September 20, 1934– Sophia Loren is Italy’s Cinema Icon, an eternal Diva, & I wish to nominate her to the status of Gay Icon. Loren’s exciting life has taken her from being a street urchin to becoming one of the planet’s most glamorous film stars. She had the pleasure of enjoying the special company of Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, & Richard Burton, along with her Italian soul mate Marcello Mastroianni.

Loren’s story plays just like an Italian film, with her extraordinary rise to stardom as a poor teenager discovered by a rich & famous film producer who later marries her & helps make her Italy’s greatest export after pasta.

She was born in Roma as Sofia Scicolone, later changed the spelling of her first name to “ph” & adopting the stage name Loren. She was the daughter of a failed performer whose lover, Sophia’s father, refused to marry her.

She grew up poor in Pozzuoli, near Naples. Her mother eventually took her back to Rome, where Loren earned a small income for both of them by modeling for pulp magazines & winning prizes in beauty pagents. At one contest in the early 1950s, she was spotted by producer Carlo Ponti, who found her the first screen roles & devoted the rest of his own life to her career. Loren & Ponti were married for 5 decades, until his passing in 2007 at 94 years old.

Loren had no formal acting training. Pushed by her mother, her fabulous career began as a fluke when she met director Vittorio De Sica & told him she had never been offered a job after going on hundreds of auditions. Loren:

“I said to him, every time I am auditioning, people never hire me because I’m shy. They think my mouth is too wide, nose too long, there’s something wrong with my face. He told me he didn’t want me to audition, this conversation was just fine. I didn’t know what to say to this wonderful man. I nearly fainted on the spot.”

She made The Gold Of Naples (1954) with De Sica & it became her big break as an actor. The same year she did a comedy Eccato Che Sia Una Canaglia (Too Bad She’s Bad), the first of many films which Loren made with her perfectly matched star, Mastroianni. She immediately found steady work & made many films, including Boy On A Dolphin (1957) with Alan Ladd, Legend Of The Lost (1957) with John Wayne, & The Pride & The Passion (1957) with Grant & Sinatra.

“I have never been beautiful. I’ve never been a beautiful doll. In fact when I started, people didn’t want to hire me because I wasn’t photogenic.”

Loren’s stardom became truly international when she was given a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1958. For the studio she made the screen version of Eugene O’Neill’s drama Desire Under The Elms (1958) with gay actor Anthony Perkins, the sweet comedy Houseboat (1958) opposite Grant, & appeared as a blond in gay director George Cukor‘s unlikely western Heller In Pink Tights (1960).

“I didn’t change my face at all. They just got better at photographing it.”

Loren has starred in 100 films, so far, in several languages, projects of every genre: comedies, historical dramas, even musicals, including the thriller Arabesque (1966), Robert Altman’s romp Prêt-a-Porter (1994) & the delicious Matrimonio All’Italiana (1964) for De Sica.

Loren worked with the best of leading men: Sinatra, Grant, Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Clark Gable, Paul Newman, & with Marlon Brando in Charlie Chaplin‘s final film, A Countess From Hong Kong (1967).

Most significantly, Loren starred in De Sica’s Two Women (1960) a stark, gritty story of a mother who is trying to protect her daughter in war ravaged WW 2 Italy. The pair are gang-raped inside a church as they travel back to their home city following the end of the bombing. Originally cast as the daughter, Loren fought against type to be cast as the mother. Loren won Cannes Film Festival‘s Best Performance award & an Oscar for Best Actress, the first for a non-English language performance & the first for an Italian. She skipped the ceremony because she was too nervous & discovered she had won via telephone by Cary Grant.

Loren has won a Grammy Award, 5 Golden Globes (so to speak), a BAFTA Award & a special honorary Academy Award for her contribution to World Cinema in 1991. In 1995, she received the Academy’s Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Her most recent role was as the only character in La Voce Umana (2014), from a 1930 play by gay writer Jean Cocteau  & directed by her handsome son Edoardo Ponti, a noted stage director. Her other yummy son Carlo Ponti Jr. is a famous orchestra conductor.

“I’m starting to count the hours, count the seconds; everything is important when you reach my age. Every so often you have to explode back into life.”

In 1992, Loren famously spent 17 days in an Italian jail as part of a plea bargain over a failure to file an income-tax return. At the time, she blamed it all on her accountant.

Loren is still ravishingly beautiful. She resides in Geneva & Roma.

“Beauty is not important. You have to be interesting, someone who is different to other people. Otherwise you just turn up & look beautiful, & there’s nothing more to you.”

Last year she published a well written, juicy memoir For Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow: My Life.

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Well, technically, the wooden “wave” you’re looking at is called a “double conoid formation”. This four-bedroom mid-century modern house in New Jersey is set on 10 acres in the Delaware River Valley about 2 hours from New York City. Architect Jules Gregory‘s design was named one of the 10 Best Houses in America by Architectural Record the year after it was erected and the original cost was just $30,000. It was built as a home and studio for the architect himself, and has 1,200-square-foot workspace across the yard, which has this gorgeous undulating ceiling of fir beams, along with a sunken living room and glass walls and all those woods. It could use some reno work (those bathrooms are a bit out of character) but it’s original asking price of $1,125,000 in 2012, is now reduced to just $695,000. A bargain!

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Not that it matters when you have loads of money, but Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro of the New York City architecture and design firm Ashe + Leandro, nor their client, had ever built a house…

“There’s something very exciting about trusting people early in their career. Whatever Ariel and Reinaldo may have lacked in experience, they certainly made up for in the energy and the love they poured into the project.”

The architects came up with a trio of structures connected by glass-walled corridors and a fully finished basement on Martha’s Vineyard for this Manhattan art collector. Now, what ap­­pears to be three individual buildings, is technically one big one. Building codes on the Vineyard prohibit guest houses, so it is “broken up” into three spaces.

A collector of works by some of today’s best contemporary artists, like Thomas Houseago, Rashid Johnson, Nate Lowman, and Sterling Ruby, the unnamed client asked for lot of white walls and even “slot” in the living room floor for moving artworks that are too big to go from the basement via the stairs.

“We did have to lose some of the windows we wanted. He has a great collection and wanted to give it real presence. Because he’s friendly with several of these artists and has them up to stay, we felt like we were designing as much for them and their work.”

Years ago I visited a friend on the Vineyard and I deemed it one of my favorite places on earth. To me it combines upstate beautiful New York forests with the pristine East Coast beaches of the Hamptons. The house itself is a combination of a Caribbean retreat, my upstate barn and the ideal at-home gallery. It’s all sort of too TOO perfect, but if you were offering, I’d take it.

(Photos, Björn Wallander; via AD)

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NYC club kid, musician and performer Andy Crosten is back with his awesome show Andy, Darling, Let’s Chat! for one night only! If you missed his last run in April, you totally suck! Andy is one of the most talented, emerging artists on the NYC scene today. ADLC is a musical journey inspired by Crosten’s own life and the artist commune The Factory, created by pop artist Andy Warhol, blending past and present, fantasy and reality, fashion and fame. Along with his own NYC singing superstars: Brittany Avey, Kelly Brown, and Katy Vaughn, Crosten attempts to uncover the truth within all of us. Andy, Darling, Let’s Chat! is this Wednesday, September 23 at The Triad in NYC. Get your tix and more info HERE.

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Nicole Richie
Abby Lee Miller
Alfonso Ribeiro
Anne Burrell
Bill Murray
Cheryl Hines
Christian Serratos
Darva Conger
Dave Coulier
David James Elliott
Ethan Coen
Faith Hill
Jason Derulo
Jerry Bruckheimer
Leonard Cohen
Liam Gallagher
Luke Wilson
Maggie Grace
Nancy Travis
Ricki Lake
Rob Morrow
Stephen King

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September 21, 1944– Fannie Flagg:

“Remember if people talk behind your back, it only means you are 2 steps ahead.”

Her novel Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe was the beach book in the summer of 1987. The Husband & I both really took to it & passed it around to friends. It remained a favorite for a very long time, although that original copy has long disappeared from our bookshelves. Before this bestseller, I knew Fannie Flagg mostly as a funny fixture on gameshow panels in the 1970s including The Match Game (1973-82), occupying the lower right hand seat next to regular panelist Richard Dawson & with gay actor/director Charles Nelson Reilly hovering above her.

Flagg began writing & producing TV specials at just 19 years old. She went on to be an actor & writer in TV, films, & theatre. Her acting credits include the original Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas (1978), the films: Some Of My Best Friends Are (1971), Five Easy Pieces (1971), Stay Hungry (1976), Grease (1978) & Crazy In Alabama (1999). During the 1960s & 1970s, Flagg did funny, smart stand-up & recorded 2 comedy albums that included parodies of Southern Ladies including Watergate figure Martha Mitchell & First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. During the 1960s, Flagg hosted a morning show on WBRC TV in Montgomery, Alabama.

Flagg wrote a screenplay based on her most popular novel which became the rather good film, Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). The movie earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Fried Green Tomatoes starred Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary Louise Parker, & the great Cicely Tyson.  We saw it in its initial run in the theatre, of course, & The Husband & I caught it on cable while channel hopping this summer. We enjoyed it as much, maybe even more, than in previous viewings. The film really stands the test of time, even if Flagg did remove a substantial portion of the lesbian content from the book, Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe in order to make the film Fried Green Tomatoes more commercially viable. Too bad, the novel is really quite gay & very heartfelt.

Flagg is openly gay, & was once the partner of writer Rita Mae Brown, who outed her in the press after they split. As if being a lesbian wasn’t tough enough, Flagg is profoundly dyslexic, like me. Flagg:

 “I am severely dyslexic & couldn’t spell, still can’t spell. So I was discouraged from writing & embarrassed”.

Her promising writing career was put on hold for much of the 1970s, but Flagg overcame her fear & completed several novels & screenplays in the 1980s & beyond.

At one time Flagg was linked in the press, & was in some reports said to be married, to gay actor Dick Sargent of Bewitched fame. They appeared as a couple on the 1970s gameshow Tattletales, which featured celebrities & their spouses. Host Bert Convy would introduce them as “Dick Sargent & his lady, Fannie Flagg.” Sargent eventually came out of the closet before his final curtain call in 1994.

Flagg’s birth name is Patricia Neal, but when she tried to use her real name, the acting unions informed her that some other bitch already had the moniker.

Flagg divides her time between homes in California & Alabama.

I planted just 9 tomato starts in late May, a little early for Portland growing conditions, but it was already 90 degrees. It is now only 2 days until the Autumn Equinox, & I have had many ripe, stunning heirloom tomatoes, but plenty of green ones, including those that are supposed to be green, like Green Zebra. We will be having some of the fruit that has not ripened, using The Husband’s Vegan Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe:

Ingredients

3 medium, firm green tomatoes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup oat milk

2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt & pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, & bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then bread crumbs. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for a few minutes on each side, or until brown. As you cook the rest of the tomatoes, add olive oil as needed. Season with salt & pepper.

Eat & enjoy.

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TV’s biggest night really ended up just being HBO’s biggest night, which dominated the Emmys, with its Game of Thrones, Veep and Olive Kitteridge winning best drama, comedy and limited series, respectively. (Game Of Thrones had 120 nominations and took home a record 12 awards last night at the 67th Annual Emmy Awards and it was also the series writer, George R.R. Martin’s 67th birthday.)

Host Andy Samberg‘s musical opening professed that he’d locked himself in a bunker and watched “every damn show” that is nominated and in a surprising moment he gave out his HBO user name and password as HBO had said recently that sharing your password wasn’t a bad thing. His info & in case you missed it…

Username: Khaleesifan3@EmmyHost.com
Password: password1

Some of Samberg’s best jokes were really one-liners. (Scroll all the way down for the full monologue);

“Orange Is the New Black is now technically a drama, while Louie is now technically jazz.”

Donald Trump of course is running for president to the delight of uncles everywhere. I’ve gotta say, sure Donald Trump seems racist… What else?”

“Is it just me, or does Bernie Sanders always look like his flight is delayed?”

And the best double whammy of the night…

“Paula Deen is on this season of Dancing With the Stars. But I gotta say, if I wanted to see an intolerant lady dance, I would’ve gone to one of Kim Davis’ four weddings.

It’s so ironic that she came out of jail to Eye of the Tiger, when you consider how many dudes have boned each other to that song.”

There were serious moments as well. Jeffrey Tambor won best actor in a comedy series for his role of a trans woman in Transparent;

“I had a teacher who used to say, ‘When you act, you have to act as if your life depends on it,’ And now I’ve been given the opportunity to act, because people’s lives depend on it.”

And while accepting her first Emmy for directing a comedy series, Transparent director Jill Soloway thanked her “Moppa” (her transgender mother, Mom & Poppa,combined) and encouraged viewers to vote to pass a trans equality bill.

“She could tomorrow try to find an apartment, and in 32 states, it would be legal for the landlord to look her in the eye to say, ‘We don’t rent to trans people’. We don’t have a trans tipping point yet. We have a trans civil-rights problem.”

Many acceptance speeches were earnest and heart-felt, like Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘s, who won her fourth Emmy for playing Selina Meyer on HBO’s Veep, and got in a really good zinger as well;

“I think it would be appropriate at this moment to quote our political satire Veep:

‘What a great honor it must be for you to honor me tonight,’

“Oh wait, oh no, no, no, I’m so sorry. Donald Trump said that. It’s getting trickier and trickier to satirize this stuff.”

Near the end of the show, Tracy Morgan got a standing ovation before he presented best drama to GOT. The cast alum is set to host SNL next month, over a year after devastating June 2014 accident that seriously injured him and claimed the life of his friend James McNair.

Offstage, Morgan appeared to be in good spirits while posing for a photo with Hamm.

“Man it feels good to be back!!! Love you all!”

How to Get Away With Murder‘s Viola Davis won for best actress in a drama, and after paraphrasing the words of Harriet Tubman, said;

“Let me tell you something: The only that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”

It was the most racially diverse night ever for the Emmys, but the struggle IS real, as Samberg joked in his opening monologue;

“The big story this year is diversity. This is the most diverse group of Emmy nominees in history. Congratulations, Hollywood. You did it. Racism is over. Don’t fact check that.”

For me, the biggest injustice of the night was RuPaul’s Drag Race and Ru himself not even being nominated… I’m prejudiced, I know, but I really DO think it’s THE best reality competition series on TV.

Here’s what else won;

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
“Game of Thrones”
“Better Call Saul”
“Downton Abbey”
“Homeland”
“House of Cards”
“Mad Men”
“Orange is the New Black”

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
“Veep”
“Louie”
“Modern Family”
“Parks and Recreation”
“Silicon Valley”
“Transparent”
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

LIMITED SERIES
“Olive Kitteridge”
“American Crime”
“American Horror Story: Freak Show”
“The Honorable Woman”
“Wolf Hall”

VARIETY TALK SERIES
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”
“The Colbert Report”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live”
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”
“Late Show With David Letterman”
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”

VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
“Inside Amy Schumer”
“Drunk History”
“Key & Peele”
“Portlandia”
“Saturday Night Live”

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder”
Taraji P. Henson, “Empire”
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”

LEAD ACTOR, DRAMA
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”
Kyle Chandler, “Bloodline”
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
Jeff Daniels, “The Newsroom”
Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan”

LEAD ACTRESS, COMEDY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback”
Lily Tomlin, “Grace And Frankie”
Amy Schumer, “Inside Amy Schumer”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Amy Poehler, “Parks And Recreation”

LEAD ACTOR, COMEDY
Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”
Anthony Anderson, “black-ish”
Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes”
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Will Forte, “The Last Man On Earth”
Louis C.K., “Louie”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is The New Black”
Joanne Froggatt, “Downton Abbey”
Lena Headey, “Game Of Thrones”
Emilia Clarke, “Game Of Thrones”
Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife”
Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men”

SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA
Peter Dinklage, “Game Of Thrones”
Jonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul”
Ben Mendelsohn, “Bloodline”
Jim Carter, “Downton Abbey”
Alan Cumming, “The Good Wife”
Michael Kelly, “House Of Cards”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Mayim Bialik, “The Big Bang Theory”
Niecy Nash, “Getting On”
Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”
Kate McKinnon “Saturday Night Live”
Gaby Hoffmann, “Transparent”
Jane Krakowski, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Anna Chlumsky, “Veep”

SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY
Tony Hale, “Veep”
Andre Braugher, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
Adam Driver, “Girls”
Keegan-Michael Key, “Key & Peele”
Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”
Tituss Burgess, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

Francis McDormand & Richard Jenkins in “Olive Kitterage”

LEAD ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge”
Felicity Huffman, “American Crime”
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story”
Queen Latifah, “Bessie”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honorable Woman”
Emma Thompson, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street”

LEAD ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Richard Jenkins, “Olive Kitteridge”
Timothy Hutton, “American Crime”
Ricky Gervais, “Derek Special”
Adrien Brody, “Houdini”
David Oyelowo, “Nightingale”
Mark Rylance, “Wolf Hall”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Regina King, “American Crime”
Sarah Paulson, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Angela Bassett, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Kathy Bates, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Mo’Nique, “Bessie”
Zoe Kazan, “Olive Kitteridge”

SUPPORTING ACTOR, LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Bill Murray, “Olive Kitteridge”
Richard Cabral, “American Crime”
Denis O’Hare, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Finn Wittrock, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Michael Kenneth Williams, “Bessie”
Damian Lewis, “Wolf Hall”

GUEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Margo Martindale, “The Americans”
Diana Rigg, “Game of Thrones”
Rachel Brosnahan, “House Of Cards”
Cicely Tyson, “How To Get Away With Murder”
Allison Janney, “Masters Of Sex”
Khandi Alexander, “Scandal”

GUEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Reg E. Cathey, “House of Cards”
Alan Alda, “The Blacklist”
Michael J. Fox, “The Good Wife”
F. Murray Abraham, “Homeland”
Beau Bridges, “Masters Of Sex”
Pablo Schreiber, “Orange Is The New Black”

GUEST ACTOR, COMEDY
Bradley Whitford, “Transparent”
Mel Brooks, “The Comedians”
Paul Giamatti, “Inside Amy Schumer”
Bill Hader, “Saturday Night Live”
Louis C.K., “Saturday Night Live”
Jon Hamm, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

GUEST ACTRESS, COMEDY
Joan Cusack, “Shameless”
Christine Baranski, “The Big Bang Theory”
Gaby Hoffmann, “Girls”
Pamela Adlon, “Louie”
Elizabeth Banks, “Modern Family”
Tina Fey, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

REALITY-COMPETITION SERIES
“The Voice”
“The Amazing Race”
“Dancing With The Stars”
“Project Runway”
“So You Think You Can Dance”
“Top Chef”

WRITING FOR A VARIETY SERIES
“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”
“The Colbert Report”
“Inside Amy Schumer”
“Key & Peele”
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”

TELEVISION MOVIE
“Bessie”
“Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Curtain, Poirot’s Last Case”
“Grace of Monaco”
“Hello Ladies: The Movie”
“Killing Jesus”
“Nightingale”

HOST, REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
Jane Lynch, “Hollywood Game Night”
Tom Bergeron, “Dancing with the Stars”
Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, “Project Runway”
Cat Deeley, “So You Think You Can Dance”
Anthony Bourdain, “The Taste”

STRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM
“Shark Tank”
“Antiques Roadshow”
“Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”
“MythBusters”
“Property Brothers”
“Undercover Boss”

UNSTRUCTURED REALITY PROGRAM
“Deadliest Catch”
“Alaska: The Last Frontier”
“Intervention”
“Million Dollar Listing New York”
“Naked And Afraid”
“Wahlburgers”

The post #TheEmmys: Last Night’s Winners, Funniest Moments & Best Acceptance Speeches… appeared first on World of Wonder.

Jackie Collins, the beloved best-selling novelist, has died. The Collins family told People in a statement.;

“It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one of a kind mother, Jackie Collins, who died of breast cancer today.

She lived a wonderfully full life and was adored by her family, friends and the millions of readers who she has been entertaining for over 4 decades. She was a true inspiration, a trail blazer for women in fiction and a creative force. She will live on through her characters but we already miss her beyond words.”

Diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer six-and-a-half years ago, Collins, 77, chose to keep her illness almost entirely to herself, confided primarily in her three daughters, Tracy, 54, Tiffany, 48, and Rory, 46.

Collins, sat down with People on September 14 at her Beverly Hills home in what would be her last interview, and had no regrets about the decision to keep her cancer journey private while she embraced a very full life until her very last days;

“Looking back, I’m not sorry about anything I did. I did it my way, as Frank Sinatra would say. I’ve written five books since the diagnosis, I’ve lived my life, I’ve travelled all over the world, I have not turned down book tours and no one has ever known until now when I feel as though I should come out with it,” said Collins, whose treatments over the years included a lumpectomy, radiation and various drug courses and combinations.

Now I want to save other people’s lives.”

Collins was a prolific writer for 4+ decades – selling more than half a BILLION copies of her novels have around the globe. Her latest book, The Santangelos hit shelves in June. As for her daughters, she said her voice breaking,

“I’m so proud of them… I want them to feel secure and I want them to feel whatever happens, I’ll always be there.”

Memorial services in both the United States and the United Kingdom will be held privately. The Collins family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Organization (in the U.S.) and Penny Brohn Cancer Care (in the U.K.).

Sad, of course, but what a life! (via People)

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Patti LaBelle is not fooling around … NO ONE gets on her stage and strips down. LaBelle was in Vancouver Friday night and invited a couple of fans up on stage with her to sing and dance. However, one fan took things too far for Patti and started unbuttoning his shirt. No ma’am! Patti chewed the fan out and once he turned his backside to her, she lost it –throwing him out of the show! The 72-year-old diva even mentions Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus in the tirade… watch!

(via TMZ)

The post #NotCute: Patti LaBelle Reads a Stripping Fan, “Get Off My GD Stage, Bitch!” appeared first on World of Wonder.

Hillary Clinton has said she won’t run negative ads against Democrat Bernie Sanders. Guess that the GOP is fair game? Her latest ad hones in on last Wednesday night’s CNN Republican Presidential Primary Debate, focusing on a laundry list of issues close to Democrats‘ hearts that nonetheless failed to be broached at any point during the not-so-animate arguments: paid family leave, affordable child care and college education, equal pay for women, and protecting voting rights… The ad does emphasizes how eager each candidate is to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal ObamaCare, and vilify, yes, Hillary. Even if you’re a Republican (do they read The Wow Report?) Anyway, even if you are, it’s funny. Watch.

(via LGBTQ Nation, T/Y Berns)

The post #WatchNow: Hillary’s New Ad Throws Major Shade at the GOP & Their Loopy Debate appeared first on World of Wonder.

Frito-Lay announced last week that it was teaming up with the It Gets Better Project to launch a limited-edition version of its Cool Ranch-flavored Doritos. The chips came in Pride colors: green, blue, purple, red, and orange and are branded Doritos Rainbows and sold for a minimum donation of $10 with all of the proceeds going to It Gets Better. They sold out almost immediately.

But not everyone on the internet was happy with helping LGBT youth with the Pride-inspired snacks. Some jackasses took to Twitter to voice their disapproval, calling the chips “sick,” “disappointing,” “ISIS,” a threat to Christianity, while urging people not to make the contribution or buy any Frito-Lay product, anywhere. (As if these wide-load bigots would stop eating snack treats like Doritos for a cause. Right.) Anyway here’s what these jerks have been saying;

(via

The post #LGBT: Dorito Rainbows Sold Out Helping “It Gets Better” (But the Internet Is NOT Happy About It!) appeared first on World of Wonder.

Doors are slamming shut all over Western Europe for the Syrian refugees, as razor-wire fences are going up in the east. They’re backing up in the Balkans, and being beaten and abused in Macedonia. Yesterday, at least 13 migrants — six of them children — drowned off Turkey after the inflatable dinghy carrying them to Greece was hit in the dark by a Turkish-flagged ship. It’s getting hard to even watch the news anymore.

Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett has made a video calling for support for refugees fleeing to Europe. “I’m supporting the UNHCR’s appeal for the refugee crisis in Europe,” a makeup-free and bespectacled Blanchett says directly to the camera. She explains how she met a Syrian woman in Lebanon who was an architect, with “no reason at all to leave Syria except to run, to run from war with her children, leaving everything behind”.

“As a mother I can only imagine the difficulty and distress of making such a decision,” says Blanchett, a mother of four.

Watch the video blow.

“Please join me in giving to UNHCR’s appeal for the refugee crisis in Europe. There are thousands of families all over Europe in desperate need of our care and support. Anything you can give, no matter how small, will help. I have seen the UNHCR’s work firsthand and I know that work makes a difference.” – Cate Blanchett.

You can donate here.

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Shadi Petosky, a writer and producer for Puny Entertainment, has been live tweeting after being detained at the Orlando airport after TSA found an “anomaly.” She says she was then stopped, patted down, locked in a small room, and was then told to get back in the scanning machine “as a man” or “it was going to be a problem.”

Follow Shadi Petosky on Twitter to see how the situation unfolds.

I am being held by the TSA in Orlando because of an “anomaly” (my penis)

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

The TSA has left me in a room alone. There is an officer holding the door. pic.twitter.com/aFA0cQxAGx — Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

TSA agent Bramlet told me to get back in the machine as a man or it was going to be a problem.

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

I am through. It was about 40 minutes, 2 full body pat downs, fully disassembled luggage. I missed my flight. pic.twitter.com/wLTvP3md9W — Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 21, 2015

This police officer was very helpful. He told lecturet @AmericanAir manager that he wasn’t going to remove me pic.twitter.com/qJweZxZXrO

— Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) September 22, 2015

The post Happening Now: Trans Woman Shadi Petosky Detained at American Airlines Terminal in Orlando appeared first on World of Wonder.

Randy Barbato
Justin Rosenblatt
Andrea Bocelli
Billie Piper
Bonnie Hunt
Catherine Oxenberg
Debby Boone
Godfrey Gao
Joan Jett
Johnette Napolitano
Laura Vandervoort
Matthew Rush
Mireille Enos
Mystikal
Nick Cave
Scott Baio
Shari Belafonte
Tai Babilonia
Tom Felton
Tommy Lasorda

The post September 22: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on World of Wonder.

September 22, 1958– Joan Jett:

“I am all-inclusive. These days, everybody writes about everything. They feel they have the right to know. It goes back to that thing about not being bullied, not being told what to do. In fact, if you tell me what to do, I’m gonna put up a wall just because you tell me to do it.”

There is power in coming out of the closet. The chance to finally live your life with honesty & dignity, coming out also gives energy to the Gay Rights movement as more & more people have friends, family & co-workers who are LGBTQ. It is more difficult to be a bigot when the gay person is your own child, parent, sibling & friend.

Jett is both obtuse & coy about her sexuality. I always got the vibe that she was a lesbian or at least bisexual. In her early recordings, Jett would freely use of the pronoun “her” where “him” was expected. In her cover of Tommy James & The Shondell’s 1968 hit Crimson & Clover, she sings the original lyric: “I don’t hardly know her, but I think I could love her.”

Jett went out of her way to remind the press her sexuality was her own business. But in 2012, she put herself out there as “The Out Lesbian Rocker” at the Dinah Shore Weekend, the annual girly event in Palm Springs. She was romantically linked to sex symbol Carmen Electra. They never shacked-up, but were often seen hanging out, although neither would confirm or deny anything about their relationship.

“Anyone who wants to know who I am can just read my lyrics. I’ve always written about who I am. But that’s not what I want people to focus on. I want people to focus on the music. & if they want to know who I am, I write about who I am in the lyrics, so don’t be lazy, read the lyrics & figure it out for yourself. I sing to everyone, that’s the bottom line. You don’t want to say: ‘All right, you guys, you can’t be involved in this.’ You want everybody to be involved. You want everybody to want you.”

Jett gave the world a rather unique version of the simple, stripped-down, 3-chord Rock sound. Her solid, spirited music is loud, raw, & performed with a defiant attitude. She combines the swaggering of the Rolling Stones with the thundering power chords of AC/DC, mixed with the trash attitude of 1970s Glam, along with a big dash of punk, with a result that is very much her own sound. Jett helped prove that rock music is not just a man’s world. She made gender a non-issue by ignoring it.

Born Joan Marie Larkin in suburban Philadelphia, she moved with her family to LA when she was 14 years old (is there anything as tender as a 14 year old girl?). She had formed her first band in 1973, when she was 15 years old, & started playing gigs around LA.  They soon found management who gave the all-girl group the name The Runaways.

The band released 3 albums on the Mercury label with little success in The USA. The Runaways were successful as a live act on the Punk scene.  The girls were also hot in Japan before breaking up in 1979.

Jett relocated to NYC to begin a solo career.  She made the rounds, but was rejected by every record company. The best labels were afraid of her reputation for playing & partying with the most noted punk musicians & gaining a reputation for being tough to control.  Plus there were those pesky rumors that she was a lesbian. The subject of Jett’s sexuality shadowed her for most of her career.

She did find the perfect producer in Kenny Laguna, who released Jett’s self-titled album in 1980, which Laguna financed by using the money from his daughter’s college. They sold the records out of Laguna’s automobile. Jett became one of the first women to start her own label, Blackheart Records.

That album was a big success, especially for an independent release. Jett formed her band The Blackhearts, & released another album in 1981, I Love Rock & Roll. The title track went to #1 on the charts.

Jett gave acting a try with a  good role in Light Of Day (1987) with Michael J. Fox. She had a hit with the theme song, a Bruce Springsteen cover. She had a pair hits the next year, I Hate Myself for Loving You & Little Liar from the album Up Your Alley.

Jett has never stopped recording & touring. Jett:

“I love playing fairs. I think they’re great, because you get out & you see America. We always have wonderful, very boisterous crowds. You see families; you see lots of kids. It’s great.”

She executive produced the biopic The Runaways (2010) & assisted actor Kristen Stewart with her portrayal of Jett, teaching Stewart her distinct Philadelphia accent & swagger.

Jett devotes much of her time to social causes including the animal rights organization The Farm Sanctuary. Like me, she is a vegetarian & a spokesperson for PETA. In 2013, Jett was to appear on the South Dakota tourism float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But some ranchers from the state complained & she got the boot.

Earlier this year, Jett was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This summer she & The Blackhearts toured with the Foo Fighters to sellout crowds.

“It’s beyond just the music. It’s about performing live, having that connection with the audience, looking in people’s eyes & seeing them smile & knowing that maybe they’re going to remember that for the rest of their life, that little moment they had with me, just like I might remember a little moment I had, stealing David Johansen‘s beer bottle off the stage when I was 14.”

 

The post #BornThisDay: Musician, Joan Jett appeared first on World of Wonder.

This is the story that just keeps on giving… first, I posted a story about Doritos’ limited edition Rainbow chips that were launched to support It Gets Better, which promptly sold out. Then, I posted about the social media firestorm that erupted (which, honestly these days, doesn’t take much) with many jerks and jackasses (oh, sorry… and “Christians”) calling Doritos every name in the book.

People took to Doritos’ Facebook page to vent their anger with Frito-Lay. Our fave internet troll-buster of late, Mike Melgaard, who you may remember as the guy who trolled anti-gay conservatives last month by posing as a customer service account for Target on Facebook, was up to his old tricks, turning his trolling talents on disgruntled anti-gay Doritos fans. Below are screenshots of his encounters under the fake Facebook account, “Doritos ForHelp,” which he used to hilariously mock Facebook users pissed-off with the brand’s pro-LGBT stance. He needs to have his own fake accounts all over and do this more! People use “LOL” for every little tiny chuckle lately, but I was literally “laughing out loud.” Read on…

Mr. Melgaard ended his trolling by posting the pic below with caption;

“A final ending to an afternoon of fun. Hope you all enjoyed!”

As funny as this all is, let’s keep in mind what the beneficiary of Doritos Rainbows, It Gets Better, actually does. It was started by Dan Savage in the wake of an epidemic of LGBT teen suicides. How is this doing anything other than what these “Christians” profess to do, which is help people? He’s a Catholic, but even Pope Francis, who lands in the U.S. today, when asked about gays getting into heaven said;

“Who am I to judge?”

Exactly.

(via The Gaily Grind)

The post #LGBT: Our Fave Troll-Buster, Mike Melgaard, GAGS “Rainbow” Haters with Fake “Doritos ForHelp” Account appeared first on World of Wonder.

Yesterday James posted the story of the woman who jumped out of her moving car (with her child inside!) when she saw a spider. Good thing she wasn’t in the subway when this happened, or we would never have gotten this video, posted to YouTube by Matt Little, of a rat trying to carry a slice of pizza in its mouth while climbing down a stairway. He eventually dropped the pizza and ran away. Who can blame him? Damn, paparazzi! Watch.

Below you can see what happens when a fat rat tries to take the 6 train home…

The post #ViralVideo: Maybe THE Most New York Thing Ever… A Rat Carrying a Slice of Pizza in the Subway appeared first on World of Wonder.

Sunday night’s Emmys included big wins for Transparent. Jill Soloway won for comedy directing, Jeffrey Tambor won for lead comedy actor and Bradley Whitford won for guest spot for his role on the show at the Creative Arts Emmys. I might be willing to bet that Oscar winner Anjelica Huston will be nominated next year for a guest spot Emmy herself. Soloway told Variety at a pre-Emmy party that Huston will be playing a “new friend” to Tambor’s character Maura in three episodes of Amazon’s ambitious series. Soloway said about Huston and Tambor’s characters’ on-screen vibe;

“They have a lot of chemistry… palpable chemistry! It was palpable. I was directing them together and watching through the monitor.”

Anjelica’s last TV role was playing Eileen Rand on NBC‘s musical series Smash and she also had a small voice role as a Hollywood executive in the first season of Netflix’s animated series Bojack Horseman. Houston joins Hari Nef, the actress and IMG’s recently signed transgender model, and photographer Petra Collins on this new season. Cannot wait. (Photo, Smash; via Out)

The post #GuestStar: Anjelica Huston Joins the Cast of “Transparent” appeared first on World of Wonder.

Social media has been going nuts for this image of Christina Ricci as Morticia Addams. She famously played Mortica’s daughter, Wednesday, in The Addams Family nearly 25 years ago. At just 11, Ricci became an overnight sensation thanks to her scene-stealing performance as the gloomy Wednesday Addams, which was based on the 60s TV series and the original Charles Addams cartoon strips. She looks amazing, huh? But sorry to say, it’s fake. It has been flopped and Photoshopped from the publicity still of Anjelica Huston, below. But this kind of thing might get Hollywood thinking –we’ve not seem much of Ricci lately – so, get busy Paul Rudnick. He wrote the script to the sequel to 1993’s, Addams Family Values, which was the funnier of the two. Speaking of real or fake… remember Ricci’s classic line from the film when quizzed about her lemonade…? Watch.

The Second Coming: Anjelica Huston as Morticia

The post #RealorFake?: This Pic of Christina Ricci as Morticia Addams Has the Internet All Excited & Asking “Whak?” appeared first on World of Wonder.

We got an exclusive interview with Shadi Petosky, who experienced a hellacious nightmare with the TSA in Orlando yesterday. You might not know that Shadi is Puny Entertainment’s president, show runner, cartoon creator (Yo Gabba Gabba!), writer, comedian, and all around boss ass bitch. She’s also a dear friend of mine from Minneapolis. I texted her this morning after her ordeal when she was detained by American Airlines TSA. Here’s our interview:

JT: Firstly, I’m outraged. Seeing your picture on the WOW Report this morning, I got SO excited because I was like, “OMG! It’s Shadi! My old boss! My friend!” I was hoping it was about one of your shows, but then I clicked the thumbnail and I saw tears.

I am SO saddened, infuriated and sorry what happened to you. Everyone wants to know, where are you currently? Did you make it back to Minnesota? 

The post WOW EXCLUSIVE: Follow-Up Q&A with Trans Woman Shadi Petosky Who Was Detained At American Airlines appeared first on World of Wonder.