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June 22, 2009

Is It Bashing If We're Ok With It?

Perezsmash Polo Molina, living out every gay man's true fantasy:

Police have charged the tour manager of the Black Eye Peas with assault after he allegedly gave celebrity blogger Perez Hilton a black eye outside a Toronto nightclub.

Hilton, who is openly gay, said in interview with the Associated press that he called will.i.am a "faggot," a gay slur, inside the club after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his Web site.

In a side note that I'm sure will shock and chagrin everyone, GLAAD has never really much cared that our minstreling little mascot has largely bounced through the world declaring faggotry against people. If only he had called will.i.am the n-word. They would've had the press release out before the first punch was thrown.

Update: GLAAD finally cares! Though, to be fair, this one was a touch hard to ignore.

Hilton's video is a lot of fun. It took six pauses to gradually press through the entire egoistic trainwreck. I had to recharge my personal dignity roughly every thirty seconds as it was rapidly leeched away by his lack of same. Ace covers the broadstrokes here. That's about right. He truly is one of the dumbest creatures alive.

May 30, 2006

Exodus Undetected?

Gay men in urban areas gathered. First at the theaters and single bars in bad neighborhoods. Then one bar became three. As the theaters closed, the shops came in, from the erotic to the mundane, dildonic wares and groceries. Then came the condo renovations, and the sleek nightclubs advertising in mainstream papers. For a decade or two or even three, many cities constructed upscale enclaves like gay retirement communities for men in their 20s and 30s. Every letter in GLBT alphabet streamed in as the activism poured out from these safe, coccooning bases as fortress against an intolerant outside world.

When tolerance spreads outwards from the cultural centers that Dan Savage refers to as the urban archipelago, what happens when future gay generations feel less need for these places and younger heterosexuals feel comfortable enough to begin claiming them as their own? Conflict.

"West Hollywood is having an identity crisis. It doesn't know if it's gay or straight anymore," said Raymond Weddle, a server at Hedley's restaurant, near the Abbey. As crowds flock to the lively bar scene, the town is inevitably confronting the strains of its popularity. Mostly, it's been a subtle shift. Many bar owners and patrons say that straight women have flocked to West Hollywood clubs because they feel safe in crowds of gay men. But on any weekend night, the distinctly gay vibe of the town has given way — in some venues more than others — to a more mixed and some think downright gay-hostile atmosphere.

Even as activists and interested parties debate the merits of gay marriage as the demographic's civil rights issue of our time, it seems the gay community itself has begun fraying along the edges towards a potentially long and slow disintegration in direct correlation to the movement's goals: normalization of varied sexualities in American culture. When a gay teenager finds his friends accepting and open to his or her differences, and the local crowds and clubs become indifferent to his orientation, is there such a burning need for an exclusively gay bubble in his world, and even if so, would he be inclined to defend it as vigorously as the old queer guard?

The entire article is worth reading, for the variety of issues between gays and straights, business issues vs. community loyalty, assimilation vs balkanization of identity, and even the urban gay communities' traditional make up of white middle class males vs. and increasingly mainstream, urbanized black culture.

While the activists press their pet political issues, average gay people are shifting and changing in ways imperceptible to a leadership firmly ensconced in a mindset generated by an older community built in the shadows of the deadliest years of AIDS. Can gay political issues be effectively pressed by a minority demographic whose bonds of solidarity are quietly beginning to loosen as acceptance and tolerance become the norm in the largest population centers of the nation?

It doesn't seem to be a question anyone's asking. Maybe they should.

h/t Boi From Troy

May 19, 2006

Say Good-Night, Gracie — UPDATE

Wggang Malbug_17If you didn't watch last night's series finale of "Will & Grace," and you actually care to find out how things transpired on your own, then this post will be filled with spoilers aplenty.  But I will bury all of those after the jump.

It seems a little hard to find more than a handful of gays who are genuinely mourning the passing of W&G.  Many of the older ones feel, as I do, that its best years were long behind it; many of the younger ones simply ask, "Will and who?"

But even if we concede that W&G reinforced stereotypes or consigned gays to sexless, "nonthreatening" roles, it was still a groundbreaking series that brought needed messages to people who might not otherwise have heard them.  And for that, we should be thankful that Will, Grace, Karen and Jack came into our lives at all.

Continue reading "Say Good-Night, Gracie — UPDATE" »

May 12, 2006

Why Elliot Will Win

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Columnist John Podhoretz applies a political model to "American Idol" voting and predicts a winner.  He could be onto something.

Of the three remaining contestants, I think Katharine would make the best Idol (my criteria being someone who can sell records and sell out venues), probably followed by Elliot.  I just don't see how Taylor is as sellable as the others.

[Thanks, Alan!]

May 11, 2006

Come Together, Right Now, Over Mickey

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Queerty reports on Gay-Day harmony at the Magic Kingdom.

By the way, we like the new site design, guys!

[Read The Blade's story here ...]

May 10, 2006

Shock, n. See: "Daughtry, Chris"

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SPECIAL NOTE to "Access Atlanta/AJC.com" readers: Thank you for visiting this site.  A little controvery erupted among some of the readers of the site that brought you here about this being a "gay" blog, so I applaud you for choosing quality video over homophobia.


Chris Daughtry and others on "American Idol" seemed genuinely shocked by the rocker's early ejection from the competition.

Umm, ever heard of the Internet, Chris?

His reaction was a multi-tiered masterpiece, evincing his barely concealed disgust at the unparalleled boobery of the Idol-watching public.

Paula was disconsolate, while Simon watched dollar signs fly right out of the Kodak Theater.

The stills below capture the range of emotion, but what was most priceless was watching Daughtry's face dissolve in a nanosecond from frivolity and smugness to naked rage.

[Watch video – 3:58, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 3:58, WMV format, low bandwidth]

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Idol Results Show Warm-Up

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Worth Repeating has, as usual, the three gayest moments from last night's "American Idol."  Predictably, they all involve Chris Daughtry.

Meanwhile, Dialidol still has Katharine and Chris duking it out for last place, with the latter slightly more likely to be sent packing tonight.  Sir Tics-a-Lot continues to lead the pack.

America, suck my balls.

Will and Gracing Oprah's Couch

Oprahisatwat_1 The cast of Will & Grace kicked off their week-long farewell tour on this morning's Oprah, offering up interviews, favorite clips, and a host of banter and secret sharing that isn't nearly as revealing as some people might wish.

The most awkward moment is absolutely Oprah's question to Eric McCormack about being a straight man playing a gay character, as the crickets chirp and the camera pans to a Sean Hayes who has no intention of touching the topic with a stolen Cher wig.

Instead we're treated to thoughts on defecation and other assorted things. While Will & Grace broke many barriers when it originally aired, I admit to have gone off the show as soon as the idea of Grace having a baby took over the running plot. The introduction of Leo and the increased pseudo-seriousness eroded the show's humor, tenor, and characters until I began to forget it was even on. Over the past four years, I might have seen three full episodes.

Still, it is worth remembering what the television climate was like when Will & Grace premiered. Ellen had gone off the air because of the concentration on her sexuality. We were living in the age before Queer As Folk and the L-Word.

If Will & Grace is stale and has run its course, the cast and crew still deserve to take their bows. When people are looking back at the age of the gay rights movement and how open gay culture finally entered the mainstream of American society, this is a show that will rightly belong on our little pink wall of fame.

Video clips deleted at demand of Jeffrey Friedman, attorney for Oprah Winfrey

Sense of Impending Doom

May 09, 2006

Holding Out for a Hero

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Ben_fosterThe new issue of The Advocate has a focus on the gays' fixation on superheroes, which should mean many a queer dollar spent this summer to see Superman Returns and X-Men: Final Stand.

Brandon's fabled bulge notwithstanding, I was especially curious to see that Ben Foster would be playing "The Angel," a winged mutant who looks like he just dragged his ass in from the White Party.

Foster, as you may recall, played Claire's bisexual boyfriend Russell on several episodes of "Six Feet Under."  But as you will see in the photo, could it be that sensitive, little artist Russell is – of all things – fuckin' ripped?

The flick also features Kelsey Grammer as a character known as "The Beast."

I can just see a blue, ultra-effete mutant, and how menacing he will really be: "Niles, I'm going to disembowel you!"

May 04, 2006

A Very Brady Thursday

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Kissing_bradysLike many queer Gen X'ers, "The Brady Bunch" was part of my sexual awakening.

I've thought that Christopher Knight was one of the hottest bipeds for longer than I can recollect.  That whole "Time to Change" thing?  Puh-leeze.  I was changing right along with his voice.

Despite the reports of Barry Williams's on-set hetero hijinks, I guess I always had hoped that at least one of the hot Brady boys was gay.

Tonight, "That 70s Show" provided me with two gay Bradys.

Williams and Knight played a gay couple who moved in next door to the Formans.  This obviously tested the limits of Red's tolerance, but in a twist, he found a much more obvious reason to hate the playahs and their game.  (I am siding with the gay Minnesota natives on this one.)

[Watch video – 7:45, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 7:45, WMV format, low bandwidth]

May 01, 2006

Friends Don't Let Friends Cook Drunk

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Those of you with RSS readers, or with so much time on your hands that you're always hitting "refresh" on this site, might already have seen this headline.  I accidentally managed to send a mangled, incomplete version of this post last night, which I'll blame on the Lunesta.

It's probably a bit ironic, then, because the story I had intended to tell was a cautionary tale about why another harmful chemical, vodka, should be outlawed.

Or, at least, the too-yummy vodka at my favorite new Manhattan gay bar, Vlada.

Hubbie and I met up there with a number of friends after dinner and proceeded to take a tour through their home-brewed infused vodkas.  Among those I can recommend personally: cranberry, pineapple, peach, apple-cinnamon, and ginger.  I am sure there were others too, but for some odd reason, they're not coming to me at the moment.

After a few more hours and another stop on the way home, something gooey and fattening was sounding very good to us.  We're in a bit of a mac-n-cheese rut these days, so we decided to pull out all the stops: a box of Kraft Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese.

A little after 3 a.m., I brought some water to a boil, then threw the noodles into the pot.  I carefully set the timer for 10 minutes.

We parked it in front of the TV.  But unfortunately, we were on The Cloud.  You see, The Cloud has this strange, deeply narcotic effect whenever you lie down on it.  No matter how alert you might be, it has the power to drag your body effortlessly off to sleep.

Knowing this, Hubbie prodded me a couple of times and asked if I had set the timer.  Of course I had.  I'm not all irresponsible-like.

Macncheese_1 About an hour later, we awoke to the shrill squeal of the smoke detector.  I leapt from the sofa to the kitchen in a single bound.  The water had completely evaporated from the pot, leaving a half-scorched, congealed mass of macaroni behind, belching putrid smoke.

I hit the reset button on the smoke alarm and took the pot from the burner.  Eh, it didn't look all that bad.  Besides, when I eat lasagna, I love the crusty, overcooked corner pieces best.  I drunkenly devoured my half; Hubbie politely declined.

* * *

Yesterday we were lolling in bed into the early afternoon when I heard what I could have sworn was the beeping of the timer on the stove.  I went to the kitchen to investigate.  Sure enough, the timer had gone off and now displayed "END" on its LCD screen.

I did some quick math in my head.  The 10 minutes that I had so carefully entered into the timer the night before had actually been 10 hours.  Maybe I thought I was cooking mac-n-cheese the Crockpot way?

Beware, Toby: This could be your life in 12 years!

A Sweet Preview

Malbug_13YouTube has a teaser trailer for the "Strangers With Candy" movie, scheduled for release on June 28:

The film is a prequel that has Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) returning home 32 years after becoming a runaway.  It also stars Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello "as a bible thumping science teacher and soft minded art teacher (respectively) in tragic love with each other."

Arjan Simmers

Arjanwrites_scissor_sisters_1 Malbug_13Blog pal ArjanWrites had an unbelievable view of Scissor Sisters and Madonna at the Coachella Arts & Music Festival.

It was 96 degrees there yesterday, which means that he probably got sweat on by Jake.  A lot.

We're not jealous.  Nope, not at all.  [Punts dog through plate-glass window]

April 30, 2006

Non-Ambiguously Funny

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It may have been the equivalent of a clip show, but "Saturday Night Live" is always at its best when it features Rob Smigel's "Saturday TV Funhouse," and even better when the old clips are hosted by those ambiguously gay crime-fighters, Ace and Gary.

Two dozen of Smigel's most brilliant cartoons and films were shown on this weekend's SNL, sticking the shiv deep into everybody from Michael Jackson and Tara Reid to Disney, politicians and the Smurfs.

When Ace and Gary are picking the clips, you know there's bound to be some, uh, attention-grabbing content, such as Tom Brady in his underwear in a sexual-harassment training video or a naked Andy Samberg (with unfortunate pixelation).

I didn't bother including the clip with Samberg.  The screen grab is probably all you need to know anyway.

Genre_and_gary A couple of bits of trivia: First, Ace and Gary are voiced by "The Daily Show" alums Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell, respectively.  And second, last night I noticed for the first time that the "G" on Gary's chest resembles the "G" from Genre magazine, which is also a play on the "male" symbol: ♂.  Maybe it's coincidence, maybe not.

Enjoy the clips.

[Watch video – 17:04, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 17:04, WMV format, low bandwidth]

April 28, 2006

Rosie To Be New "View" Co-Host

Malbug_13The Malcontent and Queerty's campaign pays off.  Call me, Rosie, so I can tell you where to send the 10 percent.

[h/t Andy]

April 27, 2006

Yamin?! Yeah, Man

Malbug_13Pickler"American Idol" viewers have finally confounded the heretofore peerless dialidol.com, giving Kellie "I'm a mink!" Pickler the heave-ho, rather than Paris Bennett.  (There is a God!)

Katharine McPhee joined Chris Daughtry as one of the top-two vote-getters, despite dialidol.com's prediction that she would end up in no better than third place.

Meanwhile, bloggist Kenneth Hill goes out on a limb, predicting an upset victory by the sheep-vibratoed Elliott Yamin.

Turns out, the limb he's on belongs to the ugly tree, and Elliott hit every branch on the way down.  I don't think Elliott has quite made the physical transformation that Kenneth sees (his "cute factor"?), although there have been improvements, especially dentally.  But I don't know how you fix the way Elliott goes cock-eyed every time he grins.

Money quote from Kenneth on Paula's bizarre crying jag after Elliott sang on Tuesday:

She's so sensitive at the moment, I think she must feel air molecules colliding with her skin.

Has there ever been a potential "Idol" outcome so up in the air with five contestants left?  Has it ever been so possible to care less?

By the way, did y'all catch the sadder acoustic version of Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" during Kellie's highlights montage video?  Does that mean Chris will get a death-metal version when he gets voted off?

Icon in Decline

Malbug_13Elizabeth_taylor Sad news today that screen legend and humanitarian Elizabeth Taylor, 74, might be near death.  She was diagnosed in 2004 with congestive heart failure after a lifetime of ill health.

Taylor has already raised more than $50 million for AIDS-related causes, and it sounds as if her immense generosity won't end with her death:

"She's not leaving a lot of money to her children. She wants the bulk of her fortune to go to AIDS research."

Classy lady.  While many will always remember her for her timeless beauty, it's her beautiful soul that has made a more meaningful impact.

April 26, 2006

Gratuitousness

Out1 Malbug_13I know we have been a bit skin-deficient around here lately, at least, as far as political blogs go.  Let's face it, we're no Made In Brazil, Oh La La Paris or Fleshbot.  Hell, we'd even make a piss-poor Rod 2.0.

But I just had to share a spread from the May issue of Out magazine.

Look, I don't know who this Yves Saint Laurent person is, and I don't much care.  And I couldn't tell his summer collection from a stamp collection.

All I know is, I'm all for fashion that consists of, well, pretty much no clothing whatsoever.

I'm serious.  Can someone explain this to me?

Continue reading "Gratuitousness" »

April 25, 2006

Acro-Nimwits

Malbug_13I'm sorry, but this is just fucking retarded:

"As more LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, queer] people have children, there is an inherent tension between preserving that adult community and shifting towards a culture that includes children - and in some ways that means altering the meaning of the Castro to include the needs of children."

I don't mean that what's happening to the Castro is retarded, but what's happening to our language.

I know I've used "GLBT" before, but I'm more than a little concerned that the activists are Balkanizing us by acronym.  We really must stop looking for differences between us, or inventing new ones.  (Listen up, Mike Rogers!)

Apparently feeling that no letter of the alphabet should go unused, some of the more militant among us are even trying to elbow "LGBTQQIP" into the vernacular.  Is anyone aware of even longer acronyms?  (There is even a subtle and objectionable statement of political correctness in putting the "L" in "LGBT" first, even though there are roughly twice as many gay as lesbians.)

As an American, I have internalized the "Melting Pot" from a very early age.  I am always more interested in that which unites, rather than divides, us.

So from now on, when I mean "gays," I will say "gays."  When I mean "lesbians," I will say "lesbians."  When I mean "bisexual" or "transgendered," I will say "bisexual" or "transgendered."  And if I slip up, please sic the language cops on me!