This one borders on perfection. And here's another for you ASS MEN.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Page 1 Roundup (12/31)
The Daily News: Bronx building tenant who lost four relatives in deadly blaze says mom of fire-starting tot didn't warn neighbors
The New York Post: Backlash continues for Lewis Hamilton after shaming nephew
The New York Times: Trump aide’s drunken gossip was key to Russia probe
The Washington Post: Democrats think 2018 will be a good year, but are they realistic about their own problems?
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Page 1 Roundup (12/30)
The Daily News: Bronx grandma found dead with baby called her daughter amid massive blaze: 'We're going to die'
The New York Post: Soldier home for holidays died saving lives in Bronx inferno
The New York Times: Summoned by a prank call, police in Wichita kill a man at his front door
The Washington Post: The three things saving us from Trump
The Wall Street Journal: For the first time in nearly a century, France is considering altering the region’s boundaries, and thus what can be considered the real bubbly
The Wall Street Journal: For the first time in nearly a century, France is considering altering the region’s boundaries, and thus what can be considered the real bubbly
Kevin Rice, Model for Ralph Lauren, Has Died at 43
Kevin Rice, whose modeling career spanned more than two decades, died on Christmas Day at age 43. He is survived by his husband. No other details or survivor information were mmediately available, but I wanted to wish his friends and family my condolences.
See his profile at Storm Models HERE.
Friends remember Kevin online HERE.
Friday, December 29, 2017
Mary Ann Georgantopoulos of BuzzFeed Conspires With Jonathan Well to Produce #RevengePorn Against Jann Wenner
Hmm, has anyone else checked out this BuzzFeed piece? (Best to read before hearing me out.) This isn't anything like what BuzzFeed reported another man says happened to him with Jann Wenner. (An alleged quid pro quo.) This is a grievous invasion of Wenner's privacy poorly dressed up as a #MeToo story. Just as this accuser (Jonathan Wells) had a hard time labeling "what happened" to him, so would any reasonable person. It's very possible both men could be telling their version of the "truth." But if Wenner wasn't aware of Wells's take then I don't see how it's at all fair to Wenner to fill him in for the world to hear. (Has everyone forgotten what a phone is?) Someone drunk and on coke putting the moves on someone -- and the object of their desire not saying no or protesting in any way -- and then this person coming back on two separate occasions to have “consensual sex” afterward could very reasonably have allowed Wenner to think it was consensual. (Wouldn't anyone?) And if Wells felt like he couldn’t say no to Wenner — who was NOT HIS BOSS at the time of the alleged assault— simply because he was rich and famous, that says more about Wells and our obsession with celebrity culture than it does about Wenner. (And let’s not even get into Wells’s “daddy issues.”) Wenner eventually realized the guy wasn't into him and dropped it.
Jonathan Wells's story is suited for a therapist, not a reporter
The other part isn't as easy to gauge — but that certainly didn’t stop BuzzFeed from using a watonly misleading headline. People who like each other often do nice things for one another. (Every kind act isn't secretly motivated by something nefarious.) And book publishing is an extremely precarious business. But to the more specific charge, I'm not sure threatening "gay" blackmail is any better than threatening legal action to try to stop a book you wish you'd jumped at from getting published by a rival. Bottom line: Shame on
Mary Ann Georgantopoulos and BuzzFeed for this sleazy attempt at publicly shaming an openly gay man for what he does in his personal life. Wells has every right to feel any way he wants and to tell whomever he wants. But that doesn't mean media outlets have to breathlessly regurgitate every word every accuser says. Yes we should lean toward believing victims. But each accusation needs to be evaluated on its own merits, and not every incident is worthy of a news story. This article has no business in a supermarket tabloid much less a Pulitzer-nominated news site. What a giant step back for an organization that has worked so hard to be taken seriously and shed its listicle past.
Remains of the Day (12/29)
Bammer47: A gay man remembers visiting a sunny beach in Buzios, Brazil, just before New Year’s in 1988.
New York Post: She nearly lost custody of her children because she's gay
Washington Blade: Trump fires all members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS with no explanation
Vox: Incoherent, authoritarian, uninformed: Trump’s New York Times interview is a scary read
OMG Blog: Reporter Denham Hitchcock stripped down to his undies
Washington Post: Why can't all straight white men "get it" the way Chris Long does?
USA Today: Wrestling coach accused of statutory rape appears in court, suit and tied
The New Yorker: How a liberal scholar of conspiracy theories became the subject of a right-wing conspiracy theory
BosGuy: Now that's a hairy chest
The WoW Report: Remembering the amazing cross-dressing musician Billy Tipton
The Gainesville Sun: "Hot cop'"accused of writing anti-Semitic Facebook posts resigns ahead of internal affairs review
JoeMyGod: White House intern flashes "white power" signal during group photo with Trump
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York: A list of the places NYC lost in 2017
Homorazzi: Which celebrity shared the sexiest Christmas selfie?
It's Either Sadness or Euphoria: Reviews of "Crime Song" by David Swinson," "So Much Blue" by Percival Everett and "Watching Glass Shatter" by James J. Cudney
Gay Star News: 79-year-old gay vicar left homeless when 24-year-old hubby dumps him, just months after marrying
HuffPost Queer Voices: Zach Wahls, who defended his two moms in viral video, is running for office
PinkNews: Chechnya’s first openly gay man forced to apologize on national TV
Dlisted: Now that's what I call "homoerotic"
The Film Experience: A deleted seen from "The Breakfast Club" is here!
Boy Culture: Watch how this guy jacks up those grapefruit arms
NPR: Mystery author Sue Grafton dead at 77 after cancer battle
Gay Almanac: LGBTQ rights advocates want other states to copy Illinois's ban on the gay-panic defense
The Awl: Forging Hitler's diaries made him famous
Greg in Hollywood: Meet "Well Strung" studs Trevor Wadleigh and Chris Marchant, who will compete on "The Amazing Race"
Matthew's Island of Misfit Toys: So you like 'em big and hairy?
AXS: Go-Go's musical, "Head Over Heels," set for 2018 pre-Broadway run in San Francisco
Towleroad: Roseanne Barr is still mentally ill
Tennis Life: Add Novak Djokovic to the "uncertain for Oz" list
Hot Cat of the Day: Harvey has helped fill a huge hole left behind by Larry. But he's so sweet and happy I can't get him to do a sideways walk to save my life -- a Larry special this kitty has down pat!
Sister Bernhard's Traveling Salvation Show
The world has become so insane that it's gotten to the point that I feel like I have to create my own "alternative universe" -- one where intelligence and wit are revered, racism, misogyny and LGBTQphobia are frowned up, and truth and facts still matter. (Besides, I wouldn't give the right the satisfaction of making me miserable, despite their truly valiant efforts.) That being said, Damian and I decided to fudge the truth a bit last night at at Joe's Pub, deeming it our own "New Year's Eve" celebration (avoiding the hysteria) on Dec. 28 with one Sandra Bernhard. I've been going to Sandy's year-end wrap-up on and off forever. But these past three years it's become a necessary tradition -- a palate cleanser to prepare for the year ahead.
And once again, she didn't disappoint. As it customary, she opened with one of my songs -- this time it was Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" -- reminding me that our similar MI-AZ-L.A.-NYC slash queer sensibilities know no bounds. And from there she off to the races, with an hour of her signature observations, celebrity run-ins (#SheToo, with Buddy Hackett and Rodney Dangerfield) and is-she-or-isn't-kidding songs ("Takin' It to the Streets"), keeping it light on politics as god knows none of us needs to pay good money to have it rubbed in our faces just how dire things are. And best of all, reminding us that we might just make it after all.
Through Sunday at Joe's Pub. Tickets HERE.
Just about everyone there was a gay dude of a certain age -- except these two lovelies!
Future appearances HERE.
RIP, Rose Marie
The child radio star who became even more famous as Sally Rogers on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was 94. So glad this Hollywood legend lived to see her "moment" again. Read HERE.
On the Rag, Vol. 490
A weekly look at what's making news in the gay mags:
The Advocate: Transgender Americans named Person(s) of the Year
Get Out!: What to do on New Year's Eve
Out in Jersey: Margaret Cho tells all
QX (London): Virginia Wright rings in 2018 in the only way she knows how – with booze and a naked man
Grab (Chicago): Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog's potluck dinner party
Echo: The Phoenix magazine celebrates its 700th issue and recognizes its pick for leaders of the year
Paper: Michael Musto speaks to ex-club personality Robi Martin on the Palladium, the World and her new life
Song of the Day: 'While You See a Chance' by Petula Clark
This song was one of the highlights from Tuesday's concert. Was a little surprised that no one at the table recognized it as being a Steve Winwood cover. (It hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981.)
Page 1 Roundup (12/29)
The New York Post: Child playing with stove caused deadliest NYC fire in 25 years
The New York Times: That Trump thinks the Russia inquiry is what makes U.S. 'look very bad' tells you everything you need to know about him
The Wall Street Journal: Finally, a use for that leftover holiday fruitcake -- exercise fuel