Planet Homo

The Out Magazine 100 for 2009

 
In it’s 16th annual Out 100 issue, Out magazine anoints Adam Lambert breakout star after the musician catapulted from Wicked chorus boy to American Idol cover boy earlier this year. In an extended online interview, the star candidly discusses his sexuality, his newfound fame, and why he finds it hard to sustain a relationship: “Being in the gay community, we don’t grow up with any role models for that. We don’t know what we’re supposed to be.”
  This year’s portfolio of 100 gay men, lesbians and transgender people, plus ally Cyndi Lauper, was shot entirely by award-winning photographer Jason Bell, and is the largest annual magazine portfolio in the world. Bell’s portraits draw inspiration from the classroom and the schoolyard as the unifying theme for this year’s portfolio. Actor Neil Patrick Harris smokes in the bleachers, director Pedro Almodovar sports a hickey, Top Gun icon Kelly McGillis stares moodily from a school bus, and playwright Tony Kushner coyly aims a slingshot at an unsuspecting target.

For the complete Out 100 go to www.out.com/Out100 <http://www.out.com/Out100

Mike Alvear on the "gift" of HIV

"If I hear one more HIV+ man tell me he's "grateful" for the disease because it made him a more peaceful, loving, open, honest person I'm going to scream. Those afflicted by disease --whether it's cancer or HIV-- have taken a pernicious slide toward rationalizing their conditions as something "necessary" for them to achieve some kind of enlightenment. And we can lay that awful trend on the likes of Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra and that whole positive thinking guru crap that passes for spiritual insight."I don't want to be mean to my friends and acquaintances that have the burden of a terrible condition, but I just can't be silent anymore. I simply can't listen to anyone who tells me he's embraced the virus as a gift because it's made him a better person. Just last week an acquaintance said, 'HIV has given me a new life. I needed it to open my eyes to the joy of living. I'm emotionally stronger and I have a new sense of priorities.'"What a crock of caca. HIV as the path to God? The virus as your friend? This is the kind of fertilizer the fields of Ireland long for. Here's what I say to all my HIV+ friends: Don't be grateful; be angry. Don't carry the burden of trying to make HIV your friend. Like all friends, it'll expect you to be loyal and introduce it to your other friends. [snip] While HIV is not your friend, it isn't your enemy either. It just *is.* Learning to deal with it is an admirable accomplishment, but please, don't tell us it's a gift. Or that your grateful." - Author Mike Alvear, writing for the Bilerico Project.Labels: Bilerico, HIV, HomoQuotable, Mike Alvear

via joemygod.blogspot.com

The Washington Blade Shuts Down

Incredibly sad and surprising news for the LBGT media world, not to mention the local media scene: The Washington Blade has been shut down. The LGBT publication's twitter feed first alerted us to what was going on just a little while ago: "Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today. Thank you for your support. (Keep following us for developments.)" Sure enough, even the Blade's web site has been taken down.

via dcist.com

Dolly Parton: I'm For Gay Marriage

 Country legend Dolly Parton appeared on the Joy Behar Show on Friday, and was asked whether she supported marriage equality. “Would you say that you are pro gay marriage?” asked Behar, noting that Parton’s background might suggest otherwise.“I know that’s true,” acknowledged Parton. “I always say, ‘Sure, why can’t they get married? They should suffer like the rest of us do,’” she said.Behar also quizzed Parton about the secret behind the size of her large gay following, and what she thinks of Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen, who recently said that, "homosexuality is not God's best."Watch the video below.

via www.advocate.com

Carrie Prejean Has Eight Sex Tapes

Former Miss California and antigay spokesperson Carrie Prejean has called her recently leaked sex tape the biggest mistake of her life -- a mistake she made at least seven other times, according to RadarOnline.com.The Website reports there are more 30 nude photos and eight sex tapes of Prejean. All of the videos are solo performances and Prejean can be seen touching herself and moaning in a few of the videos.Prejean, who made headlines in the Miss USA competition when she said she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, has been touring the talk show circuit to promote the release of her book. She sparred with Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar last week on The View, and then threatened to walk off Larry King Live when she didn’t like his line of questioning.In her book, Prejean writes: “God gave us our bodies, and it’s perfectly right that we use them in ways where we can give glory to God by making our bodies, our temples of the Holy Spirit, strong and fast.” 

via www.advocate.com

Oh Levi!

PRIVATE PRACTICE : The Hard Part Is Watching

Episode Synopsis: PRIVATE PRACTICE “The Hard Part” Season 3 Episode 7 - Addison and Sam go for a hike in Malibu, and must perform urgent field care when they stumble upon an expecting couple, trapped in their car after an accident. Meanwhile at Oceanside Wellness, Charlotte, Cooper and Violet treat a newlywed who, out of nervousness for his wedding night, has taken too much Viagra, and Pete and Sheldon hit the bar scene together but fall for the same girl, on “Private Practice,” THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

If you have never seen this program, prepare to roll your eyes as you wonder who in the world thinks of these plot lines. This must be the silliest drama ever presented to an audience. First lets tackle the fun part, the title of last nights show: The Hard Part. The couple referred to in the synopsis are newlyweds and the groom has consumed a little much Viagra and has a condition known as priapism. He is hard. Bravo for addressing the medical condition suffered most by porn stars, but of course, that is not all of it. The bride is not a virgin! Meanwhile back at the hike, exquisitely dressed-for-a-hike Addison is confronted with a woman in a car who has suffered an accident—Addison is a baby doctor, so of course the woman must be pregnant. And she is. What we viewers learn is that a baby can apparently be turned in the womb by shoving your hand in there and physically turning the baby. It hurts. This of course is also, the hard part. The hard part for Cooper and the Tennessee Williams inspired character, Charlotte is that she has been married before and thinks about her first love now and then. The hard part for moody Violet is that all moral lessons must spring from the heart and the truth. The hard part for Pete and Sheldon is simply getting along.  And did we mention that Sam (Taye Diggs) suddenly has a lust for Addison? People actually make a lot of movie to come up with these ideas. Missing completely is any homoaction. A lesbian relationship was beautifully presented a while back, but boys kissing boys does seem to be on the radar. Although Dell, (Chris Lowell) who seems to have disappeared from Oceanside Wellness, always seemed  like a character who might well have a homopast. But that would really be the hard part.

Confusion Over Whether Chris Colfer is Gay or Not

Personally, my next question would've been to clarify that Colfer was indeed saying he was gay, but Goldberg and The Advocate seemed certain enough of what Chris was saying that they not only ran the interview that way, but pitched it as Chris talking about being gay. 

via www.afterelton.com

Victory: Adios, Lou Dobbs | Media Matters for America

Media Matters for America released the following statement last night responding to late breaking news that controversial CNN host Lou Dobbs, best known for his relentless anti-immigrant rhetoric, would be leaving his long-time cable news home effective tonight.

via mediamatters.org

Rock Hudson’s Lover Dies | Entertainment News | Advocate.com

Marc Christian, lover of the late actor Rock Hudson, has died, reports Michael Musto in The Village Voice.
 
Following Hudson’s AIDS-related death in 1985, Christian sued Hudson’s estate on grounds of “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” Christian tested negative for HIV, but claimed Hudson continued having sex with him until February 1985, more than eight months after Hudson became aware that he had AIDS.
 
Musto’s source says the cause of Christian’s death was a drug overdose.

via www.advocate.com

A Single Man Sensation

Perhaps the most elegant gay film ever made, Tom Ford's adaption of Christopher Isherwood's novel, A Single Man, should make film schools nervous. In what has to be one of the most startling debuts as a director, fashion designer Tom Ford manages to mix style and substance in a sexy blend of images and sound all with the confidence of someone making movies for a long time.

The 1964 novel is about an English professor in Los Angeles who has lost his lover of sixteen years in an auto accident. Forward eight months and professor George Falconer (Colin Firth) is preparing to commit suicide. Everything about Falconer is elegant—his dress, his house, his car and even as he prepares for his own death he neatly lays out everything, leaving notes for his funeral, noting that his tie should be a Windsor knot. Even the gun he plans to use is elegant. On an ordinary day, George delivers a lecture on minorities and fear, is confronted by a beautiful student (About a Boy's Nicholas Hoult), a Spanish rent boy and the peculiar musings of a neighbors young daughter in a bank. And yet is taken back by memories of his lover Jim (Matthew Goode) through the most seemingly inconsequential of moments— a random encounter with a dog, for example.

His best friend Charlotte (Julianne Moore) is equally elegant and lonely as the two recall their momentary sexual relationship that she has never quite gotten over. She is torn between sympathy for him and regret about what might have been if he hadn’t turned into a “fucking poof”. Suffice to say we see the return of the beautiful student and George's life takes on a new clarity and calamity—all beautifully art directed and photographed and accompanied by a lush score by Abel Korzeniowski.

Certainly Tom Ford pays homage to directors Ang Lee and Todd Haynes, but it is Douglas Sirk who most comes to mind as the score and visuals seem to rise up in melodramatic fashion. Ford stays just shy of "fashion" delivering an emotional film that is completely homoerotic. It is Colin Firth, who is already winning many film awards, that singularly holds the film together in a performance that is as complex as it is stylish. Firth moves through a series of emotions like a hand in water and for a film that takes place in 1962, his homosexuality is shockingly confidant. But that would be Christopher Isherwood after all. In a reminder of the inequality of that period, George is told he cannot attend the funeral of his dead partner, because it is "for family only."  How we deal with grief is always an entirely private matter and indeed, the ending may be a little convenient, but the journey getting there is one beautiful ride.

http://planethomo.com

The Advocate RIP?

Gay media leader The Advocate will be trimmed down from a standalone magazine to an insert, insiders report.

The Advocate quickly evolved from a newsletter titled The Los Angeles Advocate in 1967 to the nation's only publication dedicated to gay news and politics by the mid-70s. It remains the only gay glossy available on newsstands nationwide.

Its former owner, PlanetOut, shored up the magazine with related businesses, including industry-leading LGBT websites Gay.com and PlanetOut.com and other gay-oriented publications such as gay-glam monthly Out.

But one decision, which followed a receding publishing market, continues to haunt the gay media empire.

In 2006, PlanetOut made the devastating decision to purchase gay cruise line RSVP. Less than a year later, the company chalked up its loses and sold RSVP to Atlantis Events, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. 

Yet, the company could not regain its footing. By 2009, after selling several more properties, PlanetOut agreed to be bundled into Here Media, Inc. and relinquish control of the company as it faced possible NASDAQ delisting.

The move gave CEO Paul Colichman a gay media empire for a song. Colichman controls all-gay cabler here! and the gay-friendly movie studio Regent Releasing, as well.

But turning around a gay icon amid a recession that has hit publishers harder than most businesses has turned out to be easier said than done. Last week, gay blog Queerty.com reported the magazine faced another round of staff cuts, which included managing editor John Jameson, a 15-year veteran. 

And The Advocate will be trimmed down from a standalone magazine to a 32-page insert bundled inside Out.

Glee Club: Happy Hour

It's a peculiar thing when someone you have known becomes famous. They move from their modest lodgings to the hills, high above the crowd in post-modern fabulousness. You begin to see them less as they have a multitude of meetings and events to attend...

When Glee premiered on television it was noted that one of its creators was Ryan Murphy.  Glee, for the uninitiated is rousing musical television show that manages to be fresh despite its well-worn plot devices of pitting teachers against teachers, discreet crushes on one another, football versus musicals and the usual hostilities to be encountered in todays high school. Glee is a musical television fantasy, something that Aaron Sorkin might have created, but a little less smart, which is a good thing.

Ryan Murphy never seemed all that musical. Having worked with Ryan at a magazine a few decades back, he is remembered as somewhat serious, proud of his Pulitzer and very fond of Hollywood. Fame is interesting because it doesn't usually portend unless it’s a prodigy or child star. There was never any indication that Ryan would create an extremely successful television show about a high school glee club—then again, he didn't seem all that interested in plastic surgery and he created Nip/Tuck. Glee has to be the happiest hour on television. With a penchant for reinventing old songs, mashing up musical genres at odds with one another and a cast that includes a brilliant Jane Lynch and sexy, sexy Mark Salling, Glee has the ability to dismiss today's horrible economics and current foul politics and make being an individual something to sing about.

Glee works best when in ensemble mode. Choreographed by Zach Woodlee, the musical numbers are extravaganza's of sound and movement with each episode reported to cost $3 million. It looks it. Glee stumbles when it attempts to be too current with homages to some other high school musicals, rap music and focusing too much on one character. Like any real glee club, the success of Glee comes from its numbers, its chorus of great talent and some fine prickly characters.

http://www.planethomo.com/

Beating the Tom Tom

Actor Tom Cruise was boring and homophobic on the set of a 1983 film, a co-star claims.

Bronson Pinchot, who starred in Perfect Strangers, worked with Cruise on Risky Business.

In an interview with The Onion's AV Club, a satirical website, Pinochet said: "[Cruise] was the biggest bore on the face of the Earth. He had spent some formative time with Sean Penn – we were all very young at the time.

"Tom had picked up this knack of calling everyone by their character names, because that would probably make your performance better, and I don't agree with that. I think that acting is acting, and the rest of the time, you should be you, but he called us all by our character names.

"He was tense and made constant, constant unrelated homophobic comments, like, 'You want some ice cream, in case there are no gay people there?' I mean, his lingo was larded with the most … There was no basis for it. It was like, 'It's a nice day, I'm glad there are no gay people standing here.' Very, very strange.

"Years and years later when people started to torment him with that, I used to think 'God, that's really fitting, because he tormented a lot of people as a 20-year-old'. It is what it is; there’s nothing I can add to it. If someone’s 20 years old and every third line out of their mouth is anti-something specific, then draw your own conclusion."

Pinchot added: "He always talked about himself like he was a mega-superstar; that was weird, too."

Cruise's publicist Cheryl Maisel said: "Obviously this is so far removed from who Tom Cruise is as a person, this must have been said in jest."

Which is most likely true, the Onion is known for its absurd stories.

http://www.planethomo.com/

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