17 posts tagged “pop culture”

Just as I reported in late January in my post, Cher to come out of Retirement, Cher has finally confirmed publicly that she will indeed be one of the headline acts at Caesars Palace.

It promises to be bigger and better than ever before. "I started in Vegas at Caesars, so I've come full circle," she said. "I'm back, and I plan to give my fans the best experience yet. I think everybody knows I only do things in a big way."

She has agreed to start her new show on May 6, 2008. Cher will be performing 200 shows over a three year time-period. Ticket prices will range from $95 to $250.

We only have three more years until we say "goodbye" again. You better get your tickets now.

Ok, I have to admit I have completely stolen the idea to show this video from a fellow blogger. After the last two posts here, I figured I needed to lighten things up a bit, so what better a way than to provide a little Pet Shop Boys doing a remake of a classic U2 song.

So not to offend anyone, I'll also include a link to RainbowDishes, the blogger with great music taste. As he indicated on his blog, The Pet Shop Boys too remind me of my younger days, dancing with my friends at El Goya, that long-ago gay club in Tampa. Enjoy!

Cher, the gay icon and known by some, including my friend Jorge, as God, will reportedly come out of retirement to be one of the replacements for Celine Dion at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas. Cher is reportedly starting her show in May 2008 at The Colosseum. Other performers alternating performances, at the venue, will include Elton John and Bette Midler.

And rumor has it Cher is working on another album. Stay tuned.

Welcome back, Cher! You were gone long enough for us to almost miss you.

GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, announced their 2008 nominees and honorees earlier this week.

The GLAAD media ceremonies will be held in four major metropolitan areas including, New York, South Florida, Los Angeles and San Francisco. This year the ceremonies will be held between March 17th and May 10th. Broadcast dates have still yet to be announced. There will be 117 nominees in 25 English language categories and 55 Spanish language nominees in 15 categories.

Some of the competitive category nominees include:
Film - Wide Release
Across the Universe (Revolution Studios)
The Jane Austen Book Club (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stardust (Paramount Pictures)

Television Drama Series
Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Degrassi: The Next Generation (The N)
Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
Greek (ABC Family)
The L Word (Showtime)

Television Comedy Series
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Exes and Ohs (Logo)
The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
The War at Home (Fox)

Individual Episode (in a series w/o a regular LGBT character)
"Boy Crazy" Cold Case (CBS)
"Do Tell" Boston Legal (ABC)
"Free to Be You and Me" Kyle XY (ABC Family)
"The Gangs of Camden County" My Name is Earl (NBC)
"Sin" Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

Documentary
Camp Out (Logo)
Cruel and Unusual: Transgender Women in Prison (WE tv)
For the Bible Tells Me So (First Run Features)
Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed (VH1/Logo)
Small Town Gay Bar (Logo)

Reality Program
"Chase/Lane" Trading Spouses (Fox)
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (Bravo)
Project Runway (Bravo)
Who Wants to Be a Superhero? (SciFi Channel)
Work Out (Bravo)

Advertising – Electronic
"Change" Levis
"Goodbye" Orbitz
"Jewels" & "Time" Dolce & Gabbana
"Rejected" Chemistry.com
"Tu Pride - Jaime" MTV Tr3s

This year's honorees include: Rufus Wainwright, Janet Jackson, Brian Graden, Wilson Cruz, Ilene Chaiken, David Mixner, and Herb Ritts.

The GLAAD awards are extensive and inclusive in their recognition. Some of the other award categories include: talk show episode, TV journalism, newspaper article, newspaper columnist, magazine article, magazine overall coverage, music artist, comic book, Los Angeles theater, New York theater (on & off Broadway).

According to their website: The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.

As I'm sure you've heard already, actor and Brokeback Mountain cowboy, Heath Ledger has passed away at the age of 28.

He was found in his New York City apartment, by his housekeeper, yesterday afternoon. The police said that drugs may have been involved. Other reports claim that he was naked and had sleeping pills spread out around him, hinting at a possible suicide.

Heath Ledger was an Australian born actor, and came to the attention of mainstream America after co-starring in Brokeback Mountain, the movie about two cowboys who fall in love with each other.

Other film credits include 10 Things I Hate About You, Monster Ball, The Brothers Grimm, and Casanova. He finished production on a film yet to be released, where he plays the "Joker" in The Dark Knight, due out in July 2008.

He was separated from girlfriend, Michelle Williams, who he had met while filming Brokeback Mountain. They had a baby girl in 2005.

According to IMDB.com, Heath Ledger, has been quoted as saying "I'm not good at future planning. I don't plan at all. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. I don't have a day planner and I don't have a diary. I completely live in the now, not in the past, not in the future."

Sadly Suzanne Pleshette, former co-star of the 1970s sitcom series The Bob Newhart Show, passed away last night of respiratory failure. She was only 70 years old. She had lung cancer and had undergone chemotherapy in 2006.

Suzanne Pleshette had a long career on stage and the big screen but will probably be best remembered for her role on The Bob Newhart Show, airing on CBS from 1972 - 1978. She played Emily Hartley, the wife of a Chicago psychiatrist (played by Bob Newhart).

As a child, I remember loving this show. It would air right after The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Saturday nights. It was a time that I got to stay up late and be with my family as we all watched TV together. My parents, in particular, would just howl at this well written comedy. I remember hearing some of the "adult" jokes and pretending not to understand, but much of the time I did. This block of television entertainment on Saturday nights was the "must-see" TV of the 1970s. It was truly a special time and will probably never be repeated.

To a younger generation, Suzanne Pleshette was known as Karen Walker's mother on Will & Grace. She guest-starred on three episodes of the hit sitcom.

Suzanne Pleshette was part of a comedy team that brought joy and laughter to thousands of people. That's what folks like her do, they entertain us and let us forget real life if only for a short time. Suzanne Pleshette will be sorely missed.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, former Wham! front-man, George Michael has entered into an agreement with Harper Collins to write his autobiography. The release date, as of now, is August 2009.

Other sources said that George Michael will write the entire book on his own and that he promises it will be a "no-holds-barred" account of his life. With all of the "drama" in his past, I'm sure this much anticipated book will not disappoint. He's had run-ins with the law in the U.S. as well as in the U.K., ranging from public sex offenses to drug possession, to being passed out drunk in his car, in traffic. He has claimed in the past that much of his troubles stem from the death of his boyfriend (who died of AIDS in the early 1990s).

Although his musical presence in main-stream America has waned a bit over the last decade or so, Michael is still rather popular in the U.K.; he has, in recent history, still produced hit music there.

Although, the publishing date remains more than 1 1/2 years away, I look forward to getting my hands on it. It promises to be very interesting, if nothing else.

Oprah is entering into a joint venture with Discovery Communications, the owner of the Discovery Channel and Discovery Health Network. The partnership will produce a new network called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). Oprah will be the chairperson and have full editorial control.

According to reports from the BBC and other sources, the Discovery Health Network will be relaunched as OWN. The new network's original programming will revolve around issues important to Oprah such as money, health, relationships and personal improvement.

E! News Online reports that the network's mission statement will be "helping people to live their best lives." This is right in line with Oprah's focus for her long-standing talk show and magazine.

Oprah will continue to host her television talk show, which will stay in syndication through mid-2011. At that point, according to E! News Online, her daily weekday show could potentially move to the OWN network.

Editorial note: Don't believe everything you read. Too funny! I guess it was 3/4 wishful thinking and admittedly, 1/4 naivety on my part. Found this "fact" on onion.com (I had never heard of them before). I guess I was a victim of their joke. At least, it made me laugh today. Read for fun.

Eye-Candy Friday makes a come back today with an all American slant. Today's feature is NFL's New England Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady. He's got it all going on for him, his good looks, his ability to get the girl (Bridget Moynahan until 2006), his athletic prowess, and of course his MVP status. Since his breakup with Moynahan, he's been reportedly dating super model Gisele Bündchen.

However, while I was researching Tom Brady facts, I came across an interesting tidbit; it was actually rather bizarre. Back in September of 2007, it was announced that after seizing and combing through hours of video footage of the New England Patriots, during an investigation into possible cheating, hundreds of hours of footage was discovered of Tom Brady showering in NFL affiliated facilities. The video footage apparently was taped by Patriots' head coach Belichick with Brady's consent. The video included painstakingly thorough footage of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the shower, sources within the NFL competition committee had confirmed.

Sports Illustrated football correspondent Paul Zimmerman said of the footage, "To hear Belichick narrating the whole thing, pointing out his quarterback's tendencies, identifying Brady's strong points and the areas where he needs work, hearing his voice as a counterpoint to the sound of the hot running water and seeing that familiar sweatshirt-clad arm cut through the mist to hand Brady his towels—you realize the man has a unique football mind." "If nothing else, the attention to every significant detail definitely makes an impression on the viewer."

Are you joking me? Am I the only one that finds this whole thing bizarre? Okay, I must admit, however, it is extremely homoerotic and a huge turn-on, but please. How in the heck did the coach justify this request to begin with and why did Tom Brady agree? Hmm, makes you wonder.

Tell me, who wasn't in love with this beautiful witch? Anyone who knows me, knows that as a child I was obsessed with Elizabeth Montgomery and her character, Samantha, on Bewitched. My family couldn't pull me away from rerun after rerun of that magical show. Okay, so everyone who didn't know before now knows that I'm gay.

In a much needed break from politics, while the Presidential race is heating up in New Hampshire, I'll completely ignore the debates for today and focus on Elizabeth Montgomery finally getting her star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. On Friday January 4, 2008 Elizabeth Montgomery received the 2353rd star on a rain soaked day, almost 13 years after her death.

Elizabeth Montgomery starred in 21 made-for-TV movies and miniseries, but was probably best known for her portrayal of Samantha on Bewitched in which she received Emmy nominations for five consecutive years. Bewitched ran on ABC for eight years until it was canceled in 1972. Yes, I am old enough to have watched the show during its original run -- and I did.

The only thing that could have made this event any sweeter, would have been to have Elizabeth Montgomery alive and present to receive the honor. Who knows, maybe she's floating on a cloud somewhere flashing that magical smile.