The college card drama 21 beat box office odds over the weekend, raking in almost $24 million in ticket sales even though most of its target audience was supposedly frolicking on beaches for spring break.
Best known for directing what he calls "wedding dress movies" Legally Blonde and Monster-in-Law,
gay director Robert Luketic (above right) was ready for a departure. "I felt a lot more
creatively free because the romantic comedies operate under such strict
genre code," he says. Taking on the gritty and sometimes violent 21
was made that much easier by having Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) along for the ride. "He
had that movie star thing going on," Luketic says of his lead, before
ribbing the unshaven and casually dressed Sturgess. "You wouldn't
believe it looking at him now. When the camera rolls, it's something
else. He is spot-on and flawless."
Your name is an allusion to homosexuality among Greek gods. Your outstanding debut single features the androgynous angelic voice of Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons, and your sound is supple amalgamation of disco, house, and the arty end of indie electronica.
Wow! You clearly are representing 21st century gayness big time and can only be Hercules and Love Affair.
That's the stage name of Brooklyn DJ Andy Butler and a loose collection of characters that include Hegarty, club promoter Kim Ann, and performer Nomi. They've signed to DFA Records, the mega-hip label behind LCD Soundsystem, and have just released in the UK their debut single "Blind" (featuring a silky remix by house legend Frankie Knuckles) and album Hercules and Love Affair with plans to soon spread the fabulousness back to America.
While awaiting imports and US release dates, you can check out the "Blind" video below, which manages to evoke both an ancient Greece orgy vibe and the '70s gay bathhouse scene without any, you know, actual sex. It’s a testimony to the skills of London video director Saam Faramand (who'd previously queer-ified UK indie rockers the Klaxons for their sexy and sci-fi themed "Golden Skans" clip) that "Blind" feels explicitly gay and male despite its protagonist being a presumably hetero woman (British actress Jaime Winstone). Then again, anything looks gayer when tracked to a winsome Antony warble and a disco groove this divine.
> Sacha Baron Cohen was recently spotted doing what he does
best -- terrorizing the clueless folks of small town USA. The comedian
-- currently filming the follow-up to his smash hit Borat titled Brüno:
Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making
Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay
Foreigner in a Mesh T-shirt -- was recently booted from the Wichita
Mid-Continent Airport for "dancing in tight short shorts, kissing and fighting in the lobby"
and reportedly showing up to an Easter play at a Kansas church in
chains. Never content to merely fool the little people, the National
Enquirer reports Ben Affleck was also recently victimized by Cohen. The actor was supposedly told that Brüno was a "very famous openly gay fashion
journalist," and it was only after Affleck phoned friend Sarah Silverman following what he claimed was "the
weirdest sit-down he has ever had with a reporter" that he learned he'd been duped.
> Time to revise those star maps -- DJ Paul Oakenfold is selling his $10 million home.
The celebrity remixer's 4,500-square-foot pad boasts four bedrooms,
six bathrooms, a recording studio -- and perhaps most impressive --
"sightlines from almost directly above the Hollywood Bowl to the L.A.
Basin and beyond, so [you] can see the ocean while watching whatever is
on stage." Though we're guessing if you can cough up that much dough
for a house, you can probably swing the $30 it'd cost to actually go and see the
19th Annual Mariachi USA Festival.
> Is nothing sacred? Rumor has it Madonna wants to remake one of the most cherished films of all time: Casablanca. The -- we simply can't bring ourselves to type this next word without quotes -- "actress" would naturally play the Ingrid Bergman role herself (never mind that Bergman was in her 20s when she filmed the movie) and would see the film shot in Iraq rather than Morocco. Stay tuned for the inevitable announcement of "As Time Goes By" being overhauled into a dance hall anthem by DJ Tracy Young.
> Audrina Patridge -- AKA the only non-blonde on MTV's The Hills -- was seen flaunting a new tattoo made up of Chinese characters which loosely translated read "The rice is fried in pork fat." While many are kindly speculating the inking was merely staged for Ashton Kutcher's new show Pop Fiction, we have absolutely no problem assuming she just might be that stupid. -- NOAH MICHELSON
Here in the hallowed Popnography halls we've caught ourselves wishing that Friday afternoon would hurry up and get itself over already -- and we figured you might be feeling exactly the same way. In dire times like these we subscribe to the motto "there's nothing a little man meat can't fix" and decided to cheer ourselves -- and you -- up by posting the following trailers for a few of the summer's most anticipated films featuring dazzlingly high levels of testosterone, cruelly beautiful boys, beloved super heroes, or some combination of the three.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull starring
Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, and John
Hurt
The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton, Tim Roth, and Liv Tyler
Speed Racer starring Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, and Matthew Fox
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian starring Ben Barnes, Tilda Swinton, Liam Neeson, and Eddie Izzard
The pop princess's decision to connect with
the brooding crooner for their 1996 dark duet, "Where the Wild Roses
Grow," may seem like an odd one, but the pairing is actually part of
Minogue’s collaboration ethos. "I love to absorb," she says. "I get on
stage or record a song, and another version of myself comes out. I've
had to work hard to be a multifaceted performer. You're not going to
box me in."
I know you love it when people point out mistakes...Pixie isn't actually a tattoo artist, and she's also "off the show" right now...the new Pixie is a fastidious, queeny skinny guy.
Of course I'm a fan of fastidious, queeny, skinny guys, but I'm sad to see my favorite chica leave the show. Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up!
> In a new interview with the Advocate, Moby
reveals that as a boy he was frequently mistaken for a girl; he
considers the gay bashing he underwent several years ago in Boston to
be a "badge of honor"; he's never been in love (with a man or a woman);
and as a extra special bonus he divulges his secret recipe for growing
a gay child: feed the pregnant mother extra soy-milk and play Dead or
Alive and Donna Summer while the child’s still in the womb. Or as we
like to say -- indoctrinate early, indoctrinate often.
> Aretha Franklin is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E. The Queen of Soul needs $19,000 -- and quick -- or her home is going into foreclosure. Luckily, PETA has offered to pay the past due taxes in full if Franklin promises to 1) never again drape another dead animal carcass across her ample bosom and 2) donates the furs she currently owns to PETA. And while PETA certainly wins our vote for the animal rights organization with the most creative problem solving strategies, we're guessing Aretha would probably rather auction a few of her mink coats on Ebay to pay back the bank than live the rest of her life in a cold, clammy, unshakable fear knowing that one day soon she'll be forced to return the favor and pose nude on a billboard.
> NME.com is reporting that emo kids are under seige in Mexico. Nearly 800 angry metal, punk, and rockabilly fans "amassed against emos in the city [of Querataro] resulting in many violent attacks, and a week later a similar incident occurred in Mexico City. Emos in both cities responded to the attacks by marching peacefully through the center of the cities." And it gets worse -- a group of Chilean emos known as PokEMOns (yes -- you read that correctly) were recently assaulted by skinheads. Before we get all American and proclaim that people should be able to listen to whatever they want no matter how maudlin or mopey without a rabid rockabilly fan attacking them with a rusty banjo, we want to wait a few days to make sure this story wasn't actually penned by the folks at The Onion.
> Finally, in an ongoing attempt to keep you as thoroughly updated in all things Yaz as possible, we wanted to mention that a third LA date -- July 8th at the Orpheum theater -- has been added to their summer tour. Head over to Ticketmaster to score yourself tickets before the rest of West Hollywood beats you to it.
Tonight's LA Ink includes a segment with Cliks frontman Lucas Silveira (one of our Out 100 honorees) adding a new tat to his collection -- which currently boasts "winged guns, pouncing dragons and carefully etched word 'Survivor,'" according to a release.
The new tattoo, a stylized Mexican Day of The Dead skull, holds special meaning for Silveira. "Traditionally, Mexican Day Of The Dead celebrations represent rebirth and moving into the second phase of life and to me," he explains. "It represents the rebirth I had when I transitioned from Lilia to Lucas and my true identity as a transgendered male."
I am totally curious which of the insanely hot artists Lucas is getting inked by! The eternally hoarse Kat? Ridiculously geek-cute Pixie? (Um, there may be some other people on this show. Those are the only two I noticed, frankly. Apparently there's another cute chick named Kim?)
Anyway, Silveira's band just got back from playing Austin's South by Southwest Music Festival and are touring to support their album Snakehouse. Hear more and get dates at their MySpace.
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