Kenworthy, Photo by Jeff Swinger, USA TODAY Sports via YouTube

Gus Kenworthy claims that he is fine with the moniker “the gay skier”.

26-year-old Kenworthy called himself a “coward” for hiding who he was during his first Olympic experience, but he’s looking forward to the opportunity to represent the LGBTQ community this time around in South Korea. Kenworthy:

“I’ve got more eyeballs on me. My platform’s a lot bigger. I signed a bunch of Olympic sponsors and I have the LGBTQ audience watching me, and I want to do right by them.”

Kenworthy stated that “doing right” means representing America without supporting the POTUS. Kenworthy has been particularly outspoken on Trump’s administration, which he believes has forced the LGBTQ community to take a step backwards after the progressive policies of Barack Obama’s administration.

He says that he would not accept a White House invite if he medals in Pyeongchang:

“I won’t go. I have no interest in going and faking support. I’m proud to be competing for the U.S. I’m proud to be an American, but I don’t want to show any support for that cabinet. I don’t want to go shake his hand.”

Kenworthy sent Mike Pence a not-so-subtle message from the Opening Ceremony at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Pence attended the ceremony as the ceremonial head of the United States delegation. Kenworthy told the vice president to  “eat your heart out” in the caption of a picture on Instagram with gay figure skater Adam Rippon.

With Rippon (L) from @guskenworthy Twitter

Kenworthy made international headlines when he and his boyfriend stayed behind in Russia for more than a month after the closing ceremonies as they fought to secure permits and paperwork to finalize the adoption of the homeless dogs.

VP Mike Pence has criticized NFL players for kneeling in protest during the national anthem but critics (and most people with eyes) now say he is a hypocrite for refused to stand for the unified Korean team during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. A White House official told the AP,

“Pence stood only for the US team, despite other people in the box standing and applauding when athletes from the two Koreas walked in together.”

Remember, it was Pence who left in the middle of a football game in Indianapolis in October over his disgust at a number of San Francisco 49ers players who knelt during the Star Spangled Banner. Pence and Trump have repeatedly singled out football players who take a knee during the national anthem.

The gesture is of course in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter protests against police brutality toward the African American community.

Twitter was on this one like white supremacists on Susan Rice,

“So Mike Pence, the man who walked out of a football game because players were kneeling, sits while the HOST country athletes walk into the stadium at the olympics? HOW RUDE?”

Pence was seated in the VIP box along with other dignitaries, including South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and, most notably, the sister of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un, Kim Yo-Jong.

They did not interact.

When the Korean unified team entered the stadium, both Moon and Kim rose in thunderous applause but the Veep and his wife, Karen, remained seated.

Responding to the criticism over his behavior at the stadium, a defiant Pence said that he would only stand for American athletes. Pence’s spokesperson, Jarrod Agen, tweeted today.

“The vice president ‘does not applaud [North] Korea or exchange pleasantries [with] the most oppressive regime on earth.” he prefers to “stand and cheer for US athletes” and “hangs out with US athletes instead of dining with [the] Kim regime.”

The shade of it all.

(Photo, YouTube; via Daily Mail)

The Hollywood Reporter is exclusively reporting that he stunt coordinator on the Kill Bill movies has spoken out the allegations made by Uma Thurman regarding a crash during production that left her injured.

Coordinator Keith Adams told THR that he and his entire department were kept off set that day. Adams said in an email,

“No stunts of any kind were scheduled for the day of Ms. Thurman’s accident. All of the stunt department was put on hold and no one from the stunt department was called to set. At no point was I notified or consulted about Ms. Thurman driving a car on camera that day.

“Had I been involved, I would have insisted not only on putting a professional driver behind the wheel but also insuring that the car itself was road-worthy and safe.

On any set, my number one priority and the priority of any stunt coordinator is the safety of the cast and crew. For a stunt coordinator to do their job properly, they must be involved at every step of the process and given the opportunity to intervene when changes to the shoot are made.

“Unfortunately, I did not have that opportunity in this case.“

Thurman said in an Instagram post on Monday,

“The circumstances of this event were negligent to the point of criminality. I do not believe though with malicious intent.“

Thurman also told Maureen Dowd for a New York Times story,

“Quentin came in my trailer and didn’t like to hear no, like any director. He was furious because I’d cost them a lot of time. But I was scared.

He said: ‘I promise you the car is fine. It’s a straight piece of road.’”

He persuaded her to do it, and instructed: “ ‘Hit 40 miles per hour or your hair won’t blow the right way and I’ll make you do it again.’ But that was a deathbox that I was in. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road and it was not a straight road.”“

In addition, video of the crash shows that the then-30-year-old ragtop was without roll bars, shoulder belts or head restraints.

Performers’ union SAG-AFTRA said in a statement that it,

“sounds like a stunt and would be a likely safety violation.“

Tarantino told Deadline,

“None of us ever considered it a stunt. It was just driving.“

And it was “just a wreck” too. A pretty bad one if you watch the video.

i post this clip to memorialize it’s full exposure in the nyt by Maureen Dowd. the circumstances of this event were negligent to the point of criminality. i do not believe though with malicious intent. Quentin Tarantino, was deeply regretful and remains remorseful about this sorry event, and gave me the footage years later so i could expose it and let it see the light of day, regardless of it most likely being an event for which justice will never be possible. he also did so with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm, and i am proud of him for doing the right thing and for his courage. THE COVER UP after the fact is UNFORGIVABLE. for this i hold Lawrence Bender, E. Bennett Walsh, and the notorious Harvey Weinstein solely responsible. they lied, destroyed evidence, and continue to lie about the permanent harm they caused and then chose to suppress. the cover up did have malicious intent, and shame on these three for all eternity. CAA never sent anyone to Mexico. i hope they look after other clients more respectfully if they in fact want to do the job for which they take money with any decency.

A post shared by Uma Thurman (@ithurman) on Feb 5, 2018 at 10:15am PST

(Photo, screen grab; via THR)

February 10, 2007, photo by Charles Rex Arbogast, via YouTube

February 10, 2007 – Barack Hussein Obama II, the handsome, intelligent, charismatic junior Senator from Illinois announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of the announcement site was especially meaningful because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic “House Divided” speech in 1858. Obama emphasized issues of the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the American health care system, in a campaign that projected themes of Hope and Change.

Other candidates announced that they would enter the Democratic Party presidential primaries, including Senator Joe Biden, former Senator and serial adulterer John Edwards, Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, Senator Chris Dodd, UFO enthusiast Representative Dennis Kucinich, and Libertarian former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel.

By late spring 2008, the field had narrowed to Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better use of delegate allocation rules. On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.

Photo by Ben Stanfield, via Wikimedia Commons

“When I fade, I fade quickly” – Peter Allen (1944-1992)

I have been on a MOR 1970s-music jag of late, some Leo Sayer, Mellissa Manchester, early Billy Joel-ish stuff. I think it might because when you get to be old, you start to live your life backwards. In those crazy 1970s, I had a real thing for Peter Allen. I think most people today have never heard of him. I wonder if Allen would have sustained a career into the 21st century. He certainly had the talent and the drive, but our pop sensibilities might have changed too much. He seems frozen in time for me.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Allen was an extremely popular concert entertainer and a Grammy and Academy Award winning songwriter.

Born in Australia, he was 14-years-old, when, after the death of his alcoholic, abusive father, he dropped out of school and supported his family as an all-around entertainer in Australia and Asia. He wrote the songs, he sang, danced and played piano. Astoundingly good at everything, he was best as an old-school club act.

In 1964, Judy Garland discovered him performing at the Hong Kong Hilton. She signed him to open for her and introduced him to her daughter Liza Minnelli. Allen moved to NYC the next year, and he and Minnelli got married.

Allen’s career flourished. He was tall, lanky, and nimble with a high-wattage smile. He liked to show-off. In his act, he bantered, then would leap atop a grand piano to dance, and finally sat down to play and sing catchy songs that he had written.

Ebullient and flamboyant, he once rode onstage on a camel. His flashy wardrobe included a red sequined suit and a silver lame shirt open to the navel. He was purposely sexual ambiguous and coy in his performances.

Allen recorded 11 albums and performed live in supper clubs, cabarets, on Broadway, and in concert halls all over our pretty blue planet. He was a favorite of many queens, including Elizabeth II and NYC Mayor Ed Koch. He played sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Central Park.

He won his Academy Award for the imaginatively titled Arthur’s Theme from Arthur (1981), which starred Dudley Moore and Allen’s ex-wife. It’s a rather hard to resist tune, which includes that line about ”… caught between the moon and New York City”. It was number one hit.

He gave other artists big hits also: I Honestly Love You for Olivia Newton-John, which won of his three Grammy Awards in 1974; I’d Rather Leave While I’m In Love for Rita Coolidge; Don’t Cry Out Loud for Melissa Manchester, and You And Me (We Wanted It All) for Frank Sinatra.

He also wrote the score and starred in the 1988 Broadway musical Legs Diamond which played for 136 performances. The reviews were scathing, with disbelief at Allen’s attempts to play a straight guy (and a gangster). The failing NY Times’ critic Frank Rich wrote:

”The evening’s most compelling drama was watching Allen figure out what to do with his hands”.

The show was such a flop that The Nederlander Organization had to finally sell their Mark Hellinger Theatre to a Times Square church, which still owns it. The show lost more than $3 million. Allen had had better luck playing himself in a long run on Broadway in Up With One, a one-man show in 1979.

He had much better fortune in death. The musical The Boy From Oz (2003) used his own songs to tell Allen’s life story. It ran on Broadway for more than a year and earned six Tony Award nominations with a win for Hugh Jackman as Allen. It only closed after Jackman’s contract was up. It has gone on to productions around the world, including another long run in 2006 in Australia, again with Jackman.

Allen’s NYC performances in the early 1970’s were in small cabarets, like Reno Sweeney’s and The Continental Baths. But, he became popular enough to move on to the big venues. His popularity was so big at the 6,000-seat Radio City Music Hall, they named him the theatre’s ”Official Personality”, and he was the first ever male member of the Radio City Rockettes.

With Garland (1965) via YouTube

With Liza (1967) via YouTube

Here is the juicy part, of course:

Minnelli caught Allen, in bed with another dude on their wedding night. Allen was also chummy with Judy Garland’s fourth husband, Mark Herron. Herron and Allen had an affair during their respective marriages to the famous mother and daughter. I am especially open-minded in matters having to do with sex, but, even I think fucking your mother-in-law’s husband might be crossing the line.

Allen was a sort of gay Liberace. He was just 48-years -old, when he was taken by the plague. He and his long-term partner, Gregory Connell (1949-1984), died eight years later. Allen was the first well-known Australians to taken by HIV/AIDS.

Ari Gold
Nate Buck
Jason Shumaker
Aubrey O’Day
Brandy
Burt Reynolds
Carey Lowell
Catherine Hickland
D’Angelo
Damian Lewis
Isaiah Mustafa
Jennifer Aniston
Kelly Rowland
Kelly Slater
Matthew Lawrence
Mike Shinoda
Natalie Dormer
Q’orianka Kilcher
Sarah Palin
Sheryl Crow
Taylor Lautner
Tina Louise

A post shared by Kelly Rowland (@kellyrowland) on Jan 16, 2018 at 8:59am PST

Photo from BET TV, via YouTube

In September 1972, Roberta Flack was opening for Marvin Gaye at the Greek Theatre in L.A. After performing her prepared encore song, Flack was advised by Gaye to sing an additional song. Flack later said:

“I said well, I got this song I’ve been working on called ‘Killing Me Softly…’ and he said: ‘Do it, baby.’ And I did it and the audience went crazy, and he walked over to me and put his arm around me and said: ‘Baby, don’t ever do that song again live until you record it.'”

The song was released in January 1973, spending a total of five consecutive weeks at Number One in February and March, more weeks than any other record in 1973.

The song was written by the songwriting team of Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, and first recorded by Lori Lieberman in 1972. Gimbel and Fox wrote the theme songs to the television shows Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley among other hits. They are the only credited songwriters on Killing Me Softly With His Song, but Leiberman has also claimed credit.

Legend has it that the song was inspired by Don McLean, the singer/songwriter famous for the hit American Pie. After being mesmerized by one of his concerts at the Troubadour in L.A., Lieberman described what she saw to Gimbel and Fox, who were writing songs for her new album, and they wrote the song for her.

Flack heard Lieberman’s version on an in-flight tape while flying from L.A. to NYC. She loved the title and lyrics and decided to record it herself. She worked on the song in the studio for three months, playing around with various chord structures until she got it just right.

McLean said he had no idea the song was about him: ”Someone called me and said a song had been written about me and it was Number One.”

Flack’s version was probably more successful than the original because it is faster (if that seems possible) and she gave it a strong backbeat. Flack:

“My classical background made it possible for me to try a number of things with the song’s arrangement. I changed parts of the chord structure and chose to end on a major chord.”

Flack plays electric piano on the track.

Flack won the 1974 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, for the single. Gimbel and Fox won the Song Of The Year Grammy. Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face won Record of the Year the previous year, making her the first artist to win the award in consecutive years.

In 1996, a house remix of Flack’s version went to number one on the US Dance Chart. A version by The Fugees, won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance in 1997.

In 1999, Flack’s original version was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.

I listened to Flack’s recording over and over in my dorm room in Boston 45 years ago, working myself into a stupor of melancholia. Now, I simply hear it as lush and beautiful. Oh, Flack’s voice is so soulful.

Jessica Lange, Antonio & Joan Juliet Buck from “Antonio Lopez” at Danziger Gallery

Joan writes in New York

“I met the great illustrator Antonio Lopez in 1968, in the apartment he shared with Juan Ramos in one of the studios atop Carnegie Hall; their neighbor was Bill Cunningham, who started taking pictures when Antonio and the photographer David Montgomery gave him a camera. We’d get dinner around the corner at the Automat, or go dancing up in Harlem, jammed into a friend’s fancy car. On deadline for the New York Times or Vogue, Antonio would draw all night. Juan invented the background context and colored in the drawings.

In the wonderful James Crump documentary that opens this fall, Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco, you see Antonio go into a kind of trance as he draws, pulling shapes out of the air. He drew better than anyone: perfect hands and points of elbows, the way hips jut out, the indentation of muscles above thighs. He could draw desire, music, movement. He’d tried tap dance as a child and never stopped dancing, never stopped imparting movement to his drawings. After Carnegie Hall came years in Paris under the patronage of Karl Lagerfeld, and then New York again, Union Square, and then AIDS: He died in 1987, when he was 44.“

You can read the whole thing here, Antonio Lopez opens March 8 through April 28 at Danziger Gallery (pics, below) and the documentary Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco is scheduled to open in September at IFC. (Watch the clip, below.)

Happy birthday, Antonio.

Antonio Lopez (self-portrait), 1976

Jerry Hall, 1974

Grace Jones, 1975

Grace Coddington, 1975

Jessica Lange, 1974

Jessica Lange, 1974

Joan Juliet Buck, 1975

Tina Chow, 1975

Paloma Picasso, 1975

Karl Lagerfeld, 1975

Pat Cleveland, 1975

(Photos, Antonio Lopez, Danziger Gallery)

Photo from baldwin.senate.gov

She is my second favorite Baldwin. Tammy Baldwin is the USA’s first openly gay Senator and is probably the nation’s most reliably liberal legislator.

Baldwin acknowledged that she is gay and then moved on to other issues. In Wisconsin, when the Republicans use anti-gay rhetoric, it is likely to backfire on them in November. Everyone that I have met from the Badger State has been nothing if not nice; really, really nice. Besides, Baldwin’s gayness is old news. Who cares if she is a lesbian?  Not the Wisconsin media. Not the Democrats. Not the Republicans. Not the local or national LGBTQ leaders. Only the gay obsessed Christian Right Wingers seem to make it an issue.

In 1999, Baldwin became the first woman elected to Congress from Wisconsin, and the first openly gay candidate elected to Congress.

To help reduce our dependence on foreign energy and create jobs throughout her state, Baldwin pushed for investment in clean energy technology and renewable fuels. She has also been a vocal supporter of protecting and restoring Wisconsin’s environment so future generations can enjoy nature in that beautiful state.

On November 6, 2012, Baldwin became the first openly gay candidate to be elected to the U.S. Senate. She ran against Republican Tommy Thompson, the former four term Governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health and Human Services. Because of her 14 years in the House of Representatives, under Senate rules she had the highest seniority in her entering class of senators. For many, it was no surprise that Wisconsin, a state that approved a gay marriage ban just six years earlier, would send the first openly LGBTQ politician to the Senate. Baldwin made no secret of her gayness as she rose through local and state politics during the last two decades. When she was elected in 1998 to represent Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District, where she was raised, she was the first out of the closet candidate to be elected to the chamber.

Do not mess with this Baldwin. She was just 9-years-old when her mother married a black man in 1971. She was forced to face the injustice of suspicious white adults stopping her stepfather to ask what he was doing with a blond, blue-eyed little girl. Despite anti-gay smear campaigns by her Republican opponents, she has won her last six elections by 2-to-1 margins.

She gave her unqualified support to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 Presidential race. She was very sad by the results of that election, but she came out fighting.

She called for the firing of shithead Steve Bannon and she opposed POTUS’s Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch. She voted no on Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State and opposed racist Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III as Attorney General.

Baldwin serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senate Committee On Health, Education, Labor And Pensions, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

And girls, Baldwin is single.

Are you sitting down? You might just agee with White House adviser Kellyanne Conway. She said today on CNN‘s State of the Union,

“In this case, you have contemporaneous police reports, you have women speaking to the FBI under threat of perjury … you have photographs, and when you look at all of that pulled together, Rob Porter did the right thing by resigning.

I have no reason not to believe the women.“

It’s a double negative but still, Conway’s comments are the opposite of what her boss tweeted Saturday,

“Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. … There is no recovery for someone falsely accused – life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?“

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short echoed Conway’s comments telling NBC‘s Meet the Press today.

“In talking with the President, I think he’s saddened about what happened with Rob. I think he’s very disturbed by it, and I think he’s very disappointed. I think he believes that the resignation was appropriate.“

Conway said Trump is “very disturbed” by Porter’s alleged behavior too.

Well, again I would agree with both of them. He IS disturbed. SO, Let’s ask Conway a follow-up question, if she believes Trump’s accusers too?

(Photo, YouTube; via CNN)

Wondering what to get that special someone this Valentine’s Day? You say money is no object?

Well, Sotheby’s Diamonds has a 102.34 carat of D Flawless gem, described by Gemological Institute of America, as the

“Largest round shaped, D colour, flawless diamond ever graded.”

Experts predict it could fetch over $35 million.

This stone is not yet set and it is “pure” in the most literal sense. It is just carbon, with no traces of any other element. This gives it exceptional clarity.

Btw, why doesn’t this diamond have a name? All of the rarest diamonds do. Well, whoever buys this giant gem gets to name it.

“The Speegle Diamond”

It has a nice ring to it, no? Will it set a new record? You can find out a all the details Sotheby’s Diamonds.

For comparison, “the 101” because of its 101.73 carat weight, is a colorless pear-shaped diamond that sold at Christie’s for $26.7 million in 2013. It is flawless and D color grade, as well.

The auction record for any diamond is held by the “Pink Star,” which sold for $71.2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April of 2017

The 101 carat diamond, currently on display at Sotheby’s London showroom, is about 61 carats smaller than the one which currently holds the title of the world’s most expensive D-Flawless diamond. It sold for $33.7 million in Geneva last year.

(Photos, Sotheby’s)

Detail from “First Time” by David Huggins

“When I was 17, I lost my virginity to a female extraterrestrial. That’s all I can say about it.”

The “doing it” with the ET in question went down in ’61, when Huggins was a teenager living with his parents’ on a farm in rural Georgia. As he was walking through woods near his house, an alien woman appeared and seduced him.

“I thought, if anything, I’d be losing it in the backseat of a Ford—something like that. But it didn’t work out that way.”

These visits from extraterrestrials, and his sexual relationship with them, continued into adulthood.

“I was sitting down in a chair, and the woman, Crescent, was behind me, and she put her arms around me. And that’s about it. I don’t know anything else outside of that.”

When strange beings that no one else could see started appearing to him around the farm, he thought he was losing his mind.

“I am sitting under a tree, and I hear this voice say, ‘David, behind you.’ And I turned around and there is this little hairy guy with large glowing eyes coming straight towards me. I thought it was the bogeyman. I didn’t know what to think of it.”

Vice says, at its core,

“Love and Saucers is a film about belief. The first half is Huggins telling his own story, but the second half is interviews with his friends and neighbors. Some of them weren’t aware of Huggins’s encounters beforehand. But they all believe him.”

Huggins says,

“I have a feeling that tens of millions of people, perhaps hundreds of millions, have had [similar] experiences. Mainly as children. That’s all I can really say, but I think as children we are so open to things, that these beings can appear to us. I know I never closed up on it, because it has continued through my whole life.”

Honestly, the only thing that gives me pause here, is that Huggins belief system too, seems to be challenged when he insists he had sex with a female extraterrestrial. If we are to believe there are aliens, would they be so binary? But, hey, to each his own.

As I write this, I swear, Sly and the Family Stone are singing Everyday People in the background,

“There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one
That won’t accept the red one that won’t accept the white one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
I am everyday people.”

(Photos, courtesy Brad Abrahams; via Vice)

Via Wikimedia Common

Willem Arondeus (1894-1943) was one of the most dedicated and creative members of the Dutch Underground during WW II.

He was born in Amsterdam to parents who were theatre costume and set designers. His parents encouraged his artistic bent, but his gayness caused problems at home. When he was 17-years-old, Arondeus kicked open the closet door, and his parents then kicked him out.

He worked different jobs to survive while producing his first paintings. His first big commission was for a mural at the Rotterdam City Hall. His style is a mix of Art Nuevo, Deco, with a dash of Picasso, and a sprinkle of Rembrandt.

As those nasty Nazis came to power in Germany, Arondeus was enjoying a romantic relationship with Jan Tijssen. He published a biography of Dutch painter and political activist Matthijs Maris that sold well.

Arandeus, second from R, via Wikimedia Common

When the Nazis invaded The Netherlands in May 1940, they tried to win over the Dutch without forced deportations, violence or strict curfews. But, Jews and gay people knew what was coming next. Same-sex relations had been legal in the Netherlands since the mid-19^th century, but the new government recriminalized homosexuality.

Maris, the activist Arondeus had written about, had fought for democracy in the 1871 Paris Commune uprising, and he served as the inspiration for Arondeus to be among the earliest Dutch citizens to join the Resistance.

He joined a group that forged identity papers, a valuable skill in any fascist-controlled state, and his work as an artist came in handy. As the Nazis moved against Amsterdam’s Jewish citizens, his band of Resistance fighters focused on providing the Jews with fake identities. He also published anti-Nazi pamphlets and recruited others to join the Resistance.

Arondeus knew by 1942 that time was running out for both Dutch Jews and others on the Gestapo’s lists. So, he came up with a way to do away with those lists altogether.

The Amsterdam Public Records building held information on hundreds of thousands of Dutch people, including Jews and gays, and the Nazis used the catalog to check for fake identities. Arondeus decided that the best way to thwart the Nazis was to blow up the building.

He and his group of resistance fighters, many of them also openly gay, carefully planned their attack.

At night, on March 27, 1943, dressed as a German Army captain, Arondeus marched into the Public Records Office with a dozen members of the Resistance. They drugged the guards, placed their explosives and made history. The building burst in flames and pieces of paper rained down on the streets. The bomb only destroyed a part of the Amsterdam Public Records building, but it sent a message to the Nazis: We are fighting back.

Within a few days, the Gestapo had captured all Arondeus’ group; a traitor had turned them all in.

At the trial, Arondeus took full responsibility for the bombing. Still, the Nazis executing all 13 of the Resistance fighters involved by firing squad.

Defiant to the end, Arondeus communicated his final words through his lawyer:

”Let it be known. Homosexuals are not cowards.”

As a resistance organizer, Arondeus was an inspiration to others who helped hundreds of Jews and gay people to escape deportation to the death camps.

His family received a medal from the Dutch government commemorating his bravery in the 1980s, but despite his final message of defiance, his gayness wasn’t mentioned.

Painting from Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The National Portrait Gallery today unveiled portraits of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.

Barack’s portrait was painted by Kehinde Wiley, known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African-Americans. Michelle’s portrait was painted by the Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald.

The 44th president said as he took the podium.

“How about that? That’s pretty sharp.”

Obama said of Wiley,

“What we did find was that we had certain things in common. Both of us had American mothers who raised us with extraordinary love and support. Both of us had African fathers who had been absent from our lives, and in some ways our journeys involved searching for them, and what that meant. I ended up writing about that journey and channeling it into the work that I did because I cannot paint.“

The former first lady said she was thinking about the impact Sherald’s work will have on “girls and girls of color.”

“They will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the walls of this great American institution … And I know the kind of impact that will have on their lives because I was one of those girls.“

Beginning tomorrow, the public will be able to view the portraits, though they’ll have to go to different sections of the museum to find them. The president’s portrait will be added to the “America’s Presidents” gallery, and the First Lady’s portrait will be installed in the “Recent Acquisitions” corridor of the gallery.

I know. I was just thinking the same thing. Even after Trump is gone, it’s part of our history to hang his portrait in the National Gallery.

President Barack Obama

Michelle Obama

(T/Y Stephen; via NBC News, CNN)

Photo from OutSports via YouTube

In 2014, at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Radford stated:

‘My concern was that I would be known as ‘the gay athlete’ if I came out at the Olympics, rather than Eric the medaling figure skater who happens to be gay, and I felt uncomfortable with that title.”

Radford took home the Silver Medal at the 2014 Sochi Games for his part in Canada’s team figure skating. Later that year, Radford came out publicly in an interview.

Radford claims that the Canadian Olympic Committee’s #OneTeam Initiative was the inspiration for his decision to come out of closet. He is now an ambassador for the program, which works to combat homophobia in professional sports. He became the first competitive figure skater ever to come out at the apex of his career, still a contender for championship titles, rather than waiting until his retirement.

Radford and his partner Meagan Duhamel, decided to compete together in 2010. The pair were coached openly gay Olympian Brian Orser, who came out of the closet a decade after his Silver Medal win at the Olympic Winter Games in Alberta. Radford and Duhamel won a Silver Medal at the 2011 Canadian Championships. At the 2011 Four Continents competition, the pair won another Silver Medal. During the short program at the 2011 World Championships, Radford’s nose was broken when Duhamel’s elbow hit him coming down from a twist. Seeing the blood, Duhamel suggested they stop, but he decided to continue. They finished the program without a pause.

The team figure skating event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang was historic in many ways. While Team USA’s Adam Rippon received lots of love and made headlines for receiving the first medal for an American openly LGBTQ athlete, it was a Radford who became the first openly gay Olympic Gold Medalist in the history of the Winter Games, receiving his gold as a member of Canada’s team figure skating. He and Duhamel took the Number One spot in the pairs free skate program with their show-stopping routine set to Adele’s Hometown Glory.

Radford is one of 14 openly gay athletes competing in PyeongChang, but thanks to his superb skating, he is the first to win a Gold Medal.

Radford joined Australian diver Matthew Mitcham as the only openly gay Olympic Gold Medalist to date. Mitcham earned his gold in the 10-meter platform dive at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In an interview with Outsports, Radford pointed out a benefit of being a male pairs skater who is gay:

”A lot of pairs end up dating one another. It can become risky because your on-ice training can be affected by your off-ice relationship. If you have a fight at home, it makes that training difficult. I used to joke around that I’m the ultimate pair-boy. I never had to worry about developing an off-ice relationship.”

Last summer Radford proposed to his boyfriend Luis Fenero, an European ice dancing champion from Spain. Fenero said ”yes”, by the way. So, things are going great for Radford, don’t you think?

With Fenero (R), via YouTube

33-year-old Radford, is from the small town of Balmertown, Ontario.

He celebrated with Rippon after the they received their respective medals. The two skaters appear to have become buddies. Adorable buds.

Emotion overflowed throughout an incredible night of figure skating.

Krista Voda, Kristi Yamaguchi and Ben Agosto recap it all on Olympic Ice, presented by @Toyota: https://t.co/SYyeFP7yR2 pic.twitter.com/lTXeIVE1At

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2018

Mirai Nagasu is the first US woman EVER to land the triple axel at the Olympics.

Sunday night, Nagasu shocked and gagged the world during her free skate at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. Her performance not only made HERSTORY but helped the US Olympic team take home the bronze.

“HOLY COW!” You just witnessed a historic triple axel from Mirai Nagasu. #WinterOlympics https://t.co/NsNuy9F46h pic.twitter.com/jCMTb4LtXv

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2018

The triple axel is considered one of the most difficult jumps a skater can perform. She not only made the whole 3 and a half rotations required to perform the triple axel but also landed cleanly on the ice.

*won Olympic bronze medals for @TeamUSA #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/ZsdhyJ3Lj7

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2018

“I’m gonna go for it, 100%, and not pull back.” #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/B9ObgGjnbu

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2018

Nags earned a score of 10.07 for the jump.

meaning she received an extra 1.57 points (out of three) on her grade of execution score, which reflects how well judges believed she performed the jump

Fun fact: Nagasu watches RuPaul’s Drag Race before taking the ice to channel her inner queen. YAS!!! But seriously, come kiki with us at DragCon LA.

She told Cosmo…

I love that these queens [on RPDR] are willing to put out their personality in front of everyone… I feel like I’m actually an introverted person and that I have become an extrovert, so I think watching them has been really inspirational to me and I’ve taken their advice to be who you want to be, and to be yourself.

Also, please come to DRAGCON LA, we would love to have you!!

CONDRAGULATIONS Mirai Nagasu on the Bronze Medal and for making HERSTORY!

Photos and content via Twitter, VOX,Cosmo.

“To be or not to be. That’s not really a question.” – Jean Luc Godard

All the tickle spots from funny

Mandatory Monday morning activities.

Try rugby they said, it will be fun they said… from funny

More mandatory Monday morning activities.

Must be a defective cat from funny

Just waiting for the new episode of All Stars 3 to come on …

Matt Damon checks the subtitles coz he forgot his line. from funny

At least he’s pretty.

My sister saw this unfortunate-looking starfish at the aquarium today from funny

I can NOT with what is on this Earth in our oceans. Back to work. Have a great week friends!

Drake is Back and Charming as Ever in his New Look Alive Video

(Via PaperMag)

I didn’t get to see the monster in The Shape of Water because I was literally boo’d out of the theater for coughing too much (freakin’ flu, man). I did hear reports, though, about how dreamy he was, and how hot the sex scenes were.

If YOU were turned on by the monster and went to relive the glory of those scenes, XenoCatArtifacts is coming to your aid. They’ve created a Shape of Water dildo that is 6 inches by 2 1/2 inches and made of silky smooth silicone for your pleasure.

According to i09

The “Jewel of the Amazon” as it’s named, appears to be silicone and glows under UV light. Reviewers on Etsy praised its “wonderful mix of textures to explore” while reassuring potential buyers that “the ridged fins don’t feel as harsh as they look.” Unfortunately, “Jewel of the Amazon” appears to have sold out of its initial production run.

Although out of stock right now, the owner of XenoCat has confirmed that the toy will be back in stock before the Oscars—although the supply will be limited to around 20.

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Two gorgeous and glamorous creatures, both in the news this week – for very different reasons. There’s Milk, out of All Stars 3 but heating up the runways of NYFW. Then there’s out-of-the-closet skater Adam Rippon tearing it up at the Winter Olympics, winning medals and throwing shade at Mike Pence. Below, the WOWPresents video of Milk and Adam (and Olympic skater Ashley Wagner) having a giggle, spinning on the ice, and spilling the T about what it means to be an out skater in the Olympics. Absolutely adorable. .

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