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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Big Brother David back on TV

Australian cowboy David Graham

Big Brother runner up and real Australian cowboy David Graham, is headed back to reality TV (Dancing with the Stars) in order to save his farm in the northern territory of Queensland, which has suffered due to a prolonged drought.

David told The Daily Telegraph he thought he had been relegated to “last season’s TV trash” when he got the call asking him to participate in a new season of Dancing with the Stars. Said Graham: “Being on the farm is where I want to be it is paradise up there, but when you have starving sheep you have got to do something. I woke up a couple of days ago and looked out the window and thought ‘What the hell am I going to do?’ but by the end of the day I had got the call and things had totally turned around. It is a godsend. It is almost as good as rain…To be asked to do a show like this is nuts, but to find out you get paid for it and I am going to be able to buy some feed for my stock I still have not got over it.”

Cowboy fans can check him out at Fair Day in Sydney on Feb 18th

Australian cowboy David Graham

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Dreamgirls gets 8 Oscar Nominations

Dreamgirls Jennifer Hudson

In this year’s Oscars race, “Dreamgirls” leads with eight nominations, followed by “Babel” with seven.
The nominees for best picture are “Babel,” “The Departed,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” and “The Queen.”

Earlier, likely contenders for the top Oscar in Tuesday’s nominations were the musical “Dreamgirls,” the mob saga “The Departed,” the multinational drama “Babel” and the British-royalty tale “The Queen.” The road-trip comedy “Little Miss Sunshine” looked like a solid bet to take the fifth best-picture slot.

David and I saw Dreamgirls on Saturday and despite getting numb bums, really loved it. The movie is so camp with great Mardi Gras like shows, great Diva numbers and that all time drag classic, “And I am telling you Im not going” (original Jennifer Holliday).

For all those who remember Regina Fong in London in the eighties, this version is much larger than Skinny Bitches’.

American Idol runner up Jennifer Hudson really steals the show and creates (for me) an absolute classic with the shows BIG number “And I am telling you Im not going”. Which gay man hasnt heard that song and empathised with the “Your gonna love me” part.

Jennifer Hudson as Effie Dream girls

Overlooked because of her size and looks DESPITE her far superiot talent, her character Effie will certainly appeal to just about every Diva loving gay man. Jennifer is nominated for an Academy Award as Actress in a Supporting Role.

Dreamgirls

Beyonce Knowles was also really great in the role, proving that she can both act as well as sing but usurped by Jennifer Hudson (not credited as STARRING in the show).

SEE IT and good luck Jennifer!
Beyonce Dream Girls
Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Russian Mukhtar Safarov

Mukhtar Safarov

Head hunted at age 19 in a straight nightclub in Moscow, Russia, Mukhtar began his career modeling for Russian agency, ‘Fashion Models’, before being signed by New York’s ‘Boss Models’. By his early 20’s he had saturated the industry with his effortlessly chiseled body, and his smoldering doey exotic appearance, appearing on cat-walks world wide for the likes of Abercrombie & Fitch, Amarni, Calvin Klein and John Paul Gautier.

Along with success on the runway he also enjoyed many underwear campaigns appearing as the muse for some of the worlds largest fashion labels.

After establishing international recognition and a portfolio to rival his world leading female counterparts, Mukhtar was invited to begin starring in films within the sex industry, and this is where his career started to evolve, creating the complex, sensitive and admired man who sits before me now, on this cloudy Wednesday afternoon, in a cafe at The Dam, Central Amsterdam, for an exclusive interview: The man behind the image plastered throughout sex shops, adult video retailers and internet sites globally.

Ordering freshly squeezed orange juice and taking a Davidoff cigarette from his packet, he smiles at me from underneath a Nike baseball cap. Admitting he was heading to the gym and apologising for the previous days of internet and phone tag, where my work schedule, and his tightly tuned program, while in Holland, seemed not to interwind.

Safarov is well know for his length and girth. If you want to check out his 9×9 click here
Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Marco Dapper : Sloppy Seconds

Marco Dapper Naked

We’re booking our Queer Screen tickets and top of the list (or at least up there) is Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (only to see Marco Dapper Naked on the big screen of course.

Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds
7:30pm, Academy Twin, 27 February 2007

The Sloppy Seconds 2 promotional copy from Queerscreen reads

“How far would you go to get the person of your dreams? In “Eating Out,” Kyle (Verraros) convinced his straight roommate to pretend to be gay to get the girl. Now, with the help of Gwen (Hands) and Tiffani (Kochan), Kyle pretends to be heterosexual to land Troy (Marco Dapper), the new guy — and nude model — in town, only to find himself joining the campus ex-gay support group and nabbing a girlfriend! Kyles ex boyfriend, Marc (Chukerman), is horrified at the plan and decides to pursue the confused Troy with his own tactic — being his out gay self. Who will win him first? In the boy eat boy, boy eat girl world of Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (the first American gay sequel ever), stakes get raised, sexual boundaries are obliterated, and the answer is never what you might expect!”

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Monday, January 22, 2007

Mardi Gras Lashes out at Howard

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras organisers have launched a stinging attack on the Australian Prime Minister’s stance on same-sex marriage. The federal government of John Howard has rejected calls for Australian gay and lesbian couples to be allowed to have same-sex marriages or civil unions. Howard has spoken out against gay rights on many occasions.

In 2004 the government passed the Marriage Amendment Act, which stops the courts recognising the validity of same-sex relationships.

Lex Lindsay, Queer Screen’s Festival Manager commented, “Australia’s gay and lesbian community are treated like second class citizens by Australia’s Federal Government.

“John Howard would be screaming from the rooftops if his marriage wasn’t recognised by the government, yet this is just one of the many basic rights that the gay community is still denied here in Australia.

“I invite Mr Howard to try walking a mile in our shoes, come and see some these films, and then tell us why we don’t deserve to be treated equally.”

Sydney Mardi Gras is internationally famous for the parade, but is in fact a four week festival with a range of cultural and social events like Fair Day and the launch and after-parade parties.

The parade traditionally features floats with caricatures and effigies of hate figures in the gay community, which could feature Mr Howard.

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Sunday, January 21, 2007

Go Hilary Go

Good news for Gays! Hillary Clinton is planning to form an exploratory committee for the 2008 presidential race. She made the announcement on her website where she stated: “I’m in. And I’m in to win”. She made the announcement on her website where she stated: “I’m in. And I’m in to win”.

The second-term US senator from New York is considered a frontrunner ahead of five other candidates in the Democratic White House field. The move is the first step toward a full presidential bid.

She said: “I am forming a presidential exploratory committee. I am not just staring a campaign though, I am beginning a conversation with you, with America.

“After six years of George Bush it is time to renew the promise of America.”

The wife of former President Bill Clinton made history with her bid for US Senate in New York in 2000, becoming the first former first lady to win one of the most powerful political jobs in the nation. Clinton, 59, was re-elected by a huge margin to a second Senate term last November.
Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Snakes invade Sydney

Snakes in Sydney

Australian wildlife officials warn that a serious drought is driving tens of thousands of snakes into urban areas. Many venomous reptiles are moving into residential and business areas in search of moisture. Last week a 16-year-old boy in Sydney died from a bite by an Eastern Brown, one of the world’s deadliest snakes.

As the climate changes and the Bush administration sits back and watches, many parts of Australia are being hit hard by the drought - the worst for more than 100 years. Conversely storms batter Europe!

Experts have warned that an army of snakes is on the move, looking for water. Driven by extreme thirst they have been discovered in gardens, bedrooms and even Australian shopping centres. Hospitals have reported a rising number of snakebites. Toxicologists have said there have been 60 serious cases since September.

The drought is making snakes far more active - three people have died in Australia in recent weeks after being bitten.

A 16-year-old schoolboy from Sydney had a heart attack, and died a short time later, after being attacked by an Eastern Brown snake, which injects a lethal venom and is one of the world’s most dangerous reptiles!
Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Sydney Summer Shots : Golden Classic AussieBums at Bondi

Gold Classic Sydney Summer Shots : AussieBums at Bondi Trunks

Sydney is basking in the summer sun at 40 degrees today. Were not going down until it cools down a bit, and the gay boys come out in their AussieBums. Check out the latest classic trunk of gold!

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Ipod AussieBums

AussieBums marketing channel certainly uses the new media. Targeted at 18-30 Ipod owners, which AussieBums video from Google shows an item from the new underwear range, which complements the swimwear range, we see down at Bondi!

Enjoy
Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Sydney Summer Shots : Golden Classic AussieBums at Bondi

Sydney Summer Shots : Golden Classic AussieBums at Bondi

Gold Classic Sydney Summer Shots : AussieBums at Bondi Trunks

Sydney is basking in the summer sun at 40 degrees today. Were not going down until it cools down a bit, and the gay boys come out in their AussieBums. Check out the latest classic trunk of gold!

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Gold Classic aussieBum Trunks

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Sydney’s Sweltering

Sydney’s Sweltering

Sydney Weather

Wow! Its 40 degrees. Too hot for the beach!

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Saturday, January 20, 2007

Matthew Bournes Swan Lake in Sydney

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras event

Matthew Bournes Swan Lake - Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2007

David and I booked tickets today for Matthew Bournes Swan Lake, the first of our Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2007 events. Actually we have booked Timothy Connigraves, Holding the Man, but that was because we couldnt get tickets in December.

Heres what the advocate says about it:-

Start with an all-male corps of hunky swans. Set them in a time-warp dreamscape oozing baroque ’40s romanticism. Mix with mime, dance, and a few female principals, and you have Matthew Bourne’s extraordinary Swan Lake, which may be the most overtly gay version of the classic ballet ever seen.

Yet in three years of performances — from its 1995 London premiere to its current Broadway run at the Neil Simon Theatre through January 24 — Bourne’s unique vision has been an unqualified “crossover” success and one of the rare pieces of gay-identified theater to cause no controversy.

In Bourne’s version of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, a solitary prince finds solace in the vision of a male swan rather than the female swan that has entranced audiences for centuries. But Bourne insists that his Swan Lake is not revisionist preaching about sexuality. “It’s more complex than that,” he says. “I wanted to create a character who’s not clear-cut, like, `Oh, he’s the repressed gay man.’ I wanted a man who had a lot of confusions in his mind. Someone everyone could identify with.”

Swan Lake Sydney

Except, perhaps, himself. A Cockney who grew up “always well-adjusted, with never any confusion” about his own homosexuality, the 38-year-old choreographer jokingly wonders where he got his love of angst. “I like to make people suffer in my pieces,” he says. “But that’s not because I’ve suffered.” On the contrary, since founding his own dance company, Adventures in Motion Pictures, in 1987, Bourne has maintained his status as one of Britain’s preeminent artists.

I saw this performance in London in 1997, but cant wait to see it at home in Sydney.

Swan Lake Sydney

Much has been made of Matthew Bourne’s decision to cast men as the swans. The original ballet is a standard in the European tradition of romanticized female–male love. The heroine, the swan princess Odette, is portrayed as powerless but lovely in accordance with conventional gender roles, and her hero is portrayed as a hunter who alone has the power to save her. Having a man in the role of lead Swan puts love between men at center stage, and the naturalistic choreography given to the swan corps discredits the archetype of the swan as a pretty, feminine bird of gentle grace. According to Bourne, “The idea of a male swan makes complete sense to me. The strength, the beauty, the enormous wingspan of these creatures suggests to the musculature of a male dancer more readily than a ballerina in her white tutu.”[4]

However, central themes carry through both works. Both are about doomed, forbidden love, and both feature a Prince who wishes to transcend the boundaries of everyday convention through that love. Both themes have strong ties to the actual life of Tchaikovsky, the ballet’s composer.

Because it was produced in the United Kingdom, where the royal family has suffered media scandals in recent decades, this ballet is also sometimes viewed as a commentary on them. The thwarted Prince is generically royal in tone, but he has been likened by some to Charles, Prince of Wales, who suffered an arranged marriage before being allowed to marry his true love, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, who is widely believed to be primarily attracted to men, despite repeated denials. The Prince and Queen characters in the ballet are certainly royalty in the pampered and remote mould sometimes portrayed by republicans, rather than the mould of dedicated civil servants portrayed by royalists.

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Wow What a Storm

European Storms

European Storms
Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller

Brit Wentworth Miller is absolutely gorgeous! Prison Break is worth watching just for Wentworth!
Gay news for the Queer Australian

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Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Wentworth Miller : For David

Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller

Brit Wentworth Miller is absolutely gorgeous! Prison Break is worth watching just for Wentworth!

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

La Republica Cover of Wentworth Miller

La Republica Cover of Wentworth Miller

La Republica Cover of Wentworth Miller

D Republica has a great photoshoot of the sexy Wentworth Miller ! You can go through the magazine here and enjoy the rest of the pictures. Photos by Mark Liddell. To be more precise the interview is called “The double life of a good boy” La doppia vita di un bravo ragazzo. Related but not related to “the double life of Wentworth”

La Republica Cover of Wentworth Miller

Source

: source : Techstickle

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

W Magazine with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman

W Magazine with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman

W Magazine with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman

W did it again on the February 2007 issue with a cover of superstar Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman. They will appear together in 2 films later this year. The Golden Compass’, a fantasy-adventure film based on the first book in Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials. The movie, to be released later this year, is their second collaboration, the first being The Invasion’, which is loosely based on Invasion of the Body Snatchers and is also due out in 2007.

W this issue also features: Stefano+Domenico’s Dolce Vita - a series of sexy tableaux starring the wild boys of Milanese fashion themselves on their peninsula in Portofino..
Photographed by Steven Klein, Styled by Patti Wilson

W Magazine with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman

Source

: source : Techstickle

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Rodrigo Calazans - Random Hotness

Rodrigo Calazans - Random Hotness

: source : Techstickle

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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David Beckhams New Bedroom

David Beckhams New Bedroom

David Beckhams New Bedroom

Andrew has just posted those pictures of what might be the Beckham’s new little cottage in Bel Air “A hilltop property with an infinity pool that gives the impression one could almost swim over the edge and plunge headfirst into the bright lights of LA”

But more important than the amenities of this mansion, the question Andrew asked himself is, will the Beckhams “plunge headfirst into the bright lights” of Scientology once they arrive.” via Towleroad.

Sources have informed us that “what” may become the next French president, Nicolas Sarkozy (I hope not), is part of the Scientology family. You may not remeber but in 2004 Tom Cruise has personaly visited Nicolas Sarkozy at the Minister … to talk cinema !!! Yeah right … The Scientology, classified as cult is forbidden in France … for now ! Our source also informed us that a couple of French journalists who have tried to mention the Sarkozy-Scientology connection have been fired !!!

Sarkostique a great satire blog about N.S mentioned the Scientology thing this past summer.

Source

: source : Techstickle

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Monday, January 15, 2007

UK Civil Partnership One Year Old

It’s been a year since the Civil Partnership Act 2004 came in to force giving gay and lesbian couples the same rights as their straight counterparts to “marry” (officially to “affirm their union”), to become their partner’s next-of-kin, to gain inheritance and pension rights, to divorce (”experience dissolution”). And it seems the middle-England horses have remained resolutely unfrightened.

Civil partnerships have quickly and seamlessly become a feature of British national life. The statistics are compelling: more than 15,500 couples registered civil partnerships in the period from last December to September this year, suggesting that government predictions of 22,000 partnerships by 2010 are a huge underestimate. But perhaps more significant is that among the 15,500 pledging their union were a cabinet member - Ben Bradshaw, the Fisheries minister - and among those planning to tie the knot are Adam and Ian from The Archers, which, lest we forget, is “an everyday story of country folk”.

Ambridge’s Wedding of the Year takes place this week. “A gay wedding on The Archers,” marvels Adam Mattera, editor of the gay lifestyle magazine Attitude, which carried Elton and David’s only “official wedding interview”. (Elton: “I think the fact of gay men just being able to express commitment is a very important issue”.)

“If you’d told me in my teens that gay marriage would become a reality in the not-too-distant future, I wouldn’t have believed a word of it,” continues Mattera. “In the 1980s it was all Thatcher, Clause 28, and doom-laden Aids warnings on TV; one step forward and two steps back. I think the whole civil partnerships thing has been quietly momentous. And it’s not just about the legal benefits; it’s about a fundamental change in basic human rights.”

The trend analyst and social commentator Peter York says, “Civil partnerships have reinvigorated the whole notion of marriage. As an institution, it was getting a bit ragged in this country, wasn’t it? Most people weren’t doing it, or were failing at it. Now, for a whole bunch of people to embrace it in this way - well, no wonder the conservative lobby are rather stymied. It’s like the embourgeoisement of the gay outlaws - they’re coming in from the cold and taking their place at the table.

As revolutions go, this one’s erred on the Velvet rather than Russian side, though some residual unease is proving rather dogged. Brian, Adam’s stepfather in The Archers, is threatening in huff-puff style not to attend the ceremony and Ian’s father has refused to go. A a fifth of listeners think same-sex marriage an “inappropriate” topic for the show, according to a poll for the programme’s website.

A geographical breakdown of the civil partnership figures shows a hefty South-east bias, London hosting a quarter of the UK total, while only 3 per cent have taken place in Wales and 6 per cent in Scotland. Three times as many male partnerships were formed as female, Yorkshire and the Humber lead the way in lesbian unions. The average age of male partners dropped over the first nine months of the new law, with those aged 50 or over falling from half at first - the initial “gay grey wave” of long-term partners - to one in four by September.

“No one’s pretending the legislation we’ve got is perfect,” says Mattera. “And some will choose a different path entirely. That’s their right. But for the first time, same-sex partnerships have been recognised in law, and that’s a real step forward. The genie’s out of the bottle. So bring on the brides and grooms.”

Peter York concurs. “I predict a rising tide of this new form of embourgeoisement,” he says, “to the point where gay weddings will become as white-bread mundane as their straight counterparts. And that will be the great, barricade-free victory. Do I think they add to the gaiety of the nation? Actually, I think they add to the decency of the nation. And that, in the end, is far more important.”

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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‘Big, cuddly softie’ Ian Roberts in Court on Assault…

‘Big, cuddly softie’ Ian Roberts in Court on Assault…

‘Big, cuddly softie’ Ian Roberts in Court on Assault Charge

Ianroberts

Former rugby icon-turned-actor Ian Roberts appeared in court in Sydney yesterday to dispute assault charges made by former boyfriend, Ben Prideaux.

In the mix of this gay potboiler are a misplaced laptop computer, a sleeping stranger, a best friend who heard a different story, acting showreels, and an angry boyfriend who likes to scratch. It’s a “he said, she said” story that Roberts says has been “a thorn in [his] side.”

Roberts explained to a Sydney court that his former boyfriend was in hysterics at the time of the alleged assault after finding a stranger in Roberts’ bed: “Ben still had not calmed down. It was a no-win situation for me…He was fanatical. He had worked himself up … I tried to calm him down. I said: ‘Babe, it’s me; it’s all good.’”

According to Roberts’ best friend, Prideaux called him following the incident and said that “Roberts was just a ‘big, cuddly softie’ and had not hit him.”

The drama resumes, along with the trial, at the end of May.

Ex-league star ‘fearful of scratches’ [courier-mail]
Big softy Roberts a lover not a fighter, court told [sydney morning herald]

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies

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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Christians loose the fight to block UK GAY EQUAL RIGHTS

Tony Blair Gay Rights

LONDON, England (Reuters)

Sweeping gay rights laws have been upheld in Britain despite protests by faith groups. A bid to block the rules in Northern Ireland, where they are already in place, failed in the upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, by a majority of three to one, the BBC reported. Faith groups, which say the legislation will force them to act against their religious beliefs, earlier delivered a petition to Queen Elizabeth, while about 1,000 demonstrators staged a torch-lit protest outside parliament.

“Most of the people here are standing for freedom of conscience in the sense of ‘if you believe something is wrong the law shouldn’t make you do it,’” one protester, who asked to not to be named, told Reuters.

The legislation, a cornerstone of Britain’s efforts to promote equal rights, would ban discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexuality in a similar way to laws banning sex and race discrimination.

Christian opponents argue the laws are a major threat to their freedom of conscience and that they should not be penalized for acting according to their beliefs. Gay rights campaigners say the proposals would simply extend existing anti-discrimination laws to homosexuals. “It would not be acceptable in the areas of race, disability, age or religion or belief, and is not acceptable here. Either we hold human rights to be universal or we do not,” said Andrew Copson, of the British Humanist Association.

Digg it: source : at Techstickle Gay News and Views from and for Queer Aussies