Rome's newly elected right-wing mayor, former neo-fascist Gianni Alemanno, dismissed the Gay Pride event as a "sexual exhibition" and said the city would make sure the event did not offend anybody, Italian media reported Wednesday. "I respect homosexual people, I know a few and I am not saying this out of discrimination," said Alemanno. "But I fear that Gay Pride is something else, an act of sexual exhibition, and I am opposed to all form of exhibition, homosexual or heterosexual." Last year's Gay Parade in June drew tens of thousands of people and was organised by 50 or so associations and left-wing political parties. Now, as new mayor elected April 28, Alemanno announced Gay Pride would be up for debate at the municipal council so as to "find a formula that doesn't offend anyone." "We knew the Italian right, the worst in Europe, didn't like this demonstration," said left-wing former deputy Franco Grillini. He added: "For the right, a good homosexual is one who hides and does not defend his rights."
viewed here
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Rome mayor said Gay Pride Parade is a sexual exhibition
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
abercrombie catalogue will not be sold to guys under 18
Here it comes again, another dumbly predictable, panicky little outcry from terrified parents' groups and petrified dads all aflutter over the recent sexed-up, "racy" Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, just in time to stuff your proverbial stocking.
You know the one, that new A&F Christmas catalog that dared to go so far as to show actual young half-naked models laying around in half-naked splendor doing half-naked nothing much. Same as it ever was.
But wait -- nudity? Group sex? Orgies? Specific directions for gang masturbation techniques, all appearing in a mediocre clothing catalog aimed squarely at ineptly dressed Stanford undergrads who have free access to Dad's Visa? Whatever is the world coming to? And who, pray who, will save the children?
I mean, whatever happened to the innocent and tantalizing catalogs of yore, like the 4-inch-thick Sears tome with its countless pages of busty bra models who looked like your best friend's mom?
Whatever happened to fantasizing all the way through the panty selection in the JCPenney catalog? What happened to innocence and virtue in mail-order advertising?
Yeah, right. Softcore is, of course, where you find it. And one person's "offensive" is another's "barely naughty enough to arouse a Catholic priest." The hypocrisy of these parents is palpable. Bring me lots of photos of frumpy baby boomers happily munching $20 Harry & David pears so that I may rinse my poor singed eyeballs!
Meanwhile, Abercrombie is thrilled. The latest round of reactionary screeching is exactly the outcry they were counting on, as they yank the sexy catalog from the shelves just as the news of its raciness hits the media, thus resulting in an instant wave of interest among their target market: a.k.a., those youths who simply love it when parents get all pissy and fumy about interesting types of sex they no longer have.
Is Ambercrombie softcore porn? Is it really? Is it really all that much more dangerous or damaging to nubile young minds than, say, Pottery Barn Kids? Let us ponder. Let us compare.
Let us now gander at, say, the latest Williams-Sonoma catalog. Here is, quite simply, 160 pages of pure kitchen-fetish smut, raw and glossy and openly explicit, all gleaming $400 KitchenAid blenders and wickedly overpriced stainless steel All-Clad cookware and gorgeously photographed slabs of steaming gourmet meats being perfectly sliced with spotless $200 Wusthof knives. Mmm yeah, baby. Do it to me just like that.
And over here, it's the latest mail-order offering from Pottery Barn. Oh my yes. Page after page of softcore earth-toned lifestyle porn for those who can't afford actual designer furniture but who seem to have an undying fetish for picture frames and votive candles and faux-antique mass-produced hardwood rollaway desks.
And all that's missing from these shots is the girl in the Garnet Hill catalog sweater who will refuse to have sex with you on the Pottery Barn slipcovered sofa lest she wrinkle her J. Jill catalog skirt and knock the Crate & Barrel vanilla pillar candle over.
The Abercrombie catalog is, by the way, not sold to anyone under 18. It has a cover warning of "Mature content." No actual terrified oversheltered children were in any way harmed or exposed or even lightly tickled in the photographing or marketing of its pages.
No matter. Still, Michael Kieschnick, president of Working Assets and chairman of some scary-sounding overbearing thing called Dads and Daughters, thinks Abercrombie is trying to openly molest his young girl, who has, presumably, never even seen the catalog and is probably too young to buy it and if she is, in fact, over 18 and she's into happy yuppie group masturbation, well, it's really none of his damn business. Just a thought.
Still, Maryam Kubasek of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families (hello, red flag of rigid sanctimony) apparently thinks the catalog is literally capable of stripping her young son naked and plying him with massage oil and anal beads and a nice Burntbridge Pond Striped Polo shirt with moose embroidery for $39.99. Oh the horror.
Oh hell, let's just spell it out: All major catalogs are softcore porn. Just because they lack nude postcoital models does not make them any less explicit or depraved.
All are unabashed fetishy lifestyle whores and all attempt to showcase their wares in impossibly perfect situations for impossibly perfect people with impossibly perfect teeth.
Of course sex and orgies and masturbation have nothing to do with selling yuppie clothes. This is what the parents groups pule.
Then again, this is complete B.S. -- sex has absolutely everything to do with selling clothes, because just under the surface of it all, clothes are only silly shallow vanity-based things we adorn ourselves with for no other reason than to appear attractive and interesting to the world and to our lovers and families and friends and really hot waitresses. We want to look cute. And sexy. Or at least presentable. Because we want to get laid.
And if you say this is not the reason you buy clothes, you are either lying your ass off or you are sadly disinterested in physical appearances, or you are past the age or the marriage status where you care about sex or fashion or how those jeans make your ass look, and therefore you are not even on Abercrombie's radar.
Should we now talk of the upscale decorator porn of the Gump's catalog? What about the weird overpriced parenting porn of Hanna Anderssen? The uber-cheesy gay Eurostud porn of International Male?
Or what of the super-rich diamond-encrusted ultra-slick porn of the Neiman Marcus catalog, packed with all those untouchable preening fur-clad mistresses descending the steps of your new Lear jet? Why are uptight parents' groups not horrified at this raunchy display?
It's all the same. It's all manufactured desire and imitation lust and a boatload of tasty crap you don't really need but they make you crave madly, the way a 14-year-old schoolgirl pines for Orlando Bloom in a blond wig.
Note to scrunchy parents: I'd be far, far more worried about what, say, Kraft is selling to your kids in all those millions of boxes of toxic and openly poisonous Kraft Lunchables than about some quasi-sexy yuppie-fashion catalog they never even see. But that's just me.
Oh, but here. Here is the safe, saccharine J. Crew catalog, all bland white former sorority girls and carefully emasculated boys and a smattering of safe black persons, all with incredibly clean teeth and nifty haircuts and big happy smiles playfully tossing snowballs at each other in their new J. Crew scarves, only $29.99. Oh yes, that's much better.
And here we have the L.L. Bean catalog, featuring those exact same J. Crew models about 10 years later, doing the exact same smiley snowbound activities, only with more gray hair and a higher credit limit and less sexual activity and lots more monogrammed luggage. How disturbing. I feel sort of violated just looking at it.
Abercrombie sex video on their website here
Interracial Gay Kiss on TV
Spring means romance, also for gay characters on TV; First Luke kissed Noah on As The World Turns, then two gay soldiers lip locked on Grey's Anatomy, and soon there will be an interracial gay kiss on ABC Family's college drama Greek.
One of the central cast members Calvin (Paul James) and his new love interest, Michael (Max Greenfield) - who is introduced this coming Monday - will share an on-screen kiss in the May 26th episode, "A Tale of Two Parties"
Here's the episode description, and below, a picture from the episode:
With all of the party restrictions lifted, Kappa Tau and Omega Chi throw competing parties to celebrate. Calvin (Paul James) is nervous about inviting Michael (Max Greenfield) to the party with all of his fraternity brothers around, while Michael feels uncomfortable partying with the students he is the TA at school for. Both are feeling a bit uneasy and a conversation between the two leads to a first kiss.
viewed here
Gay rights group to train activists in Lauderdale
The Human Rights Campaign gay rights group plans to hold a "Camp Equality" boot camp today and Sunday.
The idea, the organization said, is to train people to work on political campaigns and defeat ballot measures such as the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.
The organization, which worked in 2006 to help Ron Klein defeat then-U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, said it again would target key races.
The camp will end by 3 p.m. Sunday, according to the Web site of the Human Rights Campaign.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
for car lovers, the best sport cars for the next future
Ferrari F149
Meet Ferrari's new baby! But don't call Maranello's latest an "entry-level" Ferrari. Actually, this front-engine rear-drive 2-seater is the Italian automaker's response to increasing concerns about the automobile's impact on the environment. Instead of pursuing more displacement and maximum power, the new philosophy concentrates on delivering a high power-to-weight ratio. As a result, this first front-engine V-8 road car in the company's history will take its place alongside the F430 in the lineup, perhaps priced marginally less.
While it shares some similarities with the larger V-12-powered 612 Scaglietti and 599 GTB, the shorter wheelbase and lighter weight of the car promise outstanding performance. Codenamed F149, the car also boasts a retractable hardtop. Contrary to speculation that the car would be marketed as a Dino, a Ferrari spokesman insists that this new model is a full-fledged member of the company's lineup. "It is a true Ferrari and will perform like one," the executive stressed. Expect the engine to displace 4.3 liters and produce something on the order of 450 bhp.
2012 Maserati Sports Car
It's a clear hint of a more dynamic Maser, competing not only with Aston's V8 Vantage, but also with Porsche's 911.
Maserati has been through some tough times. But after years of loss, the Italian sports-car maker finally returned to profit in 2007. The comeback was possible because of new models like the Quattroporte Automatic and the brand-new GranTurismo luxury coupe. Demand for Maseratis has been growing, pushing production to an all-time high of about 9000 cars. Maserati CEO Roberto Ronchi talks of increasing output "to 20,000 cars after 2012."
Clearly a third model line is essential for this ambitious plan, and a sporty coupe (or spyder) for younger customers looks to be the likely choice. A Geneva study by IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) has been a good test of the public's reaction. Ronchi says the show car "has the right proportions, but still needs some detail work." It's a clear hint of a more dynamic Maser, competing not only with Aston's V8 Vantage, but also with Porsche's 911. The car should be on the road by 2011 or 2012.
Tech-wise, Maserati will benefit from R&D at Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Fiat. Additionally, there is still the Sigma platform developed in cooperation with GM. Denied in the past, it could still be used in the next Alfa Romeo 169 in 2009 (offering both rear- and all-wheel drive).
2012 Jaguar F-Type
Jaguar could very easily end up with the coolest sports car of the 21st century.
Ratan Tata, the soft-spoken urbane boss of the Indian giant conglomerate that has acquired Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion, was understandably very coy about his plans for the two iconic British brands at the Geneva show, as the deal still had to be confirmed.
That was finally done in late March — so what does the future hold for one of Britain's premier marques? One new car that seems a betting certainty is a successor to the fabled E-Type, to be dubbed the F-Type.
In 2000 Jaguar unveiled an F-Type concept at that year's Detroit show to much acclaim. Its swoopy curves and retro machine-turned fascia drew a lot of admiration, but it was ditched in favor of more mainstream products.
2011 Mazda RX-7
Mazda's aim is to bring it in under $30,000.
An anonymous source at Mazda revealed to one of our spies in Japan that there will be another rotary-engine car coming from the Hiroshima-based company. It's still early, but a team is being assembled to produce such a car. The basis for the future car — we have yet to confirm if it will be called the RX-7 — is the 16X rotary engine, unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show last year. The 16X is an all-new Wankel — an evolution of the Renesis 13B powerplant in the RX-8 — with a revised eccentric shaft designed to produce more low -end torque. While Mazda hasn't published horsepower figures yet, we hear it's in the neighborhood of 200–250 bhp.
2010 Suzuki Concept Kizashi 3
An accessible alternative to the near-luxury segment.
The Concept Kizashi 3 is the third and last of the Kizashi concepts, the previous two seen at the 2007 Frankfurt and Tokyo shows. Besides the fact that the Concept Kizashi 3 is the best-looking of the trio, it's also the most important because Suzuki says it will produce a sports sedan based on this design to go on sale in North America by 2010. Kizashi, by the way, is Japanese for "preview."
The Concept Kizashi 3's power comes from a 3.6-liter dohc V-6 with 300 bhp. The engine is mated to a 6-speed automatic with paddle shifters and the car rides on 21-in. wheels. Its overall length of 183.0 in. means it is just a bit larger than a BMW 3 Series. Suzuki says the goal for the new car will be to "provide an accessible alternative to the near- luxury segment."
2010 Lotus Eagle
Codenamed "Eagle," Lotus' new sports car will be unveiled at the London Motor Show.
Lotus is gearing up for its most important product launch since the Elise bowed 13 years ago at the 1995 Frankfurt show. Codenamed "Eagle," Lotus' new sports car will be unveiled at the London Motor Show in late July. It will feature a unique aluminum chassis with a bonded one-piece carbon-fiber roof — including the "A" posts and cantrails — that has a torsional rigidity of 26,000 Nm per degree. "That's slightly more than a Lamborghini Gallardo," said a Lotus insider.
veiwed here
Tom welling's bulge on tv
Tom Welling in slow motion in Smallville TV serie. Look closely.
Yummy bulge! Yummy Jeans
From here
separate bathrooms for gay students at school?
TREASURE VALLEY — Homosexual and heterosexual students should have separate bathrooms and showers in Idaho schools, a Wilder Republican running for the Idaho House said Friday.
Walt Bayes, who gained notoriety two years ago by going on an anti-abortion hunger strike that lasted 59 days, said he wasn’t sure how the issue could be handled other than providing different facilities for gay and straight students in schools.
Also on agenda
Some of Walt Bayes’ other platforms:
• Make the supplying of pornography to juveniles by any person, official, librarian or institution a criminal offense.
• Require written permission from parents or guardian before supplying any sex education, contraceptive or abortion.
• The state shall pay equal money for equal education to all schools: public, private or home. “Give home and private schools money and they will run the unions out of town,” Bayes said.
• Wolves should be killed wherever they endanger livestock, game, pets or people. Bayes said he shot a wolf that was chasing his deer. “To me it was legal because the (Idaho) Constitutional says I have a right to protect my property,” Bayes said. He said officials decided not to prosecute him.
The topic came up after Bayes mentioned it in his campaign literature, where he wrote, “It is absolutely wrong to force any student to share the same bathrooms and showers with homosexual teachers or students.”
Bayes is a 70-year-old retired blue-collar worker and farmer. None of the three Republicans running in the Tuesday, May 27 primary against him agrees with his position.
“I don’t think it’s worth commenting on,” District 11 House Seat B incumbent Rep. Carlos Bilbao of Emmett said. “I don’t know where he’s coming off on all this.”
Bayes said that when he was 18 it would have been “an absolute catastrophe” for him to have showered with girls. But he said he wasn’t completely sure how the issue of homosexuals and heterosexuals using the same facilities in schools should be addressed.
“I don’t really have an answer for it, but we’re going to have to do something if there’s going to be a considerable number of our people who are going to go that way (homosexual),” Bayes said. “We’re going to (need) some kind of separation.”
Bayes said his main goal as a candidate is to stop abortion by having the fetus defined as a person from the moment of conception.
One of Bayes’ opponents, Steve Coyle of Star, said he did not see the need for separate facilities for gays and straights in schools. Another candidate in the race, Jeff Justus of Meridian, said the proposal was not needed.
“We have a lot more important issues than that,” Justus said.
viewed here
Paula Fought For Gay Idols Danny and David
In a new interview, Paula Abdul talks about her gay best friends and how she fought for gay American Idol contestants Danny Noriega and David Hernandez.
Abdul tells NewNowNext about Danny Noriega and David Hernandez:
I pushed for them and fought... There's a reason why there was never, ever a debate or argument during the Green Mile show. We were still debating, and I was being yelled at - we were going overtime - because I fought so hard for Danny and David. And I stood my ground. I said, This kid is needed – especially Danny- because he is very open about being gay. He tried out the year before, and I fought...
Because for a lot of people, the two most vulnerable places to be are in front of a mirror or behind a microphone – and both are areas of my life I've had great success. So I've watched people who are afraid of being who they are. Like with Danny Noriega, it was so important for television, for young kids to see: Here's a young guy, who's very smart, very witty and beyond talented, and I wanted so bad for him to go far in this competition. I needed him, I wanted him so bad to make the top 12. It would have changed even more so...
She also says she helped George Michael during his pre-out days:
Do you know how many people I've embraced and fought for them being at peace with themselves? I mean, I worked with George Michael on the most coveted Faith tour. You can't get bigger than that. And I was so understanding and so supportive of the fact that it's really difficult living a ... not living your life truthfully, for fear that people won't accept you.
And it wasn't until years afterwards that he came out - and he had the courage to walk up to me when I was eating dinner with Mike Ovitz at the Ivy - and he came up to me and said, I want to apologize; you're one of the most talented people, and I treated you not so great. And that's because ... I was living a lie of who I was.
And he gave me the biggest hug. And I said, For that my dear, I love you more than ever.
Abdul says her four closest friends are all gay:
My whole life ... [she starts to cry again.] has been surrounded by marvelous, wonderful gay people. My best friend Jimmy right now is living with me, and he's one of the most magnificent singers in the world. I don't think anyone sings better than him.
Let's see, my four closest friends - they're my best friends - are three gay guys and one gay woman ... my whole life, my extended family has been a family of wonderful gay people.
I've grown up in the business, behind-the-scenes, as a dancer choreographer - not so much as a dancer, but as a choreographer. And I've lost so many wonderful, dear, dear people that I trained and that toured with me. It's been a world that I feel very, very close to. I feel that, in many ways, I'm more understood by the gay community than I am anywhere else.
viewed here
