07/18/2008
News: AIDS Vaccine, Beijing, Albino Eagle, El Paso, Newlywed Game
Obama will not speak at the Brandenburg Gate, according to Bloomberg, but at the Victory Column just down the road: "A stage will be set up at the column, a 19th-century fluted structure that lies at the opposite end of a tree-lined boulevard from the Brandenburg Gate, the newspaper said. The campaign will announce the plans for July 24 today, it said. An appearance at the Victory Column, capped by its trademark gilded angel, will still give the Illinois senator the Brandenburg Gate as a backdrop in the distance."
Rare albino Golden Eagle discovered in Colorado.
Australia World youth Day pilgrims tell their gay hosts that they will "burn in hell."
K-Fed gets the kids from Britney in Cheeto divorce trial.
Rue McClanahan, Caroline Rhea, Olivia Newton-John, and Leslie Jordan get ready to make LOGO a bit more Sordid...
San Jose City College biology professor sues community college district for firing her over answering question about homosexuality and heredity: " In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in San Jose, June Sheldon alleges that college officials trampled on academic freedoms and free speech rights by firing her in February. Sheldon is backed in the case by the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative organization that also has been heavily involved in the legal battles over gay marriage in California and elsewhere. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, reinstatement to her teaching job and a court finding that Sheldon's rights were violated."
Proposed George W. Bush Sewage Plant qualifies for ballot in San Francisco.
Gay community center opens its doors in El Paso, Texas: "El Paso's new Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered-Queer Center opened its doors to the public. The center houses non-profit organizations, counselors and even a flower shop. 'We want this place to be the hub of the gay community,' said director Charles Sloane. The facility is the crown jewel of El Paso's emerging gay community; a community that's mobilizing to have their voice heard as never before."
The Watchmen are coming (site not totally sfw).
Same-sex couples ineligible for Game Show Network's new version of The Newlywed Game.
Desperate Housewives gay couple Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm will be back in the upcoming flash-forward-five-years season: "...they now have a four-year-old daughter. Cherry said adding them to the show was 'just my commentary on how a gay couple moves in and nothing much happens.'"
VIDEO: A press rehearsal for the 9 to 5 Broadway musical.
Justin Timberlake kisses David Beckham's foot: "‘That's what $250million [£125m] tastes like,’ he told the audience." Maybe Becks can give him some tips on accessorizing.
Going to Beijing and want to know where to find the "gay scene"?
North Carolina anti-bullying bill killed: "The bill was controversial because it listed 'sexual orientation' and other characteristics as reasons schoolchildren might be the targets of bullying. Groups such as the Christian Action League and the N.C. Family Policy Council did not want the term in state law, saying that gay-rights groups would use it to leverage other rights."
Kenneth Cole's brief encounter.
Large U.S. HIV vaccine trial canceled: "...a top federal official said scientists realized that they did not know enough about how H.I.V. vaccines and the immune system interact. The decision is a major setback in an effort to develop an H.I.V. vaccine that began 24 years ago when government health officials promised a marketed vaccine by 1987. Health officials have long contended that such a vaccine would be their best weapon to control the AIDS pandemic."
High school dodgeball player #2 returning to Ugly Betty this season.
Posted 2:45 PM EST by Andy in AIDS/HIV, Australia, Barack Obama, Beijing, Berlin, Britney Spears, Comic Books, David Beckham, Desperate Housewives, Discrimination, Gay Marriage, George W. Bush, Justin Timberlake, Nature, News, San Francisco, Texas, Theatre, Underwear | Permalink
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I don't believe that eagle is albino.
First off "part albino", as in the article, really can't be; the bird seems to just have some lack of pigmentation of the feathers but doesn't seem to have any other albino characteristics.
Posted by: what | Jul 18, 2008 3:02:41 PM
Oh, wow! What's going on with that Timberlake kid? Was he so overcome by Beck's beauty he felt the need to throw himself at his feet? I don't know about anyone else but there's something there that's just a bubble off center to me. But to each their own I say.
Posted by: JerzeeMike | Jul 18, 2008 3:08:39 PM
So Obama's speaking at the Siegessäule? Lots of cruising near there in the park. In fact, it gave its name to Berlin's queer magazine: http://www.siegessaeule.de/tt18.shtml
I seem to recall a hot threesome with my boyfriend in a WC near that column...
Posted by: Kevinvt | Jul 18, 2008 3:49:00 PM
Ladies & Germs....I stole that from Ms. M because my subject is theft:
1. So the queens at LOGO at so devoid of their own ideas that they steal one from the movies. Well, technically not stealing, I guess. But the lack of originality at LOGO is quadrupled by the lack of originality in the original trailer trash film—one of the most overrated pieces of steaming, stinking celluloid excrement ever dumped in theatres. LUV Leslie Jordan but he was wasted as yet another tired, tormented drag queen—an idea SO old I don't know whom they stole it from.
2. It's a Trailer Trash Carnival as Timberland Trash toys with a toe job on Brit Trailer Trash Beckham. Raise your hand if you're tired of ostensibly straight celebrities toying with the gay for cheap laughs and even cheaper shock—or do you really want to see MARdonna and Britney fake kiss again? When Justine finds out what $250 uncut million feels like up his lily white ass—call me.
3. And, finally, leave it to a gay Repug like Mark I Wish Someone Anyone Would Take My Cherry to steal a major plot device from another hit series [which makes DH look like a production of "Lil Abner" at the Tulsa, OK, Middle School] on his own network. Flash forward? How about flash-in-the-pan as, unlike, e.g., Greg Berlanti, we don't recall hearing about any other projects on Cherry's jubilee. And off with One Hit Wonder's head if James Denton has been written entirely out of the show.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Jul 18, 2008 3:50:18 PM
I've seen the first few episodes of 'Sordid Lives' and, sorry to say, it's quite awful. The acting is pretty terrible (Newton-John and Rhea being the worst offenders) and it even fails on a camp level because it appears that some of the actors are taking the inane material too seriously.
It's a shame ~ could've been great fun. I'm sure it will be a huge hit.
Posted by: jeffreychrist | Jul 18, 2008 4:04:59 PM
Leland,
it's Friday afternoon--come on and get happy
"We're headin' 'cross the river-- wash your sins away in tide
It's, oh, so peaceful on the other side
Shout Hallelujah! Come on get happy...."
Booze don't do it for you, does it, Leland? What about a little reefer?
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 18, 2008 4:10:37 PM
I love the NC story. Don't want to prevent those gay kids from being bullied lest they grow into well-adjusted, happy adults who might demand "other rights."
Posted by: Ernie | Jul 18, 2008 4:51:16 PM
Thanks, Derrick! LOL. I have noticed an extremely long PMS cycle en moi the last few weeks. So many targets for derision. So little time.
Having the great sense for culture & camp that ya do, you might appreciate one of my film fantasies:
Scene: Night. A major city. The sound of wailing sirens of multiple police cars and fire engines trying to edge their way through a huge crowd looking upward on a giant skyscraper.
The camera pans up and up and up, to discover our hero on the wide ledge of a penthouse. "Jump!" "Don't jump!" "Who is that?" "Why would...?"
More of the same as moments pass and the camera glides through the open double glass balcony doors from which he came. It pans around the perfect luxe apartment. A fire in the fireplace next to a deep, wall-to-wall white Flokati rug. And those walls are covered with photos of celebrities and personal photos of our hero with assorted people young and old over many years, glowing with joy that never knew it needed to also hope.
The camera cuts back to the ledge where our hero looks down at the microscopic crowd far below. MUSIC: It's Judy's voice singing the song whose lyrics you quoted—"Get Happy" which our tuxedoed hero begins to perfectly lip synch and recreates her choreography from "Summer Stock," including briefly tipping an imaginary hat over his eyes.
After the final, "Get ready for the judgment day" he swan dives off the balcony and falls in slow slow slow motion as, again, we hear Judy's voice, this time from the number below [not what most would guess] which was rerun as the closing spot of the very last first run "Ed Sullivan Show." Fade to black as he continues to gently fall and the song continues, with a faint sound of rippling wind, and the credits scroll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh57sCPjtzw
Posted by: Leland Frances | Jul 18, 2008 4:59:31 PM
I don't know why they refer to the bird as "part albino." Fully albino birds aren't totally white sometimes.
From Wikipedia:
"In some animals, especially albinistic birds and reptiles, ruddy and yellow hues or other colors may be present on the entire body or in patches (as is common among pigeons), due to the presence of other pigments unaffected by albinism such as porphyrins, pteridines and psittacins, as well as carotenoid pigments derived from the diet."
Posted by: scientitian | Jul 18, 2008 5:10:47 PM
"Raise your hand if you're tired of ostensibly straight celebrities toying with the gay for cheap laughs and even cheaper shock"
*RAISES BOTH HANDS*
It was cute for about ten minutes as many years ago. Now it just makes you look like a douchebag. Thanks but no thanks, boys.
Posted by: Chas | Jul 18, 2008 6:29:15 PM
Well, at least he aims high. Only took $250 million for Justin to totally sell off what remaining self respect he had. I've seen people do it for much less.
Posted by: Jason | Jul 18, 2008 8:36:44 PM
La Timberlake is douche bag. I saw his sorry ass walking down the street in Beverly Hills a while back and Miss Thang has a fucking 'tood. It was all "Oh don't look at me". Fuck you. Shave that pubic hair off your chin, bitch and grow up. You got where you are by sucking dick. Bitch, PLEASE!
Posted by: Tralfaz | Jul 18, 2008 8:38:36 PM
Derrick and Leland
pass the joint this way
I'll say this much for Logo. I'm loving it at the moment since I just switched from comcast (didn't carry it) to Verizon VIOS which does. Totaly loving VIOS by the way
I have never seen Logo before so I am liking quite a bit of it in this gay starved area that I live. I am looking foreword to Sordid Lives.
The movies are old, but I have never seen any of the ones they are currently showing.
Also I just saw a great vid by AGAINST ME for their song "STOP". A great message during the build up to the election.
Today I learned all about Gay Ireland on the Travel show.
:-)
I can see already that a million repeats of Queer as Folk is going to get annoying really quickly.
In time Logo will be old hat, but till then.....
:-)
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Jul 18, 2008 11:07:36 PM