Over at Advocate.com you can read funny, sweet and all-around awesome quotes from variously notable celebs, politicians and big mouths. Out's May cover boy Greg Berlanti offers this:
Since, unfortunately, neither of our remaining Democratic presidential candidates can openly embrace this historic moment in civil rights history, today is as good a day as any to reflect on the words and courage of another politician -- Spain's prime minister, Jose Zapatero. Hopefully, everyone is already familiar with it.
This is my favorite part of Zapatero's speech that Berlanti quoted:
"It is true that they are only a minority, but their triumph is everyone's triumph. It is also the triumph of those who oppose this law, even though they do not know this yet: because it is the triumph of Liberty. Their victory makes all of us (even those who oppose the law) better people, it makes our society better."
And Greg at Out in Hollywood is collecting quotes from other various sources as they appear.
Yeah, yeah, I know we're all working on our best gay marriage jokes in the wake of the California Supreme Court decision to make marriage legal for gays and lesbians. That's because we're bitter queens, devoid of emotion and if there's one gift Paul Lynde gave our community, it was the knowledge that there ain't nothing so sacred that can't be turned into a punchy one-liner. Then again, Paul Lynde died miserable, alone and bitter -- and didn't even need to be married to get there. Ba-duh-dum!
Okay, maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but like a pink-furred version of The Grinch, a strange and heavy feeling seems to weighing on the empty cavity where I carved out my heart years ago. It's not just that I can get married, but also the relief in finding that I'm no longer a second-class citizen, coupled with the realization that's what I've been all these years, no matter how much I wanted to deny the injustice. And all this, "feeling" and "emotion", gross as it is, is actually kind of nice. So for the rest of you emotionally stunted, world-weary cynics out there, here's a little shock therapy to get your heart pumping again. Each have been carefully selected to reduce you to tears. Because really, you deserve a good cry.
If only Kevin had waited an extra week to get hitched to Scotty! Still, if the commitment-phobic gay lead of Brothers & Sisters can find true happiness, anyone can. And seriously, aren't we all just looking for a guy who will change the lightbulbs?
If fiction doesn't do it for you, the real life story of Fernando and Mike might get your tear ducts flowing. They were one of the couples married in San Francisco in 2004, which set off the events that led to today's decision. While their marriage was annulled, nothing now stands in the way of these two from legally marrying.
I used to think that some sort of civil union would satisfy my desire to be married, but I've come to believe that anything less than marriage is discrimination. Listening to the voices of people from around the country and around the world is a good reminder of how far we have to go, for something so fundamentally and morally necessary.
While I really wish this wasn't set to Jamiroquai songs, these photos of gay couples throughout history puts this day in context. How many loving couples lived their lives in secret and shame? How could we possibly ever go back?
What I want to see is a world full of YouTube marriage slide shows set to Josh Groban songs. Congratulations to Darren & Luke, who look as good in Speedos as they do in tuxes.
This one's my ace-in-the-hole. If the final scene from Angels in America doesn't move you, you ought to check your pulse. As Prior says, "The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come." You are fabulous, every one of you.
Plus! N2N Bodywear is so excited about summer being just around the corner that they're offering up five free square-cut trunk suits for Popnographers to splash around in. E-mail me your size and address and the first five guys who ask get to add one more item to their summer wardrobe!
The justices released the 4-3 decision Thursday, saying that domestic
partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage in an
opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.
The
cases were brought by the city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and
lesbian couples, Equality California and another gay rights group in
March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex
wedding march that took place at Mayor Gavin Newsom's direction.
And if you just want more dish about Jodie -- what the hell is wrong with you! Go celebrate our almost-personhood! Gossip will still be here tomorrow! Go dance in the streets already!
Grand Theft Auto is known for its sexy women -- porntrapreneur Jenna Jameson and Entourage hottie Debi Mazar have both made joysticks-jumping cameos -- but what about the gruff, gun-toting anti-hero characters we're actually posing as on screen?
I'll keep pushing GTA IV's Niko Bellic to "experiment," but in the meantime here's a scenic trip through memory lane of his thuggish, rugged predecessors.
GRAND THEFT AUTO (1997) and GRAND THEFT AUTO II (1998) > Main character: An ant-sized stick man. > How hot does it get?: As hot as Bea Arthur grinding David Gest. > Best pick-up line: He's asexual, but compensates by shooting random people.
GRAND THEFT AUTO III (2001) > Main character: Anonymous Mafia thug in a New York City knockoff. Favors a thick Ray Liotta -- if he was made of oblong squares. > How hot does it get? Invites prostitutes into his vehicle, has sex in driver's seat, makes car (and joystick) vibrate. Kicks woman out onto cold street when done. > Best pick-up line: He has no game, but drives a nice stolen car.
GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY (2002) > Main character: Tommy Vercetti, a '80s-era Mafia thug in South Beach-inspired Vice City. Strangely, looks just like anonymous Mafia thug from GTA III. > How hot does it get? Imagine GTA III, except with acid wash jeans and pink shirts. > Best pick-up line: Still no game, just a Members Only jacket.
GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS (2004) > Main character: CJ, a rough, but intelligent black teenager from (virtual) Compton. > How hot does it get: Skilled players found the hidden soft-porn minigame "Hot Coffee," which features fully-clothed CJ getting a blowjob, and later some missionary action, with a topless female date. It was crude enough to get the game recalled and re-rated as an Adults Only (i.e. X-rated) title. > Best pick-up line: "I would love to come in for some coffee."
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV (2008) > Main character: Niko Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant in New York City-clone Liberty City. Favors an unshaven Dr. Luka Kovac from E.R. after a long vodka bender and several fist-to-face collisions. You've seen him glowering at you from billboards and bus ads all month. But look at him up there, making time with a crooked cop as they stare out into the sunset! > How hot does it get? Niko's accent gets him several girlfriends -- the first serial monogamist game hero, anyone? -- but getting lucky only gets you a view from outside the apartment building and a few realistic moans. At least you can still get busy in the car. > Best pick-up line: "Would you like to, uh, spend some time? I would like that."
> Perez Hilton is claiming former Desperate Housewives star Jesse Metcalfethreatened to murder him after the gossip columnist joked the actor was gay. Perez says, "That was quite negative energy. He was drunk and said he wanted me dead. I was quite shocked." If a few gay jokes is enough to warrant that kind of existential bad vibe, we're a little scared what the future holds for Popnography's sunny mood.
> Dolly Parton is hoppin' mad about a sketch recently featured on the Howard Stern show. It seems Stern cut and spliced bits of Parton's audio books to create racist and incredibly sexually graphic sound bites, which he then passed off as authentic passages from the books. The offensive instances include Dolly "saying" "Kenny Rogers loves to piss inside little boys' assholes" and claiming that Johnny Carson and Burt Reynolds liked to double team young boys. Dolly issued a statement saying: "I have never been so shocked, hurt and humiliated in all my life. If there was ever going to be a lawsuit, it's going to be over this." Give 'em hell, Dolly! You can listen to the Howard Stern show in question below, but we warn you -- it's certainly not for the faint of heart, the delicate of constitution, or any of Dolly's younger or more tender fans:
A little legitimate, state-sanctioned recognition of a long-term relationship never hurt anyone. (In fact, it's kept millions of disgruntled couples hanging in there a while longer, for better or worse.) Come on, Jodie. Give it another day!
If you don't know Diamanda Galas -- and many people don't -- you'd think just by looking at her that she's some kind of Marilyn Manson meets Morticia Adams goth freakshow. You know -- the kind of chick who spends her days gargling the blood of snow-white virgins and her nights in an East Village dungeon punishing badly behaved pencil pushers with a cat o' nine tails fashioned from rusty Diet Pepsi cans.
And you'd kind of be right. Galas is interested in the darker elements -- death, decay, disease -- but as implements to examine society and culture and to try to understand where we stand at this particular moment in history and why.
I got the chance to speak with the classically trained pianist with a three and a half octave range a few weeks ago and I have to say that it was hands down my favorite interview that I have ever done. We chatted on the phone for nearly an hour and I was at turns terrified, mesmerized, shocked, and several times I laughed so hard that at the end I was left with a t-shirt covered in little patches of snot and tears.
The thing that I love the most about Diamanda is that in an era of growing complacency -- with AIDS on the rise and many people more concerned with who's going home on American Idol than who's going to be our next president -- she is a true activist. While you may not like everything she has to say -- or find some of her opinions a bit hard to swallow -- she's out there tirelessly campaigning to remind people that there are still fights to be fought, battles to be won, and if we aren't going to tackle them -- no one else will. She's an amazing walking, shrieking, singing, cackling wake up call. And she takes no prisoners, has no time for petty bullshit, and really could care less if someone dislikes her or what she has to say.
On top of all that, she effortlessly drops some of the best sound bites you'll ever read. Like calling Elton John a "horrible little midget corpse." Or this gem comparing Britney Spears' voice and the sound of the radioactive worms from the 70's sci-fi horror flick Squirm:
[The filmmakers] took these worms that they had and put them through electroshock. They’d put water
on them and they shocked them -- and they got the sound of them. It’s
horrifying. And they interfaced that with some really sleazy analog
synthesizers. That’s what I think of when I hear Britney. I like
Britney for all the wrong reasons -- I like her because there’s a total
pedophilic worshipping station there but it sounds like radioactive worms!
Crank your speakers and check out the sweet sound of electrocuted worms here:
While out in a gay club in Chicago this weekend, I ended up zoning out of a conversation because the new Kylie Minogue video came on the multiple large screens around me. The "Justify My Love" look of "All I See" caught my attention, but what kept me transfixed was the shot of a slinky man dancing shirtless, showing off his ... chest surgery scars? OMG, Kylie cast an FTM in her video!?! I didn't know it was possible to love her more!
Upon further inspection, it became clear it was tattooed script along the bottom of his chest pics, in the exact location where many FTMs have surgery scars. I was still convinced he got the tattoos to cover the scars. All of his ink in general -- hipster stars, kanji characters, bluebirds -- I could name half a dozen other transmen in Chicago alone who have these same design themes on their body.
My friend Mickey found the guy's MySpace page for me and I made my way through several photos to further investigate my theory. In several of them, TattooModel (aka Marco DaSilva) is also sporting a chin-strap beard, or as I like to call it, "trannyboy beard," as dozens, if not hundreds of transmen I have come across (myself included) have grown this beard during some stage of hormonal transition.
Marco's orientation is listed as "not sure," his favorite movie Brokeback Mountain, and nowhere in his profile does it clarify that he's NOT trans. So I will continue to maintain my fantasy, both of Kylie's forward thinking in casting her dancers, and of Marco's desire for brotherly love from me to help figure out what orientation might suit him best.
> Beyonce and Jay-Z still have not confirmed whether or not they were married on April 4th (we're pretty sure they were) and now refuse to confirm or deny reports that they are expecting their first child. When asked to comment on the possible pregnancy a rep told the New York Post, "I don't know if she's pregnant. Let me perform an ultrasound and get back to you." Which leads us to wonder if Beyonce, knowing she'd be pregnant soon, was clever enough to hire a rep who also moonlights as an ultrasound technician -- or if her rep was just feeling especially sassy that day.
> Al Reynoldsis talking about the end of his marriage to Star Jones using the classiest, more dignified medium available to him -- a MySpace bullentin. In the post Reynolds claims, "I know in my heart that I entered my marriage with love and the best of
intentions and leave it with great sadness that it didn't work." He also wants all of us to know that:
I am not the caricature portrayed by
the media. I am complex, contradictory and capable of great
intelligence but also remarkable stupidity. In other
words, I am a human being. To me, labels are for clothes, not people.
So ... Please don't try to define me; don't try to categorize me; and
most of all, don't label me. Instead, JUST GET TO KNOW ME. And if you
see me, just call me Al.
We're going to go ahead and say the barfy attempt at being cute with the Paul Simon reference falls into the "remarkable stupidity" pile.
> Spunky Swedish pop star Robyn was forced to cancel several west coast shows this week due to her securing a spot on one of the most coveted television programs imaginable: The View. But fear not -- the singer will be making up the dates when she swings back across the US on another leg of tour dates this August. You can check out Robyn.com for more info on the rescheduled dates and all your other naughty Robyn needs.
Out hosted a book party for our beloved columnist Josh Kilmer-Purcell (above) at the New York bar Bowery Electric last night. In keeping with theme of Candy Everybody Wants, Josh's newest novel, Out's editor in chief, Aaron Hicklin, and art director Nick Vogelson even took to DJ'ing a long list of awful '80s music.
The real hit, however, is this recreation of the fictional soap opera that plays a starring role in the book:
He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it.
He stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park. No more lying,
no more melodrama, still run-on sentences still funny punctuation but
so what. He became a furiously good storyteller this time.
I don't know: Maybe he doesn't feel so lucky, but it seems like something of an honor to have the venerable critic turn her eye your way. Maslin has a way of making you fall in love, splat, just by telling you why something (a movie, a book) is worth your time.
> Hit maker Greg Berlanti's weirdest show on ABC, Eli Stone, has been picked up for another season. No word yet on whether George Michael's contract has been similarly extended.
What's summer without a little lovin' and a lot of sweaty, sexy subjects
and objects of our affection? The boys of Out have collected in one easy location all the hottest things to do and lust after as the weather (finally) kicks into high gear. I highly recommend picking up the actual issue -- a hefty, but worthwhile lug to the beach or wherever your holidays may take you -- but for those still chained to our desks, we'll also be offering a daily dose of all the who, what, where you’ll be
glad you knew first.
Get off on the right foot with Broadway's latest John Waters adaptation star, Cry-Baby's James Snyder (that's him in the yellow, above, with co-stars Marty Lawson, Spencer Liff and Charlie Sutton, left to right). And as he told Out's Bruce Shenitz, it's obviously the part he was born to play:
"One of my early memories was of a local video store, where there was a Cry-Baby
poster, and I was, like, 'Johnny Depp cries!'" says James Snyder in his
dressing room at the Marquis Theater. "It was around fifth grade, and I
had cried on the bus for something...I remember thinking, All these women think it's sexy that he cries, so I guess I'm allowed to do that."
Not just the women, honey, but you go on ahead and wipe your eyes all pretty-like!
An enthusiastic, obsessive blog designed to push your buttons and play with your heart—and make you love every minute of it.
Out.com editor Shana Naomi Krochmal and her team of Popnographers are always looking for new addictions! E-mail us with your shameless self-promotion or most amazing discovery.
Berlanti puts words in candidates' mouths: Photo: Getty Images Over at Advocate.com you can read funny, sweet and all-around awesome quotes from variously notable celebs, politicians and big mouths. Out's May cover boy Greg Berlanti offers this: Since, unfortunately, neither of our remaining Democratic presidential candidates...
Real queers cry at weddings: Photo: ABC/MICHAEL DESMOND Yeah, yeah, I know we're all working on our best gay marriage jokes in the wake of the California Supreme Court decision to make marriage legal for gays and lesbians. That's because we're bitter queens, devoid of...
Rainer Reigns: Another day -- another set of exclusive outtakes from Out's June/July cover fashion story "Vs." shot by Richard Phibbs. (Sometimes we really love our job!) Today's cutie is Rainer: ...Let the coiffing commence. ...Flexing for the camera. ...An intimate adjustment....
Hip to be square-cut suits: In non-marriage news -- unless we're talking How to Marry a Millionaire-style set-up -- today's Hot List is all about some seriously sexy swimsuits. Luckily our fashion advisers are also standing by and ready to tell you how to pick...
They do! We do!: Photo: Getty Images Pick your breaking news site of choice, but get out your cell phones and call your favorite California gay and say congratulations! The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for...
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The queen of the damned
The queen of the damned