Drag acts raise money for guide dogs

Newcastle's drag and gay community has successfully raised £5,000 for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the Evening Chronicle reports.

The Bank Pub organised drag cabaret shows, raffles and bingo nights in order to reach the target, with the all-male Adonis Cabaret show donating £1,000 to boost the final sum.

The money will pay for the two years of training that Angel, a 17-week-old Golden Labrador, needs before she can go to a blind owner.

The district fundraiser for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Claire Douglass, visited the pub with Angel. She said: “The people here have been absolutely amazing. Their friendship and their generosity have been overwhelming.”

The idea to raise the money came from one of the bar's resident drag DJs, Gary Short, 44. He started the campaign after a friend almost lost her sight to cancer.

He said: “So many people on the gay scene work for the gay scene, and money raised for charity stays within the community. I thought it would be lovely for the gay community to do something for everybody else.”

Spiderman hunk nearly slept over with Madonna's ex

Cuteness personified, aka James Franco, has been telling The Guardian about his preparation for his role as a gay in upcoming movie Milk.

He plays opposite Sean Penn, and yeh they make out and Franco found kissing a guy weird.

"Sean and I did talk about spending the night together on the set where we did the apartment scenes, but it never happened."

Franco said he is very pleased with how the film turned out, and also shared an interesting insight into how he prepares for roles.

"He hung out with a real-life hustler for Sonny, even sitting in on - but not, he insists, participating in - a cocaine-doused threesome in a New Orleans hotel room."

Cripes.

Fancy finger work on show at geek chic gathering

Some of the world’s top Rubik’s Cube-sters will be showing off their moves later this month in Spain.

The third official European Rubik’s Cube Championships has a kind of geek chic vibe to it, don’t you think?

And it is in the lovely city of Bilbao. What’s not to like?

The Cube itself is undergoing something of a Renaissance, with more than 12 million sold last year alone.

It is not known how many of that impressive figure have ever been solved - our PinkNews.co.uk estimate is less than 100.

Apparently "many major UK retailers have already forecasted it to be one of their top sellers for Christmas 2008," though that nugget does come from the PR people for the RC Championships. 

Happily for them more than 130 Speedcubers, from 17 different countries, have registered for the event.

PinkNews.co.uk top tip for the old Rubik’s Cube - peel off the stickers. Always worked for us!

End of an era as Playgirl moves out of print

Lonely housewives and discriminating gay men will be sad to know that Playgirl magazine has decided to cease publishing in print.

The glossy soft-porn magazine will publish its last print issue in November before converting to an online-only format.

The revamped Playgirl.com website will feature more videos and pictorials and less editorial content, according to Nicole Caldwell, the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

“Playgirl is going all-Web,” Caldwell said in an email to MediaBistro.com.

“The last print issue will be the Jan/Feb 2009 magazine, which comes out Nov. 18.”

Playgirl Magazine debuted as the women’s alternative to soft-porn men’s magazines in 1973.

Although originally designed with the feminist in mind, the magazine quickly grew a gay male fan base as well.

Playgirl features pictorials of nude and seminude men in erotic poses, accompanied by articles on sex, lifestyle topics and celebrities.

Although marketed to women, Playgirl estimated in 2003 that gay men made up to 50 percent of the magazine’s readership, according to a report by Multichannel News.

The magazine has been published in numerous languages over the years, featuring international editions in Germany, France, Australia, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Although celebrity pictorials are not frequent in Playgirl, the magazine has published nude and seminude photos of such Hollywood stars as Brad Pitt, Kevin Sorbo, Marcus Patrick, Fabian, Keith Urban and Scott Bakula.

Several openly gay models have also appeared within the magazine’s pages, including Playgirl’s 30th Anniversary centerfold Brian Dawson.

Ann Turner © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

Well done that drag queen - Iris mocked

We had to share this picture from the Belfast Telegraph:



The city's most famous drag queen showed up at a protest rally yesterday - read all about it here.

IS THIS METRO CARTOON HOMOPHOBIC?

Following the Snickers incident with a Mr T ad being pulled from UK screens after US queens complained it was hostile to gays, some people in this country have take exception to this cartoon from nationally distributed free paper Metro, published yesterday.



Do you think this is anti-gay? And what does it mean?

That this man thought he was gay, but then realised that because he did not in fact want to see Mamma Mia, he must be straight?

All very confusing.

Anyway, you can join the debate here.

Bi time for Bond actor?

   

PinkNews.co.uk's favourite thespian is in the frame for a big screen adaptation of our favourite Roman Emperor, the lovely Hadrian.

Daniel Craig is tipped for the role in an upcoming biopic directed by John Boorman, adapted the 1951 novel by French author, Marguerite Yourcenar.

The Roman is the subject of an exhibition at the British Museum.

Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus, to give him his full name, was made emperor in AD117, when the Roman Empire was at its prime.

Many of the artefacts at the exhibition relate to his male companion, Antinous, a young Greek.

Antinous accompanied Hadrian during his travels.

Basically, they were gay for eachother.

When Antinous died, Hadrian was so distraught he named an Egyptian city after him.

Craig has done gay-themed before, in the  biopic of Francis Bacon, Love Is The Devil.

The film is infamous because the hunky actor does a naked scene and you can see his bits and everything. 

In an April 1st interview for the Daily Star Craig said he thinks the secret agent's fans would say "why not" to a bi James.

He also told the tab that he has been getting attention from homosexuals - set to increase if he goes for the Hadrian role.

Transformers star arrested for drunk driving

The latest young Hollywood star to face down a string of bad press and run-ins with the law, Transformers actor Shia LaBeouf was arrested early Sunday morning for a DUI. He was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.   

The 22-year-old rising star, riding a wave of success after starring in this summer’s new Indiana Jones installment, was making a left hand turn when his car struck another vehicle and rolled over.   

The actor was rushed to the hospital with an injury to his left hand which will require surgery, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Both LaBeouf’s female passenger and the woman driving the other car suffered minor injuries.

All three were taken to Cedar’s Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, where they remained as of this morning.   

LaBeauf’s image has suffered a major blow since his days as a squeaky clean Disney star. Last year, he was arrested for trespassing when he refused to leave a Chicago Walgreens after employees reported he appeared to be drunk.

Then, earlier this year, his image suffered two blows—one for lighting up in a no smoking zone and the other for a since removed YouTube video in which he’s filmed fighting a friend and calling him “faggot.”   

The actor later apologized for the video, saying it had been taped long ago and was simply a tape of him and a good friend mouthing off.

The actor was booked on suspicion of a DUI but released to receive treatment for his injuries.


Angela D'Amboise © 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved

Corrie twink not gay, just likes clothes

Jack P Shepherd, the 20-year-old actor who plays Coronation St bad boy David Platt, has revealed that despite having a pregnant girlfriend, them gays are having trouble accepting that he is tragically straight.

"A lot of people actually assume I’m gay because I’m quite thin and into my clothes.

"I’ve had a lot of that sort of attention from blokes," he told NEW magazine.

"I suppose it's quite flattering. If someone fancies you it's not a bad thing, is it?"

Earlier this month it was revealed that Jack's lady, Lauren Shippey, is with child. They have been together since they were 14.

Jack plays David, the son of Martin and Gail Platt.

Hold on, wasn't the boy Rickitt one of those Platts as well? He is also very clearly a heterosexual,  but gets lots of gay attention.

Weird.

Camp attack! Simmons mulls run for Congress

It's all stars and stripes, spangles and spandex for anti-fat crusader Richard Simmons, who hinted at a desire to run for Congress while speaking on Capitol Hill Thursday.

 

Testifying before the House Education and Labour Committee, on the issues of battling childhood obesity and increasing school exercise programs, fitness guru Simmons, 60, said in a half-kidding tone, "I want to have the respect of a Congressman, I want to talk like a Congressman, and maybe, someday, I'll be a Congressman."

 

Then, answering about three minutes of follow-up questions, Simmons adopted a politician’s rhetoric to address the press. Simmons said at one point that he would be available for the people.

 

"However I can be of use," he said, "If my country wants me, I'll be there for my country."

 

Sticking close to his life-long purpose of awareness, education and implementation of healthy eating and exercise, Simmons said, "(The new president) is going to have to look at the statistics of what's happening to our kids," Simmons told CNN Radio. "And then he's going to say who we can turn to? And it certainly isn't the Ghostbusters."

 

Using professional wrestler turned Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura as an example of a celebrity figure who successfully transitioned to a politician, Simmons said he’s not ruling the idea of running for Congress out.

 

Simmons closed the hearing by saying he would defer to his advisers to determine how to proceed.

 

“After this Congressional hearing, I will go home," Simmons said, "I will talk with my Dalmatian dogs, I will pray to God and then I'll see what else I can do to help."

 

 

 

   

© 2008 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.