Jerry Curl

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." - T.S. Eliot

THIS WILL BE ME TONIGHT!

Rob Devita as featured on Red Models .

Dec. 31, 1958, in Havana began as a subdued New Year's Eve, a reflection of tense, unstable times. Explosions sometimes went off in theaters back then, and police trying to quash an insurrection often stopped and searched folks on the street. Looking to avoid trouble, most Cubans celebrated safely by staying in. That year, many of the people who would become Miami's top civic and political leaders were teenagers huddled at home with parents afraid to let them revel outside. Rebel leader Fidel Castro was in the eastern Sierra Maestra mountains, preparing to attack the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba while he negotiated with top military commanders and dictated memos through the night. Argentine doctor and rebel leader Ernesto ''Ché'' Guevara had just defeated the Cuban army in the central city of Santa Clara, and Castro's younger brother Raúl was poised to take the far eastern city of Guantánamo. More of this insightful Miami Herald article can be found here

David Fair as featured on We Love Guys .

Purple Haze consists of Darius Crenshaw, Grasan Kingsberry, and Brian Brooks. Why another video? Because I just can't get enough of this stuff! (Via Towleroad )

By Mike Lester

Lucy and Ethel lose their struggle with a chocolate assembly line. Joe Friday demands "just the facts" with a penetrating gaze. A secret word brings Groucho a visit from a duck. Folks who grew up as television came of age will delight in a 20-stamp set included in the Postal Service's plans for 2009 recalling early memories of the medium. Besides commemorating black-and-white TV, the service's 2009 postage stamp program ranges from commemorating President Abraham Lincoln to the Thanksgiving Day parade, civil rights pioneers, actor Gary Cooper, poet Edgar Allan Poe, Supreme Court justices and Alaska and Hawaii statehood. The Early TV Memories stamp set is scheduled for release Aug. 11 in Los Angeles. (Via MSNBC )

(Via Dlisted )

Blaine Cook as featured on Major Models .

Above: Kiril Kulish as Billy Elliott on Broadway. Peruse more exquisite pictures here .

Weekend Top Five #1 Marley & Me ($37M) #2 Bedtime Stories ($28.1M) #3 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($27.2M) #4 Valkyrie ($21.5M) #5 Yes Man ($16.4M)

By David Fitzsimmons

Enrollment in Florida public schools has dropped for the third straight year, state figures show. After peaking at about 2.6 million students in the 2005-06 academic year, enrollment is down about 30,000, with more than half of those kids leaving during the past year. Broward and Miami-Dade schools have lost thousands of students during the past few years. Since 2004, Broward alone has lost about 17,000 students -- a sharp turnaround from a few years ago, when students were flooding the schools so fast that the district could not find space for them. Florida's office of Economic & Demographic Research said the number of students from foreign countries moving into the state has not changed much. But fewer children from elsewhere in the United States are moving in. ''I don't know where they go,'' economist Carolyn Dubard said. (Via Miami Herald )

Mark Dasilva as featured on We Love Guys .

Draw your own conclusions.

I would've taken him then. And let there be no doubt, I'd take him now.

Eartha Kitt, who purred and pounced her way across Broadway stages, recording studios and movie and television screens in a show-business career that lasted more than six decades, died on Thursday. She was 81 and lived in Connecticut. The cause was colon cancer, said her longtime publicist, Andrew E. Freedman.

Marlon Teixeira, Andres Velencoso, Tyson Balou, Marcus Schenkenberg, and Terron Wood as featured on Made in Brazil .

By Jimmy Margulies

After two years of relentlessly bad news ratings, Katie Couric finally has something she can smile about. The "CBS Evening News" anchor remains in third place behind NBC and ABC. But the average of 7.4 million people who watched her newscast last week was better than any than any week since February 2007, five months after she moved over from NBC's "Today" show. That makes four straight weeks where her audience was bigger than at the same point last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. It suggests that two years after the initial bad reaction viewers had to her move from "Today," some people are giving her a second chance. --> Brava, Katie! I'm sure it wasn't easy being handed the reins of the news bureau after the whole Dan Rather fiasco, but she's coming into her own. "Old Boys Club" my foot. (Via The Huffington Post )

Weekend Top Five: #1 Yes Man ($18.3M) #2 Seven Pounds ($14.9M) #3 The Tale of Despereaux ($10.1M) #4 The Day the Earth Stood Still ($9.89M) #5 Four Christmases ($7.7M)

From a series of street bashings in Seattle to the baseball bat murder of an Ecuadorean immigrant in New York, episodes of anti-gay violence punctuated a year now ending with police investigating the alleged gang rape of a lesbian near San Francisco. Advocates said today they do not know whether the threats, beatings and murders reflect a true rise in attacks or increased reporting of hate-based crimes that persist even as gays gain greater visibility and legal protections. "When you are talking about hate crimes, people think someone is likely to report it, but in some communities the message is not always clear that our society has accepted LGBT folks," said Sarah Tofte, a researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, referring to the acronym for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. FBI statistics show there were 1,265 hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2007, up from 1,017 two years earlier and 1,239 in 2003. That compares to 3,820 racially motivated

Junior Ferreira as featured on We Love Guys .

Prominent liberal groups and gay rights proponents criticized President-elect Barack Obama today for choosing evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration next month. Warren, one of the most influential religious leaders in the nation, has championed issues such as a reduction of global poverty, human rights abuses and the AIDS epidemic. But the founder of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, has also adhered to socially conservative stances -- including his opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights that puts him at odds with many in the Democratic Party, especially the party's most liberal wing. "[It's] shrewd politics, but if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now," Andrew Sullivan wrote on the Atlantic Web site Wednesday. People for the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert told CNN she is "deeply disappointed" with t

By Tab (Thomas Boldt)

John Cherland and featured on Nous Models .

Barack Obama today announced Chicago's CEO of Public Schools Arne Duncan as his Secretary of Education. From the AP report : Duncan is also widely viewed as a creative policy maker. He backed a proposal in October, for instance, for a high school touted as a haven for gay and bullied youth. Backers later pulled their proposal, saying they wanted to spend another year to finalize their plans. Duncan himself has heralded his district's performance, citing better supported mathematics, science and literacy curricula, as well as changes that offered students more opportunities to study in the afternoons, summers and weekends. He said in a statement posted on the district's Web site that the goal had been to make Chicago 'the premier urban school system in America.' Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has been so pleased with Duncan's performance that, even before the presidential election, he said he hoped then-candidate Obama would not take Duncan to Washington if he won.

A rat believed to be extinct for 11 million years, a spider with a foot-long legspan, and a hot pink cyanide-producing "dragon millipede" are among the thousand newly discovered species in the largely unexplored Mekong Delta region. The region, including parts of Vietnam and five other countries, is home to 1,068 species found between 1997 and 2007, according to a World Wildlife Fund report released this week. The Fund dubbed the Mekong a "biological treasure trove." The organization's report "First Contact in the Greater Mekong" says 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders and a toad were found. Scientists are still trying to determine if they have uncovered thousands of new invertebrate species. (Via CNN )

Here's RuPaul as both Michelle and Barack Obama. RuPaul as the Obamas is part of a holiday promotion for his new drag queen reality show on Logo premiering February 2nd. (Via Dlisted )

[ Editor's note ] Few film experiences have spoken so much to who I wish I was. Fewer still have dared me to find the courage and conviction in myself (albeit through a megaphone) like in Gus Van Sant's Milk . Set in the 1970s, this film traces the roots of the Gay Civil Rights movement from Anita Bryant to the activists of San Francisco's Castro Street. It's a film that pits the political establishment against a grassroots organization fighting for equality. At the center of it all, Sean Penn brings to life California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. Recounting the last eight years of his life, Penn weaves an extraordinary tale of love and loss, of hope and change-- of a dream still fighting to be realized. Without giving away too much of the plot, I can say that Milk goes beyond a period piece, beyond a biopic even. While it exquisitely captures the life and times of a great man, it also holds up a mirror to our lives. Its basic themes of gay ri

Weekend Top Five #1 The Day the Earth Stood Still ($31M) #2 Four Christmases ($13.3M) #3 Twilight ($8.01M) #4 Bolt ($7.51M) #5 Australia ($4.29M)

A 31-year-old Ecuadorean man who was beaten last Sunday in what New York City authorities say may have been a hate crime has died at a Queens hospital, his brother said Saturday. Jose Sucuzhanay and his brother, Romel, had left a party on December 7 at St. Brigid's Roman Catholic Church when several men approached them in a car in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, police said. The men allegedly began shouting anti-gay and anti-Latino vulgarities at the two men. Jose Sucuzhanay suffered severe head trauma and was taken to Elmhurst Hospital. He died Friday night from his injuries. Romel Sucuzhanay, 38, escaped with minor scrapes and has talked with detectives on the case. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she was "horrified to learn that anti-LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual) and anti-Latino slurs were used by one or more of the assailants, raising this event to the level of a hate crime." (Via CNN )

Matthew Born as featured on DNA .

Paula Abdul has spent the better part of the week telling anyone who would listen that she’s dissatisfied with the producers of “American Idol” and the she’s upset with Simon Cowell (“he’s like a family member you can’t get rid of”). Seems a little strange to air so much dirty laundry just weeks before the new season of “Idol” premieres, but as it turns out, Abdul might not have much reason to care about awkwardness. That’s because she’s seriously considering not going back to “Idol” at all. An “Idol” source says that the scenario — one that includes Abdul leaving as early as the pretaped auditions — is one they’re preparing for. “Obviously we have three other judges who can carry the show, and if she leaves before the live shows, the auditions can be edited so that she’s hardly noticed.” --> HARDLY NOTICED!? Paula is the only reason I watch that show. I admire anyone who can put up with Randy Jackson, even if it takes a few spiked Coca-Colas to do it. If she leaves, I'm throwin

By John Sherffius

Sam DeVries as featured on Queerty .

Bettie Page, the 1950s secretary-turned-model whose controversial photographs in skimpy attire or none at all helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution, died Thursday. She was 85. "She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality," said her agent, Mark Roesler. "She is the embodiment of beauty." (Via Washington Post )

The hosting honor goes to… Hugh Jackman. People magazine's reigning Sexiest Man Alive has been chosen to host the 81st annual Academy Awards ceremony, to take place Feb. 22. The Australian star, 40, who'll be hosting the Oscars for the first time, was selected "because we want the ceremony to be fun," says Laurence Mark, producer of the telecast. "He can hold the screen and he can hold a stage. It doesn't hurt that he looks amazing in a tuxedo and he's the Sexiest Man Alive." (Via People Magazine )

Jensen Atwood

"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

The Lesbian and Gay Band Association has had its application to march in the Inaugural parade accepted, according to the band's website. Wrote the group: "We are extremely pleased to announce that the Lesbian and Gay Band Association will be included as a marching contingent in the Inaugural Parade. This is the first time that an LGBT group will be represented in a Presidential Inaugural Parade, truly our chance to make history." According to its website, "Lesbian and Gay Band Association (LGBA) is a musical organization comprised of concert and marching bands from cities across America and the world. Formed in 1982 as Lesbian and Gay Bands of America when seven independent lesbian and gay bands met formally in Chicago, LGBA has grown to 26 bands including international bands." Gay groups have performed on sidewalks and as side acts to official inaugural events, but this is the first time an LGBT group will march in the official inaugural parade. (Via Towleroad

President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday outlined some of his plan to create 2.5 million jobs by 2011, and said he will push for immediate action by Congress when he takes office in January. Obama wants to make public buildings more energy-efficient, repair roads and bridges, modernize schools, increase broadband access and ensure that health care professionals have access to the latest technology. "Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world," he said in the weekly Democratic radio address. "We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won't just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work." (Via CNN )

Sixty years after Polaroid introduced its first instant camera, the company's iconic film is disappearing from stores. Last year, the Polaroid Corp. announced it would stop making instant film. Although Polaroid says the film should be available into 2009, this is the final month of its last production year. Eclipsed by digital photography, Polaroid's white-bordered prints -- and the anticipation they created as their ghostly images gradually came into view -- will soon be things of the past. The public's reaction to Polaroid's announcement reflects that. Blogs lament the loss. Polaroid-fan groups have formed on Facebook. On Amazon.com, a four-pack of 10 exposures is selling for $64 -- nearly $1.60 per photo. (Via CNN )

Levi Poulrer as featured on We Love Guys .

After spending nearly 28 years in an irreversible coma, heiress and socialite Martha "Sunny" von Bulow died Saturday in a New York nursing home, according to a family statement. She was 76. Von Bulow was subject of one of the nation's most sensational criminal cases during the 1980s. Her husband, Claus, was accused of trying to kill her with an overdose of insulin, which prosecutors alleged sent her into the coma. He was convicted of making two attempts on her life, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. He was acquitted in a second trial. His retrial in 1985 received national attention. (Via CNN )

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