly proclaimed that year. “Without budging from your easy chair you can turn your new Zenith Flash-Matic set on, off, or change channels. You can even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen.”

The Flash-Matic remote, which worked like a flashlight, was shaped like a snub-nosed revolver. The shape was a considered choice on Mr. Polley’s part, as he explained in 2000, letting viewers in the age of ubiquitous TV westerns “shoot out” commercials.

Flash-Matic made the TV audience less captive, though also less active. For the first time, viewers could comfortably exercise dominion over sound and image without simultaneously exercising the body on the march between couch and dial.

B&W TV w/ Dials

(The “dial” was a round thing with numbers on it — all the way up to 13 — by which viewers changed the channel through the direct application of fingers and wrist. One did not so much surf channels in those days as ride their gentle swells with all due deliberateness.)

As Mr. Polley, by then 86, proudly told an interviewer in 2002: “The flush toilet may have been the most civilized invention ever devised, but the remote control is the next most important. It’s almost as important as sex.”

For his invention, Mr. Polley received a thousand-dollar bonus. But his device was soon supplanted by a more efficient, more enduring and far better-selling one, developed by a Zenith colleague, Robert Adler.

News accounts over the years have often described Mr. Adler erroneously as the TV remote’s sole inventor. Mr. Polley, a plain-spoken man who seemed to avail himself of his own internal mute button only rarely, was largely relegated to the margins of history, a condition that rankled.

“Not only did I not get credit for doing anything,” he told The Chicago Tribune in 2006, “I got a kick in the rear end.”

BIOGRAPHY

Eugene Theodore Polley was born in Chicago on Nov. 29, 1915. (He disliked the name Theodore and adopted his confirmation name, Joseph, as his middle name.) His father, a bootlegger, abandoned the family when Gene was about 10.

A Zenith Radio

The young Mr. Polley studied at the City Colleges of Chicago and the Armour Institute of Technology (now the Illinois Institute of Technology), but lacked the money to complete a degree. At 20 he joined the Zenith Radio Company, as it was then known, as a stock boy earning 40 cents an hour.

Mechanically adept, he worked his way into the engineering department. During World War II Mr. Polley, on loan from Zenith, worked for the United States military on bomb fuses and ship-detecting radar.

After the war, as TV sets began to colonize American homes, Zenith’s president, Eugene F. McDonald, faced a quandary. Mr. McDonald, who held a utopian view of the new medium, was certain that viewers would revolt en masse against television commercials, by his lights a growing scourge.

But until that halcyon day arrived, Mr. McDonald knew, he needed to offer consumers a stopgap, and he enlisted the company’s engineers to make it.

Ad of Lazybones remote

The first TV remote, called Lazy Bones, was introduced by Zenith in 1950. It had one profound drawback, however: a cable snaking from the remote to the set, over which users were inclined to trip.

Mr. McDonald enlisted Mr. Polley to build a wireless remote, and the Flash-Matic was born. The hand-held device emitted a visible beam of light, which consumers could point at a compatible TV set.

The new, purpose-built sets had a photo cell embedded in each corner of the screen; the viewer activated the cell by “shooting” it with the remote. One cell changed the channel up, another changed the channel down, a third muted the sound, and the fourth turned the set on and off.

A 1955 Flash-matic remote

The device proved popular: during its first and only year of existence, 30,000 Flash-Matic sets were sold.

But there were difficulties. Because the system was light-activated, sunlight hitting the TV screen could cause the channels to change in spontaneous roulette. Viewers also had trouble remembering which corner of the screen controlled which function.

Mr. Adler improved Mr. Polley’s device by making it responsive to sound instead of light. His remote, called Space Command, used inaudible, high-frequency sound waves to control the set. It, too, had problems — it could be set off by the sound of jangling keys or rattling coins — but was deemed enough of an improvement on its predecessor to be brought to market in 1956.

A Space Command Remote

From that year to the early 1980s, when infrared remotes became standard, more than nine million sets controlled by Space Command technology were sold.

Mr. Polley, a longtime resident of Lombard, Ill., had lived most recently in Glen Ellyn, Ill. He is survived by a son, Eugene Jr., and a grandson. His wife, the former Blanche Wiley, died before him, as did a daughter, Joan Polley.

With other colleagues, Mr. Adler and Mr. Polley represented Zenith when it was given a special Emmy Award in 1997 for its development of wireless remotes.

Mr. Adler died in 2007. Zenith has said publicly that it considers him and Mr. Polley the joint inventors of the device. Mr. Polley begged to differ. “A father has to be present at conception,” he said in a 2002 interview. “And if you’re not, you’re not that father.”

From one lazybones who spend a lot of time in front of the tv, Thank you Mr. Polley. I’d be much more active if it were not for you.

Related articles

• TV Remote Control Inventor Eugene Polley Dead at 96 (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Eugene Polley, inventor of TV remote, dies (variety.com)
• Eugene Polley, Inventor Of The TV Remote, Has Died | Complex (thehiltonburnellfiles.wordpress.com)

Yummmm...

I happen to have a huge sweet tooth and I’m always looking for ways to turn it into a cavity. It doesn’t help that my partner’s sweet tooth rivals mine. We are lucky enough to manage a sweet dessert every night. But for those nights when we have no money, no food and not much else to tame the tooth, we look for simple ideas. I found this one and just may try it. You can too!

What You Need

Pan Cut

Kitchens Tips

Season 1 Promo

I’m a fan of Glee and have been since Season 2. I was in the choir when I was in high school and have bonded with the storyline in many ways. I was a geek. (Still am, but much more confident about it.) I spend my Tuesday evenings with my partner, our baby and our gay friend, Paul (a trained singer) watching and singing along. (Our baby screeches to the songs with us.)

After last night’s finale we had some unanswered questions about the individual futures of the characters we’ve grown to love. The Advocate reported that Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly has apparently shed some light on what viewers can expect from Glee season 4 this fall.

Recognize anyone?

According to TVoverMind.com, Glee will go the “show-within-a-show route and have a handful of the graduating seniors move to New York to attend a performing arts school.”  That means the main cast will still be in Ohio, with new incoming high school students filling the cast (from The Glee Project), while several of the show’s current stars will be shown moving to New York and building lives there. From last night’s finale we know that Rachel made it to NY, whilst Finn and Kurt stayed behind. What will happen to the boys left behind? Will Rachel make her dreams come true, or she bound for the night shift wait staff?

And what of the “les-bi-sexual” couple Santana and Britney? Britnay will be repeating her senior year, whilst Santana , with the help of her mother, will be going to NY to be a star, whatever that means for a cheerleader. The question to be asked is, what will happen to their relationship?

Sarah Jessica Parker

Kate Hudson

SPOILER!!! –As for season 4, actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Hudson have both signed on for multi-episode arcs.

What I want to know is, what will happen to Puckerman, Artie, Finn, Mike, Quinn, Mercedes, Blaine & Kurt, and the others graduating? Will they return for cameos as well? I sure hope so. I’m crossing my fingers now. You should too. ;D

Related articles

• Glee graduates! Emotional finale sees Finn and Rachel in tear-jerking split, while fans are left with end of series cliffhangers… (dailymail.co.uk)
• Kate Hudson & Sarah Jessica Parker: ‘Glee’ Guest Stars! (justjared.com)
• Glee graduates face tears, fears, uncertain futures (todayonline.com)

Singer Adam Lambert

With the album Trespassing, Adam Lambert confirms his superstar status and makes history as the first openly LGBT vocalist to have an album debut at the #1 position of the Billboard album charts. When a woman first debuted an album at the #1 position, it was Whitney Houston with her album, Whitney. The torch for equality in music has been passed.

Released May 15, Trespassing premiered at the top of both Billboard’s Top 200 chart and digital albums chart. With a mix of dance songs and ballads, including the equality anthem “Outlaws of Love,” the album has also received exceptionally strong notices from music critics.

Lambert’s first album, For Your Entertainment, debuted at number 3 in 2009. Other LGBT recording artists, including Elton John and George Michael, have had number 1 albums, but prior to coming out.

Watch a teaser for the soon-to-be-released video for Lambert’s single “Never Close Our Eyes” below.

To Mr. Lambert, Congratulations!

Related articles

• Adam Lambert Daily Update – May 23, 2012 (onthemeaningofadamlambert.wordpress.com)
• Adam Lambert Music Video Tease: “Never Close Our Eyes” (thehollywoodgossip.com)
• Trespassing Opens #1! What happens next? Radio Show (onthemeaningofadamlambert.wordpress.com)

Personalized keychains

Vases from alcohol bottles

Zombie Feet Shoes

Doodle Rocks

Hybrid Shoes

Abandonment Tissues

Shoes too loud?

Something Really Great

Egg-scape

Cheap fireplace

A Brighter Day

Desk Fort

Chinese dragon

Snailmail Prints

Yum, Tuna.

Expensive taste?

Festival hat

$10 paint job

Hippy Eggs

I want this bathroom.

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That’s right, coming in at number 69 on Maxim’s Hot 100 list of women is Stephen Colbert. As Maxim’s people explained “Democracy isn’t always pretty: Sometimes it’s downright handsome. With a massive write-in vote campaign, the Colbert Nation proved they’re not only loyal but also incredibly horny.”

Well, another explanation might be that he gets the award because Arianna Huffington- yes the founder of the Huffington Post- named Colbert an Honorary Woman. Of course, if Colbert really wants to take the plunge not only do we know of a few good doctors to help him along, but he would probably make a very lovely woman. The award reads:

In special recognition of his continued efforts to bring to light the issues, both real and imagined, that face women, and generously putting a male voice to their struggles, which is far louder and therefore more convincing than a female one, Stephen Colbert, with the approval of most of the women around the office, is conferred upon the title of ‘Honorary Woman’ with all the honors, privileges and nearly the same rights as men.

Ah, equality. . .it’s for everyone.

Doohan as Scotty

The Dragon has breathed fire – and James Doohan’s ashes are in orbit.

Yes, at long last and after a last-second scuttling over the weekend, the SpaceX Falcon 9 blasted off at 3:44 a.m. this morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket, owned/funded by the privately held company Space Exploration Technologies, a/k/a SpaceX, is headed toward the International Space Station, carrying 1,000-plus pounds of supplies for the station’s crew, as well as the ashes of more than 300 people, among them Doohan, Star Trek’s beloved Scotty, who passed away in 2005, and Mercury program astronaut Gordon Cooper.

“Feels like a giant weight just came off my back,” tweeted SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. He posted that tweet once Dragon deployed its solar panels, which, according to the Reuters news service, is the first of several major milestones that must be met before the spacecraft is cleared to dock at the station. If all goes as planned, that will occur on Friday. This mission is actually the last test flight for SpaceX under NASA’s COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) initiative, which finances the development of private vehicles that can launch cargo to the ISS.

Doohan’s ashes – which also were launched to space in 2008 as part of an unsuccessful mission — were part of a secondary payload included on the second stage of the rocket, not on the Dragon itself. That payload separated from the capsule at the 9-minute, 49-second mark and is now orbiting, on its own, above the Earth. It’s expected to stay in orbit for approximately a year before descending back to Earth and disintegrating during re-entry.

Doohan's Daughter

Wende Doohan, James Doohan’s widow, was on hand for the launch with the couple’s daughter, Sarah, now 12. Doohan posted a photo on Twitter and tweeted the following comment early today. “Sarah and I enjoyed watching a beautiful rocket launch this morning – certainly a first for her.” Also, on May 18, Doohan tweeted the attached photo of Sarah at Cape Canaveral with a caption that read “Following Daddy’s footsteps?”.

Related articles

• Trying to Shoot James Doohan’s Ashes into Space . . . Again (nationalreview.com)
• Beam me up Scotty: Star Trek actor’s ashes blasted into space (itv.com)
• Celebrities’ Ashes Launched on SpaceX Falcon Rocket – ABC News (abcnews.go.com)

Man states “I respect each and every human being, regardless of which race or creed, regardless of which religious belief you believe in, and regardless of which sexual preference you are, including gays and lesbian people. . .Do not fight against me for some song that I sung 20 years ago. There is no one in this world is the same as they were 20 years ago – I know I am not.”

Of course it isn’t going to be easy. Even Perez Hilton notes that saying:

We’re sure a lot of people won’t be convinced by a 1:35 apology, but we think it takes courage to admit ignorance and we’re happy to hear that Beenie Man has FINALLY been enlightened!

It’s 2012, people! Homosexuality is nothing new and it’s not going anywhere, so anyone still harboring hate in their heart for the LGBT community needs to wake up and embrace CHANGE!

The thing is, we have to forgive in the end. If we cannot forgive, then we cannot truly claim the higher moral ground. If we are honest, though, homophobia is rooted in fears relating to what it means to be a man and a woman, and fears that someone doesn’t live up to it.

Cyrus, who is 19, recently starred in the huge flop “LOL” with Demi Moore, and was busy telling Amanda DeCadenet of the interview show The Conversation about her sex life. She talked about the importance of parents telling their children about how great sex is, and that kids were finding out about it on television. She stated “It’s the only way we create, and it’s the only way the world keeps going. So it’s ignorant not to talk to your kids about it or [not] make it seem as magical or cool as it actually is. [Kids] have a TV, so they know what sex is. So educate them and let them know it’s a beautiful thing, and it is magic, and it’s when you connect with somebody.”

Cyrus did say something that is important though. She stated that “The girls that really base how much they’re worth on the sexual favors they can do for somebody, that makes me really sad. Your worth isn’t based on [sex]. Your worth is based on how you feel about yourself.”

It isn’t really the message that’s the problem, but more the messenger. It is possible to talk about this without, well, apparently trying to sell sex like it’s the new big thing. What’s more, there is a certain level of hypocrisy in Cyrus’ actions given the fact that she does a lot these days of showing up in very skimpy clothing. If one’s worth is not based upon sexual favors, neither is it really measured in sex appeal.

Awww....

The X-Men, one of the world’s most popular super hero teams, have always been at the forefront of the biggest stories in comic history, and today is no different as Marvel is proud to announce the wedding that has everyone talking!

Today, fans worldwide learned on ABC’s “The View” that Jean-Paul Beaubier, aka Northstar, proposes to his boyfriend Kyle Jinadu in ASTONISHING X-MEN #50, on-sale May 23 (tomorrow!!!) in comic stores, on the Marvel Comics app and at the Marvel Digital Comics Shop.

the happy couple

The creative team of New York Times best-sellers Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins have put Northstar and Kyle’s relationship to the test—and now they’re about to take their biggest step yet. But will their path to wedded matrimony in New York City be smooth or are there hidden dangers around the corner?

“The Marvel Universe has always reflected the world outside your window, so we strive to make sure our characters, relationships and stories are grounded in that reality,” said Axel Alonso, Marvel Editor in Chief. “We’ve been working on this story for over a year to ensure Northstar and Kyle’s wedding reflects Marvel’s ‘world outside your window’ tradition.”

Then, on June 20, don’t miss the wedding of Northstar and Kyle in the pages of ASTONISHING X-MEN #51! This unforgettable issue features covers by Dustin Weaver and Marko Djurdjevic, along with a special “Create Your Own Wedding” blank variant cover! Select comic book retailers nationwide will host wedding parties at their stores to celebrate this joyous occasion, with special items exclusively available at participating stores!

“The story of Northstar and Kyle is universal, and at the core of everything I write: a powerful love between two people who have to fight for it against all odds,” said Liu. “This is the quintessential Marvel story, one that blends the modern world with the fantasy of super heroes in order to tell an exciting story that begins with a wedding—and continues in ways you can’t imagine.”

comic cover

Northstar was first introduced to comic fans in the pages of 1979’s UNCANNY X-MEN #120, a member of the super hero team Alpha Flight and antagonist to the popular super heroes. A gold medal winning Olympian and successful businessman, the French-Canadian super hero quickly became one of the most popular members of Alpha Flight when its ongoing series launched in 1983.

In 1992’s historic ALPHA FLIGHT #106, Northstar became the first openly gay super hero when he announced his sexual identity through national media. Since then, Northstar has not only joined the X-Men but become one of their most popular new members.

Aren't they cute?

Northstar and Kyle have been a couple since 2009, garnering a large fan following since their first appearance together.“As a long-time fan of the X-Men, it’s not only a true honor to be part of such a historically significant story but also a complete joy,” explained Perkins.

Don’t miss the proposal everyone’s talking in ASTONISHING X-MEN #50, available tomorrow in comic stores, on the Marvel Comics app and at the More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/story/18770/save_the_date_landmark_x-men_marriage#ixzz1vcOdWXm6

Congrats to the happy couple.

Related articles

• Gay X-Man Northstar Inches Closer To Wedding (towleroad.com)
• Gay X-Man Northstar’s Wedding To Be Announced On ‘The View’? (towleroad.com)
• Marvel to announce landmark Astonishing X-Men #50 story on tomorrow’s The View (comicsbeat.com)

Needles in his hearse

Drag Queen Sharon Needles made news this week with her biggest purchase so far with her prize money from RuPaul‘s Drag Race.

Ru posted about it today on her Facebook, whilst Sharon’s friend, Marsha Mellow Monster, posted a pic of her yesterday in it; her brand new Hearse. Now the queen of spook now has her very own hearse to drive around in. As Ru said herself “THATs f&%king fierce.”

Her fans are not at all surprised, but rather delighted that the reigning queen is treating herself to the best things in life that a queen of spook deserves, like a hearse to carry all her drag gear in!

The news of her hearse purchase sparked conversations amongst fans. I caught myself in one.

Me: Did you hear about Sharon Needles new car?

Friend: Yeah, Thats awesome. I want a hearse.

Me: Me too! I want a bright orange one.

Friend: Mine would be bright purple.

Drive safe, Sharon. Wouldn’t want you riding in the back. ;D

Related articles

• RuPaul’s Queens Sell Out (lezgetreal.com)
• Sharon Needles Wants to Cruise with YOU (lezgetreal.com)
• Drag Race Down to Final 3 for Season 4 (lezgetreal.com)

Moretz as Hit Girl

A sequel to the cult superhero adventure Kick-Ass had long seemed a fevered dream of the comic’s creator Mark Millar, who has developed a notoriety for leaking “news” that is either conjecture or wishful thinking. So when Millar declared that Kick-Ass 2 would go into production this summer, we were a bit leery.

However, with The Avengers showing there’s still a serious love of superhero features among moviegoers, all the studios are looking to capitalize, and so Universal is moving forward on Kick-Ass 2 with Cry_Wolf helmer Jeff Wadlow usurping Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn, who is too busy developing X-Men: First Class 2 to return. Nonetheless, Vaughn will help produce the sequel, which is slated to shoot in London this September.

Hit Girl & Kick Ass from comic

Wadlow revealed to the press recently that he penned the screenplay over the holidays, and sought to find a place where the first movie and the second graphic novel intersect. Like its precursor, Kick-Ass 2will take some departures from its source material, Millar’s comic of the same name, as Wadlow explains:

“I think the most important thing that’s gonna’ change from the Kick-Ass 2 comic to Kick-Ass 2 the movie was just really finding an emotional story to tell. Because what I certainly loved about the first film, and what I think elevated it above most comic book adaptations, is the heart and the emotion in the film. It was sort of my challenge as the filmmaker and storyteller to find something as emotional in the second film and I think we have some stuff that people are gonna’ really respond to.”

Actress Moretz

As to specifics, he hopes to play up Hit Girl’s part, despite the fact that her story is “sidelined” in Millar’s second book. As she gives up her superhero alter-ego in the comic, its story instead focuses on Kick-Ass and Red Mist’s evolution to the Motherf–ker, a more vicious villainous incarnation. However, this approach may be problematic, as Moretz hasn’t yet signed on to the sequel, though Wadlow says the two have met, she’s read the script and is by his estimation, “very excited about what we’re doing with Hit-Girl.”

Kick-Ass stars Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are also said to be in talks, but it seems far more likely they’d be game to reprise their roles as their careers haven’t exactly blown up as Moretz’s has. Since her brazen breakthrough with pint-sized and foul-mouthed Hit Girl, the starlet delighted horror fans with Let Me In, and dazzled critics with Hugo. However, her most recent efforts aren’t faring so well. Dark Shadows tanked its opening weekend, accruing only $29 million, which smarts with a bloated budget of $150 mil. Plus this batty comedy—as well as the gritty coming-of-age tale Hick—were generally panned by critics. Could this urge her to return to the role that first won her such good will? Let’s hope so, both because her upcoming Carrie remake is a risky venture, and because Kick-Ass 2 wouldn’t be nearly as hard-hitting without her.

WonderWoman & LeopardGirl

Your favorite DC Comics character might be gay.

In an interview at the Kapow Comics Convention, DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio said that a “prominent” DC Comics character will soon come out of the closet, reversing an earlier statement where he had said DC was more likely to insert a new LGBT character than “out” an existing one.

Aquaman & Aqualad

Twitter users have cited Aquaman and Wonder Woman as the most likely candidates. They won’t be the first gay characters in comics, though. “It’s sad when DC is playing catch-up to Archie. And the entire comics industries of Japan and Europe,” tweeted @Joe_Hunter. Once they start catching up, though, it could happen in a Flash.

Related articles

• Major DC Comics Character To Come Out Of The Closet (towleroad.com)
• The First Gay DC Character – Except all the Ones That Came (Out) Before (graphicpolicy.com)
• Gay Super Hero? DC Comics Says Yes (revolutioninmedia.com)

Coach Sue Sylvester

Teacher Will Schuster

Councilor Emma

Rebel Puck

Footballer Finn

Diva Rachel

Token Gay Kurt

Boy Band Blaine

Musical Feet Mike

Lil Lost Tina

Wheelchair-Bound Artie

Ballsy Becky

Sultry Santana

Airhead Brittany

Stripper Sam

Soul sister Mercedes

Cheerleader Quinn

Related articles

• ‘Glee’ says ‘Goodbye’ with season 3 finale preview–Old flames reunite (examiner.com)
• Ryan Murphy Confirms Who’s Leaving and Staying On Glee For Season 4 (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Spoiler Chat Daily: Glee Season Finale Scoop! Plus, Grey’s Anatomy, White Collar and More! (eonline.com)

Rush Limbaugh, by Donkey Hotey, Creative Commons

While Rush Limbaugh may have survived the Sandra Fluke backlash, he still took quite a beating. Limbaugh called Fluke a ‘slut’ and a ‘prostitute’ for supporting medication access directed specifically at women. The boycott of his advertisers cost him millions even though Limbaugh claimed on air that“The advertisers who hung in here are going gangbusters, yes. On the range of all 600 radio stations, our ratings are up anywhere from 10% to 60%, depending on the station.”

Unfortunately, Limbaugh’s ratings don’t bear that up very well, and apparently he has lost a lot of listeners in the 25-54 demographic. He is down 27% in New York City, 31% in Huston-Galveston, 40% in Seattle-Tacoma, and 35% in Jacksonville. Limbaugh may have had a spike in listeners during the controversy, but in the end, people are no longer listening, and this may mean that his overall audience is declining. After all, it is one thing to pick up listeners in, say, rural Georgia, but if you’re losing them in Atlanta, you are pretty much screwed.

The problem, of course, is that those who push religion often want to ignore what they find inconvenient while supporting those which make them feel superior to others.

Still, it’s a lot better a kiss than Britney Spears and Madonna’s was. Well, it certainly isn’t being done to prop up a sagging career.

The Letter Q is a book edited by Sarah Moon of a number of Queer Writers who have written notes to their younger selves. The book itself is described as:

An anthology “in which sixty-four award-winning authors and illustrators such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline, Woodson, Terrence McNally, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin, make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love, messages of understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew before. And they will tell you about yourself.”

Scholastic has wonderfully announced that they are underwriting a contest giving away a copy of The Letter Q and an “It Gets Better” t-shirt benefitting the It Gets Better project to two US residents. However, the contest itself is up to us- so here are the rules:

Literature is important to each of us in the LGBT and Allied Community. I remember the first time I discovered a lesbian character in a novel I was reading- namely the Queen’s Own anthology by Mercedes Lackey, and the kind of impact that had on me. So, I am curious-

How did literature influence your coming to grips with your sexual or gender identity, or if you are an ally, how did it influence your decision to support the LGBT Community in their struggle for equality.

This contest will go on for the rest of the week. Once the week is over, I will randomly choose two winners and email them to get the pertinent information so that they can collect their prizes.

While this contest is open to only US residents, it is not open to anyone on the LezGetReal staff or our friends.

Fan imagined costuming

So what is the latest in comic book movie news? Well, famous wrestlers are!

ForeverGeek.com has reported that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is currently developing the big screen “Shazam” adaptation along with director Pete Segal, and of course, comic book fanboys are quite thrilled about this.

While the project is not listed on his IMDB.com profile yet, fans are a-twitter about the idea.

Black Adam

The great thing about the casting though is Johnson’s decision to let fans dictate which character they wanted him to play. As a big star, it would have been a given for him to play Captain Marvel. But the fans are clamoring for him to play another character — none other than Black Adam himself, and he has announced that he will, indeed go for that role.

Fans even made a mock-up of the costume they want him to be in.

Related articles

• Dwayne Johnson Teases That He Might Be In A DC Comics Movie (slashfilm.com)
• Is Dwayne Johnson Involved with a DC Comics Movie? (geektyrant.com)
• Do You Smell What The Rock Is Cookin’? (jsheskier.wordpress.com)

Robin Gibb on 1st March 2008

Bee Gee Robin Gibb lost his two year battle with colon and liver cancer on Sunday, a spokesperson confirmed. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was 62.

A statement read: “The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time.”

Fans first realized that Gibb was perhaps losing his battle with cancer when he was unable to attend the premiere of his first classical work, Titanic Requiem, in London on April 10. A few days after that work’s bittersweet debut, family members revealed that he had contracted pneumonia and was “fighting for his life.” He slipped into a coma that doctors did not expect him to wake from… but he did.

“Robin has confounded his doctors by waking up from the coma he had slipped into after contracting pneumonia,” a statement on his website read. “He remains in intensive care but is now fully conscious, able to speak to his loved ones and breathing on his own with an oxygen mask.” He had nearly a month with his family before taking his final journey.

Titanic Requiem was his first classical work, and his last. He’d written the classical piece in conjunction with his son, Robin-John, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, joining together original vocal and orchestral themes with excerpts from the Latin Mass for the Dead. Gibb had been intending to sing one vocal number at the premiere, but instead, “Don’t Cry Alone” was offered via a recording.

Wind to thy wings, Robin.

Related articles

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• Robin Gibb, Member of the Bee Gees, Has Died [Rip] (jezebel.com)

Murray's head

You can always tell it’s Oscar season when films featuring big-name actors portraying famous historical figures start rolling into theaters. Focus Features has gone ahead and released a trailer for one such production on the horizon, titled Hyde Park on Hudson.

The Hyde Park on Hudson cast is headed by Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt – who is joined by his Rushmore costar, Olivia Williams, as the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Samuel West as King George VI, and Olivia Colman  as Queen Elizabeth.

However, similar to My Week with Marilyn, the film unfolds from the perspective of a more obscure name: Daisy (Laura Linney), FDR’s distant cousin, who also becomes a good friend and confidante to the famous U.S. president – not to mention, partly serves as the audience’s eyes and ears as the film’s major players collide over the course of a colorful weekend gathering.

Judging by this early footage, Murray looks to do a spot-on job channeling the mannerisms and personality of the late FDR; in short, his performance is pure Oscar bait. That also goes for the lovely period production design, old-fashioned musical soundtrack and storyline about the messiness of human emotions – all within the context of a get-together between British royalty and the U.S. First Couple (set against a WW II backdrop). Make no mistake, Hyde Park on Hudson appears to be for the period drama crowd what, say, Battleship is for those who love summer popcorn blockbuster fare. (And there’s nothing wrong with that.)

Actor Murray as FDR

Many Murray fans should be pleased to see the actor continue his trend of working on more artsy and independent fare. Hyde Park on Hudson also looks to have a bit more mainstream appeal than some of Murray’s most recent work, such as his collaborations with Wes Anderson (including, this year’s Moonrise Kingdom) or Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, The Limits of Control). After all, the film was directed by Roger Michell – whose credits include frothy flicks like Morning Glory and Notting Hill, along with more serious dramas, such as Enduring Love and Venus – with a screenplay by Tony Award-winner Richard Nelson.

Focus Features was also wise to settle on the early December date for Hyde Park on Hudson. That will allow it to start building momentum for the big award shows in early 2013, while also serving as counter-programming to the big blockbusters due to hit theaters that month (The Hobbit, One Shot, etc.).

Hyde Park on Hudson begins a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on December 7th, 2012.

Related articles

• Bill Murray Plays FDR in the ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’ Trailer (screenrant.com)
• ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’ Trailer: Bill Murray Gets Delightfully Presidential (slashfilm.com)
• Bill Murray Is Awesome In Trailer For ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’ (cosbysweaters.com)

Ned Flanders meets Lady Gaga & her flaming tits of fury.

Tonight is another season finale for the long-running The Simpsons, but its an episode that has been causing a bit of a stir in the geek/freak fan groups. Simpsons and Gaga fans alike are thrilled to see this mash-up and her effect on the almost-normal world of Springfield. Lady Gaga will be doing the voicing of herself as she visits the famous town and encounters the infamous family of …The Simpsons. Don’t miss the season finale featuring Lady Gaga!!! SUN 5/20 at 8/7c on FOX! THAT IS TONIGHT!!!

Jean Grey is on fire!

The Ladies of the X-Men never truly get the credit they deserve. They are just as strong, mutated and awesome as their male counterparts, but rarely are given the screen time or comic pages to show them off. The great thing about X-men is that it opens fans up to create their own characters that would fit into the X-men universe. For today I’m going to share with you some fan art and show you how their fans see them. ;D

Storm in a white outfit

Rogue in green outfit

Shadowcat in Anime

Mystique mid-shape shift

Black Queen Cosplay

a spikey character

Emma Frost

Storm in black outfit

Rogue in Anime

Shadowcat Emerging

Mystique Bobblehead Design?

Jean Gray

Lady Deathstrike

Psylocke

Storm in blue outfit

Rogue in form-fit costume

Kitty Pryde w/ her dragon

Storm in punk attire

Emma Frost Fashion

Mystique cartoonified

Related articles

• The Best X-Men Rosters Ever (comics.ign.com)
• The 10 Most Depressing Alternate Realities From Marvel Comics [Daily 10] (io9.com)

Actor Stahl

“Terminator 3” actor Nick Stahl was reported missing by his estranged wife earlier this week. We have just learned that the actor has made contact with friends via email.

Stahl’s wife, Roseann, filed court papers in February after she believed his alleged drug abuse had escalated, causing her to ask a judge for limited visitation rights to their 2-year-old daughter.

TMZ learned that he sent a note to his pals on Friday, apologizing for scaring them. He added that he is seeking treatment and would be out of contact for the next 30 days.

Stahl’s wife, Roseannn, reportedly was not on the email.

We wish him the best of luck with his recovery and are very glad that he is safe.

Related articles

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• Film: Newswire: Nick Stahl, star of Carnivale and Terminator 3, is missing (avclub.com)

Cast cover

Bluewater Comic’s unauthorized The Cast Of Doctor Who takes a glance into the backgrounds of a few of the actors who have taken on the role of The Doctor through the years. Without a standard comic storyline, the book serves more as an introduction to the series, specifically designed for newer fans that are interested about the Classic Doctor Who series.

The comic book oddly only looks at four official Doctors (plus a fifth outside canon which we will get to later). This limited examination was restricted based on space available for the publication of the comic. Overall, the comic examines William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, and Matt Smith as the current Eleventh Doctor.

The Cast Of Doctor Who functions mainly to provide some background information on the history of the actors who took on this role, giving you a quick glance at their biographical information and highlighting some of their key film, television, and theatrical roles prior to and after Who. Despite its succinct short summary fashion, the details are (for the most part) surprisingly accurate in places.

Tennant as the 1st Doctor

Having said that, it puzzles me as to why the publishers opted to focus only on a few actors instead of all main eleven Doctors. While the space factor may have provided more room to focus on four, I found myself somewhat disappointed that Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy were not given a shot in the book (although Troughton and Pertwee do briefly appear). On top of that, Nu Who fans would be horror-struck at the exclusion of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant.

The artwork in The Cast Of Doctor Who is adequate for the purpose of the book and the interpretations and likenesses of the featured actors are actually pretty well done. It does, however, take a bit of a morbid turn in the death of William Hartnell, with the artwork becoming not so much non-figurative, but creepily darkened and beyond interpretation.

Cushing as 1st Doctor

A main criticism of the comic, however, is the inclusion of Peter Cushing as the Doctor from the non-canon films made during the 1960s. Cushing’s work in the two Doctor Who films is not part of the overall mythos of the current series. Considering the book seems to be designed as a gateway media to encourage newer fans to discover the classic series, the inclusion of Cushing detracts from this. Furthermore, the writers misspell Tarkin when they get to his Star Wars role – a HUGE no-no!

Newer fans to Doctor Who will notice the biographical pages to be informative, and hopefully it does encourage them to check out the classic series. However, dedicated longtime fans will be disappointed with the book, with the lack of other Doctors, and particularly the manner in which Cushing’s Doctor is upheld in the pages. This one is just for newer fans.

Related articles

• It’s a Triple Threat with ‘Doctor Who: The Three Doctors’ (Review) (popmatters.com)
• Dr. Who Montage – Past to Present (reginajeffers.wordpress.com)
• The Other Doctors of Doctor Who (mentalfloss.com)

Bugs & Tweety on Saturday morning

Saturdays are meant for cartoons. They are meant for lazy mornings eating cereal and watching cartoons in your pajamas. Saturday mornings I wake up early with my son, turn on the tv and start my morning.

On Saturdays we find superhero cartoons to watch. Boomerang and Cartoon Network are best for these. Today we are watching the following;

Related articles

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StarFire in DC comics

Starfire is the name of several fictional comic book characters published by DC Comics, but the most prominent Starfire is Koriand’r, the fourth character to use that name. She debuted in a preview story inserted within DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980) and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. Starfire was ranked 20th in Comics Buyer’s Guide‘s “100 Sexiest Women in Comics” list and you can see why. Meee-ow!

Koriand’r, Starfire’s real name, is a princess of the fictional planet Tamaran in the Vegan System, and was in line to rule the planet as Queen.

Like all Tamaraneans, Starfire’s alien physiology constantly absorbs ultraviolet radiation and converts it to energy for flight. The solar absorption experiments performed on her by the alien Psions granted her the ability to channel and project that same energy into destructive blasts called “starbolts”.  As shown in the “Insiders” crossover story arc (Teen Titans and Outsiders),Starfire can also release nearly all of her stored energy as a powerful omni-directional explosive burst, many times more powerful than her standard blasts. The released energy leaves her in a weakened state.

Starfire possesses superhuman strength, which combined with her superior fighting-skills has enabled her to win about two out of three times against the much stronger Donna Troy (as the latter was in the early 1980s) during purely hand-to-hand training matches.

Learning English from Robin in Episode "Go!"

Starfire is also capable of assimilating other languages through physical contact with another person. When she attempts to do so with males, she usually kisses them because it is “more fun” for her. She is proficient in armed and unarmed combat, having been trained in those arts by the Warlords of Okaara.

Starfire appears in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Hynden Walch. Elements of her storyline appear in different episodes spread across the show’s five seasons, in which she deals with her arch-foe and sister, Blackfire (also voiced by Walch), the responsibilities of being a princess, and her insecurities about being an alien on Earth.

Tamaranean Race

Starfire was born and raised on the distant planet Tamaran before arriving on Earth and joining the Teen Titans. Her race, the Tamaraneans, are an emotional race who see feelings as the force that drives their very livelihood. Their emotions fuel their natural abilities of flight and superhuman strength, as well as  Starfire’s starbolts. Her race is also highly resilient to radiation and the cold (though the longer she is outside, and the more exhausted she is, the more susceptible she is to sub-zero temperatures). The animated Starfire also has the ability to travel faster-than-light without a ship, as well as the ability to survive in the vacuum of outer space for long periods of time. However, she cannot breathe underwater. Sometimes her powers act beyond her control, such as releasing explosive energy blasts when she sneezes, as well as her strength accidentally bending a street light down to the ground.

Character Design for Teen Titans

Starfire’s Titans character bears some similarities with her comic version. In the flashback episode “Go!”, which tells of the founding of the Titans in their animated continuity, just before meeting the Titans, Starfire is shown being held prisoner as a “prize” by a group of Gordanian slave masters, working for an interstellar power known as the Citadel. Eventually, she manages to escape and flees to the closest planet, which happens to be Earth. Starfire runs into Robin and the other soon-to-be Titans, but after being mistreated for so long, she is aggressive, antagonistic and does not trust the Titans or any one else for that matter. After Robin aids her in taking off the “space cuffs” that bind her wrists, the Gordanians whom she escaped from show up looking for her and the Titans help her fight them off. After winning and driving off her jailers, Starfire elects to stay on Earth with the four heroes and quickly develops feelings for Robin.

Close-up of Starfire's face

Starfire is inherently the most sensitive of the Titans. This kid-friendly version of Starfire is naive, innocent, and somewhat insecure, but it is this trait that endears her to others, especially to Robin. An alien and an outsider, she is still new to Earth and its customs, which serves as a recurring source of comic relief. She also insists on sharing her own customs with other members of the team. Presumably because English is not her first language, Starfire speaks without contractions and misuses idioms. Additionally, she uses several Tamaranean nouns.

Raven & Starfire

Starfire has a pet giant moth larva named “Silkie” in the series, given to her by Beast Boy. Starfire takes friendship very seriously, and is easily distressed when others, especially her friends, argue or fight. Although her naive and slightly overly friendly yet kind nature can sometimes clash with Raven’s more secretive one, she has shown a closeness to her.

First Kiss in Trouble in Tokyo

Reflecting the comic books, the series hints at a potential relationship between Starfire and Robin. In the season 5 episode “Go!”, Robin and Starfire’s first kiss is shown; however (as in the comics), this was for the purpose of assimilating the English language. In the movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, moments are shared between the two. Finally, Robin and Starfire share the “actual” kiss after Brushogun is defeated.

Starfire’s run on the Teen Titans animated series, as well as her Anime-type cuteness, gained her a huge fan following. If you are interested in seeing reruns of the show you can find them online or weeknights on Boomerang at 11pm.

Related articles

• Cartoons Reimagined: Teen Titans (lezgetreal.com)
• Starfire Meets Her Nieces And Nephews in ‘New Teen Titans’ Clip [Video] (comicsalliance.com)
• Starfire Babysits In New DC Nation Clips (comicbookresources.com)

Art by Jettila Lewis 2012

Ever wanted to party with Sharon Needles? Who doesn’t?! Well, now may be your chance of a lifetime to party with the drag superstar. Today Drag Race winner, Queen Sharon Needles posted this to her fans on her Facebook page and we thought you might want in on it.

Sharon Needles is going on a AMAZING trip through America’s #1 Gay Travel Specialists, ALandCHUCK.travel, and She wants you to come too!
Go together and you can have even more fun as a group. If you use her GROUP HOST Code (1437737) to book your trip, they’ll put you in her VIP group. You’re gonna have a great time!
EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS: This Deluxe 8 Day CARIBBEAN CRUISE travels from MIAMI to NASSAU, PARADISE ISLAND, ST THOMAS, ST JOHN, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, GRAND TURK, TURKS & CAICOS ! This is the first event of its kind in the world… Exclusively from ALandCHUCK.travel! FREE Two (2) Open Bar Cocktail Parties & Show with the largest collection of LOGO TV & RuPaul’s Drag Race stars in history! Including Celebrity Judge Michelle Visage!
• PRIVATE FREE Cocktail Reception With her!
• PRIVATE FREE Specialty Gourmet Dinner With her! Cover Charge Included!
• FREE Souvenir Professional Photo With her!
• FREE Bon Voyage Bottle of Wine!
XOXO
Sharon Needles
MAKE SURE YOU GIVE MY GROUP HOST CODE (1437737) WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR RESERVATION!
CALL NOW – 1-866-949-1429

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from Thats So Raven

Being coy about one’s sexuality is not exactly something that is a good idea in Hollywood at this point. Rumors have been dogging former Disney and current Broadway actress Raven Symone that she is, in fact, gay. The days of someone’s sexual orientation being a death sentence for their career is long over no matter what Rupert Everet may claim. After all, take a look at Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Derek Jacobi, Ellen DeGeneres and so many more.

Another thing that is out there is the fact that, whether an actor likes it or not, by denying access, all they ever do is fuel the fires of speculation. Many stars have actually found that they can tamp down on the tabloids by doing the amazing thing of actually granting controlled access- and for many LGBT actors and actresses that means coming out.

While there is all sorts of reporting about the life of Adam Lambert and his boyfriend, the couple are hardly making the tabloids every day.

Thus, for Raven Symone to tweet “My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I’m datings to know. I’m not one for a public display of my life,” she basically guarantees that people will be hounding her for more and more proof.

The National Enquirer and others have reported that Symone has shacked up with AzMarie Livingston. They reported “Raven has hidden being gay for a long time now, but about a year ago, she was introduced by a friend to AzMarie, who is absolutely gorgeous. The two began see-ing each other, and a few months ago, Raven finally got the nerve to ask her to move into her lavish Manhattan condo. When her family found out, they blew their stack and it’s created a gay scandal for Raven.”

Symone finished out tweeting that “However that is my right as a HUMAN BEing whether straight or gay. To tell or not to tell. As long as I’m not harming anyone.”

The only way to really get that kind of privacy is to not really matter or be part of people’s public eye. Like it or not, Symone is going to be hounded by these rumors for a long time to come. . .or until she comes out.

Maybe she should sit down and talk this over with Cynthia Nixon- who is openly bi, or Wanda Sykes- who is openly lesbian. The problem with non-answers is that people ultimately believe that the rumors are true and will continue to hound until there is proof.

Budding Author Emer

EMER is a new gay author and is looking for an audience. While I’ve known him as a friend and artist for years, this is his first trip into the world of professional writing. You can find a collection of his short stories (some in process, some completed) on his web page; http://emer420.hubpages.com/.  He is a fabulous young gay man (yes boys, he’s single!) writing from the view of a small town American. When you go to his page you will be greeted by;

Hello world,

I have many interests.  However my main interest is obviously writing.  I love writing horror and sci-fi, but will sometimes dabble in romance, mystery, and comedy.  I am a student at Castleton State College and am very close to achieving a bachelors degree in World Literature and Communications.  I plan on writing books and working behind the camera on film productions after I graduate.

I am currently working on a compilation of short stories that I would like to get published after, or before, I graduate.  It will consist of 18 stories that all take place the same small ocean town.  Some of which will be posted here as a preview.

I hope you enjoy my stories, and I greatly appreciate critiques.  So leave all the coments you can.  My pen name when I write anything is Emer.  Don’t ask why, Haha, it’s a long story.  Just kinda stuck with me a while ago.

So thanks for visiting my page, and I hope you enjoy.

A screenshot from Dracula

Emer writes for many different genres of literature while also being a huge film buff. His faves are Horror and Fantasy. We have watched many a horror movie together that has scarred me for life. (I still can’t look at sheep the same way ever again.) While I’m not a big horror movie fan, Emer has managed to turn his love of the film genre into a writing style filled with intrigue and humor. Here’s an example of one of his stories, A Letter From Count Dracula.

Related articles

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Age 19

It’s true. I model nude. I’m also not a sex symbol, or a twig, or unfed, or in magazines, or on a runway. I model nude for art classes in the area of my hometown. Why do I do this? Well, for many reasons. I started modeling for art classes at the age of 19 y/o to pay for my college books. My mother had done it when she was in college and introduced me to the teacher she had modeled for. At 19 I was going to model for the art classes she taught at Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT. This modeling gig led to fifteen years (so far) of a modeling career (and to my meeting my partner!).

I’m not the type of person one thinks of when they hear the term “model”. I’m not stick thin, or glamorous, or sexy. I’m an over-stuffed hourglass with wide hips, large breasts, and long curly hair. (Height: 5’7″, Weight 285 lbs. Breasts 44DD) Does that sound like a model to you? Well in the Art Community - I’m more beautiful and graceful than any Size Zero in a magazine. The reason for this is because I have curves.

Age 22

Artists like drawing curves because its easier than drawing lines. When you walk into an art class to model nude you must remember that the people drawing you are not looking at you like you are a sex symbol. To them….you are a bowl of fruit. Simple as that.- No sex appeal. No personality. You are an inanimate object for them to draw.

This evening I returned to nude modeling after a year hiatus to have a child and mend a broken ankle. I model at an art gallery here in Rutland, VT. It is a small group of artists that come to the Life Drawing classes, which aren’t really classes, but more of a free drawing period with a model provided. I get paid $20/hr to sit on a platform nude in different poses that I chose in front of a group of strangers. The only person that talks to me is the person that hired me and gives me my check at the end of the gig, usually a teacher/gallery manager. (This isn’t rude, its a sign of respect to the model. After years of modeling I now speak to some of the artists that have been drawing me for years and have learned that they can actually speak to me like a person and I won’t be offended.)

I arrived 10 minutes before the gig starts because 1.) I like to be early/on time for a gig. 2.) I like to look at the art displayed (because its free!) before I have to sit still for 2-4 hours, depending. I talked to the assistant that ran the gig as I came in. I walked around the gallery, which has 2 floors and 5 rooms dedicated to displaying art. This month’s show was a collection of art done by children around the area ages K-12. As I finished my walk around I went to the bathroom and got out of my clothes.

Painting of me by Anonymous

I usually bring a bag with me because it carries my large bath towel that I wrap around myself during breaks and to walk around, and it also holds the clothing I’m wearing when I arrive (along with my cell phone, wallet, glasses, etc.). I get into my towel, grab my bag and shoes and head to the second floor. The room we use for the class is at the front of the building with the windows covered from prying eyes. It is also one of the rooms they show art in, so every time I model I get to see the latest show. The problem with this is you never know what you will be stuck staring at while people draw you and you can’t move. This evening I got the pleasure of looking at a large amount of artworks by small children. The most imposing piece was a 7 foot tall orange cyclops wearing a blue bathing suit missing one toe on his right toe. I got to look at it for 3 hours. You couldn’t miss it.

So I start the gig and I’m told by The Time Keeper (the before-mentioned gallery assistant) that I will be doing 5 minute poses and she will tell me when I have one minute left in the pose. Its a simple system that works. This evening we began with 3 artists, but ended with 5 (sometimes artists show up late or leave early). I’ve noticed that when I model for a college class that there are many students, but very few if its in a gallery class. I’ve learned to be prepared for either size, but I prefer the smaller classes.

A painting of me found in an art gallery

Posing is harder than it looks. When you see a model in a photograph that person had to stay still for as long as it took for the photographer to set up the shot and push a button. For an art model they have to sit still for 1 minute to 1 hour at a time, depending on the pose. The class I model for does a series of poses for different times. I start with simple 5 minute poses and end my gig doing a 25 minute pose. The only problem you have to look out for is body parts falling asleep. It takes a model YEARS to figure out their body enough to know what poses they can and cannot do and for how long and what will hurt or fall asleep. So you model and you learn.

This evening while only my right hand fell asleep in one pose, I was thanked 3 times for the pose I had done and thanked profusely at the end of the gig for being a good model. This is the highlight of my modeling gigs; getting praise. I’ve been told by complete strangers that I’m beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, voluptuous, curvacious, and the best female model they’ve ever seen. This is my ego boost. This happens after the gig is finished and the artists are packing their supplies up. I walk around and see what they’ve drawn. It is the best feeling for me to see how others perceive me artistically. Being an artist myself I know that everyone sees the world differently, but its only in art when you can actually see how someone else sees the world. To be a part of that is wonderful for me. I like seeing how others see me because it makes me feel better about my own image. I’m reminded that I’m not as ugly and disgusting as I feel sometimes. I’m actually rather …beautiful.

Sketch by Richard Weiss 2012

Over the years I’ve suggested to friends that they also get into nude modeling. None have taken me up on the offer. I don’t know why. It is good money for little work, you are helping artists develop their skills, and you are contributing to the world of Art. Who knows, someday you might be the next Mona Lisa.  Tonight I found out that one of the artists drawing me tonight has been drawing me for 15 years now, just sold a painting of me, and has a gallery at home that has a few framed prints of me. *BLUSH* Stuff like this just makes you feel special knowing that you are so beautiful that you are art.

Related articles

• Sensuality vs. Sexuality in the Modeling World (jasonandthegoldenpose.wordpress.com)
• 14. Life drawing class (foundobjectbeachart.wordpress.com)
• Summer Art Classes (lauradaub.com)

cover of 30 Queens

It’s true. If you are a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 4 then you can now own a very artistic part of it. http://www.chadsellcomics.com/rupauls-drag-race/

Chad Sell is an artist who has made books featuring the contestants of seasons 3 & 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. He seems to be a fan of winner, Sharon Needles as he has done prints of every outfit she wore, which she has shared on her Facebook page when they have come out.

The images of drag queens that he portrays are amazing in that they are not only aesthetically pleasing (pretty), but they also include humor, beauty, and grace in it’s many forms shown through the art of Drag. Here are a few previews of some of the queens featured from his new book 30 Queens. (You can also buy prints of individual queens at the website.)

Queen Sharon Needles

Finalist Chad Michaels

Finalist Phi-Phi O'Hara

Latrice Royale

Dita Ritz

Fan fave Willam

Wigless Milan

Lil' Kenya Michaels

The Princess

Can you name them?