The most exciting awards show of the year is right around the corner -- MTV's Video Music Awards, and the music video channel is in full swing with promotion. Just like last year, host Russell Brand stars opposite Britney Spears in a cute, new commercial, but that's hardly MTV's gayest move.
The newest video promotion for the event is mega-collaboration parodying the West Side Story classic, "Tonight." It features a number of the night's confirmed performers, including Katy Perry, Ne-Yo, Taylor Swift, Russell Brand, Leighton Meester, and Cobra Starship.
Check it out above, and be sure to catch the always juicy MTV Video Music Awards, September 13th at 9PM Eastern.
Venice Beach finds its way to Manhattan for one night only, on the lavish rooftop of 230 Fifth Ave. GLAAD (The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, is pulling out all the stops for its "GLAAD Manhattan" event, sponsored by Bacardi and Delta along with corporate partners Barefoot Wines and Prudential.
The evening will feature the likes of many a media personality -- the lovable queen of mean, roast comic Lisa Lampinelli (left), 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski, Ugly Betty's mega-fabulous Michael Urie, and Real Housewives of New York Jill Zarin and Countess LuAnn de Lesseps.
But the guests are only a smidgen of the fun to be had -- there's caricature artists, balloon artists, psychics, and face painting. And, oh yeah, an Andrew Christian underwear show featuring Make Me a Supermodel's Ronnie Kroell. Yum.
There's also delicious food and music galore, a silent auction, and of course, plenty o' cocktails.
Tickets, which include three hours of an open bar, hors d'oeuvres, and a gift bag are $100 and are tax-deductible (Holler!). They can be purchased online by clicking here.
Recent warnings about the troubling rise of barebacking often tend to focus on how scary (and deadly) sex can be instead of teaching people about the pleasures of safe sex. So, it's nice to see a condom manufacturer, in this case Durex, having fun with their advertising as they attempt to -- ahem -- hammer home the idea that wrapping it up doesn't mean calling it quits.
On the contrary, the folks in this foreign clip (sadly the US could still take a few hints from the rest of the world when it comes to safe sex and more liberated views on sex and sexuality) -- including an elderly couple, a threesome, and two teenagers -- need little more than the inspiration provided by the Durex wrapper floating in front of them to get down and dirty. And the surprise gay ending proves that sometimes even the long "arm" of the law isn't immune from getting in the mood.
A nice message from the not-always progressively minded New York City Mass Transit Authority. It's a quote from influential Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Hot on the heels of fresh speculation that Lindsay Lohan is cash-strapped and contractless, comes her reassuring thoroughly perplexing appearance in this advertisement, which is like something out of the über-gay, eurodisco Sesame Street of our dreams.
One passing in the gay community we're happy to have the occasion to mourn: ZIMA will no longer be made by MillerCoors, the joint venture that pumped out unknown quantities of the clear malt beverage that briefly, bizarrely, was considered a cool drink. Don't lie. You know back in 1995 you thought you were awesome for ordering it.
While we're dancing on ZIMA's grave, can we also do some voo-doo on the Cosmo (so 1999), anything with blue Curaçao, and ice or soda water added to any kind of wine, but especially Chardonnay. Your potential bar hook-ups can thank us later.
A casual, humorous search to find a ZIMA ad worth posting turned up this clip, which features Alanis Morrissette's "All I Really Want" -- minus the vocals -- in the background.
And now we need an exorcism, or at least some high powered mouthwash to get the taste of that out. Eww.
I think it's important to take a break from pop culture once in a
while to instead focus on the common good. So look at the public
service ad above. Look at it!
First, a round of applause for a job well done by the folks of the Arizona Meth Project.
They took a fresh approach to the long standing issue of meddling moms
who stand in between their tweaking daughters and sons and the kitchen
sink. (I mean really, would you stand between a tweaking bear and a
fresh salmon?) In this particular public service announcement (PSA) it appears that the mom smashed a
teacup across the face of her 14 year old tweaking bundle of joy just
to stop her from getting a drink of water. (I emailed a copy of this
PSA to my mom as we were wrestling with this same problem just this
morning.)
Fans of high camp advertising may recognize similarities between
this ad and those classic PSA-type comic books from Chick Publications,
the people who brought you the Good News that Jesus hates you. Though
Chick Publications addresses more garden variety problems, such as
Catholics, Masons, Jews, Muslims and gays, their messaging philosophy is
the same, and just as fun! If you haven't already, check out one of
their more popular titles, Sin City, which is even better than The Boys in the Band.
Has your mom ever messed with you while you've been tweaking? Are you from ex-mayor Palin's town of Wasilla, "Alaska's crystal meth capitol"? (Thank you, Tina Fey!) Post your story in the comments below!
> Bizarre-o horror novelist Chuck Palahnuik is quickly becoming the darling of Hollywood. Most famous for his novel Fight Club, adapted into a hugely successful film starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, the gay author's book Choke hits the theaters later this month. Now Palahnuik reveals in an interview that Lullaby -- about a poem that kills anyone who reads it or even thinks about it -- is being made into a film as well. That's not all: Frances Lawrence, who directed Will Smith in I Am Legend, is signed on to direct the film version of Palahnuik's Survivor, and his novel Rant has also just been optioned. What does all this mean, you're asking? It means your cineplex is about to get a lot more twisted, and if Chuck has anything to say about it, it'll stay that way for the next several years. It also means Chuck's bank account is uncontrollably cha-chinging and all that disposable income ensures the freedom to continue being as bonkers as he wants, which means we get more books which means we get more films. To sum it all up: it's a good thing for everyone involved.
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