Rikki Beadle-Blair
Reasons to be alive
When people are fed and clothed, then they think about sex
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men, in pictures
How Blake's 7 predicted AIDS
Here's something I bet you never knew: over a year before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported what would later be identified as AIDS, dystopic BBC sci-fi drama Blake's 7 predicted the AIDS crisis.
The cult series followed the exploits of a largely ammoral band of freedom fighters working against the brutal regime of the Federation. Their advantage was a spectacular spaceship that was faster and more powerful than anything else in the galaxy. For the third series, things were to change...
The Liberator, phallic, pushing through the darkness of space. On the flight deck, a single man stands alone, his head in his hands. It's our anti-hero, Avon. He's confronted by Tarrant - young, virile Tarrant, who he resents. Avon has brought the ship to a section of deep space, for reasons known only to him. But now they've arrived, there's nothing there. It's like an online hook-up gone wrong. "Why here? Why bring me here?" he asks himself. "I have followed all the instructions to the letter, but it doesn't make sense."
For sheer sexiness, a man must be beautiful. Funny, yes. Clever, no
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men, in pictures
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it
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men, in pictures
Tired old queen at the movies
review
Meet Me In St. Louis
Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli make movie magic in MGM's loving and nostalgic tribute to by gone days, Meet Me In St. Louis (1944).
Shot on authentic looking sets in spectacular Technicolor, it includes a memorable score by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Filled with such eventual Garland standards as The Trolley Song, The Boy Next Door and the holiday classic: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, it's a Thanksgiving feast for the whole family!
Steve Hayes
Shot on authentic looking sets in spectacular Technicolor, it includes a memorable score by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Filled with such eventual Garland standards as The Trolley Song, The Boy Next Door and the holiday classic: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, it's a Thanksgiving feast for the whole family!
Steve Hayes
(Syndication is with the kind permission of Steve Hayes.)
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The ka-os|theory top 20 porn stars
That's what make the 20 (or 21, if you count the twins!) men on this list special: people are more likely to go, "Ooooooooh..." than "Boo!" These men are this year's 20 Top Porn Stars in the sex biz.
They're the crème de la crème. They outperform lesser models one way or another. They are the supermen with the X factor. These guys aren't just porn models: they are bona fide porn stars.
Don't agree? Tell us who you think should've made the list, and why. There's always next year...
Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-doo, I’ve got a perfect puzzle for you...
Chile-based advertising agency TBWA Frederick designed these cute ads for Japi Jane Adult Joy Boutique. Two more after the jump...
The strange thing about the Johnsons
ho said cinema was running running out of ideas? I've just discovered new short The Strange Thing About The Johnsons, which has a plot device that made my eyes pop out.
From the website:
The Johnsons are an attractive, well-to-do, upper-middle class family. Sidney, husband and father, is a famous poet, known and adored for his kindness and sensitivity. Joan, wife and mother, is a dutiful housewife, an obsessive homemaker and the life of every party. Their son, Isaiah, is a charismatic young man who has just gotten married to an equally appealing young woman. In fact, there is only one thing that separates the Johnsons from their charming friends and neighbours: Isaiah, the son, has been molesting Sidney, the father, since he was fifteen years old. And what's more, Sidney has written a memoir that chronicles, in great detail, the ins-and-outs of this unseemly father-son relationship. 'The Strange Thing About The Johnsons' is a dark satire of the domestic melodrama, which asks "What if...?" and then for some reason comes up with an answer.
Fascinating - and kudos to filmmaker Ari Aster for thinking outside the box. Is the film as good as the brilliant one-sheet, above? You decide:
Most people know things. All they want is a lie plausible enough to believe in
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men, in pictures
What is time? The Swiss manufacture it. Italians want it. The Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. I say time is a crook
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men, in pictures
Reasons to be alive
Rikki Beadle-Blair
Abstract art is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered
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men, in pictures
Tired old queen at the movies
review
A Letter To Three Wives
Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain and Ann Sothern make a beautiful and sophisticated trio in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Oscar wining comedy A Letter To Three Wives (1949).
Set in a small town on the Hudson, three friends receive a letter from the town flirt saying she's run off with one of their husbands. Trapped on a boat ride for the day and unable to contact their spouses, the girls review their respective marriages in three flashbacks. It won Mankiewicz Oscars for writing and directing and has superb performances by Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, Connie Gilchrist and the irrepressible Thelma Ritter. It's also filled with the wittiest dialogue this side of All About Eve, which won him Oscars in the same two categories the following year. It's a not to be missed laugh riot and the perfect antidote for a cold November.
Steve Hayes
Set in a small town on the Hudson, three friends receive a letter from the town flirt saying she's run off with one of their husbands. Trapped on a boat ride for the day and unable to contact their spouses, the girls review their respective marriages in three flashbacks. It won Mankiewicz Oscars for writing and directing and has superb performances by Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, Connie Gilchrist and the irrepressible Thelma Ritter. It's also filled with the wittiest dialogue this side of All About Eve, which won him Oscars in the same two categories the following year. It's a not to be missed laugh riot and the perfect antidote for a cold November.
Steve Hayes
(Syndication is with the kind permission of Steve Hayes.)
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I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the centre of the world
M A N N E Q U I N
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men, in pictures
Sadao Hasegawa
If ever an artist was badly in need of a publisher's attention, it's Sadao Hasegawa. The Japanese artist - who committed suicide in 1999 - has had two books of his work published, now both long out of print and commanding extortionate rates on sites like Amazon.
Hasegawa's work is crying out for the Taschen treatment!
In the meantime, here's another 132 images of the great man's stunning art...
I don't see that boy. I don't see him anymore
W H A T I S A W L A S T N I G H T
EastEnders, 03/11/11
e rejoin our East End epic with The Asians embroiled in a fierce familial argument, coloured with homosexuality, Islam, and arranged marriage. An outraged Masood is ranting about his bitter enemy, Evil Doctor Yusef. "I knew it! I knew it was him! Of course it was him! Now do you see? He is sick! He has a sick mind!"
So blonde Cockney bombshell Peggy Mitchell's departure has given way to this: Pakistani melodrama. And let's face it, few can do melodrama like the Pakistanis. Tempered with religion and tradition, and played out by some truly superb actors (Nina Wadia and Nitin Ganatra are mesmerising as Zainab and Masood), it's brilliant, just brilliant. This is the backbone EastEnders has been crying out for. The East End is dead, long live the East End!
Out in the Square, Cockney Mitchell Lola is asking newly out Ben what boys he'd like to snog. Lola is a girl of the 21st century, and doesn't have a problem with her distant cousin's long-seeded homosexuality. "What about Tinie Tempah? I'd snog him," she suggests. "No!" Ben says emphatically. "What about the little one from JLS," she tries. "Aston?" Ben says, perking up. Lola's amused by the brand recognition: "You even know his name? You're so gay!"
So two white Cockney kids are talking about fantasy celebrity crushes, and as a matter of course, the two names that come are black boys. Now that's interesting.
That's London.
Next we have some harmless fluff with some recent Walford immigrants: Essex boys and girls. Pretty and dumb, the Moon boys, and comedy relief Jodie and Poppy, light up the screen. Think about that: the ethnic minority gets the meaty drama, and the Caucasians get the comedy relief role. Make a phrase out of these random words: Other. Foot. On. Shoe. The.
Christian and Syed are arguing about the fallout from Evil Doctor Yusef's machinations. "I'm sorry I doubted you!" Syed whines. Christian charges off to belt Yusef, but doesn't, sadly. He's the better man, apparently. Personally, I'm all for a bit of righteous violence. It worked for Omar Little.
"'Ere, you know who else is gay, that bloke from The X Factor. Would you snog 'im?" Lola persists, reading from a magazine as Ben plays pool with sexy adopted brother Jay. Ben throws down his pool stick thing, and throws himself into a chair. Lola's reminded him that his Daddy, Phil Mitchell - a man for whom gays are pathetic embarrassments that happen to other people - is back on the Square. Sexy Adopted Brother Jay is the alpha male son Phil wishes he could have had, so it's beautiful to see him sit next to Ben and put his arm around him. "Has he said summat to ya?" Jay asks. "'Cos if he has then I'll 'av a word wiv 'im."
"Don't even give him the time of day," Lola says. "He's a twazzock."
Now, if only all our gay youth had a guard dog brother and a ready-made bitch fag hag! That's living the dream, kids!
Christian's brought Amira - boyfriend Syed's baby mama - back to their gay love nest. Her father's disowned her for having anything to do with the infidels. "I'm tired of fighting," Amira says, heralding a cessation in anti-gay hostilities. Remember, kids, she was once Christian's fag hag, and hell hath no fury like a fag hag scorned. Bitch'll be trying to get her claws back into her man as soon as Christian's waxed and tan-in-a-bottle's back is turned.
Christian's other annoying fag hag, über-chav Roxy, is up in her flat with annoying sprog Amy, trying not to get evicted by Walford's resident Cruella de Vil, Janine Butcher, whilst watching kid's TV. Hey, that's what happens when you spread your legs and put a bun in the oven: A BORING CHILD! Not to worry, Auntie Kim is here to save the day. "The fembots at the salon said you were having a bad day," Kim says, referring to our Essex comedy relief. She's all cleavage and attitude, without tedious female histrionics. Now, that is my kinda fag hag!
Zainab is talking to Evil Doctor Yusef about when they first met. Arranged marriage. Pakistan. "The first time I saw you, the very first time, we didn't even talk, you just smiled. And I remember thinking, 'What beautiful eyes.' He must be kind with eyes like that... I don't see that boy. I don't see him anymore." You're not joking, love, we've been watching Evil Doctor Yusef's machinations for months. Of course, unbeknownst to her, he was the one who set her on fire when she left him for Masood back in Pakistan.
Oh, I can't wait until that comes out.
WATCH THE EPISODE
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Beware the conversationalist who adds 'in other words'. He is merely starting afresh
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men, in pictures
Nothing is small, nothing is great. Inside us are worlds
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men, in pictures
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