Jerry Curl

"We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality." - Judy Garland

Evel Knievel, the motorcycle daredevil whose stunts -- including an attempted leap over Idaho's Snake River Canyon -- made him a popular cultural figure, has died. He was 69.

CNN is reporting that police took into custody a man who walked into Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, and took several people hostage Friday. The man, Lee Eisenberg, claimed to have a bomb strapped to his chest. By 4 p.m., three people, including a young child, had been released. The released hostages were not harmed, CNN affiliate WCVB reported on its Web site. The situation began when a man walked into the office at about 1 p.m., Maj. Michael Hambrook of the New Hampshire State Police told CNN affiliate WMUR-TV. New Hampshire Department of Safety Assistant Commissioner Earl Sweeney said the man's name is Lee Eisenberg. Sweeney said Eisenberg was upset with the mental health care situation in the United States.

Kathy Griffin talks to Out Magazine about your hetero gal pals: 1. We have a little crush on you. We can’t help it. 2. We secretly want you to help our straight boyfriends get in better shape. 3. We like three musicals -- not all musicals. 4. Our pussies do not smell like fish. How would you even know? 5. Thanks for being our prom dates. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gone. 6. Enough with the tweezed eyebrows. You can call it waxing all you want, but we know it’s tweezing. 7. Tom Cruise is not gay, but Richard Gere definitely had a gerbil up his butt. My cousin’s friend was the nurse that night, and she never lies. 8. If we were gay men, we’d be bears so that we could eat a goddamn carb. 9. Streisand for president, 2008. 10. We love you. We support you. We thank you. --> I'm going to see her live in January! Coincidentally , I'm going with one of my Hags.

(Via WhiteHouser )

Fulton as featured on COACD .

Get a load of this: To celebrate the end of the Broadway strike, the cast of A Chorus Line danced down the streets of New York City. That's it! I need to move some place where people dance down the streets like this. (Via Queerty )

Marking the 14th anniversary of legislation that allowed gay men and lesbians to serve in the military but only if they kept their orientation secret, 28 retired generals and admirals plan to release a letter on Friday urging Congress to repeal the law. "We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” the letter says. “Those of us signing this letter have dedicated our lives to defending the rights of our citizens to believe whatever they wish.” The retired officers offer data showing that 65,000 gay men and lesbians now serve in the American armed forces and that there are more than one million gay veterans. The letter’s release comes as rallies are scheduled on the Mall by groups calling for a change in the law, which is known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” because it bars the military from investigating soldiers’ sexual orientation if they keep it to themselves. (Via NYT )

Iran pledged to pursue its disputed atomic programme as Europe's top diplomat met Tehran's main nuclear negotiator on Friday in a last effort to avert tougher sanctions. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said late on Thursday that nothing would deflect the Islamic Republic from its pursuit of nuclear technology and that Washington had "lost" in its attempts to stop them. "The Iranian nation will never return from the path that they have chosen and they are determined and decisive to continue this path (to obtain nuclear technology)," Mottaki was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. (Via Reuters )

Three days before a referendum that would vastly expand the powers of President Hugo Chávez, this city’s streets were packed on Thursday with tens of thousands of opponents to the change, the NYT reports. The protests signaled that Venezuelans may be balking at placing so much authority in the hands of one man. Even some of Mr. Chávez’s most fervent supporters are beginning to show signs of hesitation at backing the constitutional changes he is promoting, which would end term limits for the president and greatly centralize his authority. Other measures would increase social security benefits for the poor and shorten the workday. “Chávez is delirious if he thinks we’re going to follow him like sheep,” said Ivonne Torrealba, 29, a hairdresser in the gritty Coche district, who has supported Mr. Chávez in every election since his first campaign for president in 1998. “If this government cannot get me milk or asphalt for our roads, how is it going to give my mother a pension?” --> The s...

CNN is reporting that hundreds of protesters brandishing swords and sticks gathered outside Khartoum's presidential palace Friday to vent their anger against a British teacher jailed for allowing children to name a teddy bear "Mohammed." About 600 Islamic demonstrators piled out of mosques, chanting: "By soul, by blood, I will fight for the Prophet Mohammed." Some of the protesters demanded the teacher's execution, according to The Associated Press. The agency reports that some chanted: "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad." The decision by a Sudanese court to jail Gillian Gibbons late Thursday was widely criticized outside Sudan as too harsh, with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband saying he was "extremely disappointed" the charges were not dismissed. The teacher was convicted of insulting religion but cleared of two other charges of inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs...

"For other nations, utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans it is just beyond the horizon." -Henry Kissinger

You may or may not have noticed that I didn't blog about last week's episode of Project Runway . Unfortunately I missed the Sarah Jessica Parker episode because I fell asleep. I know, I know. My gay card is already on its way to being revoked. In any case, I'm back on the road to recovery because I watched last night's episode. Let me start off by saying that every season I have a cast favorite. Not the designers so much, as the celebrity judges, hosts, and Tim Gunn . Heidi Klum was the first apple of my eye. Then I couldn't get enough of Michael Kors and his gay, snappy self. Then I loved Tim Gunn during the Santino season. This season it's Nina Garcia. I know, I can't explain it either. I just want to sit next to her at a fashion show and snicker in Spanish. Anywho , last night's episode was the best one of this season so far. Having them design for a male celebrity is a great new addition to the show competitions. I didn't think it was so toug...

Pedro José Pallares as featured on Cisoto Fotos .

Here’s a sneak peek of The Spice Girls sparkly and sexy tour costumes put together by Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli. The Spice Girls tour kicks off this Sunday in Vancouver, Canada. (Via Just Jared )

Global warming is going to cost Floridians a lot of money, but doing nothing will only cost more, say researchers at Tufts University, who completed a report released Wednesday by the Environmental Defense, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. If Florida and the globe continue business as usual, the report predicts, by 2050 tourism will decline, sea levels will rise 23 inches, insurance and electricity prices will soar and the economic cost to the state will be $92 billion. ''We're on an escalator that's headed down,'' said Frank Ackerman, one of the report's authors. "The status quo is not an option that is going to continue.'' --> Sometimes it feels like the world is playing opposite day. We're fighting a war for an oil rich country, but oil is topping $100 a barrel; scientists across the globe are warning us that we're killing the planet, but no one is doing anything about it; the current U.S. President is a war criminal; and n...

A man is being held without bond for a fatal shooting in a Gainesville parking garage. Okpara Nelson surrendered to police without incident Wednesday and was charged with murder. A police spokesman says Nelson was seen on surveillance video fleeing the scene after Sunday's shooting. The victim, Andrew Arosemena, yelled for people ahead of him to move their car. Police say one man walked up to his car and shot him in the head. Arosemena died at the hospital. The shooting happened after the Florida-Florida State football game. The victim was from Tallahassee. (Via Miami Herald ) UPDATE: The Gainesville Sun is reporting that officers made the second arrest in four days early Wednesday in the slaying of Andrew Arosemena, 22. Relatives of the accused shooter in the case talked the Gainesville man into surrendering without incident to a lone Alachua County sheriff's deputy, Warrants Investigator Broderick Robinson, outside an area hotel about 6 a.m. Okpara K. Nelson, 22, is accused ...

The NYT is reporting that riot police surrounded a Sudanese court as proceedings began Thursday against a British teacher charged with inciting religious hatred over letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad. If convicted, Gillian Gibbons faces up to 40 lashes, six months in jail and a fine, Sudanese officials have said, with the verdict and any sentence up to the judge's discretion. Gibbons, in a dark blue jacket and blue dress, was not handcuffed when she walked into the courtroom in Khartoum, according to reporters who were briefly allowed inside but were subsequently dismissed. The case set up an escalating diplomatic dispute with Britain, Sudan's former colonial ruler. Prosecutor-General Salah Eddin Abu Zaid told The Associated Press the British teacher could expect a ''swift and fair trial.'' Although hearings in Sudan are usually public, the police cordon barred British diplomats and others from entering. ''It's up to the judge, but from ...

CNN is reporting that the lights of Broadway will shine brightly again after stagehands and producers reached a tentative agreement Wednesday evening, ending a 19-day strike. The contract is a good compromise that serves our industry," said League of American Theaters and Producers Executive Director Charlotte St. Martin. "We look forward to celebrating the season and welcoming our talented stagehands, and the theater-going public, back to Broadway." Shuttered Broadway performances were scheduled to resume Thursday night. The settlement followed marathon talks on Sunday, Monday, and again on Wednesday. "The people of Broadway are looking forward to returning to work, giving the theater-going public the joy of Broadway, the greatest entertainment in the world," said International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local One President James J. Claffey Jr.

BED, a gay bar in the Philippine capital of Manila , has taken a few icons of pop culture and done a switcheroo, dressing Darth Vader in Princess Leia attire, and Superman in Wonder Woman's sizzling get-up to advertise a drag night. An unsettling Harry Potter one at Towelroad .

Ricardo Baldin as featured on Made in Brazil .

Here's Ford, lookin' daper, on the set of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull . (Via Kenneth in the 212 )

A British teacher has been charged with inciting hatred, insulting religion and showing contempt of religious beliefs after her class named a teddy bear Muhammad, Sudan media said on Wednesday. "Khartoum north prosecution unit has completed its investigation and has charged the Briton Gillian (Gibbons) under Article 125 of the criminal code," SUNA said quoting a senior Justice Ministry official. It added the file would go before court on Thursday. (Via MSNBC )

The Sun Sentinel is reporting that the U.S. adult obesity rates seem to have leveled off, at least temporarily, the government reported Wednesday. About 33 percent of adult men and 35 percent of U.S. women were obese in 2005-2006, according to a comprehensive survey by the federal government that includes physical examinations. That's more than 72 million people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new rates were slightly higher than the 31 percent and 33 percent reported in the 2003-2004 survey, the CDC said in a report released Wednesday. However, the increases were not considered statistically significant, health officials said. The adult obesity rate has generally been climbing since 1980,

Cuba's economy should grow by 10 percent in 2007, the third straight year of double-digit expansion, despite slips in the tourism sector, according to Economy Minister José Luis Rodríguez. Speaking at a meeting of economists, Rodríguez said gross domestic product on the communist-run island would rise by 10 percent this year, reiterating a prediction he made in February. The report provided few details about what is fueling growth, citing only general increases in industrial and agricultural production. (Via Miami Herald )

Dr. Robert Cade, who invented Gatorade in 1965 at the University of Florida and sparked the multimillion dollar sports drink industry, died Tuesday of kidney failure. He was 80.

By Bob Lang

--> A great profile in the NYT today about a comic writer, the first female to write for Wonder Woman. “I was a hairdresser until a couple of years ago,” Gail Simone said. “It took me a long time to admit that I was a professional writer.” Ms. Simone was talking about her rise from hairstylist to online commentator to professional comic-book author. This month she added a new title. With the publication of issue No. 14 of Wonder Woman, which hit stores two weeks ago, Ms. Simone has become the regular writer of that amazing Amazon’s super-adventures, published by DC Comics. She is the first woman to serve as “ongoing writer” (to use the industry’s term) in the character’s 66-year history.

First, Sen. Trent announces his resignation at the end of the year. Then Larry Flynt says that the senator "has been the target of an ongoing Hustler investigation for some time now, due to confidential information that we have received." And now the alleged escort, Benjamin Nicholas denies e-mailing Big Head DC about "not currently being affiliated with Lott." A big oucha - magoucha to all this.

Heath Ledger on the cover of Empire Magazine's January 2008 issue. He is to play the Joker in The Dark Knight , due out in July. (Via Dlisted )

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain." - John Lennon

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday that officials were working to secure the early release of a British teacher who faces being whipped in Sudan after she allowed her class to name a teddy bear "Mohammed." Gillian Gibbons, 54, has been accused of blasphemy and is being held by police in the capital Khartoum, Kirsty Saunders, British Foreign Office spokeswoman told CNN . Police arrested the school teacher after she asked her class of seven-year-olds to come up with a name for the toy as part of a school project, according to widespread media reports. Parents of students at the Unity High School in Khartoum informed the authorities and Gibbons was taken into custody Sunday, Saunders told CNN. So far Gibbons has yet to be charged with any offense, however, under Sudanese law, insulting Islam is punishable with 40 lashes, a jail term of up to six months or a fine, she said.

Heroes keeps gettin ' better and better. Story lines are on the ball. Intrigue, suspense, suspicion, murder, and a whole lotta beefcake. (Via Towleroad )

Incubus' Light Grenades Pitbull's The Boatlift

The AP reports: The two men stood next to each other, sharing uncomfortable grins for photographers and reporters, who were quickly ushered in and out. 'Familiar faces,' the former vice president said of the media. Bush, still smiling, added nothing. The two also had a 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office, part of Bush's effort to show some outreach to his longtime rival. Bush aides said it was private and would not comment on it. Gore, trailed by the press as he left the White House very publicly on foot, allowed that he and Bush spent the whole time talking about global warming. 'He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation, Gore said. And that's all I want to say about it.'

Yoav Reuveni as featured on Queerty .

Yahoo! News is reporting that Rhode Island Hospital has been fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the state Department of Health after its third instance this year of a doctor performing brain surgery in the wrong side of a patient's head. "We are extremely concerned about this continuing pattern," health department director David R. Gifford said in a statement Monday. The hospital issued a statement saying it was re-evaluating its training and policies, providing more oversight, giving nursing staff the power to ensure procedures are followed, among other steps. The most recent case happened Friday when the chief resident started operating on the wrong side of an 82-year-old patient's brain, the health department said. The patient was OK, the health department and hospital said.

Iran said Tuesday it has manufactured a new missile with a range of 1,200 miles capable of reaching Israel and U.S. bases in the Mideast, the official news agency IRNA reported. Iran's Defense Minister Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the Ashoura missile was produced by factories affiliated with the ministry, according to IRNA. He did not say whether Iran has test fired the missile or has plans to do so. Many of Iran's weapons development claims have not been independently verified. (Via Sun Sentinel )

After 13 hours of negotiations overnight, talks between Broadway theater owners and producers and striking stagehands broke off today without a deal, and no new talks were scheduled, said Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for the union. Negotiators had held a long negotiating session starting on midmorning Sunday, their first talks in a week. That session lasted nearly 20 hours, ending at daybreak. But people involved in the talks said that while progress was being made, it was slow and incremental. The two sides have come to an agreement on the rules that apply to the load-in, the costly and often lengthy period when productions are moved into theaters. But they were still bargaining over the rules governing rehearsals and other kinds of work calls for productions that are up and running. Wage increases, usually one of the final issues in a labor negotiation, have yet to be seriously discussed, people involved in the talks said. --> Come on guys, let's get it together. (Via NYT )

The Paris suburbs were cleaning up Tuesday after two nights of rioting that caused widespread destruction and left scores of police injured, according to the authorities and French media reports. The violence -- which erupted after two teenagers on a motorcycle were killed in a collision with a police car on Sunday night -- served as a sharp reminder of the rioting two years ago while current president Nicolas Sarkozy served as the nation's interior minister. An angry mob clashed with riot police and wrecked cars and buildings in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris, after the Sunday night incident. Rioters bombarded police with Molotov cocktail bombs, bottles filled with acid and baseball bats, as the violence spread to the nearby towns of Longjumeau and Grigby Monday night. More than 60 police officers were injured, with five still in hospital in a serious condition, according to reports in a number of French newspapers. (Via CNN )

CNN is reporting that Vice President Dick Cheney is expected back at work Tuesday after doctors used an electrical current to correct an irregular heartbeat. Doctors described the procedure -- intended to shock the heart back into normal rhythm -- as routine. Cheney left George Washington University Hospital after about two and a half hours. "The procedure went smoothly and without complication," according to a White House statement. "The vice president has returned home and will resume his normal schedule tomorrow at the White House." --> I guess the Wizard gave him a heart after all. Now if we could only work on getting him a brain and a one way trip back home to Wyoming.

Sebastián Rulli

(Via PostSecret )

The Sun Sentinel is reporting that striking Broadway stagehands and theater producers agreed early Monday to a 12-hour break in negotiations aimed at reopening darkened theaters. Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, announced the adjournment about 6:30 a.m. He offered no details on the talks that began Sunday evening and lasted through the night except to say that progress had been made. The two sides are trying to resolve a thorny labor dispute that threatens a third week of mounting box-office losses. More than two dozen plays and musicals have been closed since Nov. 10, when the stagehands walked off the job.

Weekend Top Five #1 Enchanted ($35.3M) #2 This Christmas ($18.6M) #3 Beowulf ($16.2M) #4 Hitman ($13M) #5 Bee Movie ($12M)