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Iceland Hub



04/19/2007


News: Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, GOP, James Franco, FAA

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Listen: Beyonce and Andre 3000's version of Amy Winehouse's track "Back to Black."

Johanna6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Iceland's Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the first openly gay prime minister in the entire world, steps down from her post today.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Coldplay's Chris Martin's shirtless day in the park.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d The Church of England's seemingly pro-gay request: "The Diocese of Manchester has instructed the official panel appointing its new bishop to select someone who can establish “positive relationships” with gay Anglicans and non-worshippers."

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d GOP organization funding marriage equality lobbying efforts: "The group has spent $500,000 on lobbying since last month, including efforts in Rhode Island, Delaware, Indiana, West Virginia and Utah."

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Two and a Half Men is coming back next year but without the half part.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova denied parole.

Franco6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival awards James Franco with Ally Award today: "His multi-faceted talents coupled with his contributions to LGBT film both in front of the camera and behind the scenes have helped shine the spotlight on LGBT cinema and a filmmaker's right to free expression."

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer had to undergo shoulder surgery yesterday following a bicycle accident.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d McDonald's might make breakfast an all day option.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d The White House Correspondents' Dinner takes place in DC tonight - hosted by Conan O'Brien.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Relief is in sight - those recent lengthy flight delays caused by sequester-related furloughs will come to an end by tomorrow: "The FAA issued a statement Saturday, saying that it had suspended all employee furloughs and that 'the system will resume normal operations by Sunday evening.'"

 


Band Knows Straight Love And Gay Love Are One And The Same: VIDEO

DitkaVideo

The music video for Icelandic band Dikta's latest track, "What Are You Waiting For?" revolves around a couple tested by one of the partners' racing career. When they were casting, however, the band realized that the narrative remained unchanged if the couple in question were both men, so that's what they did.

An explanation, via Reddit:

During the writing process we decided to change the couple from traditional hetero to being two gay men, feeling as it wouldn't change the narrative of the story, that in the society today it shouldn't matter if the couple was gay or straight.

In a way we felt we were taking a stand in 'normalizing' LBGT but due to the graphic and violent content of the video when we also feared we'd be misinterpreted as being gay bashing.

After several edits and subsequent screenings we feel that the finished video comes out as we hoped; on it's own it's not a "pro" or "against" statement but takes the kind of 80s action hero "fight for love" theme/cliché and opens it up to the fact that there's no such thing as a standard couple. All this by simply changing the couple from being hetero to gay.

Watch the video AFTER THE JUMP, but be warned the level of violence is both disturbing and potentially not so work friendly.

Continue reading "Band Knows Straight Love And Gay Love Are One And The Same: VIDEO" »


Patti Smith And Russell Crowe, Blowing Minds In Reykjavik: VIDEO

PattiRussell

Russell Crowe's a busy dude. He's in Iceland at the movement to shoot a film called Noah, but yesterday he took a break from his on-camera work to perform not one, not two, but three brief rock'n'roll concerts around Reykjavik, perhaps in celebration of Reykjavik's annual "culture night."

He was joined onstage by his friend, the musician and actor Alan Doyle, and during his latter two appearances Patti Smith made a cameo, driving the crowds into a totally justifiable frenzy. AFTER THE JUMP, see Smith join Russell and Doyle in the intimate bar at the KEX Hostel, performing "Because The Night." Patti's godlike.

Continue reading "Patti Smith And Russell Crowe, Blowing Minds In Reykjavik: VIDEO" »


Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr Dons Pink Dress, Rides in Gay Pride Parade to Support Punk Band Pussy Riot: VIDEO

Gnarr

Now here's a progressive mayor:

Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr rode through the streets of the Icelandic capital in a bright pink dress and matching balaclava to add his voice to calls to free three Pussy Riot rockers facing seven years in a Russian jail for an anti-government performance...

...Gnarr, formerly an actor and comedian, made the gesture Saturday during Rekyavik's yearly gay-pride festival, which ran Aug. 7 to 12.

The Reykjavik mayor's colorful protest came the same day as Icelandic musician Bjork published a statement expressing sympathy for Pussy Riot on her site, saying she understood the defendants "as a musician and a mother."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Continue reading "Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr Dons Pink Dress, Rides in Gay Pride Parade to Support Punk Band Pussy Riot: VIDEO" »


NEWS: A Pansexual Legislator In Texas, A Tormented Androgyne In London, And The Sanctity Of Marriage In Nevada

Matthew-mitcham-float

Towleroad-roadicon After his London disappointment, gay Aussie diver Matthew Mitcham ponders the future:

Mitcham ... has had enough of the incessant pounding and had gone to London pretty much convinced that he and his body couldn't take much more. But then he felt his love of the Olympic Games reignited, so much so that he never wants to miss another one of them. That means either joining the dread ranks of those reporting on his sport, or continuing in it, almost certainly in the shape-shifting role of a springboard diver.

"I've always been a platform specialist who's done springboard either to fill spots or because I was semi-OK at it," Mitcham said. "So I have been in discussion with Chava (Sobrino), my coach, about the possibility of becoming solely a springboard diver. It's certainly a possibility and I'm not really going to take a holiday when I get home. I'm actually going to start working on the strength to become a springboard diver right away because it's going to take a long time to get my thighs as big as (China's) He Chong's."

Towleroad-roadicon Now that she's running unopposed, Texas pol Mary Gonzalez has come out. Not as a lesbian -- she already did that -- but as pansexual:

“During the campaign if I had identified as pansexual, I would have overwhelmed everyone,” she said this week, adding that people don’t know what being pan means. “Now that I’m out of the campaign, I’m completely much more able to define it.”

Although her election focused on helping El Paso’s District 75 citizens gain access to clean drinking water and better educational opportunities, her sexuality was front and center, and something she had to repeatedly address. Mainstream media called her the Latina lesbian lawmaker. The coverage led to negative comments about her dating men in the past and accusations that she was not a “true lesbian,” Gonzalez said.

Towleroad-roadicon In Nevada, US District Chief Judge Robert Jones has set a date to hear arguments on marriage equality. He'll accept lawyers' arguments only -- no testimonies:

Jones ... said he planned to rely on oral and written arguments from attorneys, not courtroom testimony from people who might be offered as experts on the history of discrimination against homosexuals.

"Testimony would be not only useless but an absurd inquiry.

CasterSemenya Towleroad-roadicon Yesterday, the lovely androgyne Caster Semanya, a world-champion runner and now an Olympic silver-medalist, looked a little like a woman throwing a race.

Towleroad-roadicon -- and who would blame her? This three-year-old, marvelously written story from the New Yorker details the terrible torment endured by the then 18-year-old athlete when her dominance in the 800-meters led to a protracted investigation of her gender. 

Towleroad-roadicon Steve and Roger have been together 19 years, and their family is very large.

Towleroad-roadicon More on Paul Ryan's homophobia.

Towleroad-roadicon How Olympic skepticism gave way to delight.

Towleroad-roadicon Reykjavik mayor Jon Gnar, at Iceland's iconic pride parade, supports imprisoned Russian punk band Pussy Riot. 

Towleroad-roadicon (They're in prison for behaving badly in a church, and could be imprisoned for up to seven years. They'll learn their fates on Friday.) 

Towleroad-roadicon Tonight, watch the Perseids

 


Occupy Wall Street Goes Global

2011-10-15_134411Today's maybe the biggest day yet for Occupy Wall Street, with events breaking out in 87 countries, including Andorra, Luxembourg, Iceland, and Senegal. Senegal!

According to CNN, the protestors' demands are typically, hearteningly anarchic. In South Korea, a protestor expressed solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Movement, claimed to have no particular beef with the leadership in Seoul, and suggested his demonstration seeks redress for "economic problems worldwide." In Indonesia, an honest-to-goodness Communist named Rudi Daman declaimed a harsher message at a protest outside the American embassy in Jakarta:

We wanted to show that the American regime, its system of imperialism needs to be destroyed.

Yikes. Think that'll get quoted on Fox?

Happily, most protestors, even on the other side of the globe, seem to have tenderer feelings towards the United States. And despite the world's grim economic situation, seemingly inevitable slide towards geopolitical instability, and generally frowny outlook on just about everything ... doesn't there seem to be something kind of giddy about these protests? Something ... jubilant? Hopeful, even? Lookit all those smiles breaking out at Occupy Tokyo, AFTER THE JUMP... 

Continue reading "Occupy Wall Street Goes Global" »





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