Posted 9 months, 1 week ago at 12:10 pm. 0 comments
The creative team for next year’s Academy Awards telecast is shaping up, and will include 5-time Oscar nominee Marc Shaiman. Shaiman will serve as music director for the 82nd Academy Awards, telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic announced today.
“With Marc on board, we are sure to have some great musical and, hopefully, hysterical moments,” said Mechanic.
“Marc was my inspiration and musical partner on ‘Hairspray’ and he has been responsible for some of the most memorable moments in Oscar history, like Will Ferrell and Jack Black’s comedy numbers,” said Shankman. “He’s a genius! And he’d be the first to tell you!”
Shaiman is a prolific music composer who has earned five Academy Award® nominations. He received Original Score nominations for his work on “The American President” (1995), “The First Wives Club” (1996) and “Patch Adams” (1998), and he received nominations in the Original Song category for “A Wink and a Smile” from “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and for “Blame Canada” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” (1999). Shaiman has also been nominated for four Emmy® Awards, three of which were for his work on Oscar telecasts. He won the Emmy in 1992 for co-writing Billy Crystal’s “Oscar Medley” for the 64th Academy Awards. Shaiman’s other film credits include “The Bucket List,” “Bee Movie,” “Hairspray,” “A Few Good Men,” “Sister Act” and “City Slickers.”
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago at 12:07 pm. 0 comments
American Idol heartthrob Adam Lambert’s scheduled appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America has been cancelled following his controversial number on Sunday’s VMA Awards show. Reportedly some 1500 complaints flooded ABC after Adam locked lips with one of his male bandmates, live on east coast TV. The west coast feed was censored.
Preeminent composer of stage musicals, Stephen Sondheim worked with Leonard Bernstein on West Side Story and wrote words and music for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music, Sweeny Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods. He won an Academy Award for his work on Dick Tracy in 1990.
Sondheim stayed in the closet until 1998 despite rampant speculation about his sexuality. His first long-term relationship had begun late in life, with a younger man named Peter Jones, whom he met in 1991. The two eventually lived together and exchanged wedding rings, but Jones later moved out.
“I was sexually very late blooming,” Sondheim has said. From the beginning, though, his work has resonated with gay men, and regardless of his personal life, he has held a prominent position in gay culture.
Vote for December’s Queer of the Month in the poll in the right column.
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 7:27 am. 1 comment
Yesterday, President Barack Obama signed a new law which includes “sexual orientation” in the list of federal hate crimes. It’s the first federal act to specifically benefit GLBT citizens, and some are calling this a landmark similar to African-American civil rights legislation of the 1960s.
Is this a sign of Obama sticking to what he’s promises? In my opinion, not quite. It’s a nice contrast, however, to the acts of President Bill Clinton, who signed DADT and DOMA, two glaring slaps in the face to our country’s dedication to equal rights, but it is a step in the right direction.
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 7:55 am. 0 comments
Nick Griffin, chairman of the extreme right wing whites-only British National Party, has confirmed that when he was 16 he was propositioned for gay sex by Martin Webster, who was then one of the leaders of the extreme far-right National Front. Griffin has denied the long-running sexual affair alleged by Webster, pointing out that if true then “we could put him [Webster] on the paedophile register.” Still, memories of 30 years ago seem to haunt Griffin, who says, “I don’t hate gay people at all. But I find the sight of grown men kissing in the street repulsive.” The BNP has dropped its former position that homosexuality should be outlawed.
Webster was drummed out of the NF in 1983, partly due to rumours of his homosexuality.
Major protests erupted earlier this week when Griffin appeared on the BBC show Question Time.
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 10:34 pm. 0 comments
Philip Schooner, a lifelong Republican and World War II veteran, was among those testifying at a hearing regarding Maine’s marriage equality bill earlier this year. Voters will decide the issue on November 3.
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 8:39 pm. 0 comments
Harvey Levin, the gay founder of celebrity tracking website TMZ.com, has told a meeting of industry executives that he intends to pursue legal actions against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) for “abuse.” It was recently reported in the Los Angeles Times that LASD had obtained a transcript of Levin’s home phone records, in pursuit of an investigation of leaks from the police to the media following the arrest of actor Mel Gibson for DUI in 2006. “We are going to stand up not just for us but because it is right thing to do,” Mr Levin said. “It is outrageous what law enforcement has done here. I can only imagine the Pandora’s Box this is going to open up to find out what else has happened.”
Authorities were embarrassed when TMZ reported that, following his arrest, Gibson launched into a profane and anti-semitic rant. Initially, the police report had been suppressed by high-ranking officers, who reported the arrest had occurred “without incident.” Shortly later, the details were leaked to TMZ revealing Gibson had been unruly, attempted escape, and repeatedly threatened the arresting officers. LASD then tried to find out which of their officers had been talking to the press. They found a judge willing to sign off on their secret warrant to spy on Levin.
Legal experts point out that California’s constitution protects reporters from revealing their sources, and that any search of Levin’s phone records would have been illegal.
“We are going to stand up not just for us but because it is right thing to do,” Mr Levin declared in a speech to industry executives this week. “It is outrageous what law enforcement has done here. I can only imagine the Pandora’s Box this is going to open up to find out what else has happened.”
Loading ...
