Tag: entertainment

Confession: I like men in drag

 Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine

The other night, I watched the movie Velvet Goldmine again and it got me thinking about how much I like an androgynous man.  Velvet Goldmine hearkens back to the days of Glam Rock and features hot men like Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale in make up. Ironically, Eddie Izzard is one of the few stars in the movie not wearing make up.

I began to notice men in the 1970’s, when rock stars like David Bowie, Marc Bolan and the New York Dolls were popular. It was the days of men with long hair, glitter eye shadow and tarty lipstick wearing flashy clothes and it made a big impression on me. These men with their blatant gender bending were so much sexier than the average Jock type to me. They were rebelling against the traditional male uniform. They were bravely flouting convention in an in your face way that was hard for me to resist. You see, I also have a rebellious spirit and a keen fashion sense and I related to these men, who I saw as so much more manly than the Jocks or the Suits. These men were breaking new ground, they were leaders. They were the new Alpha Male in all of their peacock feathered splendor.

 

Marc Bolan of T Rex

The New York Dolls

David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust

Then there was Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror pictures show licking his shiny red lips with a naughty, mischievous glint in his eye and singing “Give yourself over to absolute pleasure”. It didn’t matter that he was into both women and men, in fact that was a large part of the lure for me. He was unabashedly crashing through sexual boundaries.

 

Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Since those days there have been very few examples of in your face male androgyny. In the 1980’s, Prince filled that role. At once, both masculine, feminine and oozing sex from every pore, Prince was my fantasy in those days.

 

Prince, from the Lovesexy Album cover

In the 1990’s Marilyn Manson took androgyny to a much darker and more Gothic place with his flawlessly painted face and very masculine voice. he merged male and female into one hot package.

 

Marilyn Manson

Currently, the most famous example is the aforementioned Eddie Izzard who has been quoted as saying, “Women wear what they want and so do I”. That attitude is irresistible to me.

 

Eddie Izzard, in all his glory.

Androgyny isn’t just dressing in drag. It’s a mindset. It’s a lifestyle. It’s sexy as hell.

The anti Bucket List

Like a lot of people I have a Bucket List of things I’d like to do before I kick the bucket. Most of the items on this list are travel oriented, like going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, attending the Cannabis Cup, visiting New Zealand or buying an apartment in the south of France to spend winters in.

I also have another list. A list of things I have tried, but will (likely) never try again. I call this my Suck It list, because these things can suck it.

MY SUCK IT LIST

Religion

Skiing (both snow and water)

Skating (both Ice and Roller)

Camping

Living in the United States

Marriage

Being a mistress

Anal sex (unless I’m on the giving end)

Lesbianism (not that there’s anything wrong with it, just not for me)

Submission

Watching Piers Morgan

Dropping acid

Doing extacy

Snorting cocaine

Horse back riding

Listening to Katy Perry ‘sing’ (same goes for Britney Spears, Justin Beiber and Beyonce)

Watching a Kardashian do anything (or not do anything)

Visit the Dominican Republic

Go on a cruise

Visit Venice (I can still smell it)

Visit Manhattan (also still smelling it)

Getting drunk on tequila

Date a much younger guy

Eat venison

Babysitting

And the list goes on from here. I’m betting that most people have their own Suck It list. What’s on yours?

** Note to self. Add Guys who respond to list with “Why isn’t my dick on it?” to list.

Are you the next or the first?

For the past two days the lead story on Yahoo Canada’s home page has been ‘Angelina Jolie lookalike stuns’. It’s about, as one would assume an aspiring actress who bears a resemblance to Angelina Jolie. I pity this girl. She will never do anything without being compared to a much more famous and established actress. And how insulting to Angelina Jolie, who isn’t finished being the first Angelina Jolie.

I don’t understand this fascination the media has with saying she’s the next, or he’s the next. It’s not just the entertainment industry either, politics does this as well. Someone is always the next Reagan or JFK. Does the big spin machine really think that the general public is so daft that we need to see a similarity to an iconic figure of the past in a rising star in order to accept them?

Keira Knightley and Audrey Tautou were being billed as the next Audrey Hepburn. Nicole Kidman, Lindsay Lohan, Pam Anderson, Madonna and Kim Kardashian (really?) were all said to be the next Marilyn Monroe. Tom Hanks was being touted as the next Jimmy Stewart and already they’re asking who will be the next Tom Hanks.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean this is coming from an industry that remakes a movie that is only two years old (the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo) because apparently American audiences are too lazy to read subtitles. Director Gus Van Sant’s creative tank was so empty that he actually made a shot for shot remake of Hitchcock’s classic movie Psycho. Even though the experiment failed miserably, as most remakes do, Hollywood just won’t give up on the idea… and then they wonder why nobody goes to the movies anymore. Audiences are clamouring for something original, which is why a black and white, silent film is one of the most talked about movies of 2011. You’d think Hollywood would get the message, but instead they have this in the works. I pity the actor charged with recreating a career defining role like Patrick Bateman. I can’t imagine any of the new crop of Twilight or Disney stars doing the role anywhere near the same justice as Christian Bale did it only a scant 12 years ago.

For those of you looking to make your mark on the world, please ask yourself one question. Why would you want to be the next someone else, when you can be the first you?

Experiment in funny

Lately I’ve been thinking about comedy. Specifically, comedians who come from different belief systems. I have listed three comics from three different religions and one non- religion in a side by side, by side, by side comparison (that’s four sides), and will be asking for your opinion at the bottom of the post. Enjoy.

CHRISTIAN COMEDIANS

Victoria Jackson

Tim Hawkins

Chonda Pierce

JEWISH COMEDIANS

Sarah Silverman

Judy Gold

Jerry Seinfeld

MUSLIM COMEDIANS

Maz Jobrani

Ahmed Ahmed

Azhar Usman

ATHEIST COMEDIANS

David Cross

Jimmy Carr

Jim Jeffries

I purposefully kept each clip under the 3 and a half minute mark. I didn’t include the most famous comics in each category. I didn’t include clips where the comedians talked specifically about their faith (or lack thereof). Now here is where I ask your opinion.

Arrogance or ignorance?

On New Year’s Eve, in Time Square, Cee Lo Green was asked to sing a song. Sounds innocent enough, right? The song he sang was John Lennon’s Imagine. An iconic song that means a great deal to so many.

Here are the actual lyrics to Imagine, as written by John Lennon.

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace

You, you may say
I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world

You, you may say
I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

Cee Lo Green sang the song in a slightly different way. Watch and see if you can spot the difference.

At the very least Mr. Green is guilty of not learning the correct lyric. Like when you listen to a song and think they lyric is something different than what it really is. For example, when Phoebe, on the sitcom Friends, thought that Elton John’s Hold me closer Tiny Dancer was actually Hold me close Young Tony Danza. Although in her case she wasn’t performing the song in front of an audience of millions. If you are charged with singing someone else’s song, it is your responsibly to  learn the lyrics as they were written.

At the very worst, Mr. Green is guilty of willfully changing the lyric to further his own agenda. In this article from the Huffington post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/01/cee-lo-green-changes-imagine-lyrics_n_1178313.html#s583202&title=Austin_McCarty the author shares a slideshow of tweets between irate Lennon fans (and atheists) and Cee Lo Green. In one of those tweets, Mr. Green states that he was a guest (actually he wrote guess) of Yoko Ono. If that is the case, why would you spit on the memory of her husband to her face? His lyric change makes the first verse of the song nonsensical. Why would we imagine that there is no heaven or hell, if all religion is true? After reading the tweet exchange it becomes clear that he DID intend to change the lyric.

Now the question becomes WHY? Why sing the song at all if you disagree with it? Were you contractually obligated to sing it? Why sing this song and change this particular lyric, knowing that it will piss people off the world over? Are you so desperate for publicity that even bad publicity is appealing? Why did you feel the need to insert your own beliefs into a song about lack of belief? Are you really that arrogant? And, perhaps most significantly, why are you hanging out with Yoko Ono? That’s an image I just can’t Imagine.

Public or Private? Make up your mind.

It really puts the wind up my skirt when celebrities leak news about their private lives to the media, then have the audacity to say, we ask that you respect our privacy in this difficult time. If you really wanted your privacy, then why are you telling the world about your private life to begin with?

We had two examples of this kind of behavior this week.

First, the announcement was made that Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa were getting a divorce. The following is a quote from their publicist.

“The Bryants have resolved all issues incident to their divorce privately with the assistance of counsel and a Judgment dissolving their marital status will be entered in 2012,” their publicist said in a statement, to which the duo added, “We ask that in the interest of our young children and in light of the upcoming holiday season the public respect our privacy during this most difficult time.”

The second example happened just today when it was announced that Chaz Bono and his long time girlfriend were splitting up. Here is the quote from their publicist.

A publicist for Chaz Bono says the relationship between the author and activist and his longtime partner has ended. Howard Bragman says in a statement that Bono and Jennifer Elia “leave this relationship with great love, respect and affection towards one another.” He adds that the two are seeking privacy in the matter.

Seriously, if you are truly seeking privacy you’d just keep your big, fat, narcissistic yaps shut in the first place.

Do you believe in magic?

Today is 11-11-11 and people seem to have lost all common sense. What do we expect is going to happen? Will all our dreams come true? Will the world end? Is it supposed to be lucky somehow? There are many people planning on making a wish and/or buying a lottery ticket at 11:11 (both am and pm) today.

The only people I can think of that 11-11-11 would be lucky for are dyslexic people.

What is this fascination we have with luck and magic? Is it just another way of not taking responsibility for ourselves? If you ask the richest among us how they got so rich, the answer is invariably a good idea and hard work. So why are we pinning our hopes on a numerical oddity? Do we really expect that if we wish hard enough today that the wish will magically come true? Have we really become so entitled that we expect all of our dreams to appear on a silver platter? Let’s talk about hard work for a moment. In this reality show culture we have created, it seems so easy to get rich and famous. What we don’t see is all the hard work it takes on behalf of the agents, managers, publicity teams, hairstylists, make up artists and stylists to take someone without any talent whatsoever and make them into a Kim Kardashian, or even a Snookie. Then it’s all the hard work  and grueling schedules that the “stars” themselves must keep up with in order to remain in the public eye. Let’s not forget the hard work of the paparazzi and the people who put together the entertainment shows and magazines that have to think of something interesting/controversial to say about  these no talents. For every “over night success” there is a team of very hard working people making it happen. There is no magic involved. The only luck is the luck you make for yourself.

I am also confused by the people who seem to be cheering for the world to end. Harold Camping and his ilk. These doomsday watchers seem to have a death wish. Is life so tough for them that they are hoping with every fiber of their being for the entire world and all life on it to cease. There are people who are projecting their financial future only as far as December 21, 2012 because they are SURE the world will end. December 21, 2012 is another one of those numerical anomalies 12-21-12. All of this craziness puts the wind up my skirt. After all, you could die tomorrow, or you could live to 110. Doesn’t it make more sense to plan for the latter and not be caught unprepared? I understand the need to have something to look forward to, but really, if the end of the world is what you’re excited about, maybe you should re-examine your priorities.

As for 11-11-11, I don’t paint by numbers and I don’t live my life by them either, but I will be buying a lottery ticket today, because it’s Friday and I always get my ticket on Friday and you can’t win if you don’t play. I will also continue to work hard and NOT plan my future with the assumption that I will handed anything on a silver platter. I realize I have to EARN a lot of money just to be able to afford the platter.