Ellen DeGeneres Covers Katy Perry's 'Birthday' Without Singing A Single Note
Thanks to the clever editors over at Baracksdubs, we all have a pretty good idea of what President Obama would sound like if he were a pop singer.

Their latest work, however, passes the musical spotlight over to another notable personality: Ellen DeGeneres!

Watch above as Ellen performs a rendition of Katy Perry’s hit song “Birthday” without having to sing a single note.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/ellen-degeneres-katy-perry-birthday-baracksdubs_n_5484628.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

James Arthur dropped from Simon Cowell’s label after anti-gay rant

It is now confirmed that the X Factor winner will no longer release any music under the Syco label

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joem

www.gaystarnews.com/article/james-arthur-dropped-simon-cowells-label-after-anti-gay-rant120614

Hallmark Releases First-Ever Gay Father’s Day Card

Hallmark’s doing a lovely job of celebrating Pride Month: in addition to releasing some cute rainbowy animations, they just put out their first-ever two-dad Father’s Day card.

They’re the work of Kylie Wu, who writes, “I’m so proud to be the artist involved in making the first ever same-sex Hallmark eCard featuring two gay dads. And I’m proud of Hallmark for celebrating people’s differences! It doesn’t matter who’s in it, LOVE makes a family.”

It’s been a long time coming. Hallmark only started offering wedding cards for gay couples in 2008 (!) and was the target of a petition last year. Kristiana Johnson set up a Change.org petition, asking the company to provide Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards for folks who were raised by LGBT parents.

At the time, Hallmark said they didn’t have any plans to do so (!!) and that if you wanted to send a card to your gay parents, you’d just have to buy a blank card and write it yourself. (!!!)

That was the same year that President Obama invited two gay dads to the White House for a Father’s Day celebration.

But now, finally, Hallmark is getting with the times. They don’t have a physical card just yet; this is online-only. But maybe before the decade is out they’ll get around to updating their messages.

Father’s Day is this Sunday, the 16th, by the way. Don’t let it slip by without at least a call home to dad!

matt baume

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/ZDqiG0dhfmk/hallmark-releases-first-ever-gay-fathers-day-card-20140612

Lambda Legal Files Discrimination Complaint Against Restaurant for 'Gay Bitches' Receipt

Julian Ward

www.towleroad.com/2014/06/lambda-legal-launches-complaint-against-restaurant-for-anti-gay-slur.html

‘Dog Day’ docs

A still from ‘The Dog,’ a documentary that explores the life of John Wojtowicz, portrayed by Al Painco in the 1975 film ‘Dog Day Afternoon.’ (Photo courtesy AFI Docs)

The inspiring true story behind “Dog Day Afternoon,” a look at Greg Louganis’ life now, a con man who marries his partner in Washington — all are explored in documentaries slated for AFI Docs in the coming days.

This annual documentary film festival starts Wednesday and runs through June 22 at various venues in the D.C. area with screenings of several LGBT-themed films. Individual ticket prices range from $11-14. Tickets for the opening night screening and reception are $75.

The documentary film festival will screen 50 feature films and 21 short films. Four films are world premieres, two U.S. premieres and several East Coast premieres. The five-day festival is a popular event in the D.C. area with approximately 19,000 attendees last year. Full details on tickets, screen times and more are at afi.com/afidocs.

One of these 50 feature films screening is “The Dog,” directed by Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren. The piece delves into the true events of the classic 1975 film “Dog Day Afternoon,” which tells the story of John Wojtowicz, a man who robs a bank to pay for his partner’s sexual reassignment surgery.

The documentary interviews the real-life John Wojtowicz, played by Al Pacino in the 1975 film, and uses archival footage to capture New York City’s LGBT liberation movement of the 1970s. It screens Thursday at 3:45 p.m. and June 22 at 9 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre (8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, Md.).

“We call this film a fucked up Forrest Gump story,” Berg says. “Wojtowicz is even more outrageous than the character Al Pacino played.”

Berg and Keraundren believe the documentary both examines Wojtowicz as a person and looks at America’s culture in the 1960s and 1970s in a different way.

“We truly unearthed footage that no one had seen,” Keraundren says. “We wanted to put this story in context. What we found was extraordinary.”

Berg and Keraundren say they didn’t begin making the documentary with a particular topic in mind. However, after meeting Wojtowicz in person they realized they had found something special.

“He was larger than life the second we met him,” Keraundren says. “The human aspect drew us in. It spoke to us and we thought it would speak to other people.”

Andrea Passafiume, festival programmer, thinks documentaries speak to people because of the human aspect.

“Truth is stranger than fiction,” Passafiume says. “It’s simple, compelling storytelling. Documentaries aren’t filled with special effects and CGI storytelling. It’s a simple human moment.”

“Back on Board,” another film on the schedule, tells the story of Olympic athlete Greg Louganis, the first male athlete to win diving events in consecutive Olympic games. Along with his Olympic career, Louganis is also gay and the film chronicles his private life, including his marriage to his partner. The film screens June 20 at 4:45 p.m. in the Portrait Gallery (8th and F streets, N.W.) and June 21 at 1:45 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre.

“An Honest Liar” documents illusionist James “The Amazin” Randi and how he mastered the art of illusion to entertain audiences and now uses his knowledge to expose con artists and psychics. The film also follows Randi as he marries his longtime partner in Washington. It screens June 20 at 4:30 p.m. in Goethe-Institut (812 7th St., N.W.) and June 21 at 9:30 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre.

Having a group of LGBT-themed documentaries to screen is something Passafiume says she likes to include.

“It makes me happy to have some LGBT films. I look at the program and say, ’Is this balanced?’ But there are a couple films where it’s not the primary theme.”

“112 Weddings” is one such film. It follows a filmmaker as he checks in with various married couples whose weddings he filmed over the years. One couple is lesbian.

Passafiume says films aren’t chosen specifically because they need to have a certain number of types or subjects in one category. She says thought-provoking and entertaining are the key elements she looks for.

“We select anything that has a way of telling a story in a different way that we haven’t heard before,” Passafiume says. “Marriage equality is a very topical thing. Greg (Louganis) has done incredible things as an athlete. But what happens after that?”

Berg says documentaries offer something that narrative film doesn’t — storytelling that’s real and hasn’t been dramatized.

“There are some things you just can’t make up.”

Mariah Cooper

‘Dog Day’ docs

5 LGBT Characters We'd Love to See in a Justice League Movie

We choose five LGBT characters from the DC Universe that would add a much-needed dose of queer to our superhero movie-going experience.

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Brian Andersen

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/geek/2014/06/12/5-lgbt-characters-wed-love-see-justice-league-movie

8 Movies From The Last 15 Years That Are Super Overrated
Recently, HuffPost Entertainment presented a list of so-called terrible movies that we simply adore. Now we’re flipping the coin to tear down championed films we just can’t get behind. Calling something overrated is usually more contentious than calling it underrated because no one enjoys being told the things they like are garbage. Oh well! We’ll accept the challenge — and the fallout — that comes with insulting some of the movies you may have revered the most over the past 15 years. (Ed. note: Ahem, “Gravity”? Come on!)

“The Hurt Locker” (2009)

Kathryn Bigelow made great movies before “The Hurt Locker” (“Point Break” and “Strange Days” are genre classics). She made a great movie after “The Hurt Locker,” too (“Zero Dark Thirty” was 2012’s best movie). If only “The Hurt Locker” was a great movie. I know, it is great — or at least that was the narrative in 2009-10, when Bigelow’s war thriller about a bomb disposal squad in Iraq stormed through awards season as the little movie that could (and did) defeat James Cameron’s “Avatar.” But, man, this one is generic. The script — by Mark Boal, who also wrote “Zero Dark Thirty” — is redundant, repeating the motif about war being a drug over and over again until it loses all potency. Then there are the action beats, which feel like some cross between stuff Bigelow did better before and stuff Peter Berg did better in “The Kingdom.” (Next time we do an underrated movies post, I might call dibs on “The Kingdom,” which was “The Hurt Locker” and “Argo” before either won Best Picture.) For its middling efforts, “The Hurt Locker” was rewarded with six Academy Awards, including a historic Best Director win for Bigelow. That was a wonderful moment in Oscars history. If only “The Hurt Locker” were able to match its power. — Christopher Rosen

“Blue is the Warmest Color” (2013)

Decent movies about lesbian romance are a rare occurrence, especially ones that aren’t stereotypical or utterly terrible. This scarcity is partly what fueled the appeal of “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” one of those rare movies, but one that received much unwarranted acclaim. Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner does a lot of things right, but not nearly as much as it does wrong, including its inability to portray and obsess over women in a sickening and sexualized manner. It’s filled with sex, which you likely heard a lot about when critics decried its controversial, excessive sex scenes, and when the actresses spoke out against the director. We all love a great sex scene, but nearly every moment of the 179-minute film is drenched in a distasteful lust for the film’s protagonist. The closer you pay attention, the more you’ll realize that it’s far more occupied with Kechiche’s desires than the characters’ wants. If you disagree, just count how many ass shots there are. You’ll run out of fingers, and you’ll also run out of patience for this (unfortunately) distracted movie. — Erin Whitney

“Gravity” (2013)

“Gravity” was visually stunning and it uncannily captured the vacuum of sound that is space, but it was also boring and felt long, despite being only 91 minutes. Hearing everyone rave about it beyond the score and visual effects was like overhearing an inside joke that only well-respected movie critics were really in on. And that scene where Sandra Bullock jet-packs to another space station using mostly just a fire extinguisher? Crap. — Lauren Duca

“The Matrix” (1999)

Sure, sure, “The Matrix” popularized the bullet-time phenomenon and cinema was never the same again. Yes, fine, Plato and Baudrillard and Lewis Carroll all saw their prolific work borrowed for a modern-day sci-fi audience, and lovers of literature and highbrow cultural theory found themselves seated next to action-film aficionados. Why, then, 15 years later, is “The Matrix” so dull and dated? It’s all action and no substance, unless you like faux-spiritualism psychobabble and blatant metaphors about the simulation of reality. Because, gosh, we are just such a troubled society, so let’s use a seething Keanu Reeves and a smug Laurence Fishburne to prove it. “The Matrix” has the deadly combination of being both confusing and juvenile, and were it not for the Wachowskis’ impressive visual effects, everyone would have just taken the blue pill and shut up about it. — Matthew Jacobs

“Blue Valentine” (2010)

Just like the relationship it chronicles, “Blue Valentine” is incredibly disappointing. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams make for an adorable couple on paper, but I’d actually have to believe either of their characters were in love with the other to begin with for the movie to be watchable. Gosling’s ukulele dance number is endearing, I guess, but with the way “Blue Valentine” jumps between time, it doesn’t explain why they fell so hopelessly for each other, nor does it give a satisfying explanation of how things fell apart in such a rapid fashion. On top of that, the characters are just unlikeable people with whom I had no vested interest, leaving me to spend the majority of the film’s 112 minutes wanting to scream, “Will you just break up already?” — Stephanie Marcus

“The Descendants” (2011)

The problem with 2011’s “The Descendants” is that it sucked. The silver lining is that non-teen audiences were introduced to Shailene Woodley, and the scene where she swims underwater while crying functions as the only worthwhile moment in the entire film. The rest of it is a mishmash of Hawaiian shirts, Beau Bridges, random bouts of George Clooney running and George Clooney playing a meek version of George Clooney. What’s meant to be an honest portrayal of loss, and the struggle a dad faces in connecting with his daughters, ends up putting you straight to sleep, even if you had every intention of crying. As much as we love Alexander Payne for movies like “Election,” “About Schmidt” and the recent “Nebraska,” I, for one, hope to never hear a ukulele again. — Sasha Bronner

“Drive” (2011)

“Drive” is an appropriate title for this movie because watching it will make you want to run out in traffic. Supposedly, the film is about a Los Angeles getaway driver for hire, but “Drive” is really one big, awkward staring contest between Ryan Gosling and every other character — with an occasional brutal murder thrown in to make the audience go, “I’m awake! What happened?” Gosling has less dialogue than Mr. Bean playing an introverted mime with bronchitis. Director Nicolas Winding Refn spends all 100 minutes trying to convince you that he has a cool iPod playlist. There is one redeeming quality of “Drive”: Gosling’s super awesome scorpion jacket. Even that, however, is not enough to make you avoid wishing you had spent your evening doing something more enjoyable, like driving off a cliff. — Bill Bradley

“Avatar” (2009)

“Avatar” was cool for a second, like before it hit theaters when all the buzz was about how much time and money James Cameron spent on it. But then it came out, and it was just a bunch of blue people running around with super expensive special effects in the background. Seriously, that’s all we can remember without looking at Wikipedia. Sure, “Avatar” was great fodder for Halloween costumes and stoned teenagers, but did it deserve to gross more than $2 billion and earn nine Oscar nominations? Nah. Does it deserve THREE more movies and FOUR movie-inspired novels? Even nah-er. — Jessica Goodman

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/12/overrated-movies_n_5481916.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Man arrested in London anti-gay bleach ‘blinding’ attack

A 31-year-old was arrested in Kent on suspicion of an assault near the Lightbox club in Vauxhall – an area popular with gay clubbers

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joem

www.gaystarnews.com/article/man-arrested-london-anti-gay-bleach-blinding-attack120614