Brave Teen Rape Victim in Dubai Commotion

It is all over the news and now on ABC's 20/20, Alexandre Robert--the French 15-year old rape victim in Dubai. He is so brave to face this and talk about it on the news. Two men kidnapped him and his friend and went into the desert. The two men and a teenager rape him. He luckily remembered the plate number. Now the outrage is about the government wanting to put Alex in jail for a year-long sentence for supposedly homosexuality. That he was responsible. "The police doctor who examined Alexandre declared that there was no physical sign of rape, and suggested that Alexandre was instead concealing his homosexuality." -TIME Magazine

In the report that 20/20 report says they think he permitted it and there were no tears or evidence of forcible sex. This chills me to the bone and it is very upsetting. Not because of the gay accusations but about the young boy victim. I hope all this commotion encourages Dubai to change their laws and open their eyes. It is just taboo to the government officials to talk about rape or same-sex relationships. In this case, there is a scare also over HIV status of the two rapists. He has to wait until January to find out his own status. They say homosexuality is a crime, not that he is a victim. They turn everything around. The French told him and his mom to flee before he can be charged. He is now 16 and lives in Paris.

Sources:
ABC News article
TIME Magazine Article
EdgeBoston.com

Charisma Carpenter on "Big Shots"

Next week Charisma Carpenter guest stars on "Big Shots." She seduces Christopher Titus' 'good buddy' and 'whipped' character Brody.

Pushing Daisies Episode Eight Review

"Bitter Sweets"
November 28, 2007
I find myself falling in love more and more with "Pushing Daisies." It is more and more enchanting. People criticize it for being too romantic and sweet. Entertainment Weekly brings out the point that many shows on television now are in infantile relationships, no real relationships. Everyone are on opposite sides, either single, afraid of commitment or divorced or the constantly fighting duo. In 'Pushing Daisies,' we get Ned and Chuck, who are just smitten with each other. There are still some secrets but when they can, they are truthful to each other. They also share an apartment and don't touch each other, because they can't or Chuck dies. So yeah, besides that they have a relationship. They have their fumbles but yeah the show is awful romantic. Not a good thing.

I love the part when Olive asks Chuck if she has a credit card and Chuck asks if it is to open the door and Olive smashes through the glass door. I love how the girls embraced the misspelling of 'Pie Hole' and says, "Don't mess with the Pie Hoes." This episode guest starred Molly Shannon, who is always a pleasure as a crazy nut. Remember those cheesy promos that they have a narrator that says that each week will take you on a new journey. But it is for real this time.

Shrek The Halls Review

Last year I mentioned ABC doing a Shrek special, so far there has been positive reviews. It aired tonight at 8pm on ABC.

Here is the Review...

I am a fan of the first movie. One of my close friends can't stand any of the movies since having to be reduced to listening to it 24/7 at her former work place, but I am not fond of the other two. I think the series has pretty much sold out. The first movie had delightful innuendo and felt more of a 'adult swim-watching 20-something's humor' of movie and the other two being commercial propaganda with no soul. When I heard they were doing this special, I feared it would suck. But to my surprise, "Shrek The Halls" captures the spirit of the first movie, even though the character list is crowded with offspring (Shrek's three children--briefly seen in the last movie; and some of Donkey and Dragon's kids).

The plot is basically goes straight to the heart of Shrek. Shrek never celebrated Christmas and has no idea what to do. As always, Donkey bugs him to no end to prepare for Christmas and Shrek pases his old tired Ogre "I don't wanna" act. At the core, he has no idea what to do. When he is given a "Christmas for Village Idiots" book, he sees the 'ideal' family (mommy, daddy, three kids) and dreams of doing that with his family. When he prepares the decorations with his family, he is enthused and of course, it is ruined by his horde of annoying fairy tale friends (and for some reason, the cross-dressing wolf). So of course, Donkey and Puss in Boots and Gingy (the Gingerbread cookie man) have their own versions of the "Night Before Christmas." Let's just say everything goes bad, Shrek gets burned and he kicks everyone out and they get angry.

It gets a bit smaltzy but it is quick, when Fiona leaves Shrek to apologize to their friends. (Did I tell you Fiona looks awesome decked out in winter clothing?) Now, does Fiona stay in the background or act like the typical 'woman'? Sort of, but what can you do in 30 minutes? She is flurioush as the word of reason and a bit of Devil's Advocate. They all make up when Shrek swallows his pride and admits he never celebrated before. He doesn't know the meaning and of course, the answer after him repeating his family, he accepts everyone as his family. He mentions they bug him but Donkey counters that family always bug you. In a fight between Shrek and Fiona, he slipped it was his Christmas. But I don't think he completely was driven by that. After all, it was his first. So instead of being corny as it sounds, it has a lot of emotional and psychological round-a-bouts that we all feel. Instead of saying 'the true meaning of Christmas,' this concentrates more on what we all deal with in modern days... the family madness.

All in all, a good half of hour. No waist of time. Now, will it prove timeless like "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer," "A Charlie Brown Christmas," or "The Grinch that Stole Christmas" specials? We'll see but it has potential.

Related Topic: Shrek ABC Holiday Special

Ratatouille DVD Review

Everybody might have already heard the plot to Pixar's Ratatouille, about a rat Remy that was enticed to become a chef in Paris. It all starts with Chef Gusteau who writes a book called "Anyone can cook," which is a philosophy in its own. Gusteau died and follows Remy as a figment of his imagination. No one expected it to be a hit. Pixar admitted people would be squeamish about seeing rats in the big screen but they were adamant by having them walk and scurry and act like rats. I thought I would have no problem with it at all but I have to admit I had to get used to it. Entertainment Weekly passed off the movie Ratatouille in lacking in celebrity voices. They said Patton Oswalt is no hero next to Owen Wilson's Lighting McQueen from Cars. But what decides who is not a star? Patton does a great job and Remy is an awesome character. Curious and set to his principals. The movie is filled with innuendo, guns, sex, drunk people, a chef that clams to have killed a man with a finger and venom. This is a G-rated flick and there is the line 'caught fooling around with his daughter' and Remy's human friend almost gets maced in the face.

In the first Toy Story, Pixar's humans looked robotic and weird. But, once they got that their humans have to look cartoonish, now Pixar has their own class of look for humans. It started with The Incredibles and now with this movie, humans blend in easily. Remy and his friend Linguine do go through the cliche of going up and down in stardom (claiming credit and so on), but it is forgivable. Some say the plot and writing is said and done, but the dialouge is great and awesome lines. The greatest character is Collete, that has to survive in a man-driven chef world and is hard-as-nails. Like a date movie cliche, she then falls in love with the Linguine but still remains a tough cookie. Some people said the movie could have more of her but I think it's just perfect, sometimes you got to have people wanting more.

One can pass over the movie was being cutesy and wacky but that is not the case. Pixar has a way to make movies feel real adult. For example, The Incredibles could just be another superhero dribble but it was cemented in family politics and raw emotion. Also Finding Nemo can also be taken as a morose An American Tail. Now, Ratatouille may not have star kid power like Nemo, where any kid goes "Nemo!" when they see a fish or even The Little Mermaid's Flounder, but it has its charm. The movie is delicious and have great message... move on, change and go forward. Also that people can do whatever they set their sights on. The review at the end by Ego (Peter O' Toole) is great. Of course, like any Disney movie, it comes with a happy ending, this one comes with a delightful ending.

What is not fair is this:
ONLY THE BLU-RAY and LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION HAS AUDIO COMMENTARY! The regular one does not have the director's commentary with brad Bird and David L. Like cinemablend.com says, "Brad Bird is a wealth of information for people that want to be inspired by how movies are made, animated or not. What kind of shots does he look for? What makes a good script? What makes a good scene? A good character? A realistic character? An audio commentary could have made this disc go from beefaroni to alfredo."

This Week's Guests on Nip/Tuck

Jai Rodriguez of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" guested on tonight's "Nip/Tuck." His character's name is the episode's title.. Chaz Darling. Hilariously, 'Darling' is the last name of the family in ABC new hit "Dirty Sexy Money" that stars Seth Gabel who was introduced in "Nip/Tuck." Chaz is the best gay friend of Eden, the show's new resident bitch. His surgery was to reduce his nipple, one was huge. His character didn't supply much and was pretty much a stereotype. But the good part is that he is a good actor, he doesn't fuss much.

Also guesting is John Schneider. Since leaving "Smallville," he has been plenty busy. He has been doing "Journeyman" and now 'Nip/Tuck," he also have a lot of movies under his belt. He plays Ram Peters, porn director guy who offers Matt 'gay for pay.' Ram's wife runs a daycare center.

Tomorrow: Futurama's 1st of 4th DVD movie

Tomorrow, Bender's Big Score the first of four straight-to-DVD no censored movies is coming out.

Check out the new interview from David X. Cohen!

Related Topic: Futurama Returns!

Richard Chamberlain on Desperate Housewives

Every time any gay character come across "Desperate Housewives," I got to put my two cents. Even with Marc Cherry being the Executive Producer and gay. Tonight Richard Chamberlain, who is gay and recently played a gay character in Nip/Tuck last year, guested as Lynette's step-father. I knew I soon as I saw him, his secret was him being gay. Sadly, I was right and that was it. It was like it was a big shock. Hello, they now have two gay neighbors and this is the big shock?

Related Topic: Nip/Tuck Season 4 brings Richard Chamberlain

Joy Lauren plays a Expectant Teen Mother twice on ABC?

Actress Joy Lauren portrays Danielle Van DeCamp on "Desperate Housewives" and two weeks ago, her character gave birth to an illegitimate child. Tonight on the "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off "Private Practice," Joy Lauren portrayed yet another pregnant teenager. She gave birth as well. On the same network! ABC!

Kid Nation got really really good

Since the last week's episode, things have been heating up. Blaine had step out of Greg's shadow and stepped up, helping out the Yellow district and got the golden star. The counsel had been criticized again and all the members were changed, continued into this week. T.K. became the red leader, Michael the green leader, Blaine the yellow leader, and Greg the blue leader. Laurel was upset she went down from her throne. I think what got on her bad side was that when all the leaders decided to switch 1 member from one district to another, she decided not to. There was rumblings that the Green District was stuck up, thinking they were smarty smarties. That sort of came to a head when T.K., Greg, and Blaine heard a conversation with the green district members. They then confronted them and most of the green district members felt out of it and pinned. Some of them cried. I love the green district and it was a great scene. All the leaders (all together) have become corrupted with power.

How I see Greg and T.K. have is trying to teach a lesson to be respectful and weren't exactly that much. A bit hypocritical. As always, I love what Michael had to say, well I love his speeches. Sophia had cursed to Guylan last week. Guylan got what he deserved, he thought being a leader would be easy and it wasn't. I think it was right, he got off it but I hated the smile on his face when he volunteered to leave. It was a good episode. The scene with Taylor is touching, when the counsel told Taylor she was not going to get part of the Big Prize but when they found out it was letters from home, they gave it to her. I think they were too hard on Greg at the end, he has been doing better these days, but they can't forget the past. I can't deny he wasn't being disrespectful. I like that the other leaders were trying to snap Greg out of it, to change. I am glad the producers didn't reveal that Laurel didn't get the golden star, it was great and a surprise. Good she decided not to leave and got the star. She got kicked off the counsel but got the star. Funny her mom has her same accent. Also, that Greg wanted his own personal hug with Laurel. Could he had harbored feelings for her?

Bravo to another D&G Same-Sex Kiss Commercial

A year ago, there was a D&G commercial with same-sex gay kiss that was banned and I think only aired in Europe. Now in 2007, a new commercial has been brought around. It is for D&G Time , for the Embrace Your Ego campaign. The commercial has an annoying booming sound, a woman and man run through the city and you think they are going to meet each other and instead they kiss themselves. I think since they are kissing themselves, people shouldn't have such a hoo-ha alreayd. I saw the commercial with two women first. Then the man one twice already on local syndication television.

See the commercial here

Pleasant Surprise: Mo Collins & Debra Wilson guests on MADtv

Tonight, we MADtv fans got a pleasant surprise with Debra Wilson and Mo Collins guesting on the 300th episode. Debra is always hilarious and zany. Recently she was on "Mind of Mencia" as Carlos Mencia's Black first lady if he was a Black U.S. president.

Mo Collins re-birthed her Loraine around town digital videos on MADtv. This is the second time she has guest on the show after she left the show. Nicole Parker interviewed her on the new set with the big live audience and told her she looked sexy. They showed a montage of her 'sexy' characters she played doing her run on the show. Hilarious. Then she did Stewart's mom.

Austin Nichols in "Friday Night Lights"

I love "Friday Night Lights," lately they have done gotten a little better from the season two premiere. Julie has gotten rid of 'swede,' and now may have a crush on her school paper teacher guy, played by Austin Nichols.

TVGuide.com Intreview

Recently he has had his own show "John from Cincinnati."

What is it with cute guys out of body experience movies?

I have recently noticed a trend in movies. Well, two movies. The upcoming Awake with Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard, in which Christensen is operated on and he is going to be killed and harvested--and has a out of body experience. And a couple months ago, there was The Invisible with Justin Chatwin. The trend is hot young thin white boys having out of body experiences. Not that I am complaining... really, but I just found it curious. I am sure there a couple of other movies like them. The Invisible didn't get much notice and I don't think Awake shall either.

Nip/Tuck Season 5 Episode 3 Review

"Everett Poe"

Season 5 Episode 3

November 13, 2007

Just when I thought the show was getting better, the characters are just not growing. Christian has just gotten more self-absorbed and infantile. He was a total dick about Julia being gay and couldn't live with her being gay so he seduced her and tried to have sex with her. It got to the point where she did have sex with him... and he honestly believe they were going to be together and she did it to get him out of her system. With this episode, we meet Eve, the daughter of Julia's new beau (Portia De Rossi). Eve seduces as well, in this case to Sean. Once again Sean is tempted. As he is in a relationship with an insecure actress and tempted to be with a crazy ass 18 year old who broke her hymen by riding her horse. Anyhoo, I would have wished the characters to evolve and grow up a bit by Season 5 so that Christian's up-tightness and righteousness would be backed up.

Heroes was actually good tonight

As predicted, this week's episode "4 months later" kicked ass. Even Executive Producer Tim Kring has admitted Season 2 has not be up to par... to Entertainment Weekly, saying Hiro shouldn't have been in Japan for so long. He said that since last year built up, they thought viewers would like the same this year. But he already got us used to the long-spiraling high-octane episodes. Kring says Peter should have found out about the virus in the first episode. This episode should have been the season premiere. We learn more about Elle and maybe I can start liking her. Also, we found out Takezo Kensei (David Anders from "Alias"... TV's answer to Paul Bettany) is still alive and now going by the name of Adam Monroe, whose blood has healing abilities and is basically immortal. Now that Hiro has returned, he wants to reverse what happened to his father. like an idiot. It is so predictable. Dumb poor Hiro.

Best Brothers & Sisters Ever

The November 11, 2007 episode of "Brothers and Sisters" was the most gut-wrenching and emotionally enjoyable. The Walker family set up a intervention for Justin after the inevitable happened, when he started taking his pain medication. He was an addict way back and his mom Nora (Sally Field) convinced him to get back on it. Let's just say Justin tears everyone a new one, getting on Rebecca and her mom's case; Kevin about him letting his ex-boyfriend live in his apartment while he is under a commitment; his sister Sarah and her divorce, and so on. In a great scene, Kitty puts a mirror on him when she is brutally truthful that she is there for him, even though she is bleeding from her miscarriage.

And Uncle Sal finally confesses to Nora that he was in love with a man. She is hurt that he didn't tell her back when. Then when Kevin entered the room, Nora said, "Oh god." I was insulted, I don't know why but I just was. They all lied to each other after that, that everything is fine and didn't deal with the truth at hand. Anyhoo, on the dumb Tommy side, Tommy confessed to Kevin that he was having an affair with Lena. She breaks up with Lena but she wonders how long ti will take. I feel sorry for Lena, she seems to just be a character that has been brought to serve her purpose. Other than that, it was a real great episode.

My mom and me always watch the show. Usually she is busy and only hears it. Last night, she got to sit and watch it. It effected her so much and she had a nightmare that night. The dream was that she was with the family and it got emotional. She's okay, don't worry. She just says, "Sally Field is such a good actress, you believe what happens to her is really happening." I then ask her if she also saw "Seinfeld."

King of the Hill: Cotton Hill dies

Those of you that did not know "King of the Hill" was still on television, it is. FOX practically begged them for another season. Back in 2006, they canceled it and everything was packed up but then they call for it back. They had to get the cast and crew back together and now the second time around, they were welcomed back. Cotton Hill (Hank's father) did die in tonight's episode (November 11, 2007). The picture above was the only picture I could find of Cotton. Anyway, it was a good episode. It felt very much like previous seasons. This season has been cute and safe, going back to the roots of the characters. Well, many fans don't like Lucky, who is now Luanne's husband and father of her child. Anyhoo, the conflict of this episode... Hank tells Cotton he loves him at his death bed and Cotton bascially calls him a queer.

Then Cotton died... and came back. Actually, he knew how to slow down his heart. Cotton got a second chance but screwed it up again. Peggy was just excited. At first, Hank didn't even want to accept his father was dying but Peggy was ready years ago. Peggy was last to speak to Cotton and told him off and then lied to Hank to make him feel better. Good end.

Why can't we see Hitman's face?

I have seen the commercial for the new movie Hitman over and over, how he was a sinner but now he's a saint or some crap. But as I see the trailers and previews, I can't see or even recognize who is in the movie or who even plays this Hitman. The movie seems to be a bit like Kurt Russell's 1998 Soldier mixed with The Transporter. It is actually based on a PC game. I understand if his face is shadowed on the poster but not even a close-up or name mention on the commercial... Like most moviegoers these days, I checked IMDB to find out Timothy Olyphant (Go and "Deadwood") plays Agent 47. His head is shaved so I barely recognized him.

MADTV: Review on the new look

For weeks, there has been promos boasting the new look for the new season of MADtv. Fans were concerned that because of the budget, MADtv was going to be all-camera and no more sets. Indeed, there is more digital video sketches but the new look is a comedy-show set in front of a live studio audience. Most of it is the cast members telling jokes in front of the audience which will take some time to get used to. They introduced one of the new cost members with a stand-up set. There are some parody skits and music videos but less than before. It is a little jarring to get used to the new look, especially how it is shot. I think they will changing the venue as well, but let's see how this goes.

The Importantce of the 'Man Card'

For centuries men have been fighting to prove that they are muy macho men. Society has built these structures to define what makes someone feminine or masculine. But more and more, I am hearing shit about the "Man Card." Maybe this is old but when men are into ballet or soap operas or anything considered to be feminine, they ask if they still have their 'man card.' What makes them less of a men. Some believe men must burp, fart, watch football and drink beer. If they take about their feelings, watch ballet or care about interior design, then they are less than a man and even worse, gay. Well, these days what a man is instantly called when someone wants to insult them or to insinuate that they are weak or less than a man. Also, other than the Man Card, there is the Man Hug, Man Date (two straight guys on a date), Man Crush (a straight man crushing on a male actor), all these excuses or justifications for men to be close. It is ridiculous. These days, being gay is still considered acting feminine or liking fashion. It's not even that you are attracted to men anymore. There is that constant battle and confusion.

What I am basically saying...

STOP TALKING SHIT ABOUT THE MAN CARD

If you need these so called 'man rules' (like in that commercial with Burt Reynolds and Triple H and others) to prove you aren't gay, then get over your insecurities. What a man means to be is someone who is strong of heart and takes responsibility for their actions. Like they say, a real man remains a father. Take on the responsibility. Society has posted these narrow narrow social rules for masculinity. It leaves no leg room. Women can wear pants, men can not wear dresses. Girls can have platonic girlfriends but men's buddies can't be called boyfriends. It's nuts.

Portia De Rossi's role on Nip/Tuck

"Nip/Tuck" fans have been going a blazing about the new season and how it has gotten better. I like the show, always have but don't know. I am glad they moved out of Miami though because they were not accurate at all. Portia De Rossi is making headlines doing her first gay role as Julia's girlfriend. I saw the character on Tuesday and so far, she is tame and that's good. I didn't want a too-much way out there Nip/Tuck character. But knowing the show, I am sure she will bloom. Portia was a bit apprehension about doing a gay role after coming out but it is brave and shouldn't be a big deal. I think it would be unfortunate for her to be pigeoned hole and stuck in gay roles, but these days... lots of straight actors have done a lot of gay roles and they manage to escape it. So it is a good time to try something different. Plus, she has had to do something because she hasn't done anything noticeable since "Arrested Development."

Yay Mainstream Magazine for pro-GLBT articles

Kudos to Entertainment Weekly for their constant pro-gay articles. Always bringing up crucial and important subjects, sometimes not completely known to mainstream or straight audiences. Months ago, they did an one page interview between Margaret Cho and Cindi Lauper headlining the "True Colors" tour, last week's article about the lack of gay mainstream movies after Brokeback Mountain, and this week about Portia De Rossi doing her first gay role. You go people!

Green Logo

If you watch television, if you have cable, if you are in the United States, if you watch NBC, Sci-Fi Channel, USA, and any other channel owned by GE, you may have noticed the logo is green. It's because NBC has gone green for a week.

Family Guy 100th episode special

Last Sunday at 8:30pm, there was a Family Guy special with cute as a button Seth McFarlane, who self-deprecated himself and the show with actors pretending to be real-life people and defaming the show. It was funny the firs time around but by the end of the special, I felt bad. It felt unjustifiable, especial when one guy said it should be canceled and the show has already been canceled. When this was actually referenced at the end where Seth said "See you in the next 100 episodes... we don't get canceled again for another two and half fucking years." It was delicious. As for the actual episode, it promised to fulfill what we have been supposedly be waiting for... Stewie kills Lois. It wasn't all that funny, it actually took a serious tone. One funny bit was when Stewie tripped on the floor and cried for his mommy... then remembered he had just killed her. lol.

My take on the strike

The Writer's Guild strike has been looming for months, causing the big wigs to speed up projects. They finally went on strike yesterday and I think it is a good cause. The big ups seem not be loosing up. What the writers want is credit and their cut for episode downloads and online viewings. SNL did a funny sketch on Saturday about it. I have a pic of Tina Fey above, on television she seemed to be hiding her face. I can understand if she doesn't want to be the poster girl for the cause but I am glad she is picketing. Now the Daily Show, Jay Leno, and Conan O'Brian's shows are going to be in reruns and reality shows may rule for a while. But I think it is worth it.

Heroes Season Two: Got better?

Critics and fans have been complaining about season 2 of "Heroes." How it has been slow building and storylines that have seemed to go nowhere like Hiro in Japan's past and Clare's nowhere high school stories. People have also not enjoyed the 'wonder twins,' who have gone through Latin America that looks more like the backlot of Oakland, California. Gay fans, including me, have enjoyed Milo Ventimiglia shirtless. Since last week, things have been picking up with Matt's evil father and the 'Company' effecting everyone from Nikki to Nathan to Mohinder. Also, Clare's boyfriend West has finally figured out her daddy is the one who abducted him. What I don't like is this virus, it seems too much Twelve Monkeys and an excuse for an apocalypse to get everyone together. Last night, Peter left his new girlfriend in the future. If the future changes, where exactly will she be? Next week, they reveal what happened between the season one finale and the season two premiere. Let's see where that leads. As for the new characters, I like the twins and don't like much Kristen Bell's character nor D.L.'s cousin, they sort of fall flat.

Brian Williams on SNL!

When I hear Brian Williams was going to be on "Saturday Night Live," I was excited and felt it was going to be really funny. He has shown his sense of humor in his frequent guest spots in "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." Brian Williams sure exceeded my expectations. First he was in that Bronx talk show sketch with the two chatty ladies played by Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph. He played a firefighter with a New York accent and seemed nervous to be on screen. He definitely played it well, he kept in character for the most part. Shy and modest as the two wondered if he had '8-pack abs.' An expected sketch was him playing himself, but it was hilarious. It was like a digital video, showing him as vain and pretentious. He exercised on a treadmill... with in-line skates, eating in the NBC lunch room... at his independent table, and waiting outside for someone to recognize him.

Another funny sketch was him playing a delusional disgruntled actor played a teacher in a teen show that was about to end and spin-off without him. Randomly, he boasts that he was on "Quantum Leep." Guest stars included Bono, Obama, the "Today" guys, and Horatio Sanz, who I guess no one could play that half-Mexican senator dude. Bottom line, Brian Williams and hot and hilarious. Usually when they get non-funny people, it goes down hill. But this year, SNL has been lucky with him and Payton Manning.