TowleTech V.64

As the Wii continues its ascent toward being the most popular game console ever sold, Nintendo announced the forthcoming Wii Fit, a system for "excergaming." A series of games comes bundled with a pressure sensitive Wii Balance Board, which users balance on to virtually hula-hoop or dodge soccer balls, all while recording their progress at lowering their BMI. "The board is used for an extensive array of fun and dynamic activities, including aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches and games. Many of these activities focus towards providing a 'core' workout, a popular exercise method that emphasizes slower, controlled motions." If they release a Super Yoga Mario, I'm sold.

An updated carousel will be erected next summer in a Manhattan park that will spin riders around a glass-enclosed marine world while riding on the backs of translucent dolphins among projections of swimming sea creatures. And I'm not kidding. I assume the soundtrack accompanying the ride will include dolphianic hits like "It's Raining Men," "I'm Coming Out," and maybe "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." Because the kiddies love that.

Tivo users can now buy or rent movies from Amazon straight from their television. If it sounds like pay-per-view movies, it pretty much is. Still, with the digitization of all media, this could be the only way movies are available in the near future.

iTunes launched a section called "Next Big Thing," which will allow emerging artists to sell their albums for $6.99 or less, DRM-free. The small collection of discounted albums seem to be hand-picked by the gods of iTunes. Still, very cool. (The gay twin rock band Nemesis Rising is included).

Will Microsoft buy Facebook?
 

A reputable analyst predicted that Apple would release the iPod Nano revamped and released as the iPhone Nano later this year. While this was said to be based on insider sources, the prediction was later retracted. Now rumor has it that a touchscreen iPod will debut in August.

Perez Hilton announced today that he would be moving up the chain, getting his own television series on VH1 called "What Perez Sez."

TowleTech is written by TR correspondent Daniel Williford.

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American Publisher Demonstrates Ridiculous Censorship Standards

A German children's book in a series that is a bestseller in 13 countries around the world inspired the interest of an American publisher but was rejected by Boyds Mills Press after the author refused to censor this illustration of a tiny sculpture in a museum. Spiegel reports:

"As it turned out, there were a couple of changes that had to be made before the books could be unleashed on the America public. First off, smokers had to be removed from the illustrations. But that wasn't all. One image shows a scene from an art gallery -- and for realism's sake, there is a cartoonish nude hanging on the wall along with a tiny, seven-millimeter-tall statue of a naked man on a pedestal. American kiddies, obviously, could never be expected to handle such a depiction of the human body. The US publisher, somewhat awkwardly, asked if they could be removed. The author, not surprisingly, considers the request to be absurd. The statue's mini-willy, the author points out, is hardly even a half-millimeter long. And the naked woman hanging on the wall? Hardly a realistic depiction of the female anatomy. The US publisher, says Berner, was embarrassed to ask for the changes, but they were even more afraid of how American mommies and daddies might react if junior were exposed to such pornography."

And that detail is part of a larger illustration, which I've posted after the jump.

And the 'filthy' nude is pictured below. Dangerous, eh?

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #152

KEITH OLBERMANN: Has a little chat with Michael Moore.

JUDGE JUDY: What is a booty bump? (source: virtual matter)

COLTON FORD: The porn actor-turned-singer has a new single out, "The Way You Love Me".

HELEN THOMAS vs. BUSH: Broken record.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here!

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Sinbad Actor Kerwin Mathews Dies at 81

The NYT reports that "the death was confirmed by his partner of 46 years, Tom Nicoll."

In addition to playing Sinbad in 1957, Mathews has plenty of other roles.

From the obit:

"During his 20-year career, Mr. Mathews acted in 22 movies and made many television appearances. He is also known for playing Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, tied to the ground by the little people of the island of Lilliput, in Mr. Harryhausen’s 1960 movie The 3 Worlds of Gulliver. Mr. Mathews was born in Seattle on Jan. 8, 1926. After graduating from Beloit College in Wisconsin, he taught high school English in Lake Geneva, Wis. In the early 1950s he moved to California and won a part in a play at the Pasadena Playhouse. An agent spotted him and got him a contract with Columbia Pictures. Mr. Mathews retired from acting in 1978 and moved to San Francisco. Except as Sinbad and Gulliver, Mr. Nicoll said, Mr. Mathews was never satisfied with merely playing action roles. 'He always wanted to do light comedy, or something more weighty,' he said. Then, in 1963, Mr. Mathews was cast as Johann Strauss Jr. in the Disney television production The Waltz King. 'He was most proud to play Strauss,' Mr. Nicoll said, 'and that he had to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. Whether they actually followed him I don’t know, but he tried very hard.'"

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Shark Week at the New York Metropolitan Museum in August

Damien Hirst's formaldehyde shark work, "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living", will be on loan to the Met and is going on display by the end of August:

"Hirst's shark -- as it is familiarly known to the art- loving public -- is the most prominent work created by the young British artists of the 1990s. It was originally bought by the collector Charles Saatchi for 50,000 pounds ($101,000), a sum that caused a sensation at the time (though it now shows the inflation that contemporary art prices have undergone in the interim). Right from the start, Hirst's shark caused conservation problems. Unlike the other preserved wildlife in the artist's sculptural tableaux -- which now include large quantities of sheep, cows, pigs and other fauna -- the shark wasn't at first properly injected with formaldehyde. As a result, it deteriorated rapidly."

Hirst offered to restore the work after hedge-fund manager and art collector Steven A. Cohen bought it for $8 million in 2005.

Forbes' writer notes: "He thus posed a neat problem to those who agonize over the philosophy of art. Was the essence of Hirst's work a particular shark, or was it the idea of putting a predatory marine carnivore in a tank and calling it modern art? (Personally, my feeling is that Hirst is correct and the answer is the latter.)"

Judge for yourself at the Met this fall.

If you have more thirst for Hirst...
Damien Hirst Pill Cabinet Sets Auction Record [tr]
$100 Million Damien Hirst Diamond-Encrusted Skull Unveiled [tr]
George Michael, Addicted to Art, Pills, or the Two Together [tr]

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News: Barbara Boxer, Ivri Lider, Mike Gravel, Keanu Reeves

Senator Mike Gravel: Why I Wasn't Invited to the HRC Gay Debate. Gravel: "Yesterday the Human Rights Campaign announced that it will not invite me to the first-ever presidential debate on gay issues because I didn't raise enough money. To say that I'm shocked is an understatement. I can confidently say, of all presidential candidates, I've been the most outspoken advocate for gay rights."

NewNowNext talks with out Israeli singer Ivri Lider about a few things, among them musicians' refusal to discuss their sexuality: "It’s an interesting discussion because, on one hand, an artist - he’s a person and he has his world and all kinds of things that could be hard for him, like maybe his family. But on the other hand, I feel that it’s a shame that more people do not do that. I think it’s good for them and good for our community and we need that. We need people…especially artists that people look up to. We need that."

Rob Cole, journalist who helped create national readership for The Advocate, has died at 76: "His work was encouraging to other gay journalists, such as Mark Thompson, a former Advocate senior editor and author of books on gay spirituality, history and culture. 'In those days, for someone to leave a mainstream career and work for a struggling gay newspaper was an extraordinary act of courage and bravery,' Thompson said."

It never ends: more Becks, more!

Spike in NYC syphilis cases among gay men "disconcerting," say officials: "The 260 cases reported during the first three months of 2007 compares with 128 during the same period last year, the city's Health Department reported. Men accounted for 96% of new cases, and most occurred among the homosexual population. The 10 cases reported by women, meanwhile, signal the potential for further increases among that group, health officials said."

Weeping mother takes the stand in the 2001 gay bashing murder trial of John McGhee: I did not recognize my son. His face had no shape. He was all purple and blue. What I saw was monstrous. I couldn't believe it. I was afraid to kiss him."

Keanu Reeves cops out.

Michael Cunningham to give reading in Provincetown this Sunday.

Barbara Boxer: "Impeachment should be on the table.": "I’ve always said that you need to keep it on the table, and you need to look at these things, because now people are dying because of this administration. That’s the truth. And they won’t change course. They are ignoring the Congress. They keep signing these signing statements which mean that he’s decided not to enforce the law. This is as close as we’ve ever come to a dictatorship. When you have a situation where Congress is stepped on, that means the American people are stepped on. So I don’t think you can take anything off the table. Because in fact the Constitution doesn’t permit us to take these things off the table…"

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Armistead Maupin on Gays and Scientology

Holy Moly reports on a book reading last night in London in which Armistead Maupin, who just released his latest novel, Michael Tolliver Lives, made clear his thoughts on Scientology — and Edna Turnblad:

Maupin: "...of course the Church of Scientology comes in very handy. (huge laugh from audience) It's the biggest ex gay movement in America. They catch you when you're young and confused, tell you they'll look after you, even provide you with a wife and child... Then of course you have to do what they call an audit, where you confess everything you've ever done into a tape recorder, so they've got the tapes. So once you're famous and successful you have to go along with all their nonsense about people falling into volcanoes... (pause)... then you play a woman in a movie musical, a part created by a drag queen and written by a gay man..."

We'd like many more tales of anything from Maupin, please...

(via dlisted)

You may have missed...
Armistead Maupin's Partner Speaks Out on Age and Dating [tr]
Gavin Newsom's Maupin Tribute: Tuesday is Michael Tolliver Day in SF [tr]
Armistead Maupin: How to Live Well at any Age [tr]
Hairspray: a Review [tr]

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Rugby Icon Ian Roberts Battled Slurs with Kisses

Gay rugby icon-turned-actor Ian Roberts is looking fantastic in the pages of the upcoming "Sex" issue of The Advocate, where he's featured in a cover story.

Roberts discusses the difficulties of breaking into Hollywood, and goes into great detail about his recently-wrapped up involvement in trials surrounding the murder of gay teen Arron Light, which I've posted about here extensively.

Roberts also discusses his coming out in 1995, which was prompted by a "degrading" article in an Australian tabloid:

"I enjoyed the actual moment. It was empowering to be out. All the confusion that had been part of my life suddenly vanished. When the whole world knew I was gay, I wasn't angry anymore. It's a whole clash about what it means to be a man, about masculinity. People would say, 'You must be the exception to the rule [of what gay men are like]. You don't swish around, you're not a cross-dresser.'"

Also noted is the strategy he used when fans would shout "faggot" or "cocksucker" from the stands. He'd return the slurs with a wink, or something more direct:

"If anything, I took it as a compliment. If they were, by any chance, cute, I'd give them a cute kiss at some point during the game. It became a rugby league story—if you got kissed by me on the field, you weren't half bad to look at."

The issue hits newsstands on July 17th.

You may have missed...
Ian Roberts Cleared of Assaulting Ex-Boyfriend [tr]
'Big, cuddly softie' Ian Roberts in Court on Assault Charge [tr]
Ian Roberts Testifies About Murdered Friend [tr]
Gay Rugby Icon Ian Roberts in Superman Returns [tr]
Gay Rugby Icon Ian Roberts Testifies About Abuse [tr]

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Bill Richardson Apologizes for "Maricón" Moment

Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson, who said this week that in the Spanish that he grew up with, the word maricón "means simply 'gay,' not positive or negative," apologized for his exchange with deposed radio host Don Imus in 2006, saying he used the term playfully.

Said Richardson: "My record is the strongest among the presidential candidates on gay rights issues and I'm puzzled by the timing of this. When it happened a year ago, nobody seemed to think it was terribly important. Now it surfaces. It's probably a sign from other campaigns that they are little worried about me. It was a playful exchange between me and Don Imus that was not intended to demean anybody, but if I offended anybody, I apologize."

Richardson Says Remark Meant Playfully [ap via washington post]

You may have missed...
Bill Richardson's Support for Gays Ignored by Mainstream Media [tr]
Bill Richardson's "Job Interview" Campaign Ads [tr]

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Beatlemania vs. Beckham-mania: A Tale of Two British Invasions

Of course I may be treading on sacrilegious ground by drawing connections between the robots and the Fab Four, but here goes.

On February 7th, 1964, when the Beatles arrived at JFK, a line-up of the fanatical American public greeted the British celebrities. Forty-three years later, at LAX, they send their emissaries, the paparazzi.

Plenty has changed in all that time, except perhaps the style of metal barricades.

The arrival, after the jump...

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Gay Immigrant Satendar Singh Killed in Holiday Hate Crime

A few days before the 4th of July holiday, 26-year-old Satendar Singh, a Fijian national who India-West says "won a visa to the U.S. through the immigration lottery" was targeted and killed by attackers at Lake Natoma, California while picnicking allegedly because of his race and sexuality.

Friends say "an ugly attack laced with racist and homophobic slurs" led up to a group of Russian men attacking Singh with their fists, and some say, brass knuckles.

The attack was unprovoked, say friends: "The group had arrived at the lake at approximately 2 that afternoon. According to various accounts later recounted in the Sacramento Bee, a group of Russian men nearby began directing their comments toward Singh, an employee with a local AT&T call center who had been in this country for seven years. Despite his last name, Singh wore neither a turban nor a beard, aside from a small goatee. As he and his friends settled in to enjoy an early Fourth of July celebration, the Russian men began making several racial and homophobic remarks to Singh. 'I'm not pretty sure, but I think (Singh) responded by saying he wasn't a gay,' one of Singh's friends who witnessed the incident and who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told India-West. 'I told them we had come to enjoy the day and that we didn't want to get into a fight or something, and I thought it was all over.'"

But it wasn't over.

"'They were targeting him because Satendar was dancing to Indian music throughout the rest of the day, like the rest of us...I don't know what (the Russians) were saying or if Satendar said something back, but then it happened,' the witness said. One of the men from the Russian group came over and hit Singh in the face. Some witnesses claim that Singh's attacker had assaulted him with a 'knuckle duster' or pair of brass knuckles, but the witness could not confirm that any such weapon was used. The blow caused Singh to fall and hit his head on the concrete pavement. Almost immediately, he began bleeding from the head. After handing his phone to a woman standing next to him, 'I ran after the guy and he threw a bottle at me, but I couldn't catch him,' he told India-West."

Singh, who had been living in America for seven years, died four days later of head trauma sustained in the attack. Police are investigating the attack as a homicide while trying to gather evidence on its status as a hate crime.

Equality California has jumped on the case. Said Executive Director Geoff Kors: "First and foremost our thoughts go out to Mr. Singh, his family and his friends. If the attack on Mr. Singh turns out to be motivated by hate against any particular group, California's hate crimes law can and should be applied. This potential hate crime reminds us that it is time for the federal hate crimes statute to catch up to be similarly inclusive. We need to embrace policies that encourage people to respect our diverse society. If the Sacramento Sheriff's Department asked for help from the federal government in this case, federal law enforcement officials could get involved if the crime turns out to be motivated by racial bias, but not if it was prompted only by anti-LGBT bias. That gross inconsistency needs to change."

Young Fiji Indian Killed in Alleged Hate Crime Incident [india west]
Legislation Follows Brutal Racist/Homophobic Attack [san francisco bay times]

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