The UK’s communications watchdog, Ofcom has cleared Channel 5 and the producers of Celebrity Big Brother of any wrongdoing in broadcasting comments made by entertainer Christopher Biggins.
Ofcom receieved 44 complaints but said that the coments were “within the audience’s expectations”.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said,
“We investigated whether a discussion between Christopher Biggins and Renee Graziano about the sexual orientation of bisexual people was offensive
“We accepted that these remarks made in Celebrity Big Brother were capable of causing offence, but they were likely to be within the audience’s expectations of this programme.”
A middle-aged man is down on his luck. He can’t work because he’s got a heart condition while at the same time he’s having trouble navigating the UK’s benefits system. He is I, Daniel Blake and it’s a film that opened this weekend.
I, Daniel Blake, which won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and directed by Ken Loach, is the story of one man, in Newcastle, and the trials and tribulations, and the humiliation and despair, he goes through in an attempt to receive benefits he thinks he’s entitled to. Stand-up comedian Dave Johns eloquently plays Blake, a man with so much heartbreak and despair where nothing goes his way.
We first meet Blake after he’s had a heart attack and can’t work anymore. So he applies for Employment and Support Allowance, but first, he must go through a rigorous telephone assessment by a health care professional who asks him some very intrusive questions. He then heads to the Jobcentre where he meets single mum Katie (Hayley Squires). She’s got two kids and has just been moved from London to Newcastle by the system because Newcastle is a cheaper place to house people on benefits. She barely has two pence to rub together, and she and Blake form a special bond. He’s there to help her around her house, he’s there to support her in any way possible, even after she shoplifts. And he’s there at her side when she makes a wrong decision to earn money. But it’s Blake who is spiralling down a hole; he can’t apply for benefits online because he’s never used a computer. Then he’s been judged fit to work, so his benefits stop, however, he doesn’t have a CV to look for work so he handwrites one. More despair comes his way when he is told that he doesn’t qualify for any benefit so he has to wait for a ‘decision-maker’ to decide his fate, while Katie has to rely on the local food bank in order to feed her family. It’s one thing after another for both in this very bleak film that shows how life really must be for people on benefits.
Johns, who has very few acting credits, is superb as Blake. He beautifully portrays a man down on luck who keeps losing his optimism and will to live along the way. Squires is just as good trying to survive in a town where she doesn’t know anyone with two kids who need to eat and have new clothes for school. Loach, who is British born, harshly displays the reality of the UK’s benefits system for people who are really in need, people who lose their dignity, navigating a system that works against them and not for them.
As Blake says in the film, “When you lost your self-respect, you’re done for.”
This film is a wake-up call with a strong message that this could happen to anyone of us.
★★★★ | You don’t have to be a fan of aquatic placental spout-squirting marine mammals to appreciate Andrew Wright’s take on Moby Dick – but a penchant for choreography that could power a fleet of trawlers, an affection for Glee-style musical numbers and an esteem for the male form, in two beautiful varieties, will help you stay afloat.
St. Godley’s Academy for Young Ladies are in a bit of financial bother. Headmistress (X Factor’s Anton Stephans) decides to stage a musical version of Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick to keep the shark from the porthole. Think St. Trinian’s meets Peter Pan with a wave of Carry on Cruising – Ofsted would have an algae-ridden-seabed day.
In amongst the spot-light rivalry, over-the-blouse gropes, double entendres, an inappropriate use of a ruler, African jigs, amateur projector marine displays, dark angel trolly dashes, Sinitta (probably just because it was press night), the occasional can-can and a male striptease – in amongst the pandemonium of jollity is a cast humpbacked-full of enthusiasm, each sperming their own individual clicks, pulses and whistles.
Ishmael (Rachel Anne Rayham) would give a chorus of orcas a swim for their money with her compelling vocal cords. Anton’s animated boat-race did him no favours with Mr Cowell but worked superbly spurting life into the Headmistress and Ahab. And Glen Facey’s pirouettes, fouettés and fish dives were executed without so much as a splash.
School uniform isn’t mandatory, and you may be encouraged to dance with the Head, but there’s no Moby about enjoying this Dick – it’s a sure thing.
Wednesday 12th October – Saturday 12th November 2016 Tuesday to Sunday, 7.30pm Saturday and Sunday matinees, 2.30pm
Union Theatre, 204 Union Street, London SE1 0LX – phone: 020 7261 9876
The US is in turmoil: racial discrimination is rife while immigrants arrive by the boatload to escape feast and famine in their own countries. This could describe present-day US but it’s actually the early 20th century in the new production of Ragtime now playing at The Charing Cross Theatre.
Ragtime the novel was originally written in 1975 and had its London stage debut in 2003, after it had debuted on Broadway in 1998. The revival of the show was brought back to London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2012. This new version, directed by Thom Southerland, is very ambitious, with a very crowded cast of 24 on a stage barely able to fit in their singing, dancing and acting.
It’s the turn of the 20th century in New York and we are sung the story of three different groups; an upper class family, African Americans, and Eastern European immigrants, and eventually all their lives will cross in a show that packs a lot in its over two hour running time in a theatre that was too hot and a bit too uncomfortable.
The upper-class family takes from and centre. It’s the wife, who’s called Mother (Anita Louise Combe) with a young son and a husband who leaves the family behind to go on an exhibition to the North Pole. Then there’s the African Americans, fronted by Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Ako Mitchell), a Harlem musician whose girlfriend Sarah (Jennifer Saayeng) leaves her baby on Mother’s doorstep, but eventually moves in with Mother and is found living there by Coalhouse. Then there’s the immigrants – Tateh (Gary Tushaw) and his daughter (Alana Hinge) – who arrive in the big city with nothing to their name. However they don’t find their American dream in New York so Tateh decides they should go to Boston but right before their trip they meet Mother and her son. And trouble is in store for Coalhouse and Sarah who get harassed by unfriendly locals and it’s at this point when the first half ends.
The second fails to match the first half’s intensity and drama. It neatly wraps up the storylines, with themes of reunions and acceptance but it’s all a bit of a letdown after the energetic and frantic first half. The cast are all fine, with the excellent vocal chords of Saayeng and Bernadette Bangura. And Combe and Tushaw provide much dramatic acting in their roles, while Samuel Peterson is adorable and perfect as the son on the night I saw it.
If there ever was a musical that’s full of music, this is the one. It’s a good old classic American story that’s pure red, white and blue – there’s nothing as American as this show. And what a pertinent time to have on display this show of Americana, when the U.S. is going through a most unusual election, and where black men are continuously getting killed, and immigrants from all over the world wanting to live to live there. What took place in the early 20th century is still taking place today.
We have had Al Pacino in the gay leather epic Cruising and Mark Wahlberg in the straight porn classic Boogie Nights and this month gay porn hits your multiplexes in the form of King Cobra a James Franco project and you simply won’t believe its incredible back story.
CREDIT: King Cobra
This movie ripped straight from the headlines is “based on a true story” of the early career of the biggest gay porn star of the moment, Brent Corrigan. The movie stars Christian Slater (Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves), James Franco (Spiderman), Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) and Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club), yes this is one big expensive Hollywood cast and it contains a whole host of man on man gay sex too as we take a peek behind the curtain of the world gay porn industry.
The film which stormed the Toronto Film Festival had its European premiere at the London Film Festival recently before going on full release in Europe and across North America from 21st October. The film has stirred up a lot of controversies as it shows the discovery of Brent Corrigan before two other agents then decide to take charge of his mega career which leads to an infamous murder that shocked the porn industry, remember this is real and true life story.
The controversy has been fanned by Brent himself refusing to support the movie and worse has denounced it on social media as taking liberties with his life story and massively showing the gay porn industry which Brent is a big supporter of in a very bad light.
The film directed by Justin Kelly is based on the successful book Cobra Killer written by Andrew E Stoner and Peter A Conway. It centres on the 2007 murder of gay porn producer Bryan Kocis (played in the film by Christian Slater) by two aspiring producers (James Franco as Joe and Keegan Allen as Harlow) who wanted to buy out Corrigan’s performing contract. It is doing great business which you would expect with that A-list Hollywood cast and with the huge interest factor of being the first real mainstream foray into our hugely popular and sleazy gay porn royalty world.
The Idaho-born Brent Corrigan was coerced into the gay porn industry at the earth shatteringly underage of 17-years-old. He immediately won Best Newcomer awards but was denounced from many a porn award stage by the likes of uber-producer Michael Lucas for lying about his age to get work and also the studios that used him knowing he was too underage to have bum sex in any form never mind on film in front of millions of viewers. His boyfriend, who he met when he was 16, got him to do his first gay porn film with Bryan Kocis who was also his scene partner then immediately signed him to a six picture deal and paid him for his first scene with a second hand Vauxhall Jetta car rather than cash.
Kocis’s company was called Cobra Studios and he continued sleeping with the underage Corrigan privately as he had done with other guys as young as 15. Brent soon became unhappy at Cobra.
Writing on his blog in 2007 Brent shared,
“Every scene Bryan has had me shoot with him he insists on making the boys cum in my face. I HATE CUM IN MY FACE. I hate it. Bryan knew I hated it. I don’t care how many people out there think it’s hot, it sucks to do it on set.
“On top of it, I have somewhat of a sensitive skin type. Each time it happens, my face becomes irritated and red after the shoot.
“So basically every time you see a picture with cum on my face, just know that I’m unhappy doing it.
“I’m sure this is why since my falling out with Cobra Video; Bryan has made it a point to put a considerable more amount of pictures out there with cum on my face.”
Brent was ready to work for others and Joe and Harlow two up and coming producers were keen to make a blockbuster film with Corrigan but instead of entering into contract arrangements and sharing the rewards they cack-handedly decided to kill Kocis instead and not just any old murder we are talking decapitation here and 28 stab wounds – remember this is all a true story from the wacky world of gay ass-banging on film.
To see the whole story and what happens next go see the film that is picking up rave reviews and getting in advance of 75% positive ratings from the world’s critics. Brent went on to have the biggest career of recent times and he has a great life working with his number one passion horses in New Mexico so not all porn stars have sad tales. As we speak in October 2016 he has 190,000 followers on twitter which is the highest number of any guy doing either gay or straight porn on planet earth – he is much loved.
As we speak in October 2016 he has 190,000 followers on twitter which is the highest number of any guy doing either gay or straight porn on planet earth – he is much loved.
During the filming, Brent went on record, writing on his Facebook page, about his involvement,
“The internet has been a buzz regarding some recent news that a movie is being filmed right now in New York State chronicling the Bryan Kocis murder and the early days of my adult career. I was originally approached to be a part of the film as a consultant and the cast. I was asked to play a small part in the film and declined the role. Ultimately, I chose to move forward with my own plans to finally release my book in place of taking part in someone else’s presentation of events that I personally lived as a young adult. Even with the time that has passed, the memories are still very real and raw for me.”
“Yes, I’ll see it. (he added) Likely in the independent theatre with everyone else. I’m stubborn, but still curious. I have very poignant ideas about the screenplay, which was presented to me about 10 days before principle photography was slated to begin in New York. I met with the director and his agent. They were insensitive right out of the gate in our interactions with them. They wanted me to come on board without even considering what dredging all that up was really asking of me.”
He continued,
“When it was all said and done, I had no dealings with Franco or his people. I chose to stay out of it because it was clear to me they were not trying to make a movie that would serve gay men, the gay adult industry, or any justice with what happened to Bryan, or what I lived through with Grant [Roy]. Grant played an integral part of the investigation, He wore a wire for the feds! I was always just the bait, but Grant was the true hero. These filmmakers couldn’t even write him a part in the movie. They made it seem like I navigated it all alone and even went so far to present their version of me as extorting Bryan. I never did that. I wanted out and away, and I hid behind Grant and the law when push came to shove. I was a kid, not a martyr.”
Brent has loads more to say on his social media so go check it out about the movie and the forthcoming book which we will feature when it is published.
Yes, we may have already seen it, but Geordie Shore‘s Marnie Simpson wants the world to know that her BF, Lewis Bloor, has a huge peen.
CREDIT: Marnie Simpson/Snapchat
Remember this summer, in Celebrity Big Brother when Lewis Bloor exposed himself (more than once) well now his GF, Marnie Simpson, is doing the exposing for him.
She recently uploaded a picture of Lewis completely naked to her Snapchat. It seems she has no qualms about the world seeing her beau’s enormous appendage, which she has described as “scary”.
Red Dwarf has used various styles this series and this new episode is no different. After a fast paced big cast episode, a filmic flashback, a horror time travel episode and a body horror technology based episode we have another first for the series: cute and fuzzy friendship feels!!
★★★★
Red Dwarf – Series 11 – Ep05 – “Krysis” –
This episode proves just how much the characters have grown and developed over the years. The bickering foursome have developed into a dysfunctional but caring family. Sure they might bicker and grumble, but after so many centuries together, they do care.
Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) is feeling depressed and the guys fear he might suffer from a midlife crisis and they are soon proven right. As Kryten goes through various stages of midlife crisis at an alarming speeds and feels increasingly low about himself and his accomplishments, Dave Lister (Craig Charles) thinks it’s time for an intervention. Of course things do not go completely to plan.
Red Dwarf – Series 11 – Ep05 – “Krysis”
What makes this an interesting episode is seeing Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie) and the Cat (Danny John-Jules) as part of the team, trying to help out but with their characteristics still in tact. This is very clever writing. It’s good to see characters grow up and learn and it shows that the show works even without constant clashes and insults. The heart of the show is these characters being there for each other despite their differences.
The statistics about homelessness people are alarming. 25% of homeless and at risk youth in the UK identify as LGBT, a shockingly high proportion. Alexis Gregory has made a verbatim theatre piece looking at the subject. He interviewed a group of young adults who had been at risk or homeless and created a powerful set of interwoven monologues.
CREDIT: Jane Hobson
Alicia started stealing her family’s painkillers to self-medicate against her confusion and worries about her sexuality. Spiralling into a cycle of alcohol addiction she hurtles towards homelessness and hits rock bottom. Jack is confused by his gender, growing up as a boy in a girl’s body, suffering anxiety attacks and verbal abuse from his family who refuse to call him by his correct gender or use the right pronouns. Samuel realises that he’s gay at a young age but his ultra-religious Nigerian parents aren’t sympathetic to his sexuality. When he’s outed by his sister he ends up facing a volley of abuse and barrage of prayers along with plans to send him to Africa to ‘cure’ him. Understandably he flees. Alicia (same name, different character) is rejected by her mother and ends up in children’s homes and foster care. Trapped in the wrong body she works as a rent boy to get cash to get by.
The stories are a mix of pathos, humour and horror. Samuel’s story (told by the talented Michael Fatogun) is laden with wry humour and the vibrant wit of his character comes through. Riley Carter Millington is among the cast and plays Jack. Better known for his portrayal of Kyle Slater in ‘Eastenders’; Riley was the first transgendered actor to play a transgender character in a T.V. soap opera. It’s a strong cast and they’re gifted a beautiful script (or transcript, even). There’s a hint of music with alternating singers at the start of the show (Rudi Douglas did a spine-tingling acapella version of ‘Smalltown Boy’ on the show I saw). There’s also a series of thought provoking 15 minute curated talks each night after the hour-long performance.
The interspersing of the monologues with interactions of other actors playing subsidiary roles stalls the action and reduces the impact a little but it’s otherwise pitch perfect.
Troubling and painful as the stories can be there’s ultimately something redemptive about them too. The Albert Kennedy Trust’s work figures highly in their support of young LGBT people in crisis. This is a performance worth catching. There can’t be many LGBT people out there who don’t find something to identify with here, too. These are exceptional stories in one sense but not in another. These are ‘everyman/woman’ stories that are sure to resonate.
★★ | Based on the classic novel by Truman Capote; which was famously immortalised on the big screen by the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s tells the story of an unnamed writer’s obsession with his faux-socialite neighbour, Holly Golightly, as she optimistically flirts, romances and blags her way through life via a series of romantic interludes with a number of well to do men.
Photo Credit – Sean Ebsworth Barnes
Based more on the book than on the film, this adaptation by Richard Greenberg has its moments. Firstly, the script, whilst wordy, carries with it an essence of Capote’s work, with rhythmically delivered passages of lengthy text which maintain the feeling of a novella rather than a play. Returning the time frame to the original 1940’s setting, the costumes were both glamorous, and, in the case of Holly Golightly, numerous. The set design was beautifully done, sturdily constructed, versatile and filled with period detail; and the lighting design by Ben Cracknell effectively transported the audience between New York downpours and hazy summer days.
Matt Barber (Downton Abbey) delivers his role as Fred with enthusiasm and an element of innocence as his character falls for his neighbour’s charms; despite the hint of Fred’s closeted homosexuality running through the piece. Georgia May Foote (Coronation Street) is functional and steady as Holly Golightly. Stepping into such an iconic role was always going to be a tough call for any actress and Foote holds her own, never really excelling, but never falling flat either, although she doesn’t quite pull off the charisma and allure of the character entirely.
The difficulty with this production is that is it, sadly, just plain dull. Golightly comes across as a self-absorbed, egocentric and, quite frankly, dislikeable character, which makes you wonder just why anyone would become so infatuated with someone so narcissistic. The play is heavy, slow going and overlong, which lacks any of the whimsical lightness and charm of the film version; and whilst the play is more reliant on the novella than the film, comparisons are unavoidable. The pacing and momentum of the piece is patchy; it is clumsy at times, there are a number of unnecessarily loud and messy scenes filled with a variety of unlikeable characters; and the audience warmed more to the scene stealing cat, Bob, than most of the actors on stage.
For those enamoured with the book, this is a relatively good adaptation, and they will not doubt find much to enjoy within this production, which is a grittier and darker adaptation in keeping with Capote’s writing. For those who are smitten with the film, and despite the publicity shots for the play which are tantalisingly reminiscent of the iconic imagery associated with the movie, there is likely to be some disappointment.
So shopping giant ASOS is selling this rather rude looking choker. They call it a “Glow in the Dark Dripping Blood Choker”…
CREDIT: ASOS
We call it a “pearl necklace”. So if you’re looking for the must-have Halloween fashion statement look no further than the Glow in the Dark Dripping Blood Choker
So if you’re looking for the must-have Halloween fashion statement this year look no further than the Glow in the Dark Dripping Blood Choker from ASOS.
They think it looks like a dripping blood – but we think it looks the end result of a bukkake party (not that we know what that truly looks like – we’re good boys you know.)
From a young age we are conditioned on what is right and wrong, but how does that work for the modern day gay man? With many embracing their sexuality in many different ways it is important to remember that we still represent the LGBT community and there are many things we shouldn’t be doing:
CREDIT: bigstock
1. Calm down dear, it’s only a commercial
I remember being on a night out where the music was good. It was nearing the end of the night and Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” began to play. I was standing harmlessly next a gentleman in his late forties who began screaming like a twelve-year-old girl. There’s no need for dramatics, and no need to scream.
2. You are not a Barbie girl living in a Barbie world
I have strong judgement towards those who wear bad makeup. I understand it is a personal choice and it isn’t a problem if you do, but keep it clean and under control. You shouldn’t have foundation on your chest or neck as it does rub on your clothes when you’re dancing around and it is noticeable.
3. The bigger they are, the harder they fall
I am not a size queen, but it does annoy me that in modern society everybody is more interested in what is in your pants than in your heart. I remember having a conversation over text with a baker. After asking for a picture of his cake he thought I was dyslexic and had spelt cock wrong.
4. Lesbihonest
Lesbians don’t bite. What do you think they are hiding down there? A gnome? They have as much right to celebrate sexuality as anyone else. My friend recently dated another girl whose arms were so big she could pick me up like Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing – amazing.
5. You can’t pull off plastic
I don’t and never have understood the cliques of the gay world. Can’t we all just bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy? This isn’t Mean Girls and you are not Regina George.
6. Blow kisses, not boys
If you make out you’re a slut by kissing various guys throughout the night and bragging about it, it only makes it okay for other guys to call you a slut. Keep it classy and no one will judge.
7. Snap Happy
If you want to act like you’re in an episode of Will and Grace, be my guest. Just please don’t think it is okay to snap your fingers at others in rest rooms or smoking areas with a catchphrase such as ‘Hey girlfriend’.
8. Darling, you cannot act straight
How many profiles have you seen with ‘straight acting’ on them. Firstly, if you are using a dating application/website aimed at homosexual men and women then you are in the wrong place. Are you looking for someone to pretend to be straight for you?
9. If you want money, date Scrooge McDuck
A lot of people seem to be obsessed with money. Personally, I have never found money attractive and couldn’t imagine sleeping on a bed of thin paper notes. It doesn’t matter what your annual income is or what label clothes you wear. It is all about the personality.
10. Finally, just be you
I think along the lines of trying to fit in with a stereotypical gay world we forget who we are. For years we have been fighting for gay rights, and for people to celebrate their sexuality. Don’t let that put you down, stand up.
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