The Will and Grace Revival; Farewell To Vine Stars; 18 Gay Magazine Covers Over the Years

The Will and Grace Revival

I have seen this Will and Grace revival thing in so many places lately I figured I'd post about it...once. This article questions whether or not we need a Will and Grace Revival.

But, yeesh, let’s take a minute and think here. When you watch an episode of the show, it really does not feel contemporary, and not just because it’s shot at 1.33:1. You forget how far this country has come until you see the issues queers were dealing with in 1999. Coming out was a huge deal, discrimination was just expected, gay marriage was hahaha yeah right. The show created a happy gay fantasy bubble where the real world seldom intruded, but it had to do so because the real world was so unpleasant at the time.

I think whoever wrote the article is living in a huge bubble of gay privilege. Seriously. What is wrong with these people writing gay related articles like this? Do they think we don't know? Yes, we have come a long way since the 90s, however, millions of gay men all over the world are still dealing with the same issues they were dealing with back then. In some cases, it's even worse.

And yes, I do think there's room for a Will and Grace revival. I would love to see a Will and Grace revival. I never watched it that much, but I know tons of people who did and they loved it.

The rest is here, with comments.

Now, I always make a point of NOT reading the comments before I comment. And this comment below is way too coincidental even for me. This guy makes me feel a lot more validated now.

startenout 
 
This article seems to be living in its own bubble. For many of our gay brethren young and old, coming out is difficult and can mean ending up estranged from family or homeless. Discrimination, both individual and systemic, is still the norm in huge swaths of our country or are we choosing to ignore “religious freedom” laws because they’re not in NYC or San Francisco? And so many of the episodes were about the judgements we make within our own community like putting down femmes and artsy gays and pretending to be straight acting at work. Yes, we have seen significant headway in the first two decades of this new century, but not nearly enough to try and mothball Will & Grace as some sort of comedic antique.

To be honest, the author of this article lost me at "yeesh."

Farewell To Vine Stars

As most of you know already, Twitter is shuttering Vine. I never followed it too much, but I was always amazed whenever I saw something about a "Vine Star." That there are actual "Vine Stars."

 As our way of saying goodbye, here’s a quick summation of what made Vine so entertaining, confounding, frustrating, frightening…

You can check that out here, with visuals. 

For those of us who've been heavily invested in the Internet since the late 90s,  I can't help thinking that we're entering a new era of online content.

18 Gay Magazine Covers Over the Years

From a cultural POV, this is worth checking out.



In the spirit of LGBT history month, your dedicated editors did a hunt through the Google archives in pursuit of breakthrough magazine covers.

Pioneer print pubs like ONE, The Ladder, and HIM led us down a rabbit hole of early issues of LGBT periodicals.

You can check them out here. 

The only retro one that I remember is the one with Billy Bean. That was big news in the 90s, and I've always had a lot of respect for him...nothing but respect. He's always been one of the true inspirations.

The Rainbow Detective Series

Saying Goodbye

Amazon Link

The Rainbow Detective Agency Series:

The Rainbow Detective Agency - Book 1

The Rainbow Detective Agency - L'uomo Magico - Book 2

The Rainbow Detective Agency - A Guy With Two Penises - Book 3

The Rainbow Detective Agency - On Fleek - Book 4

The Rainbow Detective Agency - The Scottish Duke - Book 6

The Rainbow Detective Agency - The Wedding - Book 7

Update: Rainbow Detective Agency - Saying Goodbye - Book 8

  

James Franco Allegedly Attacks Photographer; Obama on Gay Marriage; Robert Downey Jr's Penis

James Franco Allegedly Attacks Photographer

Here's more on James Franco again, and I'm a little surprised because he always seems so calculated and in control...cunning in a brilliant way, as if you have to watch his every move and be a few steps ahead.

Allegedly, Franco was at an event in Hollywood that was being held in some graveyard and on his way out he tackled a photographer on the grass. There are photos circulating that show Franco smiling as if it's all a joke. I searched a few "reputable" sources online, about as reputable as you can get online these days, and found this.

The cameraman, however, is not the least bit amused even if the tackling was supposed to be all in good fun. He went down to a LAPD station the following morning, at which time he filed a report against the actor for what he had done. The report details the man’s claims that he had been injured following his fall, suffering a minor injury to his back based on the way he had fallen. He also alleges that his camera equipment had been damaged during the incident, and is no longer usable in the same manner thanks to Franco’s actions. Police authorities have since given the statement to popular gossip website TMZ that they plan on passing the case onto the appropriate detectives as of next week, who will do their best to inquire further into the situation and see if amends need to be made on the Franco’s part.

You can read more here. Several other articles out there mention a few other incidents Franco has had with the law. And this one goes on to mention another privileged celebrity and his incident with a photographer.

Obama on Gay Marriage

Whether you like President Obama or not, one thing remains certain: he's good with the social issues that most politicians just tend to ignore. And anything gay related is up there in the top ten of the issue ignoring list. This time the President recently commented on gay marriage, and how he believes it should be legal in all 50 states according to the constitution. 

He described it as a 'consequential and powerful signal of the changes that have taken place in society and that the law is having to catch up'. 

Obama, who first said he 'evolved' on gay marriage in May 2012, said the high court was 'not quite ready' to 'indicate an equal-protection right across the board'. 

'Ultimately, I think the Equal Protection Clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all 50 states,' he said.

It seems, as gay marriage moves forward in all 50 states, it's coming down to religion vs civil rights. I think anyone running for office these days should pay attention and listen closely. The gay vote doesn't always go in the same direction, especially not with younger gay men.

You can read more of what Obama said here.

Robert Downey Jr's Penis

Try to imagine this. An actor, Robert Downey Jr., is invited to speak at a prestigious university, Cambridge, to a highly select group at the university, and one of those students of the entitlement generation ask Downey how large his penis is. And better, the rest of them laugh and giggle. I have a sense of humor that goes beyond most people these days, and I'm not fond of the PC police at all, but I do think there should be a certain amount of respect shown to any speaker in all situations like this...without question. 

In any event, Downey replied very well:

They don't call me throbbing knob for nothing. His expression is priceless. Someone else might have gone after the kid.

You can see a video of the reply here. If anyone had asked a woman this same question about her vagina it would have been blasted all over the Internet and social media as misogynist, anti-feminist, and hate speech toward all woman. Jennifer Lawrence would never let you hear the end of it. Shouldn't it work the same way for men in similar awkward positions?

Too Hard to Handle

Amazon

by Ryan Field

Speaking to The New Yorker, Obama said the best Supreme Court decisions since he took office was the recent rejection of gay marriage appeals from five states.
He described it as a 'consequential and powerful signal of the changes that have taken place in society and that the law is having to catch up'.
Obama, who first said he 'evolved' on gay marriage in May 2012, said the high court was 'not quite ready' to 'indicate an equal-protection right across the board'.
'Ultimately, I think the Equal Protection Clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all 50 states,' he said.
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/obama-i-think-constitution-calls-gay-marriage-be-legal-all-50-states201014#sthash.4qnqRKKg.dpuf

Anderson Cooper's Thoughts About President Obama on Gay Marriage

I received two e-mails back to back. One was from the Freedom to Marry organization asking people to tweet the President about gay marriage. The other was from a lesbian friend who wanted to share Anderson Cooper's call to the President regarding his weak stand on gay marriage.

And frankly I agree with Anderson. It's time to start talking instead of smiling and campaigning.

You know, Paul, Democrats attack conservatives for being hypocritical on issues that they're hypocritical about," Cooper said to Begala. "But I don't hear a lot of Democrats attacking their own president for hypocrisy.

Interesting. Here's a link to the entire piece.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/anderson-cooper-obama-gay-marriage_n_882075.html?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl2%7Csec3_lnk1%7C216683