Seth Rogen’s newest film Observe and Report, also starring one of my new favorite actresses Anna Faris, is coming under a lot of heat for what some are calling a date rape scene in the film.  Feminist and film reviewers are weighing in on whether it’s funny or just plain offensive.

Esquire continues to be the beacon of classy fashion magazine publishing as they release their most recent “How To Be A Man” issue, rife with misogyny and homophobia.  They tell their readers one way to cuss like a man is to use the term “shit-sniffing faggot” to insult people.

There’s a new show on NBC called Southland that follows a group of Los Angeles police officers and it’s centered around Ben McKenzie whom you might remember from Junebug and The O.C.  At the end of the first episode, it was revealed that one of the cops is gay.

There was a New York City protest rallying against the recent uptick of murders of gay men in Iraq.  The protest almost turned ugly as the NYPD wouldn’t allow the protesters to stand on the public sidewalk in front of the Iraq mission.

Universal Music and YouTube are partnering to open a completely new website called Vevo that will exlusively feature music videos.  Currently Universal is the only label part of the deal but YouTube is in negotiations to try to get other record labels to lend their artists’ video to the site.

Apparently there were rumors bubbling that Lindsay Lohan was in talks to play Stevie Nicks in a biopic.  Ms. Nicks was asked about how she feels about LiLo playing her on the big screen and her response was “Over my dead body.”

Yesterday I discussed D.C. mayor Adrian M. Fenty leaning toward signing the bill that the council came up with to recognize out of state same-sex marriages, and here is an interview with him on a local newscast discussing whether the U.S. Congress will let the bill pass.

Iraq Veteran Patrick Murphy will take the lead in advancing legislation to overturn the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy when Rep. Ellen Tauscher moves to the State Department to be President Obama’s Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Talking Points Memo reports:

“There’s major symbolic significance to that move. Murphy is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and, more importantly, a Bronze Star winner and the first Iraq war veteran to serve in Congress.”

You may remember him from the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell hearings in July of 2008 where he completely and utterly owned Elaine Donnelly.

(via Towleroad)

Watch as he sits tweeking his way through this interview, clearly on some sort of narcotic, not able to answer the simplest of questions such as how long the band’s been together or whether he’s actually met Willie Nelson. It’s a complete departure from how he normally behaves in his interviews.

Apparently Canadians were not happy with how he acted either in the interview, or on stage at his concert there. As they all booed him during their set.

If you head on over to music producer Tricky Stewart’s Twitter account, you’ll see he recently tweeted about some artists he’s currently working with. Among them are Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, and Christina Aguilera.

I admit I’m not the biggest fan of this man’s work. He’s done Jesse McCartney’s “Leavin”, Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and Mary J. Blige’s “Just Fine”, all which I like. But conversely he’s also done Britney Spears’ “Me Against The Music”, Rihanna’s “Umbrella”, and Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body”, all which make want to throw up my Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies.

That said, there’ve been producers that Christina’s worked with before who hadn’t impressed me with their previous work, yet turned out something impressive when it came to working with Christina. One example is Rich Harrison, who is famous for producing Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” and Amerie’s “1 Thing”, yet managed to create one hell of a foot-stomping pseudo-gospel tune called “Makes Me Wanna Pray” on Christina’s Back to Basics album that in no way resembles any of his previous work. So it’s possible that while this guy’s catalogue isn’t making me squeal with glee, he could actually end up turning out something relatively unexpected with Christina.

Considering Tricky doesn’t seem like the kind of producer Christina would normally gravitate to, especially in lieu of the more electronic, futuristic sound she’s trying to create for her next LP, it seems as if she’s doing a repeat of her pattern with her second album Stripped. In chronicling the story of Stripped, Entertainment Weekly did a piece in which famous producer Rockwilder talked about the making of Dirrty:

Aguilera told Rockwilder she was looking for a track that would announce to the world that she’s back — but not the same as she was. ”She wanted it to be down and dirty,” Rockwilder says, ”really powerful, really wild, and crazy.’

Basically, Christina had finished the rest of the tracks for the album, and needed something fiery that would get people’s attention and announce she’s back. She did something similar with “Ain’t No Other Man”, a song with bombastic horns and explosive vocals, and an intro that would perk your head up quicker than a fire truck sneaking up on you on a back road. The point is, though Tricky Stewart is miles different from people like Linda Perry, Ladytron, and Sia (all people she’s confirmed to be collaborating with on this album), it’s possible this departure from the “theme” could indicate she very well could be done with the album.

Sia Furler, most known for her song “Breathe Me” which has been featured on the beloved series finale of Six Feet Under and the broadcast of the 2006 Victoria’s Secret fashion show, has already completed her work with Aguilera.  She told Australian publication the Herald Sun all about her experience working with Christina.

‘‘Obviously she likes Breathe Me, that’s the one everyone goes for, but she mentioned seven songs as far back as the first Zero 7 album, and songs like Destiny and Distractions, and a song called Moon from my last album that nobody ever picks as a favourite.

‘‘That won her some points, she’s a listener, she knows my random album tracks nobody gives a s— about. That’s pretty flattering.”

Though Furler was shocked the singer knew who she was, the feeling was mutual — Furler expressing her love of Aguilera’s ballad Beautiful.

And it was Sia’s way with ballads that Aguilera wanted for her own musical DNA.

‘‘That’s why I’m here, that’s my department, I’m from the ballads department,” Furler says.

‘‘We’ve written some really wonderful songs. I would put any of the songs we’ve written on one of my albums. And it’s a total collaboration. There are some artists who walk in and say ‘I want to write a song about a stiletto’, then walk out again.

‘‘You write the song and they take a third. That’s not at all what it’s been like working with Christina. Often she saves the day when we’re stuck.”

In addition to Sia,Christina has been photographed with Daniel Wu of Ladytron as early as December, and according to him, they’ve been working together in the studio as well.

“We first heard that we were one of Christina’s favorite bands last summer. We were thrilled. So we went over to Los Angeles to meet her in December where she identified the type of Ladytron songs that she liked. We were impressed because she had a real deep knowledge of our music – album tracks, not just the singles.”

At this point the album seems well on its way.  And if the choice of producers and songwriters is any indication, it’s piecing up to be just as diverse as her last two efforts.  Which depending on how you look at it, is either to her avail, or her demise.

One of my favorite bloggers Clay Cane interviewed rapper and actor Xzibit (you may remember him from MTV’s Pimp My Ride) who is promoting his new movie with Alfre Woodard called American Violet, and Clay brought up an incident that happened recently where Diddy had invited Xzibit to a gay club, and Xzibit was quoted by the media as having made homophobic statements on a radio show.

According to Xzibit, his words were taken out of context.  But more importantly, Clay asks him about homophobia in hip-hop in general, and Xzibit says the environment is a lot less homophobic that people think, that it’s “just part of the landscape”.

“It started as just common place; it was just part of the language. I think the overtones that it creates, is not what really exists. I don’t think if you are gay and you go to a hip-hop club that you’ll get beat up for being gay. That’s not what is going to happen. I think words are the way that people express themselves—just like if you say bitch on a rap record for a long time you can rally thousands of women that will say that’s incorrect. You can’t focus on one single thing or bad aspect of what happens in hip hop and try to blanket it. That’s not the root of the problem. It exists, I think it’s how you portray it, and it’s how you use it. You gotta paint with a broad brush when you talk about homophobia because it’s a lot of things that exist in hip hop that aren’t exactly right, but it’s part of the landscape.”

Strangely, I understand the point he’s trying to make.  The overtones of homophobia in hip-hop or the homophobic language that’s used doesn’t necessarily indicate intense hatred or homophobia.  Calling another straight guy a “fag” doesn’t necessarily mean that you hate gay people or want to do harm to them.

(more…)

Another tragic ending for a gay youth.  An 11 year old Massachusetts boy has killed himself after having been bullied with anti-gay slurs at school.  The school thought it’d be smart to force him to eat lunch with his bully.  Guess that worked out quite well.

What do you do when you’re an Orthodox Jew and an out homosexual?  Well for some young people, these two things are not at odds with each other.  The Jewish Exponent profiles some intriguing men and women who are as proud of being gay as they are of being Jewish.

Miss Britney Spears reportedly walked off stage during her Vancouver concert and kept the crowd waiting for 30 minutes before returning because too many people were smoking pot in the audience, which caused a “ventilation issue” with some of the crew members.

NPR’s Robert Kulrich has done some research that indicates the sales of men’s underwear is a good thermometer for the state of the economy.  And according to recent figures, there’s been a steep drop in 2008, which obviously tells us what we already knew.  We’re fucked.

Harvard Law student takes Barney Frank to task on his role in the fledgling U.S. economy.  Frank was dismissive of the young man’s supposedly “loaded” question but the student went on FOX News’ Greta von Susternen’s program to continue discussion of the issue.

A gang of men robbed and attacked two gay men on separate but consecutive occasions in Florida.  One of whom is currently in a coma, and the other suffered a head injury but was able to go home from the hospital not long after checking in.  Right now they are being investigated as robberies, not hate crimes.

For the first time the President has invited LGBT families to the White House to take place in the Easter Egg Roll, an event that’s taken place since 1878.  The tickets were distributed to various gay rights organizations, and they decided which families to invite to the event.

It looks like the momentum from Iowa and Vermont is heating up as now D.C. is jumping on the same-sex marriage train.

The D.C. Council overwhelmingly voted Tuesday in favor of legislation recognizing gay marriages from other states — a move city lawmakers lauded as a step toward legalizing such marriages in the city.

If signed into law, the bill will allow gay D.C. couples to marry in one of four states that allow such marriages, then return to the District and have the marriage recognized under city law.

The 13-member council gave preliminary approval to the bill on the same day Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex unions. The Vermont legislature voted to override the governor’s veto and allow gay marriages.

The D.C. legislation faces final approval by the council next month, then it must be reviewed by Congress, which has final say over most city laws.

Members also approved legislation that recognizes relationships that are similar to domestic partnerships in the District and have all “the rights and responsibilities of marriage” in another jurisdiction.

The District passed a law in 1992 that allowed same-sex couples to register as domestic partners. But Congress prohibited the city from spending any of its own funds to implement the law, until the ban was finally lifted in fiscal 2002.

D.C.’s hot mayor Adrian M. Fenty still needs to sign the legislation after the D.C. council gives its final approval next month.  Council member David A. Catania who is openly gay expects Fenty to support the bill.

Problem is, all D.C. laws also need to be approved by the U.S. Congress, and though we have a Democratic majority, we all know how spineless our dear Democrats really are.

(via Washington Times)

GIRL NOT INCLUDED

This season’s objects of desire

Patent-leather lace-ups, candy-colored belts, and cotton-canvas tote bags are just a few of the accessories you’ll want to own this spring.

(via Feministing)

Excuse me while I go puke.

For those of you reeling from the lack of Desperate Housewives on television the past few weeks, a new episode airs two Sundays from now on April 19, and the buzz is it’s a doozy.  One of the main characters from the program since the first episode, Edie Britt, will be leaving Wisteria Lane for good (not counting flashbacks of course).  Nicollette Sheridan has been the only original actress from the show never to receive an Emmy nomination for her work on Desperate Housewives, though she did receive a Golden Globe nomination back in 2005.  Teri Hatcher told People magazine it’s going to be a great episode and a worthy farewell to Edie.

Though she bids farewell, Hatcher promises Sheridan’s final stroll down Wisteria Lane, airing April 19 (when the show returns from hiatus), is full of emotional raw acting as the women look back on Edie’s life. “It was a fabulously written episode,” says Hatcher. “She should get nominated for an Emmy.”

Newbie to Wisteria Lane (and personally, my new favorite Housewife) Dana Delany told E! Online:

“Her final episode is really beautiful, and it involves a lot of flashbacks,” Delany told us last night at the Geffen Playhouse’s annual fundraiser, Backstage at the Geffen. “We did a flashback scene from five years ago.”

As I tend to get overly emotional about the deaths of my favorite television characters (Nate’s funeral on Six Feet Under had me under my covers in my basement sobbing like a baby), I’m afraid to watch on the 19th. But I wouldn’t dare miss it.

Let’s take a moment to remember one of the better Edie Britt moments on Wisteria Lane.

Some of you might remember Katharine McPhee as the girl that sang a stirring rendition of “Over The Rainbow” and lost to Taylor Hicks on American Idol in 2006.  Some of might remember her as the girl that sang a cheesy mid-tempo pop tune called “Over It” and tried to channel Beyonce in her “Love Story” video.  And others might simply know her as the cute pregnant girl from that Anna Faris movie House Bunny.  But unilke many other American Idol contestants (some who’ve actually won) whose careers have fallen by the wayside, McPhee seems determined to be a star.

She and legendary songwriter/producer David Foster are working on a new album to follow up her barely successful debut album (which I moderately enjoyed), she’s guest-starring on an episode of CSI: New York that airs tonight, she’s slated to star in a film called Storyteller with Jesse Spencer from House and right now she’s filming a romantic comedy with Dave Annable of Brothers & Sisters.

In the movie, Katharine plays the daughter of a Croatian mobster (‘Borat’ star Ken Davitian) who tries to obtain U.S. citizenship by setting her up with an American photographer (Dave Annable of ‘Brothers & Sisters’). Of course, the pair begin to fall in love, much to the chagrin of her father. Mena Suvari and Vinnie Jones also star in the comedy, written and directed by Rob Hedden. The film is produced by Hawaii Film Partners.

While promoting her first album, she took a stab at trying to embrace her gay fans, but unfortunately was unable to make it to the Campus Thursdays event at New York’s Splash Bar. She sent the guys a video message apologizing for not being able to show up.

The movie comes out sometime next year. But considering how quickly people forget stars these days, I hope she manages to be able to keep the public’s attention until then.

Here’s an Entertainment Tonight feature about the movie. I’m a sucker for a good romantic comedy (though I can’t remember the last one that was actually good.).