bone and blood and meat

Sarah Palin has recently been teased for her participation in a zany exorcism ritual. The president of the Catholic League is offended on her behalf and has issued a press release which reads in part:

Witchcraft is a sad reality in many parts of Africa, resulting in scores of deaths in Kenya over the past two decades.

Bishop Muthee’s blessing, then, was simply a reflection of his cultural understanding of evil. While others are not obliged to accept his interpretation, all can be expected to respect it. More than that — Muthee should be hailed for asking God to shield Palin from harmful forces, however they may be manifested. And for this he is mocked and Palin ridiculed?

We know that many cultural elites have a hard time embracing religion, but is it too much to ask that they at least show some manners when discussing subjects which most Americans hold dear?

Did you get that, believers? If you're a Christian, then anyone who makes fun of witchcraft and zany exorcism rituals is mocking what you "hold dear". Because believing in witchcraft and religious faith (according to the president of Catholic League) are the same thing.

I'm most curious about the degree of conscious hypocrisy in the writer. Did he notice the ease with which he slipped from witchcraft being a "reality" to being a "cultural understanding"? What does that suggest about his snippy remarks elsewhere about what he calls the "creed of multiculturalism"? And when he says that witchcraft has resulted in "scores of deaths" does he really mean, as the faith-healer he is defending believes, that witches have killed people with their wicked magic? Or is he referring to deaths in witch-hunts? To what extent is the press release a political pose?

Source

I know there's a sizable Indian contingent on the main ONTD group, don't know if that's also true here. This story is interesting to me not just because of the gay-rights angle, but because I think the question of human rights in the two emerging great powers is, with America's decline, crucial for the coming century.

India Reconsiders Victorian "Section 377"

Efforts by activists to force India's government to strike down an 1860 law banning homosexuality are gaining momentum. It is another sign that India's deeply conservative society is changing.

At the center of a series of court challenges in India is Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a still-extant relic of the colonial English regime which criminalizes anyone who, in the law's colorful but vague language, "voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature." Among gay-rights activists it is known simply as 377. High courts in several key states and cities in India are reviewing the law, and activists are hopeful that it will be repealed.

"[Under the law] any form of sex that is non-procreative in nature is a criminal offense. What that translates to on a ground level is it is basically used and enforced against people who are not heterosexual," said Arvind Narrain, an attorney for the Alternative Law Forum, a Bangalore-based human rights group.

Under 377, offenders face up to 10 years in prison.

India's health minister supports repeal

In their fight to overturn 377, gay activists recently found a strong ally in India's health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss.

Speaking at an international AIDS conference last week in Mexico City, Ramadoss called on the courts to scrap 377, saying it hinders the country's efforts to prevent the spread of HIV. Ramadoss told the conference:

“Structural discrimination against those who are vulnerable to HIV such as sex workers and men having sex with men must be removed if our prevention, care and treatment programmes are to succeed.”

But many in India want 377 preserved, among them supporters of India's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. The BJP made headlines a decade ago when its supporters attacked theaters showing "Fire," a feature film by an Indian director Mira Nair, for its depiction of lesbian relationship.

A ruling is expected later this year.

Source and Source

Among those leading the fight against 377 is The NAZ Foundation International

James Franco
dampens August's GQ
By Chris Heath; Photographs by Nathaniel Goldberg



on Sean Penn's Milk mustache
"The first kiss of the movie was out on Haight Street, with, like, 200 people watching, outside. I'm sure in the end it will be a really cool shot, but it starts close and then it takes maybe a minute. That's a long time on film with everybody watching, and, like, a fake moustache getting in your mouth. It was long enough that you couldn't help but thinking, 'Oh, my God, I'm kissing Spicoli.'"

on going back to school at age 30
“I just think about people who say, ‘He’s 30 years old and he’s in college—how hard’s that?’ ” he says. “Well, I’m taking more classes than you ever took, so fuck you.” A pause. “And I’m getting all A’s.”



( three more pictures looooooooooots of tl;dr. Just scroll down to the part about cock rings. )

Dennis Kucinich has released a video statement reaffirming his commitment to the impeachment petition Nancy Pelosi has tried to ignore. They have 100,000 signatures, they need more!

Bush may be a lame duck, but holding him accountable is far more than an empty gesture. Accountability for the corruption of this administration is essential to set the tone for the next president as he (hopefully) tries to re-establish the authority of the Constitution and checks on the arbitrary exercise of power by the executive branch. As Kucinich says in the video:

We cannot let it slide. We cannot stand by and watch the destruction of our Constitution even as this president is on his way out the door.

So if you ain't signed it yet -- go sign!

Source: Youtube and Dennis Kucinich

The Way of the World: a forgery led U.S. into Iraq

A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.

The alleged forgery – adamantly denied by the White House – was designed to portray a false link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war. According to Suskind, the administration had been in contact with the director of the Iraqi intelligence service in the last years of Hussein’s regime, Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti.

Suskind writes:

The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001. It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq – thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al Qaeda, something the Vice President’s Office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link.

The White House flatly denied Suskind’s account. Tony Fratto, deputy White House press secretary, told Politico: "The allegation that the White House directed anyone to forge a document from Habbush to Saddam is just absurd."

However, in 2003 the letter’s existence was touted in the U.S. media by supporters of the war. Suskind writes:

Fox's Bill O'Reilly trumpeted the story Sunday night on The O'Reilly Factor, talking breathlessly about details of the story and exhorting, "Now, if this is true, that blows the lid off al Qaeda—Saddam."

Source: Politico and The Way of the World

Matthew Goode
puts some clothes on

Presumably the look of this shoot (which the source describes as "Lord of the Manor basics") refers to his role in Brideshead Revisited. Will they do him up in Greco-Roman spandex next year when Watchmen comes out? We can hope.





( 5 more pics under the cut, including a couple of pretty appalling fashion errors (imposed on Matthew by the dresser, I'm sure, they can hardly be called his fault) )

Source

Mods, the video clip is brand new.

Getting into character for Brideshead Revisited:
"We drank a lot"

Brideshead Revisited opens tonight. Matthew Goode (who plays Charles Ryder) and Hayley Atwell (Julia Flyte) talk to an interviewer lady about things.

The other news is kind of old, but I think it's awesome. Apparently Miramax was trying to force Hayley Atwell to lose weight, and she went to dinner at Emma Thompson's house and wasn't eating anything, and Emma was like, "Do you hate my food?" and when she found out what the deal was she was all "OH HAY-ULL NO! EMMA THOMPSON ISN'T SITTING STILL FOR THIS!" and she used her ~*star power*~ to defeat the studio's evil enforced-starvation plot.

( All the deets below the cut. )



Interview Source
Resistance to mandatory anorexia source

Mods, allow me to reiterate that the second source is OLD but the first source is NEW.

Matthew Goode and Ben Whishaw:
British lads in love ... or are they? Yes.

Their relationship has been the subject of intense speculation ever since the fateful day they met at Oxford University.

But now a new film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, opening Tuesday in New York, will out Sebastian Flyte as a homosexual and even feature a gay kiss between him and Charles.



In one controversial scene in the new £10 million film, which has its world premiere in New York on Tuesday, a love struck Sebastian attempts to kiss Charles on the mouth before his amorous advances are resisted.

The scene has been welcomed by some who have already dubbed the film "the most overtly gay" Brideshead ever.



Brideshead Revisited tells the story of Charles Ryder and his infatuation with Lord Sebastian Flyte, his aristocratic family and their ancestral home, Brideshead. The two men meet while students at Oxford and Ryder finds Flyte’s decadence and loucheness irresistible.

Although fans of the novel (and the 1981 TV version starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews) have long debated the nature of the relationship between the two friends, neither the book, which appeared in 1945, or the TV adaptation carry any overt references to homosexual feelings.



Andrew Davies, the Bafta winning dramatist who co-wrote the film’s script said:

"I think it will probably upset the purists. But one thing we wanted to make clear was that Sebastian was gay and that Charles although terribly fond of him is heading in another direction sexually.

"Waugh had a very skilful way of skating over the sordid details so we can imagine what we like about them. This ambivalence was probably the result of his own sexual ambivalence."



Kevin Loader, the film’s producer said: "There is a lot less lounging around in river-boats in our version. I think people who have only seen the television adaptation are surprised when they get around to reading the book. I think there is no doubt that Sebastian is homosexual.

"The producers of the television version probably wanted to include such a scene back then. But that sort of thing was a lot more controversial in 1981 than it is today."



The film’s director, Julian Jarrold however admitted that things weren’t so clear cut in the book.

"There is a level of ambiguity in the relationship between Charles and Sebastian in the book. Sebastian needs and wants Charles but it is veiled. It isn’t an explicit gay love story and I didn’t want to make it that."



The new film concentrates on the love triangle between Charles and the brother and sister Sebastian and Julia. In a further departure from the book, the character of Julia joins Charles and Sebastian on their trip to Venice.



So, watch the clip and decide, ONTD: no homo?



Source

( Furthermore, here is a picture of Matthew Goode with his shirt off. )

Jason Hummel and Kori Gardner of Mates of State have been my awesome fantasy indie-rock mom and dad ever since I first saw them play live - they have this awesome stage partnership and chemistry that makes their songs seem like a metaphor for how marriage is supposed to work. And it must still be working, because now they have two little daughters, Magnolia and June, who travel around with them in their tour bus being cute in an indie-rock way. And Kori blogs about it.



We made a music video in Brooklyn this weekend and we had the baby with us.

We loved the idea of having us both playing in these enclosed boxes while balls filled up around us. And once we were in them, we couldn't get out for hours. The only obstacle that we faced was how to feed the baby once I was trapped in a plexiglass cubicle.



Breastpump to the rescue! I looked like an art installation on modern day maternity. I had to stop the shoot and have my pump handed to me through the roof of the box. Then, I sat in there pumping away until I had a whole bottle of milk to pass back over the box so my sister could give it to June.



I think I introduced a bunch of guys/indie-filmakers to the art of human breast milk expressing. And, I'm pretty sure that has never happened while filming a music video before.

(Also, the shoot was filmed at space occupied by a great team of fashion creators who call themselves The Love Brigade. We got to wear their stylings. They might have seen my breasts 10 times that day and they didn't even flinch.)



Yeah, okay, I hear ontd crying out with one voice: "Who?" They're Mates of State. They're a band. They're on tour, and you can go see them at one of their shows and discover how adorable they are. ( Tour dates are under the cut. )And here's the video she's talking about in the blog post.



Sources: their website, Kori's blog

Barack Obama's website provides tools for users to set up their own networking groups, presumably to help out with his campaign. Well...

14,000 Obama supporters oppose his FISA stance - on his own website

The networking group set up on Obama's site with the sole purpose of urging him to oppose the FISA cave-in bill [retroactively granting immunity to telecom providers for invasion of user privacy] has grown to become the largest single group on his site, with over 14,000 members.

This comes roughly a week after the group was created.

( Read more... )

Matt Mitcham Olympics-bound

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham is headed to Beijing for the Olympics. He’s already won gold this year at the 2008 Diving Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. But last month, it was his sexuality that put Mitcham in the international news.



A casual remark to a journalist during an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald led to a flurry of publicity. The Herald put Mitcham on its front page. Respected British daily The Guardian, rarely interested in Antipodean affairs, chimed in with an opinion piece asserting that while “Australia is an enlightened place these days, Australian sport, on the other hand, is not.” Mitcham had committed “a brave act indeed by coming out”, it said.

But the person at the centre of it all sees things differently.

( More pictures under the cut. Also more text, like you care. )

Outspoken, he has no compunction slamming Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who opposes gay marriage.

“I’m not happy with Rudd,” he says, bluntly. “During the election campaign he was all about appearing young and cool, but his views on gay marriage make him look quite old-fashioned.”

Similarly, Mitcham doesn’t hold back when quizzed about criticism of his ‘coming out’. When the Herald story was initially published, this journalist overheard two women on a train explaining to each other’s satisfaction why it was ‘ridiculous’. “Why don’t heterosexuals come out as straight?” harrumphed one. “They’re just obsessed with their sexuality!” I ask Mitcham for his response to this line of thinking.

“You know what?” He replies, “Straight people talk about their sexuality all the time. They talk about the opposite sex, they talk about their wives, their husbands, their marriage. Those are all heterosexual discourses, and they do talk about them all the time. So those ladies didn’t think their comments through very well.”

But of course, gay politics is not Mitcham’s primary focus right now. He’s under a punishing training schedule ahead of the Olympic Games, where he hopes to bring back gold for Australia in the ten-metre platform and three-metre springboard events.

“All my energy is focused on Beijing right now,” says Mitcham. “I’ve been diving since I was eleven, so it’s been nine years of work leading up to this.”



Source

I am not sure why they included a picture of him blowing his nose.

This is an anti-post. Grizzly Bear, who are awesome and who are going to be opening for Radiohead on the August tour, were going to be debuting a news song, "Changes," on Letterman tonight. And I've been excited for a week!

But they aren't. They have been postponed until July 23rd. This is just one more reason why Conan O'Brien is so much better than David Letterman -- He had Grizzly Bear on his show way back in May, before it was cool. Here is that performance.



So, reprogram your Tivo for 21 days into the future, Wednesday, July 23rd. There is no need to watch David Letterman tonight after all.

Boo.

Source: Grizzly Bear's website

Soon, you'll be able to watch this guy:





Doing this:





Hunter Parrish, the big brother on Weeds, has been looking awfully grown up lately. He's 21 years old now, and it's time for him to start miming intercourse in edgy theatre productions. Accordingly, he has agreed to take a role in Broadway's Spring Awakening starting this fall.

The show, based on an 1891 German play of the same name, centers around a group of teenagers dealing with abortion, rape, suicide, masturbation and even some S&M. See? Edgy! It won three Tony Awards last year, including Best Musical.

Hunter will star as Melchior, a lad whose lack of access to a realistic sex ed curriculum leads to tragedy. The original Melchior, Jonathan Groff, was nominated for Tony for his work in the show, but he's decided to go do a revival of Hair, which...okay.

The singing will sound like this:



What's that? You don't care about a new century's rediscovery of the works of German expressionist Frank Wedekind, you just want to see more pictures of Hunter Parrish with his shirt off? You disgust me. However, you may slake your unnatural lusts here.

Source

I used to be ukexseme. I never really liked the name because I'm not an anime fan (then why did I choose it? I don't know, I had some kind of idea in my head.)

Anyway, ukexseme was my old name, and 3_cubic_feet is my new name.

Will Young Plays Glasto
premieres new songs, announces tour dates

Will Young played Glastonbury on Saturday night, his first big show in a while. Has he gotten fat? No! As you can see in these photographs, he remains slim and charming.



His new album, Let It Go is coming out in September, and he's just announced a bunch of UK tour dates for November and December. Tickets aren't on sale quite yet, but if you were to hang around his official site tomorrow morning at around 9 a.m. Greenwich mean time, there is no telling what might happen!





( Like about a billion (that is, 14) more pictures under the cut, it takes so long to upload things, oh my god )

Source: The big pictures are from Contactmusic, and the little pictures are from The photostream of Neal Whitehouse Piper