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  • Was The Relentlessly Gay Garden Just A Hoax To Raise Money?

    The woman who alleged that a note saying her garden was ‘relentlessly’ gay is to return money to the donor after hoax suspicions were raised.

    Julie Baker from Baltimore has said that she is to return the $43,000 she raised through a crowd funder site. She has been accused of hoaxing the letter.

    In June Ms Baker received wide media attention when a note reportedly told her to tone down her relentless gay garden. The artist created a gofundme page in order to make her garden even more colourful. Within days the fundraiser had smashed the $5,000 target.

    On her funding page Baker wrote,

    “I opened my door, and found a note from my neighbor. Regarding a set of rainbow jar solar lights hanging in my yard that spell out “Love” and “Ohana”. They informed me that the neighborhood is “christian” and has “children” and asked me to stop being “relentlessly gay”….

    Within days of opening the account, Baker had raised over $43,000. She initially asked for $5,000 to make her garden even more colourful.

    Snopes, the website that uncovers hoaxes and myths investigated the claims of Ms Baker and the authenticity of the note. They contacted the police who told them that Ms Baker had been either unwilling or unable to produce the alleged note and had told them that it was no longer in her possession.

    Despite the incredible amount of money raised, Baker’s garden has reportedly remained unchanged and no more decorations had been bought.

    On the 18th August, a message posted on theRelentlessly Gay crowd funder page appeared which suggested that she would be returning all the donations she received.

    She cited that “taxes and an overabundance of resources it is with a saddened heart that all donations will be returned. If a time machine were available, it would have all ended at the original requested amount.”

  • Where Is Glasgow Pride Setting Off From?

    This year’s Pride in Glasgow will be set over two days with the main Pride parade taking place on Saturday the 22nd August.

    The main parade will take place on the 22nd August 2015 and will commence from 12:15.

    Meeting Point:

    The meeting point for the Pride Parade will be Glasgow Green from 12:15. The parade will set off at 1 PM and return back to Glasgow Green at 2 PM.

    The parade will take the following route:

    Greendyke St, Saltmarket, Trongate, Albion St, Ingram St, South Frederick St, George Sq South Aspect, St Vincent Pl, St Vincent St, Renfield St, Union St, Jamaica St, Clyde St, Bridgegate, Steel St, Turnbull St, Greendyke St, Glasgow Green.

    You can buy tickets for the event here.

  • FILM REVIEW | I Am Chris Farley

    American Comedian Chris Farley was only 33 when he died of a cocaine and morphine overdose a few days before Christmas in Chicago in 1997.

    The new documentary I am Chris Farley tells his rapid ascent to stardom and his even quicker descent to a life of alcohol and drugs, and eventually to an early death.

    ‘I am Chris Farley’s’ was made in conjunction with the estate of Chris Farley, so the producers had access to all of the relevant people in Chris’s life, including his family, friends, and fellow comedians and television co-stars. From his days as an unknown comic at Chicago’s Second City Theatre (where lots of famous comics got their start), from where he was plucked to be on the popular NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) for five seasons, to eventually following the path of former SNL’ers to star in movies.

    Chris’s brother Kevin Farley (who is also a producer of the film, and is also a comedian) reminisces about his brother Chris during his stand up comedy act. Kevin then talks about their lives growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, where they had a normal life, with a father who gave his boys a lot of freedom. Kevin talks about Chris’s life in high school and college and laughs about the way in which Chris would throw himself to the ground and do pushups to impress women. While Chris did graduate from college and worked for a time for his father at the Scotch Oil Company in Madison, he didn’t get his professional start in comedy until he joined Ark Improv Theatre in Madison. It was clear then that Chris was the stand out star, footage from his shows display a comedic style that surpassed his costars. Even when he went on to be part of Chicago’s Second City Theatre, his on stage presence was larger than life. But it wasn’t until he got to SNL that he was able to display his true comedic talent, with the aid of professional comedy writers in an intense weekly live television show setting.

    Farley was a member during one of SNL’s peak times, and his fellow cast members included Adam Sandler, Mike Myers and David Spade. Not only did Chris outshine and outperform his fellow cast members, he was the one who provided the huge laughs on the show, whether in his role as ‘motivational speaker,’ to a skit where he auditions for Chippendales alongside host Patrick Swayze (in which Farley takes off his top to reveal a huge belly), to any role that he was given, Chris was truly the funny man. But according to the people who knew him, he was also a softee, a very sincere guy who would take a liking to everyone, and everyone would take a liking to him. SNL creator and Executive Producer Lorne Michaels talks, at length, about how he mentored Chris in his early days of being on the show. Myers talks about the times they spent together on the set and how Chris was the nicest and most sincere guy there. But it’s David Spade who brings the best of the memories of Chris in the film – they both started at SNL at the same time, so they shared the incredible feeling of being first-timers on the historic television show. Spade mentions many funny moments he and Farley shared together on the set, including the many times when Chris would walk into his shower at work, stark naked (with his penis tucked in) and proceed to give Spade a huge hug – Spade says this was just the kind of man Chris was. Spade and Farley would eventually break out of television and into films. And after they were released from their SNL contracts in 1995, they made the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep, both critically panned but made lots of money. But in between these films, Farley’s personal life was not as shiny as his professional life.

    Drug and alcohol problems led him to rehab an astonishing 17 times. Michaels was instrumental in trying to help Farley overcome his habit, but it was a demon that Farley was unable to kick, which led to his premature death where he was found on a linoleum floor in his apartment in Chicago. Eerily enough, John Belushi, another overweight comedian who got his start at SNL and became a huge movie star (Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers), also died at the age of 33, of a cocaine and heroin overdose, in 1982.

    I am Chris Farley is a best of Chris Farley documentary that shows the best of his professional work. We are also treated to his spot on the David Letterman Show where he bounds onto the stage, making sure you knew he was in the room, his hair all over his face, clenching his fists, and then in true Chris Farley fashion, falling over backwards in his chair.

    While the documentary doesn’t really explain why Farley got involved in alcohol and drugs in the first place (perhaps no one knew), it’s a very good tribute to a celebrity who died way before his expiry date.

    “There’s a category of people who I’ve worked with who are infuriatingly talented’ – Michaels says – “and Farley was one of them.”

    I Am Chris Farley is now available to buy on Blu-Ray and DVD.

     

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Captain Show-Off! Open Air Theatre 2015

    One amphitheatre, throw in Carry On Cleo and Up Pompeii, with a pinchus of Widow Twankey, equals: Captain Show-Off – oh yes it does!

    Phil Willmott from Gods & Monsters Theatre (GMT) has played with the Roman comedies of Plautus and put together a family show that will give gladiators of all sizes a decent 75min diaphragm workout – for the price of a Trojan Horse – totally freeus.

    Roman identical twin boys Aroggantius (Eddie Eyre) and Timmidius (Paul Kendrick) were separated at birth – their mother Queen of Waitros travels to Tesgos in searchus of the missing sonus – but ends up in a kinky encounter with landlord Stenchapix’s (Joseph Wicks) pointy poker.

    A case of mistaken identity mixed with a couple of love stories, slaves, and a dash of audience participation. All stirred in with shoulder-shaking vocals that could penetrate the most elaborate Roman armour, delivered by Foximinx (Anne Odeke). Odeke shone as bright as Apolla and was the clear ruler of the stage Empire.

    Stenchapix was no doubt also separated from his twin at birth – you’ll feel Frankie Howerd’s presence throughout the performance.

    GMT’s work should be applauded for bringing theatre to all walks of life without gold crossing palms. The Scoop is as easy on your bum as the first few rows of Rome’s colosseum 70 AD – ya might wanna bring a cushion.

     

    London’s Free Open-Air Theatre Season 2015:

    Part of the More London Free Festival The Scoop,

    More London Riverside,

    London SE1 2DB

    Wednesday 5th – Sunday 30th August 2015

    www.godsandmonsterstheatre.com

     

  • Caitlyn Jenner: Six Most Iconic Looks

    Caitlyn Jenner has wowed with her iconic sense of style. Here’s 6 of her top looks.

    CLASSIC GODDESS

    At the EPSYS Caitlyn stunned the audience with her look, poise and grace. An emotional speech from her brought the house down.

    BLUE LACE

    Classic lace and showing off her fantastic legs, Caitlyn looks at ease as she steps out on Broadway to see An American In Paris.

    LEOPARD PRINT

    Who can resist a bit of animal print.? Caitlyn takes on the big cats and wins…

    SHOULDER PADS

    Welcome to the 80s. We love this look… classy but statement.

    DRESS DOWN ROCK CHICK

    Caityln looks stunning with a simple leather jacket and body con dress at the Culture Club concert at the Greek Theatre.

    LBD

    Where would any woman be without the Little Black Dress. For decades the LBD has been a staple for women about town.

  • Morrissey Says Airport Security Put Fingers Down His Butt Crack

    More details have emerged from a sexual assault Morrissey is alleging happened to him by a member of security staff at San Francisco International Airport.

    Last month singer Morrissey described the moment an unnamed TSA agent from San Francisco airport “crouched” before him and “groped” his penis and testicles.

    The singer spoke out that he was subjected to “horrific” extra searches even though he had been through the airport’s XRAY scanner.

     

    The details have emerged with the singer alleging that the agent also fingered his “rear cleavage.”

     

    During an appearance on Larry King Now the former Smiths singer talked about the incident, by saying to King,

    “Would you like the absolute details? They are horrific. He put his finger down my rear cleavage.”

    “I had been through the false scanner and the second bit and everything was fine and clear, but then he [security officer] went straight for my private bits and put his finger down my rear cleavage.

    “The people I was with from the special services said, ‘This is assault’, and he said, ‘Well, that’s just your opinion!”

     

    According to TheHill.com TSA officials are looking into the complaint by Morrissey. A TSA Spokesman Mike England said,

    “TSA takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and strives to treat every passenger with dignity and respect,

    “Upon review of closed circuit TV footage, TSA determined that the supervised officer followed standard operating procedures in the screening of this individual,”

     

     

    When Morrissey asked the agent why he had touched him inappropriately the agent reportedly said that it was just the singer’s “opinion”, a statement he repeated four times.

     

  • Artist Turns Caitlyn Trans Hate Into Work Of Art

    The artist who turned homophobic hate for Tom Daley into an incredible portrait, has worked his magic again by turning 100 messages of hate and death threats against Caitlyn Jenner into a work of art.

     

    CREDIT: Conor Collins

     

     

    In 2014, Conor Collins took hundreds of homophobic messages about diver Tom Daley from Twitter and created a stunning work of art out of him.

    Now he’s turned his attention to Caitlyn Jenner, taking transphobic hate messages that he found online and recreating the now famous Vanity Fair cover of Ms. Jenner.

    Speaking to the HuffPo Collins said,

    “I admire what Caitlyn has done and how she has used her position and privilege to make a difference,

    “So, naturally like anyone curious, I went on her Twitter to see more and was horrified by some of the comments. When I saw these I wanted to show them because it is a reality of what trans people experience every day.”

    “Caitlyn is making a difference to the trans community however I didn’t want to hide the darkness and persecution [trans people] face in my art piece,”

    In 2014, articles from various news sources suggested that the Manchester based artist had sold the Tom Daley piece, but he rebuffed the suggestions saying,

    “Been told there are articles saying ive sold my Tom Daley piece! I’ve not!! It’s not my intention to make money from this piece!”

     

    Collins shared the portrait of Caitlyn Jenner on Twitter and it was retweeted 2,800 times and favourited 5,600 times.

  • Liam Payne “Not Homophobic” In Any “Shape or Form”

    Boy-bander Liam Payne has addressed concerns that he his homophobic after comments he made at a concert

    One Direction’s Liam Payne, has once again been forced to address concerns that he is homophobic. In a Twitter statement he said,

    “I am in no way shape or form homophobic that’s a ridicules (sic) thing to say and I’m not here to offend people so take it as you will,”

    The singer was making an introduction to the song Girl Almighty, which apparently appeared to be a little too heteronormative, seemingly suggesting that perhaps only gay men were in the audience, and sparked a fierce online debate on whether what he said was anti-gay.

    On stage he said,

    “This is my favourite song off the last album, and it is about trying to find that number one woman of your life, which none of you can relate to, ’cause most of you are girls. Except for the boys in here, you know what I’m talking about,”

    Clearly annoyed by the possibility of being called homophobic Payne went on to say in his Twitter post,

    “So annoying trying your hardest to make people happy in a show and you think about all the notes u tried to hit higher or a little sweeter

    “And all some people want to concentrate on was a throw away statement about a song that I love (sic)’

    Last year Payne was accused of homophobia after tweeting his support of the Duck Dynasty family and their “family values.”

    In September the One Director star strongly denied that a “weird” video showing two men having sex was not of him and another man.

    He said,

    ”I’m 100% not homophobic, but I’m also 100% not gay so when somebody says I am I’m gunna say I’m not which does not make me a homophobe.’

  • PRODUCT REVIEW: Ice Cream Makers

    If like us, you enjoy a scoop of something sweet in the summer sun, then here are our top two ice cream machines to help you complete your creamy cravings!

    Both machines have been picked for their simplicity and quality of ice creams they produce.

    Magimix Le Glacier – from £40 for a 1.1 ltr / £55 for a 1.5 ltr

    For around an extra £15 it’s definitely worth opting for the 1.5ltr, even then the price is still reasonable- and why wouldn’t you want more ice cream? The machine itself is extremely compact so makes great for those with limited space.

    When comparing to the other machine I’ve picked, the Le Glacier’s only downfall is having to have pre-freeze the bowl. Although you could just keep the bowl in the freezer ready for when you want to use it. This machine is marginally noisier than the Cuisinart, I would give noise level 7/10.

    Putting together the parts of the product can be a little bit fiddly to begin with, but

    the quality of ice cream the machine makes is fab and some recipes you only have to churn for 20 minutes.

    Cuisinart Gelato & Ice Cream Professional- from £200

    Probably my favourite out of the two. Requires a larger space in the kitchen as it is a bit chunky, but the reason for that is that it freezes and cools whilst churning and no pre-freezing is required, meaning it is good to go whenever you are!

    The machine is durable as I made three ice creams in one go, with the product only requiring a 10 minute cooling time after the second was made. If you wanted to do that with the other machine (Magimix), you would have had to re-freeze the bowl for each ice cream.

    Some appliances can be daunting from the point you open the box and see all the contraptions that come with it, but Cuisinart have kept this minimal and simple.

    Pretty much a plug and play product and has a timer you can set for how long you want to churn with an auto-off function.

    It comes with a cute little ice cream pail and two different paddles (one for normal ice cream and the other gelato/sorbet) and the quality is seriously superior.

  • JUICERS: Battle of the Budget Buys

    Our Food and Drinks expert Jordan Lohan takes a look at two juicers this month.

    Both of these juicers have the same amount of parts that come with the product (being seven, six of which require cleaning and are dishwasher safe).

    This also makes both machines a little fiddly when first getting to grips with what goes where. This is pretty much universal throughout other juicers out there so those points will not be considered in the comparison.

     

    Russell Hobbs- Aura Juice Extractor

    Available from £60

    Its clunky exterior means you are able to add whole fruits which reduces time preparing fruit and vegetables for juicing as opposed to the other machine.

    The manual is extremely user-friendly and comprehensive, kitted with a list of certain ingredients and how to prepare them (I found this really useful), even encouraging you to utilize the extracted pulp in composting or even to thicken soups etc. 35 recipes were included which a few had nice introductions to as to why they were included (stress busting/energizing / beautiful skin etc.)

    2 speed settings for the motor dependent on if you’re using soft / hard ingredients, and although I found this a bit annoying, it does mean you are supposed to get more out of the ingredients used.

    This was the noisier out of the two machines tested and I found that there was more pulpy bits and less juice extracted compared to the other. The cord was a good length enabling you to position freely on your worktop.

    Overall, the juices that the Russell Hobbs made came out clean and of good quality, although I felt a little “short-changed” with the amount of produce I had put into the machine.

     

    Cuisinart Compact Juicer

    Available from £70

    A lovely looking compact product perfect for smaller spaces, although the cable is extremely short meaning you’re limited to where you can place it in your kitchen if yours is gadget-laden like mine.

    A glossy manual, although wasted as no ingredient guidelines like the other product. Simple recipes just listing ingredients, although I do like their more innovative approach to using the machine with recipes for a dressing and even pineapple muffins.

    Simple on and off function with one speed setting, although this would suggest you are compromising the quality of juice extracted, and there is also more preparation involved (chopping down in size)- however out of the two, this product produced less “waste”. I had to clean the path for the pulp as it had a lot of build up throughout juicing. This was also the more difficult of the products to clean.

    Like the Russell Hobbs product, I enjoyed the juices I was able to create. Probably more so as I was aware how much less waste there was in comparison. Its good points are it’s aesthetics, size, lower noise level and less waste than the other machine tested.

    In conclusion, it would appear you’re likely to see the same traits amongst budget juicers, with various pros and cons out weighing each other making it difficult to decide on the ultimate budget juicer. If you can afford it, you want to find a juicer that uses the cold-press method and one you can make “milks” out of from nuts etc for optimum nutritional / functional use.

     

  • INTERVIEW: Jersey Gets Its Own Pride, We Speak With Its Chair, Christian May

    Jersey’s Pride, which is to happen on the 12th September has a very dedicated Committee of twelve individuals (from across the LGBTQ spectrum) who are organising Pride, whilst still doing their day jobs!

    What led to you wanting to get the first Pride going?

    The idea for Pride, and the origins of Liberate in Jersey, grew organically out of a public march that took place in July 2014; when the members of our parliament (the States of Jersey) had refused to approve equal marriage legislation in Jersey (wanting more information first). The response to this was a powerful and positive public demonstration, when Islanders came together to give a message to the States that they supported LGBTQ rights and that they wanted equal marriage in the Island. The atmosphere that day was electric and hopeful; something we want to replicate in Pride.

     

    Is there a big LGBT community? And how is the acceptance of LGBT issues on the Islands?

    There was a strong (and reasonably large) LGBTQ community on the Island approximately 10 years ago, but this dissipated when the Island’s only gay nightclub, the Cosmopolitan, closed its doors.

    Since Liberate came into existence we have held regular social nights to bring the community back together, and these have been going from strength to strength. LGBTQ individuals don’t suffer much harassment or active discrimination on the Island, but at the same time sexuality is an issue not much discussed publicly.

    We want to ensure LGBTQ Islanders do not feel that they have to hide their sexuality in order to “fit-in” in work or social situations; that requires ongoing education and support.

     

    Are you hoping to get the council and authorities to back the pride, have you had any talks with them so far?

    We have delighted by the level of support for pride from the Government and the Parish (our town authority), as well as from local businesses, who are providing seed funding to get Pride up and running.

    There is a great desire to build Jersey’s tourism industry in the coming years with Event-led tourism, and we hope that Pride could become a central and ongoing feature of this plan!

     

    How many people are currently working towards putting the pride event on?

    We have a very dedicated Committee of twelve individuals (from across the LGBTQ spectrum) who are organising Pride, whilst still doing their day jobs!

    We are a very close group who luckily get on very well socially as well as when delegating tasks (you often need a drink after, or with, committee meetings). We are also being provided with plenty of offers of volunteer help – which will be essential to ensure the smooth running of Pride on 12 September.

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