Charo
Andrea Martin
Chad Lowe
Eddie Cahill
Howie Day
James Nesbitt
Kelly Kelly
Lisa Lisa
Margaret O’Brien
Mario Van Peebles
Pitbull
Princess Michael of Kent
Regina King
Skrillex
Young Dro

The post January 15th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.

 January 15, 1893– Ivor Novello:

“Lovemaking is an art which must be studied and practiced.”

After seeing Robert Altman’s brilliant Academy Award Best Picture nominated film Gosford Park (2001) for the fifth time, I had to explain to a friend that the character of Ivor Novello was not from the imagination of screenwriters Bob Balaban and Altman. Jeremy Northam’s portrayal of the matinee idol was so effortless and elegant that it’s easy to believe that he was just another one of Altman’s brilliant creations. But, Novello was in fact, a major and much celebrated celebrity in the first half of the 20th century, and the kind of gentleman that Cole Porter and Noël Coward personified and loved to write about: the smoking jacket wearing, martini drinking, man-about-town, and what a big surprise… Ivor Novello was gay.

He was born David Ivor Davies in Cardiff, Wales, the same port city that gave us fellow Capricorn, Shirley Bassey. There must be something in the water. His father was on the city council and his mother was an internationally noted singing coach. He began writing songs as a teenager and studied music at Oxford University.

Novello wrote songs for musicals and revues, but he became best known as an actor. His handsome face, lean frame, considerable talent and suave style led to success as a performer. He was Britain’s most popular male silent film star, as big as Rudolph Valentino. Like Coward, Novello enjoyed simultaneous careers in both Britain and the USA.

Novello did it all: working on the stage and in films like D.W. Griffith’s The White Rose (1923) and the early Hitchcock thriller The Lodger (1926). He wrote popular plays such as The Rat (1925), and films like 1937’s Tarzan The Ape Man (“Me Tarzan, You Jane” was the invention of Novello). He gave young Vivien Leigh her stage name, and he wrote the popular, sentimental WW I era British patriotic tune Keep The Home Fires Burning. He was sort of the Andrew Lloyd Webber of the 1930s and 1940s, composing lush, romantic, somewhat derivative stage musicals Glamorous Night (1937) and Perchance To Dream (1945).

Novello’s career was at its apex in the 1930s, when he was writing music for and starring in a string of Drury Lane shows that blended musical comedy with operetta and blended modern and classical dance. Somehow, his charms and talent never really translated to American audiences.

He was nearly as versatile and prolific as his friend and greatest rival Noël Coward, who was six years younger. Coward later wrote that he envied Novello’s good-looks and aped his glamorous, world-weary style. Coward and Novello were excellent friends. Actor Bobbie Andrews, Novello’s partner for 35 years, introduced Novello to the young Coward. Andrews and Novello were later to appear together in many of Novello’s and Coward’s plays and musicals.

Critics wrote favorably of Novello’s romantic appeal and charisma, which proved to be as powerful to many male theatre and film fans as to the hordes of his swooning female followers. Coward himself would admit Novello could be “violently glamorous” but also “a little vulgar too”. I think that was the secret of his appeal.

Novello and Andrews bought a house in Jamaica, near Noel Coward’s home Fire Fly, where they all hung out together. The entire gang was devoted to each other until Novello’s passing. Andrews and Novello were rarely seen without the other.

Unfortunately, Novello spent a notorious four weeks in prison during WW II, charged with misuse of gasoline rationing coupons, a very serious offense at the time. The trauma and shame of the incarceration had serious and lasting effects on his life. It must have really hurt because his sentimental song We’ll Gather Lilacs was a huge hit during the war.

Coward:

“Ivor and Bobby are beguiling, but they also ramble on ad nauseam about one topic: the month Novello spent in prison in 1944 for misusing wartime petrol coupons. They forever lamented the ‘injustice’ of it all.”

Novello and Andrews also owned a lavish English country home named Redroofs. The place was the setting for extravagant, unconventional entertaining, known for excesses of drugs, booze and loads of gay activity.

In 1951, Andrews was with Novello when he took that final bow, passing away at their London flat, taken by a heart attack just hours after performing in one of his own shows. More than 100,000 fans lined the streets of London to say good-bye, and the service was broadcast live on television and radio. Novello was just 58-years-old when left this world.

On Novello’s passing Coward wrote:

“Another landmark swept away. Poor, poor Bobby… he will be utterly devastated. Please understand and forgive me, but I am too shattered by the news of Ivor Novello’s death to write an estimate of his work or his personality that would do justice to either. We have been close friends for 35 years, and my feelings at the moment are too private and too unhappy to be put into words.”

The Ivor Novello Awards have been given annually, since 1956, to British songwriters and music publishers. They are a very big deal in the UK. Past recipients of “Ivors” include Boy George, David Bowie, George Michael, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Sting and Paul McCartney. 2016’s recipient for Best Songwriter was some chick named Adele; maybe you have heard of her.

In an era before there was such a thing as “openly gay,” Novello lived an un-apologized for life of authenticity and openness. How great is it that his last play, staged in 1951, would be titled Gay’s The Word?

The post #BornThisDay: Actor / Songwriter / Writer, Ivor Novello appeared first on The WOW Report.

Filmmaker Michael Moore wants us to know a few things as we approach the coronation of Emperor Cheeto…

“Here’s why Congressman and civil rights legend John Lewis is right that Donald Trump ‘is not a legitimate President’:

1. Nothing, including an arcane, racist section of the constitution, can change the fact that 3 million more Americans voted for Hillary than for Trump. It’s either a democracy or it isn’t. If he had won by 3 million, I would sadly admit that Trump is the President the American people wanted. But that’s not what happened.

2. He is not well and needs help. He has a number of serious mental disorders that make him unfit to hold office — and they are on display every day in one cringe-worthy tweet after another. He is a full-blown malignant narcissist. He displays sociopathic tendencies. He will say one thing and 30 seconds later say the opposite. He is disconnected from the truth. And he has a stunning lack of human empathy. These behaviors make him a truly dangerous occupant of the Oval Office.

3. The Russians interfered with the election in order to get him elected. Even Trump now admits as much. That alone makes the election tainted and should be voided. We spend trillions on ridiculous weapons and ineffective police state-style homeland security measures to defend us against those who would “destroy our way of life” — but we are to remain silent when a foreign government is caught trying to get THEIR candidate elected as OUR president? AND they succeed! This is a joke of monstrous proportions — and the fact that conservatives, Republicans and patriotic good ol’ boys are actively defending this foreign aggression into our country confirms to me what I’ve feared all along: that they really hate our form of democracy, our Bill of Rights, our belief that “All men (sic) are created equal,” our one person-one vote system, that whoever scores the most points wins and that people of all religions are welcome here. They don’t believe that, and I’d respect them so much more if they would just simply admit it.

4. The FBI clearly chose sides, and FBI Director Comey’s interference in the 10 days before the election most-definitely helped tipped the balance to the FBI’s preferred candidate, Donald J. Trump. That our own federal police would so brazenly attempt to throw the election to the person with the least votes is mind-boggling, frightening and must be stopped. Attorney General Lynch must immediately, today, appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate what to me appears to be a criminal offense. If this is true, I want to see FBI Director Comey in handcuffs and behind bars. Short of murder and a few other heinous acts, is there a worse crime in our democracy than the highest ranking cop in the land attempting to throw the election?

5. Trump has nominated in Rex Tillerson the most powerful corporate CEO in the world as “our” Secretary of State. Why would the quarter-billionaire head of the world’s richest corporation want a “government job?” So that he, a personal friend of Putin’s, can get the US sanctions lifted off Russia so that his company, ExxonMobil, can get back to their exclusive oil deal with Russia — which will eventually net ExxonMobil three TRILLION dollars. This is nothing less than a bold, audacious robbery in broad daylight — and it says a lot about you and me that they think they can get away with it.

6. Trump has potentially committed a number of felonies — and a felon simply can’t sit in the Oval Office (I can’t believe I even have to state that). From his admitted sexual assaults to whatever he’s hiding in the tax returns, to possibly evading taxes, to his committing fraud with Trump U, to his long list of conflicts of interest — the chance of us having to suffer through his impeachment trial in the Senate is just too much to bear.

Donald Trump is, as John Lewis said, NOT a legitimate president. He is unfit, unstable and was elected with help from the Russian government. John Lewis has announced he will not attend the Inauguration, and eight other members of Congress today have joined him. Call (202-225-3121) or write your Congressperson and insist he or she not attend the swearing in of an illegitimate president. It’s the least you can do short of standing in front of this runaway train.” –Michael Moore

The post Michael Moore Sides with Sen. John Lewis –”Don’t Attend the Swearing In of an Illegitimate President” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Martin Shkreli, the horrible pharma CEO (and Trump’s main competition for worst person in the country) got pooped in the face at a recent event. Now the shit-thrower is being celebrated as “president of the internet”…

Shkreli was scheduled to speak at the University of California-Davis campus on Friday night, along with Breitbart tech editor and fellow nominee for “most hideous”, Milo Yiannopoulos, though the event was later cancelled in the wake of massive protests.

Shkreli was confronted by a group of protesters, and one who threw dog poop in his face, shouting,

“You piece of shit!”

Shkreli’s detractors have lauded the thrower of the poop, and joined in the pile-on, noting that it couldn’t have happened to a worse guy.

#MartinShkreli getting what looked like dog poop thrown at his face after someone yelled "You piece of s**t" Vid by @Captain_Hooks @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/zYCiVhzNdb

— Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017

(via US Uncut)

The post Martin Shkreli Gets a Face Full of Dog Poop –”You Piece of Sh*t!” Watch. appeared first on The WOW Report.

Emperor Cheeto is NOT going to like last night’s SNL. Alec Baldwin as Trump re-staged PEEOTUS press conference from earlier this week.

The majority of it was dedicated to the juicy claims from the leaked intelligence memo on Trump’s ties to Russia, as one journalist after the next asks the President-elect about his

“big Russian pee-pee party.

I am not talking about the pee pee. Because it didn’t happen. And it wasn’t as cool as it sounds.

I am going to bring back a thick stream of jobs back to this country, the biggest, strongest, steadiest stream I’ve ever seen. This country will be literally showered with jobs, because I’m a major whiz at jobs. This will be a golden opportunity for me as president to make a big splash.

Who’s with me? You’re in? Urine? Urine?“

Trump also addressed the GOP’s recent tactics towards repealing Obamacare.

“Obamacare is a disaster, and I actually do have a replacement plan. I just read about it this week. Just great. It’s called the ‘Affordable Care Act.‘”

A journalist says,

“If you repeal it, 20 million people could die.“

To which Baldwin replies,

“Listen sweetheart, I’m about to be president. We’re all going to die.“

Watch.

The post #SNL: Alec Baldwin’s Trump Uses Golden Opportunity to Shower America with Pee Jokes. Watch appeared first on The WOW Report.

Workers preparing for Emperor Cheeto‘s InaugUrination on January 20 have taped over the name Don’s Johns who are supplying portable restrooms.

Virginia-based Don’s Johns says it’s D.C.’s top provider of portable toilet rentals, but the name strikes a wee-wee bit too close to home for organizers of the inauguration of Donny.

Workers have placed blue tape over the logo but the name is still clearly visible upon closer inspection.

Robert Weghorst, chief operating officer for Don’s Johns says,

“We don’t know why it’s being done. We didn’t tell someone to do it. We’re proud to have our name on the units.“

A spokesman for the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the Capitol and its grounds, said the logos were being covered or removed to comply with Capitol grounds restrictions on advertising. The Don’s Johns logos cannot be removed easily,

“and are being covered with tape.“

Don’s Johns has provided portable toilets for many major events in Washington, including the 2009 and 2013 inauguration ceremonies for President Barack Obama. No logos were taped over during those events, he said.

This would have NOTHING to do with a certain scatalogical party in Russia in the news lately, would it?

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the Presidential Inaugural Committee declined to comment.

Let the pee jokes flow…

(T/Y Tad; via AP)

The post #InaugUrination17: Yep, the Porta-Potties at Trump’s Swearing In Are (No Joke) “Don’s Johns” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Alyssa Edwards
Michael Attwell
Andrea James
Victoria “PorkChop” Parker
David Chokachi
Debbie Allen
Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Jill Sobule
John Carpenter
Josie Davis
Juanita Bynum
Kate Moss
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Marilyn Horne
Maxine Jones
Nick Valensi
René Angélil
Sade
Trent Ford

The post January 16th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.

January 16, 1908– Ethel Merman:

“I can hold a note as long as the Chase National Bank.”

In the past year, there was a series of memes about putting a woman on the $20 bill and just who that woman might be. Last summer, some moderator even asked that nutty group of Republican Presidential hopefuls for their choices. They all answered with “my mother”, except for Rapey Von Tinyfingers, who suggested that any Fat-Pig-Dog-Slob would do. It was decided that brave  Harriet Tubman would boot Andrew Jackson off the $20 note. My sources tell me that the new Treasury Secretary, billionaire banker Steven T. Mnuchin, is favoring Eva Braun for the $100 bill.

For me there was only one choice and today is her birthday.

I only saw Ethel Merman live twice. First, in 1970, on Broadway in Hello, Dolly!, in a role written for her that she finally played six years after the musical originally opened. Her Dolly Levi was A+. Merman received several ovations the evening I was lucky enough to be in the house. I was also in the audience for her concert at The Dorothy Chandler in 1979, in support of the release of The Ethel Merman Disco Album.

Born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, she was a bookkeeper’s daughter from Queens, who worked as a stenographer by day and sang at local parties by night.

Eventually, Merman acquired an agent who got her some cabaret gigs in Manhattan. After one of her engagements, the 22-year-old singer actually had George and Ira Gershwin ask her to come to their studio and sing some songs they had written for their new Broadway musical, Girl Crazy. At the end of the audition George Gershwin stated: “Miss Merman, if there’s anything you’d like to change, I’d be happy to do so.” Merman replied: “No, these songs will do very nicely.”

Girl Crazy opened in the autumn of 1930, and when Merman sang I Got Rhythm, holding the C above middle C for sixteen bars, the audience went wild and demanded 10 encores. Afterward, at the opening night party, Merman took the subway home to Astoria, but the next day she went to lunch with the Gershwins who showed her the rave reviews and explained that she was now a great big Broadway star. George Gershwin told her: “Never take a singing lesson”. She never did.

Merman, as you know, had a huge brassy belting-voice, but she also possessed impeccable diction. Every word, every syllable, could be heard in every seat in the theatre, and this was decades before the use of microphones on stage. It was this skill that made her especially appealing to composers and lyricists. She was absolutely adored by the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, and even Igor Stravinsky.

Merman couldn’t read music but she was able to memorize a song after hearing it a few times. Cole Porter:

“She can sing anything. But, I really tailor-make my songs for her because I know her range so well.”

Her best note was A above middle C and Porter often ended phrases on that note. Porter knew he could trust her to handle his complicated rhythms and he loved the fact that she could sing: “Flying too high with some guy in the sky is my idea of nothing to do” in one breath.

Producers adored Merman too. Her poor understudies, she never missed a show. She demanded a big salary, but once the contract had been signed, she was utterly reliable and professional.

Among the shows written for her by Cole Porter: Anything Goes (1934), Red, Hot And Blue (1936), DuBarry Was A Lady (1939), Panama Hattie (1940), and Something For The Boys (1943). Irving Berlin gave her Annie Get Your Gun (1946) and Call Me Madam (1950). Her greatest triumph, and for me the top musical of all time was, of course, Gypsy (1959).

Merman had a long stage career, from Girl Crazy in 1930 to Hello, Dolly! in 1970. She was still belting out There’s No Business Like Show Business when she was in her 70s. She released that disco album that I mentioned and The NY Times reviewed it saying: “It’s not quite so embarrassing as might have been feared”.

Not particularly pretty or sexy, Merman was also a bit dim. She never read a book, and when someone asked “Is the Pope Catholic?”,  she helpfully supplied the answer: “Yes”. Her favorite drink was champagne… on the rocks.

Merman did her own bookkeeping and she accounted for every dime. Her first agent, Lou Irwin said:

“Three things are important to Ethel. The first is money, and the second is money and the third is money.”

She disliked travel and once said that her idea of exercise was sunbathing.

Merman married four times, never happily. The first two husbands were physically abusive. Her final marriage, to fellow actor Ernest Borgnine, ended after five weeks. In her memoir, Merman (1978), the chapter titled My Marriage To Ernest Borgnine consists of one blank page. The Borgnine marriage was short, but it was turbulent. There is a story about how she came back from filming one day and announced to her husband: “The director said I looked sensational. He said I had the face of a 20 year old, and the body and legs of a 30 year old!”. Borgnine replied: “Did he say anything about your old cunt?”  Merman replied: “No, he didn’t mention you at all.”

She had two children by husband number two, but devoted little time to them. That part of her story is tragic. Her daughter died of a drug overdose in 1967 and her son was killed in a shooting in 1975.

Merman has been criticized as being a less than inspired interpreter of ballads, but preparing for this column and listening to her recordings, I was drawn to They Say It’s Wonderful from Annie Get Your Gun. She gives this one a deep, haunting tenderness, a quest for love unobtainable. In the three-minute number, she wistfully sings: “I can’t recall who said it. I know I never read it. I only know they tell me that love is grand, and the thing that’s known as romance is wonderful, wonderful, in every way… so they say.”

This was recorded when her most dreadful marriages were still to come, and that plaintive “so they say” became her destiny.

For me, the best thing about Merman was her exuberance and a willingness to make fun of herself. At 72-years-old, she appeared in the film Airplane! (1980), playing a wounded soldier so traumatized that he believed he was Ethel Merman, and she leapt from his/her hospital bed singing Everything’s Coming Up Roses.

I have read gossip claiming that she was lesbian and Jewish, but I have found nothing that points to either being true. The writer Jacqueline Susann once stood outside her door yelling: “Ethel, I love you!”, but Merman never showed the slightest interest in women. Susann claimed the character Helen Lawson in her novel Valley Of The Dolls was based on Merman.

Although many of my younger acquaintances have never heard of her, Merman remains a Gay Icon to gay guys of a certain age and is much beloved by drag artists. For decades, there has been an Ethel Merman Choir, consisting entirely of Merman impersonators, in San Francisco.

As a kid, I thrilled to her appearances on dozens of television shows, guesting on variety series hosted by Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan, and Carol Burnett, plus talk shows with Mike Douglas, Dick Cavett, and Merv Griffin.

Merman was disappointment that her film career never came close to matching her triumphs onstage:

“If you don’t exist in, for, and through the movies, well, you don’t exist at all.”

In 1984, when Merman moved on to that great baby pink spotlight in the next world, I lit a candle for her while listening to the original Broadway cast album of Gypsy. I do an outstanding imitation of Merman singing I Will Survive. Ask me to do it for you sometime.

Join me in my campaign to put Merman’s likeness on American currency! #MermanOnTheFifty.

“Broadway has been very good to me. But then, I’ve been very good to Broadway.”

The post #BornThisDay: Ethel Merman appeared first on The WOW Report.

Martha Plimpton wants to make certain that her NYC pals can get to the Women’s March on Washington, DC, if they want to. She has organized a bus to and from the event for 28 people, as well as sleeping accommodations for 15.

The Real O’Neal’s star is on the board of directors for A is For, a nonprofit dedicated to women’s reproductive rights, and she told the New York Post,

“Everyone marching, whether in DC or their home states, is sending a message to the incoming administration and its supporters… that we are watching and we are ready to defend ourselves and our neighbors from the suffering they intend to inflict on the American people. This is the beginning of a long period of resistance for which a diverse America is well-prepared.”

Are you going? Event Brite lists details for the event. For more info go here.

“The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized, and threatened many of us–women, immigrants of all statuses, those with diverse religious faiths particularly Muslim, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native and Indigenous people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, the economically impoverished and survivors of sexual assault. We are confronted with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear.

In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”

(T/Y Tad; via New York Post)

The post #InaugUrination17: Martha Plimpton Sponsors Women’s March Bus To D.C.– “We Are Ready to Defend Ourselves” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Today isn’t just a day that we don’t have to go to school or work, it’s a very important day to honor the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During this untimely darkness in our current political climate, we need more leaders to step forward like MLK to be brave, bold, and to better the future of humanity.

Here are 10 quotes that will help you get through this ungodly time:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.“

The post 10 Quotes From Martin Luther King Jr. That Will Give Us Hope In 2017 appeared first on The WOW Report.

The Scottish Sunday Herald ran a bizarre but hilarious TV listings for the upcoming week adding a fictional review of Emperor Cheeto‘s January 20 inaugUrination.

Damien Love compared the upcoming event to a new episode of The Twilight Zone, saying it’s

“one of the most ambitious, expensive and controversial productions in broadcast history.

it “sets out to build an ongoing alternative present” that begins “in a nightmarish version of 2017 in which huge sections of the US electorate have somehow been duped into voting to make Donald Trump president.””

He calls it,

“a flawed piece, but a disturbing glimpse of the horrors we could stumble into, if we’re not careful.”

Oh, if it were just a bad dream or a TV, but it’s happening, kids. See the full listing below.

(T/Y Tad)

The post Scottish Newspaper Says Trump’s #InaugUrination a “Nightmarish Version of 2017”, Calls It “TheTwilight Zone” appeared first on The WOW Report.

PEEOTUS attacked our intelligence community for spreading “fake news” yesterday, but this time Trump got a response he probably didn’t want.

He tweeted, once again accusing our intelligence agencies of spreading “fake news” by presenting him and President Obama with some very real documents detailing the dirt Russia has on him.

“Oh really, couldn’t do much worse – just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?”

This outburst attracted the attention of Anonymous, the hackers who gained fame after exposing the Steubenville, Ohio rape case. YourAnonCentral, an account used by the hacktivist colleective to relay information during the protests in Ferguson, made sure that Trump knows they are watching him.

“We could care less about Democrats attacking you @realDonaldTrump, the fact of the matter is, you are implicated in some really heavy shit.

This isn’t the 80’s any longer, information doesn’t vanish, it is all out there. You are going to regret the next 4 years. @realDonaldTrump“

Get him, anonymous! You might be our only hope.

(via Addicting Info)

The post Anonymous Hacktivists Go After Trump, “Information Doesn’t Vanish…You Are Going to Regret the Next 4 Years” appeared first on The WOW Report.

The original Dreamgirl, Jennifer Holliday, has come to her senses and dropped out of Emperor Cheeto‘s inauguration train wreck (AND apologized to the LGBT community) Now, the perfect replacement has popped up. Could she be available on such short notice? I won’t spoil it but her talent trumps her beauty –or vice versa?

Oh, anyway just watch.

(T/Y Ahmed Shihab-Eldin)

The post #InaugUrination17: Trump Finds the PERFECT Replacement For Jennifer Holliday. Watch appeared first on The WOW Report.

With the world quickly backsliding into chaos, Martin Luther King has never sounded more prophetic. On August 31st, 1967, Reverend Martin Luther King delivered “The Three Evils of Society” speech at the National Conference on New Politics, in which he expounded on the questions of militarism, poverty, and racism.

“We are now experiencing the coming to the surface of a triple prong sickness” was how MLK framed the problem that “has been lurking within our body politic from its very beginning.” Identifying “the sickness of racism, excessive materialism, and militarism” and considering the three problems as the “plaque of western civilization.”

The Hatem Nazim blog breaks it down:

In confronting materialism, MLK forthrightly, described the internal conditions of “the ghetto” where African Americans are locked up in perpetual misery as “a domestic colony.” The link between poverty and lack of political statesmanship was pointed out. MLK spoke of the readiness of Congress to grant subsidies for the oil industry while six cotton plantations were given more than a million each; “not to plant cotton but no provision is made to feed the tenant farmer who is put out of work by the government subsidy.” “What they truly advocate is Socialism for the rich and Capitalism for the poor,” was how MLK described such plans.

Congress, state, and city leadership all worked on disrupting programs intended to uplift African American communities by utilizing the old-boys’ political machines. The constant cry against welfare programs is used as a cover to punish the poor while extending subsidies to the rich in the society. MLK pointed out that American society is deluded “into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice, the fact is, Capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor.” The system is founded upon exploitation and to drive unjustly wealth to those on top and “the way to end poverty” according to MLK, is to end the exploitation of the poor, ensure them a fair share of government services, and the nation’s resources.” In order to bring this to a real end, a redistribution of political and economic power must take place, which has yet to be seriously attempted or promoted.

MLK’s words on militarism and war were haunting, blunt, and exact: “This war has played havoc with the destiny of the entire world. It has torn up the Geneva Agreement, it has seriously impaired the United Nations, it has exacerbated the hatred between continents, and worse still between races. It has frustrated our development at home, telling our own underprivileged citizens that we place insatiable military demands above their critical needs. It has greatly contributed to the forces of reaction in America and strengthened the military industrial complex…This business of burning human being with napalm, of filling our nation’s home with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples’ humanity, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields, physically handicapped and psychologically deranged cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year, to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

To address the tripartite problem of racism, materialism, and militarism MLK called for “a radical revolution of values” and a need for people to be maladjusted to injustice. The revolution of values is centered on moving away from taking the safe road by not challenging the destructive status quo. MLK concluded the speech by centering the question on what to do based on whether “is it right” and not because politics or popular sentiments demands it. “And on some positions, it is necessary for the moral individual to take a stand that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular; but he must do it because it is right.” The time is right to ask the question whether the current wars ravaging the world, obscene militarism, racism, and Islamophobia are reflective of the highest human values? If the answer is no, then why the silence!

Yeah. What he said.

The post Martin Luther King’s “Three Evils of Society” Speech Feels Like It Could Be About the World Today appeared first on The WOW Report.

When you think of top stylists, you’d think their finds could be quite pricey, but this book is loaded with shop listings that are as affordable as they are unique. Besides, tax return time is coming up and maybe you want to treat yo self with some new adds to your closet. This hot pink lil guide is wall to wall inspiration, and you really don’t have to go anywhere because a great deal of finds in this book can be bookmarked on your browser as well as in the pages.

Where Stylists Shop by Booth Moore has a unique approach as this book is a guide for finding hidden apparel shopping gems in major cities all over the world, much like you’d find a travel guide for renowned restaurants or places of historical interest.

The book goes more in-depth than where to find an outlet mall, because anyone can Google that! It points you to places that take more research to find, like Bedrock in Tokyo, which can only be accessed through the Forbidden Fruit Cafe, or the Marni outlet in residential Milan, where you have to “buzz an intercom for the creaking gate to open.”

Brick and mortar joints are falling out of favor for online retailers these days, so in addition to traditional listings there’s an abundance of website suggestions. In the Los Angeles section (which is 40 pages), Dita Von Teese lists a number of sites for unique lingerie, and I immediately bookmarked an etsy called Stern Tights from a seller in Tel Aviv, which is one of the many site suggestions from London designer/personal shopper Raven Kauffman. You also might have to teach yourself a little bit of a new language if you’re a filthy, filthy whore for wedge sandals like me and want to shop from the Brazilian retailer Schutz online from the São Paulo section.

Of course some of the finds are pricey like consignment shops or the location of a huge treasure trove of deadstock denim, but there is a good balance of affordable finds like vintage stores, pop-up stores, and major expo or convention sites. Oddly enough there’s even a listing for an L.L. Bean. In fact, it’s the only listing for all of Maine. It must have to do with the fact that Freeport, Maine is where L.L. Bean is headquartered, but it’s the only listing in that whole state. So I’m guessing Maine’s fashion week is probably just duck boots and lots of camo.

The author, Booth Moore, is currently the senior fashion editor at the Hollywood Reporter, and the information in this book is a result of traveling the world in her tenure as a Fashion Critic for the Los Angeles Times for almost a 10 years, and surveying 175 designers, stylists, editors, bloggers, models, and costume designers for this project.

Where the Stylists Shop is on sale Tuesday, January 17th.

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World of Wonder Productions‘ Anti-Trump art exhibition “Surviving Trump: The Art of Resistance” at the fabulous World of Wonder’s Storefront Gallery is a week and a half away! As art is coming to our building, we wanted to highlight and feature all the brave badasses that will be donating their work (all the proceeds sold from each piece will go directly to the ACLU).

Today, we are featuring pop culture artist Buck Angel.

Check out their piece and some of their other work:

As an icon of popular culture, Buck Angel’s message of empowerment through self-acceptance and being sexually comfortable in your own skin has struck a passionate chord with folks all over the world.

As he demonstrated in his appearances at YALE, Cornell and many other Universities around the world, Buck is not only inspiring people to think outside the box, he is re-defining gender and educating an entire generation on the fluidity of sexuality and identity politics. Since Buck coined the phrase ” it’s not what’s between your legs that defines you!”, the term has become an anthem for men and women everywhere who have been inspired by this message of self acceptance.

Check out his piece for Surviving Trump:

The resistance party commences January, 18, 2017 from 8-9PM at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery. All artwork’s proceeds with benefit the ACLU. Please RSVP to events@worldofwonder.net.

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TMZ caught up with Mickey Rourke on a street in Beverly Hills where he was playing catch (?) and talkin’ politics. The actor shared his thoughts on Donald Trump, which, while not flattering, are pretty damn accurate. Rourke told the paparazzi,

“The biggest scumbag on the planet, [a] maggot with an “F” in front of it, Donald Trump, fuck him, fuck the horse he rode in on…

I think that his wife is one of the biggest gold diggers around. I know. I used to go out with a gold digger. And I mean, how could you sleep next to that flabby, fat piece of shit and get your rocks off?”

I mean, motherfucker’s gotta have, like, millions sticking out of his asshole. I mean, you gotta go to bed with that every night? You gotta be a gold digger. Instead of gold digging, I’d call it something else.

Donald Trump can go fuck himself. His wife said, ‘He’s a tough guy.’ He’s not a tough guy. He’s a bully, and he’s a bitch and he can suck my fucking dick. I’ll meet him in a hotel room any day of the week and give him a Louisville Slugger. Kiss my motherfuckin’ ass, you bitch punk cocksucker.”

But Mickey, why mince words… tell us how you REALLY feel. (via Death & Taxes)

The post Mickey Rourke Says Trump Is, “A Bully & a Bitch… He Can S*ck my F*cking D*ck!” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Well, you simply MUST be there! Wednesday, January 18 – two days before the Inauguration –The World of Wonder Storefront Gallery is hosting “Surviving Trump: The Art of Resistance” featuring BEYOND fabulous protest art inspired by Comrade Combover, Cheeto Von Tweeto, our soon-to-be Sentient Yam-In-Chief, the dreaded DONALD J TRUMP. The exhibit will feature new works by artists Ginger from IN DECINE, Kenny Scharf, Raja, Pandora Boxx, Trevor Wayne, Jason Mecier, Sham Ibrahim, and SO MANY MORE!

And, yes, EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD is invited! If you are in the LA area, please stop by and give us some love! RSVP to events@worldofwonder!

The World of Wonder Storefront Gallery was home to a pop art and the pop culture revolution. Located two blocks east of the world famous Hollywood & Highland, it was a place where high art and low brow collide. Opened in August 2007 on the former site of a Hollywood Boulevard sex shop, the gallery underwent extensive renovations.

Growing quickly from underground sensation to a mainstream notoriety, the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery frequently attracted international press attention, and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Times of India, UK Daily Mirror, Us Weekly, Art US, and on MTV, Fox News, and internet sites TMZ, E! Online, Perez Hilton, Reuters and Yahoo News. Frequent contributors to the group shows included New York society photographer Patrick McMullan, to up-and-coming art world superstars Jamie Boling, Corey Smith and Jason Kronenwald.

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As if we needed more reasons to love President Obama, today, he commuted Chelsea Manning’s sentence!!! From a 35-year sentence for leaking military secrets to Wikileaks the NYT reports that she will be released in five months.

Check out this historic day:

The decision by Mr. Obama rescued Ms. Manning, who twice tried to commit suicide last year, from an uncertain future as a transgender woman incarcerated at the male military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. She has been jailed for nearly seven years, and her 35-year sentence was by far the longest punishment ever imposed in the United States for a leak conviction.

Now, under the terms of Mr. Obama’s commutation announced by the White House on Tuesday, Ms. Manning is set to be freed in five months, on May 17 of this year, rather than in 2045.

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Has been actor Scott Baio made a statement about liberals who are fearful over a Trump presidency. Which a) no one asked you and b) who are you again?
Check out what he had to say below:

“Grow up,” he says.

“I was nervous for eight years with Obama. I had to suck it up and deal with it. Do the same, and maybe your country will be a better place than it was.”

The “Charles in Charge” and “Happy Days” star is part of a small but vocal band of entertainment-industry conservatives. While most actors threw their support behind Hillary Clinton, Baio was an enthusiastic Trump surrogate, tweeting about the candidate and speaking on his behalf at the Republican National Convention.

“He’s a fighter, and he won’t let anything slide,” says Baio. “So many Republican nominees always feel like they want to stay above the fray, and they get maligned and crushed with negative publicity, and they don’t do anything about it.”

Baio has high hopes for the new administration. He wants Trump to make good on his promises to build a wall along the Mexican border, lower taxes, and defeat ISIS.

He endorses Trump’s habit of striking back at his opponents on Twitter; the actor sees the platform as a necessary tool to get around a media he sees as biased against the president-elect. He hopes Trump will continue using social media when he’s in the White House.

“It got him where he is, and why not use every single tool that you have to get your agenda going?” Baio posits.

He also has little taste for what he sees as the coddling of a rising generation of Americans. “These young people out there, I hope they learn from Trump that hard work gets you what you want and what you need. It’s not about going to safe spaces and wearing a safety pin and hugging a puppy. The world is going to kick your ass when you get out of school, and you better be ready for it.”

In Trump, he sees not only a successful businessman but a man with whom you could grab the proverbial beer.

“He’s just a guy,” Baio says. “He grabs you. Holds you. He puts his arm around you. Talks like people talk. It’s like talking to a guy at a restaurant or a bar or the cigar store I go to.”

Hmm…
Read more here.

This post is approved by my reaction to this:

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