The Imitation Game: Benedict Cumberbatch deserves an Oscar
Read our review of the eagerly awaited Alan Turing biopic
joem
www.gaystarnews.com/article/imitation-game-benedict-cumberbatch-deserves-oscar131114
Category Archives: NEWS
USA Today: HRC’s Municipal Equality Index Prove Cities Lead Way in LGBT Equality
USA Today: HRC’s Municipal Equality Index Prove Cities Lead Way in LGBT Equality
Yesterday, HRC Foundation released the 2014 Municipal Equality Index (MEI), proving that America’s cities are way ahead of states in LGBT equality, according to USA Today.
HRC.org
PHOTOS: Sunday Service In NYC Proves To Be Irreverent
PHOTOS: Sunday Service In NYC Proves To Be Irreverent
John Blair & Beto Sutter teamed up with Sunday Service at Cielo Nightclub in NYC over the weekend. DJ Escape, the “holy (resident) DJ” led a special edition of Sunday Service with Stephan Grondin and a live performance by Inaya Day who debuted her new single “Workout” for a steamy downtown crowd. Worship beings at 10 p.m. every Sunday when reverent and perhaps even more irreverent DJs like Hex Hector, Danny Tenaglia, Chad Jack, and Steve Travolta come out of the woodwork to shake the devil out of all the Chelsea boys. Next week Nita Aviance joins Escape in yet another Musical Ministry through the valley of darkness and into the light.
jjkeyes
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' RECAP – 'Bullseye' [Spoilers]
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' RECAP – 'Bullseye' [Spoilers]
OK, so a bit of a lull this week on American Horror Story, no? Some interesting pieces are being moved into place, but on its own, tonight’s installment felt like a bit of a set-up episode.
It was great to spend some time with Paul (Matt Fraser) tonight. He gave an incredible performance, and I hope we see more Fraser on our screens soon.
Something I’d like to see a lot less? These sort of fantasy sequences we keep getting, especially from Stanley (Denis O’Hare) and Esmerelda (Emma Roberts). I think they’re jarring, and, while the first one was a fun sort of bait and switch, it’s just starting to feel like a way for AHS to show something shocking without committing.
Despite lacking some of the punch of other episodes, there’s still lots to discuss. Spin the wheel and catch up, AFTER THE JUMP …
Love is in the air all over Jupiter. Even our poor, twisted Dandy (Finn Wittrock) has been bit by the lovebug. He’s smitten with Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson). His mother, Gloria (Frances Conroy) is less enamored by the twins. She offers Finn a silver platter of prophylactics so that he won’t further dilute the gene pool that’s already been tainted with so much in-breeding. Dandy is mortified that she would suggest he is using the twins for sex. He’s in love with them! They’re going to get married!
Bette definitely seems on board with this whole plan. She loves shacking up at Chateau Mott and all the fancy caviar she can stomach. Predictably, Dot is not into it. Sure, they aren’t beaten or kept in chains, but she still has to suffer through Dandy’s boring stories and general creepiness. He’s so in love with them, but Dot is just biding her time until she can milk enough Mott money from Dandy to get the operation that separates her from her sister. The sisters continue to collect their private thoughts in their diaries. They even maintain a pact to not look at the other’s diary or listen to her thoughts while she writes. All their most private feelings go in there.
That’s too much for Dandy to handle. He’s not exactly a personal boundaries kind of guy. So he volunteers a game. Let’s all tell secrets! Dandy will even go first! He tells them that it was he who stopped the killer clown while Jimmy (Evan Peters) was unconscious. Psshh. Dot knows Jimmy wouldn’t lie about something like that. Her suspicions begin to infuriate Dandy. When she won’t play the game and share a secret, he goes into full rage tantrum.
Later, his mother finds him in tears after breaking into Dot’s diary and reading all the terrible things she had to say about him. Being with freaks like them was the only thing to make him feel normal. Now he knows he’s not meant for love. He’s meant to bring to death.
Back at the campgrounds, everyone’s getting ready to celebrate Fraulein Elsa (Jessica Lange)’s birthday. Ethel (Kathy Bates) makes some mutterings about where those twins ran off to, but Elsa poo-poos it, saying the twins snuck away when she took them dress shopping. When the festivities begin and the performers start sharing their gifts, there are more mutterings about the Tattler Sisters’ strange disappearance. Elsa plays it real cool. GUYS IT’S FINE, THEY RAN OFF, LET’S STOP TALKING ABOUT IT, IT’S NOT AT ALL WEIRD THAT I’M GETTING SO EASILY UPSET ABOUT THIS QUESTION, SO STOP MAKING IT A THING. IS IT HOT IN HERE? IT IS, RIGHT? WHEW. WHERE WERE WE? OH, YES, MY BIRTHDAY.
So the performers keep showering Elsa with gifts, including Ma Petite (Jyoti Kisange Amge), whose gift is basically her sitting inside a crocheted snuggie as a tiny human hot water bottle. The best gift is probably from Paul the Illustrated Seal (Fraser), who gives one of my favorite gifts, the gift of the schwanz. That’s right, he’s schtupping the fraulein. When they finish, he leaves her with her Ma Petite pillow pet (which is weird, because it seems like she was there in the room the whole time they were schtupping).
But where is he heading? Why, he’s going to visit the candy striper (Grace Gummer). After that scandalous romp they had way back in episode 1, he just can’t get enough. They’re in love! Just don’t tell her crazy overprotective daddy!
Paul stops at the local pharmacy to pick up some of the candy striper’s favorite perfume, but he runs into Dandy buying supplies for the twins. Paul’s no dummy, and there are only so many explanations why Dandy — who tried to buy the twins before — would need two sets of girls’ beauty products, including headbands. When he gets back to camp, he tries to share his suspicions with Jimmy, but the lobster boy is having none of it. Elsa saved them; she wouldn’t do something so terrible.
Back in Elsa’s room, she finishes serenading Paul and is ready for the schwanz, when he tells her there will not be schtupping this evening. He leans in for a goodbye kiss and she can smell the candy striper’s perfume on him. While it’s all coming out, he tosses out that there’s a going theory that she did something awful with the twins. Incensed that the performers would dare not trust her completely, she demands they all wake up immediately and join her in the tent.
Once they’re gathered, she launches into a big HOW DARE YOU speech about everything she’s done for them. The conclusion is basically I need you to prove you trust me, and what better way to do that than hop on this convenient wheel where I can strap you down and throw knives at you. Paul volunteers as tribute. Elsa’s first two knives miss him, but the third lands right in his gut. She “acts” as if it was an accident, but, come on, she could hardly contain the smirk when the blade sunk in. She even says she’ll call the doctor.
Later, no surprise, no doctor has arrived, BUT the candy striper is here. All the excitement is enough to arouse Jimmy’s suspicions.
Perhaps their heightened tension is what’s distracting everyone from taking a closer look at Esmerelda (Roberts). Stanley (O’Hare) wants her to lure Jimmy away so they can chop off his hands for the museum. She’s not really feeling that plan and instead offers to capture the much more portable (and less messy) Ma Petite. Too bad Ma Petite is just too damn lovable, and when it comes time to drown her in a large jar of formaldehyde, Esmerelda can’t do it. Instead, she convinces Jimmy to run away with her. He’s just got a quick errand first (more on that in a bit). None of this pleases Stanley, who tells Esmerelda in no uncertain terms that they are back to the original plan — cut off Jimmy’s hands.
That may end up preferable considering the handsome, young Darling finds himself on the doorstep of Dandy Mott. Convinced that Paul may have been on to something about the twins, he’s turned up to do some investigating. If Dandy is planning on stabbing him, can he at least strip down to his briefs with him first? Please?
Elsa’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad birthday is coming to an end back in the tent. Ethel brings her a piece of her birthday cake while Elsa tells her a sad story about her older sister who died as an infant. It destroyed her parents. Even though they may have thought Elsa would make them feel better, she just reminded them of what they lost. Now, she looks at Ethel as a sister. That’s so nice! But, Ethel reminds her, if she ever finds out Elsa has been lying to her, she will kill her with her bare hands. Great! Happy birthday, Elsa! Now make a wish! Elsa, of course, wishes to be loved, in case that wasn’t already a painfully obvious aspect of her character.
Which liar is going to get theirs first: Elsa, Stanley or Dandy?
What did you think of tonight’s episode?
Bobby Hankinson
www.towleroad.com/2014/11/american-horror-story-freak-show-recap-bullseye-spoilers.html
Op-ed: The NFL’s Uphill Cultural Battle Starts With Its Subtle Bigotry
Op-ed: The NFL’s Uphill Cultural Battle Starts With Its Subtle Bigotry
The NFL faces an uphill cultural battle, when there are still figures involved, like Deion Sanders, who believe being gay is a choice.
Annie Hollenbeck
Gay people will be treated 'like beer' at Qatar World Cup
Gay people will be treated 'like beer' at Qatar World Cup
Qatar’s sports minister promises ‘creative solutions’, but can he guarantee safety?
joem
www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-people-will-be-treated-beer-qatar-world-cup131114
#TBT: A Museum of Mid-Century Hair
#TBT: A Museum of Mid-Century Hair
From Mad Men to mop tops. After all, you don’t want to look like a hippy, do you?
Christopher Harrity
www.advocate.com/comedy/2014/11/13/tbt-museum-mid-century-hair
Half of gay Taiwanese report partner abuse
Half of gay Taiwanese report partner abuse
Less than 5 per cent seek help from formal institutions
darrenw
www.gaystarnews.com/article/half-gay-taiwanese-report-partner-abuse131114
'Duck Dynasty' Musical Headed For Las Vegas Stage
'Duck Dynasty' Musical Headed For Las Vegas Stage
“Duck Dynasty” is making the leap from the small screen to the stage, with reports that a musical based on the controversial family is headed to Las Vegas.
The musical, from the production company behind “Jersey Boys,” will be a semi-biographical show based on Willie and Korie Robertson’s book, “The Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family, and Ducks Built a Dynasty,” The Hollywood Reporter said.
The show will not star the Robertson family, but instead feature actors playing members of the family, the website reported.
The New York Times says the 90-minute, 14-song show will likely open in February at The Rio, which is currently home to Penn & Teller’s live show as well as a Chippendales performance.
“I think the expectation is that it’ll be all chicken-pickin’ stuff and banjos, but what we’re trying to do is pull out as much heart, humor and sincerity as we can to keep people surprised,” Steven Morris, one of the show’s composers, told the newspaper.
The Times also reports that anti-gay remarks from family patriarch Phil Robertson will be addressed in the show.
In an interview with GQ last year, Phil Robertson compared homosexuality to bestiality and said African-Americans were happy before the civil rights era.
Robertson later issued an apology, but has continued to make controversial remarks. In June, he claimed he was “trying to help those poor souls and turn them to Jesus” and in September said he’s as much of a homophobe as Jesus. He has also claimed that AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases are God’s “penalty” for immoral conduct.
“The Robertsons are so unusual, their story so juicy, and theater shouldn’t be limited to telling stories about people you resemble or revere,” producer Michael David, who said he was personally offended by the comments, told the Times.
Season 7 of “Duck Dynasty” premieres next week on A&E.
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Episode 6 Recap: Wheel Of Fortune
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Episode 6 Recap: Wheel Of Fortune
*** WARNING: Contains spoilers! Please do not read on unless you’ve seen Episode 6 of “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” titled “Bullseye.” Or if you don’t mind spoilers, go right ahead! ***
The central image of tonight’s episode — the bullseye — is possibly the best symbol to illustrate the main themes of “American Horror Story: Freak Show.” The idea of chance, a simple streak of good luck or bad, can impact your entire existence. The knife can either hit harmlessly between your legs as you’re strapped on the spinning wheel, leaving you scathed but alive, or it can pierce your stomach, leaving you to bleed out slowly. One guess which destiny most of the freaks have suffered (metaphorically, of course).
And this is precisely what Elsa boasts throughout the whole hour: that she saved the freaks from an even worser fate. By bringing them all into the freak show, she has made them her family and protected them from the outside world. To make matters worse, it’s her birthday week, so she’s expecting unconditional adoration (along with swanky gifts) from her “children.” Just before warmly accepting all of the odds-and-ends gifts, she admits in a little monologue (while whipping knives at the bullseye — yes! Jessica Lange throwing knives! fun!) that she’s willing to stop anyone and anything that gets in the way of her hunt for fame.
Seal Boy/Paul, who gets better and better every week, is obviously the brains of the freaks, and has Elsa figured out. He’s sleeping with her in what seems to be a semi-dedicated relationship, though it’s obvious he’s a mere plaything. He’s also sleeping with Meryl Streep, Jr. on the side, in what appears to be a more sincere, real love. (If this is as close as we’re going to get to an “AHS” Meryl Streep monologue on a dimly lit staircase, I’ll take it.) The bullseye is just as representative of love — something exceedingly hard to find and even harder to keep. Elsa and Seal Boy, Seal Boy and Meryl Streep, Jr., Jimmy and Maggie, Dandy and Bette; they’re all cases of love based on deception. Even within the same body (Bette and Dot), love is received and dealt with in completely different ways.
Dandy is repulsive to Dot and an absolute dream to Bette. Even after he blows up playing “Tell Me A Secret” (a terrible game, truth be told), Bette is still in love with him. Dot wants to use him solely for the money to pay for separation surgery. Whether or not Bette and Dot will ever come apart is becoming one of the biggest “will they or won’t they?” questions of the season. As I’ve said before in other recaps, I don’t think they’ll ever be separated, mainly because it means the twins will die. Whatever happens, this is a genius way for “AHS” to advance Bette and Dot’s storyline in a believable manner. Their motivations are so disparate, and both so strong (the desire to be in one’s own body, the desire to be loved), that there’s no way to solve the problem instantaneously or easily. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Same goes for whoever Dandy encounters in the near future. His final speech of this episode, delivered to a wide-eyed Gloria after reading Dot’s diary, is some intense, scary acting from Finn Wittrock. When he states “I was never destined to feel love” with flat affect and overflowing eyes, I was right there with him. We’ve all been there on the couch, alone, empty and desperate. Then he lost me when he said that his purpose was to bring death, but overall the effect was there: Dandy has completely and totally gone off his rocker, and instead of combating it, he’s accepting it. He knows he must kill. More chest stabbings on the docket for next week!
Speaking of killings, Stanley doesn’t really seem to be accomplishing much at the freak show. Maggie so obviously has attachments to all of the freaks, so I don’t really understand why he’s assigning her to do it. She (thankfully) wimps out of killing Ma Petite — which we saw anyway thanks to a fake-out scene — and scrambles to get Jimmy to run away with her. Stanley threatens her and tells her he wants the lobster claws. We know that’s not going to happen, but what will? The ideal outcome would be someone finding out about Stanley’s “affliction” (a 13-inch … ahem … appendage) and then mailing him off to the museum. Ten bucks on that happening eventually.
I’m not even sure if Jimmy will make it back to the freak show grounds, because last we saw he was entering the Motts’ house and Dandy’s standing in the foyer with a knife tucked into his pants. Not looking good for Jimmy. Or Elsa, for that matter. By the end of the episode the freaks don’t trust her anymore (even her beloved Ethel), her freak show is failing, her love affair is kaput, her singing career looks very doubtful, and she’s hiding major secrets from everyone around her. She’s also a terrible knife thrower. “I just want to be loved.” Yes, Elsa, so does everybody. But the difference is we don’t sell people to murderers and we don’t throw knives at family.
The freak show is coming apart at the seams, and with Stanley around to pick it apart as it falls loose, things don’t look good for our beloved crew. I only pray the killings stay in black-and-white remain in his mind. Until next week!
Freak Of The Week: Seal Boy/Paul. He has two women (that we know of) calling him “lover boy,” he wears a white tank top nearly 24/7, and he rocks full-body tattoos like no one’s business. Hope he survives.
Random Thoughts:
- Gloria: “I have RC Cola too!”
- Anyone else notice the opium smoke was computer-generated?
- We’re basically seeing all the freaks die in horrific ways and/or be encased for display without actually having them killed off. I can’t decide if it’s a genius move by the showrunners or just a deliberate tease. I almost died myself when Ma Petite was clawing at the side of that jar.
- Speaking of Ma Petite, who wouldn’t love to open a birthday gift box and see her inside, smiling and being adorable?
- My favourite shot of the episode was the twins seated in the middle of the long Mott table. Bette looking adoringly down at Dandy, while Dot suspiciously eyes Gloria. All so well-placed and symmetrical. “AHS” nails it with stuff like this.
- Gloria: “Hindsight is 20/20, dear.”
- Let’s just hope Stanley and Dandy don’t pair up. If they do, no one will get out alive. Methinks Dandy is about to go on a killin’ spree.
“American Horror Story: Freak Show” airs on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. EST on FX and FX Canada.
Episode 5 Recap
Episode 4 Recap
Episode 3 Recap
Episode 2 Recap
Premiere Recap
