bye bye birdie

can you believe i'd never seen any production of "bye bye birdie"? even though it's been done by every high school and community theatre in the world. this one starred john stamos and the ultra-gorgeous gina gershon. 'twas fun. it's that time of year the theatres are collecting for broadway cares/equity fights aids. after the show they auctioned john stamos' (sweaty) tee shirt he wore in the show. went for $600 - which also included going backstage to have stamos sign it for you. antonio wanted to bid. not that he particularly likes john stamos, he just loves to win any competition. i had to stop him.

jacob black doll

so the twilight crazy girls (and crazy boys) can snuggle up to this jacob black doll made by mattel. it's actually kinda hysterical because jacob looks like he's headed out to the nearest gay bar. or to a pool party at the home of that new silver haired ken doll i told you about several weeks ago. i'm re-posting him below so you can see what a great sugar daddy he'd make for young jacob. yowza!

embraceable me

spent a rainy gloomy afternoon in the quaint, comfortable kirk theatre on theatre row to see our good friend scott barrow's new play: "embraceable me". it's a light, romantic comedy two hander. scott's an amazing actor. keira naughton, his co-star, was also lovely in the piece. afterward, got to meet her (she's lovely in person) and also scott's friend the esteemed actor/director austin pendleton. then we walked through the rain and gloom to have a nice quiet coffee chat with scott. then we walked again through the rain and gloom to "shrek" where scott plays poker with those guys between shows. personally, i'm thinking: NAP!

2012

okay. guaranteed oscar for best special effects. other than that, all i can say is it's very, very disturbing. very.

precious

saw this film this afternoon. it's interesting that the actual title of the movie is "precious - based on the novel "push" by sapphire". i can tell you one thing, that sapphire sure has a helluva agent. not selling those movie rights until she got her own name in the actual film title. pretty savvy. but kinda annoying when we're going to have to listen to that long-ass title over and over come award season. and yes, this film is gonna kick some major awards butt.

it's a heartbreaking story of a 16 year-old girl growing up in harlem surrounded by poverty, lack of education, sexual abuse, physical abuse and yes, very little hope. the film is beautifully done and packs some powerful performances. it's hard not to focus on gabourey sidibe's astonishing film debut as the title character. but perhaps even more powerful is (bawdy comic) mo'nique's harrowing, dramatic performance as her mother. both should end up on the oscar ballot. the two other main characters in the film are the two women who try to help precious: her teacher (the terrific paula patton) and mariah carey as her social worker (i eat my words, she was very, very good).

it was especially sad to me to be sitting in a nice, warm movie theatre on a cold, rainy day just 85 or so blocks south of where this story takes place and knowing there are lots of girls like precious still out there.

call 'er a shrink, stat!

did you see former "beauty" queen on larry king last night. gal has a book to promote but what she's dishing out is a whole lot of crazy. it was hysterical when she called larry king "inappropriate" tried to storm off mid-interview but couldn't get out of her microphone. HIGHlarious. today on the view, whoopie goldberg called her "bitchy".

and finally comes this wonderful quote from keith lewis, the director of the miss california pageant: "the public is finally getting a glimpse of the real Carrie Prejean who lives in her own delusional world. The childish behavior, her negative attitude, the sarcasm and condescending tone, the disrespect and continual lying she is demonstrating now is only a fraction of what we endured during her reign and after. Anyone who buys her book is supporting a woman who is actually the opposite of everything she claims to be. I sincerely hope she is able to get the psychological help I believe she has shown to clearly need.” boo-ya!

of course there is

the national enquirer - my #2 news source behind the new york times - is reporting that yes, folks, there is a jon gosselin sex tape. thank god it's not with kate (my eyes!) but apparently with some random ho he hooked up with in a hotel room. word on the street is that there's a lot of cocaine usage in the film as well. they need to put a copy away so the "plus eight" can watch it as soon as they turn 18. here's what daddy was doing during your developmental years...

congratulations clemson

click on the photo to enlarge. take a good look. the clemson women's rowing team just won some contest called "head of the cooch". Hooch! "head of the HOOCH". i'm sure it's a big honor. i don't know much about rowing. i know a few terms: sculling, gumwales, camel toe.

you couldn't pay me enough

just in case you're sitting around this afternoon thinking *your* job sucks...

i want this bathroom floor

just sayin'

hugh jackman may be the straightest arrow out there. but what have been his activities the last couple of days? hanging with his boys: (gay) michael urie and (gay) justin bond. what did they do? they hit the kylie concert and then diva bernadette peters' show. insert your own joke or conclusion here.

this is why i could never been a newscaster

i could never deliver a story like this with a straight face. watch the drunk ho in the video. she tries to stub out her cigarette on the subway platform and stumbles off into the path of the oncoming train. she's down there sleeping soundly as the sober people on the platform manage to wave their arms and stop the train. i'm sorry but it's hysterical how the train stops *just* before it flattens her like a pancake. and then even more hysterical how she wakes up, stands up, and falls right back down. when they cut back to me at the cbs news desk, i'd be laughing my ass off.

autumn

from our philadelphia terrace, across the park, looking to downtown. it really is autumn! beautiful. let's let it linger, not skip straight to winter.

you *are* the weakest link

the kansas city chiefs fired running back Larry "I didn't know the word 'fag' was offensive to anybody" Johnson on Monday. johnson had repeatedly used gay slurs with reporters in the team's locker room. he was also famous for twittering nasty comments about the team's fans. columnist bruce maiman nicely sums it up this way: "Do not bring up free speech. This is the free market at work, not free speech. Free speech protects you from the government, not your employer. Say something offensive to customers, potential customers or your boss, and you can lose your job. The Chiefs organization also has every right to terminate the employment of anyone they feel represents them poorly." well said.

good lord, nothing will shut her up

at least my nemesis carrie prejean isn't denying that there actually is a pornographic sex tape out there. she appeared on her right wing mentor hannity's fox news show last night to defend her actions. she was "filming a sexy gift for her boyfriend at a disconcertingly young age." she called it "the biggest mistake of my life." funny, i thought the pornographic photos she took were the biggest mistake of her life. oh, that was *last* month. the former miss california explains that she is taking responsibility for her actions, and that she learned an important lesson from the debacle: "I've learned a lot about people and what they'll do to make extra money." a funny quote coming from the woman who let a pageant buy her a set of bolt-ons and who's now hawking a book (for which hannity wrote the foreward) about absolutely nothing. christianity is so happy to have you as their spokesmodel.

it's sad, really

you may have heard about nyc cabbie medhat mohamed who, this past weekend, threw a gay couple out of his cab for hugging in the backseat. there was an obvious public outcry and mr. mohamed was asked not to return to work. he's worried how he's going to feed his family but apparently not too worried about his biggoted behavior. and along comes ny post columnist andrea peyser who is leading the charge to get this cabbie his job back because he "did nothing wrong". biggotedly tossing people out of your cab is "nothing wrong"? would we say that if he tossed out a black couple? or jewish couple? just because no one wants to hug peyser (or do anything else with her for that matter) i guess she's jealous and thinks all public hugging should be shunned. at least she has her cat...

he's so sincere...

jon gosselin's "i'm sorry for being such a famewhore" tour continued yesterday as he appeared on the insider with levi johnston! yes, that certainly cries out "i never wanted all this publicity!" where's his rabbi?

the weiner report

levi johnston has arrived in nyc for his playgirl shoot. and the world cares about this why? there apparently was great speculation about just who would be the photographer to capture levi in all his full-frontal nakedness. well, it's greg weiner. yes, weiner. insert your own pun here. playgirl is now an online-only publication but for levi, they are publishing a special print edition. for some unemployed 19-year-old alaskan redneck? do enough people really really care?