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A study published Thursday in the November edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal suggests that rates of HIV in France are alarmingly higher in gay and bisexual men than in heterosexuals, From AFP:
"Overall incidence of HIV in France declined from 8,390 new infections in 2003 to 6,940 in 2008, said [the study's] lead author, Stephane le Vu of the National Institute for Public Health Surveillance. But men who have sex with men accounted for 48 percent of new cases and have an infection rate that is 200 times higher than in the heterosexual population, despite a long-running campaign to promote safe sex, le Vu noted."
In a separate study published Monday in the open-access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, researchers at Ghent University in Belgium found that gay white men, in particular, were taking too many HIV risks. From AFP:
"[Investigators] sequenced the strains of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from more than 500 patients, male and female, heterosexual and homosexual, who had been newly diagnosed between 2001 and 2009. Genetic profiling revealed 'clusters' of closely-related variants among young white homosexual men, pointing to risky sex practises among this minority."
*SIGH*
Sandra Day O'Connor is not my fave Supreme Court Justice ever, but I'd gladly take her back in exchange for Scalia or Roberts or Thomas considering how reasonable she usually is. (Not always!) Case in point, she's speaking out against moving from merit-based to election-based selection of judges in Iowa, and she also made this remark:
"As Iowa goes, so goes the nation, and I wish the rest of the nation would hurry up and go."
Marriage-equality reference? Maybe not. But definitely an endorsement of the way things are currently run in Iowa.
James Franco, (arguably) the hottest, sexiest, most adventurous actor of all time, gives a good interview to The Advocate circular, in which he discusses not being gay by saying he'd admit it if he were:
"Sure, I'd tell you if I was. I guess the reason I wouldn't is because I'd be worried that it would hurt my career. I suppose that's the reason one wouldn't do that, right? But no, that wouldn't be something that would deter me. I'm going to do projects that I want to do."
Considering he did General Hospital at the height of his silver-screen success, I'm inclined to believe him, even if the 'I would so be out!' line is usually a sign that someone is lying. 'I can't help it, I just love women!' is a close second for unconvincing denials.
Full, Howl-driven interview is here.
I was shocked and saddened to hear yesterday that Rich Cronin had passed away. Just 35 years old, he was best known as the lead singer of the late '90s/early '00s boy band LFO whose song "Summer Girls" (the "I like girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch" summer anthem) was ubiquitous in 1999. They weren't exactly a one-hit wonder—"Girl On TV" went Top 10 (it was about Rich's then-love Jennifer Love Hewitt) and their self-titled album went platinum. Nowadays, even artists like Rihanna have to wonder if they'll go platinum.
My LFO platinum award...not many acts I help remember to do this
I knew Rich personally, though not well. I worked with him quite a few times for the teen mag I edit, including giving LFO their first major profile in the U.S., back when they were still called the "Lyte Funkie Ones" (this was a reference to their blue-eyed soulfulness). Back then, they had been releasing cheesetastic songs in Europe—including my personal favorite and one they probably despised called "Sex U Up (The Way You Like It)"—and had just reworked Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" into "Can't Have You," a U.S. dance hit that almost went Top 40.
I found him to be a very creative person, almost like his mind was going in lots of different directions at once. It's hard to write a song that hits as big as "Summer Girls," even if it seems like fluff; if it were not a skill, more people would do it. He was proud of that achievement and never, from what I've been able to observe, stopped trying to create more feel-good music that would affect people.
I remember for LFO's cover shoot (us together, pictured), Rich was moody and distracted. I don't think he enjoyed that aspect of his job; he was more comfortable on the phone or writing. But even moody and distracted, he was never a rude guy or dismissive. His nickname, after all, was "Rich Nice." (The meanest he's been was a decade after his peak when he was going OFF on Lou Pearlman to Howard Stern, which was richly deserved and which carefully avoided homophobia: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 ...and yes, I feel terrible thinking all that we feared was going on was going on and on and on.)
On the set of "Summer Girls"
Another memory: Early in my magazine's history, when we were trying desperately to build it, a group of employees trekked out to a radio show held on the beach in Jersey. LFO headlined, and it was pandemonium! It was a lot of fun being so close to the madness. We sold a lot of magazines that day, and LFO put on a great show. They really were an ideal summer group:
Scott Teitler took the best picture of Rich that I can remember, a movie-star handsome shot (can't find it) in which he is a gleaming blond heartthrob. Very Troy Donahue! And Anthony Cutajar must have taken thousands of great pictures of Rich made all the better by the fact that the guys were so comfortable being documented by him.
Visit Rich's leukemia foundation here
Later on, after the group had disbanded, I heard Rich had been feeling ill and went to the hospital, only to discover he had advanced leukemia. He was only about 30 at the time, and I guess he was able to fend it off and recover to an extent. He sent me a couple of friendly shout-outs over the years, including this one (I don't think he'd mind me sharing it; it wasn't anything revealing):
And within the past couple of months, I think I remember him commenting my Facebook with no ulterior motive other than just catching up.
On the outside, everything seemed fine with him, but I believe his health was more precarious than he let on to anyone not within his inner circle. Ultimately, he succumbed to a stroke.
I think this kind of thing is a wake-up call to people to be grateful for your good health if you have it, never to take it for granted and to think long and hard if what you're doing is going to be enough when your time is up—Rich achieved quite a few dreams before he became ill, and that makes his ridiculously early passing at least a little less sad.
Above, Kellan Lutz has it and flaunts it in Life & Style (September 20, 2010). Below, Jon Hamm is so frickin' hot he needs to jump in the pool to cool himself off. As seen in In Touch (September 20, 2010):
More after the jump...
From TV Guide (September 13—19, 2010), Scott Caan and Alex O'Loughlin continue to be among the best-looking men I won't be watching on TV this season:
As seen in Us (September 20, 2010), the unbearable cuteness that is Ryan Kwanten following by the unbearable hotness that is Joe Manganiello:
I probably wouldn't pay to see it, yet I'm so intrigued watching bits of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as they're unveiled across the street from where I work. Here's a movie marquee trumpeting Mary Jane's appearance in The Fly!
It's a shame he's such a religious fanatic, because Justin Gaston is so f-cking hot! More here.
From OK! (September 20, 2010): I'm quite surprised that Antoine Dodson has made enough money from his absurd appearance on the local news that it's "helped Antoine to move his family out of the projects." He made that much money that fast??? Then again, I'm also shocked he would have the rights to the "Bed Intruder Song" considering it was taped by someone else. And if he did get some good money, would the check really be in the mail so fast? Good for him.
JERRY EAST STRONGLY BELIEVES THAT YOU MUST WORK HARD TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS. HE IS HIMSELF THE BEST PROOF OF THAT MOTTO. HE HAS WORKED HARD AND CREATED OPPORTUNITIES THAT OPENED DOORS. HARD WORK RESULTED FOR JERRY IN FINDING HAPPINESS....
A recent dispatch from Frontline: Tehran Bureau, a virtual network connecting journalists, Iran experts, and readers around the world, describes a gay Iranian-American woman's 2008 trip to Iran, during which she searched for a sense of both who she was and where she belonged in a country that officially became an Islamic republic under a theocratic constitution in 1979. Not long after her return to the United States, she understood the potential dangers in Iran of having an open social networking life in America. Here is an excerpt:
"...[The] Iranian government is paying attention to the Internet. So everything I do openly here in the U.S., I am, in a way, also doing openly in Iran. Every time my mother sees my Facebook photo, one of me and my girlfriend, she turns red. 'They'll kill you if you go to Iran,' she insists. I tell her I've made it private. But her concerns are real. My Twitter account is public -- for journalists, social networking is now part of the job, and making it private defeats its purpose of sharing information. Even the stories I choose to tell, and how I choose to tell them, can work against me as they live online. There is only so much I can do personally and professionally to protect myself. Eventually, I will have to make the choice between doing what I need to do here and having the option of going back."
A must read.
The bill giving same-sex couples the right to adopt in New South Wales, Australia, cleared it`s final hurdle Thursday, after the Upper House voted in support of a last-minute amendment to the legislation, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
New South Wales is now the third Australian state or territory to allow same-sex adoption, after the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Western Australia.
Congrats, prospective Mamas and Papas.
In OK! (September 20, 2010), three of the seven things to look forward to about fall TV are gay—Teddy (Trevor Donovan) coming out on 90210, Cam and Mitch (Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson) kissing on Modern Family and Kurt (Chris Colfer) getting a boyfriend (Chord Overstreet) on GLEE.
Life & Style (September 20, 2010) shows Matthew McConaughey as he really is alongside Matthew McConaughey as he apepars in an ad. The PhotoShopping is appallingly obvious, and it makes him look worse than he started out looking. And manorexic!
I used Sam Fox to come out as gay...she later came out as gay!
After 23 years and more than a few disappointments, I now possess a rather good video record of my first time on stage—lip-synching and performing BROADLY to Samantha Fox's "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" at Flushing High School's 1987 "Mock Rock"!
This was the look I was aping
I was not an outgoing type, so doing this was a watershed moment for me as a person and as a (then-closeted) gay kid.
The original S-s-s-s-samantha, S-s-s-s-samantha Fox!
I'd given up on ever seeing a video, but Lori, a kind classmate, happened to comment my Facebook that she had a copy. She happily sent me her Beta (!) original and I had it transferred today and...voila!
Video and my critique after the jump...
I could listen to the cheers at the end over and over...like Dietrich...
First of all, I look like a cow. But I learned the hard lesson Samantha Fox already knew—disproportionate natural breasts really make a thin girl look thick! And I've never worn white since except in socks. I do still have to admire the lifelike jiggle in my Matt-made bazooms, which were balled-up T-shirts inside a half-T-shirt with baby-bottle nipples.
I have a masculine body—broad shoulders—so it's hard for me to ever look thin anyway. But I could've benefited greatly from a good corset. And I spent so much time on my top I forgot what every girl knows—guys like something to grab onto down below, too. No, the other side. I'm saying I should've stuffed the back pockets of those cut-offs. I have no ass. "Ends of the World" is a graphic working-out of this situation.
My cut-offs were a cut below the rest, and yet still as nice as anything Sam wore back then. The wig is atrosh, but pretty funny. I was in opaque stockings to hide all the shag.
I'm not sure if the copy of a copy on YouTube will show this, but I was spot-on with my lip-synching. My dance moves were early MTV meets Benny Hill and while repetitive (and too hurried—I was petrified) definitely did what they were supposed to do, which was make people laugh at the shock of seeing square peg Matthew Rettenmund doing all this suggestive stuff.
And yes, people, on school property, I writhed around on a mattress and touched my fake ta-tas to an auditorium of my screaming peers in 1987. I deserved my trophy just for showing up and getting out of there alive. (Everyone was very supportive. I got no negative feedback.)
After the show, I did this performance once more—out of drag—at our senior prom. (Incidentally, I've dressed like a woman three times in my life: fourth grade for Halloween, this "Mock Rock" and a Halloween in the early '90s when I went as Theda Bara.)
Maybe I should return for our 25th reunion in '12 and do it again. I can assure you my styling and choreography would be flawless as I've picked up a few tricks over the years. (Don't say it.)
Now that I've seen it, I can't express the relief that this was saved from oblivion. Next, I need to hunt down the single video known to have been shot of my only acting gig, as Alan in Torch Song Trilogy at University of Chicago.
Watching the Emmys, I noticed Jim Parsons during his acceptance speech (he was a surprise winner for Big Bang Theory) and thought, "I wonder if he's gay? Nobody's talking about it." Now, someone is.
National Enquirer (September 20, 2010) has outed Parsons, albeit in a rather nice way. The do it so cutely it's more of an "awww-ting" than an outing. On the same page as a nasty story about Bethenny Frankel cheating on her first husband, NE runs a piece on how Parsons and his partner of several years, Todd Spiewak, are allegedly going to get married.
It sure beats: "BIG BANG'S BIG SECRET LIFE!" or something similar. Cute couple!
Madonna rode the G.D. New York City subway yesterday and I was nowhere around to iPhone her! This has to be one of the first times she's been on public transportation since this. (She gave an interview around Confessions time, I think, in which she confirmed she hadn't ridden a subway in years.)
There's a new Betty White comic book...but the likeness is so bad it kind of steals the fun. The hair is perfect but she looks like an albino Shirley Chisholm. (Nothing wrong with albinos or Shirley Chisholms, but they should have their own comics.)
She didn't kiss a girl, didn't like it
Kooky preacheress Cindy Jacobs is just now getting around to fretting over Madonna kissing Britney Spears...over seven years later. But it's important because this plague of "girl-on-girl kissing" is a huge problem in our society.
Video (via Joe.My.God.) after the jump...
When Bruce Weber asks you to show off your perfect ass, you do so, as did model Garet Cade (want more of him?) right here.
Something about Jeancristophe's quirky video for the song "Obsession" reminds me of the early days of MTV, when you'd be watching something rather normal like Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart" and then suddenly get hit with some bizarre, whimsical thing like "Fish Heads" by Barnes & Barnes. (The latter even has a beach scene, which may be the source of my deja-VIEW.)
Video after the jump...
My mayor, Mike Bloomberg, has never earned my vote. But he's been spot-on regarding the mosque issue, defending the right of its backers to build it AND endorsing the project while criticizing lunatic wannabe Koran-burner Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center (the name!) for his plan to torch the holy book AND defending his right to do so.
Bloomberg gets four out of four so far!
NY Daily News doesn't get it...free speech vs. "do you agree"
For anyone who would try to compare Jones's intended action with the proposed Islamic cultural center ("well, they're both doing things that are pissing people off! just 'cuz you can doesn't mean ya should!"), I would point out:
One group is attempting to build a religious cultural center whose mission is to promote interfaith and intercultural understanding (it even has spaces for Christians and Jews to worship...how many synagogues have spaces for Christians and Muslims and how many churches have spaces for Muslims and Jews, or even need to?), while the other group is setting fire to a holy book.
Wait, who are the barbarians again?
There's plenty to criticize about radical Islam, but torching a Koran and helping to radicalize scores of moderate Muslims isn't taking the high road or the low road, it's going off-road and straight into the tangles.
"WHEN UR ABOUT TO COUNT ME OUT, I'LL BE BACK, BETTER THAN, OF THIS, DON'T DOUBT. A CHAMELEON OF MANY COLORS THOUGH BLACK RIGHT NOW, I HAVE MANY OTHERS. I ONCE WAS YELLOW LIKE THE SUN, I LIFTED UP SURPASSED...
A bill giving same-sex couples the right to adopt in New South Wales, Australia, passed the state's Upper House of Parliament Wednesday night by a vote of 22 to 15. The same bill had passed the Lower House last Thursday by a slim majority of 46 to 44 votes. The last step - the bill, with two amendments from the Upper House, goes back to the Lower House for a final vote, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
This whole process reminds me of a Schoolhouse Rock video (below) that I saw a long time ago about a how a bill becomes a law in the United States. Enjoy.
Guess who's coming to dinner? For Kaj Leo Johannesen, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, the guest list comprises seven of the Faroe Islands' party leaders along with Icleand's Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and her wife, Jonina Leonsdottir. However, Jenis av Rana, leader of the Christian conservative Centre Party, won't go, stating that it was against his religion and that he wouldn't "dream of attending such a banquet," reports Pinknews.
I guess a situation like this was bound to happen as the world further opens itself to the legitimacy of same-sex relationships. It's part of a process not unlike what a modern family might go through when at least one of its members is reluctant to change. Sometimes these curmudgeons will never come to dinner, but then again, sometimes they will, especially if their religious-based fears are eventually appeased by the power of personal interaction. If you just get to know gay people, you'll realize that most of us aren't that scary, after all.
The above beauty (more of him below) is among today's "Guydar Italia" catches—thanks again to Italian spy G for capturing so many men in so little clothing...
All this shit needs is Carol Lynley lip-synching in the background.