Miltitant Gay Activists Unveil New Tactics: Glamdalism
Leave it to the gays to take something old and tired and make it exciting again. Radical gay activist group Bash Back has committed the first act of "glamdalism." It's like vandalism, but with pink paint and glitter grenades. Bash Back, a collective of grassroots militant activist chapters across the country, announced on their website that they defaced the headquarters of gay civil rights group the Human Rights Campaign Headquarters in D.C. this weekend before Sunday afternoon's National Equality March. It's gay-on-gay crime! HRC headquarters was rocked by an act of glamdalism last night by a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement now reads a tag, "Quit leaving queers behind." Not that we're promoting something like vandalism (and the damage they did isn't nearly as savage as the verbal attacks on their website), but glamdalism really needs to catch on. If we're going to be protesting things by defacing them, the least we can do is make them pretty and glittery! This picture of the damage on Leslie Ewing's blog about the march. In the future, we're thinking about maybe a forest full of sparkly garden gnomes on Fred Phelps' lawn. HRC has long been a target of more radical gay factions for what they see as HRC pushing assimilationist attitudes, kowtowing to elected officials, and preserving the status quo. More from Bash Back's statement: Just like society today, the HRC is run by a few wealthy elites who are in bed with corporate sponsors who proliferate militarism, heteronormativity, and capitalist exploitation. The sweatshops (Nike), war crimes (Lockheed Martin), assaults on working class people (Bank of America, Deloitte, Chase Bank, Citi Group, Wachovia Bank) and patriarchy (American Apparel) caused by their sponsors is a hypocrisy for an organization with "human rights" in their name. Of course, not everyone is as excited about glamdalism as we are, especially during a news cycle when Barack Obama and Lady Gaga's penis are putting a big spotlight on the gay civil rights movement. Glamdalism as a concept is totally rad (as well as radical) but next time, why don't we turn it on a target that is really oppressing us, rather than a group that tries to help. In the early '90s, ACT UP! covered Jesse Helm's house with a condom. That's what we talking about! And don't go doing anything illegal, kids. Prison is never pretty, no matter how much pink paint and glitter grenades you have. MORE >>
Hipster Grifter Sentenced, to Jail
The long, criminally hipster tale of Hipster Grifter Kari Ferrell has finally reached the portion of "Phase Three: Justice" where she receives her dramatic jail sentence. She got nine months in jail. Which is not too bad, considering all that stuff she did, allegedly. KSL.com reports: The 22-year-old pleaded guilty in August to third-degree felony forgery, two misdemeanor counts of issuing a bad check or draft and one misdemeanor count each of attempted forgery, attempted identify fraud and attempted issuing a bad check or draft. Ferrell on Friday was given credit for 132 days she already served behind bars. She also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $4,194 in restitution. Bucky Turco notes that she actually beat one of her charges. Way to be! We don't know whether Kari will get time off for good behavior, but either way she should be free before Valentine's Day—just in time for our Win a Date With Kari contest. But ex-cons need jobs. What's next for Kari? Yea, she can try the blogger thing, and maybe sell her story as a tell-all, or try to squeeze some money out of someone for a TV interview. But realistically that's not going to make her rich. Expand the book idea, hmmm? She can write a guide to picking up hipsters, or something. Tell men how to get hipster women. And how to tell if they're grifters! Get it at the Barnes & Noble checkout racks all across Middle America! Who else is better positioned to explain the young artsy coastal elites to citizens of Utah-like states? Build your brand, Kari! Build your brand! Email us and we'll help. Also, stop all the crime stuff. That's mean. [Oh and FYI Hipster Grifter Halloween costumes are one of the very coolest ones you can wear this year, according to TONY. Make a note! Nerd.] MORE >>
Jimmy Kimmel Pulls a Letterman, Sleeps with Employee
There's not actually a federal law mandating that late night talk hosts sleep with employees of their shows, but the practice does seem to be developing into a tradition. Following in David Letterman's footsteps, Jimmy Kimmel confirmed this weekend that he is involved in a relationship with one Molly McNearney, a long time staffer and the current co-head writer on his show. In the version given to People, a source close to the show (i.e. probably Kimmel's publicist) says they've been dating for several months now after Kimmel broke up with Sarah Silverman back in March and McNearney broke up with an unnamed boyfriend. As the "source" puts it: "After Jimmy and Sarah broke up, Molly and Jimmy both found themselves single, and they clicked. They're really happy together." Also, says this insider (flack), the situation is nothing like Letterman's situation because "during work hours, they keep things professional." While the entertainment world is no doubt reeling from this announcement, the news will come as no surprise to Gawker readers whom were alerted to a possible Kimmel-McNearney pairing a full fifteen months ago, when both were dating other people. After Gawker ran the anonymous tip about the state of Jimmy Kimmel's romantic life, a "source close to McNearney" went to Defamer (this was before the sites merged) to vociferously deny the tale: She is absolutely NOT banging Jimmy Kimmel. She was promoted from assistant to staff writer, and then from staff writer to head writer. Where's the controversy there? That's kinda how it works in this biz. Also, as a matter of interest, Molly has been with her boyfriend for 3 years, and believe it or not was in Africa ministering to orphans when this story broke (that's not sarcasm, I swear). The truth is that one of Jimmy's BFFs works as a writer on the show, and Molly and another writer tried to let him go. He complained to Jimmy, got his job reinstated, and then sought a little revenge via the interwebs. The sad thing is that this is tearing Molly up. Nope, doesn't sound like Letterman's situation at all. Or perhaps they were simply star-crossed lovers who were fated to get together a full year after the rumor mill (falsely!) said they were already banging. Mysteries! In the meantime, while we await proof from Leno, Ferguson, Fallon and O'Brien that they are not sleeping with their staff, caution would dictate that we reset our default assumption from "Sexless" to "Office Shenaniganizer" for all late-night front men. MORE >>
In Messy Divorce, Ex-Yahoo President Accused of Being a Druggy, Philandering Spy
Sue Decker's tenure as Yahoo president was full of corporate intrigue. But it's nothing compared to her ongoing divorce in which her husband's lawyer is brandishing accusations of illegal drug use, "extramarital affair(s)" and secretly recording him at home. Blame this altogether more sinister portrait of Decker as narcotized, philandering spy on her increasingly messy divorce, which involves a custody battle over her children. The accusations are mentioned in a September 29 letter we've obtained, sent to Decker's legal team from the San Francisco attorneys representing her husband (Click here to read the eight-page letter) . Notice of the breakup first surfaced nearly two years ago. There didn't seem much reason to believe the parting was especially bitter. Though Decker led a series of power grabs at Yahoo, elevating herself from CFO to president and would-be CEO, her divorce generated little such noise. Divorcing couples tend to fight over money, but in April 2008 it emerged that Decker's husband Michael Dovey was not seeking alimony; he told people he was independently wealthy. But an increasingly contentious court battle has nevertheless erupted, judging from the September 29 letter. The attorney for Dovey references hearings and letters attempting to resolve how to handle discovery, the early legal phase in which evidence is collected. Dovey's legal team is using discovery, in part, to collect evidence concerning Decker's purported and unspecified "accusations about" her husband — including personal emails Decker may have sent referencing his conduct, "state of mind and/or mental or physical well being," according to the letter. Some of this material may reside on old Yahoo computers, and Decker's legal team is trying to win the ability to selectively block the disclosure to Dovey's legal team of evidence as it emerges, according to the letter. Dovey's team wants much more: all potential evidence not protected by attorney-client privilege or "attorney work product protection," with particularly sensitive material handed over and protected by a confidentiality agreement. Near the conclusion of the letter, Dovey's attorneys hint at what else they might be looking for in discovery — and what else Decker's attorneys might be trying to keep a lid on: These sorts of allegations are relatively common in nasty divorces and custody battles and Decker, for many years a fixture of Yahoo's quarterly conference calls with stock analysts, knows how to mount a strong defense in the bright glare of the public spotlight. Still, a woman who quit Yahoo in January and just bought a waterfront home in the San Francisco Bay Area's quiet Marin County can't be happy to be caught in such a maelstrom of mudslinging. Nor, one would venture, can her former colleagues. We've posted the full eight-page letter here. Update: Richard Rados, who wrote the letter, declined to comment on the divorce because of "pending litigation" and added, "I don't want to... MORE >>
Mad Men: The Night Sal Could Have Gotten Laid
Thanks to Conrad Hilton, everyone was taken over by the spirit of colonization, both personal and professional, literal and figurative. Oh, Don is back to his old tricks with a crazy lady, and Sal turned down some hot action. The center of last night's action was the powerful taking over the weak and trying to use them for their own selfish ends. We saw it in the Draper home, at Sterling Cooper, and especially as Don climbed the stairway to heaven to find Miss Farrell's room over the garage. The lights were on, and somebody was at home. We wish the same could be said for Missy. Also this week, the civil rights struggles of 1963 are starting to seep into the action, and in the ego-driven world of Mad Men, we learn more about the characters from how they react to them than the impact the events had on history as a whole. Sal and Lee Garner, Jr: The most powerful man in this pairing is not either of these two, but Lee Garner, Sr. Two gay men in the early '60s had no power whatsoever. Everything that Junior does is to please his father—from sticking with Lucky Strike instead of going into the movies to pretending to be straight. When Sal rejects twangy hunk Lee in the editing suite, he opens Lee up to the possibility of exposure, which would upset Senior, which would mean that Lee is out of a job and a fortune. Lee then uses what power he does have over the Lucky Strike ad budget to get Sal fired. Too bad, because that commercial (which looked like it was taken from gay classic Querelle) was pretty darn good. And after looking at that wonderful model all afternoon, it's no wonder why Lee was ready to go. As soon as Lee hit on Sal, he was pretty much doomed at the firm. Even if he had gone through with it, Lee probably would have been so guilty that he would have had Sal fired anyway, so he might as well have gotten a hot piece out of it rather than just getting a pink slip. The reason he didn't is because he realized that he had no power in the situation. How is he going to defend himself from some rich, powerful client, especially when the threat of everyone learning the truth about his personal life is so close to office? Earlier this season, when the bellboy came onto him as aggressively, Sal was all about it, because what is a lowly wage slave in another city going to do to Sal? Unfortunately, it is that event that does Sal in. When he fesses up to Don about what went on, Don doesn't believe his story. While Don never brought up the fact that he caught Sal pink handed with the bellboy, he does use the information against him now. Why would Don trust a known homosexual's word against someone rich and upstanding like Lee Garner Jr? But, in the end, Sal's biggest sin wasn't liking guys, it was putting business in danger. While Lee may not have successfully exploit Sal, he did wield his power to have him put out. So, where does that leave Sal? Making calls to the missus from a pay phone in the park. There is a guy wearing a leather hat next to... MORE >>
Mediabistro Employee Learns to Live in Poverty
Amanda Ernst, the new editor of Mediabistro's Fishbowl NY, was on the Today Show this morning! Topic: How to deal with her crushing poverty as she tries to survive on a paltry Mediabistro wage. Amanda was laid off from a magazine job, and now has to scrape by as a wage slave blogger in Laurel Touby's empire—where she's reportedly paid one third her previous salary. Meanwhile, Laurel Touby and her husband are taking a few months off right now just to travel around the world, doing whatever they like. Hm. Under these circumstances, it's probably okay you didn't get a chance to shout out Fishbowl NY, Amanda. Good luck out there. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy MORE >>
The Book Cover Photos Sarah Palin Turned Down (Updated)
They went with "staring off into the distance, at the future, or Russia, maybe," but the dude who shot the cover photo for Sarah Palin's Goin' Rogue: An American Life, Also uploaded the outtakes to his website. For a minute. Apparently after six days of photographing the former governor they decided that "looking at the camera" was not what they wanted. But now you can make your own alternate paperback covers at home, and save! Just blow these up and write "with a new afterward from Bill Kristol" on them, in crayon. Update: A reader sends along the full-size versions for your very own rejected-book-cover creation enjoyment. MORE >>
Did David Letterman Try to Warn His Blackmailer?
The night before Joe Halderman was busted in a sting operation for trying to extort David Letterman out of $2 million, the Late Show aired a parody of a Geico ad that seems, in retrospect, rather prescient. The skit comes to us by way of Kansas City Star TV critic Aaron Barnhart, who credits one of his readers for picking up on it. It showed Letterman in one of those Geico ads where a wad of money with eyeballs follows people around to the tune of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me." Letterman notices the eyeballs on his desk, picks up a book, and smashes them. Blood spills out from beneath the book, the end. (Barnhart's YouTube page, where he posted the video, is here.) It's sort of an odd skit to air the day before the arrest of a man who showed up outside Letterman's home in the early morning hours and threatened to reveal intimate details about his life if he didn't pay up. But as tempting as it is to believe that Letterman was acting out his revenge fantasies on his own show and sending a coded warning to his tormentor, we have to agree with Barnhart's conclusion that the skit is almost certainly a lovely coincidence: The extortion plot was closely held information at World Wide Pants, and it's highly unlikely that staffers were tossing ideas about it around the writer's room. What isn't highly unlikely, however, is that the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz would pen a scolding and schoolmarmish column arguing that Letterman has gotten a pass from the press for dipping his pen in the company ink. Lo and behold: If Letterman were the chief executive of a defense contractor, instead of a TV production company, would the media critics be so quick to let him skate on sleeping with the help? You know, he's got a point. What if Letterman were a Catholic priest? You think Monsignor Letterman would get such soft coverage if he were sleeping with a nun? Or what if he were Stephanie Birkitt's father? Kurtz's incisive counterfactual has exposed the media-critic punditocracy for the hypocrites they are, because they insist on treating David Letterman as a private citizen who wasn't elected and receives no taxpayer dollars and broke no laws and wasn't married at the time the affairs were alleged to have happened and therefore was sadly free to do with his dick as he pleased, instead of treating him like a defense contractor, which would be much more satisfying for Howie Kurtz. MORE >>
So, Wait: Why Did Obama Make a Big, Gay Speech?
Here's something queer. President Obama spent 20 minutes of his Saturday night talking to gay group Human Rights Campaign and their well-heeled supporters. Some were happy to hear the President vow to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Others weren't. Understandably... The thrust of Obama's speech dealt with the Clinton-era "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which is basically an edict that says gay soldiers need to stay in the closet. It's an important issue, yes, but just one of many gay rights matters that need to be addressed. But, alas, Obama's speech and lack of action amount to little more than, as one critic said, a regurgitation of campaign promises. No surprise there. But then NBC News reporter John Harwood dropped this maybe bombshell: Barack Obama is doing well with 90% or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the "internet left fringe" Lester. And for a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn't take this opposition, one adviser told me today those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult. There you have it: the White House knows they're doing well among Democratic voters, so they think gay activists should simply be patient and stop their griping. Now, there's something kinda rational about that, in a backward way: the country has oodles of problems on its plate and all Americans should throw their weight behind the recovery attempts. Of course such a request drives a nail through the rhetorical heart of millions of people's dreams, but, you know, it's for the greater good! But, such an explanation still doesn't explain why the President made the speech in the first place. Is it simply because he was invited? Was it to maintain gay face? Did he have the hankering for some politically-expedient, $1,000-a-plate dinner? Or perhaps he wanted to quell the angry gay masses so that he can get to work on his master plan — whatever that may be... MORE >>
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