THEGAYUK

Day: 11 January 2015

  • TV REVIEW | The Hotel, Sometimes it is best to leave a classic alone.

    ★★ | The Hotel

    Unfortunately, the new series of The Hotel fails to ignite any excitement but does raise questions on why bother to invest time and money in a programme that is as dull as the hotel’s carpet.

    When Mark and the hotel first checked on to our screens, it was fun, it was campy and was an hour of guilty pleasure television as former hotelier Mark Jenkins misdirected his team into more and more moronic situations. However, this time round Mark is stymied at every turn and the programme has become turgid and rather dull.

    This season sees Mark return to the Cavendish Hotel in Torbay, except this time, he’s not the boss; he’s the entertainment management. The roof is leaking and finances are at rock bottom. Desperate for a new lease of life, owners Vicky and Andy have agreed to take on the hapless Mark for the season as their new entertainment’s manager. Except the owners, Vicky and Andy won’t let Mark get on to it.

    You do have to question why on earth the owners would allow Mark, who has had three hotel disasters himself, take control of anything, especially entertainment, except to possibly bring attention to their ailing hotel.

    The programme makers say expect comedy and mishaps, but after watching an episode I’ve decided to take a pass on the rest of the series and check out.

  • BOOK REVIEW | Cross Country Daddy

    I have to admit I love the written word; I have a thing for it, which is strange as someone who is quite visual in their other work and trained in visual arts. I especially love it in erotica, simple sensuous phrases can have unexpected results and can prove more arousing than mere images – and that’s exactly what Jonathan Lemieux and his short story does.

    Just that one word ‘Daddy’ conjures up all sorts of images in the gay world… and this book doesn’t disappoint. The story is simple but full of such descriptive narrative. It gives you a hero of sorts, with a back-story and told in the first person so you feel part of the action.

    It follows our hero, Justin Waterston, on a journey of self-discovery and into the arms of his daddy, Mitch. He meets his hero online, and spends time on camera with his lusty counter-part.

    The relationship develops and, in time, the usual question rears its ugly head, the one about meeting in the flesh. I always find this amazing as only our generation must understand this – we’ve seen each other, hell, we’ve probably had sex online on camera but we’ve never met face to face.

    So Justin receives a ticket to ride, and ride he does!

    If you like your sex with a pinch of pig, if you like your erotica with a smidgeon of smut – Jonathan writes it just for you.

    This story has the desired effect in the pant department – it arouses and stimulates but also gives you characters you care about and want to know more about!

    I’m reliably informed that this is another in a long line of stories, so feel free to invest emotionally in these characters and storylines – think Harry Potter with a fetish and you wont be disappointed in this series!

    The story is available here as a download or an actual book:

    www.blurb.ca/b/5686764-cross-country-daddy?class=book-title

    store.blurb.ca/ebooks/502220-cross-country-daddy

    By Chris Jones

  • Katie Hopkins Will Step On Perez Like A Small Fly

    Ooooft, it’s all going on the Big Brother house and after an incident today, Katie Hopkins has made her feelings about Perez Hilton very, very clear.

    Perez Hilton will from now on feel the wrath from gay icon wannabe Katie Hopkins, after she screamed at him to be quiet, which brought the celebrity blogger to tears. It all happened when Perez confronted Ken about his behaviour in the house that infuriates Katie. Perez further felt Katie’s anger when he questioned her about sleeping with her now husband when he was still married to a previous woman. Needless to say, Katie was not happy about her actions being questioned.

    Enough is enough: Katie Hopkins silences Perez with a hand, letting him know that she has had enough of his voice and his opinions.

    Reduced To Tears: Perez tries to answer back but Hopkins’ acid tongue silences and reduces him to tears.

    Gleeful: Katie tells Big Brother that she’d like to step on Perez like a small fly.

    Later on, Katie tells Big Brother that today’s task made Perez look like “a dingbat” and admits that she is not likely to ever get on with him. She then likens him to a “small fly that I will step on, and will be removed from this House, hopefully by my hand. I’ll be pleased to see him go”

    Who do you want to see win?

  • INTERVIEW | Adore Delano

    The popularity of drag in recent years can be attributed, at least in part, to Ru Paul and his resurgence as the face of Drag Race.

    I remember him as the face that launched Super Model, appearing as something of an anomaly amongst the big haired, slightly portly drag queens I’d seen down the local gay bar – a quick quip and a nasty put down amongst the flat lager and the hi-energy pop. He arrived, shook the drag world up and then he seemed to disappear…

    For me, Drag Race was a slow burner, a programme I didn’t “race” to watch but when it appeared on my Netflix timeline, I thought “Oh, why not?” and instantly got hooked. From Season 1 onwards, I watched it all, drama, crisis and laughter – but never felt that enthralled?

    And then it exploded, Season 6 of Drag Race seems to have been the one where we got the real characters, the divas, the comedy and the voices.

    And although Bianca Del Rio won, the top 3 all had different talents, and very different personalities. Bianca came across as the queen of quips and put downs, the one you want to read you, and god knows she was, and still is wonderful.
    Courtney Act came over all “big down under” and had a heart, somewhere – but with a voice that could knock your Birkenstocks off! And that body? I had a hard time explaining that this woman was a man!

    And then we come to Adore Delano, to paraphrase Pricilla….she’s a cock in a frock and she rocks!!!

    She doesn’t do the clichéd music, she doesn’t look pretty, pretty – she’s edgy and boy can she rock a tune as well as a dress.

    I got a chance to have a quick chat with the lady herself, and she kept me in stitches – she’s interesting and funny and totally talented.

    With catchphrases such as “party”, “Chola”, “Libra”. “Fk”, “st”, “c**t”…she was sure to win an audience over.

    Born Daniel Anthony Noriega back in 1989 in Azusa, California, her Wiki page lists her occupation as Drag queen, singer, YouTube personality, television personality – and she does all of these so well.

    I asked her how she came into drag?

    “I was heavily influenced by Pete Burns in high School, loved dressing up and altering my look.”

    With the Pete Burns reference, I asked if she’d ever consider surgery later in life:

    “F**k yeah! I want the lot!”

    Review her performance on Drag Race, and watch as she blossoms under the guidance and feedback from both co-stars and mentors.

    I asked her about that entrance, what it was like to be the first into that big pink room:

    “They made me do that twice – the first time, they told me there were others in there and there weren’t!”

    I also asked about the underwear – those of you who’ve watched it might remember her sitting on the chair and swinging her legs over the arm – only to comment that she wasn’t wearing any underwear!

    One comment Michelle Visage constantly made was about Adore cinching her waist, and this led to Adore dubbing her body a “hog body”. I asked her about this, and as she said: “I cinch when I’m doing girlie stuff but not all the time”.

    Another Drag Race comment was around her not being able to sew and make her own outfits like some of the other contestants, and her wardrobe wasn’t as vast or varied as others but what she had she rocked, and when she did create something, it blew them away (hint: that little punk number that reminded me of Hazel O’Connor in Breaking Glass).

    When asked about her sewing skills, she commented that her style of stage drag doesn’t always need sewing skills, and as her style is rock chic, you can understand this.

    I asked her how her style has changed over time, and with the notoriety that Drag Race has given her:

    “I used to dress like the other girls in town – and now I do that but wear more expensive t-shirts!”

    We then turned to her stage show, the bread and butter stuff that now makes the bucks. She’s about to bring this to the UK, and I asked what we could expect in terms of content:

    “I’m trying to showcase different songs, so there’ll be some form the current album (see below) and also I love doing covers so expect some of these too.”

    And with that voice, if you’re lucky enough to have tickets for the UK dates, you’re in for a treat.

    I asked her about that now infamous Starbucks ad with Bianca Del Rio, an ad that perfectly utilises their individual skills and styles.

    “It was filmed in Canada and I didn’t think it was real so I turned up with no make-up.” And yet it’s one of the best ads I’ve seen!

    In these days of mass social media, I asked if she had controlled her own media feed:

    “I have direct input, it’s a way of communicating that we haven’t had before.”

    It is refreshing to meet an entertainer who has some control over the social output we’ve come to expect from our stars.

    And finally, what’s next for Adore:

    “I’m working on a new album, writing new material and hoping to get it all finished for summer this year.”

    In the meantime, enjoy her latest offerings here:
    Adores site:

    http://www.adoredelano.com

    Amazon download:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Till-Death-Do-Party-Explicit/dp/B00KH1PDUO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420894582&sr=8-1&keywords=adore+delano

    Adore/Danny’s YouTube feed:

    https://www.youtube.com/user/DannyNoriega

    With her mini UK tour, feel free to pop to one of the venues and see her live, in the flesh and hear that powerhouse of a voice!

    WEST 5 in WEST LONDON

    THURSDAY, JANUARY 15th
    AXM in GLASGOW

    FRIDAY, JANUARY 16th
    NIGHTINGALE in BIRMINGHAM

    SATURDAY, JANUARY 17th
    AXM in MANCHESTER

    SUNDAY, JANUARY 18th
    SHADE presents SR44 in NEWCASTLE

    MONDAY, JANUARY 19th
    Photo credit: Image with Roses by Crystal Allen