Brookside

Earlier this month, I wrote about the sad fate of Brookside Close, the real life street that was always a film set - until Brookside folded in 2003. The Daily Mail online seems to love this story as much as I do, with this follow-up story. Any millionaires out there wanna buy me a soap house? I'd be ever so grateful. Pretty please?

Goffney Twins Sentenced

Remember that Only-In-America story back in February, which reported the arrest of Keyontyli and Taleon Goffney - better known, perhaps, as Keyon and Teyon - for Mission: Impossible robberies?

I was starting to think the whole thing was an illusion, a drug-induced and electronic dream (or something I cobbled together after a couple of bottles of wine whilst the sun was coming up). Particularly after Keyontyli's MySpace page was constantly updated - no, swamped - with stunning picture after fabulous image of the one formally known as Keyon.

I didn't dream it up, thank you very much, any more than their interlude with Marc Williams, and Taleon was sentenced on November 18 to between four and eight years. It seems he has been in custody since April, whilst Keyontyli has been free to pose and pout in front of the lense.

Let's hope he doesn't meet with the same fate as his brother, and those photos keep coming.

Speaking of photos, boy culture unearthed this little photospread back in February. If twin-on-twin action dismays you, then look away. And to think I went a whole year without it...

More coverage and comments on this story at the excellent SGL Café blog.

LENSED

"In the city nothing changes: It becomes cold part of the year, and hot another, but no trees lose their leaves, no crops ripen, there are only the streets, the fire escapes, the sky; the telephone, the echoing gymnasium, the angelic face of the Italian boy selling Christmas trees whom you see walking home from the Baths one cold winter night, glowing in the flames he has started in an old oil can to keep warm as he stands there on Second Avenue. Each winter you dance, and each summer you go to the beach. Each year you love someone new: Orientals in 1967, Italians in 1968, blacks in 1969, and bearded blonds in 1970; and always the Puerto Ricans, the angels, who take the form of messenger boys, waiting to cross the street across the pavement from you in their jeans and sneakers, their old leather jackets, on a cold winter day. You remember the eyes, as beautiful as bare trees against a sky; naked, cold, as they glance at you for a moment and then look away. Years pass loving such eyes. And the only way you know you're older is that you (once loved by older men) now find yourself loving boys younger than you..." from Dancer From The Dance, by Andrew Holleran

...out of time

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there..."

THERE'S SOMETHING I just love about this advert. I think it's the strings. The whole thing makes me feel all wholesome and pure. And I love grocery shopping. Boy, do I love it. Sniffing out the loss-leaders, the BOGOFs, reading labels for nutrional information, squeezing vegetables. And occasionally finding something strange and new. I like to seek out my favourite checkout lady (I have a phobia of male checkout attendants - it just doesn't seem right buying ones groceries from another man). One Asian lady even age-checked me when I was buying a bottle of Malibu a few weeks ago, bless her (the second time that's happened in Morrisons. Maybe it's some ploy to curry favour - unless you're 17, who hates getting age-checked?)

Supermarkets are heaven, but grocery shopping is a skill. I know people who succumb to the marketing, the mind control, and oppressive, depressive strain that is herds of Other People. These poor souls go into supermarkets and buy the things they want, things they want right now, and they pay the price the supermarket wants right now. And that just ain't how it's done. I wish I could impart my knowledge, my skills, but it's instinct, kids - and you either got it, or you don't. Happy shopping.

And They Say Gays Shouldn't Bring Children Up?

"While I was still on the toilet, I flushed it, and I felt something pull. I stood up slightly, and I could see a foot in the bowl of the toilet... I could see the baby's foot, so I pulled the baby out. I sat by the toilet. I put him on my lap. He wasn't crying. I was trying to feel for a pulse and there was nothing." Those are the words of a woman in a Cardiff court, who concealed her pregnancy from her husband and the baby's father, and eventually gave birth, apparently unawares, in the bathroom. Now ain't that real, real grim?

The End Of The World Was Only The Beginning

This Sunday, the BBC launches Survivors, a re-imagining of the apocalyptic 1970s drama of the same name:

Imagine being the only survivor of a disease that kills every member of your family, that kills lovers, strangers, friends, nearly everyone you've ever met.

You are among the lonely few to live and now you must start over in a strange new world where everything that was once safe and familiar is now strange and dangerous.

Set in the present day, Survivors focuses on the world in the aftermath of a devastating virus which wipes out most of the world's population. What would we do? How would any of us cope in a brave new world where all traditional 21st Century comforts - electricity, clean running water, advanced technology - have disappeared?

These are the questions faced by the bewildered but resilient group of survivors at the centre of the drama. It is an opportunity for new beginnings, but with no society, no police and no law and order, they now face terrible dangers - not just the daily struggle for food and water but also the deadly threat from other survivors.

Fortunately, the few people who survive the virus are Very Good Looking, like ka-os blog favourite Paterson Joseph, Al Sadiq and that black girl out of Doctor Who. Yes indeed, unlike the 1970s original, our survivors aren't all white middle class people.

Paterson Joseph's presence alone makes Survivors a very promising prospect. More on this after the series debut on Sunday. Check out the trailer below.

Simon Takes A Shower

Simon Webbe, soaped up and showering in the jungle. What more do I need to say?

Simon Webbe is a contestant on the current series of ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! If you think you can handle, it, there's videos of the boy from Blue here.

From The Mouths Of Babes

Not being an Americanite, I haven't encountered Ms. Wanda Sykes before. But boy, does she sounds good: "I don’t really talk about my sexual orientation, I felt like I was living my life, I wasn’t in the closet, but I was just living my life. Everybody who knows me personally, they know I’m gay. And that’s the way people should be able to live our lives, really. We shouldn’t have to be standing out here demanding something we automatically should have as citizens of this country. They pissed off the wrong group of people. They have galvanized a community. We are so together now and we all want the same thing and we shouldn’t have to settle for less. Instead of having gay marriage in California, no, we’re gonna have gay marriage across the country." Goddam, lead and I will follow, Ms. Sykes.

Even Ricky's Package Isn't This Big

You're looking at a picture of a parcel I received today from amazon.com. It's the soundtrack to Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom, buried somewhere inside a box the size of two DVD players and smothered by a ton weight of plastic air pocket thingumys. This goes beyond overkill. Maybe it's a joke. In any case, it's nice to see America is still doing it's bit for climate change.

Delayno, Romario & Baby P, Who Died Before They Lived

Tortured and murdered by their own mothers in Great Britain in 2008. Do not tell me there's a God.

If anyone wanted to make a case for humanity being lost, and a lost cause, this, and this would make it.

Friends & Lovers

Whilst we wait for the news that the success of Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom has prompted Logo to come to its senses and green-light a third season (or better still, encourages Showtime or HBO to pick it up and do it justice), look to Friends & Lovers. It's a new series from Maurice Jamal, who was responsible for Dirty Laundry and The Ski Trip: "Part comedy, part soap opera, part feature film, Friends & Lovers follows several diverse LA couples as they live large, live loose and make big mistakes." About as diverse as Queer As Folk was diverse, if the poster is anything to go by, but let's not split hair extensions. Any new gay TV is good news. And it's got Benjamin Patterson (crazy Guy from Noah's Arc) in it, which is enough to make me pre-order the DVD. Hell, he can move in, pretend to be my straight jock pal, and scheme to bump off my boyfriend any day of the week! Visit Friends & Lovers here. And just because, here's a lot more of Mister Patterson than you might have seen before...

Proposition 8: All White Gay People Are Bad!

"When white evangelical Christians (or Mormons for that matter) attack GLBT people, the response is loud and harsh: bigots! homophobes! haters! But when black religious leaders attack gays, which is a regular occurrence in many churches, the response is muted because, well, it’s a cultural thing and we white people just wouldn’t understand. Bigotry is bigotry, whether emanating from the pulpits of white churches or black ones." So writes someone smart, called Kevin Naff, in response to an article by someone stupid, Jasmyne Cannick. Oh, what the hell, she's a vile, racist c***. Yay! Got that out of my system. Oh, Miss Cannick (above), what if I was black and you were white? What would that make you, and your views? Read Kevin Naff's excellent article here. Cannick's racist diatribe is here.

Elsewhere, the adorable-looking Reverend Irene Monroe (below) was trying to build the bridges Cuntick - er, I mean, Cannick - is intent on destroying: "The present-day contentious debate between black and queer communities concerning what constitutes a legitimate civil rights issue and which group owns the right to use the term is both fueled and ignored by systemic efforts by our government that deliberately pits both groups against each other rather than upholding the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that affords each of these marginal groups their inalienable rights. While it is true that the white LGBTQ community needs to work on its racism, white privilege, and single-issue platform that thwart all efforts for coalition building with both straight and queer communities of color, the African-American community needs to work on its homophobia."

Reverend Monroe talks a lot of sense. I like her.

Towleroad has comprehensive coverage of the Proposition 8 drama, which seems to be all about white vs black and not at all about Us vs Them. And that's a shame.

So kids, what lessons have we learned today? 1). White gay people can be quite racist (but it's wrong and bad). 2). Black gay people can be quite racist (but it's ok and totally justified). 3). Not all black lesbians are Evil Bitch C***s (and at least one is jolly pretty). 4). Mormons are bad.

Darryl & Wilson

Noah's Arc actors Darryl Stephens and Wilson Cruz attend one of the protests against Proposition 8 in Los Angeles on the weekend. The pair have announced that they're starting a new organisation to support gay youth, From Street to Strategy: Freedom Action Inclusion Rights.

So maybe I was hasty

Exactly one week ago I wrote of my disappointment at Barack Obama's comments on gay marriage. I was angry and it showed. But don't doubt that I think he's the best man for the job right now.

I'm not a disciple and I'm not a cheerleader. As Dizzee Rascal said on MTV Base (oh, I'm so high brow), it doesn't matter what colour the President is, as long as he does what a President is supposed to do.

With that in mind, it looks like the man challenged with cleaning up Dubya's mess is making a good start, with this news, and this.

So kiss my battyman Irish ass, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mister Obama seem to think you're garbage too. Kisses.

And Mister Obama? I'm sorry I called you a jerk. Don't let me down.

Don't let us down.

28

A boy aged 19 has today been stabbed to death in Ilford, east London. The unidentified youth is the 28th teenage boy to be murdered in London this year.

It's been six weeks since the last teenage victim, Craig Steven Marshall, was stabbed to death in west London. That was an extended lull in the violence, following the spate of murders earlier in the year, with a boy lost every week or fortnight. Four boys were knifed in August alone.

More details on this story as they come in.

UPDATE: 10/11/08. The boy has now been identified as Mauritian-born Nabeer Bakurally.

Proposition 8: The Black Folk Did It!

Pictured: Aww! Black and white united against the fags. It warms the heart!

Here at the ka-os blog, I've made my feelings pretty clear on the toxic, malignant force that threatens civilisation. No, I'm not talking Madonna, I'm talking religion. Not all religion. I've got nothing against Hinduism or Buddhism. Voodoo seems pretty cool, and Scientology gives us something to laugh at. No, the poison I'm referring to is Christianity, Islam, Mormonism et cetera. Why? This is why. Proposition 8 succeeded because the ignorant, blinkered masses, desperately clutching their bibles, unable to think for themselves, voted for it. Yet people have chosen to make the successful passage of the legislation a racial issue. The logic goes something like this: black people are to blame, because a large percentage of black people (relative to the black population as a whole) voted for it. A lot of angry gays have grabbed onto that fact, and clung to it in their rage. And we should all be very, very angry about Prop 8, whether we live in California or not, but that anger is very misguided. Here's some further figures: "Of those that voted for the ban, 60% were white, 13% black, 18% Hispanic, 6% Asian, and 3% other." That's right kids, if this is a racial issue, then white people are to blame for Proposition 8. Six out of ten Yes votes were from whites (see, I can do math). When I was younger, I used to think that the real battle to be fought was that of gays against straights. In fact, you can probably find articles right here on this blog in which I disparage heterosexuals wholesale. That view has been challenged by the great many heterosexual people I know who frankly couldn't give a damn about gay this or straight that; people who are open-minded, rational individuals. I also know many gay men - and gay youth particularly - whose minds have been pickled by the garbage their church-going parents have rammed down their throats. Incoherent nonsense about God and the bible, a dubious fiction penned centuries ago, the interpretation of which dictates the moral code of boys and men in the here and now. It's insane. You know, it's so ironic hearing black people talking about finally throwing off the shackles of slavery with the election of Barack Obama. What those same people fail to realise is that they are placing horrible mental shackles on their youth - with their twisted, hypocritical religion. This isn't me talking out of my hat. I see it time and again in friends and acquaintances; young black males, usually African/Afro-Caribbean, confused and distraught by the shackles of religion. The real poison here is religion, because "God" told all those good folk to vote for Proposition 8, didn't he? The truth of that matter is that America is so pickled in religious fervour that it's easier to make a scapegoat of black people, than to confront the basic fact that the church, the bible, the mosque and God are weapons of mass destruction - and they're aimed right at YOU.

Louis Smith

Louis Smith, the 19 year old Londoner who earned a bronze in Beijing this year (the Olympics - remember them?), demonstrates the results of hours spent writhing around on a pommel horse in these new amateur snaps.

Read Louis's story here. Plenty more nutritionally balanced pictures of the yummytastic boy babe here.

REVIEW

EARLIER THIS YEAR, a big screen adaptation of Sex & The City was released. Actually, that's not true, a ninety minute advert for Products was released, with the characters from Sex & The City grafted on to make people watch.

Noah's Arc is often referred to - for better or worse - as a black, gay SATC. So, when I heard the news that the prematurely cancelled series would also be bursting onto cinema screens, I had my doubts. Television and film are very different beasts, and one doesn't necessarily translate into another. Just look at SATC - a depressing, cynical exercise in vulgar consumerism.

When Noah's Arc first appeared on our screens, it was unique: a show that wasn't about white gay men. It was Queer As Folk in colour, and funnier. The series suffered under the tyranny of network television censorship (that NA was as hot as it was is a miracle) and a minuscule running time. But it was bursting with heart and soul, and audiences fell in love with Noah, Ricky, Alex and Chance - not to mention their numerous sexy suitors. Season two ended on a cliff-hanger, but with criminal disregard for the loyalty of the viewing audience, Logo cancelled the series, just when it was finding its feet. Let's not be bitter, because we have something to celebrate. Noah and Wade are getting married! We might not have a Season 3 (yet), but we've got Jumping The Broom. So what happened after the car crash? Did Noah wake up and find Wade in the shower? Did the whole of season two not happen? Was it all a dream? Don't be silly, kids. The movie is set at some point after the crash, which Wade survived. That's not a spoiler - he's all over the publicity photos, and Noah's Arc without Wade would be like SATC without Big. But what of Dre, I hear you cry! Well now, you'll just have to watch and see. And what of Jumping The Broom? It's a joy. A big, sexy, laugh out loud joy. There's smiles and frowns, and tears, and... er, Baby Gat (Jason Steed). Oh, Baby Gat. He's back, innit, full of bruvs and bluds, u get me. This one needs his own series. He lights up the screen and steals the show. I beg u, giv the boi his own show, innit. Brandy's (Jennia Fredrique) back too, bringing a lil fem to the table. Gary LeRoi Gray's Brandon is a refreshing addition to the clique. They're all welcome guests. Only Gregory Kieth's Trey is missing in action, which is a real shame. His long-suffering relationship with Alex was always a pleasure to view. Don't worry, all is not lost - he puts in a welcome cameo via webcam, in a pleasing throwback to Season one. It's a shame we couldn't exchange Trey for Jonathan Julian's depressing Eddie. I'm not quite sure if it's the character, or if the actor isn't quite at home here, but Eddie just gets me down. At least in the series his appearances were kept to a minimum - but we're forced into close quarters with him here. But that's a small quibble. The truth of the matter is this movie is packed with so many "OMG - I can't believe he/they just did that!" moments that such minor shortcomings can be overlooked. Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom is heartfelt, hilarious and packed with eye candy. This wedding cake has all the right ingredients. Don't miss it, gur'.

Obama: Marriage is between a man and a woman

"Is that your bible I can feel, or are you just pleased to see me?"

You've heard the rumours, and now with just a day to go, the news is out: America is about to elect the new Emperor Of The World. They tried to keep it quiet, but we've found them out. Apparently, campaigning has been going on for months.

I'd like to support Barack Obama. Really, I would. It would be great if the President of the USA wasn't an old white guy, just for a change. But what would be really great, what would really make a change, is if the President of the USA wasn't a bible-thumping bigot, clinging to his religion and guided by superstition.

Sadly, whoever ends up getting elected, that's exactly what we'll get. When the winner makes his victory speech, you can bet it'll be "God this" and "God that."

This weekend, Obama had this to say: "I've stated my opposition to this. I think it's unnecessary. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage."

Unnecessary to who, you jerk?

You know, McCain and Palin might be a about a hundred times more ignorant than their Democrat rivals, but at least they're open about their right-wing hatred of The Gays. We know they're the bad guys, we know they're the ones to boo and hiss. But Obama's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

I really don't care who wins tomorrow, Obama is merely the lesser of two evils. And let me make my position perfectly clear: Mister Obama sir, with the greatest respect, you can go to hell.

Biblical enough for you?

Sounds Like

Are you wondering what the fantastic song is on the BBC's autumn drama trailer? It seems like lots of people are asking the same question, since my Google query "bbc autumn music used in advert" gave me the answer in seconds. The track is Elbow's One Day Like This. The Beeb have a habit of provoking the question "what song is that?" in their choice of promo music. A couple of years ago I - along with everyone else - was tearing my hair out in frustration trying to discover what song was used on the Planet Earth trailers. That song was Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros, and the result was a marriage of the most staggeringly beautiful images with this most sweeping, gorgeous record. If this trailer doesn't make you weep like a baby, then you don't have a soul.

If that was all a bit too sentimental for you, have a look at the spoof version, and laugh like a lunatic.

Brookside

Here's a sight guaranteed to break the heart of any soap fan: Brookside Close overgrown and gone to wrack and ruin. Unlike the (albeit real-looking) exteriors for EastEnders and Coronation Street, Brookside was filmed on a real cul-de-sac, in brand new houses bought for the show. When the show ended in 2003 - after more than 21 years on air - the houses were put up for sale. None have ever been sold. An auctioneers now plans to sell off the entire Close for around £2 million, according to The Sun. So are you in the market for a new house - or a new street? Brookside Close is here (aerial shot). Below is the show's 'unique' theme music. Enjoy.

Forget Barack - Paterson Is The Man We Want

Could this man be the new Doctor?

That's what the betting man says - bookmakers Paddy Power is offering odds of 3-1 on Paterson Joseph becoming the first black actor to play the lead role in Doctor Who.

The current incarnation, Scottish actor David Tennant, announced earlier this week that he would be stepping down from the role after next year. Tennant is the tenth actor to play the part since 1963.

Speculation on who replaces the outgoing incumbent is a popular sport in Britain (almost as much as public drunkenness and leering at barely legal teenage girls in national newspapers) which usually swamps any other news. In fact, the identity of the twelfth Doctor will probably relegate coverage of the US election to the back pages, somewhere between the horoscopes and the crossword.

It's a bad time to be a white supremacist - not only is The Ruler Of The World likely to be black, but the Doctor might be too. What next? Black people in Neighbours? Jamaican bobsledders?

In all seriousness, there's absolutely no reason why the 11th Doctor can't be black, or indeed anything other than a Caucasian from the United Kingdom. Surely if a northerner can take on the rule, anyone can?

Just so long as it isn't an Australian.