Friday, April 28, 2023

Remains of the Day (04/28)


















Hot Cat of the Day: I see someone has a leg up on my weekend plans!

On the Rag, Vol. 757

A weekly look at what's making news in the gay magazines:

















Thursday, April 27, 2023

Sleep Some More


😸😸😸

 

Remains of the Day (04/27)







The WoW Report: Paper magazine lays off staff, citing economic headwinds / Michael Musto eulogizes the place that showcased so much of his work HERE.



Wednesday, April 26, 2023

When the Cast of 'Hairspray' Reunited 30 Years After the Film


Wow, here's a photo I'd never seen before that just popped up on Facebook. That's Clayton Prince (Seaweed J. Stubbs), Ricki Lake (Tracy Turblad), John Waters (writer/director), Debbie Harry (Velma von Tussle), Pia Zadora (beatnik chick), Colleen Fitzpatrick (Amber von Tussle) and Mink Stole (Tammy Turner) at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts Sciences 30th anniversary screening of "Hairspray" held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. on July 23, 2018. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez.)

I, of course, have such fond memories of the film, seeing it with my friends Greg and Debra on my 21st birthday after having lunch at our favorite Scottsdale eatery, AZ88, designed by famed modernist architect Michael Johnson where I had my first legal cocktail. 


Sadly missing, of course, are:

Divine (Oct. 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988; who played Edna Turnblad)
Sonny Bono (Feb. 16, 1935 – Jan. 5, 1998; who played Franklin von Tussle)
Ruth Brown (Jan. 12, 1928 – Nov. 17, 2006; who played Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs)

Michael St. Gerard (born Jan. 22, 1961; who played Link and is alive) 
Leslie Ann Powers (born Sept. 12, 1971; who played Penelope "Penny" Pingleton and is alive)

Ric Ocasek (March 23,1944 – Sept. 15, 2019), who played the beatnik cat was alive at the time, and 
Jerry Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020), who played Wilbur Turnblad and was also alive at the time


Sonny, Colleen and Debbie


P.S. Mike the Fanboy was there that night. Read his report HERE.

Remains of the Day (04/26)

 





The WoW ReportDisney v Florida Man


Netflix: Finally got around to watching the Manti Te'o documentary ('Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist') and I did not see that twist coming. For those who don't remember, Te'o was a star football player at Notre Dame when he became a national hero after winning a big game moments after finding out both his grandmother and his girlfriend had died (separately). When it emerged that his girlfriend was someone he'd only met online (and was actually a young man impersonating a woman) -- before "catfishing" was a household term -- the nation sort of turned on him, thinking he was perhaps involved in the hoax to garner attention. As we now learn here, what really happened was far more transcendent.




Wrestle Wednesday: Get a room, boys







Hot Cat of the Day: Our lease renewal is here -- has it really been almost two years? -- and Harvey is going over it with a fine-tooth comb!

90 Candles

 

You can bet your finest window-dressing evening gown I'll be tuning in to watch "Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love" on NBC tonight. Hard to think of another televison series that has left a more indelible mark on me than the comedy legend's long-running variety show -- from seeing my homelife portrayed in "The Family" to discovering my "no-no parts" via Lyle Waggoner, (As a matter of fact, Damian and I happened upon an episode just last night with an edgy skit where a gullible mistress ages 50 years in solitude waiting for her man, who was "just about" to divorce his wife to be with her any day now!) 


"The Carol Burnett Show" and its after-school iteration ("Carol Burnett and Friends") even inspired my first (and only) drag and first (and only) acting performances , in the critically overlooked garage production of "Christmas at Harvey's." (I was later blown away by her TV film "Friendly Fire" and her performance in "The Four Seasons," even though my friend Mark and I arrived earlier and got confused and didn't enter the theater right away thinking the previous showing was still in progress so only saw "The Three Seasons.") 


While Carol the person may not perfect -- Vicki Lawrence has talked about the "silent treatment" years after she agreed to do the syndicated version of "Mama's Family" with Carol's ex-husband -- a show Carol bullied Vicki into doing in the first place(!) -- and others I know who have worked with her have described her in unflattering terms, it's worth noting that she was a trailblazer in many ways, including on race relations. 


My friend Jay Blotcher writes:
A national treasure turns 90 today. There are numerous reasons to celebrate Carol Burnett's wit and talent. But I'd like to focus on an overlooked aspect of her career. I recently returned to late 1960s episodes of "The Carol Burnett Show" and was surprised to see skits that satirically attacked racism and segregation. One bold sketch even slammed George Wallace, a prominent Southern politician and proud racist of the era. And she didn't shrink from sharing the stage with people of color. One doesn't think of Carol Burnett as a political comedian, but her nationally aired show took a clear stand on race relations while America was still making up its mind.
And in fairness to Carol Burnett the woman, she lost one kid -- first to drugs and then to lung cancer -- and is having to raise another addict child's youngster while in her most golden of golden years, which cannot be easy. Talk about friendly fire.

P.S. Hollywood really blew it a few years ago when it opted against her scripted show via Amy Poehler in favor of that “Kids Say the Darndest Things” knockoff. 

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Remains of the Day (04/25)








Various: I ended up checking out (what turns out to be) the first pilot of the sitcom 'Tabatha" [sic] last night after hearing about it on RetroNewsNow. I fondly remember the short-lived Lisa Hartman version -- how I loved her yellow VW convertible -- but originally Liberty Williams played the titular character, with Bruce Kimmel as her witchy brother, Adam. Worth a watch, if only for the 1970s fashions and San Francisco location shots!





Page Six: Comedian Bob Newhart's wife, Ginnie -- who may or may not have conceived the brilliant 'Newhart' finale (depending on whom you ask) -- is dead at 82





Hot Cat of the Day: Optimal loafing

Tennis Tuesday

 

Is it possible to need an NC-17 warning on a stretching session? Decide for yourself BELOW.

Monday, April 24, 2023

Remains of the Day (04/24)


Various: Serbian tennis pro Slobodan Zivojinovic -- who made my list of 50 hottest ATP players, dated Princess Diana and has a son who is a real chip off the old block -- lists Miami home for $16.9 million









Manspread Monday: Jockstrapped and ready








Hot Ukrainian Cat of the DayHer name is Freya and she lives at the Cat Cafe Lviv! ðŸ’™ðŸ’›

Weekend Tennis Roundup


Titles for Iga, Carlos, Holger and Dusan(!), plus all the ATP beef that's fit to post BELOW.


Cable News Axes Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon


Although the timing is bad because it feeds into the "both sides" narrative that has allowed the right to shamelessly embrace authoratarianism, this tweet might be reason enough for people to remain on Twitter!


It's been a wild few hours for cable news. Read HERE.

Friday, April 21, 2023

Baba Wawa Slept Here


If you're looking for a blatantly conservative apartment, you're in luck. 

NYP reports that the longtime home of the late Barbara Walters has listed for $19.75 million. 

Walters, who died in December, at the age of 93, would spend her final years sequestered in this home. Located on the Upper East Side, at a white-glove cooperative at 944 Fifth Ave., the legendarily overrated journalist first moved in back in 1989. Now on the market, the apartment looks the exact same way as it did when Walters lived in it

Go inside BELOW.

Remains of the Day (04/21)


AP: On the advice of a a friend I finally got around to watching 'Somebody Somewhere' and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sam and Joel's friendship tickled me to no end, plus the dead sibling part really resonated. Lucky for me season two is premiering in two days

News24Gay throuple in Los Angeles hopes to clear misconceptions as they share parenthood journey


CH Local: Gay rights pioneer Ada Bello -- who is curiously not a trans woman of color -- dies at 89

Saturday 'Stache: Sex bomb in a tux











Speedo Sunday: Built and ready