Honestly, I did not even really watch the game. I had it on mute so that I could report that the Giants won 21 to the Patriot’s 17.

Still, bringing you Kelly Clarkson’s rendition of the National Anthem is kind of nice. She does a good job of this ol’ drinking song we call a national anthem. Hey, if you think about it, it makes more sense than having something that you march to war to…

Ben Gazara, 2011

Renowned and highly respected character actor Ben Gazzara has died in New York at the age of 81, of cancer that metastized from throat cancer in 1999 to his final pancreatic cancer. He had recently finished filming Max Rose with Jerry Lewis and Claire Blooom, which is scheduled for release later this year, and was rumored to be filming The Wait.

Gazzara, whose career began in the early 1950s, originated two of the great dramatic roles on Broadway – Brick Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Johnny Pope in A Hatful of Rain. But Gazzara’s acclaimed roles and numerous awards never gave him a star-complex. He was a consummate professional, the roles were more important than he was personally.

Gazzara was part of a small group of actors who came up together, not tied by shared time as students or as starving actor roommates. They met in the early years of their careers when all were racking up successes and reputations. Gazzara, John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk were the core of this group of non-star stars. They all moved between major studio films, intense independent films, Broadway and television with a very British ease few actors on either side of their generation have managed. They were (and in Rowlands case, she is) perfect actors. Casavetes, who was married to Rowlands, died in 1989 and Falk died last year. Only Rowlands remains of this remarkable group.

Rowlands issued a statement in which she said that her prayers and thoughts were with “all his loyal and wonderful fans throughout the world. It breaks my heart to have this era come to an end. Ben meant so much to all of us. To our families. To John. To Peter. To have them all gone now is devastating to me.”

Ben Gazzara, 1955, by Carl van Vechten

The group were all students and proponents of the famed “method” of acting, in which an actor immerses himself or herself in the identity of the role. It requires a very strong personality in the actor. Too many weaker souls have been destroyed by the method, getting too deeply into the role to preserve their own identities. These four had that necessary strength of character to excel, and the talent to inhabit every role with believability. .

Gazzara was born in 1930 in the immigrant enclave of Lower East Side Manhattan. His parents had met in New York after immigrating from Sicily. Baptized Biagio Anthony Gazzara, he was always known as Ben or Benny, and his first language was Italian. He developed his interest in acting as a child, and dropped out of school to pursue that dream. He enrolled in Erwin Picsator’s Dramatic Workshop in 1948 and was accepted to the Actors Studio in 1950 to study under the legendary Lee Strasberg. It was the golden years of the Actors Studio, when the student body included Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Barbara Bel Geddes, Shelley Winters, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Rod Steiger and Julie Harris. Gazzara was beautifully realistic about the Actors Studio, telling the Associated Press in 1966, “There’s a lot of voodoo about the Actors Studio. In the best sense it was a place for professionals to stay in touch with their craft, where newcomers and professionals mingled, to grow, to try parts they would never get in professional theater and to even fall on their faces.” It was also a place for Hollywood “performers” to go to learn real acting, as Marilyn Monroe did.

Gazzara’s first two marriages failed, but in 1981 he met German model Elke Krivat, who he frequently credited with saving his life. “When I met her, I was drinking too much, fooling around too much, killing myself. She put romance and hope back in my life.” It was a “love of my life” romance that endured to this day. He adopted her daughter Danja, and had his own daughter, Elizabeth, with his second wife, the late actress Janice Rule. Gazzara’s first wife was also an actress, Louise Erickson. In addition to his wife and daughters, Gazzara is also survived by a brother.

Stars have a life cycle that once was described by “star” Hugh O’Brien as consisting of five phases: “Who’s Hugh O’Brien? Get me a Hugh O’Brien type! Get me Hugh O’Brien! Get me a Hugh O’Brien type! And finally, who’s Hugh O’Brien?” (The answer is an extremely handsome man, contemporary of Gazzara, who played Wyatt Earp in a surprisingly unique television series.) Character actors like Gazzara never go through those phases. Their careers may peak and valley with cinematic tastes, like “How many Mafia movies are we making this year?” but they work fairly consistently. They become the person one looks at and says “Where do I know him from?” They are true actors, in the finest traditions of what they recognize as a serious craft. There are too few Ben Gazzaras left in the world, and we have just lost the original.

Related articles

• Actor Ben Gazzara dies at 81 (variety.com)
• Popular Character Actor Ben Gazzara Dies at 81 (entertainment.time.com)
• Ben Gazzara, actor in influential films, dies (sfgate.com)
• Veteran Stage, Film Actor Ben Gazzara Dies At 81 (npr.org)
• Popular character actor Ben Gazzara dies in NY (thehimalayantimes.com)

The press release continues with

Join actresses Barbara Niven and Jessica Clark as well as Nicole Conn (Writer/Director) and Marina Rice Bader (Executive Producer) in this exclusive live video chat taking place on Monday, February 13 at 7:00pm (PST) at www.OneMoreLesbian.com

Fans will also get the chance to catch a rare sneak peek at scenes from the highly anticipated movie with a special preview airing on OML at noon (PST) on the same day.

The planned hangout will offer fans a chance to interact directly with the filmmakers and actors of the buzz-heavy feature film.

Participants will be able to enter the conversation by simply clicking the ‘chat’ button at the bottom of the video located on OneMoreLesbian.com’s live streaming page.

Along with her partner writer and director Nicole Conn (“Claire of The Moon”), Marina Bader is the driving force behind Soul Kiss Films, an independent film company whose aim is to make movies by and for women in a still male dominated industry. Their first joint project “Elena Undone” earned critical acclaim and is one of the best selling movies in its genre. The pair’s next project “A Perfect Ending” – funded exclusively by fans – is scheduled to be released this year.

The go-to hub for online quality LGBT content, OML has hosted previous live events including video chats with Wendy Jo Carlton, the Director & lead actress of “Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together”; out model/actress Jessica Clark; Director Fernanda Cardoso and lead actress Sarah Stouffe of “Bloomington”; and the ladies of LezBeProud. OML is among the first in the LGBT film industry market to explore the potential of emerging digital platforms. The company is successfully remaining in the vanguard of developing new strategies for alternative distribution and has now become a marquee destination.

Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to spend an up close & personal evening with Jessica Clark, Barbara Niven, Nicole Conn and Marina Bader. A one of a kind chance to meet these talented ladies ‘virtually’ … and give your Valentine’s Day this year “A Perfect Ending!

ABOUT OML:

An online media platform that strictly serves as an aggregator for video content already existing on other sites, OML is the one-stop emporium for movies, television shows, web series, Vlogs, music videos, live video chats, PSA’s, specials/events and even commercials made for and by lesbians and bi-sexual women.

Moving OML toward becoming the Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and Amazon of the lesbian world, President/founder Shirin Papillon recently launched a Video on Demand section dubbed OML+, allowing instant streaming of popular lesbian titles as well as independent feature films and shorts that would usually only screen at film festivals or go straight to DVDs and are not available online.

ABOUT “A PERFECT ENDING”:

A repressed and uptight socialite, Rebecca (beautiful and gifted actress Barbara Niven) lives a perfect, pointless life. She is the ideal wife to her husband (John Heard) and mother to her three children. Rebecca also has a very unusual secret, one that not even her best friends know about. The last person on earth she expects to reveal it to is a high priced escort named Paris (stunning Jessica Clark).
Rebecca could never have known that through Paris, she would discover answers she’s been searching for her entire life. Her journey from perfect control to unbridled passion allows Rebecca not only to reclaim worthless years, but to redeem and vindicate painful regrets. Raw, evocative and often humorous, “A Perfect Ending” explores one woman’s struggle to find what moves her and asks: Without passion, what’s the point?

Adam At The 2010 SAG Awards by Tomdog

Sigh…I wish I could keep up with Adam a bit more than I am able to right now. I really am trying to keep up with the news about him since I enjoy writing about him, and enjoy his music so much. Still, with luck, things will be a bit easier for me in the near future. As much as I can be a slightly harsh critic of music. . .I listen to music all the time. . .I still enjoy his music and hope that people can understand that I am trying to be constructive in my criticism.

I am thrilled to hear that Adam will be collaborating with Queen again. He has such a great voice when it comes right down to it, and he does Freddie proud. It is obvious that his life experiences are not as great as Freddie’s, but that is alright. Even if he is a bit lacking on that front, he is talented and quite able to tackle even some of Freddie’s heavier songs like The Show Must Go On, which was one of Freddie’s last songs.

So, like many of Adam’s fans, I am looking forward to the new album. I hope it is everything we have waited for.

At MTV’s EMAs in Belfast last November, Adam teamed up with Brian May and Roger Taylor to perform a few Queen songs to the delight of not only Adam’s fans, but many of Queen’s fans. Adam told the Daily Star that he is looking forward to working with May, 64, and Taylor, 62. He stated “The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f*****g great songs. It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of.”

Adam also said rather enthusiastically “After the EMAs, I heard faint little slithers of a backlash from people saying: ‘You can’t replace Freddie Mercury.’ But I already knew that. There’s no intention in my mind of replacing Freddie. That’s impossible. The way I’m choosing to view it is that it’s a great honour and one I’m in no way going to shirk.”

The Daily Star noted:

Adam first met his new band- mates when they played We Are The Champions at American Idol’s final in 2009.

Adam recalled: “Straight away I thought: ‘These guys are so f*****g rad.’ They’re a class act, so sweet and paternal and on a musical level really open to great new experiences.”

They have not discussed recording new music, but Adam did say “It’d be cool to record with Brian and Roger. Being asked to front Queen is the best thing that can possibly happen.”

May has recorded with a number of different people over the last two decades since Freddie passed away in 1991. He played guitar on one song for Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell III.

Adam’s second album will be coming out on 19 March. Adam stated “I learned so much from doing my first album. Trespassing is much more of an album, not just a collection of would-be singles like my first record.”

Eleven of the sixteen works of fiction in Granta 118 are from strong women’s voices. The stories are all well written and delve into a variety of personal worlds.

Here is the press release:

Mazak writes in explanation:

With two separate promoters of The Dinah Shore Weekend having been in direct competition for the past six years, there has been a certain amount of confusion. In the early days, the event was a joint venture between Mariah Hanson, who pioneered the first Dinah Shore Weekend before joining forces with the duo Sandy Sachs and Dr. Robin Gans (promoters of Girl Bar). But in 2005, the partnership dissolved and the power promoters parted ways, each continuing the Dinah legacy with two separate visions of what the event should grow to become.

Since the split, the spirit of competition has stepped up the famed weekend to a spectacular world-class plateau. But for Hanson the rivalry translated into one thing: the fact that “competition inspires perfection.”

Girl Bar Dinah, run by Sandy Sachs and Dr. Robin Gans, is now leaving Palm Springs to produce a Dinah-like version in Las Vegas.

“I think starting over again in another city is a good move for Girl Bar and I wish them well, “ said Hanson, “I just hope they picked the right city since Lisa Pittman and the Miami Aqua Girls, Jesi and Alison, host an annual event in September called Shedonism and it does well. Time will tell.”

Apparently, the two have been running two separate events for the last six years. This will now mean that the two events will no longer be in direct competition. As Mazak points out, though “‘the producers of GIRL BAR DINAH SHORE WEEKEND in association with The Truck Stop Girlz from NYC are moving their events OUT OF Palm Springs and to Las Vegas on a different weekend,’” Gans and Sachs said in a statement about the move. The host hotels for the Vegas weekend are the Flamingo and Planet Hollywood.”

Mazak went on to report that:

Meanwhile, Hanson, under her Club Skirts marquee, is busy making the 2012 installment of the notorious weekend stronger, bigger and sexier than ever in the Sunny Oasis of Palm Springs.

Hanson’s 2012 lineup features performances from Grammy-Award Winning Music Legend Chaka Khan, Nina Sky, Wynter Gordon, Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta, CeCe Peniston, cast members of Showtime The Real L Word, Fortune Feimster from E! “Chelsea Lately”, and a Q&A with Meredith Baxter moderated by Suzanne Westenhoefer, just to name a few.

Girl Bar’s move to Las Vegas has a lot of people wondering why since for the past 22 years, it has been a Palm Springs tradition. According to Palm Springs Hilton General Manager, Aftab Dada in a KMIR interview, “The Dinah ranks as one of the five premier events in Coachella Valley.” He goes on to explain his theory behind the Girl Bar exodus, “For the past four years, Club Skirts has been taking a lot of market share from Girl Bar.”

But Girl Bar’s Sachs and Gans have their own reasons for the move to Sin City. “Vegas is the Hot Spot with a plethora of entertainment and culinary options, which is exactly what our guests have been asking us for,” Gans and Sachs said in a statement. They added that what will be different with the Vegas move is that there will be “No more parties in massive corporate ballrooms, no more waiting in line for drink tickets, and most importantly NO LAST CALL!” Gans and Sachs promise they will, “offer an intimate experience to our clientele and yet allow them to experience everything that Vegas has to offer.” They also said that “unlike Palm Springs pool parties, when a patron’s top comes off in Las Vegas, that’s considered “au naturale” and OK in Vegas!”

Apparently, The Dinah started two decades ago by catering to a small gathering of women who went to Palm Springs to socialize, maybe take in some of the Dinah Shore Championship Golf Tournament, and so forth. It eventually became heavily linked to Palm Springs.

For many fans of The Dinah Shore Weekend, it is always going to be synonymous with Palm Springs. Christine Pease, who has gone to the event for six years, according to Mazak, stated “Vegas means that it’s not the Dinah but just a circuit party. The Dinah has a history in Palm Springs and it tells a story about the unity and tradition of our lesbian community.”

Typically, some 15,000 women from all across the word go there for the five-day weekend which includes “spectacular comedy shows, live concerts and legendary wild pool parties that have included some of the biggest names in the industry like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Colbie Caillat, India Arie, Pat Benatar, Natasha Bedingfield, The Indigo Girls, Chely Wright and Salt’n Pepa.”

Finally, Mazak reported that

Hanson’s Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend is definitely not going anywhere, especially with this year’s event looking like it could be the largest in The Dinah’s history.

“Hotel sales and ticket sales are way up. We’re expanding our party space at both the Riviera and The Palm Springs Convention Center to accommodate the increased crowds,” said Hanson.

Last year Club Skirts sold out The Riviera, The Hilton, and The Shilo Inn.

But Girl Bar promoters Sachs and Gans are certain that if they build the event in Vegas then the women will come. “It’s not about quantity but more about quality – we expect to have the sophisticated ladies that have been joining us from around the world in previous years
coming back for this new and improved Dinah Shore Weekend Las Vegas,” Sachs and Gans said.

Meanwhile, Hanson credits faithful Dinah goers with opting for the original Palm Springs Dinah experience. “As far as The Dinah Shore Weekend goes, I may be the architect but the colors and the brush strokes, that’s the talent of the attendees, and based on pre-sales, they clearly want to be in Palm Springs,” Hanson said.

On a totally different subject, one of the odd things that I love to point out is the fact that I am a cat owner. The two cats I own are rescues from the shelter. I would love to say that they are the most loving cats one could ever ask for, and I always recommend people adopt if they are going to own pets, and that they should always give up their unwanted pets to no-kill shelters. And, as Bob Barker use to point out- always remember to spay and neuter your pets.

The posted comments came in response to an interview that the blog did with Adam Lambert. GLAAD reports that “Some comments promoted anti-gay violence and even encouraged suicide. Among the most egregious of responses was: ‘It would make my day if someone was to do to [Lambert] what those men did to Matthew Shepard.’ Shepard was the 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who was brutally beaten and left for dead on the outskirts of Laramie, WY in 1998.”

GLAAD alerted Yahoo to the problem, and they quickly suspended the comments on the stream. It can often be difficult for a large organization like Yahoo or Blizzard or BioWare to monitor all of the comment streams and remove all of the hatefully violent ones that are out there.

Allison Palmer, GLAAD’s Director of Digital Initiatives, stated “Young music fans should be able to interact and comment on sites without seeing violent, hateful comments directed at LGBT people. Yahoo! did the right thing by taking immediate action to enforce their Terms of Service, setting an important example for other leading websites and tech companies.”

Yahoo issued its own statement saying that the company “does not allow content that promotes hatred against users or groups of users. Protected categories include, but are not limited to race, ethnicity, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Yahoo! takes issues like this very seriously. We provide methods for users to report content that they believe to be abusive. Yahoo! reviews these reports and takes appropriate action according to our Terms of Service.”

GLAAD wraps up by saying:

Both Yahoo! and GLAAD urge users to report violent, hateful comments to site administrators.

In 2010, GLAAD started similar work with Facebook and helped create the “Network of Support,” an educational initiative that works to put an end to anti-LGBT cyberbullying, which includes other LGBT and youth organizations.

I still enjoy Animaniacs. The skits were always so much fun. Of course, some of my favorites made fun of Gilbert and Sullivan or Disney…

Related articles

• Book Goes Into The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Exploits of 1940′s Stars (lezgetreal.com)

Kate Middleton and Prince William by John Stillwell Getty Images

The tongues of royal watchers have been all awag for the last several months since Prince William, Duke of Cambridge married Katherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. They have all been agog over the idea of the pitter patter of little feet, and now they have been proven right! Indeed, the Duke and Duchess (such a full sounding word…Duchess) of Cambridge are hearing the pitter patter of little feet.

They have a puppy.

The royal couple have added a new puppy- a boy- who is a few months old, and is a black cocker spaniel. The puppy comes from a litter “with a close family connection.” The puppy’s name has not yet been announced.

Prince William is set to be deployed to the Falkland Islands for a six week tour shortly.

As People reports, the puppy “may be good successor to William’s dog Widgeon, a black Labrador who passed away about two years ago.”

Could we suggest Rufus for a good name?

Yahoo News reports that:

“Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars” is to be published on February 14 by Grove Press. Bowers, who lives in the Hollywood Hills, was interviewed by the New York Times ahead of the release of the book, which was written by Lionel Friedberg.

Bowers claims to have been plying his trade for nearly three decades, and has, in the past, turned down offers to tell his story. He now says that “I finally said yes because I’m not getting any younger and all of my famous tricks are dead by now. The truth can’t hurt them anymore.”

Bowers states that, for instance, he set up Hepburn with “over 150 different women”, and in the books he also recounts the sexual exploits of Spencer Tracy, Cole Porter, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (that would be Edward VIII and Wallis Spencer), and publisher Alfred A. Knopf.

Bowers began his career while working at a gas station near Paramount Pictures when he was propositioned by Walter Pidgeon. He accepted and word spread from there. The business went on for decades until the AIDS epidemic began to curtail much of the sexual exploits.

Many of the names that are named are not exactly surprising at this point since many of them have been rumored to have been gay, lesbian or bisexual. At the time, much of this information was kept under wraps, which may be difficult for many younger readers to believe in the tabloid soaked world of today.

The Asexual Visibility and Education Network issued the following statement with regards to that particular episode’s portrayal of two asexual individuals.

On January 23, 2012, “House:MD” became the first major network television show in history to feature characters who openly identify as asexual. Scientific studies show that 1% of the human population is asexual. The episode presented damaging misinformation about the asexual community by presenting asexuality as a condition to be cured rather than as a healthy part of human sexual diversity. The episode portrayed two characters whose asexuality was dismissed as being caused by either medical pathology or deception.

“This misinformation could have severe negative consequences on asexual people around the world, especially youth, who are struggling to come to terms with themselves and find acceptance,” said David Jay, founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN). “This episode encourages viewers to meet asexuality with skepticism rather than acceptance, to probe asexual people for causes of our ‘condition’ rather than to accept us as a part of the natural spectrum of human sexual diversity.”

Sara Beth Brooks, an organizer with Asexual Awareness Week, added, “The writer of the episode opened a dialogue with the community immediately after the episode aired and we appreciate the research and effort that she put into portraying asexuality positively.” Asexual Awareness Week has launched a Change.org petition that has gathered nearly 1,000 signatures in only five days. The petition asks the Executive Producers of House to reconsider their portrayal of asexual characters in the future. The petition can be accessed here: http://www.change.org/petitions/executive-producers-of-house-reconsider-your-portrayals-of-asexual-characters

Members of the community expressed disappointment, but little surprise at the misrepresentation by Fox. According to Jay, “There’s a strong message out there that something is broken if you experience sexuality differently, a message that Fox is helping to promote. The asexual community is working for the day when we can talk openly about how asexual people live happy, healthy lives.”

Scientific studies estimate that more than 1% of the population is asexual. Since 2002, the asexual community has been organizing on- and offline in more than 150 countries. 80% of the community identifies as LGBT or an ally to the LGBT community, and 20% identify as transgender or questioning their gender identity. The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) and Asexual Awareness Week are two of the largest asexual organizations in the United States.

“My recent comments in The New York Times were about me and my personal story of being gay. I believe we all have different ways we came to the gay community and we can’t and shouldn’t be pigeon-holed into one cultural narrative which can be uninclusive and disempowering. However, to the extent that anyone wishes to interpret my words in a strictly legal context I would like to clarify:

“While I don’t often use the word, the technically precise term for my orientation is bisexual. I believe bisexuality is not a choice, it is a fact. What I have ‘chosen’ is to be in a gay relationship.

“As I said in the Times and will say again here, I do, however, believe that most members of our community — as well as the majority of heterosexuals — cannot and do not choose the gender of the persons with whom they seek to have intimate relationships because, unlike me, they are only attracted to one sex.

“Our community is not a monolith, thank goodness, any more than America itself is. I look forward to and will continue to work toward the day when America recognizes all of us as full and equal citizens.”

Ms Nixon also recently said “Everybody likes to dump on the bisexuals,” and this is true. Our Community has a horrible track record of either ignoring bisexuals or treating them with disdain as if they are either someone who is dallying in order to be ‘cool’ or someone who cannot make up their mind. It is not uncommon a situation to be in. The Community has tended to elevate transgendereds above transsexuals creating problems for those of us- like myself- who have no identity rooted in transgenderism, but who are transsexual.

Perhaps it is time that our Community start having a greater dialogue rather than getting up in arms any time someone missteps or challenges the conventional wisdom.

So, tonight, I bring you something from Inkubus Sukkubus, which is one of my favorite bands. Of course, they are very pagan. This is a live rendition of the title song from their latest album. Enjoy.

In this video clip, Kermit and Miss Piggy poke fun at FOX News for how the network covered the latest Muppet Movie. For those who forget, FOX was up in arms at the fact that the lead villain in the film was a Texas oil baron. Ah…the Muppets have always been a bit subversive…like Scooter acting like a fangirl around Sylvester Stallone…yeah, you read that right. Really makes you wonder if they had a not exactly explicitly gay character on the Muppets back in the 1970′s.

Nintedo has tripled its full-year loss forecast to a full out ¥65 billion. Originally, they had projected about ¥20 billion. The forecast is more than double what analysts had expected. They were ertain of a ¥29 billion for the year.

There are a variety of factors involved in the loss, including a lackluster gaming field, a shift to more MMO and internet based gaming, as well as Apple’s share of the market when it comes to simpler games has grown over the last year. Many more complex games are starting to be placed on servers with clients running the game on people’s computers, as well. The recent Blizzard title Starcraft II required an internet connection to play even in single player or campaign mode. The upcoming Diablo III is the same way. This kind of set up is more difficult to do with consoles.

This is the first annual loss for Nintendo in 30 years.

Mitsushige Akino of the Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co in Tokyo stated “The company faces a structural problem . . . people are opting for their smartphones and tablet PCs to kill their time. I can’t see Nintendo’s next strategy. There will probably be a discussion about how much worse it can get.”

Also problematic for Nintendo is the rise of the yen, which has been gaining strength against other currencies. Tomoaki Kawasaki of Cosmo Securities Co stated “Nintendo’s profitability may get lower in the long term because people are starting to stay away from video game consoles,. The yen’s gain is a burden for Nintendo as it hasn’t taken sufficient measures to deal with the impact of the strong currency.”

With 80% of their revenue coming from non-Japanese sources, a stronger yen reduces the profits that they make from overseas sales.

According to Japan Times “Sales of titles for the 3DS may total 38 million units this fiscal year, down 24 percent from the company’s previous estimate, Nintendo said Jan. 3. Iwata said he is confident the company will turn profitable next year and added that Nintendo will “soon” start charging users for downloading additional content to a software title.”

It should also be noted that the MMO market continues very strong with two subscription titles pulling in passed 1 million subscribers, and one pulling in $10 million. Additionally, the number of free to play MMO’s are growing, including Star Trek Online, which made their move earlier this month.

It seems Nintendo is just a touch behind the times on this.

Since last year, Girl Bar and Fuse Events have been working exclusively with Caesars Entertainment to create the ultimate women’s weekend experience featuring all the best that Caesars Entertainment properties have to offer. Official events and hotels for Dinah Shore Weekend will be situated walking distance, across a variety of Caesars-owned properties, including Planet Hollywood and Flamingo hotels. The later will have its “Go Pool” turned over exclusively to the ladies for ticket and pass holders.

“Our sophisticated ladies wanted ‘bigger, better and more’ in a city that never sleeps with the finest in entertainment and accommodations, with non-stop flights both domestically and internationally,” said Girl Bar producers Sandy Sachs and Dr. Robin Gans. Adding, “We listened and Caesars Entertainment delivered, recognizing our global potential and wooing us with full sponsorship and a 24/7 package of perks, food, beverages and entertainment where there are no ‘last calls!”

“The LGBT market makes up such an important part of Caesars worldwide customer base,” said Richard Brower, Director of LGBT and Ethnic Marketing at Caesars Entertainment Corporation. “Having this legendry weekend move to Vegas was an opportunity we could not afford to miss.”

“After conquering New York and California, The Truck Stop Girlz couldn’t be happier about pulling into Vegas,” said co-founders Linda Fusco and Michelle Agnew. “We are ready to throw down and have a good time!”

The full Dinah Shore Weekend 2012 schedule of events, performers, ticket and hotel information and VIP travel package optionswww.dinahshoreweekend.com.

And, yes, I really have no clue what the Dinah is..or why it is so popular among my fellow lesbians.

Sir Terry Pratchett - his most used book jacket photo

In 1786, the great Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us, To see ourselves as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, an’ foolish notion.” Someone did give us that gift, 60 years before Burns wrote “To A Louse” – Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels. Unless one has studied Gulliver’s Travels in school, it is just a fantasy tale of a voyage to strange lands. But in reality, it was a scathing indictment of contemporary British society, wrapped in a story that could, but did not necessarily, make people see the world they were living in.

Swift set the model for modern political exposé and satire. Before him it was a pretty straightforward field, exemplified by the Celtic bard and the court jester – make fun of the rich and powerful in a sufficiently public way that one didn’t get thrown in the dungeon. The subtlety of using non-humans to portray the foibles and failures of humanity has worked very well. Swift was the intellectual grandfather of Jules Verne, Rod Serling, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey and the entire range of science fiction and fantasy writers of the past three centuries.

But few of those inheritors fo Swift’s legacy have been as brilliant at it as British author Terry Pratchett. It is normal, three or four days after one finishes a Pratchett book, to do a mental head smack and finally see what he was talking about. Pratchett is read on multiple levels. For straight fantasy fans, he writes very funny books about witches, trolls, wizards, demons, goblins and such. For the politically astute American, he writes very funny satires about Hollywood and newspapers and postal services. For those who understand British politics, it has an even deeper level.

Before becoming the world’s most widely read fantasy author, Pratchett worked in journalism on both sides of the Atlantic. With one book, The Colour of Magic, in 1983, Pratchett set the stage for a brilliant career not just as a fantasy writer, but as the best analyst and observer of the human comedy, drama and tragedy in modern times.

The 47 Disc World books are set on a flat planet that sits on the backs on four elephants who ride through space on the back of a turtle, Great A’Tuin. The planet has its own sun, which revolves around it. The primary continent, which sits at the center of the planet is home to most of the books. Some parts of the landscape resemble the British Isles, and all of the species who inhabit it are drawn from the collective lore and myths of Northern Europe.

The Librarian (Pratchette supports orangutan preservation)

It is possible to divide the books up by their principal focus. There are the wizard books, which center around the Unseen University, but which took the reader to the ends of the planet with the bumbling, traveling wizzard Rincewind. J. K. Rawlings was inspired by the University Library when she created the living wizarding books of the Hogswart’s library. She just left our the Librarian – a wizard who had been transformed into an orangutan. It’s a very useful body for a librarian, so he chose not to be changed back to human form.

Wrapped around and occasionally interacting with the wizards are the witches. This group includes the young adult series which features the young witch Tiffany Aching and her friends, the Wee Free Men, the Feegles. Some of Pratchett’s best twists on simile and metaphor are in these books. I’ve always been particularly fond of “The storm walked around the hills on legs of lightning, shouting and grumbling.” [Equal Rites, 1987]. It is the aspect of Pratchett’s work most frequently underdiscussed. He is an incomparable wordsmith, his use of English rich and textured.

The witches’ books are the best explanation of the craft I have ever encountered. From the first moment when Esme Weatherwax used the term “headology” to what she does, to the examination of the relationship between land and craft, story and life, the books were a constant “Why the hell don’t others see this?” for me. I was reading them in the coastal south, a very bad land for the craft, a land that is so full of death and decay that it encourages the black arts. Here it was, someone articulating why I responded physically to the journey inland and uphill, to mountains of granite and marble. We draw our strength from the land upon which we stand. It’s that simple and that complex. The land determines the limitations and extensions of ability, not some demon called up from the otherworld, not some hyped-up ceremony or amulet. It is all about the land and our relationships to it and what is natural in it and around it – the water, the rocks, the trees, the air. Pratchett understands this as no “celebrity “witch ever has. The occult sections of bookstores and libraries make me physically ill, the books vibe to the wrong resonances.

Death is a character in many of these books, featured as the main storyline in several, beginning with 1991′s Reaper Man. He is on a quest to understand mankind and why these beings cling so tenaciously to life, and trying to humanize himself in the process. Rawling’s third nod to Pratchett is in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in the Department of Mysteries with it rooms of jars containing brains and prophecies. It is a variation on Death’s chamber of hourglasses.

It is the books which spread outward from the twin cities of Ankh-Morpork that are the education in almost every aspect of the human mind – politics, money, bureaucracy, war, folklore, diplomacy, the law, journalism, entertainment, gender-identity. They started as a couple of books about the Ankh-Morpork city guard, and evolved into the finest example of satire and sociology in modern times.

The Ankh-Morpork books contain the only Pratchett character that one can isolate as having been inspired by a living person. When we first meet Lady Sybil Ramkin, the description of her matches almost word for word a description of sci-fi author Anne McCaffrey by Isaac Asimov. I don’t like illustrations of Lady Sybil because she is portrayed as more saftig opera diva than Nordic goddess. The illustrator never met Ms. McCaffrey or got the connection even with all those dragons hanging around Sybil’s garden.

The lead characters of the Anhk-Morpork books are Watch Commander Samuel Vimes and the city’s “tyrant” Lord Havelock Vetinari. Vimes was a poor street kid who chose law over crime, and became seduced by law. Vetinari is the ultimate politician. Though the pair of them may be in the background of some of these books, they are the windows through which we can see ourselves, often with astounding clarity.

Would you like to understand the Walmarting of the world? Try Samuel Vimes’ “Shoe Leather Theory of Economics.” It goes something like this: The very rich can afford very good boots which last for decades. The poor can only afford poor boots that only last a year. Over time, the poor spend more on shoe leather than the rich do. The late economics writer Sylvia Porter said the same thing in her Money Book, in the chapter “The High Cost of Being Poor.” Fewer people have read Porter than read Pratchett, so Samuel Vimes has reached more of us than Porter ever did. From Vimes’ explanation of shoe leather, it is a simple jump to how cheap goods make people think they are doing well. After all, they can afford a cheap microwave and cheap knock-off designer clothes, so they are more amenable to lower wages. The low prices of Walmart and other discount outlets have downgraded our entire economy while creating the illusion of a better lifestyle.  It’s a better lifestyle until you have purchased your third microwave in three years.

The list of what one can learn from Pratchett is almost unending. After all, there are 47 books to draw from. So, I’ll limit this to just a few major concepts:

In 1992′s Small Gods, Pratchett explains that gods exist only as long as people believe in them, and religion is not the equivalent of belief or faith. It is a powerful book that explores the dangers of churches and the purity of faith.

From 2000′s The Truth, the following: “Pulling together is the goal of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions. It is the only way to make progress. That and, of course, moving with the times.” That comes at the end of a long exchange between William de Worde, publisher of the Ankh-Morpork Times and Lord Vetinari about determining what the public should know and what is in the public interest.

2003′s Montrous Regiment is an LGBT delight, a gender-bending exercise in soldiering, parenting and relationships that, if you read no other Pratchett, should be at the top of every gay’s, lesbian’s and transgendered person’s reading list. Yes, at the time it was an indictment of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but now, it is needed as a way to make people step back and laugh about the whole thing. That’s what satire is all about, making us see the absurd and ridiculous and causing people to back down from militancy.

Finally, the best explanation I have ever seen of why I really hate WikiLeaks, from the most recent Disc World novel, Snuff: “And now the world is a better place, commander. You have no understanding, Vimes, no understanding of the deals, stratagems and unseen expedients by which some of us make shift to see that it remains that way. Do not seek perfection. None exists. All we can do is strive….And, slightly better than before, the world will continue to turn.” There is a massive difference between a government that tries to cover up war crimes and a government engaged in diplomacy. The two do not and should not involve the same level of public exposure. A simpleton like Julian Assange does not understand that. He is more driven by his hatred of America than any pure devotion to exposing dangerous secrets. Diplomacy is a fine art that eventually benefits all involved, even if it doesn’t appear to in the eyes of outsiders or the terminally dense. Those “deals, strategems and unseen expedients” prevent wars, create alliances, bring about positive changes. In Snuff, they bring about the liberation and equality of a species previously classified as vermin, and a halt to smuggling and drug operations that harmed tens of thousands. In the here and now, they are needed to assure a transition in the Arab Spring nations that does not erode previously held rights. We don’t really need to know how this is done. What matters is that it is done.  Diplomacy should be added to the list of things one really shouldn’t see being made — along with sausages and babies.

On one occasion, life imitated the books. In 1997′s Jingo, a war is started because an island suddenly pops out of the sea and countries fight over who the island belongs to. There is a small volcanic rise in the Mediterranean that is creating an island, and several nations have already laid claim to it. It probably will not end as Jingo did, with the island sinking back into the sea, but it will certainly be fun watching it.

Terry Pratchett announced in 2007 that he is suffering from early onset Alzheimers. He is 63 years old. Since that announcement, he has produced Unseen Academicals, I Shall Wear Midnight and Snuff. He has reported that while he can no longer compose on his word processor, he can dictate his books. Believe me, I know how important every mind is and the horrors of losing one’s mind to Alzheimers.  But sometimes it helps to have a very high-profile victim.  If there is anything that should be lighting fires under Alzheimers researchers around the world, it should be the possible loss of this brilliant mind. He still has books to write, including Raising Taxes and Scouting for Trolls, two he has mentioned in the past. We need his voice – to educate us, to make us see the lunacy of our political systems, to help us make sense of the world and how it is changing and what we need to protect us during the transitions.

Queen Elizabeth II appointed Pratchett Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 “for services to literature. He was knighted in 2009. Samuel Vimes’ response to marrying a Lady and becoming a Duke is part of his charm. Vimes hates the titles and isn’t too happy with people who think they are somebody because of their lineage. I have always suspected that knighting Pratchett could be one of those rare glimpses of Queen Elizabeth’s sense of humor. She actually does have one.

Sir Terence David John Pratchett wrote the best explanation of himself in 1988′s Wyrd Sisters (the second nod to Pratchett in Harry Potter was the use of this title for the band at the Christmas Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire):

“Particles of raw inspiration sleet through the universe all the time. Every once in a while one of them hits a receptive mind, which then invents DNA or the flute sonata form or a way of making light bulbs wear out in half the time. But most of them miss. Most people go through their lives without being hit by even one.

Some people are even more unfortunate. They get them all.”

Covers of the first 38 primary Disc World novels

Related articles

• Terry Pratchett – A Great Author and Inspiration (madhattermiscellany.wordpress.com)
• Book Review – The Color of Magic (madhattermiscellany.wordpress.com)
• Snuff: By Terry Pratchett (faceplantreview.wordpress.com)
• Snuff: A Discworld Novel : Book 39 by Terry Pratchett (booktopia.com.au)
• Trailblazing Sci-Fi Legend Anne McCaffery Passes Away At 85 (lezgetreal.com)
• Pratchett’s Snuff: a rural/nautical tale of drawing-room gentility, racism, and justice (boingboing.net)

Colbert by David Shankbone

NBC’s Chuck Todd may want to really consider what is behind Stephen Colbert and his Presidential shenanigans. Todd recently stated at a Winthrop University forum about Colbert and his actions “He is making a mockery of the system…Is it fair to the process? Yes, the process is a mess, but he’s doing it in a way that feels like he’s trying to influence it with his own agenda and that may be anti-Republican.”

One could say that the media is already doing a good job of making a mockery of the system that they do not need Colbert to do anything about it.

Todd also wondered “What is his real agenda here? Is it to educate the public about the dangers of money and politics, and what’s going on? Or is it simply to marginalize the Republican Party? I think if I were a Republican candidate I would be concerned about that.”

Finally, he said something about how he idolizes American politics and did not “want to see people become more cynical about” it.

It feels as if Todd is out of touch with the average news viewer. By and large, people are already cynical about politics. They see Republicans pushing more and more oligarchical ideals designed to protect the power and wealth of a small number of people while maximizing their profits, and they are doing this on the backs and knees of the nation’s most vulnerable. They then see the Democrats cave to those demands and wonder why they even bothered to vote in the first place.

It does not help that the media does little to curtail or stop any of this from occurring.

Here is the rest of the press release including the nominees:

Among the nominees: Beginners, starring Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor, Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, J. Edgar, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Armie Hammer, Showtime’s hit shows Shameless and The Big C, Glee, Modern Family, CBS ratings leader NCIS, Becoming Chaz, the AIDS documentary We Were Here, Dancing with the Stars with Carson Kressley and Chaz Bono, the wedding of a gay staffer on Conan, David Letterman’s interview with Chaz Bono, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, TheRoot.com’s “Black and Transgender: A Double Burden,” and Lady Gaga for her Born This Way album.

Spanish-language nominees include Ricky Martin for his album Música + Alma + Sexo, telenovelas Las Aparicio, Los Exitosos Gome$, and El Último Matrimonio Feliz, news programs Noticiero con Paola Rojas and Despierta América, and ESPN Deportes’ SportsCenter.

A complete list of GLAAD Media Awards nominees may be found here: www.glaad.org/mediaawards/nominees. Additional facts and figures about this year’s 151 nominees may be found here: www.glaad.org/mediawards/23/factsandfigures.

“As media continue to tell new stories about LGBT people and families, a majority of Americans now support full equality of LGBT Americans,” said Mike Thompson, GLAAD’s Acting President. “This year’s nominees enlighten and entertain, while spotlighting the diversity of our community. Audiences expect to see their own worlds reflected in media, and today more than ever, those include the lives of LGBT people. Viewers know that LGBT characters and stories are simply natural extensions of, and glimpses into, their own experiences from across America.”

The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 24, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square; in Los Angeles on April 21 at the Westin Bonaventure; and in San Francisco on June 2 at San Francisco Marriott Marquis. Special Honorees for each city will be announced in the coming weeks.

GLAAD announced 116 nominees in 25 English-language categories, and 35 Spanish-language nominees in 10 categories. In the English-language categories, cable networks earned 23 nominations, while broadcast networks garnered 19 nominations.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

The 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards nominees were published, released or broadcast between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Nearly 1,000 media projects were considered by over 85 volunteers serving on seven nominating juries. Each year, the GLAAD Media Awards in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco bring together more than 5,000 supporters to raise nearly $3.5 million for the organization’s work.

Pretty much any reaction to bad words ends up with children wanting to use them, and even Cam and Mitchell knew this in the episode. If you react negatively, children will use them as a means of defiance, and if you laugh, they will think it’s positive and use it to make you laugh.

Great…I’m giving parenting advice and I’ve never had children…my parents must have done something right while raising me.

The situation apparently went on for some time culminating with Lily using the f-bomb several times at a wedding.

Prior to the episode, many so-called parental rights groups wanted the episode pulled, but the reality is that it should be something that is discussed. Parents have to deal with this situation eventually.

The Huffington Post was kind enough to compile the clips, and if you want to see the whole episode, you can here via ABC.

Of course, they provide us with these embed codes, so…we have to assume that it’s alright to post them:

John "Total Biscuit" Bain

This is a huge video from John “Total Biscuit” Bain regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. I have been following Mr. Bain for over a year now given his commentary regarding World of Warcraft and Starcraft II. What I did not know is that Mr. Bain is a graduate of UK Law. This twenty-one minute take down of SOPA and PIPA is fascinating to listen to.

What Mr. Bain points out is that the big problem is that this is not about obliterating piracy, but about trying to stifle independent development in music and gaming. Bain does make a mistake in the fact that Activision is not supporting SOPA and PIPA (He later retracted that), though he does point out that EA Games is supporting SOPA and PIPA…it should be pointed out that this news could be a problem for EA as they are trying to convince people to reup their subscriptions to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Thank you, Mr. Bain, for this, and please, keep up the good work.

The drag performer born RuPaul Andre Charles is kicking off a new season of his show “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, but addressed the recent cancellation of the ABC sitcom Work It. The show featured two men who dressed as women, and was resoundly attacked by transsexual and transgender activists. RuPaul stated “Don’t take life so seriously… We live in a culture where everyone is offended by everything.”

While drag performers are often placed under the auspices of the transgender label, the vast majority of them only take on a female persona (drag queens) or male persona (drag kings) for the purposes of performing and not as a routine part of their lives.

As for the humour bit…I happen to read a variety of webcomics from Quiltbag to Eerie Cuties to Menage a 3, and quite honestly, I also read a lot of Terry Pratchett. Indeed, we here at LezGetReal like a good joke. . .as evidenced by the Monty Python references.

Lance Bass also, apparently, used the word ‘tranny’, and that caused ire among transsexual and transgender activists. Bass later apologized, but RuPaul says that he should not have. The performer stated “It’s ridiculous! It’s ridiculous!… I love the word “tranny”…And I hate the fact that he’s apologized. I wish he would have said, ‘F-you, you tranny jerk!’”

When RuPaul takes off the costume, he is just another guy. He does not face the same kinds of discrimination as the vast majority of transsexual and transgender women do on a daily basis. He is a performer, plain and simple. While drag performers get lumped in with trans people, they are not really trans people. Just because they dress up as women for stage shows does not mean that they are automatically able to understand what our lives are like.

Take care everyone, and enjoy yourselves.

Audience Being Forced to Watch Work It

Work It was considered to be so bad that people’s eyeballs threw up during watching. The show was considered to be offensive to not only trans people, but also to women, men, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks and Vogon. Yes, it has to be bad to offend Vogon.

Well, after two episodes, Work It is no more. Bereft of life, it rests on the cutting room floor. Part of the problem is the fact that Work It debuted with abysmal ratings that only dropped further the next week. The show, which was a cross between the 80′s movie Tootsie and the 80′s show Bosom Buddies, lost 20% of their audience in one week.

Herndon Graddick, the Senior Director of Programs and Communications at GLAAD, stated “While many of ABC’s positive and groundbreaking portrayals of LGBT people have been critical and popular successes, the public had little interest in this outdated show. As a result of this campaign, an important dialogue has been started in Hollywood and mainstream media about the real discrimination faced by transgender people today.”

The rest of the GLAAD Presser reads:

Last month, after viewing the pilot, GLAAD placed a full page ad in media industry publication Variety with HRC. The organizations also published a joint opinion piece on the Huffington Post. The Variety ad noted that “by encouraging the audience to laugh at the characters’ attempts at womanhood, the show gives license to similar treatment of transgender women.”

GLAAD and HRC included photos of transgender Americans, legal facts and statistics from a recent report from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force on the discrimination that transgender Americans face:

Transgender Americans can be legally fired in 34 states today simply for being who they are.
97% of self-identified transgender people reported being harassed or abused at work.
26% reported losing their jobs because they are transgender.

GLAAD stated on its site that while the show did not explicitly address transgender people, many viewers unfamiliar with the realities of being transgender will still make the connection.

Previously the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, transgender writers including Autumn Sandeen of Pam’s House Blend, the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative and the Transgender Law Center spoke out against the show’s promos. Women’s advocacy groups and members of the Puerto Rican community have also criticized the show’s premise and jokes.

According to ABC, ‘Work It’ centered on two unemployed men who have “learned the hard way that the current recession is more of a ‘man-cession’ and their skills aren’t in high demand.” One finds out that a pharmaceuticals company is hiring sales reps, but only female sales reps. He goes to the interview dressed in heels, a skirt, and makeup and gets hired as a woman.

The Daily Kos was nice enough to quote Beatty’s blog about one conversation saying:

I once had a long conversation with a highly educated cis man about pronouns. I know him to be absolutely brilliant. He was an official at a school. He told me that I had to understand, that the cis people (everyone else) at my school couldn’t get my pronouns right because I wasn’t “masculine” enough for them to associate male pronouns with me. As I do now, I dressed like a cute gay boy. As I do now, I gesticulated often and acknowledged the fact that I was capable of bending my wrists and hips. I talked openly about my interests in dance, poetry, and cute boys.

He acknowledged that this was fucked as hell, albeit in nicer language, because he was at least gender-positive enough to believe that men shouldn’t have to like football and beer and women shouldn’t have to like pink dresses and fluffy bunnies. But instead of attempting to educate these people–which he could have done, as he was in a position of extremely high authority–he asked me to accept their sexist, homophobic, and cissexist perspective on gender. I was the one who needed to change, not them, although he openly acknowledged that they were wrong. During this conversation, I was in tears, because I was having regular panic attacks during the school day. They were happening because of persistent and unapologetic mispronouning. (Keep in mind, I was a sixteen-year-old kid. Sixteen-year-olds are not known for their emotional maturity, and we shouldn’t ask them to be as mature as or more mature than adults.)

Well…ok…the bit about the cute boys probably was an interesting addition, but it really comes down to this statement saying “@SmartAssJen Oh! Haha, yeah, I’m trans and I’m gay. Double the fun!”

The Daily Kos story is a good read.

Thing is, yeah, this isn’t big is it? I am certainly glad that Beatty has a boyfriend, but let us be honest, it is going to make his life very difficult inside the LGBT Community.

Regular readers of our site may…or may not…have noticed just how hard it is to find swear words in my writing. This is because I do not swear. Simply, what is the point. Well, apparently on Modern Family, where Cam and Mitchell are trying to find a surrogate mother for their second child, their toddler will use the word ‘fuck’. For those who do not know, fuck is a word derived, it is said, from the phrase ‘for unlawful carnal knowledge.’ This is considered to be rather false, though, but one other possible origin for the word comes from a Germanic word for ‘penis’.

Well, One Million Moms is furious- that is right- absolutely fucking furious over the fact that their fastidious ears will be subjected to this vulgar word because of Modern Family. Here is their press release about this:

OMM will contact “Modern Family” sponsors once again! When the show first aired OMM was successful with several sponsors pulling their support, but unfortunately the popularity and ratings have kept it on the air.

Wednesday, January 10 at 9:00/8:00 p.m. Central the program’s homosexual couple, Cam and Mitchell, are attempting to find a birth mother for a second baby so their first adopted child will have a sibling. The two men admit on screen in what they call a quick biology lesson that they can’t have a baby on their own. They say, “Meeting a surrogate mother is the opposite of a first date. You don’t want to have sex, but you do want a baby.”

On next week’s “Modern Family,” toddler Lily is going to use one of the worst words in the English language. The adopted two-and-a-half year-old character somehow picks up the profanity “f-.” Her gay parents, Cam and Mitchell, are worried she’ll blurt it at an upcoming wedding. Lily is shown saying the word, but it’s not audible to the viewer. The episode’s title: “Little Bo Bleep.”

It might be the first time in a scripted family broadcast TV series where a child has said the F-word.

TAKE ACTION

Please send an email to this week’s sponsors asking that they pull their support from “Modern Family” before next week’s episode. The sponsors for this past episode were: Knorr (Unilever), Silk Soymilk (WhiteWave Foods), Turbo Tax (Intuit), and Special K (Kellogg).

YAWN…OMM tends to forget just how hard it is for anyone to actually get sponsors to do anything when it comes to shows.

The thing is, this is an actual situation for any child or parent. Children pick up bad words all the time, and that means that parents have to deal with them…or laugh about them. Whining about it won’t change that ladies.

Lindsey Lohan in court

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related articles

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

The 9,000 square foot termite house

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

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

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

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

Related articles

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

THE DINAH 2012
MUSIC LINE-UP GETS BIGGER!
MOST WANTED POP STARLETS
BC JEAN, WYNTER GORDON
& DANCE DIVA CE CE PENISTON
JUST ADDED.

Los Angeles, CA – Thought The Dinah’s entertainment line up couldn’t get any bigger? Think again!

Always breaking grounds by delivering the crème de la crème of all things entertainment The Dinah brings you this year again THE buzz-heavy breakthrough artist of the moment: BC Jean.
We know you’ve crooned along to Beyonce’s massive hit “If I were a Boy”, now meet the pop princess who originally wrote it (in about 15 minutes), snatching a record deal with Sony Records and becoming music mogul, Clive Davis’ latest protégé. The multi-platinum, award-winning songwriter, BC Jean has already scored two Top 40 charting singles, “Just a Guy” and “I’ll Survive You”, from her forthcoming debut album due out this year featuring a host of top-notch collaborators including The Matrix (Britney Spears) and Max Martin (Katy Perry).
The SoCal native has also written a pop hit with American Idol alum, Adam Lambert, for his upcoming new album, Trespassing. A double threat of a talent, BC Jean stars in Alloy’s hot new series “Talent” from the executive producers of the TV show phenomenon, “Pretty Little Liars”.
But wait there’s more! Joining the Dinah roster and keeping the party going are international music sensations Wynter Gordon and Ce Ce Peniston.

Gordon took over the dance charts around the world with her club anthem “Dirty Talk” which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance US Chart and went 3x platinum in Australia – the accompanying music video received an impressive 8 MILLION hits on YouTube. She followed up the massive success of “Dirty Talk” & “Sugar” (ft. Flo Rida) with the two worldwide hit singles “Til Death” and “Buy My Love” from her newly released EP “With The Music I Die”, which made a Hot Shot Debut on the Billboard Club Play Chart. Gordon, who’s written the title track on Mary J Blige’s multi-platinum, Grammy nominated album “The Breakthrough”, and penned hit songs for A-List artists such as David Guetta and Jennifer Lopez, is readying to drop her full-length debut album this year.

A fixture on the club scene with her chart topping international commercial hits “Finally” & “Keep On Walking”, Ce Ce Peniston is back with a brand new collaboration with world-renown DJ Paul Oakenfold. Oakenfold delivers freshest productions and fierce remixes of Peniston’s Gold-certified, timeless classic “Finally” in “We are Planet Perfecto” – the first in a new compilation series from dance pioneer Paul Oakenfold that reflects the diverse, non genre-conforming sounds that have given him the legendary status he holds today.
Want to see and hear what the next best thing in music is? The Dinah’s got it!

www.TheDinah.com

The Dinah 2012 Entertainment Line-Up Includes:
– Chaka Khan
– Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta
– Nina Sky
– BC Jean
– Wynter Gordon
– CeCe Peniston
– Anjulie
– Rye Rye
– Daniela Brooker
– Meital
– Porcelain Black

Also, appearing all weekend long: Meredith Baxter, Fortune Feimster (“Chelsea Lately”) and the cast of Showtime’s “The Real L Word”.

Ranae Holland is taking on the whole myth of the Sasquatch for the Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot, which begins this Sunday at 10pm. The open lesbians and biologist is the skeptic of the group, and often going toe to toe with a group of male Bigfoot fans on the show. Holland is not an official member of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization or BFRO, though.

According to the press release from Animal Planet “Ranae hopes her presence on the show will help the team apply proven scientific methodology and protocol to their expeditions, and uncover the existence, or non-existence, of Bigfoot.”

Here is the promo via She Wired

McNichol said in a statement that she felt it best to “be open about who I am” because she is “approaching 50.” Her publicist Jeff Ballard informed People that McNichol “”is very sad about kids being bullied. She hopes that coming out can help kids who need support. She would like to help others who feel different.”

Ballard also said that “She is very happy and healthy. And she enjoys living a very private life.”

McNichol is best known for her Emmy Award-winning role as Buddy Lawrence in the 1970′s show Family. That show ran for 86 episodes and was centered around a typical American family with all of its hopes and problems. She would go on to play Barbara Weston in Empty Nest, a spin-off of The Golden Girls.

One Million Moms sent out this- yes, this- email:

Kardashian sisters Kim, Kourtney and Khloe have teamed up with Barbie to launch their own line of limited-edition dolls. “The dolls will reflect the girls’ measurements and may even come in Kardashian-designed outfits,” a source told New York Post.

Children should not be influenced by toys that idolize lifestyles that lack morals and values. These reality stars are not the example our young girls need. Beyond being materialistic and superficial, it is a fact that a sex tape led the sisters to fame and fortune. The 72-day marriage, multiple divorces, and multiple children (Kourtney pregnant with second child now) out of wedlock are completely inappropriate role models for children.

Scenes and topics of discussion on their reality show(s) include:

• Nude yoga with a nude male yoga instructor
• Modeling in Playboy Magazine which gives mother the idea to model nude in pictures as a gift to her husband
• Discussion of sexual bondage
• Watching porn on their computers
• Suggestions of a three-some
• Excess alcohol consumption which leads to violence
• Arrest for DUI
• Married Kim strips in front of male friend to see if he looks at her to determine if he is gay or not
• Huge fights between siblings
• High volume of foul language

This material is completely inappropriate for television and as the basis for a child’s toy. Can you imagine if your daughter sees a Barbie commercial or a doll on the store shelves for a porn star? Or worse your child receives this toy as a gift at her birthday party!

The Kardashians are, honestly, nothing but fembots. They are walking manufactured unrealities when it comes too what women should be like. The are as unreal as the women that OMM want women to be, and are the kinds of women that would, if one is honest, be nothing but dilitants waiting for the ‘right man’ to come along and ‘save’ them.

They are a fake reality of what women are suppose to be, and as unrealistic a standard of beauty as Barbie is herself. The Kardashians are little more than walking examples of what wrong with the manufactured female form and intellect. Simply put, yes, I agree with OMM, but not for the reason that they would like.

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, Age 21

It has been the subject of quite a lot of speculation over the years, but it is unclear whether or not William Shakespeare was, in fact, gay. Now, Sir Ian McKellen has weighed in on the subject. McKellen, who is openly gay, has played numerous Shakespearean characters over the years, including, it should be noted, King Lear and Richard III.

McKellen stated that “Shakespeare obviously enjoyed sex with men as well as women. . .No doubt Shakespeare was gay. His predilection was evident from his works. An unmistakenly feminine portrait of his patron Henry Wriothesley adds evidence that early sonnets to ‘fair youth’ were probably meant for males.” There are two possible portraits that McKellen is discussing, specifically Wriothesley in his teens and another at the age of 21. It is hard to determine sexuality from the paintings, though, due to stylistic license.

McKellen also stated “Married, with children, he left his wife in Stratford to live in London. I’d say he slept with men. The Merchant of Venice, centering on how the world treats gays as well as Jews, has a love triangle between an older man, younger man and a woman. And complexity in his comedies with cross-dressing and disguises is immense. Shakespeare obviously enjoyed sex with men as well as women.”

Via The Advocate

Part of the debate centers around Vette, a Twi’lek, who is the slave of the Sith Warrior. The write up about this on the Huffington Post showed a lot of laziness. They are correct that Vette (whom they say is a blue-skinned alien. She’s a Twi’lek. It’s mentioned in her bio) is a “slave, treasure hunter and survivor”. She can also be tortured, humiliated, and apparently forced to watch sex acts. If you are a male Sith Warrior, you can also romance her.

And, yes, the prison warden does say “give her enough juice and she’ll show you the back door to her mother’s house.”

Ok, so I shall forgive and forget the fact that the author of this piece probably has not played the game very much, but it is this quote that they use that really worries me:

Mike Fahey wrote in Kotaku:

“I cannot remember a single video game experience that has made me feel quite as dirty and evil as my relationship with Vette has. I wish I could take it all back, but it’s too late; BioWare has made me hate myself. That was not the emotional engagement I was looking for.”

This is what Light Side and Dark Side are all about. You can, if you want, set Vette free. You can shock her every opportunity you get. The reality is that the way you treat people in this game has an effect, and if treating an NPC in a particular manner makes you feel dirty and evil, then do not do that. While treating Vette well, and even freeing her may slow your saunter to the Dark Side, it is not going to stop you if you really want to go Dark.

Now, yes, my Sith Warrior is vicious and horrifying when it comes to Vette…or anyone else. My Sith Inquisitor has only about 50 Light Side points, but that’s because she decided to thin out the number of Sith running around Dromund Kas.

The Huffington Post also states that “Other reports have been even less kind, and some newspapers have taken it as wider evidence of declining morals in video games – which is a long-standing and controversial debate in itself.”

Let me see…in World of Warcraft, you run around slaughtering people who are upset that you’ve taken their land, or who are upset because the rulers of Stormwind decided to screw them over when it came to compensating them for their hard work in rebuilding the destroyed city. You spend hours of just slaughtering people in SWTOR, and people are upset over depictions of slavery, torture and sex?

Well, the sex happens off camera, and we do presume that Leia and Han had sex a few times in order to have children in the books that followed the movies, but let us be honest here, this is getting a little silly.

Here is the Sith Warrior cut scene where we meet Vette:

Now, I wish I could find the scene were Darth Vader tortures Han Solo…or Darth Vader chokes a Moff just because he talked back to the Dark Lord of the Sith. There is, of course, the scene where Vader tortures Leia on the Death Star, and the slaves owned by Jabba the Hutt. Honestly, when you get right down to it, with the exception of the sex…SWTOR is pretty similar to the Star Wars movies.

Well, except we don’t have to endure the torture of Jar Jar Binks.

“Willows In The Wind” — The CSI team says goodbye to Catherine Willows as she makes a life-changing decision, on CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, Wednesday, Jan. 25 (10:00 – 11:00 p.m., EST/PST) on the CBS Television Network. Guest stars include Matt Lauria as FBI Agent Pratt, Titus Welliver as CEO Mark Gabriel and Annabeth Gish, as his wife, Laura Gabriel.

Helgenberg has been with the series from the beginning. Of the major actors, so far William Petersen and Gary Dourdan have already left the show. Laurence Fishburne briefly replaced Petersen, but has now been replaced by Ted Danson.

you thought I didn’t really notice. But I did. I wanted to high-five you. Yesterday I had a pair of brothers in my store. One was maybe between 15-17. He was a wrestler at the local high school. Kind of tall, stocky and handsome. He had a younger brother, who was maybe about 10-12 years old. The only way to describe him was scrawny, neat, and very clean for a boy his age. They were talking about finding a game for the younger one, and he was absolutely insisting it be one with a female character. I don’t know how many of y’all play games, but that isn’t exactly easy. Eventually, I helped the brothers pick a game called Mirror’s Edge. The youngest was pretty excited about the game, and then he specifically asked me.. “Do you have any girl color controllers?” I directed him to the only colored controllers we have which includes pink and purple ones. He grabbed the purple one, and informed me purple was his FAVORITE. The boys had been taking awhile, so their father eventually comes in. He see’s the game, and the controller, and starts in on the youngest about how he needs to pick something different. Something more manly.

I would prefer if you read the rest there. The thing is, I am a gamer. Right now, most of my time is taken up with Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I am running around with my Sith Inquisitor who has, well, not exactly fallen to the Dark Side so much as sauntered that direction. I’m a femme lesbian to boot.

Just because a child wants a game that allows them to play a female character is not indicative of, well, anything really. Mirror’s Edge is a first person action/adventure role play game. It is hardly, you know, Barbie. Most games these days, incidentally, have male and female character options because of the number of female players out there. After all, Mass Effect has a male or female option for the central character of Shepard. The female version of Shepard was voiced by Jennifer Hale, who also voices the female Republic Trooper in SWTOR. Hale creates a voice that is tough as nails.

So, just being female does not make one all pink and fluff.

Seyfried is a classically trained opera singer, and has appeared in other musical films including Mamma Mia! She will be playing the role of Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, who will be played by Anne Hathaway.

Hugh Jackman is set to play Jean Valjean opposite Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert.

Via Huffington Post

Not Rachel Maddow or Ron Paul

Ron Paul appears to be the new Justin Bieber. He has a rabid fan base while, at the same time, there are a lot of people who absolutely hate him. The 77-year-old also has the kind of rabid fans among the 17 to 29 year olds that one usually associates with boy bands. This was something that Conan O’Brien actually noted on his show as per this clip:

“The men are: late-night legend Arsenio Hall, pop star Clay Aiken, radio host Adam Carolla, the ‘Incredible Hulk’ Lou Ferrigno, magician/comedian Penn Jillette, rock star Dee Snider, actor George Takei, IndyCar legend Michael Andretti, and star of ‘American Chopper,’ Paul Teutul, Sr.

The women are: supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, pop star Debbie Gibson, actress and multi-Grammy winner Tia Carrere, author and reality star Victoria Gotti, comedienne Lisa Lampanelli, former Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, singer and actress Aubrey O’Day, actress and model Patricia Velasquez, and star of ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey,’ Teresa Giudice.”

So, how will Trump deal with two- not one- openly gay celebrity? Will he deal with it by showing his homophobia, like he did on the campaign trail, or will he just be the normal obnoxious self not caring what happens to others, or how they feel.

Or aren’t those the same thing?

Colbert by David Shankbone

Rick Santorum came in second in yesterday’s Iowa Caucuses. He has had something of a surge in New Hampshire, and last night, he got mocked by Stephen Colbert. In fact, Colbert noted that Santorum lays the credit for his victory not upon his values, his campaigning, but on his sweater vest…you know, the one he seems to love to wear with a pink shirt.

While sweater vests and pink shirts aren’t an indication that someone is gay, let us be honest, it just adds to the rumors.

Rick Santorum by Donkey Hotey

The Daily Show had fun last night with the inevitable attempts by the Republicans to find someone- anyone- to put forward other than Mitt Romney as their candidate. In a segment filmed just after returning from two weeks of vacation.

Of course, Stewart has to deal with the fact that Rick Santorum surged into a heavy lead in Iowa. He ultimately took second place.

Time of India is reporting that Kardashian changed in her closet in front of Cheban to see if he would peek or not. Her soon to be ex-husband Kris Humphries had spent some time making Kardashian think that Cheban is gay. Humphries is, apparently, convinced that the PR guy is gay.

The striptease aired in an episode of Kourtney ‘n’ Kim Take New York, and pretty much amounted to nothing since Cheban averted his eyes after Kim Kardashian had stripped to her bra. Apparently, Kardashian tells Humphries that Cheban averted his eyes and “I got changed in front of him to see if he would look but he didn’t.”

Kardashian apparently spent a lot of time quizzing Cheban about his ideal partners, and he said “light skinned, big ass.” Kardashian apparently joked back “What if we are in love with each other.”

Apparently this all came about because Cheban showed an ‘unmanly’ interest in scented candles.

You know…first of all, there are a lot of people who probably find Kim Kardashian rather ugly, and wouldn’t care if she stripped down for them, and secondly, just because someone doesn’t fit the gender stereotype does not make them automatically gay.

After all…this lesbian happens to be the most femme woman in her family.

Via The New York Times

By now, most people know about the beard and hair cutting spree from the Amish dissidents in Ohio. Somehow, we could not let the story just completely go past without noting that most people have a pretty set image of what Amish life is like, mostly from having watched things on television about them…or from this video.

Tonight, as we close out with the disappointing news out of Hasbro, and the fact that Cracked decided to actually note how the story about the Amish was one of the weirder crime sprees out there, I thought we’d run this for everyone to enjoy. I have fond memories of this song. It would run on the jukebox at my first college’s cafeteria from time to time.

Last week, PonyArchive.org, which was based out of Sweden, had to go offline. The fan site offered free full episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It all began on 14 December 2011 when Hasbro sent them a take-down notice:

Dear Ponyarchive.org:

We are counsel for Hasbro, Inc. (“Hasbro”), the owner of the copyrights
and trademarks for the MY LITTLE PONY® line of toy ponies and related
cartoons and merchandise, including the MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS
MAGIC® animated television series. We recently became aware of your
website and the archive you created at
http://ponyarchive.org/seasons/s1.php and
http://ponyarchive.org/seasons/s2.php that makes numerous episodes of
the
MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC® show available in a variety of
ways,
including direct download, links to unlisted YouTube videos, BitTorrent
sites and links to tvrage.com.

As we are sure you are aware, each episode of the MY LITTLE PONY:
FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC® television series is the copyrighted property of
Hasbro. Your unauthorized copying, display and distribution of these
episodes, therefore, constitutes copyright infringement in violation of
17
U.S.C. § 501.

PonyArchive did not comply, and instead sent them back an email in response that read:

Thanks for your consern [sic]. Since we are merely spreading friendship and? magic we feel that we’re protected by princess Celestia herself. Also, we are not based in the US – so US law does not apply to us.

Please feel free to download the episodes from our website in order to
learn about accepting, friendship and happyness too.

Have a nice one

Hasbro was not happy about that, and after the second notice was sent on 20 December, PonyArchive relented and removed the content from the site…well, with the exception of the image posted on this story.

They also stated:.

Dear Celestia,

Today we learned that Hasbro, are no real bros. They are indeed proper wankers.

We were only trying to spread the word that friendship is magic, and then these twats came along with their fancy threat-letters.

Please, banish HasNObro to the hell-holes forever.

Yours truly
Pony Mc Archiveington

Not everyone was happy with how PonyArchive reacted. Gawker reports that some of the comments left about their actions included:

“Being a brony, I am ashamed to be associated with people that choose to answer in such an arrogant and self-entitled manner. It’s childish, that’s what it is. The last thing this fandom need are people like this.”

“Not cool, PonyArchive. You’re failing to love and tolerate the very people who introduced the love and tolerate rule. Shame…”

Hasbro has also been trying to scrub YouTube of every episode they can find. In fact, those videos which have been republished on LezGetReal via YouTube have been pulled. One of the biggest problems so far is the fact that there are no DVD’s available of the episodes, they cannot be purchased via iTunes, and cannot be watched on the official site. In other words, while Hasbro is busy trying very hard to eliminate the show in a pirated format, they have not done the wise thing and offered it in an official manner via, say, Hub, iTunes, or their own site.

Correction: The episodes are available for purchase through iTunes. I do, upon occasion, have difficulty with accessing iTunes, so I missed that.

Via Brony News
Via Gawker

Maher also released several tweets about this. In one he said “Just in case #Kim Jung-iL DID die and came back to life, I decided to do my daily Tebowing by him.” Accompanying the picture of him kneeling in the tree was the tweet “TREEbowing Happy New Year everybody and thanks to the 600,000 who joined me on twitter in 2011.”

Maher first sparked controversy this past Christmas Eve by tweeting “Wow, Jesus just f***ed #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere … Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler ‘Hey, Buffalo’s killing them.’”

In responding the criticism by saying “Overreaction fr biblethumpers re my Tebow tweet reminds me of North Koreans wailing at the Kim Jung-il funeral: Brainwashing is brainwashing.”

Still, Maher also decided to needle Tebow, Katy Perry and Russell Brand by saying “My thoughts/prayers go out to Russel [sic] and Katy and I’m calling on our lord and savior Tim Tebow to bring them back together for a makeup [expletive].”

Via CBS

via Wikipedia

Ricky Martin is not getting married in Spain. That has been the rumor for some time, but he has routinely denied it. Instead, he plans on marrying his boyfriend Carlos Gonzalez on 28 January in New York City. Same-sex marriage is legal in New York.

Martin came out in March of 2010, and has since expressed his support for marriage equality. Martin has called for marriage equality in Puerto Rico, where it is currently illegal. He has said in the past “What I want is for them to say no to discrimination so that equality among us human beings may be a reality in my country.” Rumors of his getting married in Spain began after he was granted Spanish citizenship on 4 November.

This is still somewhat speculation. A Puerto Rican newspaper is reporting this, and they were told by a source close to the couple.

Via FOX News