Jerry Curl

Millvina Dean, who as a baby was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat in the frigid North Atlantic, died today, having been the last survivor of 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic. She was 97 years old, and she died where she had lived — in Southampton, England, the city her family had tried to leave behind when it took the ship's ill-fated maiden voyage, bound for America. She died in her sleep early this morning, her friend Gunter Babler told the Associated Press. It was the 98th anniversary of the launch of the ship that was billed as "practically unsinkable." Babler said Dean's longtime companion, Bruno Nordmanis, called him in Switzerland to say staff at Woodlands Ridge Nursing Home in Southampton discovered Dean in her room this morning. He said she had been hospitalized with pneumonia last week but she had recovered and returned to the home. (Via Comcast News )

Do yourselves a favor and check out Nivea's Manscaping 101 page by clicking here .

Adam Lambert is all over the place and we can't get enough. He's so amusing to watch that we can't help but follow his every TV move. Today we bring you two interviews. You can catch his hilarious Best Week Ever interview here . And US Weekly interviews both Lambert and Kris Allen. Watch it here . Viva la Glambert!

Jislain Duval as featured on Ohlala Mag .

We swore a blood oath to not cover any Sarah Palin-related stories after her defeat in November. We just wanted her to fade away like a bad hangover. But this was too good to pass up: Levi Johnston says his relations are improving with Bristol Palin, daughter of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The 19-year-old Johnston tells GQ magazine that the Palins aren't "lying when they say that things are better." Johnston fathered a child with Bristol, the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska governor. But since the couple broke off their engagement, he has complained in national interviews that the Palins were limiting his access to his son Tripp, born Dec. 27. Johnston also claims in the GQ article that Sarah Palin's husband, Todd Palin, offered to buy Bristol a new car if she broke off the relationship. (Via MSNBC & GQ )

Barack Obama's campaign promise to scrap the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy gave Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach hope. Now the aviator is wondering if the president will deliver in time to save his 18-year Air Force career. The winner of nine air medals for distinguished service in flight, including one for heroism the night U.S. forces captured Baghdad International Airport in 2003, Fehrenbach is in the process of getting kicked out of the military a year after an acquaintance told his bosses he was gay. He thought he could hang on until the government eliminated the military's policy forcing gays and lesbians to keep their sexual orientation secret, but now he isn't so sure. Obama "was someone who had experienced discrimination firsthand and that's why I had a lot of faith," Fehrenbach said. "I thought, OK I can fight this, and maybe by January Obama could be inaugurated and this won't matter. That hasn't happened....

Thirteen-year-old Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, spelled "laodicean," last night to take top honors in the 82nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. The eighth-grader won $40,000 in cash and prizes for nailing the final word. Pronounced lay-odd-uh-see-an, the word means lukewarm or indifferent, particularly in matters of politics or religion. This year's bee -- an event that has skyrocketed in popularity, thanks to exposure on television and in movies -- started on Tuesday in Washington with a record 293 spellers. The competition went 15 rounds. Spellers ranged from 9 to 15 years old. According to the contest's Web site, 117 of the spellers speak languages other than English, and English was not the first language of 33 of the spellers. (Via CNN )

File this under day-old news: Singer Rihanna will appear at a hearing next month as a possible witness in the assault case against ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, her lawyer has said. Donald Etra said prosecutors will order the star to appear at the 22 June hearing, which will assess if there is enough evidence to go to trial. The 20-year-old was charged with assault and making criminal threats in March after a row with his girlfriend. The pop star has pleaded not guilty to the charges. "Rihanna has always agreed to do whatever the law requires her to do," Etra said. (Via BBC )

The Rev. Alberto Cutié, the celebrity priest removed from his Miami Beach church after photos of him kissing and embracing a woman appeared in the pages of a Spanish-language magazine earlier this month, will leave the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami to join the Episcopal church. The small and private ceremony will happen early this afternoon at Trinity Cathedral, the church's South Florida headquarters in downtown Miami. Bishop Leo Frade, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, will officiate. Later, Cutié is expected to announce that he will marry his girlfriend, whom media reports have cited as 35-year-old Ruhama Buni Canellis, a divorced mother living in Miami Beach. Cutié got into trouble with the Archdiocese of Miami earlier this month when compromising pictures of the 40-year old cleric were published in the Spanish-language magazine TVnotas. The magazine's cover showed the priest in blue shorts lying on his back embracing a woman with long brown hair, a ...

Dear President Obama: Welcome to California, Mr. President. I welcome you with a heavy heart because of the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Prop. 8, relegating same-sex couples to second-class status and denying us that most noble promise of America, “liberty and justice for all.” You are arriving in Los Angeles on the heels of emotional demonstrations throughout California and our nation and your silence at such a time speaks volumes. LGBT people and our allies have the “audacity to hope” for a country that treats us fairly and equally and for a President with the will to stand up for those ideals. From you we expect nothing less. We know the country faces many serious challenges and we have strived to be patient. We’ve waited for the slightest sign you would live up to your promise to be a “fierce advocate” for our equal rights while watching gay and lesbian members of the armed forces, who have never been more needed, get discharged from the military. And so far you ha...

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List syarts June 8th, on Bravo at 10 p.m. The season-five opener finds our girl Griffin in unfamiliar territory when she hangs out with A-lister Bette Midler.

(Via Dlisted )

Richard Nuzzolese as featured on DNA .

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy

By R.J. Matson

The L.A. Times reports: During the protest, the crowd chanted, 'Out of the court, into the streets, we are ready to fight, we won’t be beat.' It was a reference to Tuesday’s state Supreme Court decision to uphold Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage. "The president made a promise when he made his speech about hope," said Rick Jacobs, who chairs the Courage Campaign, an organizer of the protest. "I bought that promise and I still buy that promise, but it’s time for him to start fulfilling that promise for all Americans." Jacobs, who worked on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in California, said that gay rights groups had collected 140,000 signatures for a petition asking the president to end the 'don’t ask, don’t tell' policy and to stop the firing of U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, an Arab language specialist who was ordered discharged after recently declaringthat he was gay on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. (Via Towleroad )

The Miami Circle, the 2,000-year-old Native American site that taxpayers shelled out $27 million to buy 10 years ago, may finally open to the public under a frugal state plan that would create a low-key park around the ancient landmark. The $750,000 plan calls for a paved promenade around the 2.2-acre site at the mouth of the Miami River, a drop-off circle for school buses and cars, modest landscaping and lighting and a few interpretive signs. The circle itself -- a carving in the limestone that archaeologists believe supported a structure with ceremonial uses -- will remain invisible for now because the state has neither a plan nor the money to display it yet. Instead, stones would mark the circumference of the circle, which is protected under several layers of fill. There is a hitch, however. The state and the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, which manages the site under contract, are at least $250,000 short of the amount needed for park construction. Circle supporters say they...

In the debate over global warming, one thing is clear: as the planet gets warmer, sea levels will rise. But how much, where and how soon? Those questions are notoriously hard to answer. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, in Boulder, Colo., are now adding to the complexity with a new prediction. If the melting of Greenland’s ice sheets continues to accelerate, they say, sea levels will rise even more in the northeastern United States and Maritime Canada than in other areas around the world. The researchers, Aixue Hu and Gerald A. Meehl, based their predictions on runoff data from Greenland and an analysis of ocean circulation patterns. They said that if Greenland melting continued to accelerate, it would alter ocean currents in a way that sends warmer water toward the northeastern and Maritime coasts. Because water expands as it warms, this influx of warmer water would raise sea levels as much as a foot or two more than in other coastal regions by the end of the...

Since Adam Lambert is known as much for his 'do as his guyliner, it's only natural that the American Idol runnerup would make a pit stop at Broadway's production of "Hair." While enjoying the show Tuesday night, "Glambert" got some special attention from his ex-"Wicked" castmate (and current "Hair" star) Caissie Levy; she even dropped into her pal's lap to give him a little love. Afterward, Lambert ventured backstage to take photos with the cast and crew and thank fans for their support. Following the performance, GateCrasher chatted with Levy at the show's cast recording party at Bumble and bumble. "I haven't seen Adam since 'Wicked,' but I'm so proud of him! I have performances nearly every night, but I TiVo-ed every episode of 'American Idol,'" she said. "I always knew Adam was a star, but it was exciting to have America discover what his friends have always known." (Via GateCrash...

More at HX.com

Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds: Behind the Scenes of The Proposal from Betty White (Via TeaBlogging )

André Guedes as featured on Made In Brazil .

AT&T, one of the biggest corporate sponsors of “American Idol,” might have influenced the outcome of this year’s competition by providing phones for free text-messaging services and lessons in casting blocks of votes at parties organized by fans of Kris Allen, the Arkansas singer who was the winner of the show last week. Representatives of AT&T, whose mobile phone network is the only one that can be used to cast “American Idol” votes via text message, provided the free text-messaging services at two parties in Arkansas after the final performance episode of “American Idol” last week, according to the company and people at the events. There appear to have been no similar efforts to provide free texting services to supporters of Adam Lambert, who finished as the runner-up to Mr. Allen. Since then, angry supporters of Mr. Lambert have flooded online chat boards with messages claiming irregularities in the competition’s voting. Officials of Fox Broadcasting declined to discuss the ...

Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS. Cuba's decades-old suspension from the Organization of American States appears to be coming to an end. As more countries clamor to lift the communist country's 1962 suspension from the hemispheric group, the U.S. State Department threw a curve ball at the debate late yesterday by submitting a new proposal that would eventually allow Cuba back to the OAS -- as long as Havana abides by the organization's democratic principles. Just how the suspension should be lifted will be taken up today at the group's permanent council meeting in Washington, where they will hammer out a final agenda for thegeneral assembly next week in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The proposal from the United States calls for ''initiating a dialogue'' with Cuba about its eventual reintegration to the hemispheric body -- "consistent with principles and values of the OAS charter, the InterAmerican Democratic charter and other instrument...

Gay leaders say they are moving into campaign mode with an eye toward trying to repeal Proposition 8 at the ballot box as early as next year after the state Supreme Court upheld the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages. "So the court has said we have to go back," said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California. "We believe the political drive, the momentum, is there to do that." The door to gay marriage in California — opened with a 4-3 ruling by the same court last spring and closed by voters in November — remains blocked for now as a result of yesterday's 6-1 decision. The court held that the ban, which passed with 52 percent of the vote, was a legal exercise of the virtually unfettered initiative power the California Constitution grants its citizens. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama Is scheduled to be in Los Angeles for a fundraiser today. Gay rights activists planned to use the visit to press the president to fulfill h...

California's highest court upheld the state's gay-marriage ban but allowed existing same-sex marriages to stand. The California Supreme Court handed down its decision in a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn November's Proposition 8. Gay-rights advocates maintain the ballot measure so dramatically revised the state constitution's equal protection clause that it needed the Legislature's approval before it could be put to voters. The seven-member court upheld the initiative as a constitutional expression of the electorate's will, but also decided to sustain the marriages of an estimated 18,000 gay couples who wed before the measure passed with 52 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, hundreds of people are outside the California Supreme Court, chanting "Shame on you, shame on you." More here and here .

By Dave Granlund

Thomas Ivasaki as featured on DNA .

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader-in-exile, has offered to donate $100,000 to help save the Department of Religious Studies at Florida International University, which is slated to close as part of $27 million in budget cuts. ''In our deeply interconnected world, understanding and appreciation of diversity of religions is critical in fostering a culture of genuine tolerance and peaceful coexistence,'' reads a letter from his India-based office to FIU President Modesto A. Maidique. "If the department were to close down, it will not be easy to rebuild it.'' Closing the department, which has about 125 undergraduate and graduate students and 12 full-time faculty members, would save $600,000 a year. FIU has a $642 million total operating budget. ''I'm astounded,'' said Nathan Katz, a religious studies professor who has been at the forefront of a campaign to save the department and wrote the Dalai Lama in early April. Katz said he has spoken t...

President Obama will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as his first appointment to the court, officials said today, and has scheduled an announcement for 10:15 a.m. at the White House. If confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, Judge Sotomayor, 54, would replace Justice David H. Souter to become the second woman on the court and only the third female justice in the history of the Supreme Court. She also would be the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court. Conservative groups reacted with sharp criticism on Tuesday morning. “Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written,” said Wendy E. Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network. “She thinks that judges should dictate policy, and that one’s sex, race, and ethnicity ought to affect the decisions one renders from the bench.” I like her already. More...

The California Supreme Court is expected to determine the fate of same-sex marriage in the state today as well as the validity of about 18,000 same-sex marriages. The court will rule on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the controversial measure banning same-sex marriage that voters approved in November. Its opponents want the amendment nullified. They say the proposition alters California's Constitution and, therefore, under state law, is a revision that requires a constitutional convention. Attorneys for the opponents also say the proposition, which removed the "marriage" label from same-sex unions, effectively deprives same-sex couples of a fundamental right guaranteed them under the equal-protection clause in the U.S. Constitution. Proposition 8 passed with about 52.5 percent of the vote, making California one of several states to ban same-sex marriage in the November 4 elections. But unlike others, California had been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex coupl...

Weekend Top Five: #1 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($53.5M) #2 Terminator Salvation ($43M) #3 Star Trek ($22M) #4 Angels & Demons ($21.4M) #5 Dance Flick ($11.1M)

Tonight, I found something to fill the great void left by American Idol's finale. While surfing the channels of tvland , I ran across this pretty face in a leather jacket and tight jeans. This sexpot on a stick is named Jencarlos Canela and he stars in Telemundo's Más Sabe el Diablo . In the Spanish soap, he plays Diablo , a New York hood recently released from prison. After 18 months in the big house, he's determined to change his bad boy ways. However, old habits die hard and he soon finds himself leading a team of career criminals, attempting to steal $300,000 worth of jewelry . Canela plays opposite Gaby Espino , a breath- takingly beautiful attorney who takes interest in Diablo's readjustment. Half Ocean's 11, half telenovela , this thing promises to be as addicting as only bad boys can be. Void: filled.

Scott Brown as featured on Queerty .

On Harvey Milk Day 2009, would he be proud of us? By Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute Shortly before he died in 1978, openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk made some extraordinarily prescient audio recordings. On one recording, he famously said, “If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door.” Today would have been Harvey’s 79th birthday but for Dan White’s bullet. May 22nd, Harvey Milk Day, is a good time to reflect on whether we have heeded his call to live openly and fight hard for true equality. Would Harvey be proud of where we are in 2009? The truth is I think he’d be celebrating on Castro Street some days and marching up the National Mall on others: –Today, many Americans are protected from job discrimination based on sexual orientation, but in dozens of states it’s still legal to fire someone simply for being gay or lesbian. Even fewer jurisdictions bar discrimination based on gender id...

Before the show started last night, someone told me that I couldn't have the American president I wanted AND the American Idol, too. Well, how right they were. As you've undoubtedly already heard, Adam Lambert did not win last night. In what I consider to be the upset of the decade, Adam Lambert lost a talent competition to Kris Allen-- further proving that America's cultural and musical taste stops at Jimmy Buffet. It's not that I think Kris is not a talent in his own right. But when unfairly compared to Lambert, Kris is just another corn-fed hick strumming a guitar in his garage. Lambert was robbed. Lambert's fans were robbed. When all is said and done though, I take comfort in knowing that Kris will follow in the grand tradition of Ruben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, and Fantasia B. All Idol winners and all career losers. Kris will fade away like yesterday's hangover. This isn't sour grapes, it's a fact. We know it now, the rest of America will know it lat...

(Via Queerty )

She's 63 years young today, babes.

In what can only be described as a three-song brawl between an American Idol contestant (see Kris Allen) and an icon-in-the-making (see Adam Lambert), last night's show delivered like Dominoes. It's clear to anyone who watched the show that Adam Lambert is light years more talented than Kris. Lambert has stage presence, charisma, and a vocal range that has rarely been seen in a male Idol constant. He enthralls you in his performances. And when he's not on, you wonder why he's not entertaining you. This is not to say that Kris did not hold his own. In fact, Kris' rendition of "Ain't No Sunshine" solidified why he made it this far. He's more than a pretty face. He's good as American Idol standards go, but when faced with a force like Lambert, Kris is rendered obsolete. I think what Randy said last night about his "What's Going On" performance sums up the whole of Kris- his songs are just too little for such a big stage. I hope Adam ...

For more about this sure-to-be funny show, read the NY Times article here . And then tune in tonight!

Weekend Top Five #1 Angels & Demons ($48M) #2 Star Trek ($43M) #3 X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($14.8M) #4 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ($6.86M) #5 Obsessed ($4.55M)

I'm not sure where to go from here. Just enjoy it. Via Dlisted .

Henry Watkins as featured on Red Models .

The recession may quietly be taking a toll in an unexpected area -- organ transplants. After years of increases, the national numbers of live donors and those seeking transplants have declined at least partly for economic reasons, an expert says. What's more, 2008 was the first time in 20 years that there was a decline in the number of deceased donors used for transplants. The evidence on live donors is anecdotal but real, says Michael Shapiro, who's on the board of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which controls the nation's organ donation program. He says UNOS board members at the March meeting said they had noticed a change since the economy soured last fall. ''Certainly if you are going to give your brother a kidney and take six weeks off of work, you might think in this recession whether your employer will think you're one of those folks he could do without,'' says Shapiro. In South Florida, the number of donors in 2008 declined to 133, down fr...

President Obama said yesterday that he would fight to prevent the release of photographs documenting abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by United States military personnel, reversing his position on the issue after commanders warned that the images could set off a deadly backlash against American troops. The administration said last month that it would not oppose the release of the pictures, but Mr. Obama changed his mind after seeing the photographs and getting warnings from top Pentagon officials that the images, taken from the early years of the wars, would “further inflame anti-American opinion” and endanger troops in two war zones. The decision in effect tossed aside an agreement the government had reached with the American Civil Liberties Union, which had fought to release photographs of incidents at Abu Ghraib and a half-dozen other prisons. The Justice Department informed the United States District Court in New York, which had backed the A.C.L.U.’s request, that it woul...

We're starting off today's updates with an American Idol blog because the emotions of last night cannot be contained any longer. What a show! Despite the endless amount of filler and glitter (see Katy Perry), it was an exciting and nerve-wracking hour. As you may have heard, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen are this season's top 2. Yep, you read correctly-- Kris Allen and Top 2 were in the same sentence. Who would'a thunk, huh? The truth of the matter is that Kris has been knocking them out of the park for the last few weeks and Gokey, frankly, has not. Topped off with that stellar acoustic performance of "Heartless," (see below) the kid secured his place on the top tier of Idol. Add to this, Kris' sure-fire tweeny fan base and you have a receipe for a contender in every sense of the word. Surprising or not, we think he earned his place next to Adam Lambert. They're different, sure, but they're both endlessly talented. As far as next week's finale g...

"Talent does what it can; genius does what it must." -Robert Bulwer-Lytton

With momentum appearing to grow for a healthcare overhaul, President Obama is calling once again on his grassroots army to push Congress over the finish line this year. Obama's backers received an email appeal overnight to sign an online declaration of support for his core principles: reduce costs, guarantee choice, and ensure all Americans have quality, affordable healthcare. Mitch Stewart, director of Organizing for America, noted that on Monday healthcare industry leaders offered to cut costs by $2 trillion over 10 years. "The health care crisis is not new, but it's getting worse," Stewart wrote the 17 million supporters. "For decades, real health care reform has been blocked by special interest lobbying and political point-scoring. We simply cannot go any further down this dangerous road of delay and denial. But we don't have to. "The most important reason this round of health care reform will be different is you. Last fall millions of regular people...

Carlos Freire as featured on Major Models .