Jerry Curl

You can read the full 267 page report here . It is already being hailed as a thorough, sensible report on the ground conditions of gay personnel in the armed forces. The Washington Post reports : According to a survey sent to 400,000 service members, 69 percent of those responding reported that they had served with someone in their unit who they believed to be gay or lesbian. Of those who did, 92 percent stated that their unit's ability to work together was very good, good, or neither good nor poor, according to the sources. Combat units reported similar responses, with 89 percent of Army combat units and 84 percent of Marine combat units saying they had good or neutral experiences working with gays and lesbians. At the same time, the report found that 30 percent of those surveyed overall — and between 40 and 60 percent of the Marine Corps — either expressed concern or predicted a negative reaction if Congress were to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law, which...

::cringe::

As the glass doors of Hard Candy Fitness, Madonna's first gym, slid open in Mexico City on Monday, a mural of white, black and violet Warhol-esque images of the Queen of Pop greeted each client. But it was no disco with exercise machines or Hard Rock Cafe-style temple of Madge memorabilia. The facilities are not much different from any other high-class gym in Mexico City, and very little screams that this is Madonna's first fitness venture, apart from the name – the title of her last album – which she says in fitness parlance is the perfect combination of "hard body" and "eye candy." "It's a sexy name that gives you the opportunity to have fun and to build strength as far as the imagination will allow," the singer, dancer, actress, children's author and clothing designer said in a Q&A provided by her handlers. Still, not every gym opens with a Hollywood red carpet appearance by one of the most powerful women in entertainment, who cut th...

Mashable reports : Today, users can start connecting with all their favorite social causes in one online sphere, as Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has launched his much-buzzed-about social network, Jumo. Hughes, who left Facebook in 2007 to become the Obama campaign's director of online organizing, soft-launched Jumo last March. At that time the site existed merely as a homepage featuring a rather intriguing survey box that asked the site visitor an array of questions from, "If you had a daughter tomorrow, which would you name her?" to "Would you say the world is getting better or worse?" Upon answering these queries, you could also submit your e-mail address to get more information as it came. The site is intended to bring together those interested in social change to expedite global do-gooding. The point is not to have the doing-good-at-Thanksgiving-time mentality (i.e. being galvanized by big events and holidays), but to have people be involved with their c...

NBC News reports : As opponents of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy prepare a final push for repeal during Congress’s lame duck session, polling shows that they’ve got the wind of public opinion at their backs. A new survey out yesterday from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that 58 percent of Americans favor allowing gay and lesbian members of the military to serve openly. Less than a third of respondents (27 percent) say that gays and lesbians should not be permitted to serve openly in the Armed Forces. Democrats and independents favor letting gays serve openly in the military by wide margins, but Republicans remain divided on the question. About 40 percent say that gays should be permitted to serve openly, while 44 percent say they should not. National approval for openly gay service members is mirrored in almost every religious and age group, according to the poll. Over half of Catholics and non-evangelical Protestants say that gays should be allowed to se...

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ArtsBeat reports : Irvin Kershner, the veteran filmmaker who directed the pivotal 1980 Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back , as well as big-budget features like Never Say Never Again and Robocop II , has died, Agence France-Presse reported. His goddaughter Adriana Santini told Agence France-Presse that he died in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 87. Mr. Kershner, who taught film and photography classes at the University of Southern California, had already accumulated a lengthy résumé of film and television credits, including the 1978 thriller Eyes of Laura Mars , when he was chosen by George Lucas, the Star Wars creator and franchise godfather, to direct Empire Strikes Back , the first sequel to be released theatrically (though the fifth to occur chronologically) in that blockbuster space-adventure franchise. Empire ,in which the villainous Darth Vader reveals he is Luke Skywalker’s father and the roguish Han Solo responds to Princess Leia’s declaration of love with a winking “...

Anthony as featured on DNA .

(Via Towleroad )

A retired French electrician and his wife have come forward with 271 undocumented, never-before-seen works by Pablo Picasso estimated to be worth at least $79.35 million, an administrator of the artist's estate said today. The couple for years squirreled away the staggering trove — which is believed to be authentic, but whose origin is unclear — in their garage on the French Riviera, said Picasso Administration lawyer Jean-Jacques Neuer. The cache, dating from the artist's most creative period from 1900 to 1932, includes lithographs, portraits, watercolors, and sketches — plus nine Cubist collages said to be worth €40 million alone, according to French daily Liberation, which first reported on the discovery. Pierre Le Guennec, a 71-year-old former electrician who once worked for Picasso, and his wife showed many of the works to Picasso's son Claude and other estate administrators in Paris in September seeking to have the works certified as authentic, the lawyer said. Shortl...

Time reports : Leslie Nielsen, who went from drama to inspired bumbling as a hapless doctor in Airplane! and the accident-prone detective Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun comedies, has died. He was 84. His agent John S. Kelly says Nielsen died Sunday at a hospital near his home in Ft. Lauderdale where he was being treated for pneumonia. The Canadian-born Nielsen came to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing in 150 live television dramas in New York. With a craggily handsome face, blond hair and 6-foot-2 height, he seemed ideal for a movie leading man. He quickly became known as a serious actor, although behind the camera he was a prankster. That was an aspect of his personality never exploited, however, until Airplane! was released in 1980 and became a huge hit. --> I'll always remember Mr. Nielsen as the man who married Dorothy Zbornak and essentially shut down the Golden Girls . But forgive and forget, peace be with him.

Weekend Top Five: #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 ($76.3M) #2 Tangled ($69M) #3 Megamind ($17.6M) #4 Burlesque ($17.2M) #5 Unstoppable ($16.2M)

Remember, keep it classy.

Diva count : Tina? Check . Bette? Check . Cher? Check . Donna ? Check . Diana Ross? CHECK! [ Editor's note ] On Sunday evening, my BFF Michelle and I got to see the Supreme diva herself from 15 rows away. As one of the legendary musical acts of all time, Miss Ross delivered a litany of career-spanning hits that stretched back to her days as a Motown ingénue up to the pop powerhouse that followed. Indeed, few artists have as many incarnations as Diana Ross. From girl-group Diana to Disco Diana, from Lady Sings the Blues Diana to international pop star Diana, she has seamlessly transcended time and changing styles to become an enduring symbol of grace and talent. And on Sunday evening, she brought out all the Diana's to play. At 66 years young, Miss Ross hasn’t lost a drop of her talent or charisma. With head thrust back, arms outstretched and that signature smile, Miss Ross soaked up the well-deserved adoration with style. Vamping it up in various sequined costumes, it’s obviou...

The second issue of Made In Brazil Magazine is almost out. They will be launching the new site for the magazine on Friday, but in the meantime make sure to check out a very special preview of the issue at Models.com .

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A new study indicating that antiretroviral medication is effective in preventing HIV may be raising as many questions as it has answered. Among them: Who will pay for it? Who should take it? And will it lead to less condom use among gay men? “It’s an incredible biologic success with incredible behavior challenges,” Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, said of the study, published Tuesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and involving nearly 2,500 gay men — as well as transgender women who have sex with men — the three-year study found that those who were given the antiretroviral pill Truvada were 44% less likely to become infected with HIV than those who received a placebo. When participants took the medication as directed 90% of the time — verified through blood tests —Truvada was 73% effective in preventing infection. All study subjects received HIV test...

Jennifer Grey, the 50-year-old star of Dirty Dancing was awarded the hideous-yet-coveted Mirror Ball Trophy on last night's Dancing With the Stars 11th-season finale. Meanwhile, Bristol Palin finished third, behind 19-year-old Disney star Kyle Massey who generated a wave of good feeling among viewers -- and the show's three professional judges -- with his exuberance and general likeability. (Via WaPo )

New judges aren’t the only changes coming next season on American Idol . Speaking to TVGuide.com , producer Nigel Lythgoe said there will be some new challenges in the upcoming season including eliminating the top 24 rounds, and contestants having to market themselves and make the best music video. Lythgoe, who is returning this season after having taken up duties on another hit fox show So You Think You Can Dance , said he’s happy to see the show go straight to the top 12 rather than dawdle with eliminating folks from the top 24. “I didn't think [the top 24] were very good, I was bored with them by the time they got there," Lythgoe said. While he didn’t reveal how Idol will be dealing with cutting those rounds leading up to the final 12, Lythgoe did say audiences will see more diverse talent this season with more jazz, indie and country singers aspiring to win. The show has also lowered the age of eligibility to 15 years old.

The Marquee Blog reports : In the midst of trying to fix the nation's problems, President Barack Obama is attempting to get to the bottom of another matter: the legend of Archimedes' solar ray. That's why he's called in the Mythbusters team for a little help. "I am a big fan of 'Mythbusters,'" Obama tells incredulous co-hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman in a clip of his upcoming episode. "I am and so are the girls. I think we have a big one that hasn't been thoroughly tested: It is Archimedes' solar ray." According to legend, Greek scientist Archimedes set fire to invading Roman ships using just mirrors and sun rays during the Siege of Syracuse in 214 B.C. Or did he? That's the challenge the president issues to the Mythbusters team. "Figure this out and report back to me," he commands them. The episode featuring President Obama airs on the Discovery Channel on December 8.

VOA reports : Thirteen Asian nations, including Russia, China, and India, have signed a pledge to save the dwindling wild tiger population. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hosted leaders and top officials from 12 other Asian governments in St. Petersburg yesterday for the four-day International Tiger Forum. Mr. Putin told the meeting it is important to preserve what he calls a magnificent animal for future generations. He said he wants to see the number of Asian tigers in the wild doubled by 2022. He called that goal difficult, but said it can be reached. The prime minister also called for financial help for developing countries working to save tigers. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told the forum that to make these efforts a success, it is necessary to bolster an international crackdown on poaching and the illegal global trade in tiger parts. Experts say the demand for tiger skins and other tiger body parts, which some believe have medicinal purposes or increase sexual performance, ...

[ Editor's note ] So that means we'll be out until tomorrow afternoon. But look out for an update on the Diana Ross concert we saw last night! Cheers.

MSNBC reports : Harry Potter has cast his biggest box-office spell yet with a franchise record $125.1 million domestically over opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 also added $205 million in 54 overseas countries, bringing the film's worldwide total to $330.1 million. In terms of domestic revenue, Deathly Hallows: Part 1 came in ahead of the series' best previous debut of $102.7 million for 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. But factoring in today's higher admission prices, the latest movie had roughly the same size audience as the franchise's best previous draws — Goblet of Fire and 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , which launched the series. Deathly Hallows and those two earlier movies each sold around 16 million tickets in their first weekend. Overseas markets for Deathly Hallows were led by a $28 million opening in Great Britain, $21.8 million in Germany, $14.8 mil...

Weekend Top Five: #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 ($125M) #2 Megamind ($16.2M) #3 Unstoppable ($13.1M) #4 Due Date ($9.15M) #5 The Next Three Days ($6.75M)

From the New York Times : Cher needs foot surgery. Something to do with a twice-broken toe. She was vague about this but said that earlier in the day, when she had gone shoe shopping, she couldn’t try on anything stylish or theatrical — anything Cher. Maybe next year, she said, after the operation. Some friends wanted her to join them for a movie premiere in a few hours, but she was resisting. On this nippy evening in early November, as she curled up with a cup of cocoa in a Manhattan hotel suite, she was exhausted, even though she had just squeezed in a 45-minute nap, the heavy-lidded, woozy-voiced effects of which she was still shaking off. Getting old, she said, stinks. She alternately stares it in the face and rejects it, teases that she’s 100 and puts the real number, 64, so far out of mind that, she said, “I should probably tattoo it on my hand to remember.” Even without ink, her flesh — and joints and muscles — remind her. “It’s harder to do things,” she said. “I’ve beat my body...

Bernardo Velasco as featured on Made in Brazil .

By Daryl Cagle

Apparently theatergoers are quite comfortable on the edge of their seats. That explains not only the box office success of Paranormal Activity 2 but also the recent announcement that there will be a Paranormal Activity 3 . Paramount Pictures has confirmed that a third installment of the spooky supernatural story is in the works and should be ready to frighten fans on October 21, 2011. The decision to extend the Paranormal franchise comes as a no-brainer for Paramount. Paranormal Activity 2 , released in October, has taken in over $150 million worldwide and received mostly favorable reviews, while the first Paranormal Activity film, released in 2007, earned $183 million and a cult following. (Via the Marquee Blog )

More here . (Via Kenneth in 212 )

With son Chaz and Mama Cher The final product. (Via Daily Mail ) UPDATE: Now with video!

The Advocate reports : Sen. Joe Lieberman said yesterday that repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” as part of the National Defense Authorization Act is no longer a question of votes, it’s a question of process. “I am confident that we have more than 60 votes prepared to take up the defense authorization with the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ if only there will be a guarantee of a fair and open amendment process, in other words, whether we’ll take enough time to do it,” Lieberman told reporters at a press conference, naming GOP senators Susan Collins and Richard Lugar as yes votes. “Time is an inexcusable reason not to get this done.” Lieberman, an independent, was flanked by 12 of his Democratic colleagues — a core group that seemed intent on urging the Democratic leadership to allow enough room in the Senate schedule for a debate that would be acceptable to Republicans. The senators talked about working over the weekends, and Sen. Mark Udall offered to go straight through until Chris...

The family of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student who committed suicide after a sexual encounter was broadcast online, has consented to the use of his name on a piece of anti-harassment legislation. The Clementi family will allow Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, to use his name in the proposed federal legislation, to be known as the "Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act," an attorney for the family said. Clementi's body was recovered from the Hudson River in September, more than a week after he jumped from the George Washington Bridge. The proposed law would require schools that receive federal student aid "to create policies prohibiting the harassment of any student," Lautenberg said last month. The legislation also classifies cyber-bullying as a form of harassment. Lautenberg said that federal funding would be provided to colleges and universities to deal with harassment and bullying against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender st...

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Vincent Azzopardi as featured on Homotography .

(Via Towleroad )

Passengers on a red-eye woke up to an announcement more interesting than the typical "fasten your seatbelts" as they approached New York early this morning: Two men had gotten married on board overnight when the captain briefly flew over Canada, where gay marriage is legal. "The head flight attendant made the announcement on the P.A. 'While you were sleeping, we had a little wedding in the galley. The captain diverted us over Canadian airspace so he could marry two gentlemen,'" said passenger Ryan McManus, who was returning home to New York. The captain of Virgin America Flight 28, which originated in San Francisco, officiated the wedding, McManus quoted the flight attendant as saying. "We'd like to wish them the best and offer them a round of applause," he quoted the attendant as saying, noting that the passengers applauded on cue. Virgin America confirmed to MSNBC that one of the normal flight paths for Flight 28 does go over Canada. "W...

I got you babe? More like I got you and you and you babe, according to Cher, who reveals her marriage to Sonny Bono was rife with infidelity. "Stardom made Sonny a huge womanizer," Cher tells Parade in Sunday's issue of the magazine. "One woman, or even five, was not enough for him. I found all this out afterward. I asked him, 'How did you manage the logistics?' I was trusting and faithful with him," Cher said. "I'm not sure we should've ever been husband and wife." The marriage left Cher considering suicide. "I thought about jumping off a hotel balcony, then I thought, no, I can just leave him. When I told Sonny, he said, 'If you leave me, America will hate you and you won't have a job.'" Cher obviously has moved on, marrying Gregg Allman, and dating at different times Warren Beatty, Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Richie Sambora. The actress/singer also tells Parade about her new boyfriend, Ron Zimmerman, who she met...