Jerry Curl

By Dave Granlund

Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend, kids.

Intent on showing firm command of the deepening Gulf Coast crisis, President Barack Obama flew to Louisiana today and personally inspected a beach jeopardized by America’s largest-ever oil spill. Criticism of Obama is rising as crude continues to gush out of the leak weeks after the oil rig exploded and sank. Amid fears that the tragedy crippling the Gulf region’s wildlife and economy could soon also engulf his presidency, Obama has launched a campaign to step up public engagement and directly confront the public’s anger. A day earlier, he held a rare White House news conference to address the matter, saying “I take responsibility” for handling what is now considered the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. Todat, he interrupted a Memorial Day weekend stay with his family at their Chicago home for the Gulf visit, with his first stop a beach where absorbent booms and sandbags have been laid to try to keep more oil from washing ashore. No oil could be seen in the water during Obama’s helic...

Josh Patton as featured on DNA .

Broadway World reports : Nick Jonas, of the twinalicious Jonas Brothers, will join the West End production of Les Miserables as Marius for 3 weeks, beginning on June 21 according to the UK Daily Mail. The paper reports: "Cameron Mackintosh told me yesterday: 'I went up to him at the closing night party in New York and told him he was terrific and hoped that one day he would return to play Marius. We've been in touch a lot and, of course, since then he has become this world-famous star. 'He and his father and I agreed that it would be great if he came and played Marius here in London.'" Additionally, in October, Nick will be part of a huge, star- studded Company Being assembled to perform a 25th anniversary concert at the o2 Centre in Greenwich, South-East London. Details of casting - and ticket information about the o2 production - will be announced on Wednesday morning. Nick is no stranger to the stage. Before claiming the hearts of teenage girls (and gay bo...

Towleroad reports : A protest is scheduled for tomorrow in NYC at the Malawian Consulate, 866 United Nations Plaza, in support of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, the couple who were recently sentenced to 14 years in prison with hard labor for holding an engagement ceremony in late December. Facebook group is here .

David Fudge and the boys behind the 'Party in the FIP' video give us this for the summer

(Via Homotography )

Alicia Keys is in a motherhood state of mind: She's pregnant with her first child. The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer has been dating producer Swizz Beatz, who has written hits for Beyonce, Jay-Z and others. They're engaged to be married at a private ceremony later this year. Representatives for the couple confirmed the news last night. Keys last year teamed up with Jay-Z for a hit song about New York called "Empire State of Mind." She's among a string of international artists slated to perform at a June 10 concert to mark the start of the World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa. (Via AP )

The NYT reports : The House voted yesterday to let the Defense Department repeal the ban on gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a major step toward dismantling the 1993 law widely known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The provision would allow military commanders to repeal the ban. The repeal would permit gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time. It was adopted as an amendment to the annual Pentagon policy bill, which the House is expected to vote on today. The repeal would be allowed 60 days after a Pentagon report is completed on the ramifications of allowing openly gay service members, and military leaders certify that it would not be disruptive. The report is due by Dec. 1. The House vote was 234 to 194, with 229 Democrats and 5 Republicans in favor, after an emotionally charged debate. Opposed were 168 Republicans and 26 Democrats. Supporters of the repeal hailed it as a matter of basic fairness and civil rights, while opponents ...

The Daily News reports : The chief executive of BP says it will be about 48 hours before they know if pumping heavy mud into a blown-out well is successful in stopping the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. CEO Tony Hayward (pictured above) said that his confidence level in the well-plugging bid remains at about 60 to 70 percent. BP began injecting mud into the well on Wednesday afternoon in an untested bid to end a spill that has surpassed the Exxon Valdez disaster since it started after an oil rig explosion April 20 that killed 11 workers. The maneuver, called a top kill, has worked on land but never been tried in deep water. Hayward said BP engineers had completed a second phase by pumping what he called "loss prevention material" into the blowout preventer, a massive piece of machinery that sits atop the well. That material was supposed to form "a bridge against which we could pump" more heavyweight mud inside the blowout preventer. That part of the operation was...

Adam Miller as featured on VGL .

By Joe Heller

ArtsBeat reports : These days, being a writer for Conan O’Brien would seem to be as synonymous with idleness as being a Maytag repairman or a BP thank-you-note writer. But the writers for the former “Tonight Show” host and future TBS star are putting their downtime to productive use: after Mr. O’Brien completes his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, his writers will perform a live show in Chicago that will be broadcast on TBS at the end of June. The show, called “Team Coco Presents Conan’s Writers Live,” will be presented as part of the TBS Presents a “Very Funny” Festival: Just For Laughs (yes, that’s its full title) on June 17 at the Bank of America Theater, its organizers said. The show will feature Andy Richter, Mr. O’Brien’s longtime “Late Night” and “Tonight Show” sidekick, as well as Reggie Watts, a musician and comedian who has been opening for Mr. O’Brien on his tour, and will be shown June 27 on TBS. Then, before their egos get too inflated, it will be ti...

Towleroad reports : Madonna enters familiar territory — crucifixes and sex — in the advertising campaign for her new MDG sunglasses collection.

Buying an adorable puppy or kitten at your local pet store may become a thing of the past, if more American cities join a small but growing movement to ban retail pet sales. West Hollywood, Calif., became the latest city to put a leash on pet sales in February, when its city council unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting sales of dogs and cats in retail stores. Albuquerque, N.M., and South Lake Tahoe, Calif., have also banned pet sales. Other cities in Florida, New Mexico, Missouri and elsewhere are considering similar bans on the sale of dogs and cats. Animal advocates say pet store sales fuel the puppy mill industry, where dogs are bred and raised in cramped, unhealthy and inhumane conditions. They have similar concerns about "kitten factories," which are a smaller but growing problem. Efforts to crack down on animal mills have been hindered by limited enforcement resources, so ban proponents are shifting their focus from the supply side to the demand. Far better, th...

The Guardian reports : The US justice department is making preliminary inquiries into Apple's activities in the digital music market, according to reports. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that the justice department contacted music labels and digital music providers earlier this month to ask them about Apple's conduct in the market. "It was a very preliminary conversation," one source involved told Reuters. Given Apple's leading market share the broad questions involved iTunes, these people said. Billboard magazine reported in March that Apple had used its market dominance to prevent labels from agreeing to let Amazon.com exclusively debut new songs. Spokespeople for Apple, Amazon and the justice department declined to comment. It was reported yesterday that Apple's market value had overtaken Microsoft at $222.1bn (£155bn). Analysts suggested that the fact that the former underdog is now attracting attention from US regulators is a sign of ...

Engineers have stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government's top oil-spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said this morning. The "top kill" effort, launched yesterday afternoon by industry and government engineers, had pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well was very low, he said, but persisting. Once engineers had reduced the well pressure to zero, they were to begin pumping cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help in that effort, he said, engineers also were pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well. As of early this morning, neither government nor BP officials had declared the effort a success yet, pending the completion of the cementing and sealing of the well. Allen said one ship that was pumping fluid into the well had run out of the fluid, or "mud," and that a second ship was o...

MSNBC reports : New oil flow estimates by scientists studying the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico would make the leak the worst in the nation's history, far bigger than 11 million gallons that spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster. U.S. Geological Survey Director Dr. Marcia McNutt said the results are preliminary, but that two teams using different methods determined the well that exploded April 20 and sank two days later has spilled between 17 and 39 million gallons. Earlier, more conservative estimates put the amount of crude oil at 7 million gallons. The USGS estimates are bad news for President Barack Obama's administration and BP, which have taken a public relations beating as a result of the spill.

MTV reports : Last year's runner-up Adam Lambert was conspicuously absent from last night's finale. Earlier in the day, a report surfaced that Lambert had been dropped from the Idol alum number because he failed to attend rehearsals. Later it was reported that he'd been ordered by his doctor to rest his vocals. It was also reported that he'd not been invited to attend. Lambert vigorously denied all those rumors in a fiery series of tweets, explaining, "Would have loved 2 have been at the Idol Finale to wish Simon farewell and support the finalists, but this tour for my fans is my priority," elaborating later, "I have now just been made aware of more gossip and rumormill: First of all, I was never asked to appear on the finale in any capacity. 2nd: I DID come down w a throat bug most likely caught on my flight back from this past weekend's concert in Boston." He also explained that he'd been put on vocal rest on Tuesday after tour rehearsals....

The major headline from last night's snooze fest Idol finale is that Lee DeWyze won the top prize. That, in turn means that Crystal Bowersox now joins the ranks of better-than-the-winner runners up. Think: Archuleta, Lambert. And thank goodness too, because I can't picture Crystal peddling Ford Fiesta's next year. She's got a bright future . Results aside, last night's finale was epically geriatric. With the exception of Bret Michaels' surprise appearance (pic above) and Janet Jackson's killer performance (vid below), the rest of the guest artists left a lot to be desired. A slowed Alice Cooper opened the show with "School's Out"; Michael McDonald croaked his way through a song with contestant Michael Lynch; and Joe Cocker (or rather, what's left of Joe Cocker) sang "With a Little Help From My Friends." Adding to the senior citizen line-up were Chicago, 2/3's of the Bee Gees, and Hall & Oats. Enter Carrie Underwood and C...

Brad Goreski of The Rachel Zoe Project popped by Terry Richardson's studio recently to engage in a bit of suspender snapping. (Via Towleroad )

Since 1977, men who have had sex -- even once -- with another man are not permitted to give blood. Sparked by concerns that HIV was tainting the blood supply, the Food and Drug Administration implemented such rules in 1983. The policy was seen as a safety measure as no screening tests to identify HIV-positive blood had been developed. But today, with the availability of more accurate testing, activists, blood organizations and several U.S. senators say the lifetime ban is "medically and scientifically unwarranted" and are calling for change. The Federal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability will consider the issue in meetings June 10 and 11 in Rockville, Maryland. The committee makes recommendations to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA. Medical opinions vary; some experts say that lifting the ban could pose health risks to blood recipients. The Human Rights Campaign, the American Red Cross, America's Blood C...

Reuters reports : The threat of an above-average 2010 Atlantic hurricane season has increased over the last month and it now promises to be "very active," two leading forecasters said Wednesday. The warning comes as the season also sees an unusual factor added to the mix: the Gulf oil disaster. William Gray and Phil Klozbach, who head the respected Colorado State University hurricane forecast team, said they would ramp up their prediction for the 2010 season in a report due out on June 2. "The numbers are going to go up quite high," Gray said. "This looks like a hell of a year." On Tuesday, a private weather forecasting company said the 2010 season could be the most active since 2005, which was the most active in recorded history. Weather Services International predicted 18 named storms, 10 hurricanes and five intense hurricanes, rated as Category 3 storm with winds of 110-130 mph, or greater. That is well above the 1950-2009 averages of 10 named storms, s...

Joshua Lovrin as featured on Nous Models .

The Alaotra grebe, also called the rusty grebe, had been highly vulnerable as it was found only in Lake Alaotra, eastern Madagascar, according to the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which compiles the Red List of endangered species. The grebe was wiped out by habitat destruction, by the introduction of a carnivorous fish called the snakehead murrel and by nylon gill-nets which accidentally caught and drowned many birds. "No hope now remains for this species. It is another example of how human actions can have unforeseen consequences," said Leon Bennun, director of science at BirdLife International. BirdLife contributes data to the IUCN's Red List on the world's 10,027 recognised bird species. Of these, 132 species are now extinct; four are extinct in the wild; 190 are critically endangered; 372 endangered and 838 near-threatened. Of the remainder, 7,751 species are categorised as being of "least concern" while data is insuf...

(Via Towleroad )

Elton John is expected to be the highlight of Morocco's biggest music festival this evening — despite calls by the country's main Islamist party to shelve the British singer because of his homosexuality. The public spat between organizers for the Mawazine Festival and the Justice and Development Party, or PJD, the country's largest authorized Islamist group, illustrates the growing rift between Morocco's Western-leaning authorities and the more conservative Muslim movements that are on the rise in the North African kingdom. "This singer is famous for his homosexual behavior and for advocating it," said Mustapha Ramid, a leader and spokesman for the PJD, the biggest opposition party with 40 lawmakers in parliament. "We're a rather open party, but promoting homosexuality is completely unacceptable," Ramid told The Associated Press in a phone interview, saying homosexuality is against Muslim values. Ramid feared the singer would "encourage the...

TeaBlogging reports : From the studio (Hustler) that delivered such instant classic porn parodies as Nailin' Palin and Keeping it up for the KardASSians comes what's being billed as "the most highly anticipated adult film of the summer": This Ain't Glee XXX ! The official semi-work safe trailer below:

We at Jerry Curl tip our hats to Craig Berman for putting this Idol season into perspective. His commentary follows: Regardless of who wins the Crystal Bowersox-Lee Dewyze showdown on American Idol this week, season nine will still go down as the most frustrating season in the show’s history. This was the first year where it seemed like Idol was flailing. There's no more aura of invincibility that kept rival networks from challenging it with programming they had any hopes for. And with Simon Cowell set to depart following tomorrow's finale, this is a scary new road for Idol to travel. What makes it even more frightening for Idol fans is how close things were to being even worse. Bowersox’s diabetes rendered her unable to compete on one of the Tuesday semifinal performance nights. If show had eliminated her rather than switching the date of competition to Wednesday so she could perform, May would have been a very uninspiring final month of the season, and maybe those vote to...

Democratic political strategist James Carville, a resident of Louisiana, slammed President Obama this morning for the "political stupidity" of his response to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "The president doesn't get down here in the middle of this... I have no idea of why they didn't seize this thing," Carville said on ABC's Good Morning America . "I have no idea of why their attitude was so hands off here." The White House has been on the defensive about its response to the spill, which began when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people. Millions of gallons of oil have already spilled into the Gulf, and government agencies are still working with BP to try and cap the leak. The administration is stressing the fact that it has sent thousands of response vessels and thousands of personnel, including top cabinet officials, to the scene. However, the president himself has only made one brief appearanc...

A former Walt Disney Co. employee and an alleged accomplice were arrested today by the FBI on charges of trying to sell quarterly report information on the entertainment giant. FBI officials said the former Disney employee, Bonnie Hoxie, and alleged accomplice Yonni Seebag were taken into custody by agents in Los Angeles and were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court this afternoon. Dow Jones Newswires said the two face charges of conspiracy and wire fraud. Hoxie, an executive secretary to the company's communications chief, and Seebag allegedly sent anonymous letters to funds, trying to sell second-quarter earnings information to hedge funds and investment companies ahead of its scheduled release, Dow Jones said. The two were caught after an FBI sting in which agent posed as hedge-fund traders, Dow Jones said. Officials at Disney could not be immediately reached for comment. (Via Market Watch )

The Coast Guard gave BP approval today to try its "top kill" procedure on the Gulf oil spill, while BP's chief executive earlier told NBC that he would decide shortly whether conditions were right to proceed. Tony Hayward also issued an apology of sorts for earlier comments minimizing the damage so far. "We have let people down in our defense of the shore and we are going to redouble our efforts," Tony Hayward told NBC's Today show when asked why last week he said the environmental impacts seemed "very, very modest." "I felt devastated and gutted" after viewing damage to a coastal beach on Tuesday, Hayward said. On the "top kill" strategy, Hayward said: "Later this morning I will review that with the team, and I will take a final decision as to whether or not we should proceed." If he determines it is safe to proceed, the procedure is expected to happen today, he said. He added it will take a day or two to determine ...

On a related note, we purchased the soundtrack today and have Liza's rendition of "Single Ladies" playing on loop! (Via Dlisted )

Last Wednesday, Logo got a visit from a pair of pop’s hottest gents who just also happen to crank out terribly fab, sweaty, thumpy, musically crafty and butt-thumping music: The fetching Jake Shears and Baby Daddy from the Scissor Sisters! Actually, they invaded their record label’s offices downtown with a TV crew to shoot an upcoming episode of NewNowNext PopLab , and they just lurked around, snapping pics and chatting with the guys. While they snapped, Jake and BabyDaddy gabbed about all kinds of topics, including… - Their new album, Night Work and its debauched late-70s/early 80s vibe - The album’s esteemed guest star, Sir Ian McKellen who delivers amazing voice-over realness on “Invisible Light” - What’s coming up with their work on the Tales of the City musical - Their love lives (Jake’s been with his current man for 6 years; BabyDaddy’s single!) - Te sexy ass on the album cover, courtesy of Robert Mapplethorpe This PopLab episode is scheduled to air this summer. More music and ...

Robyn 'Dancing On My Own' (Official Video) from Robyn on Vimeo .

Eric as featured on DNA .

CNN reports : With maps, apps and databases, the online community is working to help show the world the scope and damage of the Gulf Coast oil spill. The April 20 explosion of an offshore oil rig owned by BP began dumping oil into the Gulf, with some rising to the surface and reaching the fragile wetlands along the coast of Louisiana. Millions of gallons have spilled, and some estimates say it's already bigger than the notorious Exxon Valdez spill off the Alaskan coast in 1989. Paul Rademacher, engineering director for Google Maps, said that in the wake of the disaster, he felt descriptions of the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf were hard to understand. "The usual numbers are barrels-a-day ... there were some statements about how many Olympic-size swimming pools it would fill up, the equivalent of when we talk about football fields for length," said Rademacher, who has been at Google since 2005. "Those numbers can be useful for smaller number that we can wrap our...

By Chris Britt

AP reports : Wal-Mart says it's cutting the price of the most up-to-date iPhone in half. That's another sign Apple is getting ready to unveil a new model. Wal-Mart says that starting Tuesday the iPhone 3GS with 16 gigabytes of storage space will cost $97 with a two-year contract with AT&T. It currently costs $197. Leaked prototypes for an updated iPhone surfaced on blogs recently. The price cut could signal retailers are clearing the shelves to make room for a new Apple smartphone. Apple declined to comment on whether it's planning to release a new iPhone soon, or whether it will also sell the iPhone 3GS for less. The company's annual developer conference kicks off June 7. Apple unveiled the iPhone 3GS at the same event last year. Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be the keynote speaker.

The Brisbane Times reports : Oil giant BP faced mounting pressure yesterday to control a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico after the US government threatened to take over the response to the month-old disaster. "If we find that they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. [ Ed. Note : They're not!!!] Salazar insisted that the full force of the federal government was bearing down on BP, which is legally responsible for dealing with a ruptured pipe that has been gushing oil into the gulf from the wreckage of an offshore rig. The BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers, and sank two days later. Ever since, hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil, perhaps even millions, have been spewing each day into the sea. Salazar lashed out at BP for missing "deadline after deadline" as its latest attempt to cap the environmentally devastating leak wa...

As officials approached to survey the damage the Gulf oil spill caused in coastal marshes, some brown pelicans couldn't fly away Sunday. All they could do was hobble. Several pelicans were coated in oil on Barataria Bay off Louisiana, their usually brown and white feathers now jet black. Pelican eggs were glazed with rust-colored gunk, and new hatchlings and nests were also coated with crude. It is unclear if the area can even be cleaned, or if the birds can be saved. It is also unknown how much of the Gulf Coast will end up looking the same way because of a well that has spewed untold millions of gallons of oil since an offshore rig exploded more than a month ago. "As we talk, a total of more than 65 miles of our shoreline now has been oiled," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who announced new efforts to keep the spill from spreading. A mile-long tube operating for about a week has siphoned off more than half a million gallons in the past week, but it began sucking up o...

The White House and leading lawmakers came to an agreement yesterday about how to end the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, likely speeding the end of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Backers were optimistic that they could this week attach the amendment to a broader defense funding bill expected to pass this year. The bill wouldn't immediately repeal the Clinton-era policy. Rather, it would take effect as soon as a Pentagon review is complete and the president signs off on the military's recommendations for how to undertake the change in policy. President Barack Obama and Pentagon leaders have already said they were committed to ending the policy and allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces. But in order to lift the ban, Congress must act as well. If the proposed legislation becomes law, the change can occur once the review is finished. Gay rights activists have been frustrated with the pace of the repeal effort...

A 13-year-old American became the youngest climber to ever summit Mount Everest on Saturday. Jordan Romero's journey was tracked through GPS coordinates on his blog, logging his team's ascent up Everest, which is 29,028 feet (8,847 meters) above sea level. "Their dreams have now come true," a statement on Jordan's blog said. "Everyone sounded unbelievably happy." Before Saturday, the youngest climber to scale Everest was 16-year-old Temba Tsheri of Nepal. "I know you would like to hear from the boy himself, but he is currently flat on his belly knocked out," a member of Jordan's climbing team said in a message posted Saturday on his blog. "The effort he put out this last more like 48 hours is -- you're not going to believe the story when you see it and read about it." Romero left for the peak from the Chinese side of the mountain after Nepal denied him permission on age grounds, according to nepalnews.com. Before starting out,...

Arthur Sales as featured on Major Models .

Bloomberg reports : Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs’ scheduled appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference suggests the company may be ready to introduce a next-generation iPhone, analysts said. “Given Apple’s track record, the most likely scenario is that they’ll introduce new hardware, in this case the latest iPhone,” William Kreher, a St. Louis-based analyst at Edward Jones & Co., said in an interview. Jobs, 55, will deliver a speech at the five-day meeting on June 7, the Cupertino, California-based company said today in a statement. The event sold out in eight days to more than 5,000 developers, Apple said. Apple has previously introduced products at the conference. The newest iPhone will probably have improved battery life and a front-facing camera, said Charlie Wolf, a New York-based Needham & Co. analyst. He said in an interview that Jobs will probably show the device during his keynote address. Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook introduced a fast...

Current Promises, Promises Tony nominee and past Will & Grace Emmy winner Sean Hayes will host June 13's 64th annual Tony Awards ceremony, CBS – which will broadcast the show live from Radio City Music Hall – announced today. "I am absolutely thrilled to be hosting the Tony Awards," Hayes, 39, said in a statement. "As the new guy on Broadway, it's an honor to be included in the established alumni." Besides Hayes and Denzel Washington, other familiar names nominated for Tonys this season include Jude Law in Hamlet ; Alfred Molina, in Red ; Liev Schreiber in A View from the Bridge ; Christopher Walken in A Behanding in Spokane ; Kelsey Grammer in La Cage ; Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music ; Linda Lavin in Collected Stories ; and Valerie Harper in Looped . For a complete list of nominees, visit the Tonys Web site .