Sigur Rós frontman and Boyfriend Release Album: Riceboy Sleeps

If you're a fan of Icelandic band Sigur Rós, you may want to check out Riceboy Sleeps. It's a new release by Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós and his boyfriend Alex Somers. Together they produce art and music, combining their lush, ambient, ethereal compositions with nostalgic imagery. Their album just came out this week.

I've posted the EPK for it, AFTER THE JUMP...

There's also an extensive interview with the couple at Woolf & Wilde. In it, Jónsi talks about how they met:

"My band Sigur Rós were touring and we happened to be in Boston. At first I met Alex’s brother, who gave me his CD as he is a music maker also. I was listening to it and it was quite good, not like many CDs we get from our fans [laughs]. After the show I met Alex’s brother again and there was Alex standing beside him. Wow! As soon as I saw him I thought that he was the most beautiful boy I have ever seen. But for some reason I thought he must be straight. Then I had to get into my bus heading to another city to play. Anyway during six months I stayed in touch with Alex’s brother via emails and when I finally returned again to Boston, I decided to give him a call and meet for a beer somewhere. I called and Alex answered. He came to the hotel where I was staying and we just never went out for that drink. And that was it."

Sample the album on the EPK and listen to an interview, AFTER THE JUMP...

Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower with Aurora Borealis

Over the past few days I've occasionally been checking out the webcam that faces Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland (it's on until March 28 for the spring equinox and in honor of John and Yoko's honeymoon). For a webcam, it's pretty killer. Anyway, I just happened to check in and caught a frame (it updates every 5 minutes with a 30-second exposure) with a beautiful shot of the aurora borealis in the background. This is an unenhanced screencap. I was pretty amazed to be able to see the northern lights so clearly.

Thought I'd share.

The Imagine Peace Tower is powered entirely by geothermal energy.

One more shot, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Houston judge and AIDS activist John Paul Barnich, the first openly gay man to become a city court judge in Texas, dies at 63. Gay historian and NYC activist Donn Teal dies at 76.

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Two women say they were arrested for kissing at a San Antonio mall: "Garcia said the officers — a Bexar County sheriff's deputy and an employee from a private security company — began harassing them Dec. 26 because her girlfriend gave her a kiss on the cheek while sitting inside the mall on a bench. Mall officials said the women, both 22, were acting inappropriately and were told to leave because they were not complying with the shopping center's code of conduct."

Tom Cruise shows off his bod in Brazil.

Gay Bishop Gene Robinson leads Maryland Senate prayer "[in which he asked God to bless the legislators with] anger at discrimination in all its forms."

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Federal judge: Gay porn website Cocodorm has right to run business out of Miami home: "Cocodorm.com features black and Hispanic men, known as 'dorm dudes,' who share a webcam-filled house together and have sex on schedule. For that they are paid at least $1,200 a month, plus free room and board. Miami has tried to shut the house down, arguing it constitutes an adult business illegally operating in a residential area. The city's Code Enforcement Board in 2007 agreed, but Cocodorm responded to the code enforcement proceedings by suing in federal court."

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Iceland's Sigurdardottir wants nation to join EU: "Sigurdardottir touted EU membership at a joint news conference Tuesday with Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson, whose Left-Green Movement teamed up with the prime minister's Social Democratic Alliance to form the new two-party minority government. The Alliance party was until recently the only movement in Iceland's five-party parliament to push EU membership as a viable way to rescue Iceland's suffering economy."

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Gay extortion suspect sought in Sydney: "Investigators are looking into the matter, which began when a 39-year-old man met another man at a hotel in Bourke Street, Darlinghurst on November 30 last year. The pair went back to the victim's Potts Point home where the items were stolen. 'Since then, the man has been subjected to ongoing threats of violence and forced to handover his bank account PIN numbers,' police said today." Police warn of AIDS cure scammer too!

Lesbian Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir Takes Helm in Iceland

Last Tuesday I mentioned that it looked likely Johanna Sigurdardottir was set to become the world's first openly gay prime minister. That has now taken place.

The NYT: "She began her political career as a union organizer with the national airline, now known as Icelandair, where she had worked more than 30 years ago as a flight attendant. She has two sons with her former husband, a banker, and six grandchildren. Ms. Sigurdardottir established a civil partnership in 2002 with Jonina Leosdottir, 54, an author, playwright and journalist. She, too, is a divorced mother. Although Ms. Sigurdardottir’s rise has drawn widespread attention on Web sites for gay men and lesbians outside Iceland, her relationship is considered unremarkable at home. In 1940, while still a dependency of Denmark, Iceland decriminalized gay sex. It approved civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples in 1996, one of the first countries to do so. 'Iceland is a small society, and the public knows what Sigurdardottir stands for as a politician, and that’s the only thing that is important,' said Frosti Jonsson, a spokesman for Iceland’s National Association of Queers. 'Nowadays, not only does Iceland have one of the most progressive legal environments for gay people, there have also been changes in public attitudes towards gay people. It simply isn’t an issue anymore.'"

What is significant is the recent economic collapse of Iceland, which lead to the resignation of Independence Party Prime Minister Geir Haarde, setting events in motion to place Sigurdardottir in power.

A report on Sigurdardottir's transition, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Ryan Reynolds minds his muscles.

Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir to become Iceland's, world's first openly lesbian prime minister?

House Judiciary Chair Conyers issues subpoena to Karl Rove: "I have said many times that I will carry this investigation forward to its conclusion, whether in Congress or in court, and today's action is an important step along the way. Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it's time for him to talk."

Know your ABCs: The gay alphabet!

Students across U.S. don T-shirts for 'Equality on Campus Day'.

High-ranking French official comes out: "Roger Karoutchi, France’s Secretary of State for Parliamentary Relations and a close friend of President Nicholas Sarkozy, has revealed he is gay. The former MEP and senator made the claim in an interview conducted in advance of the release of his autobiography."

Openly gay attorney Michael Pollok running for Kirsten Gillibrand's seat.

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Octuplets born in California.

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Georgia man fights court order on visits with kids: "[Judge] Edwards ordered that neither of the parents could have 'overnight company with a member of the opposite sex, or with any person deemed to be a paramour, unrelated by blood or marriage, in the presence of a child.' One sentence later Edwards wrote: 'Additionally, defendant is prohibited from exposing the children to his homosexual partners and friends.' In his appeal, Mongerson’s attorneys write that such an order was an abuse of the court’s discretion. 'There was no evidence presented that and the court made no finding that exposing the parties’ children to any of Appellant’s homosexual friends would adversely affect the best interests of the children,' according to the appeal. 'Therefore, such a prohibition on appellant’s homosexual friends is an abuse of discretion.'"

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Via Queerty: New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman has changed his position on gay marriage—thanks to the advice of his lesbian stepdaughter. He's also joined the House Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Caucus.

A special court has upheld the Nepal Army's decision to expel a woman for being a lesbian.

Two women in Iceland will become the first same-sex couple to have their relationship "validated" in a church following new laws that took hold there on June 27. The laws do not define same-sex validations as "marriage." The official who will perform the service, Rev. Sigurdur Grétar Sigurdsson, says, "In my opinion it is a very appreciated development because many priests in the State Church have already organized ceremonies for many years where they pray for and bless gay coupes who have earlier had their cohabitation confirmed by state officials."

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The NRA will be gunning for Barack Obama's chances this fall, spending $40 million dollars to paint him as a Second Amendment foe.

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