EW.com / Entertainment Weekly Magazine covers the famous rats and mice in movies and other media... but I think they just covered ALL the rats ever to grace the screen. Just when you think they wouldn't include the Great Mouse Detective... they did. I am glad they praised animation cult favorite Mrs. Brisby from the 1982 classic The Secret of NIMH. But they did forget the Rats from the Muppets.
It was revealed Wednesday, the long-overlooked mummy of an obese woman has been identified as Queen Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh. Hatshepsut is believed to have served as a co-regent from about 1479 to 1458 BC--making her reign longer than any other female ruler of an indigenous dynasty. Following the death of King Tohotmos, his son Tohotmos the second,who was a son for a secondary wife, ascend the throne of Egypt, and he was compelled to support his right to throne to marry his sister Hatshepsut, the daughter of the main wife of the late monarch Tohotmos the 1st. But Hatshepsut did not produce any boys but a female child namely "Nefro Ra." After the death of her husband Tohotmos 2nd, his male son Tohotmos 3rd (from one of the secondary wives) was to take the throne. But due to his age Hatshepsut was allowed to reign as queen dowager. Hatshepsut was not one to sit back and wait for her nephew to age enough to take her place. As a favorite daughter of a popular pharaoh, and as a charismatic and beautiful lady in her own right, she was able to command enough of a following to actually take control as pharaoh.
As the Feminist movement matured, prominent women from antiquity were sought out and their achievements became increasingly publicized. Hatshepsut went from being one of the most obscure leaders of Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century to one of its most famous by the century's end. Biographies such as Hatshepsut by Evelyn Wells romanticized her as a beautiful and pacifistic woman — "the first great woman in History". This was quite a contrast to the 19th-century view of Hatshepsut as a wicked step mother usurping the throne from Thutmose III. The novel Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw kept her as a wicked step-mom.
In August's People En Español Magazine, that is available now--Christian Chavez of RBD is interviewed for the first time about his marriage to stylist William "B.J." Murphy. They met when the show Rebelde was filming in Canada and he wanted to give up the show and move there. Anahi convinced him not to and he went to tell his parents. They told him they didn't understand but it was okay. Murphy learned Spanish and eventually got married. The gang fully accepted Christian but he was afraid of how the church would react and parents concerned about their kids, that happen to be fans.
Alfonso says he hasn't seen such a loving couple and that they are a great example. The article also mostly talks about their new show RBD: La Familia, that is airing in Mexico. The article doesn't really goes into details about how some gay people may look very 'out' like Christian and still has problems coming out. The article is mostly a generic 'coming out' article. I mean, some may be saying 'what is the big deal?' But remember, Christian is from Mexico, and all his worries are understandable. For him, dressing wacky and having colorful hairdos was his thing and wasn't obvious for people to realize he was gay. The article also calls him out on saying he wasn't gay in the last article but people have to understand, it was a hard time on him. What is funny is that he shares my birthday, August 7. He's a year young than me. His husband is 2 years younger than him. Well the article is refreshing and I am happy for Christian and BJ. Does anybody else finds it funny that his name is BJ?
The June 27th episode
When the records and accounts of John F. Kennedy are read, a certain individual by the name of Lem Billings is mentioned and that is where it ends. Some biographies just describe him as JFK's childhood friend from Choate (high school) and ends at that. But he was actually there in the White House until Jack (how he is called throughout the book) died. It is rarely known or even publicly knowledged that Kirk LeMoyne Billings (Lem's full name) was gay. Well the word 'gay' is thrown around a lot, I find the word 'homosexual' too medical but in the end, he wasn't really out of the closet. This all comes from the book Jack and Lem by David Pitts. David Pitts was crazy about Jack and kept coming across Lem's name and did some more research and this book developed.
Lem was an attractive individual when he was young but Jack ripped on him about his looks and how women weren't interested in him. The author Pitts deduces that Jack did know Lem was gay and accepted and still want to be his friend. Lem frequently spent time at the Kennedy estates to the point that Teddy Kennedy realized he wasn't his older brother until he was three years old. Jack's parents considered Lem like a son and often wrote recommendation letters for him. After Jack's death, Lem became close to Jack's brother Robert, they weren't as close as he was with Jack but Robert's death did effect him. Lem still stayed close to the Kennedys. Lem had a squeaky voice and always made people laugh with his sardonic humor. With a high pressure family like the Kennedys where when an older son died, the next son felt it was his duty to fulfill the political dream (which was thrust upon not only on Robert but on Jack after Joseph died in 1944)--the Kennedys relaxed with Lem. Lem kept their mind off things. Especially for Jackie and Jack in the White House, they enjoyed having him around.
The book gets a bit repetitive, redundant if you will but it is a sweet fascinating story. I admit I was expecting a little bit more about Lem's personal life but it happens that he was very discreet. Advocate Magazine, in which I learned about the book, believes Lem was sort of protected within the silence regarding gay people, because no one questioned the President if his best friend and constant companion was gay, they probably speculated but never mentioned it. The most sexual encounters that are mentioned are JFK's, his constant womanizing and various ladies. Curiously, Marilyn Monroe is not mentioned in the book. In the early days, Jack would send Lem to fetch his women and in some cases, break up with them for him. I never was really interested in Jack before this book and learned a lot about him. I had no idea how rebellious he was. Lem and Jack were considered rebellious in Choate as they were part of a group referred to as 'The Muckers." Maybe in a nerdy way, Jack's act of rebellion was to sneak into Germany when no American could.
"The List is Life"
David Wright
In 2005, he began the David Wright Foundation to increase awareness about multiple sclerosis and to raise money for multiple sclerosis organizations and projects.
Wright's at bat songs this year are "Me & U" by Cassie and David Bowie's "Fame". He recently appeared on the cover of Men's Health Magazine.
Brendan Mackey
He studies Jeet Kune Do and Kali and is a skilled boxer. His movies include Fated, 48 Angels, Boxed, and 9 Dead Gay Guys.
Brian Kolodziej
Brian graduated from Chippewa Valley High School in Michigan in 1997. He moved to California five years after graduating High School.
Never did I imagine any American English-speaking television show would shoot in my neighborhood. This morning I saw a bunch of trucks parked in this spooky area that was abandoned--pictured below. It used to be a children's nursery but was closed down and then collapsed and now homeless people live there. Anyhoo, they were blocking off a lot of areas and the cars couldn't get through. I went down there and asked what they were filming--as soon as they told me "Burn Notice" it made sense. Because the show is set in Miami.
Here from Google Maps, the area a few months ago. I am glad they picked us (Allapattah--not even other Miami residents know where it is), this is the real Miami--not Miami Beach. So, I went to where they were filming in a local dollar store and an AD (I suppose) told me to be in their way. The dollar store always smells but when I passed by the open window and saw Jeffrey Donnovan delivering a monologue, it smell so much better--like a breath of fresh air. It is scorching hot and it is crowded in the store, so I went my merry way. I heard they have been shooting since Monday and will be finishing up tomorrow. I will definitely be snopping for more info or an autograph.
Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures of him, took one as I was passing by, also there is not much to take pictures of. This is the place they were shooting in-- La Auxiladora Dollar Store.
One of the local news stations just did a news byte, a teaser for the nightly news and they just said something in bad taste. A couple fell down a 50 foot fall and died and were naked. The announcer said "We will bare all." That is just plain distasteful. Two people just died.
I have noticed people call the character Prince Charming... Even Disneyworld fans call him Prince Charming. Okay, let's get something straight---none of the Princes were ever called 'Charming' in the movies. In "Snow White," he was simply referred to as 'the Prince.' Everywhere else he is referred to as 'Prince Charming.' Now, in "Cinderella" all the official stuff calls him Prince Charming but nowhere in the movies is he referred to as Prince Charming.
Other than Prince Eric from "The Little Mermaid," Philip is one of the only Disney Princes that has a name! I remember loving Philip, he was so kickass fighting the dragon and was a hot little prince, and was rebellious. I liked his relationship with his dad.
Pictures from here at OneStopCool.com
I know it is Tuesday so I am a bit late but it is still shocking that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is number one in the United States and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End that has been at number one for a couple of weeks has been pushed to number four. I wanted to help Knocked Up but at least it stays at number 3. At least they are still hanging in there. The reason I saw Fantastic Four, is because I went with my cousins and their children. Well, that was interesting. It will get much interesting when Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and The Simpsons comes out.
The last from the comics to be added to "Smallville" will be Kal-El's cousin Kara, who will added to the cast. I have only seen the Green Arrow episodes for obvious reasons, so I don't know what's going on now. I have pretty much stop watching. The role has not be casted yet. She will have more powers than Clark--she can actually fly and connect him more to Krypton. On the Animated Series of Superman, Kara was added as a cameo character and later became a integral part of "Justice League Unlimited". During the 90's, to attract more comic book readers, more complicated storylines were made for Supergirl--who first died in the first generation.
This is not from an article or anything I heard. Just from the old noggin. I was thinking about something a straight guy asked me a while back, that why was it so important about gay pride. Instead of getting mad, I asked him what he meant. In his mind, gay and straight are equal and he doesn't go around saying 'straight pride' and separating himself from others. I explained to him that there is no need for 'straight pride' because everyone is expected to be heterosexual. He then asked me why bother? I was like, well, we are oppressed all our lives and then when we can come out, we are proud about it and want to say it. It got to me thinking, why are these labels so important if we try to dismantle labels?
Some ignorant people see gay people and say, 'They don't look gay.' They expect a flamboyant man or a butch woman. Then other people get confused with transgender individuals that are female to male and butch lesbians. I always say there isn't an easy this or that. Our need to label people or group them, is fear of the unknown. We want everything nicely packaged. The term 'Transgender' is not even accepted by my Firefox spell checker. Awful. Anyhoo, most straight guys hear that I am gay and then instantly say they are straight. Some people that didn't label themselves is writer Gore Vidal, who didn't want to be label one sexual orientation or another. That is sort of complicated. So yeah, I do believe in some sort of order.
I hate when some gay people say that bisexuals are just afraid of coming out as gay. That they aren't out completely. One of my friends that happens to be a lesbian says there is no such thing as bisexual. That just irks me. It surprises some straight people when I tell them that there is such conflicts between gay people. That most gay men want 'straight-acting' men and that back in the early starting of the GLBT revolution, gay men wanted to be separate from lesbian woman. I personally think it all stems from what we grow up being told. That gay people are bad, so we try to stem away from people who don't fit society's gender construct in order to fit in, even if they are out. I had arguments with this guy, who said he was bi-curious, who didn't believe there was a difference between gender and sex--getting to talk to him more and more, I discovered he found homosexuality immoral. In the end, he was afraid of himself, of course he didn't want to admit it but it seemed he was conflicted. It would be easy to call him hypocritical but it just isn't easy being out, even to yourself. Evidence on how labels can bog the mind.
My nephew is 4 and my niece is 2, they love superhero movies and besides Spider-Man, Power Rangers, Superman, the Fantastic Four and the Justice League, they love Batman. Well it's like Batman is #2. Anyhoo, they don't care what he is wearing, they just love him, so shouldn't we?
Chason Bridgman
Chason played Bruno on MTV's "Undressed," a guy trying out for a fraternity and was forced to be handcuffed to a gay kid (Mike Greybeal) and he slowly became friends with him--much to the urging of his girlfriend that hung their having sex over his head. That same week that it aired, a commercial for Footaction or some similar shoe store aired with him and an alien and a sale.
He has since was the white kid in the African-American-centered movie Kingston High in 2002 and in 2005 he played the lead in a short film Television.
Paul Tornabene
Apparently that site doesn't exist anymore but according to Sambag's Blog, he was training to be a fireman on Long Island.
Max Thieriot
He was in "Catch That Kid," "The Pacifier," and now the new Nancy Drew movie as her guy friday.
He will also play Hayden Christensen's lead character at a younger period in Jumper.
RJ Helton from the first season of American Idol announced last year that he was gay, saying that current natural disasters made him wake up to the fact that life was short. While Jim Verraros was the first openly gay contestant, I always felt R.J. was gay too. In 2004, I read an article about his Christian music and how much he love god---while that is fine and all, I felt sort of disappointed. I felt he wasn't true to himself, even he said it was hard to be gay and a Christian singer. Article from People Magazine.
I did not expect to see this movie and I have not seen the first movie. Of course I was happy to see Chris Evans, he is all over the movie. I was waiting for his shirtless scene and it reached until like 45 minutes into it (I sound like the guys from "Knocked Up," watch it!). Iaon Gruffudd is sort of boring as Mr. Fantastic, I don't think it was good fit to begin with. When he is enjoying himself--it looks forced. Iaon was hot in "Hornblower" but unfortunately it only translates in waves. And they still don't got the stretching effect to be seamless, it still lacks fluidity through the live-action and CGI. Also, Kerry Washington (Alicia, the blind girlfriend of The Thing) is great in the movie. The Fantasti-Car makes its debut, at first you think: what is the big deal? But it is actually alright.
I really liked the movie "Dogma," many regular movie fans and Kevin Smith fans don't. But as you readers may have noticed, I am not the usual moviegoer or movie enthusiast. It is essentially a superhero movie. There is lots of scenes I love in the movie. I even liked Selma Hayek in it. Even though there was turmoil between Linda Florentino and Kevin behind the scenes, he still managed to get a strong performance from her. Now, when the movie was coming out---Kevin got protests from not only Catholic groups but death threats-- "Over time, the filmmakers received over 300,000 pieces of hate mail. Among these were 'two-and-a-half' death threats. Smith explained this in his movie An Evening with Kevin Smith: One of the letters was threatening to start with, then became more friendly further on." -(Wikipedia)
In the Season Four Premiere of FX's "Rescue Me"...
Okay, when I heard this new show "Lil' Bush" from Comedy Central was coming out, I thought it was just going to fade away. Comedy Central has been pushing this show like crazy. For one thing, it doesn't have time correct, it is escapism.. sort of. Lil' George Bush (David Bianculli, not Frank Caliendo) and his little friends are around the same age as Cheney and they are little when Bush senior is president. Now here is the distasteful stuff (and there are plenty)---Cheney cuts chicken's heads off and sucks their blood; talks like The Penguin and mumbles; Jeb is blonde for some reason and a retard; Lil' Bush's mom has sex with Lil' Cheney and he gets stuck in her stomach; Lil' Hilary and Lil' Condi kiss; and Lil' Laura for some reason doesn't talk. And one of my complaints is that Lil' Rumsfeld's voice doesn't sound at all like him and talks too clearly. So yeah, I am not going to be watching this show ever again.
Dan Wheldon
He has a well-known rivalry with Danica Patrick.
Chad White
He has been around everywhere lately, GQ, Out Magazine, Dsquared2, D&G, Versace, and Vogue.
He played baseball in college and was drafted for MLB, he injured his hand and had to fall out.
Matt Barr
Matt is 6'1" and 175 pounds. He was also in "Commander in Chief" and American Pie Presents: Band Camp.
He starred in Ten Inch Hero and The Head Hunter.