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January 1st: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!


#BornThisDay: Writer, Joe Orton

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January 1, 1933Joe Orton:

“To be young, good-looking, healthy, famous, comparatively rich and happy is surely going against nature.”

If you have ever been the recipient of an email or letter of outrage from Edna Welthorpe, I suppose I must apologize, which is not the easiest thing for me to do. Edna, who lives in the ironically named Boring, Oregon, is the stolen alter-ego of playwright, Joe Orton, one of my favorite figures from the 20th century. In the 1950s, Orton created Edna Welthorpe and he made her the guardian of public morals. Orton used the priggish Edna’s letters to goad those in authority into revealing their own innate idiocy.

Orton was not above writing letters criticizing his own plays in order to generate controversy and hence, publicity. I took up Edna’s personality in the summer of 2012, when I found myself jobless for the first time in 45 years, and with time on my hands, I began to write letters and emails to publishers, film studios, and theatre companies complaining of homosexual content. My Edna Welthorpe wrote a letter to Elle Décor magazine in September 2012 outraged that the publication featured: “The residences of sodomites… can you just imagine the fluids on their walls?” My Edna also writes to guys on Craigslist, critical of the furnishings in the background of their dick shots in the Men Seeking Men personals. If you ever received one, please know that I felt I did what needed to be done.

If you don’t know or understand Orton’s place in Theatre History, as a jumping off place, use the brilliant Stephen Frears’ film Prick Up Your Ears (1987), with an eerie portrayal of Orton from Gary Oldman. It is based on the terrific Orton biography with the same title by John Lahr, The New Yorker drama critic. The gay British playwright, Orton, is an incredibly important figure in queer literature. He is perhaps the finest writer of farce in the 20th century, and a great stylist in the tradition of Noël Coward, Harold Pinter and George Bernard Shaw.

He was born John Kingsley Orton to working-class parents in the East Midland of England. After joining several local theatrical companies, mostly playing insignificant roles, Orton took speech coaching to get rid of his lisp and his Northern English accent. He had been a student at a business college but he wanted to be an actor. He auditioned for, and was admitted to the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts in 1951.

Orton’s move to London was a pivotal moment in his life, the beginning of his real career as an actor and playwright,  and it was his introduction to a fellow RADA student named Kenneth Halliwell, who became his mentor and his lover. Halliwell encouraged Orton to read and study the world’s great literature, and he had a strong influence on the development of Orton’s creative abilities.

Orton found work as an actor and stage manager for several years. He and Halliwell worked together on a novel, The Boy Hairdresser (1960) that failed to find a publisher. Finding no one to take their work seriously, the couple amused themselves with a series of hoaxes. This is when Orton created his alter ego Edna Welthorpe, a snobby senior citizen. He later revived her to stir up controversy about his plays.

The couple also had a hobby of humorously defacing books borrowed from public libraries and then returning them in their altered state. They used plates from art books to decorate their tiny apartment, covering every inch in pictures, and they altered books by adding dirty photographs and surrealistic collages of musclemen and kittens, plus the pair added outrageous pornographic rewritten copy to the book’s dust jacket flaps. Orton and Halliwell were eventually caught, arrested and charged. They were sent to prison for six months in 1962. When the police raided their flat, they found thousands of loose plates and hundreds of stolen library books.

After their release, Orton began to consider himself a writer. He worked on his own novel Head To Toe (published posthumously in 1971), and kept busy writing his own plays. In 1964, the BBC produced Orton’s radio play The Ruffian On The Stair. It was then substantially rewritten and produced for the stage in 1966.

Orton loved the attention from the good reviews and he began to pour out new plays. Entertaining Mr. Sloane found its way to theatre agent Peggy Ramsay who had it produced in 1964. Audiences were both shocked and amused. The reviews ranged from praise to outrage.

Entertaining Mr. Sloane lost money, but gay playwright Terence Rattigan, whose own works were strictly conventional, invested in it and the play was transferred to a theatre in London’s West End winning rave reviews and several awards. Within a year, Entertaining Mr. Sloane had productions in NYC, Spain, Israel, and Australia, as well as being made into a film.

Orton’s greatest play was Loot (1964), a crazy parody of detective fiction, and one of the darkest farces ever. It skillfully mocked the establishment’s notion of death, the police, religion, and justice.

The Beatles were fans and they engaged Orton to write a screenplay, Up Against It, for them to be directed Richard Lester.

As Orton became a more famous, controversial figure in the world of London Theatre, Halliwell, an odd, withdrawn man, grew increasingly alienated and distraught, largely because of the continual rejection he faced as both a writer and as a visual artist, and because of his poor self-image as an older, heavier, and bald companion to the boyish, very hot Orton.

On August 9, 1967, Orton was bludgeoned to death in his sleep by Halliwell, who was found naked in the middle of their one room flat. His hands, chest and head were covered with Orton’s blood. He had swallowed 22 Nembutal pills, dying several hours before Orton, whose sheets were still warm when the police arrived.

The note on the desk in Halliwell’s writing read: “If you read his diary all will be explained. K.H. PS: Especially the latter part.”

The last pages of the diary were missing.

Orton’s plays continue to be produced by theatre companies around the world. Halliwell’s single play remains unproduced. All three novels that he co-wrote with Orton remain unpublished.

In delicious irony, the defaced and altered books have recently been given gallery shows, one at the library that they were borrowed from.

I rather idolize Orton, except for that whole murder thing. His writing is anarchic, outrageous, and still shocking, which is inspiring to me. Today, I am reading The Joe Orton Diaries, collected and edited by Lahr.

“The kind of people who always go on about whether a thing is in good taste invariably have very bad taste.”

The post #BornThisDay: Writer, Joe Orton appeared first on The WOW Report.

#Worstof2016: Mariah Carey F*cks-Up Her NYE Live Performance! (Tweets, “Sh*t Happens”) Watch

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mariah-carey-nye-2017-1-1Twitter just about melted down over Mariah Carey‘s disastrous performance last night on live TV. (Did you watch?!) The trouble started as soon as she got onstage to sing Auld Lang Syne in Times Square… her backing track didn’t match up with what she was singing.

The she went into Emotion but appeared to not be able to hear the track.

We can’t hear but I’ll just get through ‘Emotion.’ All right, we didn’t have a check for this song, so we’ll just say it went to number one….

We’re missing some of the vocals, but it is what it is … I’m gonna let the audience sing. We didn’t have a sound check for this New Year’s baby, it is what it is.“

Then as the next number, We Belong Together, started to play, Carey tried to sing along but was a little out of sync with the backing track. She soon gave up on that song too, telling her dancers to

Bring the feathers… (then giving up.)

It just don’t get any better.

Viewers RACED to Twitter to trash Carey’s performance…

Mariah Carey’s performance pretty much sums up 2016.

Just when you thought 2016 wasn’t taking anything else, it took Mariah Carey’s career with it too.

Actor Josh Gad tweeted,

#MariahCarey doing a Second City improv workshop on live TV is giving me life right now.

But the superstar took it all in stride, tweeting.

Shit happens. Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here’s to making more headlines in 2017.

Watch.

(via Us Weekly)

The post #Worstof2016: Mariah Carey F*cks-Up Her NYE Live Performance! (Tweets, “Sh*t Happens”) Watch appeared first on The WOW Report.

15 Rock-Solid New Years Resolutions You Can TOTALLY Stick To…

#Worstof2016: Bad Movie Wigs

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We saw this triple hair threat in The Hollywood Reporter and HAD to agree. Nicole Kidman‘s bird’s nest in Lion, Julia Roberts ginger bob in Mother’s Day and Shailene Woodley‘s hair DON’T in Snowden. Come on. What are the budgets for these films? Give some of that dough to hair and make-up, even when it’s NOT a historical picture, please.

Tell us on Facebook which were YOUR worst film & TV wigs of 2016.

The post #Worstof2016: Bad Movie Wigs appeared first on The WOW Report.

#Bestof2016: These 16 Celebs (Like Kristen Stewart & Colton Haynes) Came Out & Told Their Truth

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These 16 famous faces took the brave step of coming come out in 2016. Here’s to the well-known and the unknown that step up to be their honest selves. We are all better for it.

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COLTON HAYNES
There had been plenty of speculation about the former Arrow and Teen Wolf star’s sexuality and he put those rumors to rest and came out. He told EW,

“I should have made a comment or a statement, but I just wasn’t ready.

I didn’t feel like I owed anyone anything. I think in due time, everyone has to make those decisions when they’re ready, and I wasn’t yet.

But staying in the closet was painful: People want you to be that GQ image that you put out, but people don’t realize what it’s like to act 24 hours a day. I’d go home and I was still acting.”

Kristen Stewart with girlfriend Alicia Cargile

Kristen Stewart with girlfriend Alicia Cargile

KRISTEN STEWART
Kristen Stewart probably ranks as the biggest star to come out this year. She went public in July with her relationship with girlfriend, Alicia Cargile. The actress told The NY Times,

“I would never talk about any of my relationships before, but once I started dating girls it seemed like there was an opportunity to represent something really positive.

I still want to protect my personal life, but I don’t want to seem like I’m protecting the idea, so that does sort of feel like I owe something to people.”

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CHARLIE CARVER
Charlie Carver played gay on TV’s Teen Wolf but viewers didn’t know that he is also gay in real life too. The former Desperate Housewives actor (whose twin Max Carver is straight) posted an essay on Instagram back in January about coming out,

“I’ve lived ‘out’ not feeling the need to announce so. I was comfortably out in my private life. And for a time, that was enough…

I now believe that by omitting this part of myself from the record, I am complicit in perpetuating the suffering, fear, and shame cast upon so many in the world.

In my silence, I’ve helped decide for to you too that to be gay is to be, as a young man (or young woman, young anyone), inappropriate for a professional career in the Arts (WHAAA???) So now, let the record show this- I self-identify as gay.”

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NICO TORTORELLA
The Younger series star came out publicly as sexually fluid in June and then last month he corrected by saying he now describes himself as bisexual,

“I’ve been so hesitant about using the word for so long, because it does have a negative connotation in our generation. People fought for so long for that B in LGBT, and I refuse to be the person that’s going to throw that away because I think I have a more colorful word.”

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AUBREY PLAZA
Aubrey Plaza played April on NBC’s Parks and Rec for years casually came out as bisexual by telling The Advocate in July.

“I know I have an androgynous thing going on, and there’s something masculine about my energy.

Girls are into me — that’s no secret. Hey, I’m into them too. I fall in love with girls and guys. I can’t help it.”

👋🏽 LONDON 👋🏽

A video posted by Stephanie Beatriz (@iamstephbeatz) on

STEPHANIE BEATRIZ
Just like her to-the-point character on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Stephanie Beatriz just used Plaza’s coming out interview as a way to come out too posting a Twitter a message agreeing with Plaza’s comments on loving both men and women. Cool. Done.

SARA RAMIREZ
For years Sara Ramirez played a bisexual doctor on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, but it wasn’t until early October that she revealed publicly that she is also bisexal. She made the announcement in a speech at the True Colors Fund’s 40 to None Summit in L.A. describing herself as,

“woman, multi-racial woman, woman of color, queer, bisexual, Mexican-Irish American immigrant.”

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LILLY WACHOWSKI
Lilly Wachowski, half of the famous duo behind the Matrix movies and Sense8, made her first public appearance since coming out publicly as a transgender woman in March at the GLAAD Media Awards in L.A.,

Her sister and directing partner, Lana, came out as trans in ’12 and a reporter from the Daily Mail showed up on her doorstep wanting to do a story which essentially forced her to come out publicly.

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ROBIN LORD TAYLOR
Robin Lord Taylor is the Penguin on the Fox series Gotham. Taylor finally went public this year about being gay and married to a man for the last five years. In previous years he’d been vague but in June wished his husband a happy anniversary on Instagram.

2016 has been the craziest year of my life. Here's to 2017 being the best year of my life. New music in January.

A photo posted by Trey Pearson (@treypearson) on

TREY PEARSON
Christian rocker Trey Pearson of Everyday Sunday posted a message on Facebook back in May,

“To my fans and friends: I’m finally being honest with myself. I love you all.

I never wanted to be gay. I was scared of what God would think and what all of these people I loved would think about me; so it never was an option for me. I have been suppressing these attractions and feelings since adolescence.

I’ve tried my whole life to be straight. … I know this is how God made me, and I am proud of who I am. I know there is nothing I can do to change it.”

RAYVON OWEN
On season 14 of American Idol, Rayvon Owen finished #4, but never let anyone of his fans know he was gay. He saved that big reveal for the video for his debut single Can’t Fight It, released in February.

The video ends with Owen kissing a man who is his real-life boyfriend, Shane Bitney Crone. Owen told Billboard,

“You’d be surprised at the amount of times I tried to pray the gay away from me or tried to tell God to take this away from me. No kid should have to do what I did and pray to not be who they are. That’s why I think it’s important even in 2016 to say this.”

ALEXIS G. ZALL
YouTube star Alexis G. Zall offered “18 tips for 18 years” for her one million plus subscribers. #8 was the BIG surprise.

“It is totally OK to be a girl who likes girl or a boy who likes boys and me personally, I am a girl who likes girls.

[She then added] Did that bitch just come out?’ She did! I can say I feel the most comfortable with myself as a human being that I have ever felt. This year especially I feel like I learned so much.”

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BRIAN JUSTIN CRUM
On was his first appearance on America’s Got Talent in June, BJC came out. His personal story of being gay, being bullied and battling his weight won over audience in his corner, but his voice got him all the way to #4. He told GSN,

“It was so intense and amazing. I want to be there for everybody, I want to hold everyone’s hand. So it’s a little overwhelming but I love it and I just want to be there to support my community as much as I can.”

BRIAN ANDERSON
Pro skateboarder Brian Anderson came out in September. He told Vice Sports,

“People ask why are you doing this now and not earlier. Because I was pretty freaked out. I was really scared. And people would have perceived it a lot differently, I think, had I said this 15 years ago.

I think of how I felt when I was younger – totally scared. … You become a happier person (after coming out) and to convey that message was really important to me.”

The post #Bestof2016: These 16 Celebs (Like Kristen Stewart & Colton Haynes) Came Out & Told Their Truth appeared first on The WOW Report.

RuPaul’s DragCon 2017: Single Day Tickets Now Available for Purchase!

#HowToSurvive2017: Seth Meyers

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It’s not easy, I know. 2016, what a year. Yikes! It has been like one long ride in a clown car full of racists, homophobes and fascists driven by Rapey Von Tinyfingers that just keeps running over our most amazing musicians.

But here is a good thing: because of the election in November, I discovered NBC‘s Late Night With Seth Meyers. I sort of knew who Meyers was. I knew that he had been on SNL, but I haven’t seen anything from that show, except for occasional clips, since 1977.

I started watching Late Night With Seth Meyers in September and I am impressed. Meyers take on the American Political scene is smooth, smart, sly, insightful, and very, very funny. The first 10 minutes of the show, A Closer Look, is better than any news outlet for a quick rundown of current events. He takes jabs at all the players, but he really sticks it to You-Know-Who.

I’m not certain if he is really cute, because I tend to find people I like to be attractive. I love his comic timing and his smile. On the Thanksgiving episode, he featured is equally attractive brother, Josh Meyers, a cast member of the once great sketch comedy series Mad TV, and the two of them together made me nearly faint with desire.

Late Night With Seth Meyers is not like Full Frontal With Samantha Bee or Real Time With Bill Maher, both of which I also admire and find very funny and informative; Meyers’ show still has a traditional talk show format; he has guests and he is good at interviewing, generous and rather sweet with them, without gushing like Jimmy Fallon, who I have abandoned. This show always has just the right dash of cynicism while remaining bright and humorous, as if the Jon Stewart era The Daily Show had married 1970s The Dick Cavett Show and had a baby. It is sophisticated and smart, while unafraid to get silly.

I go to bed early, so I watch it first thing in the morning instead of The Today Show, which lost me when Matt Lauer gave Rapey Von Tinyfingers a hand job on air sometime this summer, and Kathie Lee Gifford was revealed to be a fascist sympathizer.

When Meyers signed-off for his winter hiatus last week, he jokingly addressed the camera with:

“We will be back on January 9, and we will be canceled on January 20.”

Meyers was joking, but he wasn’t kidding. This entire mess we find ourselves in probably began when Meyers hosted the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where Von Tinyfingers was the butt of jokes by Barack Obama and Meyers.

Our new President-Elect was so humiliated by the experience that it seemed to have triggered a deep, dark previously hidden hunger for revenge. That evening of public degradation, instead of sending the Orange Thing away for good, only accelerated his ferocious desire to take over the world.

On the night of November 9, just 12 hours after the world was shocked by the realization of who had become the President-Elect, Meyers delivered a poignant monologue to his audience, sharing an anecdote about informing his 8-month-old son that:

 “For the first time in our history, our president would be a failed steak salesman…”

But then, he took a more somber tone, and in tears discussed how he feels for all the parents who had to break the news to their kids.

“I do really feel for the parents who had to explain this to their kids this morning, especially parents with daughters because a lot of them, like me, probably thought Hillary would be our first woman president. But she won’t be. But that does mean that someone’s daughter is out there right now who will one day have that title. And maybe you’re a woman who’s currently a senator, maybe you’re still in college, hopefully you’re not a toddler, but who knows. With the way things went last night, who knows. The fact is, we don’t know who you are, but I imagine this moment today will be a defining one for you. One that will make you work harder, and strive farther, and whoever you are, I hope I live to see your inauguration. And I hope my mom does, too. She was really excited yesterday, and I was really sad for her.”

Later in the show, Meyers added:

“As a white man, I also know that any emotions I’m feeling are likely a fraction of those being felt by the LGBTQ community, African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Muslim Americans, and any number of the immigrant communities so vital to our country, so hopefully the Trump administration and Trump supporters will be compassionate to them, because they need your compassion. And in general, I am hopeful for President Trump because hope is always the best possible path to take, and one thing that makes me hopeful is we know from interviews he’s given over the years that he has, at any given point, held every position on every issue: He’s been pro-choice, pro-life, for the Iraq War, against the Iraq War. Pretty much his only consistent position has been: Anti-Rosie O’Donnell. So, I’m hopeful that he’s not actually a racist, and that he just used racist rhetoric to court voters, because when you’re courting someone, you’re always willing to pretend you’re something you’re not.”

I recommend that maybe we abandon network and cable news like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, and we get our information from Seth Meyers and his talented, funny crew.

The post #HowToSurvive2017: Seth Meyers appeared first on The WOW Report.


January 2nd: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

#BornThisDay: Actor/Designer, William Haines

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Haines with Anita Paige, 1927

January 2, 1900William Haines:

“One could be forgiven for illiteracy, but never for lack of good taste.”

Check out the great biography Wisecracker: The Life Of William Haines: Hollywood’s First Openly Gay Star (1998) by the great chronicler of Hollywood history, William Mann. Haines’ story is simply delicious.

As Billy Haines, he was one of MGM‘s biggest stars of the late 1920s, playing cocky yet sympathetic wise guys in popular films like Brown Of Harvard (1926). In the early 1930s, Haines was the number one male box-office star, although few fans remember him for his film work now. But, Haines was a talented, handsome, assured, romantic leading man. Off-screen, he was gay, gay-gay, way gay, openly gay.

Haines’ story remains particularly intriguing because he took on Louis B. Mayer and the MGM brass by refusing to act the part of a straight guy for the studios’ publicity departments. He chose to be open about his life and his partner with a certain disregard for fame and fortune.

For the film-going public, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott played it coy with their relationship. When his openness spelled ruin for his acting career, Haines simply switched careers and became even more rich and famous as the interior designer of choice for Hollywood stars. Haines managed to remain in the spotlight without ever having to stand before the cameras again.

Haines had never set out to be a movie star or an interior designer. He was a smart, appealing young man with a talent for grabbing each opportunity that presented itself. He lived by his wits, always seeming to make the right moves. He managed to reach the very apex of success in two difficult careers for which he had no training.

When Haines was just 14-years-old, he ran away from a small town in Virginia and ended up, as so many resourceful boys do, in NYC. A tall, exceedingly handsome young man, he found an older gentleman to help him make ends meet. He lived in an apartment in Greenwich Village where he became friends with Archie Leach, who would later change his name to Cary Grant, and the young costume designer Orry-Kelly.

With his All-American good-looks, Haines became a model. He sent his photograph to producer Samuel Goldwyn’s New Faces Of 1922 talent contest and won. A screen test followed, and then Haines moved to Hollywood, where he was given good roles in a string of popular silent films. He was a much bigger star than his best friend Joan Crawford. Haines appeared in more than 50 films, and he was the first MGM star to have a speaking role.

In those crazy 1920s and early 1930s, there was a rich gay subculture in Hollywood. This was before the Hay’s Production Code and before studio executives’ intimidation led to the establishment of the Hollywood closet, an institution that runs strong to this day. With the gossip about his love life threatening to ruin Haines’ leading man image, Mayer, MGM’s powerful studio chief, gave him an ultimatum: Lie about his gayness and get married, or lose his contract. Haines refused. He never worked in films again.

Haines dropped the Billy, renamed himself William Haines, and as easily as he became a top movie star, he became the town’s top interior designer. His first client was his pal Crawford, but others soon followed: Claudette Colbert, Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Carole Lombard, William Powell, Lionel Barrymore, Marion Davies, Douglas Fairbanks, studio head Jack Warner, and gay director George Cukor. His social standing was decidedly A-list. He worked for and socialized with Frank Sinatra. Ronnie and Nancy Reagan were his frequent guests at his lavish home.

In 1969, he designed the interiors of Winfield House in London, the official residence of the American Ambassador. That commission brought Haines international acclaim and new clients from around the world.

Self-taught, Haines offered an alternative to the fashionable Art Deco interiors that were made even trendier by the films of his era. He gave birth to the California Style still celebrated in the 21st century. That look became known as Hollywood Regency and it represented a contrast to the stark minimalism of the modernist movement. With roots in 19th century England, Haines’ style combined English and French Regency with Greek Revival, plus a dash of the glamour of Old Hollywood. Hollywood Regency is the very opposite of my own house, which owes its look mostly to squatter shacks, camp cabins, beach cottages, and boys’ forts. But, I still appreciate it.

His career lasted until Haines left this world in 1973. William Haines Designs remains in business to this day, with main offices in West Hollywood and with showrooms in NYC, Denver and Dallas. His original furniture designs are still produced for the top end design trade.

I admire that beginning in 1926, Haines lived openly as a couple with Jimmy Shields, a film extra. Haines refused to give up Shields for the sake of his film career and their relationship lasted until Haines’ passing. That was 50 years, together through it all. Crawford called them: “The happiest married couple in Hollywood”.

Haines was taken by that damn cancer when he was 73 years old. A few weeks later, the grief-stricken Shields put on Haines’ pajamas, took an overdose of sleeping pills, and slipped away in his slumber at the beautiful Hollywood Hills house that they shared. He left a note that read:

“Goodbye to all of you who have tried so hard to comfort me in my loss of William Haines, whom I have been with since 1926. I now find it impossible to go it alone, I am much too lonely.”

Their ashes are interred next to each other at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica. Haines has a star on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame in front of the famed Roosevelt Hotel, site of the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.

The post #BornThisDay: Actor/Designer, William Haines appeared first on The WOW Report.

After Mariah’s Times Square Bombing, the Finger-Pointing Begins – “They Did Not Have Their Act Together”

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By now you’ve seen the video and the memes. Mariah Carey train wreck performance in Times Square on New Year’s Eve is now pop HerStory.

According to The New York Times, on Sunday, a dispute has now erupted between Ms. Carey’s representatives and producers of ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest… Carey’s manager, Stella Bulochnikov, said that the show’s producers had been aware of technical problems but did not fix them — and chose to continue showing Ms. Carey’s messy performance “to get ratings.”

I will never know the truth, but I do know that we told them three times that her mike pack was not working and it was a disastrous production. I’m certainly not calling the F.B.I. to investigate. It is what it is: New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Mariah did them a favor. She was the biggest star there, and they did not have their act together.

(Hey, since when is performing on live TV doing anyone “a favor”…?)

Anyway, Dick Clark Productions issued a statement on Sunday night saying that Carey’s performance had nothing to do with the show, and that that the company

would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd.

In very rare instances, there are of course technical errors that can occur with live television.“

Veteran audio producer, Robert Goldstein of Maryland Sound International (a company that has worked on the Times Square event for years) said that there had been no malfunctions with the sound equipment he oversaw.

Every monitor and in-ear device worked perfectly. I can’t comment beyond that and don’t know what her nontechnical issue may have been.

A spokeswoman for Carey, Nicole Perna, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the singer was not at fault for her performance.

Unfortunately there was nothing she could do to continue with the performance given the circumstances.

But a spokesman for ABC said that the network would not comment on the problems with Carey’s performance. You can see for yourself what the problems are. It’s actually a LOT more fun than if she were “good.”

Watch.

(via The New York Times)

The post After Mariah’s Times Square Bombing, the Finger-Pointing Begins – “They Did Not Have Their Act Together” appeared first on The WOW Report.

#RIP2016: The Very Sad (& Way Too Long) List of Everyone Famous We Lost This *^#@! Year

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Much has been made that this is THE worst year for beloved celebrity deaths. No doubt there have been almost too many to count. Just scroll down and down and down, and your jaw will hang open and your eyes will get moist. The sad fact is, we are all getting older and those that we’ve looked up to are reaching their expiration date. Along with the fact that, that it’s the flip side of life –death. It reminds us that this isn’t a permanent gig.

Jeffrey Slonim

Jeffrey Slonim

I’m sorry if you lost someone you loved. I sadly said goodbye to my old pal and colleague, writer Jeffrey Slonim. I was unfortunately out of the city a few weeks ago when his friends and family got together to pay tribute to him. I heard it was lovely. He’ll be missed by many. If you wonder why I put him among all these famous faces, it’s because it’s where he thrived. For years he has been a red carpet staple and if there’s a step-and-repeat photo opp at the pearly gate’s welcome party, Jeff will be there asking questions like,

If you could take just ONE THING to heaven, what would it be…?

I think he’d like that joke, but honestly he’d have a better question.

So why not use this as a positive, don’t be bummed. Go out in 2017 and live every day like it’s your last and, as the cliché goes, one day you’ll be right.

David Bowie - World of Wonder

David Bowie – 69, beloved musician, actor, cult-hero, our Man Who Fell To Earth

Pat Harrington, Jr. – 86, actor, One Day at a Time

Rene Angelil – 73, Celine Dion’s husband and manager

Alan Rickman – 69, actor, Harry Potter films

Dan Haggerty – 74, actor, Grizzly Adams

Glenn Frey – 67, musician, The Eagles

160126-120224-abe-vigoda-1422_a485750f5145c5f5db2df3a011d988ae-nbcnews-ux-600-700Abe Vigoda – 94, actor, Barney Miller

Paul Kantner – 74, founding member, Jefferson Airplane

Joe Alaskey – 63, voice actor, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck

Maurice White – 74, founder, Earth, Wind & Fire

Dave Mirra – 41, BMX racer

Edgar Mitchell – 85, the Apollo 14 astronaut

Vanity (Denise Katrina Matthews) – 57, Prince protege

Antonin Scalia – 79, U.S. Supreme Court judge

George Gaynes – 89, actor, Punky Brewster

Boutros Boutros-Ghali – 93, former U.N. secretary-general

big-ang-ejo-021816_d232f0ee1964c1a34b47eb14cf512bcd-nbcnews-ux-600-700Angela “Big Ang” Raiola – 55, Mob Wives

Harper Lee – 89, To Kill a Mockingbird author

Umberto Eco – 84, Italian author

Sonny James – 87, country singer

Tony Burton – 78, actor who played Apollo Creed’s boxing trainer

George Kennedy – 91, Cool Hand Luke actor

Lee Reherman – 49, American Gladiator

Joey Feek – 40, one half Joey + Rory

pete-burns-383800Pete Burns – singer, Dead or Alive

Pat Conroy – 70, The Prince of Tides author

Nancy Reagan – 94, former FLOTUS

George Martin – 90, The Beatles‘ producer

Keith Emerson – 71, founder of Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Frank Sinatra Jr. – 72, singer

Bob Ebeling – 89, booster rocket engineer

Phife Dawg – 45, songwriter, Tribe Called Quest

Rob Ford – 46, former mayor of Toronto

Joe Garagiola – 90, the former Today show anchor

160325-garry-shandling-in-larry-sanders-show-yh-1237p_6b8d4ef0a751531e78dc74c924c25afd-nbcnews-ux-600-700Garry Shandling – 66, actor and comedian, The Larry Sanders Show

Jim Harrison – 78, fiction writer, Legends of the Fall

Mother Mary Angelica – 92, Roman Catholic nun, EWTN

Patty Duke – 69, Oscar-winner, The Miracle Worker

Erik Bauersfeld – 93, Star Wars actor

Merle Haggard – 79, country singer

David Gest – 62, former husband of Liza Minnelli

Doris Roberts – 90, actor, Everybody Loves Raymond

Les Waas – 94, advertising legend behind the Mister Softee jingle

Chyna – 46, pro-wrestler

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Prince – 57, legend

Michelle McNamara – crime writer, wife of Patton Oswalt

Isabelle Dinoire – 49, the French woman who received the world’s first partial face transplant, died on April 22.

Papa Wemba – 66, “the king of Congolese rumba”

Billy Paul – 80, jazz/ souls singer, Me and Mrs. Jones

Afeni Shakur Davis – 69, the former Black Panther

jane_little_8bfca78848606ebc638aaacd88693b17-nbcnews-ux-600-480Jane Little – 87, Guinness World Record, “world’s longest serving symphony player” (71 years)

Emilio Navaira – 53, the Grammy award winning Tejano musician

Guy Clark – 74, singer-songwriter, L.A. Freeway

Morley Safer – 84, 60 Minutes correspondent

Alan Young – 96, the actor-comedian, Mister Ed

Nick Menza – 51, former drummer, Megadeth

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Muhammad Ali – 74, “the Greatest of All Time”

Kimbo Slice – 42, street fighter

Theresa Saldana – 61, Raging Bull actress

Gordie Howe – 88, “Mr. Hockey,

Christina Grimmie – 22, singer-songwriter

Ron Lester – 45, actor, Varsity Blues

Anton Yelchin – 27, actor, Star Trek

Ralph Stanley – 89, the godfather of traditional bluegrass music

Bernie Worrell – 72, keyboard player, Parliament-Funkadelic

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Bill Cunningham – 87, beloved NYC street photographer

Alvin Toffler – 87, author, Future Shock

Buddy Ryan – NFL coach

Scotty Moore – 84, pioneering rock guitarist best known

Pat Summitt – 64, winningest coach in Division I college basketball history

Elie Wiesel – 87, Holocaust survivor/ author, Night

160921-curtishanson-0631_62e623893ba956296e8943ca94f32174-nbcnews-ux-600-480Michael Cimino – 77, Oscar-winning director, The Deer Hunter & Heaven’s Gate

Noel Neill – 95, first actress to play Lois Lane

Abbas Kiarostami – 76, Iranian director, Taste of Cherry

Garry Marshall – 81, writer/director, Happy Days, The Odd Couple, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy

Mark Takai – 49, U.S. representative, war veteran

Rev. Tim LaHaye – 90, co-author, Left Behind

Youree Del Cleomill Harris (Miss Cleo) – 53, actress/ Jamaican psychic

David Huddleston – 85, actor, The Big Lebowski

Pete Fountain – 86, Dixieland jazz clarinetist

Barry Jenner – 75, actor, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

160813-kenny-baker-mn-1231_8a5ff73c956cca009127bfa70ff3b183-nbcnews-ux-600-480Kenny Baker – 81, actor, R2-D2 in Star Wars films

Fyvush Finkel – 93, Emmy Award-winning actor

John McLaughlin – 89, conservative commentator, The McLaughlin Group

Lou Pearlman – 62, band boy mogul, Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync

Matt Roberts – guitarist and founding member, 3 Doors Down, died on Aug. 20.

Toots Thielemans – 94, Belgian harmonica player

Steven Hill – 94, actor, Law & Order

Sonia Rykiel – 86, French fashion designer

Juan Gabriel – 66, latin songwriter/ singer

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Gene Wilder – 83, actor, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Jon Polito – 65, actor The Big Lebowski

Jerry Heller – 75, producer N.W.A.

Greta Zimmer Friedman – 92, woman in the iconic photo shown kissing a sailor celebrating the end of World War II

169768042_1473621270Alexis Arquette – 47, transgender actress

Edward Albee – 88, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

W.P. Kinsella – 81, Canadian novelist, Field of Dreams

Curtis Hanson – 71, Oscar-winning writer & director, L.A. Confidential, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

Carlos (Shawty Lo) Walker – 40, Atlanta rapper

Bill Nunn – 62, actor, Do the Right Thing

ap_97112002540_911181251aa20764b1f6f30e8dd0ba5a-nbcnews-ux-600-480Lady Chablis – 59, transgender performer, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

José Fernández – 24, Miami Marlins pitcher

Arnold Palmer – 87, golf legend

Shimon Peres – 93, Nobel prize-winning former Israeli president and prime minister,

Tommy Mykal Ford – 52, actor, Martin

King Bhumibol Adulyadej – 88, the world’s longest reigning monarch, Thailand

Steve Dillon – 54, comic book artist, The Punisher

Janet Reno – 78, the first female U.S. Attorney General

Leonard Cohen – 82, Canadian singer-songwriter, Hallelujah

Robert Vaughn – 83, Oscar-nominated actor, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Leon Russell – 74, singer-songwriter, member Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Gwen Ifill – 61, the co-anchor of PBS’ NewsHour

Holly Dunn – 59, country singer, Daddy’s Hands

161118-sharon-jones-mbe-856p_37b5570eed251fa64d35d49f0542ab68-nbcnews-ux-600-480Sharon Jones – 60, powerhouse singer, Sharon Jones ad the Dap Kings

Florence Henderson – 82, actress, The Brady Bunch

Fidel Castro – 90, Cuban dictator

Ron Glass – 71, , actor, Barney Miller

Grant Tinker – 90, former NBC chairman

Greg Lake – 69, co-founder, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer

John Glenn – 95, American hero, first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, U.S. Senator

Joseph Mascolo – 87, actor, Days of Our Lives

E.R. Braithwaite – 104, Guyanese educator and diplomat, inspired To Sir, With Love

Alan Thicke – 69, actor, Growing Pains

Craig Sager – 65, sports broadcaster

China Machado – 87, a groundbreaking model and fashion editor

Zsa Zsa Gabor – 99, actress, Hollywood icon

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George Michael – 53, pop superstar, LGBT hero

Ricky Harris – actor, Everybody Hates Chris

Richard Adams – author, Watership Down

Barbara Tarbuck – actress, General Hospital

Franca Sozzani 66, editor of Vogue Italia

William Christopher – 84, actor, M.A.S.H.

Carrie Fisher – 60, actress, author, Hollywood royalty

Debbie Reynolds – 84, actress, singer, dancer, Hollywood icon

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(via NBC News)

The post #RIP2016: The Very Sad (& Way Too Long) List of Everyone Famous We Lost This *^#@! Year appeared first on The WOW Report.

#Bestof2016: My Top 5 Videos OTY From Leon Else, Moby, Solange, Beyoncé & OK Go

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OK, I can’t call them “THE Best Videos of the Year” because I’m no expert and it’s just my opinion. But these are surely SOME of the best. Each one stands on it’s own and it goes without saying, the song is great too. When I was visiting L.A., I showed the OK Go video to my pal, photographer and former award-winning video director, Rocky Schenck (who has directed his share of some great videos including Adele‘s Hometown Glory) and he said that “they should give every award they have” to The One Moment. Watch and see if you agree.

What were your faves OTY? Tell us on Facebook.

LEON ELSE
Black Car

MOBY
Are You Lost In the World Like Me? (Animation, Steve Cutts)

SOLANGE
Cranes In the Sky (Direction, Alan Ferguson & Solange Knowles)

BEYONCÉ
Hold Up

OK GO
The One Moment

The post #Bestof2016: My Top 5 Videos OTY From Leon Else, Moby, Solange, Beyoncé & OK Go appeared first on The WOW Report.

Boyfriend Fadi Fawaz Says the Night George Michael Died, “I Never Saw Him. I Fell Asleep in My Car”

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Fadi Fawaz, 46, has revealed that the singer died alone because he’d fallen asleep in his car.

George Michael’s boyfriend had previously said he’d stayed with the singer all weekend, discovering him on Christmas morning. He now says the pair spent the night apart on Christmas eve.

I never saw him. I fell asleep in my car and I never saw him that night. The police know ­everything. That’s the most important thing.

Fawaz also addressed a series of tweets sent from his account that claimed Michael had tried to his own life.

The only thing George wanted is to DIE. He tried numbers of time to kill himself many times…

He told the Mirror that a hacker was behind the messages:

I did not send those tweets. I am shocked with what’s going on with the Twitter thing. My Twitter account has been hacked and closed. It’s a bit scary to be honest. I did not send those tweets. I woke up at 11.30am to the news. I am not going to worry about these things.

It’s still not clear why Fawaz slept in his car. (via Metro UK)

The post Boyfriend Fadi Fawaz Says the Night George Michael Died, “I Never Saw Him. I Fell Asleep in My Car” appeared first on The WOW Report.

NYC All Stars Celebrate Drag Icon Sweetie’s “Big Beautiful Bountiful Birthday Bash”

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If you’re in NYC next week, this is THE EVENT of the season! The legendary Sweetie is EVERYTHING that drag can be…one of the best best lip-synchers ever! Last time I saw her perform was at the Barracuda bar, 20th Year Anniversary party last year…and she slaaayed the stage as usual, which she’s been doing since the 90s. The actor (aka Daniel Booth) recently told Paper magazine that she started her drag career with cohort Faux Pas, at Linda Simpson’s long-running Channel 69 party at Pyramid Club in NYC’s East Village. She became a regular there, as well as at infamous Downtown haunts BoyBar, Jackie 60, Mother, and her own party Queen Bee at The Cock. (pic by Aaron Cobbett).

On Friday the 13th, she’ll be celebrating her Big Beautiful Bountiful Birthday, and EVERYBODY’S coming out to show their love, featuring comedian Sandra Bernhard, Dirty Martini, Justin Vivian Bond, Brenda Bergman & The Bodacious Tatas, Barbara Herr, Blackie O, Michael T, Julie Atlas Muz, Charles Busch with Tom Judson, Ginger Snap, HRH Princess Diandra, Ms Ginger, Matthew Kasten & The BoyBar Beauties, Joey Arias, Amber Martin and introducing…a special performance by Michael Musto. Hosts include Paul Alexander, Chi Chi Valenti, Daniel Nardicio and Hattie Hathaway…PLUS…videos by comedian/actress Bridget Everett, Bianca Del Rio and Sherry Vine. DJs Sammy Jo and Johnny Dynell. Sweetie’s Big Beautiful Bountiful Birthday Bash is Friday, January 13th, 6-10pm at Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St, NYC, get tix and more info HERE.



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#39Dead: Because the Istanbul Mass Shooting Wasn’t Here, Do Americans Not Care?

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ISIS has claimed responsibility for the New Year’s attack at Istanbul’s Reina nightclub. Authorities are still scrambling to find the killer, but here in the states, this news was overshadowed by NYE and Mariah Carey‘s flubbed performance. Meanwhile, 39 people celebrating the New Year lost their lives.

ISIS’ claim, made in a statement posted to Twitter, cannot be verified by CNN. But it boasted about the first major terrorist attack of 2017.

In continuation of the blessed operations which ISIS carries out against Turkey, a soldier of the brave caliphate attacked one of the most popular nightclubs while Christians were celebrating their holiday.

Both Turkish and US officials have called the attack an act of terrorism but are we now so numb to shock now that a reality TV star is becoming POTUS that we can’t process it? I would say, yes. It’s not that we don’t care, but when we get the chance to have a little fun (often a celebrity’s expense –thanks, Mariah) we jump at the opportunity to have a little shared laugh.

In the meantime, the violent world we live in vies for our attention and sympathy. (via CNN)

The post #39Dead: Because the Istanbul Mass Shooting Wasn’t Here, Do Americans Not Care? appeared first on The WOW Report.

January 3rd: Its YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

#BornThisDay: Filmmaker, Dorothy Arzner

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Arzner with DP, Lucien Ballard

January 3, 1897Dorothy Arzner:

“Each day when I went to work at a studio, I took my pride & made a nice little ball of it & threw it right out the window.”

Portland’s own Todd Haynes (who had a birthday, yesterday) has been promising a biopic of Dorothy Arzner since 2003. Her story has yet to make it to the screen, but maybe Julianne Moore could be Haynes’ number one choice for the role. Who else do you think might embody the men’s suit wearing, openly gay Arzner? I’ll even throw in Cate Blanchett to play Katharine Hepburn for a second time. Does that make it more enticing?  After all, Arzner was the one that gave Hepburn her first starring role, playing a famous female flyer in Christopher Strong (1933).

Arzner nurtured the careers of several strong female film stars. She has also served as an inspiration for other women directors, even in our own era. Someday, when having a woman direct a major Hollywood film isn’t worth mentioning, film fans will be shocked to learn that there was a time when Arzner and Ida Lupino were the only gals working behind the camera.

Arzner started at Paramount Pictures as a typist, before making her way up the ladder, first as a screenwriter and then editor. She eventually demanded a chance to direct, threatening to move to another studio. She showed real pluck and panache with her first film Fashions For Women (1927), a box-office hit. She was then offered to direct Paramount’s very first sound film, The Wild Party (1929).

The Wild Party starred “It Girl” Clara Bow in her first speaking role, along with Frederic March in his film debut. It proved popular with the critics and fans. For its time, it was quite controversial, daringly featuring scantily clad co-eds and chorus girls. For The Wild Party, she tied a microphone to a fishing pole to put nervous star Bow at ease and get better audio, basically inventing the first boom microphone.

Paramount thought Arzner was right for directing melodramas with female leads like Sarah And Son (1930), starring Ruth Chatterton who was nominated for an Academy Award, and giving Rosalind Russell her first great role in Craig’s Wife (1936). As a technician, she was anything but fussy. She eschewed meandering shots or anything that would distract from her clarity of vision or her devotion to detail. She stated:

“Maintain conscious control of your medium – nothing random.”

One of the reoccurring themes in Arzner’s films is the emotional toll of an unhappy marriage. Her work often features a man who behaves like he owns a woman, or a man competing with a woman.

Arzner’s films also frequently show nuanced, complex, sympathetic female friendships with hints of homoeroticism. Just last month on TCM, I caught Arzner’s Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) with Lucille Ball in her first starring role, and Maureen O’Hara. They play roommates Bubbles and Judy, who scrap over men and money, tossing off wisecracks and dancing like a lesbian version of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It also has a nutty turn by famed acting coach Maria Ouspenskaya as an especially butch dance instructor. I really enjoyed this one.

Arzner had a major love affair with Marion Morgan, the choreographer on Dance, Girl, Dance. She also spent some very special time with Joan Crawford, before, during, and after they worked together on The Bride Wore Red (1937) and The Last Of Mrs. Cheyney (1937). Their bond was so strong that Crawford was even able to lure Arzner out of retirement to shoot more than 50 commercials for Pepsi when Crawford was the spokesperson and on the Board Of Directors for the company.

In 1943, Arzner made her final film, First Comes Courage, a war film overflowing with lesbian subtext. Noted for being a hard worker, Arzner was still able to enjoy a romantic fling with the star of the film, Merle Oberon.

Systemic sexism and overt homophobia had been on the upswing with the start of The Hays Code in 1934. Hollywood became more conservative and there was a return to traditional gender roles after the end of WW II. I am not certain if these were reasons why a woman whose films were as good as any man’s, who’s films came in on time and under-budget and who made money for the studios, stopped making movies. Maybe because she was often the only woman director working in Hollywood, her first goal was to prove that she was competent because competence was far more important than brilliance or originality in making sure she had a career. Her inability to conform to an increasingly conservative moral climate in Hollywood had to have been a major stumbling block.

Arzner was a complicated and unique woman. She possessed a biting sense of humor and a sophisticated personal style, noted for her short-cropped hair and the wearing of pants.

Between 1927 and 1943, Arzner directed 17 feature films. Almost all have her trademark unconventional heroines, strong and self-sufficient, who must reconcile marriage and career. Like the masterful gay director, James Whale, her films resonate with gay subtext.

She mentored a young film director named Francis Ford Coppola. I hear things turned out well for him.

After leaving the studio system, Arzner made Army training films and taught at UCLA, plus she shot those Pepsi commercials. In 1936, she became the very first woman to join The Directors Guild Of America. The Guild finally got around to honoring her contribution in 1975 with their Legend Award, four years before her passing. She left this world with no Oscars, honorary or otherwise, and aside from that DGA reward, after a prolific career that spanned from 1922 to 1943, she only has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

There is some promise and progress for women directors. Currently there are 245 films by women streaming on Netflix. In 2015, two out of the top 25 grossing films were directed by women, Pitch Perfect 2 (Elizabeth Banks) and 50 Shades Of Grey (Sam Taylor-Johnson). In 2016, there were 49 films directed by females according the DGA, not all of them found distribution. Only one film of the top 25, Kung Fu Panda 3, was directed by a woman, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and she gets to share the credit with a dude, Alessandro Carloni.

Women directed just 4% of the top money-making films in the 21st century. Of the 700 top-grossing films in history, women make up 13% of the directors. In 86 years of the Academy Awards, only four female directors have even been nominated for Oscars: Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976), Jane Campion for The Piano (1993), Sofia Coppola for Lost In Translation (2003), and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2009). Only Bigelow has taken home the statue.

Lesbians making feature films is a very small list, but I particularly admire Kimberly Peirce who directed Boys Don’t Cry (1999), and Lisa Cholodenko who directed the terrific Oscar nominated The Kids Are All Right (2010). My gaydar goes off for Ava DuVernay, director of the landmark, Selma (2014) and last year’s 13, but she keeps her private life private, although I know she vacations with Oprah and Gayle.

As Katharine Hepburn put it to Arzner in a telegram when she was at last honored by the DGA in 1975:

“Isn’t it wonderful that you’ve had such a great career, when you had no right to have a career at all?”

 

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#Bestof2016: Drew Droege’s “Bright Colors And Bold Patterns” Celebrates Gay (& Makes Fun at the Same Time)

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Drew Droege’s hilarious show Bright Colors and Bold Patterns just barely made it in under the wire for 2016. I went the very last night on Dec. 30. I sat front row center with Maxim‘s Susan Kilenny and we laughed so hard we got funny looks from our seat mates. It’s a one-man show but Gerry isn’t alone onstage, he talks to his (invisible) fellow gays, or rather harangues them for over an hour, and it couldn’t be more entertaining.

As played by devastatingly funny Droege, Gerry would whelm even the gayest gay over, in real life. He arrives in a whirl of wind in Palm Springs for the gay wedding of a classmate and is soon complaining to boyfriends Mack and Dwayne about the wording of the wedding invite, which tells guests to please

refrain from wearing bright colors and bold patterns.

This directive is TOO much for Gerry, as he reads the room itself, saying, it looks like,

Trina Turk and Betsey Johnson threw up Bacardi Razz –and sold it to Target.

Mack comes to the house’s defense but Gerry corrects the 23 year-old,.

No, I love it. Honey, we celebrate things and make fun of them at the same time. That’s called gay.

The play was expertly directed by Michael Urie who knows a thing or two about solo shows starring in Jonathan Tolins’s Streisand-worshiping play, Buyer & Cellar.

Droege is probably best known for his Chloë videos, a BROAD parody of the actress Chloë Sevigny. As the play goes on we learn Gerry’s beef isn’t just with invite demands but with the notion of gay weddings in general.

Aren’t you just a little bit scared?. That all of a sudden, we’re in this race to be normal, whatever that means. Is that really the goal?

The production was surprisingly moving and much like Droege’s Chloë videos (there’s a newish one down below) I’m sort of dying to see it again, so let’s hope it will run somewhere in NYC or L.A. the spring. We need more “hot mess” in our lives, on stage, anyway.

The post #Bestof2016: Drew Droege’s “Bright Colors And Bold Patterns” Celebrates Gay (& Makes Fun at the Same Time) appeared first on The WOW Report.

#TransformationTuesday: QWERRRKOUT feat. Kali Forni-Kate NSFW

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Transformation Tuesday just got a whole lot QTer…New queers featured every week! Tag us, take a pic of us and follow us on Instagram at QWERRRKOUT, and you too could be the next QT! YOU BETTA QWERRRK!

Kali Forni-Kate


Age
: 23

Location: Melbourne, Australia

About:

I have recently moved back to Melbourne, where I started drag 5 years ago. I didn’t see my first drag queen til 19 y/o and up… until then, probably would have ran the other way. I started drag for just the chance to get loose and party harder, that was until I actually realised I had potential, and worked to refine my look and create a professional name for myself. Being known for my body, boobs, and ass, my aesthetic is definitely gender illusion with drag features…but I love all things drag across the generations, and the personality and individuality it produces. Without any make-up background and being colour blind, I kind of just took inspiration from all queens around me. My current obsession is Age of Aquaria. Her makeup is incredible!… and made me want to experiment more with my face. I just have local gigs in Melbourne and Brisbane coming up over the holiday season, but in the new year, hoping to up my game some more and take Melbourne by storm.

Instagram: kali_fornikate

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