1D fans are all aflutter over this Vine of Louis Tomlinson playing soccer with the Doncaster Rovers – and it’s not his playing skills they’re freaking out over. After the jump, watch as Louis bounces excitedly around the field, his penis flopping hither and yon. Oh, Louis! That’s SOME BIRD you have! (via Hollywood Life)
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April 24, 1934- Shirley MacLaine has 6 Oscar nominations, with a well-deserved win for Terms Of Endearment, 20 Golden Globe nominations with 7 wins including Best Newcomer in 1955, & the Cecil B DeMille Look Alike Award in 1998, plus she is the author 15 books, all best sellers, plus she sings & she dances. MacLaine was discovered on Broadway dancing in The Pajama Game (1954) when she famously went on as the understudy for Carol Haney who had broken her ankle. Her first film was Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Trouble With Harry (1955) & she continues to work into the second decade of the 21st century. Attempting to count her filmography, I lost track at 75 films. MacLaine has received the highest film industry honor, the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 2012 & the Kennedy Center Honor in 2013.
MacLaine’s brother is Warren Beatty. They have never worked together, but that is something I would pay to see, especially if they could play senior citizen lovers. She talks to her rat terrier Terry & her dog talks back. In 2011, she gave a frightfully furious & funny performance, one of her best, in the terrific film Bernie, & (spoiler alert!) a messy, unfocused portrayal of Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham’s American mother on Downton Abbey. But mostly, she is simply fabulous. I love her life & her work.
MacLaine was sparkling in her second Oscar nominated performance in Billy Wilder’s cynical, yet tender The Apartment (1960), opposite Jack Lemmon. Favored to win that year, she lost to Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8. MacLaine stated:
“I thought I would win for The Apartment, but then Elizabeth Taylor had a tracheotomy…”
My favorite MacLaine role would have to be Doris (a thinly disguised Debbie Reynolds) in Postcards From The Edge. It is my understanding that The Gays adore her.
April 24, 1942- She sings, she dances, she acts, she directs, she does the screenplays, she writes the scores! Barbra Streisand has had 5 Academy Award nominations with 2 wins, including one as a composer, 16 Golden Globe nominations with 8 wins including the Cecil B DeMille Look Alike Award in 2000, & 9 Grammy Awards. She one of only a handful of performers to have an Oscar, Emmy, Tony & Grammy on their mantle, & Streisand is the only artist to have a #1 album in 6 different decades. In 2011, Streisand was presented with the Film Society Of Lincoln Center’s Charlie Chaplin Award, presented by her pal Bill Clinton. Like MacLaine, Streisand has been given the American Film Institute Award & Kennedy Center Honor.
Her stepson is hunky Josh Brolin. In 2011, she wrote a frightening coffee table book about her questionable interior designing taste. I passed. She gave her very cute, talented son Jason Gould a role in her underrated film Prince Of Tides (1991). She talks to her dog Sammy & he talks back. In 2012, Streisand starred with Seth Rogen in the film The Guilt Trip (2012). I passed. My sources tell me that she is still on track to star in a new film version of Gypsy. At this rate Streisand will be the first Mama Rose to use a walker.
“I’m not weird, just different from people who aren’t different.”
My favorite Streisand role would have to be Doris in The Owl & The Pussycat (1970). I hear that The Gays love her. I know I do.
The 2 Gay Icons share a birthday today, April 24th. They are both liberal stalwarts & outspoken old broads. MacLaine turns 81 years old & Streisand celebrates her 73rd year. In a long standing tradition, they spend their birthdays together. I would like to be a fly on the wall at that tea party.
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Super-sexy Brit Tom Hardy reveals in the May issue of Details magazine, that meeting the original Mad Max, Aussie Mel Gibson, was kind of awkward:
“I met Mel. I needed to meet Mel purely from a young man’s perspective. I wanted to touch base with the previous Max and just say hello. And is it okay? Because I’m taking on Max, I have to meet Max. It’s awkward…. he was bored with me. He said, ‘All right, buddy, good luck with that.’ Bless him. I made him a bracelet. And then we talked for a couple of hours about all kinds of stuff. I left, and that was that. And then he called up my agent and said: ‘I think you found someone that’s crazier than I am.'”
But Tom REALLY wanted to play the part…
“Mad Max is, like, the coolest superhero that a boy could get. ’Cause there’s no cape, there’s no rubber suit. There’s no flying. Nothing really hurts Batman or Superman. Everything hurts in Mad Max. Remember Indiana Jones when he hated snakes? He was scared. Those kind of heroes, they excite me because they are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. They are fallible. And when they jump, they’re not sure if they’re going to make it to the other side. And then it doesn’t stop. I mean, Mad Max is really just an old man trying to go home.”
Directed by George Miller, the fourth film in the series will be screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival ahead of its worldwide release. Miller has described Mad Max: Fury Road as an extended chase scene taking place over three days…. AND you get to look at Tom Hardy AND Charlize Theron, both hot and hard as nails. The trailer is below for both the latest reboot and the 1979 original, lest you think Mel Gibson was always an old man, take a look… he was the Tom Hardy of his day. Watch.
(Photos, Greg Williams; via Details)
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NSFW: The new video for Love Is Impossible by Jamaican Queens features two cops who are caught up in an extra-marital S&M-laced affair in-between making drug busts and appeasing their unhappy wives. JQ’s Ryan Pressley says:
“We wanted to create a visual representation of the song’s meaning ‘impossible love.'”
His bandmate Ryan Spencer elaborates:
“I wrote this song in spring, after finally coming down from a brutal depression. My only real relationship had ended three months prior, but with spring’s return, I felt hopeful. I realized that life isn’t as horrible as I had convinced myself over the previous winter. I was still disenchanted with love and relationships in general, but discovered I could be happy alone, and as cliche as it sounds, time will eventually heal old wounds.”
The track will appear on the band’s upcoming LP, Downers, out in June, and you can catch them at Brookyn’s Palisades on June 20th. In the meantime, here’s the f’d up video.
(via Paper)
The post Jamaican Queens’ Video For “Love Is Impossible” Is An S & M Pig-F*ck! appeared first on World of Wonder.
Ted Cruz & Mati Weiderpass
Ian Reisner
Guess where Ted Cruz was the other night? Well, if you guessed the NYC penthouse of two rich Republican homosexuals, you’d be right! (Yes, THAT Ted Cruz, the 2016 presidential candidate that’s kicked off his campaign by asking voters to imagine an America where gays are second class citizens.) During the intimate gathering, according to two attendees, Mr. Cruz said he would have would be fine if one of his daughters was gay. No mention of his opposition to same-sex marriage, though. The dinner for about a dozen folks, with Cruz and his wife, Heidi, at the Central Park South penthouse of Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, ex-boyfriends and longtime business partners, who are pioneers in the gay hospitality biz. They are the owners of the OUT NYC hotel and the commercial strip in the Fire Island Pines called The Pavillion. If you remember, Weiderpass and Reisner’s penthouse apartment made headlines last October too, when, sadly, a 23-year-old gay bar manager was found dead of a drug overdose in the bathtub. Negative reaction to the news of the Cruz dinner has been swift among the gay community, and a Facebook page has been created calling for a boycott of their business. Yes, it IS America and people can support any candidate they like… and by the same token, people are free to take their business elsewhere if they feel their dollars might go to a candidate they don’t support. It works both way, kids.
The Out Hotel NYC
The newly rebuilt Pavillion on Fire Island
(via Towleroad)
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When the observatory at One World Trade Center opens next month the elevator ride will take passengers up memory lane. The five elevators that service the observatory will feature an immersive time-lapse animation which “recreates the development of New York City’s skyline, from the 1500s to the present day.” The New York Times says:
From the moment the doors close until they reopen 47 seconds later on the 102nd floor, a seemingly three-dimensional time-lapse panorama will unfold on three walls of the elevator cabs, as if one were witnessing 515 years of history unfolding at the tip of Manhattan Island. Near the end of the journey to the top of the building, visitors will even catch a startling glimpse of the original World Trade Center, before it disappears again from view.
The observation deck will open to the public starting May 29. The admission fee is a steep $32 for adults, $30 for seniors and $26 for children.
(via Huffington Post)
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You know the look. If you have a four-legged friend, you’ve seen that pleading, begging, “OMG!!!” gaze that says feed me!? They can’t talk, so they give you the message somehow, so the eyes have it! Take a LOOK and COME ON give a dog a bone (or a pepperoni), will ya?
(via Sad and Useless)
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Last week, disco GOD Giorgio Moroder revealed that he and Britney Spears had collaborated on a remake of Susanne Vega’s (super-annoying) 1990 hit “Tom’s Diner.” Now two 20-second snippets have hit the web. They’re breathy, heavily vocoded, of course, and VERY BRITNEY. Stream both snippets below and look for the full version when Moroder’s album Déjà Vu hits stores this summer. EVERYBODY NOW: Doo doo doo doo do do doo doo do do doo doo do do dooooo. (via Spin)
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Omgomgomg. Tickets for the BIGGEST! MOST AMAZING! RuPaul’s Drag Race Grand Finale EVER are available at TicketMaster. RIGHT NOW!
Such an exciting season. Such a potentially GAME-CHANGING finale. Anything is possible! Anything could happen! You DON’T want to miss it!
Tuesday, May 19th at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles.
That’s right. A month from this Tuesday.
Get your tickets here. And start planning your outfit NOW.
The post Hurry! Get Your Tickets for the RuPaul’s Drag Race Grand Finale NOW! appeared first on World of Wonder.
You may have seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show. You may have even been to one of the crazy midnight screenings where people shout and throw things at the big screen. But you have never seen the film with a room full of freaky drag queens and the freaks who love them at RuPaul’s DragCon! Get your tickets to DragCon and more info after the jump.
BUY YOUR TICKETS TO RUPAUL’S DRAGCON!
The post RuPaul’s DragCon: Rocky Horror Picture Show Screening Just Added to the Lineup! appeared first on World of Wonder.
Have you seen this story yet? It’s so perfect, you’re going to just SOB. Las Vegas high school student Anthony Martinez went on Twitter the other day saying he wished a boy would ask him to prom. He didn’t care whether it was an official date or not – he just wanted a date to the prom.
His best friend Jacob Lescenski (who is straight) saw the tweet and decided to ask Anthony to be his straight date, by way of an absolutely ADORABLE poster he and his friends made.
Said Lescenski:
“I decided on going to prom alone because my original date idea didn’t work out so well. Then one night I saw Anthony, who is my best friend, tweeting about wanting a date.
“So, I came up with the poster idea, asked my friend Mia to make it and asked him that next day. No one knew about it except for me, my friend Jamie and Mia who made the poster. It was a giant surprise to everyone, especially Anthony!”
After lunch, Martinez walked up the flight of stairs on his way to class, where he was met by Lescenski and his big-ass sign which read “You’re hella gay, I’m hella str8, you’re like my brother, so be my d8?”
AWWWWWWW.
Said Martinez: “I saw this giant poster and assumed it was for another person—until I read ‘You’re hella gay.'”
Tweeted Anthony: “Guess who got asked to prom! BY A STRAIGHT GUY (Army pants). he’s my best friend, and a real man given the fact he has the guts to fulfill my gay student council dream of always helping out planning dances, and never getting asked. I couldn’t ask for a better person in my life. Thank you Jacob can’t wait for May 2nd!”
SO SWEET, omg. Sometimes these Millennials get it right, you know? Maybe there is hope for this world.
(via Towleroad)
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Ted Cruz & Mati Weiderpass
Ian Reisner
Guess where Ted Cruz was the other night? Well, if you guessed the NYC penthouse of two rich Republican homosexuals, you’d be right! (Yes, THAT Ted Cruz, the 2016 presidential candidate that’s kicked off his campaign by asking voters to imagine an America where gays are second class citizens.) During the intimate gathering, according to two attendees, Mr. Cruz said he would have would be fine if one of his daughters was gay. No mention of his opposition to same-sex marriage, though. The dinner for about a dozen folks, with Cruz and his wife, Heidi, at the Central Park South penthouse of Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, ex-boyfriends and longtime business partners, who are pioneers in the gay hospitality biz. They are the owners of the OUT NYC hotel and the commercial strip in the Fire Island Pines called The Pavillion. If you remember, Weiderpass and Reisner’s penthouse apartment made headlines last October too, when, sadly, a 23-year-old gay bar manager was found dead of a drug overdose in the bathtub. Negative reaction to the news of the Cruz dinner has been swift among the gay community, and a Facebook page has been created calling for a boycott of their business. Yes, it IS America and people can support any candidate they like… and by the same token, people are free to take their business elsewhere if they feel their dollars might go to a candidate they don’t support. It works both way, kids.
UPDATE: The New York Times reported on the event, and had this to say:
Both men, in an apparent effort to play down any outrage in the gay community, put out statements making clear they disagree with the Republican senator from Texas on gay rights.
“I was given the opportunity to have a candid conversation with Senator Ted Cruz on where he stood on all issues, foreign and domestic,” Mr. Reisner said. “It was just three months ago that I hosted a ‘Ready for Hillary’ event for a record turnout of 900 people at the Out Hotel.”
He added: “Senator Ted Cruz and I disagree strongly on the issue of gay marriage, but having an open dialogue with those who have differing political opinions is a part of what this country was founded on. My tireless support of the gay community and its causes worldwide hasn’t changed and will not change.”
Mr. Weiderpass said: “People on both sides of the aisle need to be able to communicate with one another even when they ideologically disagree. I worked tirelessly for the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ as a member of the board of directors for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and needed to reach across the aisle to make that happen. The fact that Senator Cruz accepted the invitation to my home was a step in the right direction toward him having a better understanding of who I am and what I believe in.”
Mr. Cruz’s aide Rick Tyler told The Washington Examiner that, in retrospect, the senator’s campaign should not have held the event there.
Ted Cruz issued this statement:
“I know it’s been a long time since we’ve seen it, but this is what it means to truly be a ‘big tent Republican’ instead of a panderer. I’m happy to go anywhere to anyone to champion conservative values,” the 44-year old Texas Republican claimed. “I’m hoping to offer enough bold leadership on a broad slate of issues that many voters will decide we agree on far more than we disagree…. when asked, I stated directly and unambiguously what everyone in the room already knew, that I oppose gay marriage and I support traditional marriage.”
Got it.
The Out Hotel NYC
The newly rebuilt Pavillion on Fire Island
(via Towleroad)
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I have been a big fan of a certain pop happy duo since the mid-1980’s. Erasure consists of the straight songwriter/ keyboardist Vince Clark & openly gay singer Andy Bell. Erasure’s #1 fanatic fan base in within our own Gay community, where Bell is regarded as a Gay Icon.
Despite a continued collaboration with Clarke & Erasure, Bell has some of his own solo gigs as a much in demand DJ at parties & clubs all over our pretty spinning blue orb. If you don’t know Erasure‘s work, start with the compilation Total Pop! The First 40. Among the digitally re-mastered tracks: Oh, L’Amour, A Little Respect, Boy, Stand By Your Man, & Chain Of Love.
Erasure is known for elaborate stage shows & productions. Bell:
“It is always fun creating the various productions. I play a creative role, but we have always had quite a production team. Our swan production was quite over the top.”
I am zany for the wild video with the wild west routine of Bell singing Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man with Clarke (a straight boy) in full drag. Another favorite is his contribution to the original Red+Hot+Blue album, Cole Porter‘s Too Darn Hot.
In 1985, Clarke picked Bell out of a large group to audition for his new band. Clarke had successfully created 2 other groups that I was mad for: Depeche Mode, & Yaz featuring the brilliant Alison Moyet on vocals. Bell: “I was #36 to audition. After many months in the studio, I also think they figured out I was gay with all the boys I had visiting me during that time.” After 30 years of hits, tours & travel with Clarke, the duo remain close pals.
Bell names Sylvester & Freddy Mercury as his role models. Bell:
“Freddy Mercury, if he were to still be alive today, would have been one of the top performers in the industry. He was so far ahead of his time. & when it comes to sexuality, these days that isn’t such an issue. We have evolved.”
Bell claims he would love work with Annie Lennox, who remains one of his favorite singers. I would like that to happen.
Bell was part of The True Colors Tour in 2007. The tour featured Bell with & without Erasure, Margaret Cho, Cyndi Lauper, Deborah Harry, Rosie O’Donnell & rotating roster of other guests. Raising awareness for equal rights & raising money for the HRC, PFLAG & The Matthew Shepard Foundation was a strong success.
Bell was one of the first pop stars to come out as gay & in 2004 he become one of the first pop stars to come out as HIV positive. Bell has known his status since June 1998, when he came down with a case of pneumonia, & was quite happy keeping the news to quiet. Bell thought he’d set the record straight when he struggled with health issues during a double hip replacement. Even pop stars get old. When news traveled that he was sick, Bell wanted to erase some of the stigma of HIV.
A year ago, Bell released a download only recording that is really terrific & finds him in great form. iPOP is a double album with the second half containing dance remixes of the first’s pop tunes. You will like it. Erasure’s latest album, The Violet Flame was released in March & is available as a download. Oh, these modern times. I remember listening to Erasure via cassette on my cool new Walkman.
“Sometimes I think I was a greedy pig for all the drugs I took. I don’t regret it, though, because I was just being me. I was a mess and I did try therapy, but I can’t imagine I’m ever going to live my life in a way where if I’m out and I’m having a good time, I’m going to say no.”
Bell’s partner of 20+ years, Paul Hickey, left this world 3 years ago. Hickey penned a moving memoir Sometimes – A Life Of Love, Loss & Erasure. He was just 62 years old when he passed.
Bell now single & resides in Miami when not on tour. He turns 51 years old on this day. Any musical message from Andy Bell will always bring A Little Respect in my world.
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As the world watched last night, Bruce Jenner revealed what the media had been speculating on for nearly a year. He (as he said last night, he has separated his female self and gave this interview as Bruce) sat across from ABC’s Diane Sawyer and bravely told his story:
“I’m not stuck in anybody’s body. My brain is much more female than male. For all intents and purposes, I am a woman. People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male, but my heart and my soul and everything that I do in life it is part of me, that female side is part of me. That’s who I am. I was not genetically born that way. … As of now I have all the male parts and all that kind of stuff so in a lot of ways we’re different, but we still identify as female. And that’s very hard for Bruce Jenner today. Why? I don’t want to disappoint people.”
Jenner’s stepdaughter Kim Kardashian said on Friday that her family members planned to watch the program together…
“I think everybody can learn from his story and I’m excited for him to be able to share that,” Kardashian said when asked what her daughter, North, can eventually learn from Jenner. We all just support him 100 percent. I hate so badly when I see things [like] my mom doesn’t support him, or this sister doesn’t support him. It’s all just a story that people want to put out there. None of us have spoken and we’re letting Bruce speak first.”
Jenner said he was sexually attracted to women and still is, making clear the difference between gender and sexuality. Was being on Keeping Up With the Kardashians a bad thing? He said, no. It now gives him a platform to be able to have real impact:
“We’re going to change the world. I really firmly believe that we’re going to make a difference in the world.”
One of the best lines of the night was intentionally ironic. When further asked about being on the Kardashians for all those years, Bruce said;
“This whole thing, the one real true story in the family is the one I was hiding and nobody knew about it… I had THE story all along.”
…and WHAT a story. Support for Jenner appeared all over as the interview was still in progress. GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis told The Huffington Post:
“Today, millions of people learned that someone they know is transgender. By sharing this story, Bruce Jenner has shined a light on what it means to be transgender and live authentically in the face of unimaginable public scrutiny. Though Jenner’s journey is one that is deeply personal, it is also one that will impact and inspire countless people around the world.”
Boy is that for sure. And even though Jenner said he’s not a spokesperson for the trans community, he, more than can be measured, helped cause last night by being true to himself. Screw the pronouns, that’s a brave PERSON!
(via The Huffington Post)
The post #LivingTruth: Bruce Jenner, “The One Real True Story in the Family is the One I Was Hiding” appeared first on World of Wonder.
Jenner is a hero now more than ever
The world watched last night as Bruce Jenner told a story that was his secret and private torment for nearly 60 years. First of all, that’s what I call good TV. But after settling in to really listening what he had to say, his story became something else altogether. We all witnessed someone BECOMING themselves on national TV, exposing something so private and personal, that it transcended Bruce’s and became a story about what it means to be human and “live your truth.”
I grew up gay, in Texas and experienced all that you might guess that comes along with that story. But honestly, I’ve always had a disconnect with transgendered people who are part of the LGBT community. I know MANY drag queens, I get being attracted to both sexes (I have been), I’ve dressed in drag and I’m attracted to men, but when it comes to understanding why someone feels they’ve been given the wrong body, I’ve always been a bit disconnected. I’ve written about the transgender community, I applaud them and support them. I feel for the pain that people go through when struggling with coming to terms with their own gender identity, but Bruce Jenner’s interview really helped me turn a corner in my thinking. I really GOT IT. And I think his hope that he could change the world and really help people, has already started to to come true. (I’m referring to Bruce as him because he didn’t specify a new name or ask to be referred to as “her” and talked about “her” in the third person.)
If you’ve not seen the interview, you really should watch it for yourself. Bruce, Diane Sawyer, ABC (and “her”) all did a spectacular job in all aspects of treating a sensitive story with respect, love and understanding. Bruce’s family seems to have rallied behind him fully and I can’t imagine anyone not being moved by his bravery and the genuine desire to help those who are struggling with gender identity. Bravo, for now. Brava for the future.
But I have to admit, I’m still struggling with one aspect of Bruce’s confession. We ALL, no matter how open-minded, have prejudices. It was info that was probably out there but I missed the tell-tale signs. Certainly people in his family must have known for years. I just somehow can’t get my head around it. Bruce is a Republican!? This is TRULY shocking. Now maybe, he’s going to change hearts and minds within the GOP, but for me, that’s the toughest bit of info that came out of last night’s interview. You might think I’m kidding but I’m pretty serious. But as Bruce said, he’s not sure what this next year will bring. He might even end up supporting a Democratic (female) Presidential nominee? I know, I know –he’s got enough on his plate right now. One day at a time, as they say. And I can just over look it – for a while. But being a transgendered Republican must be a real cross to bear. As Jack Lemmon confesses to Joe E. Brown as he’s being proposed to in the last scene of Some Like It Hot…
“I can’t marry you – I’m a man!”
To which Joe replies…
“Well –nobody’s perfect.”
The post #Opinion: Bruce Jenner’s Story Is A Lesson For All About Judgement appeared first on World of Wonder.
Suicide Squad‘s director, David Ayer just revealed the first full look at Jared Leto’s The Joker via Twitter. Ayer tweeted out the pic to celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Joker’s appearance in the Batman comics. Leto spoke about his take on the iconic villain:
“The opportunity to take on this nearly Shakespearean character—that’s what graphic novels and comic books are becoming, right? “[He’s] this beautiful disaster of a character—what a big challenge.”
He’s got some big shoes to fill. Both Jack Nicholson and Heath Leger have tackled the manic character. But he’s also got his friend Oscar to give him some confidence. Suicide Squad will be his first since winning the Best Supporting Actor Academy award in 2014 for his turn as a trans prostitute with AIDS in the drama Dallas Buyers Club, which was Leto’s first film role in five years. The series of comics by Ross Andru focuses on an all-star lineup of supervillians who are recruited by a clandestine government agency and forced to embark on dangerous missions in exchange for clemency.
There was a read through with all of all-star the cast (below) oddly minus Leto’s The Joker with stars Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Cara Delevigne as Enchantress, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. It features Scott Eastwood, Common, and a cameo by Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, who is first bowing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earlier that year. The film is due in theaters August 5, 2016.
(via The Daily Beast)
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Fredrik Eklund
Adrianne Phillips
Carol Burnett
Channing Tatum
Debra Wilson
Duane Eddy
Giancarlo Esposito
Giorgio Moroder
I.M. Pei
Jacqueline Laurita
Jemima Kirke
Jet Li
Joan Chen
Jordana Brewster
Kevin James
Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Mckenzie Westmore
Melania Trump
Michael Damian
Ms. Dynamite
Shondrella Avery
Stana Katic
T-Boz
Tom Welling
Tyler Labine
The post It’s Birthday, Bitch appeared first on World of Wonder.
Director Douglas Sirk with actress, Lana Turner on the set of Imitation of Life
April 26, 1897- Douglas Sirk was not gay, but the great German born yet thoroughly American filmmaker, made a particular kind of melodrama that explored the class-ridden nature of the small town & its fear of women’s emotional & sexual needs that easily serve as an allegory for the perils of the homosexual.
Sirk’s films have the look & feel that make them so stylistically special, that if not for the pressures of censorship, I am certain he would have made gay themed films, with his dependence on euphemism, along with the sensibility brought by gay Ross Hunter, Sirk’s producer, who said of Sirk’s scripts: “Douglas, I want 500 handkerchiefs to come out right here!”, his stories depended on the pain, passion, pride, & prejudice of having to hide who you truly are.
All That Heaven Allows (1955), Written On The Wind (1956) & Imitation Of Life (1958) are all life lessons on the heavy toll of living a lie as society demands & provided the template for melodrama so reliable that they gave birth to TV’s Dynasty, Scandal, Empire, & the whole rich = evil + horny equation of the nighttime soap opera.
My favorite of his works, Magnificent Obsession (1953), was Sirk’s first big hit, & it made Rock Hudson a star. Hudson would serve as Sirk’s male muse for 5 more movies.
Sexual transgression is the frequent theme. The male characters are always cheating, impregnating secretaries, raping stepchildren, & finding out that their kids are not their own. The Hayes Code censors & The Catholic League Of Decency guaranteed that nothing could be explicit, & that is what gives the Sirk films their special charm.
His characters are bombarded by society’s taboos: illegitimacy, unwed pregnancy, impotence, frigidity, & nymphomania. In Written On The Wind, when Robert Stack realizes that he is sterile, he turns down an invitation to dance with:
“No thanks. Someone just stole my little red dancing slippers”.
This week’s earlier birthday gay, John Waters, names Sirk as a major influence. Polyester (1981) & Serial Mom (1994) would not exist without the territory that Sirk charted first: hyperbole, overwrought emotion, camp & syrupy scores.
In 1958, when Lana Turner was living her own lurid melodrama after her mobster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato was stabbed to death by her 13 year old daughter Cheryl Crane, she had to experience the humiliation of seeing her sexually explicit love notes printed in the tabloids. Instead of hiding away, she made Imitation Of Life for Sirk, playing a rich woman indifferent to her teenage daughter’s highstrung problems. The film was a smash hit, a happy ending for Turner, but Sirk’s Hollywood finale.
Between 1942 & 1958, Sirk had made 28 films. By the 1970s, Sirk’s style of cinema had fallen out of favor & he retired, returned to Europe, & taught film classes. Sirk’s final credits rolled in 1987, just weeks before his 90th birthday. I cannot recommend his work enough. They are available on The Criterion Collection.
“Happy endings all express the weak & sly promise that the world is not rotten & out of joint, but meaningful & in excellent condition.”
Portland’s own gay filmmaker Todd Hayne’s fabulous homage to Sirk, Far From Heaven (2002), whose gay content finally went where Sirk could not, should be on every gay film fan’s must list.
The post #BornThisDay: Filmmaker, Douglas Sirk appeared first on World of Wonder.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is about the jokes, really. This year, both President Obama and SNL cast member Cecily Strong brought the funny…
President Obama:
“Today thanks to Obamacare you no longer have to worry about losing your insurance if you lose your job. You’re welcome, Senate Democrats.
Six years into my presidency some people still say I’m arrogant, aloof, condescending. Some people are so dumb.
A few weeks ago, Dick Cheney says he thinks I’m the worst president of his lifetime. Which is interesting because I think Dick Cheney is the worst president of my lifetime.
You know, let me set the record straight. I tease Joe Biden, but you know he has been in my side for seven years. I love that man. He’s not just a great vice president, he is a great friend. We’ve gotten so close in some places in Indiana, they won’t serve us pizza anymore.
It turns out Jeb Bush identified himself as Hispanic back in 2009, which, you know what, I — look, I understand. It’s an innocent mistake. It reminds me of when I identified myself as American back in 1961.
Rick Santorum announced that he would not attend the same-sex wedding of a friend or loved one, to which gays and lesbians across the country responded, that’s not going to be a problem. Don’t sweat that one.
Anyway, it’s amazing how time flies. Soon, the first presidential contest will take place, and I for one cannot wait to see who the Koch brothers pick. It’s exciting.”
Cecily Strong got in some zingers too:
“Feels right to have a woman follow President Obama, doesn’t it…?
Since I’m only a comedian, I’m not going to try and tell you comedians how to do politics. That would be like you guys telling me what to do with my body. I mean, can you even imagine? Crazy.
The Republicans finally succeeded and Obama is being forced out of office in 14 months. You did it!
President Obama, your hair is so white now it can talk back to the police.
Let’s give it up for the Secret Service. They’re the only law enforcement agency that will get in trouble if a black man gets shot.”
But the best, for me, came during POTUS’s “anger translator” rant by Keegan-Michael Key of Key & Peele. When Obama mentions Hillary will have to raise big bucks for her campaign, it gets translated:
“Awww, YASSS! She gonna get ALL THE MONEY… Khaleesi is coming to Westeros!”
Watch.
(via Slate)
The post #FunnyPOTUS: The 13 Best Jokes At The White House Correspondent’s Dinner appeared first on World of Wonder.
Al Pacino
