Ashley Banfield: "Homosexuality is a Lifestyle Choice"

[source]

Early this morning I got a push notification stating that CNN's anchor Ashley Banfield may have incurred into the delicate lands of controversy by making a statement against Pastor Curtis Knapp who (like 99 % of other extremist pastors) have decided to get on the crazy bus and state that gays should be put to death. Good for her to ripost against Knapp . . . except her 'choice' of words kind of stab themselves in translation:

Pedophilia is not by choice, last I checked. In his sermon, Pastor Knapp blamed the Bush administration for its tolerance of gay people. Says that he claims that set the stage, in fact, for the Obama administration to endorse same-sex marriage.
Like I said: they can’t make this stuff up. Unbelievable. Speechless, right? [...]
Again, we gotta outline here, when he says “they punish incest and pedophilia”… Please. Those things are often not by choice and are crimes. Homosexuality is a lifestyle choice by people; it is voluntary.

So I sat there looking at my phone reading and replaying the video over and over thinking, well, perhaps she meant well? I don't know. Cynthia Nixon shot herself in the foot only a couple of months ago with a similar comment and while I think she meant well, it didn't sit well.

You can imagine my relief when I came home and found that Banfield had quickly corrected amended her statement on Twitter to explain:

Need 2 clarify. Incest and pedophelia [sic] are CRIMES & victims have no choice. Being gay is not. Relatnshps r by choice. Way of life not crime.

She added:

Gay relationships are voluntary -unlike crimes of pedophelia and incest where people r victimized.

Being gay is not a choice. Being in consensual relationship is. I support LGBT people. I do not support pastor who says its a crime.

Good enough for me - so I think it's safe to say, "Move along, people. There's nothing here to see, nothing she has to apologize for. It's all good."

Kazaky: Masculinity, Redefined

[source]

One of the members of Kazaky - the boy band from Ukraine featured prominently in Madonna's Girl Gone Wild video, who mind you, look smoking hot in heels. Who said you can't strut your hot stuff in a pair of kinky boots? I just may try this.

Madonna Covers "Born This Way" in Tel Aviv

Madonna does a clever cover of Lady Gaga's Born this Way during a performance in Tel Aviv, mashed up with Express Yourself, and ends it brilliantly by singing a lyric from "She's Not Me" from her Hard Candy album. And that's how you put the whole story to rest. By reenacting it, step by step.

Kylie Minogue: Timebomb

Yep - she's back, and with a sexy new song - Timebomb - that will be included on her "Best of . . ." coming out in under a month. [The album celebrates her 25 years in the business.] If this is how her single sounds I can only imagine the killer remixes that will soon follow. In the meantime, here's the video, released barely two days ago on YouTube where Kylie, looking younger and sexier than ever, struts her stuff through London and causes a whole lotta damage.

Jim Parsons Comes Out

Uh, Sheldon is gay. And in a 10 year, committed relationship. Pass the turnips.

[image from Advocate]

On the Sentencing of Dharun Ravi

Where is the justice for Tyler Clementi?

Yesterday morning I received a flurry of push notifications from several news outlets that Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers student who, alongside fellow hallmate Molly Wei pushed Tyler Clementi right over the edge and into the Hudson River in one of the worst cases of invasion of privacy by filming Clementi kissing another man, received his sentence. I was expecting something rather longer you see, and eagerly clicked on the news items.

His sentence? It was a mere 30 days, thanks to Judge Glenn Berman. Thirty days. A quick, easy month. No remorse from Ravi, not a drop of an apology - even a half-hearted one - and of course defenders of the Ravi's are stating that Ravi has had enough stress and doesn't need any more vilification. Because why ruin his life? Meanwhile, Clementi is still dead.

Did you know that you can get 90 days in jail for shoplifting? Yeah. Think of that. Ravi only got a month for essentially terminating another young man's life.

Desmond Hatchett: Sowing the Seeds of Love

Octodad?

Moms, see what happens when you let your girls get their freak on with the Partyman? Meet Desmond Hatchett - a man who either has never heard of condoms, or has taken the quote "Go forth and multiply" to positively Biblical (tee-hee) levels. Perhaps TLC might nab him. And the eleven women who he dirty danced with. This man is a hit show waiting to be placed on air, prime-time. Heck, I'd watch it. Because I believe in family.

Donna Summer - Dinner With Gershwin

Donna Summer was making a slow but steady comeback after a couple of flops ("Cats Without Claws" and her unreleased "I'm A Rainbow" which had some real pop gems but was deemed a disaster by David Geffen) when she released, mid-1987, this atmospheric little pop number called, intriguingly, "Dinner With Gershwin". It was a little more R & B with a hint of 80s smooth jazz, a catchy beat - rich and layered, and her sexy purr that took you on a daydream of intellectual longing. Barely missing the top 40, the question remained: why wasn't this song a bigger hit? Perhaps it may not have received enough promotion, Donna Summer was analogous with all things disco (and [disco] was, allegedly, long since dead even when now it was called Hi-NRG or simply Dance) . . . or it simply got caught in the mess of sounds that were hitting the airwaves back then - that was the year of Pet Shop Boys, of sophisti-pop, of George Michael, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson's "Bad", of heavy metal bands exploding into our ears with pop-friendly confections. It's a shame. Dinner With Gershwin is one of her better "obscure" songs - almost an oddity in itself as it almost sounds nothing like her but something Jody Watley would have performed. Even so, it deserves a closer listen alongside her return to Euro-dance form with the Stock-Aiken-Waterman production "Another Place and Time".

Posedown

Who does it better? Dorian [Yates], Ronnie [Coleman], or Ah-nohld? Me? I'm partial to The Governator. Just not his politics.

End of an Era: Donna Summer Has Passed Away at 63

Incredible, horrible news - Donna Summer, the singer with the powerful, dramatic voice that during the 1970s cemented and influenced dance music as we know it with songs like "I Feel Love", "Love to Love You Baby", and "MacArthur Park (Suite)" is gone after battling cancer. She was in Florida at the time of her departure. She will be missed - more so when her music can still be heard in clubs worldwide and hasn't dated a minute.

Thank you, Ms Summer, for the music. MacArthiur park is melting in the dark, today.

Snooki's Sophomore Novel: Gorilla Beach

Who knew? Nicole Polizzi, a.k.a. "Snooki", today's version of an impossibly trashier Jacqueline Susann (who also, once upon a time, quasi wrote a little known book called Valley of the Dolls which went on to sell the crap out of itself 'til the end of the Mayan calendar), can actually produce another book. Three hundred and thirty-six pages of it. It's called Gorilla Beach and no, it's not a recount of the gorillas living on the shores of some God-forsaken country way out where people still use smoke signals to communicate, but about. . . oh, what am I doing. Really? A Snooki novel with a plot? Someone get me the ghost-writer of this book. I have a story to tell.

Anyhow, here is a clue as to what's inside:

Holding a bouquet of white plastic roses, Gia strutted the length of the store aisle between racks of bondagewear and a wall of stripper wigs. she did a dramatic pose, arching her back. Her barely holstered boobs popped out of the corset.
"Nip slip!" said Bella, laughing. "You look like a slutty virgin."

Knowing Maria, who gargled with tequila and had been known to grind a lamppost when drunk, the bachelorette party would rock no matter who hosted it.

Before the divorce with Gia's mom five years ago, Gia and Joe were as tight as sausage casing.

"Attention Pleasure Chest shoppers!" said Bella to get Gia's attention. "I lost you for a second there. Where were you?"
"Gorilla Island," said Gia. "I was surrounded by a pack of juiceheads, and they were fighting over who got to bring me Jell-o shots and fried pickles."

She knew what was what, that she wasn't winning any prizes for her brains. Not everyone was born to put on a rubber apron and split atoms in a kitchen with a meat cleaver. Some people contributed to the world in a different-no less important-way.

She hated spending so much time holed up in dark rooms that stank of fake butter.

The bride never saw a plunging V-front, skintight, lycra, camo-print jumpsuit she didn't crush on hard.

"We need a dozen penis pops, too. And a leather whip, and these pink, fur-lined handcuffs," said Gia. "Do you gift wrap?"

This is the best book of all time. However, I may have to read the first one (in case I missed some important plot points). One simply does not go into a Snooki-book, unprepared.

Thank You, North Carolina!

I am just ticked pink to move out there.

Da Queen Doth Cometh . . . Wait--Not Quite

So today my iPhone decided to go positively ballistic. While I thought that suddenly my luck had turned for the better and I was being telephonically accosted by a bevy of blond, muscular beaus that were coming out of the woodwork hungry to batter this body into butter without making it bitter, the truth was of a slightly different angle. It seems every news channel had grabbed onto push-notificating me that Queen Latifah had suddenly burst out of the closet and was finally a happy, proud carpet-bagger. Or is it muncher? Eh. Anyway, yeah, she was a lesbian, and that would make a lot of lesbians very, very pleased, can I get an amen.

I just wish I could have been able to go back to sleep, but let's face it - it's not exactly good to snooze your way through work, especially when your cubicle faces a rather busy aisle and the Boss might see you, snoring away, fingers at the keyboard. Why can't these notifications happen at a less critical time, let's say, early evening, as I snooze my way towards the gym? People and events have to start happening at a time that's more suited to me. Something has to be done about it.

However, good news turned to eh? news when later this afternoon blogs and news items began circulating that no, she hadn't come out, she was just a private person. Again, I failed to see any true interest in this other than a slight sense of bemusement reminiscent of when Ricky Martin came out, or when Jeremy Renner went on the rampage and made his threats about other people's underwear, which bi-curious guys, if you didn't know, is a major turn on for me. I'd gladly give any of my man-panties as a parting gift. I have good taste, even there.

So now, I'm getting mixed reports. Which has led me to this - my humble two cents on the topic:

"So Queen Latifah came out. Or was outed. Or sorta came out, but not really. Anyway you see it, I never saw in her the type of woman who would go ape for a banana peel."

Surrealism

Imagine coming home to this situation.

Dressed for Success

I've been quiet lately. No, I haven't been hiding under the rug or back inside my closet . . . rather, in and out and about. Doing things. Adult things. Like . . . work and shit.

So there. That explains the somewhat slow pace of my blogging. Now, I can resume full steam ahead.