Planet Homo

The Secret Lives of Athletes

 For more than a year, officials in Beijing have been designing a special laboratory to determine the sex of any athletes taking part in this year's Olympic games. "Suspected athletes will be evaluated from their external appearances by experts and undergo blood tests to examine their sex hormones, genes and chromosomes for sex determination," says Professor Tian Qinjie. The tests will not be conducted on every female athlete, but will be required if serious doubts have been raised about an individual competitor - invariably one competing in the women's events. "The aim is to protect fairness at the games while also protecting the rights of people with abnormal sexual development," he says.
TheGuardian.co.uk for full story.

If Fonts Could Talk

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Earth Moved...

LOS ANGELE, CA—A powerful 5.4 earthquake struck Los Angeles today at 11:42 AM. The quake which can only be described as a series of two long rolling waves of movement. The epicenter was Chino Hills but the quake could be felt as far as Las Vegas in Nevada. The Los Angeles Times was jolted offline and as well as most cell phone communication. At least twenty aftershocks have been felt so far. For more information visit http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs.

In Memorium 1988-2008

Produced by Tony Valenzuela and Robert Ferrante (just married!) this is the video that was shown at the 20th Lambda Literary Awards in May 2008. I passed it on to Towleroad because I thought its contents were important enough to be seen by as many people as possible. I want to thank Tony and Robert for giving me access to the video.

Trailer for Oliver Stone's Bush Bio Pic

But is it Art?

In an essay called Flickring Out:  What will become of photojournalism in an age of bytes and amateurs? Alissa Quart asks the question if news photography as a profession is dead?  With nearly everyone owning a camera, the trick now, is to be at the right place at the right moment. With any profession, there are standards, esthetic's that define what is good from what is great. And the same can be said of erotic photography. The self portrait, once a narrowly defined image conceived in humility and performed in patience has given way to the almost iconic image of someone naked holding a digital camera. There are no standards or objectives other than looking good. There is no story to tell.
When, on that rare occasion we turn the camera and our attention away from ourselves, we photograph one another, often nude. No training is necessary: A camera, a light source and most importantly: A SEXY, SEXY BODY! A beautiful face often helps. But will it be art? Will it be a classic Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber or even Mel Roberts? How an image becomes historic is an essay for a later time, for now, let's just say, a lot of it has to do with who gets there first (right place at the right time?) Men have been photographing men since the camera was first conceived. Lust, love, memory, voyeurism, and envy have all been motivations to make photographs. And they still are. But Herb Ritts photographed the guy holding the tire first. Jack Pierson is most likely the one photographer who predicted the future: his casual photographs of naked men in common environments foreshadowed what would eventually become the hallmark of digital photography: it looked amateurish. But he was there first. He gets the exhibit.
Many years ago I curated a book called "Lust: the Body Politic" and as the editor I had occasion to talk with many of the photographers about their work. Among them was Tom Bianchi. I met him at his home in Los Angeles, and we talked about photographing men. Mr. Bianchi alluded to Greek statues and paintings, and I kept thinking: get seven hot men with big cocks in a pool, call it what you like, allude all you want. I'm not being cynical. It just seemed obvious why his images were and remain notoriously popular.

Indicative of what is happening in the gay blog world is the sad farewell of Scott-O-Rama, who is quitting his blog because it felt like work, not joy. But, he will still have Men-O-Rama, a site of shirtless men, hot hunks & more! On my own "The Next Page: It Can Get Nasty" the endless exchange of images of beautiful men goes on and on. Writing, will soon disappear. So for those of you who have never photographed a beautiful naked man, take heart, hold that camera steady as your hand shakes with sexual trepidation. And most of all, send me those pictures.

You've Changed

At some point, nearly everyone considers plastic surgery. To consider is not to necessarily do it, but it wakens one's imagination to the possibility of correcting that perceived imperfection, or bringing back some semblance of youth. Growing older is simply the state of waking each day looking like you have a hangover. Gone is the blush, the distinct chin line, and the remarkable energy it takes to maintain the waistline. With age, usually comes money, and the notion of spending some of that money on yourself must seem reasonable. Celebrities of course, generally have a lot of money. And they have cause to want to look as young as can as long as they can: they are on the screen, 30 feet tall, with all imperfections seen through a macro lens. Michael Jackson is of course, the more documented case of plastic surgery gone bad. It's as if he just didn't or couldn't stop, and the result is a freakish shadow of what he once was. Most people don't usually have that kind of funds, time or will. But some come close and in an article called "Bad Male Plastic Surgery" author Carrie Zender documents a few celebrities who have pushed the envelope. Among her celebrities are couture designer Thierry "Manfred" Mugler (pictured above), Carrot Top, Kenny Rogers, Rupert Everett and porn star Lex Baldwin. She notes the possible procedures and their outcomes. It is telling.

Junior from Brazil

Model: Carlos Freire (cover boy JUNIOR#6)
Photos: Didio

To find out more about Junior, click on Carlos

Holy Batman

It's scary, I think I used to dress like the Joker. A fondness for vests and ties would eventually lead to the socks, and they would be just as dapper and odd. The Joker, who dresses like a dandy is anything but. With all the hype and hoopla, it was interesting to see a film that has such high expectations. After all, we are talking about a comic book character, Batman. From a television series in 1966, where Batman and sidekick, Robin, were dressed in Technicolor hues accompanied with bang! splash! graphics.
In the thirty years since then, we have seen various evolutions of the character. Most notable was Christopher Nolan's 2005 "Batman Begins" where we begin to take the character of Batman seriously. What happens in the new film, "The Dark Knight" is that we transcend most of the comic book affectations and head into what can only be called Joseph Campbell country. To the thousands of unsuspecting teenagers watching the film, basking in its cinematic glory, they are also being treated to some insights on the nature of anarchy, terrorism, and most complicated, heroism. Nolan is smart to never sway too far the action, but nestled in between the violence and the explosions, in some brilliant dialog, some serious questions are asked. And this Joker is not funny. Some have suggested that it was this very role, that Heath Ledger so inhabits that drove him to drug abuse, and it is evident on screen with the multitude of ticks, lip licking and other physical curiosities, that he was on drugs while filming. It may be. All that is known is that Ledger should certainly be nominated for an Academy Award, not so much in sentiment, but it is an extraordinary performance. Human nature is always about putting order to things (hello, God?) and Ledger's Joker is about ignoring order, which is why the character is so troubling. We don't know what to make of it. Batman on the other gloved hand, is seeking perfect order, resolution and a way to retire. Not so fast.
There are flaws, which may have been necessary to keep the action moving, but the Gotham Police Department in particular seem inexplicably stupid. We are left dangling, quite literally with the fate of the Joker, where one senses the audience really whats to see retribution. A good portion of this movie centers around numbness. The Joker is devoid of being physically hurt, and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent/Two- Face manages to cancel any pain associated with third degree burns. It is Batman who carries all the emotional weight, who is vulnerable, beaten and ultimately sacrificed. It all ends with one of those,"see you next film!" endings that promises that Batman, like all heroes has more challenges to face.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

 Preface: It's a rant of sorts, and it could be slightly off-base. It should in no way be about Outfest, who were more than generous. It really was coming home after the screening and seeing the stories about Lawrence King in Newsweek. Thus, it's only an opinion.

The problem with happiness is that you never want it to end—and it always does. Tonight, the final screening of Outfest presented the purely delightful, "Tru Love", a feel-good, happy-ending film that depicts a series of teenagers in high school coming to terms with being gay in various ways. It is a splendid film, full of wonderful characters, brilliant dialog, and a film you would be happy to show every teenager who is coming of age. It was evident by the sense of glee from the audience after the screening that this was a film that perfectly ended the  festival. "Tru Love" is something of a fairy tale. In real life, things are alot more complicated; friends don't just suddenly embrace your coming out, families rarely react with a "ho hum" attitude. Real life is messy, emotional, and not always to our liking. And that's what happened: That flush of good will evaporates under the reality of  Newsweek's cover story about 15 year old Lawrence King who was murdered in his classroom by a classmate who felt he was being stalked by the effeminate young boy who wanted to dress like a girl and be called Leticia. Suddenly, it doesn't feel all that good. While no doubt, "Tru Love" makes the case that coming out can turn into party, the reality is, it is a mine field for those are truly different.
The Festival opened with "Breakfast with Scot" which featured a young boy not unlike Lawrence King. In this film, the boy is gradually accepted, and his effeminate mannerisms are somewhat quelled by an adoring surrogate parent. The truth is, Scot could have been killed for his infatuations. The bridge between film making and reality could not be further apart. And while Outfest could not anticipate the Lawrence King tragedy, it does strike me that everything, from the saturated color graphic design to the heavily up-beat films that celebrate advancement within the gay community and the world at large, there are serious and even life-threatening situations that are cinematically glossed over. Which is not to suggest that Outfest went out of its way to be appear jubilant—the film "Before I Forget" was one of the most brutal depictions of growing old gay I have ever witnessed, but from the few films that I saw, there was tendency to appear joyful, celebratory about being homosexual that unfortunately the Lawrence King tragedy betrays. This was also true of the wonderful, "If The World Were Mine", a film that also concludes with Hollywood fairy dust (literally) that is quite OK to be gay. The fact is, the world is not a safe place for those who are outside the "so-called" norm, especially in youth. America loves her queens, from Liberace to Will and Grace's Jack McFarland to Carson Kressley, but the sad reality is that for those in commonplace situations like  being in junior high school or high school, reality bites, with sometimes mortal consequences. In real life, the adorable Scot could be dead. While we congratulate and exchange wedding rings and vows, it the younger generation who experience the real horror of being called a faggot, who face physical and emotional consequences for being "different". The Lawrence King tragedy so painfully reminds us, that life and scripts that we live are not always filled with glorious musical endings, but rather there is blood, terror, pain and in the case of the one young man, there is death.
Culture, especially movies and television change us. Race relations in film and television have done more to change this country than any law. Will and Grace, Queer Eye, Brokeback Mountain and others have served the Gay and Lesbian community well in this regard. As has Outfest. Many of these films will never seen by the general public, but some will, and only by virtue of having been included in Outfest. A friend reminds me that Gays and Lesbians have long been depicted as suffering, and that the celebratory mood of today's films can only challenge that notion, and for a younger viewing audience it can only help make them feel better about themselves. It's a point not to be argued. In art and life, there is a balance between reality and fiction. In the week that I saw "Before I Forget" I also watched the DVD of Disney's "Enchanted" and never have two films been at such extreme opposites. But life is like that.

A Golden Girl is Gone

Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.

"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents," her son said. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."
"The Golden Girls," featuring four female retirees sharing a house in Miami, grew out of NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's belief that television was ignoring its older viewers.

Three of its stars had already appeared in previous series: Bea Arthur in "Maude," Betty White in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Rue McClanahan in "Mama's Family." The last character to be cast was Sophia Petrillo, the feisty 80-something mother of Arthur's character.

When she auditioned, Getty was appearing on stage in Hollywood as the carping Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein's play "Torch Song Trilogy." In her early '60s, she flunked her "Golden Girls" test twice because it was believed she didn't look old enough to play 80.

"I could understand that," she told an interviewer a year after the show debuted. "I walk fast, I move fast, I talk fast."

More Outfest Fun

Thomas Gustafson's "Were the World Mine," which recounts an all-boys high school production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," was named outstanding U.S. dramatic feature at Outfest, which handed out its awards last night. "World" also played as the Awards Night feature at the cozy outdoor venue, the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood.

The fest, which formally closes tonight, also honored Lucia Puenzo's "XXY" as best international dramatic feature. Daryl Wein's "Sex Postitive" took the documentary award. Tye Olson was chosen best actor in a feature for "Watercolors"; Nicole Bilderback was best actress for "The New Twenty."

James Bolton earned the screenwriting award for "Dream Boy."

Madeleine Olnek's "Countertransference" was named best dramatic short; Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega's "La Corona" (The Crown) was hailed as best documentary short.

David Assmann's "Football Under Cover" received the Freedom Award.

Dave O'Brien was recognized with the Emerging Talent Award for "Equality U."

Matt Wolf took the prize for Artistic Achievement for "Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell."

Audience awards went to David Oliveras, "Watercolors," first dramatic feature; Andrew Fleming, "Hamlet 2," dramatic feature; Carolyn Coal, "A Place to Live," documentary feature; Lee Sung-eun, "I'm Jin-Young," dramatic short; Micheli and Vega, "La Corna," documentary short; and "Hamlet 2," soundtrack.

About the photo: you would never know it but that is lead actor Tanner Cohen with an unidentified fan after the screening of "Were the World Mine".

Dark Knight inspiration was a Homo?

The current hit, The Dark Knight, has people talking about Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker. Many suspect that the portrayal is based on a 1928 classic, "The Man Who Laughed" which starred Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine, a man who has a permanent smile carved into his face in revenge for his fathers treachery (with good reason, Batman creator Bob Kane attributes the Joker character to this film). Indeed, a viewing at youtube.com reveals a curious portrait of man who shockingly looks like Christopher Walken after a facelift..but even more curious is why in this silent film, the above dialog appears?

An Ode Review

Welcome to Ballywood. The other night Outfest premiered "The Ode", a movie based on Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla's biographical novel Ode to Lata. In a story about how the past is always present and based on actual events the critically-acclaimed novel by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla (Ode to Lata), THE ODE spans two generations and intertwines the doomed but passionate love story of Parin and Shiraz with the tempestuous life of their gay son Ali who discovers that the past is always present no matter how far you run. Ali flees to Hollywood, away from his overprotective mother and memories of his father's violent death. A successful banker by day, at night his life unravels in a blur of alcohol, drugs, and sex as he grapples with love, loss and ultimately, forgiveness. It is way more complicated than that, but frankly, I never like writing a film's synopsis (and I didn't). The movie was quite good. The first half, slow and ponderous and even confusing as the characters, their needs and wants are not clearly defined. After the film, the entire cast was assembled to ask questions of the writer, the actors and the cinematographer. Noticeably absent was the director. It wasn't surprising that the third question from the audience was, " I couldn't help but notice that there was no director credit given in the films credits". It's true. There were four dots. Ghalib acknowledged the question, but said there were issues he would rather not get into. This is drama.
The films stars Sachin Bhatt as Ali. Ruggedly good looking, this is his first film, though he has been on the National Tour of "Bombay Dreams" and the Asian-European tour of "Westside Story. One is reminded of visiting Disneyland and watching the stage show of Aladdin and thinking, Disney Corp. must gay be gay to have such a beautiful man play Aladdin. Sachin can act. He gets to boo-hoo alot in this film and he cries, screams and vomits with cinematic intensity. The other gem is Parvesh Cheena, who plays Salman. The cherubic actor gets to dance, Bollywood style, get tortured  (emotionally) by two would-be homos who turn out to be thugs, and get married, to a woman. He has a memorable scene where he elegantly and clearly defines why he is choosing living a lie rather than becoming an openly gay man.
The post screening event was held at Eleven in West Hollywood. In a completely relaxed setting the drama of the director is revealed. It can only confirm something that rarely gets hinted at in Hollywood; there are egos, control freaks and drama queens despite the fact that at every award ceremony the appearance of so much love, especially in acceptance speeches, must be partially a lie. There are scandals, and certainly The Ode is working its way through one, which is unfortunate: it's a good film that with some edits and polishes could be made better. It is a rare evening when you get to mingle with actors, writers and the people who get to make films, so this was a special occasion. Outfest has done a remarkable job of bringing films and events to people that would likely not ever see the screen of light.

Things About Summer

"you wake. an orange falls to the burnished ground. the earthquake never comes..." —Anthony

It could be that living in a city that is partly tropical, partly desert leads to less than a distinction than other places when it comes to defining the season.
Summer in Los Angeles: Fires, riots, beaches, swimming pools, sand, outdoor concerts, cocktails, certainly come to mind. When younger, summer is defined by breaks, the summer break, summer school. Summer in Los Angeles is easy. Not like a New York City summer where humidity would reach tropical dimensions, and leaving town was usually the only recourse. It was ritual. And there is little ritual in the summer of Los Angeles. We have no Fire Island to ferry to, though it is one of the great mysteries of life why Catalina Island has never been host to one party (though reports of many gay couples are evident). We have an ocean, the Pacific; it's big and blue, and it's not exactly close unless you live in Santa Monica, Venice or lucky you, Malibu. As with all things LA, parking is a bitch, or expensive. We have a gay beach, Will Rogers (or Ginger if you prefer) and it is lovely. This is where the hotties in their BMW's swarm to show off their newest LA Sports Connection nylons (even the website begins with the admonition: get noticed) as they cavort with frisbees and one another in the wild surf of the west. Of course, as one gets older, one tends to go out less often into the sun, as the word melanoma suddenly is not so musical. Along the bike paths, which actually go a distance, the more athletic types take to skates and bikes with a sexy display of swollen gluteal muscles. But, it is best to have friends with pools. Swimming pools are convenient, usually warm and without often without sharks, jellyfish and seaweed. They are sexy, in a way that certain things in Los Angeles are sexy, just as in New York City, the humidity of a hot summer night takes on very sexual peculiarity. Swimming pools are blue and reflect light in interesting ways. Everybody looks good in a pool. People love to float in pools and one is reminded of the embryonic equipoise that likely few of us wanted to leave. Swimming pools are a great place to have sex, though the fact that we have left our gills behind is something we are reminded of often.
If we do not have a Fire Island, we do have Palm Springs. But lets not kid ourselves, the summer in PS is about 117 degrees in the daytime. PS is a major gay and lesbian destination. There are nude resorts, couple resorts, bed and breakfasts and wacky, wonderful hotels and motels scattered through the Coachella Valley. After 45, most gay men move there, so the valley is flooded with hordes of older men and a trickle of younger ones caught in an exciting game of sexual gravitation. The resorts, especially the nude ones draw people from all over the world, anxious to walk around in the midday sun with their cock rings glistening. There is a lot of sex in Palm Springs, and it is only in the night, when the temperature dips to a cool 95 degrees that the real erotica of Palm Springs can be known. This is dry heat, desert heat, charged with negative ions lifting the serotonin levels faster than the Palm Springs tram can reach the stars. It is reminiscent of a Mid Summer's Night Dream, where occasionally a rake of young boys troll the swimming pools of friendly resorts. Many men have come to Palm Springs to write their Summer Poem.

It can be confusing, but while you are enjoying summer now, somewhere in the world it is winter.

Be Gentle With Yourself

It with sadness that we report that Les Crane is dead at 74. The former late-night TV host and Grammy Award winner died of natural causes Sunday. In 1971, Crane won a Grammy for his spoken-word recording of "Desiderata.” In these apocalyptic final days, where Republicans have more strings in government than a piano tuner at a Steinway convention, the cost of gas, not just for cars, but more importantly, travel (we need to get out town, regularly) is prohibitive, luggage is lost on Jet Blue airlines, and the strikes in Hollywood force us into watching reruns of the Golden Girls, these are bleak and despairing times. This beautiful poem, backed by a cheerful white chorus, may be exactly what we need.

Kissing Radcliffe

You may recall this infamous kiss planted on the cherry red lips of young Daniel Radcliffe by fellow actor James Corden—it created quite a stir and speculation about its meaning. Afterelton's Michael Jensen finally gets to the deep, dark bottom of what in the hell was Corden thinking:
In February I wrote about what appeared to be an ambush-snogging of poor Daniel Radcliffe at the What's On Stage Awards in London by actor James Corden (The History Boys). Daniel was just stepping up the podium when James grabbed Daniel and gave him one heck of a kiss. At the time I wrote about how if I were Radcliffe, I would've kneed Corden in the crotch. (One imagines he would have embraced it, if it were Radcliffe doing the kissing?)

Well, I ran into Corden at the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles where he is promoting his new show on BBC America, Gavin & Stacey. I got a chance to ask him about the infamous kiss and why he did it. Says Corden, "If you spent enough time with Dan, you can’t help but kiss him on the mouth. It’s a fact. There’s something magical about him, which is I imagine why he got the part [of Harry Potter], where he just draws you in. There were no tongues involved in that kiss. But, we both enjoyed it very much."

Did Daniel know Corden planned on kissing him? "No," says Corden. "I’ve known Dan a while and I came up to him in the wings [of the show] and he said, 'You’re not going to make fun of me or anything, are you?' I said, 'No. I might kiss you on the mouth.' And then he had to go on, so I had given him some pre-warning, yes."

As to how good a kisser Radcliffe turned out be, Corden has nothing but praise. "A wonderful, wonderful kisser, with a beautiful penis."

Photo by HUTCH USA

Taking Heat: Sad or Satire?

The new cover of the New Yorker magazine is taking heat for its depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama as terrorists giving the "fist bump" while an American Flag burns in the fireplace.
"Satire is part of what we do," New Yorker editor David Remnick said in a statement. "And it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover."
The cover was illustrated by Barry Blitt, who "satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign," according to a New Yorker press release.
The Obama campaign quickly condemned the rendering. Spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement: “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."
While no doubt the intellectuals at the New Yorker thought they were creating satire, it plays completely into the fears of most Americans—confirming some nagging suspicion that persists like a mosquito on a summer night. In fair play, perhaps they should have a cover of John McCain...let's not go there.

The New Yorker is worried. An automated reply form the New Yorker comments section elicits this response: About this week’s issue: Our cover, “The Politics of Fear,” combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are. The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall— all of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover.

Unforgettable: "Before I Forget"

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.  All the rest – whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories – comes afterwards.  These are games; one must first answer [the questions of suicide].” —Albert Camus
It is the ultimate question asked in the film, "Before I Forget" presented today at Outfest. Directed by French actor and writer Jacques Nolot, "Before I Forget" is the final installment in a trilogy of films, all concerned with loss and all starring Mr. Nolot that he calls “partly autobiographical.” You can give this to Outfest, they offer contrast. How completely different this film is compared to opening nights, " Breakfast with Scot". This is a difficult film, shot in color, though its mood, its sensibility is strictly black and white. The film opens with the main character, Pierre struggling with insomnia by medicating himself with sleeping pills. Pierre is a man in his 60s, who once was a beauty, a gigolo, but now is nearing the end of his days. His days are spent in cafes, visiting friends, and frequently seeing his indifferent therapist. Now, it is he who hires the young boys, though the sex seems dispassionate. He has been HIV-positive for 24 years and he is faced with the prospect of having to engage in a regiment of medication, with all the possible horrifying side effects. He thinks about suicide often.

This is certainly not a feel good movie. In fact, John Waters, writing in Artforum, called “Before I Forget” “the best feel-bad gay movie ever made.” Bleak and depressing, "Before I Forget" explores something rare in gay films: aging, loneliness, depression and the will to go on. We see, very factually, the body of an old man, the inability of friends to comfort, the exasperation of therapy, and scene after scene is flush with the loneliness we are only hinted at as gay men. Mr. Nolot is unrelenting in telling this story, “I expose myself, and I show myself naked and sick. Here is how we are, how we live. People can take it or leave it.” The end of the film itself is a mystery and a statement: Pierre agrees to go in drag with one of his regular young tricks, and the camera, lingers, a long time, on the face of Pierre, in a doorway, smoking a cigarette, pondering his next move. It's hard to say, "I loved it!" because his fate is not welcome on anyone, though one has to regard Mr. Nolot with enormous courage to expose himself and the odium of growing old, not only with his illness but his exacerbation with life itself. Perhaps best seen as cautionary tale for anyone younger and foolish enough to think that life, with its imminent ability to humble, is not about entering into this age of life. I, of course, went immediately to the gym.

Uncivil Rivalry

Those darn Ciccone kids, always fighting. Details are now emerging from brother Christopher's new tell-all book soon to be published. Here are some of the frightening revelations:
* When Madonna decided to have a baby, she first eyed cross-dressing NBA kook Dennis Rodman and "Melrose Place" actor John Enos before she picked Carlos Leon, whom she met in Central Park - even though she was "not sure he fulfills the intelligence requirement."
* Madonna hangs an 8-by-12-foot photo of herself in S&M gear and lying on a bed with dead animals in her home - in full view of the kids. It's "the creepiest thing I've ever seen," Ciccone writes.
* Guy Ritchie is a homophobe whose heterosexuality "swells noticeably" in the presence of gay men. In a dinner toast Ciccone made the week before Ritchie and Madonna's wedding, he cracked about the groom, "I'd like to toast this happy moment . . . and if anybody wants to [bleep] Guy, he'll be in my room later."
And Datalounge.com has published what appears to be an excerpt from the book: (Madonna speaking to Christopher) 'You have lost all sense of reality. I always thought that one day you'd see my worth and behave accordingly, but you never did. A little respect was all I ever wanted from you, and you couldn't even manage that.' And it gets gets better. The dispute seems to arise from an incident about a tacky lamp that Christopher bought his sister (he was her decorator, afterall) and when she found out that he had tacked on a small profit to her cost, she went ballistic. Christopher responds with: "I gave up my life to help make you the evil queen you are today. Fifteen years listening to your bitching, egotistical rantings, mediocre talent and a lack of taste that would stun the ages." Oh the drama!
The rich are lucky in so many ways: they get to buy things without thinking, they get their groceries delivered, and when things go wrong, they get to write a book about it. Madonna clearly has issues; fame has never settled well on her. In interview after interview she has always appeared uneasy with fame, almost tongue-tied. The brother has always appeared a little envious. His own talents have been questionable (and his taste too) but it seems reckless to go after your own blood simply because she is famous. Couldn't they simply appear on the Dr. Phil Show and work it out? This will be a big story for fifteen minutes. We will learn that Madonna is stingy, arrogant and shock, egotistical. Christopher is revengeful, hurt and willing to turn his anger into profit.

Odd things found around my house make for odd props.

I Have Questions...

Music to Sway

2008 debut album from the Electro outfit led by Andrew Butler and featuring Antony (from Antony & The Johnsons), Nomi, and Kim Ann. Andrew Butler emerged from making music for college-based dance projects into a fully-fledged recording artist, via the New York art scene. He hooked up with his friends and got them to collaborate and sing his songs and Hercules & Love Affair is the result. This album is 2008's most exciting dancefloor concoction, an arthouse vision of Pure Pop by way of futuristic Electronica and classic Dance music, where beautiful, bruising harmonies and tensile rhythms collide in resurgent soundscapes and emotive Disco workouts. The album is co-produced by Andrew Butler with Tim Goldsworthy of DFA at Plantain Studios in the midst of Manhattan, New York City.

Talk: Carson Kressley

In a rare move for a cable network, Lifetime is looking to launch a daytime talk show, handing out a pilot order for a talker hosted by Carson Kressley.
It is part of an effort by the female-centered cable net to add original programming during the day, when it currently airs mostly off-net sitcoms.
Kressley is expected to mention the new talk show project at the TV Critics Assn.'s press tour today, when he promotes the second season of the Lifetime reality series "How to Look Good Naked," which he hosts.
The untitled talker, intended to air Monday-Friday, will feature the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" alum in both a studio and the field interviewing real people and offering viewers insight into fashion and other topics.
Serving as executive producer will be daytime veteran Ray Giuliani, who recently executive produced the syndicated talker "The Greg Behrendt Show."

Sexy

How do they do it? The people at fantasticsmag.com continue to produce great, sexy fashion with an edge. This image from a story called "Circus Circus" features a wide range of stunning models in the most economic of settings—and it completely works. And it usually does.

God Only Knows

Outfest: Opening Night

The night I became a paparazzi. A gaggle of photographers, with very large cameras stand poised to record every moment as anxious PR agents rush their clients to the front of the line. So it was the opening night of Outfest, as T.R. Knight with boyfriend Mark Cornelsen, a thin Margaret Cho, RuPaul and others made their slow entrance into the Orpheum Theatre to attend the opening night gala. Here's a fact: Actor T.R. Knight is little, Don Amaechi is very big, and RuPaul wore sandals. T.R. is slight, short and just as handsome as he appears on television. The boyfriend, who is 19, is very attractive, and they seem very happy, very much in love as a couple. Also seen was infamous blogger and photoshop expert, Perez Hilton, who sported his real hair color.
The opening night movie was a comedy, "Breakfast with Scot" and it was a perfect crowd pleaser with a plot that discreetly asked the question, which is the better parent, the one(s) who love, or the one who fathers? The answer is predictable, but how that love is achieved is the heart of this film. A gay couple busy with their careers are suddenly thrown into parenting, after the mother of an eleven year old over doses. The child, Scot (with one T) played by Noah Bernett, is a child with a fondness for cheap hand lotions, jewelry and boas. This is an American or Canadian version of Ma Vie En Rose, except that in this case, the job of parenting is left to a gay couple, though one is a former famous hockey player, who essentially is playing straight in his life. The child, Scot, is the left to the care of the gay couple as they search for the whereabouts of the father, who is brother to one of the gay men. The couple is played by Ben Shenkman and Thomas Cavanagh, who are so dull that the reality is that the addition of little Scot in their lives can only enrich it. They have but one kiss as if to ensure the audience that they are indeed, gay. The real revelation of the film is Canadian actor Noah Bernett, who gets to play campy in the majority of scenes. The risk here for director, Laurie Lynd is that his Scot is not adorable. This is not a beautiful androgynous child. This is an odd looking boy with bad teeth, and it takes a while to warm up to him. And we, the audience did. The footnote to this movie is that it made headlines in 2006 when it became the first gay-themed film to be endorsed by the an NHL franchise, The Toronto Maple Leafs.

Outfest 2008

It all begins tonight in lovely downtown Los Angeles as the 26th Outfest opens with "Breakfast with Scot". Outfest was begun in 1982 as a way to promote films by and about gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and trangsgenders. It's one of a number of first-rate gay and lesbian film festivals that have become hugely popular around the world, and it's one of two especially prominent ones held in mid-July (the other being the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival). It is the oldest continuously operated film festival in Los Angeles. The opening night gala has been held at the historic Orpheum theater for quite a few years. The Orpheum opened in 1926 and has been host to everyone from a young Judy Garland (as Francis Gumm) to American Idol. We will be bringing regular reports on both the films and the festivities.

Sealed with a Kiss

From the Smoking Gun: JULY 8--Lured by $1 beer and the prospect of "hot chicks" and "hardcore fights," thousands of Arkansans were duped last month into appearing as extras in comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's latest staged mayhem. Cohen and his confederates organized cage fighting programs on consecutive days in Texarkana and Fort Smith. Both cards ended with two male grapplers (one was identified as "Straight Dave" and wore camouflage) tearing each other's clothes off and, while in underwear, kissing down their opponent's chest. This man-on-man action triggered Fort Smith fans to throw chairs and beer at the ring, according to one cop present at the city's Convention Center. Cohen is currently filming a follow-up, of sorts, to his smash 2006 film featuring Borat, his fictional Kazakh journalist. The new film stars another of Cohen's creations, Bruno, a gay Austrian journalist who interviews subjects about fashion and entertainment. It is reportedly titled, "Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt." The June 5 Texarkana promotion was adverstised as "Red, White, and Blood." The June 6 matches in Fort Smith were dubbed "Blue Collar Brawlin'" as seen in the below poster. Ads on Craigslist--like this one--noted that attendees had to be over 21 and suggested that fans arrive early "for $1 BEERS!" Cohen & Co. underwrote the cost of beer, which usually sells for $4 at the Fort Smith facility. "Blue Collar Brawlin'" drew about 1500 fans, who were greeted by signs stating that the event was being filmed. Attendees were also not allowed in with cameras or cell phones and some were asked to sign releases. The "Blue Collar Brawlin'" web site (fortsmithfight.com) was registered two weeks before the event in the name of "Peto Philer" of Algeria. The site, which remains live but has been stripped of all content, appears to be currently hosted on servers in Los Angeles.

Feeling Porny?

It is safe to say that we spend an enormous amount of time looking at erotica and or pornography. What once required a trip to a bookstore is now readily available. Not just readily, but immediate and constant. It has changed us. It has changed the way we interact, how we see ourselves, and how others may see us. We have learned some things that we weren't sure of, but suspected: most men have average penises. Men ejaculate in a variety of ways; there are drippers, spurters, shooters, droolers and some men have an enormous amount of ejaculate. Men spend a lot of time with their penis. Video cammers are known to spend hours, sometimes days in the relentless stroking of their penis. This is usually encouraged through chemical use. Some men are into electronics with something called Electro-Stim, where an electrical current is sent into the penis shaft forcing an involuntary orgasm. There is something called "sounding", which is the curious act of inserting a thin metal rod into the urethra of the penis for sexual pleasure. It doesn't look pretty. Xtube will reveal videos where some men can accommodate very large objects into their anus. Circus large. It was one thing to show yourself, who hasn't posted a nude of themselves somewhere, but with the advent of streaming media websites, we now can make movies of our sex life. And people do. Three-minute episodes of manic stroking are very typical. And becoming more typical is the posting of one's bottom abilities, or top abilities, depending. We have become porn stars in our own self-produced, self-lite, single POV camera angled mini movies. Tops are proud to show the world their prowess, stamina and athletic hammer while bottoms explore a symphony of excited sounds while demonstrating their vacuum-like abilities.
It has also permitted us to be become demanding sexual partners. Gone is the mystery of attraction and sexual desire. We demand what we want. And we are very, very specific. Which is not to say we haven't always been so, but it has never been quite as elevated, freely stated and without social grace. We don't ask, we demand, as if in the simple stating of our sexual desires, it should magically become reality. One is reminded of the Rolling Stones classic lyric, "You can't always get what you want, but if try sometime, you get what you need." The Internet has left us little time to ponder our needs, as we are too busy demanding our wants. And some may argue that this is simply a sexual colander; bottoms don't hook up with bottoms, top don't end up with other tops, and on and on, which has some truth, but it misses the great ambiguity of attraction, and that forbidden modern word, romance. Sometimes things happen between unlikely partners.
It’s fun, of course.
Pornography seems to be dished up into two flavors, fantasy and comparison. We imagine sex with the featured player, or we compare our own abilities and bodies to theirs. This has always been the secret shame of pornography: we get off, but we also felt sadly inadequate. The reality is that we don't have two minute orgasms, we rarely can fornicate for four hours, and yes, we occasionally do need to pee.
But with so much nudity, pornography, erotica and visual stimulation at some point there is saturation, and ennui. Ok, maybe it’s age. But we inquired on some younger fans, and they too felt the ennui. Nudity has lost its power to shock. Sex, once only seen on movie screens or home screens is now as quickly available as your bank account. And this, perhaps, may not be a bad thing: Ennui. The other side of that is addiction, and it is safe to say that the Internet has revealed an addictive side for most of us that heretofore was quietly sleeping. It is now awake. Recent reports have suggested that the government checks we received in the past weeks have spent been on....pornography. There is something oddly satisfying about the notion that a nation, handed a few extra spending dollars, will spend it on lust. Why not?
The real question is, where do we go from here? Does pornography evolve or get policed? It will remain, this is for certain, just how relevant it is as a cultural experience can only be determined through the lens of time, for the moment, we simply enjoy it.

Europe is Strange

What a curious press release:
Budapest: It was Antonio Pedro Almijes (19) from Spain who Saturday evening took home the crown of Mr. Gay Europe 2008. The Mr. Gay Europe competition was supposed to have taken place at The Copacabana beach on the lovely Margit Island in the river Danube, but due to security reasons, the local producers took no chances and relocated the event to a secret venue in Budapest. The Grande finale was hosted by the main sponsor; Desiré Dubounet.
20 Delegates from The Canary Islands in the south to Norway and Sweden in the north were all in the battle for the crown. From the 20 Delegates, they were narrowed down to 11 semi finalists: Mr Gay Swim Wear: Kai Thomas Ryen Larsen (Norway) and the online voted The People’s Choice: Barry Meegan from Ireland, The No. 1 Talent was selected by the audience and the award went to Graeme R. Williamson from Northern Ireland.
The apparent security reason was expected clashes between Hungarian police, right-wing extremists and the Budapest Pride held yesterday.  No word on where the "secret venue" was, but it was widely reported that James Bond was there. The winner, long-faced Antonio Pedro, who at 19 seems, well, a lot, lot older, takes home the mysterious crown of crushed leaves.

Rufus on Bush

The ever delightful Rufus Wainwright has an interview in a British newspaper where he addresses many issues, among them, the Bushes. Here's a sample:You used to socialise with Barbara Bush Jr. Is she fun to booze with?
I only did that very briefly. The thing about the Bushes is even though they’re the spawn of Satan they are extremely charming and congenial. I liked Barbara, she’s a fag hag.
for the rest, head here.

Only in WeHo

It's not clear who gets to play Lucy, but the concept is pretty funny. A "breakout performance" by recently spotted Jai Rodriquez? We were told he was the talent on a recent gay cruise and the results were...embarrassing. Jai really needs to be in "Naked Boys Singing" or something more revealing.
"Starring Jai Rodriguez (Rent, Queer Eye, The Producers) in a breakout performance, Jim J. Bullock (Hairspray, Too Close for Comfort), and more TBA. Escaping the bloodshed of his native island, a young Cuban boy sets sail on a turbulent journey that leads him all the way to Hollywood and into the arms of a fiery, redheaded movie star named Lucille Ball. Book, music & lyrics by Robert Bartley & Danny Whitman. July 10-12, 8pm; July 13, 4pm. For tickets go to www.DanceWithMeTheMusical.com."

Cyndi Lauper On As the World Turns

Bits

Visionary editor Clay Felker dead at 82.
Arthur Magazine near death.
BoingBoing removes Violet Blue.
Jonathan Feit relaunching withthisring.com