A Brief Smile Garners Gay Slurs
By: Sal Cinquemani On: 04/04/2007 15:04:58 In: Queer Comments: 2
A recent article in CMJ called attention to an incident on WFNY's The Dog House morning show last Tuesday in which shock-jock hosts Jeff Vandergrift ("JV") and Dan Lay ("Elvis") called John Carnes, the bassist for NYC band A Brief Smile, a "faggot" and a "pansy." Elvis reportedly then told a disgruntled listener: "If I am with my friends and I say that was very faggy, then guess what? It has nothing to do with their sexuality." It's telling that this is the same rationale used by Steve Carell's clueless and socially inept Michael Scott on a recent episode of The Office, in which he tells the semi-closeted Oscar that he never would have called him "gay" had he known he was literally gay. The use of the word isn't offensive because of Carnes or Oscar's sexuality, a point lost on Michael Scott, Elvis, and apparently many others. There was an editorial in a recent issue of Details (you know, the men's fashion magazine for closeted queers) by a straight journalist with "gay friends" about this very issue. The writer claimed his use of the word "gay" meant "lame," not "homosexual," and he was tired of all the confusion. His explanation is a little more benign than JV and Elvis's, and there might be gays, lesbians, and bisexuals out there who don't take much offense, but it seems like nobody is even acknowledging the etymology of these words...or maybe awareness and critical thought are just for fags. It's been decades since "gay" was legitimately used to mean "happy" (the path from that definition to "homosexual" isn't hard to trace), so when someone refers to something they think is lame as "gay," it means one thing and one thing only: that being gay is bad. The Dog House's response? "The world does not revolve around the gay community. So relax." But anyone, gay or straight, who has ever been called a "faggot," a word that refers to a bundle of sticks used to burn undesirables at the stake, knows that it cuts much deeper than simply being called a dork or lame. It's a vilifying, emasculating epithet that likens one to a group of people who are, to this day, in danger of being beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die.
A recent article in CMJ called attention to an incident on WFNY's The Dog House morning show last Tuesday in which shock-jock hosts Jeff Vandergrift ("JV") and Dan Lay ("Elvis") called John Carnes, the bassist for NYC band A Brief Smile, a "faggot" and a "pansy." Elvis reportedly then told a disgruntled listener: "If I am with my friends and I say that was very faggy, then guess what? It has nothing to do with their sexuality." It's telling that this is the same rationale used by Steve Carell's clueless and socially inept Michael Scott on a recent episode of The Office, in which he tells the semi-closeted Oscar that he never would have called him "gay" had he known he was literally gay. The use of the word isn't offensive because of Carnes or Oscar's sexuality, a point lost on Michael Scott, Elvis, and apparently many others. There was an editorial in a recent issue of Details (you know, the men's fashion magazine for closeted queers) by a straight journalist with "gay friends" about this very issue. The writer claimed his use of the word "gay" meant "lame," not "homosexual," and he was tired of all the confusion. His explanation is a little more benign than JV and Elvis's, and there might be gays, lesbians, and bisexuals out there who don't take much offense, but it seems like nobody is even acknowledging the etymology of these words...or maybe awareness and critical thought are just for fags. It's been decades since "gay" was legitimately used to mean "happy" (the path from that definition to "homosexual" isn't hard to trace), so when someone refers to something they think is lame as "gay," it means one thing and one thing only: that being gay is bad. The Dog House's response? "The world does not revolve around the gay community. So relax." But anyone, gay or straight, who has ever been called a "faggot," a word that refers to a bundle of sticks used to burn undesirables at the stake, knows that it cuts much deeper than simply being called a dork or lame. It's a vilifying, emasculating epithet that likens one to a group of people who are, to this day, in danger of being beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die.
Thank Gay It's Friday
By: Ed Gonzalez On: 09/16/2005 01:05:56 In: Queer Comments: 8
Via Screenhead, this hysterical video from woomp.com featuring Adam, Prince of Eternia lip-syncing to 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up" is a work of genius and could only have been made by someone who loved He-Man some 20 years ago as much as they love Cher today. Watch it twice and to the very end. (Favorite part: Beastman grabbing Adam from behind during the bridge of the song.)
Today, Martha Stewart's mother turned 91. We hope the old woman makes it through the year given that director Robert Wise and cameraman Guy Green both died in the past week at the same age and these sorts of things happen in threes. Also, a semi-apology to Martha: Elmo and David Spade seemed to have loosened that stick up your ass during the second episode of your daytime talk show, so I'll chalk up the horror of your premiere episode to first-day jitters. Here's hoping the stick is fully dislodged by mid-season.
Yesterday I saw Breakfast on Pluto, which I enjoyed more than its central performance by Cillian Murphy, who seems to have thought of Patrick "Kitten" Braden less as a transsexual than a soft-spoken psychopath. Still, I can't get his "oh, serious, serious, serious" mumblings out of my head!
HellBent is getting some flack for trying to bill itself as the first gay slasher movie, as if Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and Sleepaway Camp never existed. (I'm in the middle of putting together an interview with director Paul Eteredge-Ouzts in which I ask him about that.) The gripes are probably merited, but that's beside the point given how good the film is. Surprisingly, most critics happen to agree with me on this.
Get ready for a very gay awards season, kicking off this Sunday when the Emmys undeservedly anoint Desperate Housewives as the best comedy of the eyer (and Teri Hatcher as the belle of its ball) and continuing straight into Oscar season, when Brokeback Mountain is poised to sweep everything in sight. Given the religious right's crusade against gay marriage, it only seems natural that Hollywood will want to rally behind this film, which, like HellBent, also purports to be a "first" of its kind: the first mainstream Hollywood movie to deal with two dudes falling in love. If conservative backlash against Million Dollar Baby helped to seal the Clint Eastwood film's victory on Oscar night, I assume the inevitable backlash Brokeback Mountain will receive will similarly work to the Ang Lee film's advantage. My buddy at Perez Hilton was lucky enough to see the film (note to Harlan Guko at Focus Features: Why haven't I been invited?) and reports, among other things, that Jake Gyllenhaal is the bottom.
Next week: a TV review of FOX's Prison Break.
Via Screenhead, this hysterical video from woomp.com featuring Adam, Prince of Eternia lip-syncing to 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up" is a work of genius and could only have been made by someone who loved He-Man some 20 years ago as much as they love Cher today. Watch it twice and to the very end. (Favorite part: Beastman grabbing Adam from behind during the bridge of the song.)
Today, Martha Stewart's mother turned 91. We hope the old woman makes it through the year given that director Robert Wise and cameraman Guy Green both died in the past week at the same age and these sorts of things happen in threes. Also, a semi-apology to Martha: Elmo and David Spade seemed to have loosened that stick up your ass during the second episode of your daytime talk show, so I'll chalk up the horror of your premiere episode to first-day jitters. Here's hoping the stick is fully dislodged by mid-season.
Yesterday I saw Breakfast on Pluto, which I enjoyed more than its central performance by Cillian Murphy, who seems to have thought of Patrick "Kitten" Braden less as a transsexual than a soft-spoken psychopath. Still, I can't get his "oh, serious, serious, serious" mumblings out of my head!
HellBent is getting some flack for trying to bill itself as the first gay slasher movie, as if Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and Sleepaway Camp never existed. (I'm in the middle of putting together an interview with director Paul Eteredge-Ouzts in which I ask him about that.) The gripes are probably merited, but that's beside the point given how good the film is. Surprisingly, most critics happen to agree with me on this.
Get ready for a very gay awards season, kicking off this Sunday when the Emmys undeservedly anoint Desperate Housewives as the best comedy of the eyer (and Teri Hatcher as the belle of its ball) and continuing straight into Oscar season, when Brokeback Mountain is poised to sweep everything in sight. Given the religious right's crusade against gay marriage, it only seems natural that Hollywood will want to rally behind this film, which, like HellBent, also purports to be a "first" of its kind: the first mainstream Hollywood movie to deal with two dudes falling in love. If conservative backlash against Million Dollar Baby helped to seal the Clint Eastwood film's victory on Oscar night, I assume the inevitable backlash Brokeback Mountain will receive will similarly work to the Ang Lee film's advantage. My buddy at Perez Hilton was lucky enough to see the film (note to Harlan Guko at Focus Features: Why haven't I been invited?) and reports, among other things, that Jake Gyllenhaal is the bottom.
Next week: a TV review of FOX's Prison Break.
Feel the Magic, Hear the Roar, Thundercats are Gay
By: Ed Gonzalez On: 08/30/2005 01:08:56 In: Queer Comments: 218
G.I. Joe. Transformers. Thundercats. He-Man. Voltron. If you were a little boy in the '80s, chances are you liked some combination (if not all) of these shows. He-Man was my favorite, followed by Thundercats and Voltron. I wasn't a G.I. Joe fan really (ditto Star Wars—but you all knew that already, right?), but I do remember loving a string of episodes that had the Joes and Cobra Commander's posse competing to secure elements of earth, wind, water and fire all over the world. I don't want to see this show or Voltron ever again for fear that I won't take as kindly to them as my nine-year-old self did. For sure, if my experiences revisiting V and Thundercats in the past year have taught me anything it's that you can dampen a few childhood memories by chasing after a nostalgia kick.
I say all this because I received a copy of the Season One, Volume One DVD set of Thundercats from one of my publicity contacts and sat down to watch the 12 episodes collected on the two discs. I was going to write a review of the show except I found out later that I hadn't received the deluxe edition that runs 759 minutes and contains the first 33 episodes of the show's first season. That and the fact that I was crushed by the feeling that I had been duped all those years ago when I responded to the Thundercats so strongly. I mean, it's not a horrible show by any means of the imagination (the animation was ahead of its time and there are some individually thrilling, haunting moments), but it took me exactly two episodes to come to the conclusion that if I was an adolescent boy today and I was watching the show for the first time, I'd probably write it off as completely "gay."
Since I don't want the notes that I took during the first 12 episodes to go to complete waste, I'm transcribing them below with the occasional [editor's note]. But first, a quick note on the supplemental feature, "Feel the Magic, Hear the Roar: Thundercats Fans Speak Out." Fans of the show are not to miss this four-minute embarrassment of riches, in which a group of 40-year-old virgins, including Wil Wheaton, talk about how much they (still) love the show. Most memorable is "super fan" Alex Bickmore, who sings the Thundercats theme song at the end and talks about how much he relates to Lion-O and his experiences (like, becoming the leader of a group of cats and saving Third Earth from the constant threat of a lame, 1000-year-old mummy). Anyway, here goes:
Episode One – "Exodus" ["My First Erection"]
Motley crew of semi-anatomically-incorrect naked cats escape home planet [admittedly, I have no idea what a cat's gonads are supposed to look like]. Jaga gives them clothes. Hmmmmm: "It will not be long before the sword feels natural in your hand." Sketchily avoids addressing the deaths of all the other Thundercats. Hulked-out Lion-O says, "My hands, look at the size of them." Indeed.
Episode Two – "The Unholy Alliances" ["I Touch Myself"]
Question: Why does everyone always give Lion-O enough time to say "Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats, ho"? Lion-O throws himself on the ground and thrusts the Sword of Omens up and down but can't get the little red cat signal to come out 'cause the eye of the sword has goo all over it. Thundercats share a bout of the shits and giggles, setting a really lame precedent.
Episode Three – "Berbils"
Berbils [Ewoks] are really lame. Snarf is a bitch: "That's not what I've been calling them." He's also a diva: "When you're fierce like me, you throw a fierce shadow, that's all." Who's a whinier bitch: Lion-O or the Berbils?
Episode Four – "The Slaves of Castle Plun-darr"
Unnecessary explanation of what's happening on screen: "Look Tygra, Wily-Kat and Kit are back and they look agitated." Cheetara gets sexy background music when she fights. Bad pun: "This isn't time to branch out Monkian." Panthro (voice: black man?) gets his own funk groove on the soundtrack. Bitchy: Villain calls Panthro "Thunderkitten." Show vies for complexity via totally random political context: "I thought the Interstellar Council ruled against warp gas." "Ha, ha…when did the mutants ever go by the rules?" (Relevant today: See George W. Bush.) Tygra looks like Michael McDonald [from MADtv] but has the personality of Bob Saget [Full House era, not Aristocrats-I-put-dicks-in-my-mouth era]. His lesson this week: "Rules are only meaningful if people agree to follow them. Otherwise, they're just words." Thanks, Mr. Rogers.
Episode Five – "Pumm-Ra"
Snarf appears to possess some form of female intuition. Question: Why hasn't anyone addressed the fact that Lion-O can talk to Jaga?
Episode Six – "The Terror of Hammerland"
Lion-O and a unicorn have a commitment ceremony. Honeymoon is spent riding a huge crow.
Episode Seven – "Trouble With Time"
Willa is first to acknowledge that Lion-O looks like he's talking to himself whenever he's in council with dead Jaga. Thank god there's a Geyser of Life to reverse Tygra's advanced aging. Everyone gets the shits and giggles.
Episode Eight – "The Tower of Traps"
Lion-O's outfit isn't a one piece after all! Wily-Kit: Relative of Sonic the Hedgehog? Nolos look like Mexicans. Wily-Kat is annoying.
Episode Nine – "The Garden of Delights" ["This is Your Brain on Drugs"]
Tygra says, "Mole-like people. Will the wonders of this place called Third Earth never cease?" I say, "Will the Thundercats ever stop talking to themselves?" Say no to drugs, Tygra. Too late. Tygra does drugs. Now he's flying in the air. He's coming down. Hard. I'm not a chicken, you're a turkey. Shits and giggles.
Episode Ten – "Mandora: The Evil Chaser"
"Closed Captioning for the Hearing Impaired"? Snarf is a pussy. So is Lion-O. Mandora sounds as if she's constantly talking through an orgasm. Lion-O likes her, I think, but he's a 10-year-old boy in a beefy Leif Ericson body, so that's kind of creepy. Snarf gets his purse back [insert Mr. Roper tinkerbell hand gesture here]. Shits and giggles.
Episode Eleven – "The Ghost Warrior"
Question: Cheetara does some see-through-time bit, but can't Jaga answer all their questions without Cheetara needing to go to the brink of death? Another one: Why do the Thundercats wear clothes in the flashbacks to Thundera?
Episode Twelve – "Ta-She"
Ro-Bear Belle is hilarious. Ta-She looks like Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. Episode: Ta-Lame. Snarf: Priceless.
G.I. Joe. Transformers. Thundercats. He-Man. Voltron. If you were a little boy in the '80s, chances are you liked some combination (if not all) of these shows. He-Man was my favorite, followed by Thundercats and Voltron. I wasn't a G.I. Joe fan really (ditto Star Wars—but you all knew that already, right?), but I do remember loving a string of episodes that had the Joes and Cobra Commander's posse competing to secure elements of earth, wind, water and fire all over the world. I don't want to see this show or Voltron ever again for fear that I won't take as kindly to them as my nine-year-old self did. For sure, if my experiences revisiting V and Thundercats in the past year have taught me anything it's that you can dampen a few childhood memories by chasing after a nostalgia kick.
I say all this because I received a copy of the Season One, Volume One DVD set of Thundercats from one of my publicity contacts and sat down to watch the 12 episodes collected on the two discs. I was going to write a review of the show except I found out later that I hadn't received the deluxe edition that runs 759 minutes and contains the first 33 episodes of the show's first season. That and the fact that I was crushed by the feeling that I had been duped all those years ago when I responded to the Thundercats so strongly. I mean, it's not a horrible show by any means of the imagination (the animation was ahead of its time and there are some individually thrilling, haunting moments), but it took me exactly two episodes to come to the conclusion that if I was an adolescent boy today and I was watching the show for the first time, I'd probably write it off as completely "gay."
Since I don't want the notes that I took during the first 12 episodes to go to complete waste, I'm transcribing them below with the occasional [editor's note]. But first, a quick note on the supplemental feature, "Feel the Magic, Hear the Roar: Thundercats Fans Speak Out." Fans of the show are not to miss this four-minute embarrassment of riches, in which a group of 40-year-old virgins, including Wil Wheaton, talk about how much they (still) love the show. Most memorable is "super fan" Alex Bickmore, who sings the Thundercats theme song at the end and talks about how much he relates to Lion-O and his experiences (like, becoming the leader of a group of cats and saving Third Earth from the constant threat of a lame, 1000-year-old mummy). Anyway, here goes:
Episode One – "Exodus" ["My First Erection"]
Motley crew of semi-anatomically-incorrect naked cats escape home planet [admittedly, I have no idea what a cat's gonads are supposed to look like]. Jaga gives them clothes. Hmmmmm: "It will not be long before the sword feels natural in your hand." Sketchily avoids addressing the deaths of all the other Thundercats. Hulked-out Lion-O says, "My hands, look at the size of them." Indeed.
Episode Two – "The Unholy Alliances" ["I Touch Myself"]
Question: Why does everyone always give Lion-O enough time to say "Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats, ho"? Lion-O throws himself on the ground and thrusts the Sword of Omens up and down but can't get the little red cat signal to come out 'cause the eye of the sword has goo all over it. Thundercats share a bout of the shits and giggles, setting a really lame precedent.
Episode Three – "Berbils"
Berbils [Ewoks] are really lame. Snarf is a bitch: "That's not what I've been calling them." He's also a diva: "When you're fierce like me, you throw a fierce shadow, that's all." Who's a whinier bitch: Lion-O or the Berbils?
Episode Four – "The Slaves of Castle Plun-darr"
Unnecessary explanation of what's happening on screen: "Look Tygra, Wily-Kat and Kit are back and they look agitated." Cheetara gets sexy background music when she fights. Bad pun: "This isn't time to branch out Monkian." Panthro (voice: black man?) gets his own funk groove on the soundtrack. Bitchy: Villain calls Panthro "Thunderkitten." Show vies for complexity via totally random political context: "I thought the Interstellar Council ruled against warp gas." "Ha, ha…when did the mutants ever go by the rules?" (Relevant today: See George W. Bush.) Tygra looks like Michael McDonald [from MADtv] but has the personality of Bob Saget [Full House era, not Aristocrats-I-put-dicks-in-my-mouth era]. His lesson this week: "Rules are only meaningful if people agree to follow them. Otherwise, they're just words." Thanks, Mr. Rogers.
Episode Five – "Pumm-Ra"
Snarf appears to possess some form of female intuition. Question: Why hasn't anyone addressed the fact that Lion-O can talk to Jaga?
Episode Six – "The Terror of Hammerland"
Lion-O and a unicorn have a commitment ceremony. Honeymoon is spent riding a huge crow.
Episode Seven – "Trouble With Time"
Willa is first to acknowledge that Lion-O looks like he's talking to himself whenever he's in council with dead Jaga. Thank god there's a Geyser of Life to reverse Tygra's advanced aging. Everyone gets the shits and giggles.
Episode Eight – "The Tower of Traps"
Lion-O's outfit isn't a one piece after all! Wily-Kit: Relative of Sonic the Hedgehog? Nolos look like Mexicans. Wily-Kat is annoying.
Episode Nine – "The Garden of Delights" ["This is Your Brain on Drugs"]
Tygra says, "Mole-like people. Will the wonders of this place called Third Earth never cease?" I say, "Will the Thundercats ever stop talking to themselves?" Say no to drugs, Tygra. Too late. Tygra does drugs. Now he's flying in the air. He's coming down. Hard. I'm not a chicken, you're a turkey. Shits and giggles.
Episode Ten – "Mandora: The Evil Chaser"
"Closed Captioning for the Hearing Impaired"? Snarf is a pussy. So is Lion-O. Mandora sounds as if she's constantly talking through an orgasm. Lion-O likes her, I think, but he's a 10-year-old boy in a beefy Leif Ericson body, so that's kind of creepy. Snarf gets his purse back [insert Mr. Roper tinkerbell hand gesture here]. Shits and giggles.
Episode Eleven – "The Ghost Warrior"
Question: Cheetara does some see-through-time bit, but can't Jaga answer all their questions without Cheetara needing to go to the brink of death? Another one: Why do the Thundercats wear clothes in the flashbacks to Thundera?
Episode Twelve – "Ta-She"
Ro-Bear Belle is hilarious. Ta-She looks like Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. Episode: Ta-Lame. Snarf: Priceless.
"Snarf. Snarf. That's not where the Sword of Omens goes Lion-O!"
Must Hate Gays
By: Ed Gonzalez On: 08/11/2005 01:18:00 In: Queer Comments: 13
Last week, I learned through Mike Rogers's BlogActive site that George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts, Jr. was instrumental behind-the-scenes in getting the controversial Romer vs. Evans case in Colorado overturned almost 10 years ago. For those who don't remember Romer vs. Evans, this was one of the most homophobic laws on the books: Passed on November 3, 2005 by 53.4% of Colorado voters, the measure prevented legislative, executive, or judicial action in the state to protect homosexual citizens. This wasn't about denying gays the right to marry but legal protection should they get beaten to within an inch of their lives and take their attacker to court. I remember the day the law passed because even hardcore conservatives seemed perturbed by what Coloradans had one. (During network TV coverage, news reporters would point to Colorado on a map with the disgust of having to stare at a hairy-ass mole on someone's face.) This week, the conservative group Public Advocate of the United States has withdrawn its support for Roberts citing the man's work to eradicate Romer vs. Evans and one has to wonder if this news will speed up Roberts's affirmation. No one should confuse Roberts for a gay rights crusader but don't tell that to Eugene Delgaudio, the 50-year-old Virginia man who heads the pro-family organization Public Advocate, who scarily defended his decision by saying that "'Freedom' is not embracing perversion." Whether Roberts will gain sympathy votes from liberals and Democrats remains to be seen, but this much is clear: Considering that the Traditional Values Coalition and Focus on the Family are continuing to support Roberts, a very sinister fault line is beginning to seriously undermine the President's base.
Last week, I learned through Mike Rogers's BlogActive site that George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts, Jr. was instrumental behind-the-scenes in getting the controversial Romer vs. Evans case in Colorado overturned almost 10 years ago. For those who don't remember Romer vs. Evans, this was one of the most homophobic laws on the books: Passed on November 3, 2005 by 53.4% of Colorado voters, the measure prevented legislative, executive, or judicial action in the state to protect homosexual citizens. This wasn't about denying gays the right to marry but legal protection should they get beaten to within an inch of their lives and take their attacker to court. I remember the day the law passed because even hardcore conservatives seemed perturbed by what Coloradans had one. (During network TV coverage, news reporters would point to Colorado on a map with the disgust of having to stare at a hairy-ass mole on someone's face.) This week, the conservative group Public Advocate of the United States has withdrawn its support for Roberts citing the man's work to eradicate Romer vs. Evans and one has to wonder if this news will speed up Roberts's affirmation. No one should confuse Roberts for a gay rights crusader but don't tell that to Eugene Delgaudio, the 50-year-old Virginia man who heads the pro-family organization Public Advocate, who scarily defended his decision by saying that "'Freedom' is not embracing perversion." Whether Roberts will gain sympathy votes from liberals and Democrats remains to be seen, but this much is clear: Considering that the Traditional Values Coalition and Focus on the Family are continuing to support Roberts, a very sinister fault line is beginning to seriously undermine the President's base.
Above: Eugene Delgaudio, head of Public Advocate of the United States, meets with Abraham Lincoln, Santa Clause, and a local dog in support of their right to equal protection under the law.
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