Gay Political Matchmaking on Tonight's "Scandal"

The Scandal team plays matchmakers for a cute gay governor.   Along with recurring actor Scott Foley, tonight's episode with Ugly Betty and The L Word alumni Eric Mabius and hottie TV regular Sam Page should prove for some additional eye candy along with the usual wacky soap opera asylum that is Scandal.

Scott Foley

Eric Mabius

Sam Page

Why I'm not moving to Mississippi YET

A rural Mississippi newspaper recently posted a front page story on the wedding of a lesbian couple, one of whom has been battling brain cancer.  Rather than folks sending hopes and prayers for the ailing woman and congrats for the happy couple, the newspaper received a flurry of hate calls, letters, Facebook posts, etc. because they printed a story about LESBIANS.

Lock your doors.  Hide the children's eyes.  Burn all signs of this heinous event.  There are lesbians getting married in Mississippi.  Get thee to an exorcist post haste.

Thanks to a USM student named Ashton Pittman, the story went viral.  And thankfully, the newspaper did take the high road and printed some of the negative letters along with the newspaper owner's own take on the "controversial" story (see below).  The tide then turned and owner Jim Cegielski says he now receives 99 percent supportive phone calls and letters.

The takeaway is the good guys won.  Sure bigots will always be bigots and they are entitled to freedom of speech to spout off whatever hatred they want.  What's important is that more and more, people are being called out for being racist, homophobic, and misogynistic when they say hateful things regarding race, sexual preference or gender.  And for this newspaper and this lesbian couple, the outpouring of support is a major step forward for Mississippi. 

And when the LGBT community can start making progress in Mississippi, we can say we are definitely making progress.

Owner's response to the backlash:

We were well aware that the majority of people in Jones County are not in favor of gay marriage. However, any decent newspaper with a backbone can not base decisions on whether to cover a story based on whether the story will make people angry.

The job of a community newspaper is not pretending something didn't take place or ignoring it because it will upset people. No, our job is to inform readers what is going on in our town and let them make their own judgments. That is exactly what we did with the wedding story. Our reporter heard about the wedding, attended it, interviewed some of the participants and wrote a news story. If there had been protestors at the wedding, we would have covered that the exact same way … but there weren't any. We never said it was a good thing or a bad thing, we simply did our job by telling people what took place.

I took the bulk of the irate phone calls from people who called the paper to complain. Most of the complaints seem to revolve around the headline, "Historic Wedding," and the fact that we chose to put the story on the front page. My answer to the "Historic Wedding" headline is pretty simple. You don't have like something for it to be historic.

The holocaust, bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Black Sox scandal are all historic. I'm in no way comparing the downtown wedding of two females to any of those events (even though some of you made it quite clear that you think gay marriage is much worse).

We have stories about child molesters, murders and all kinds of vicious, barbaric acts of evil committed by heinous criminals on our front page and yet we never receive a call from anyone saying 'I don't need my children reading this.' Never. Ever. However, a story about two women exchanging marriage vows and we get swamped with people worried about their children.
 

Four Days Til Oscar--Fearless Predictions in the Big Six

Without further ado, the winners will be:

Best Picture 
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Amour
Lincoln
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild

Analysis:  Due to the overwhelming support the film has received since Ben Affleck's snub heard around the world, Argo is the one to beat.  Since the ridiculous controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty has knocked that film out of contention, Lincoln looks to be the only film standing in its way.  My choice would be Silver Linings Playbook, but I'm a sucker for romance over military dramas, no matter the disparity of quality.

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper  Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day Lewis  Lincoln
Denzel Washington  Flight
Hugh Jackman  Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix  The Master

Analysis:  So many superlatives have been heaped on Lewis, he is THE only contender in this race.  The others should just be happy to have been invited to the party to enjoy Lewis's speech, which if the many he has given throughout the long awards season are any indication, promises to be humble, charming, and worthy of the man he played.

Best Actress
Jennifer Lawrence  Silver Linings Playbook
Jessica Chastain  Zero Dark Thirty
Emmanuelle Riva  Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis  Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts  The Impossible

Analysis:  I'm giving the edge to JLaw, although I don't know how much wishful thinking is playing into it.  Other that Wallis, who was in diapers only a few years ago, the other actresses are definite possibilities.  The Impossible was seen by too few, but Watts has earned a lot of respect in Hollywood.  Chastain, who was a contender early on, seems to be one of the victims of the torture controversy surrounding her film.  Riva is Lawrence's most formidable competition--she's old and this may be the Academy's last chance to honor her, while Lawrence will have many more chances to go to the podium.  Still, a JLaw acceptance speech would undoubtedly be one of the most memorably loony speeches in Oscar history and she deserves it.

Best Supporting Actor
Tommy Lee Jones  Lincoln
Alan Arkin  Argo
Phillip Seymour Hoffman  The Master
Robert DeNiro  Silver Linings Playbook
Christoph Waltz  Django Unchained

Analysis:  It's tempting to go with Jones who would seem to be a lock for Lincoln. However, I'm making an outside-the-box choice and going with DeNiro.  He's respected, but has been toiling in mostly dreck for the past two decades, starring in such "award" winners as The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Meet the Fockers.  This would be a golden affirmation of his talents and Hollywood loves a comeback kid.  Waltz is an outside possibility, but his film is too polarizing.  Hoffman and Arkin are terrific, but not even the highlights of their own films.

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway  Les Miserables
Sally Field  Lincoln
Jacki Weaver  Silver Linings Playbook
Amy Adams  The Master
Helen Hunt  The Sessions

Analysis:  This is a two-woman race between two of the perkiest contenders for decidedly unperky roles--Gidget herself, Sally Field, and Gidget wannabe, Anne Hathaway.  While I have hated all of Hathaway's speeches throughout this awards season, would she really be any less annoying than Field, who gave the infamous, "You like me.  You really, really like me" speech?  It's Hathaway's to lose, but Field has a slim outside chance to swoop in like the Flying Nun and take the "dream" away.

Best Director
Michael Haneke  Amour
Ang Lee  Life of Pi
David O. Russell  Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg  Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin  Beasts of the Southern Wild

Analysis:  With Affleck out, Spielberg will most likely emerge the president of this category.  His only competition is Lee, who received an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain even though that film was robbed of best picture by the mind numbingly awful Crash.  Life of Pi is an international hit, grossing nearly an astounding $600 million worldwide and much of the film's success has been credited to Lee's vision.

With an unpredictable host in Seth McFarlane, a nod to movie musicals, and live performances by Jennifer Hudson, Barbra Streisand and Adele, this promises to be one of the most entertaining telecasts in recent history.  I'll be watching the champagne flow and the Golden boys go with pizza, beer, and rainbow tears cheering as Hollywood celebrates its own on the most glamorous night of the year.

R.I.P. Matthew Crawley

It was the spoiler everyone in America knew ahead of time.  Downton Abbey's leading man, Dan Stevens, left the show for greener pastures, leading to his character being killed off in a car accident in the show's third season finale.  I respect anybody for moving on, but this is a top-rated show at the heighth of its popularity, making his exit seem a little premature.  Still, whatever grousing fans of the show may have, I wish Mr. Stevens luck in future endeavors.

One of the few men who look as good in clothes as out of them, here are a few of the finest glamour shots showcasing his classic British cheekbones and gorgeous eyes.

 

Of course, he doesn't look bad without his shirt either.

What the hell is going on with Lifetime?

Lifetime, known as the television network for women and gay men, has become the Sybil of television networks. Nancy Dubuc became president of the network in April of 2010 and things have slowly gone downhill with few rays of light since. 

The airing of "Liz and Dick" remains the least of its flaws as Lindsay Lohan is the current trash queen.  And Lifetime movies are typically trashy, guilty pleasures with a few exceptions noted later. 

But the network seemed to be making real inroads towards legitimacy with such shows as "Army Wives" and the fabulous "Drop Dead Diva," that seemed to point towards having shows that, while not perfect, would be awardworthy if on any other channel.  For example, "Diva" star Brooke Elliott (below) should have been nominated for every award possible every single year her show aired.

However, it was recently announced that "Diva" has been cancelled, despite solid ratings, and "Wives" is undergoing a major cast upheaval and retooling, despite being one of the network's highest-rated programs.

Instead, the future of the network seems to focus on such shows as "The Client List," about a prostitute HEADLINED by "Oscar-winning" actress Jennifer Love-Hewitt, featured in typical costume below.  This falls right in line with the trash Lifetime has historically offered, but the network could be so much more.

Witness the network's recent celebration of Black History Month.  It featured a movie about Coretta Scott King starring Angela Bassett and Mary J. Blige.  Another movie in the series starred Toni Braxton in the surprisingly beautiful multi-denominational love story, "Twist of Fate." 

And this is why the network remains completely frustrating.  It would be easy to write this network off as trash T.V., but then it goes and hires an all-star cast of fantastic black actresses for a new version of "Steel Magnolias."  While the new version paled in comparison, it at least showed that the network wants to be more than a guilty pleasure.

I hope Lifetime remembers that the few pieces of classy and entertaining programming it has offered are what the network should want to be known for--not just to be the latest stomping grounds for movies about accused murderesses Casey Anthony and Amanda Knox.  If Lifetime is indeed a network for women, then it needs to quit being so misogynistic and feature entertainment about strong women like Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr.  or entertaining, vibrant women like "Diva's" Jane Bingham.   I have a dream for Lifetime, but sadly, the network is living the nightmare.

Hear the gorgeous Brooke Elliott singing Jason Mraz's "Lucky" below.  She sings, she dances, and, thanks to Lifetime, she needs a job!

Gay Moment of the Week--"Glee"

While this past week's "Glee" was the typical trainwreck (snoozy Marley and Jake, prostitute Brody, pregnant Rachel, lesbian Santana and Quinn), it was a good Kurt and Blaine episode.  The following GIF from their brief makeout scene was the highlight along with Kurt's one-liner to Tina about "vapo-raping" Blaine when Tina confessed to rubbing VapoRub on Blaine's chest when he had a cold.

And it also had the fantastic "Not Getting Married Today" from the musical
"Company" sung by the great, if normally ill-used, Jayma Mays.

Senator Marco Rubio--evil genius?

Florida Senator Marco Rubio drew mass derision and mocking for his speech after the President's State of the Union in which he awkwardly goes off camera for a bottle of water to take a drink.  More people were talking about this moment than anything in President Obama's solid, if unspectacular, speech.  But then Rubio, painted as the doofus of the week, did something out of left field--he made lemonade out of his own "Watergate."

Rubio actually went on to sell bottles of water (see the picture below), going on to raise $100,000 for his PAC.  Pure genius.  Of course, he did have to add a strange defense of his behavior, blaming the whole thing on God and his Fozzie the Bear-like sense of humor.

Still, the bottled water idea is the type of inspired thinking America needs more of in this country--thinking outside the box.  While I support few of Rubio's ideas, this was truly inspired.  Bottled water sales aside, the Republicans may want to think twice before making him the Republican nominee in 2022. 

Infamous Vice President nominee Sarah Palin had to be coached like a Kindergarten student through her debate practice. However, during the debates themselves, despite not having an original thought in her head other than a silly one liner, she handled herself without sweatily gulping a water bottle.  When Palin makes you look like an idiot by comparison, it's time to just stay silent and suck your bottle in private.

If you have been living under a rock and missed the funny Rubio moment, see it below.