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  • Demis Roussos: King Of Kitsch Kaftans Dies

    Larger than life Greek pop singer Demis Roussos who started his career as part of the progressive rock group Aphrodite’s Child along with fellow member Vangelis, became a major presence as a solo artist in the UK pop scene in the mid-1970s.

    His most successful single “Forever And Ever” was No. 1 in the Charts in 1976, and he followed that with five other Top Ten Hits. As his career grew so did his waistline and so too did his signature kaftans which were the epitome of camp, and they just got bigger and brasher.

    Roussos’s other claim to fame came in June 1985, when he was one of the passengers of TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome, which was hijacked by Hezbollah-backed terrorists and diverted to Beirut. He and most of the 153 passengers were held on the plane for 17 days.

    Demis Roussos 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015

  • Jedward Enlist Perez Hilton For Their Latest Single

    Yep yep yep. Those lovely lads John and Edward have enlisted Perez Hilton for their latest video for the single Make Your Own Luck.

    The video, which is for Jedwards’ latest single, Make Your Own Luck, stars Celebrity Big Brother housemate Perez Hilton, who says cheekily that he really loves the boys and can be seen bopping around to the catchy tune in his office.

    The videos shows the twins living two different lives, one with glory and fame, and the other hardworking but less successful and it has to be said they are looking oh so fine!

    Perez is currently starring in Celebrity Big Brother 2015 and is proving to be one of the most controversial housemates since the programme’s move to Channel 5 in 2011.

    Like the song? Buy it from iTunes

  • Perez Wants More Money For Exit Interview

    Dramz dramz and more dramz as Perez hits out at Big Brother.

    Perez tells Patsy that he wants to leave the House, adding “it will take a miracle” to keep him in. He says that he’s not in the House for the money and admits, “I did it for the opportunity to let people know who I really am”

    Later in the diary room, Perez hides from Big Brother and refusing to give an exit interview unless Big Brother pays him more money. Talking tabout how he is feeling, he maintains that “If I said anything about people in this House, I said it to their faces, and the only person in this House that has kept me sane and given me the time of day is Nadia and you tried to fu*k that up”

    Big Brother asks if it would be a shame if he left the House and Perez admits, “I’m just trying to be rational about things now…I’ve been in here too long already. Everything is telling me that I should quit, but then I’m like afraid to quit. I don’t fu*king know!” Big Brother then tells Perez that he wants to set him “the ultimate secret mission”, and Perez will have one hour to return to the House and convince the other Housemates that he is leaving. He will then go to a secret room, where he will observe the Housemate’s every move as Big Brother’s secret puppet master. When asked if he’s up to the challenge, Perez responds, “I’m still fu*king here, so yes…. I don’t have a fu*king choice…I am fu*king still in the fu*king Perez show!”

    Perez re-joins the other Housemates to collect his suitcases, before heading straight to the bedroom, where Katie Hopkins is brushing her hair. When she sees Perez, she sniggers to herself. Nadia remarks, “He’s so upset. To have gone through all of this for no pay cheque at all.” In the bedroom, Katie Hopkins asks Perez if he would prefer her to leave the room, to which he responds a resounding yes. In the living Room, Michelle comments, “I don’t know why anyone is surprised; this needs to happen.” When Katie Hopkins joins the group, Calum says, “She’s so smug”, adding “The days don’t get easier! Fu*king hell. I’m thinking to myself, final countdown and there’s more drama”

    In the bedroom, Patsy tells Perez that she’s sorry he feels he has to leave. Perez replies that he’s “so confident in enough in myself that me leaving doesn’t mean that fu*king Katie Hopkins wins.” He adds, “I can handle her, it’s this fu*kin g bullsh*t that I can’t fu*king deal with”

    Most of the Housemates are in the living area, silently reflecting on Perez. Katie Hopkins remarks, “To be fair, it was just a Tweet”. Perez then walks into the garden, where he breaks the fire exit and leaves the Big Brother House. Calum says, “That’s a pretty big move” and Michelle speculates, “He’ll flip his lid with them out there”

    Unbeknown to the other Housemates, Perez will be living in a secret room, watching their every move as Big Brother’s puppet master. Perez takes a picture of himself off the wall and remarks, “The Perez show is back”, before settling down to watch the other Housemates on a monitor.

    Celebrity Big Brother TX tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.

  • LGBT Victim Support Helpline Opens In UK

    Stop Hate UK are pleased to announce the launch of a helpline offering advice, support and telephone-based advocacy to victims of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Hate Crime.

    (more…)

  • AUDIO REVIEW: SonicSport Ath Sport 2 by Audio Technica

    The bright yellow wiring provides a distinctive, playful and sporty feel to Japanese designed Audio Technica’s leap into the in-ear bud for the fitness fan.

    Perhaps better known for their On-Ear, enclosed and noise cancelling earphones, for which they make with an engineering prowess to rival Bose and Sennheiser, ATH Sport 2 provide a viable option for the serious sports fanatic who want a fuss-free listen.

    As with any in-ear bud, the quality of audio is compromised, with a slightly tinny top end and a bass that is slightly muffled. This can be fixed a play around with your device’s EQ settings, which can see the little speakers deliver a punchy bass, however, AthSport 2 is not ready for a plug and play without a little manipulation. However, this more present, un-coloured mid boost, lends itself to more spoken word content, such as podcasts or talk radio – especially good if you’re more likely to be listening to this type of programming as you run or workout, meaning you never miss another word because of outside noise sources.

    The earphones are provided with four sets of rubber in-ear pieces to ensure the best fit possible, meaning you get a good sound isolation experience. However, annoyingly the product doesn’t provide inline controls or a microphone, meaning you will have to remove your device or phone should want to skip tracks or answer a phone call – a bit of an oversight on Audio Technica’s behalf as the majority of music is now played on smartphones rather than iPods or other MP3 players.

    Brilliantly these earphones are IPX5 Waterproof Certifed, which could mean the end of ruined in ears because of sweat – yes, headphones can be irreparably destroyed with a few drips of sweat from your hair.

     

    The Good: Bright colours are attractive and the ear moulding provides a good fit for the ear – even when jogging. Strong brand Waterproof certified.

    The Bad: Strong mid, lacking in bass. In inline controls or microphone.

  • Nathan Sykes Announces Solo Career And New Look

    Following months of speculation, Nathan Sykes, previously a member of chart topping band The Wanted, has announced his solo career in an exclusive cover feature for the highly respected style title Hunger TV. (more…)

  • Anne Kirkbride And The End Of An Era

    We have lost a real TV legend. The warmth and genuine sorrow expressed at the tragic death of Anne Kirkbride shows how over four decades, the character of Deirdre Barlow had earned a place in more than just the Soap Hall of Fame.

    Think of that character – first there were the distinctive physical characteristics; the big glasses of course, the unique vocal tics and the neck vein that was so prominent it had Facebook pages devoted to it. Then you focus in on the stories and the moments.

    Scrambling desperately through the scattered contents of a lorry that had crashed into The Rovers, looking for Baby Tracey.

    Marrying Ken in the same week as the Royal Wedding and being the only woman, aside from Camilla, who came close to stealing focus from Diana.

    ”Free Deirdre”

    And of course… The Ken-Deirdre-Mike Baldwin love triangle.

    It is not exaggerating to say that the character of Deirdre was at the centre of some of the most watched and talked about TV moments of the past 40 years.

    These were big moments. To coin that horrible American phrase, watercooler moments. But such moments are getting rarer. In a time of Netflix and it’s VOD rivals and hundreds of digital TV channels, the days when a number in excess of 20 million people would sit down and watch a single TV show are long gone.

    The soaps of course still have that power to occasionally produce storylines that land on the front of the tabloids, as do reality shows. But with an increasingly splintered audience even they are not quite the big conversation pieces they would have been even 10 years ago.

    Binge watching means that we of course still talk about telly. Witness a group of Breaking Bad devotees getting together. But we now tend to watch at our own pace. The idea of a family gathering in the living room to stare at the box in the corner and watch the same thing at the same time is becoming increasing quaint, the relic of a pre internet age.

    The mourning for Anne Kirkbride is a sign of a character that we have watched several times a week over the past forty years who was part of big moments we have shared. Moments that made millions of us stop and watch.

    When Ken and Deirdre were eventually reconciled, the news was announced on the scoreboard at Old Trafford during a game between Manchester United and Arsenal. It read: “Ken and Deirdre reunited. Ken – 1, Mike – 0.” If such a storyline happened now, it would be all over Twitter and Facebook or we’d wait to catch up online at the weekend.

    TV has changed. How we watch it has changed too. In a world of often bewildering choice though, there is still a place for sharp writing and strong acting. But now technology means that we are as likely to find it as our own speed, sometimes years after the TV shows we obsess over were first produced. There may never be a soap plot that gets tens of millions of us holding our breath one night quite like Deirdre being sent to jail or the time that Mike Baldwin knocked on the door. But for those of who us who saw it, discussed it and lived it we will never forget Anne Kikbride. She was part of our conversation. She was part of our lives.

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • FILM REVIEW | I Am Yours

    ★★★ | I Am Yours

    Newbie Norwegian filmmaker Iram Haq’s new drama is based on her own life and her struggle as a woman caught between two cultures. Struggling actress Mina, a second-generation immigrant, is an attractive 27-year-old divorcee who shares custody of her 6-year-old son with her ex-husband, a successful architect, and his new wife who can barely contain their disapproval of Mina and her rather flighty life.

    Even her hypocritical mother, the matriarch in their traditional Pakistani family, cannot stop criticising her daughter every time they meet. ‘What a fine man, imagine if he were still a member of this family’ she intones about her ex-son in law. Mina’s only joy, asides from her son, comes from her all her sexual liaisons with a slew of unsuitable men. When they sense her neediness, they all use this an excuse to manipulate and abuse her.

    This comes to a head when she meets Jesper a Swedish filmmaker visiting Oslo. He is quite the charmer and so Mina chooses to overlook that he is both self-centered and extremely passive/aggressive when it comes to the relationship that they fall into too quickly. She goes to great lengths to please Jesper in whom she has invested all her hope even to the point that doing so may jeopardise the one stable thing in her life i.e. her relationship with her son.

    The same time that Mina eventually appreciates that Jesper can not/will not make any commitment to a relationship especially when he realises he has to compete with a 6-year-old child for her attention, her mother comes to visit cap in hand to admit that her own perfect marriage is not what it seemed after all.

    It’s an impressive first feature from 38-year-old Haq and was selected to be Norway’s’ Official Submission for a Best Foreign Picture Oscar Nomination. She cast the movie very well with convincing performances from her two leads: Amrita Acharia a Norwegian/Ukranian/Nepalese actress best known for playing Irri in the Game of Thrones and Ola Rapace who was in Skyfall but is better known for being the ex-husband of Noomi Rapace.

  • FILM REVIEW | Pelo Malo (Bad Hair)

    ★★★★★ | Pelo Malo (Bad Hair)

    The opening scene of the extraordinary refreshing movie reveals a very reluctant Marta cleaning a luxury apartment aided and abetted by Junior her 9-year-old son who she has dragged along, as she cannot afford a babysitter.

    She’s annoyed as she feels that this work is beneath her but has to do it anyway as she is unable to get re-hired in her Security Guard job that she was suspended from for some unspecified reasons. Marta lives with her two children in a decaying tower block housing project in one of Caracas’s poorest working class areas and it’s a daily struggle simply trying to make ends meet and get enough money to feed the family.

    This is not the only reason why this attractive, but sullen, young woman looks angry all the time, as she is constantly battling with Junior, who even at this very early age, she suspects may have homosexual tendencies. The boy’s best friend is a potty mouth girl and he prefers to play with her dolls rather than pitch in with the other boys on the Estate and join their rough-horse games. Not only that but as he has inherited from his father (since departed) an unruly mop of curly hair, he is desperate to have it straightened in time for the obligatory photograph he needs to start High School next time.

    It’s yet another reason to continue the running spate with his mother who can barely disguise her loathing for her eldest child, and who chooses to use all her motherly love on the baby instead. However, Junior’s paternal grandmother, who has no real love for her ex-daughter in law, is happy to indulge her grandson. She has an ulterior motive though as she would like him to come live with her so that he will be around to take care of her when she gets older. She helps Junior experiment straightening his hair and even makes him an outfit to wear for the photograph. It’s based on one that his favourite pop idol wears but when the end result looks too girly for him, he starts to fight with his grandmother too.

    Junior is too young to understand what he is feeling and his fawning admiration for handsome teenager Mario who runs a news kiosk could, of course, be just a schoolboy crush, but Marta has already decided that it is unhealthy and is the reason that her effeminate son is developing into something that she so obviously finds abhorrent. She also knows that as the adult in this situation she has the power and the ultimate control and it’s what she will use to get her own way.

    All this family drama is played out against the rapidly changing political instability in Venezuela that is pushing this family (and so many others) into an uncertain future and making sheer financial desperation become a major factor in shaping people’s beliefs and standards. The odd thing that in this patriarchal society Marta is clinging to this outdated attitudes, which are rank with homophobia even though the job that she is so desperate to recover for herself is one that is traditional, a very masculine occupation.

    It is nevertheless a wonderful melodrama that even with the futility of the embittered mother’s position she still wants to fight the natural development of her child even though he obviously has no idea of what he is even happening to him and his sexuality. Samantha Castillo as Marta, and a complete scene-stealing turn by Samuel Lange Zabrina as Junior enhances it with a stunningly realistic performance.

    It won writer/director Mariana Rondón the major award at the prestigious San Sebastián International Film Festival but the main reason that this excellent movie deserves our attention is because she chose to tackle the very sensitive subject of budding sexuality, and in an environment/culture that is facing such turmoil right now anyway.

  • Man Arrested For Having Sex With Postbox In Middle Of Shopping Arcade

    A drunken man who was aroused by a Royal Mail Postbox so much so, that he approached it with his trousers down and started to rub himself against it has been found guilty of sexual offences and has been made to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.

    Paul Bennett, 45, was arrested and charged after he started to rub himself against a mailbox in front of horrified on-lookers at Scholes Precinct in Wigan, Greater Manchester. Alarmed witnesses called the police after the man exposed himself and began shouting “wow”. After finishing the act, witnesses say that he then started swinging on a lamppost.

    The court heard that the man began shouting abuse and became agitated as he was pulled away from the postbox by police officers. He pleased guilty to two counts of indecent exposure and using threatening and abusive words with abusive behaviour at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court, the Manchester Evening News reported.

    A witness who saw the scene has been said to be disgusted, Katie Beattie, prosecuting, said: “The victim was disgusted and alarmed by his behaviour. She rang the police.”

    Bennett, who was defended by Martin Jones said, “The lady watched for sometime and was ashamed, disgusted and upset and my client accepts that. Clearly there are issues that need to be addressed.”

    He was ordered to pay £50 compensation to a victim who witnessed the scene and £150 in court costs. He was also made to pay £60 in victim surcharges and had to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.

  • PEREZ In CBB Walk Out Drama

    Earlier today, Big Brother asked Perez to stage a fake walkout of the Big Brother house. Perez will be living in secret while the other Housemates are blissfully unaware of his ongoing influence on the events within the House.

    Things are going to be hotting up as Katie Hopkins seemingly gets her way, but all is not as it seems as Perez, fakes a walk-out from the Channel 5 reality show. However Perez will be running the show, without the remaining celebrities knowing anything about it.

    With tempers running high, Perez’s walk out, will seem in context with the rest of show this season, as Alexander O’Neal walked out of the house – and Ken Morley and Jeremy Jackson were made to leave after their behaviour broke Big Brother’s rules.

    The walkout happens after today’s luxury shopping task. The Housemates were gathered on the sofas, where it was revealed that Big Brother had been hacked. A series of previous conversations and Diary Room chats are then played out to the group, which caused a mixed reaction. Big Brother then tells the Housemates that he has detected some corrupted audio files and they must help to identify who said each, in order to win a luxury shopping budget.

    When a corrupt audio file is played into the House, the Housemate responsible must own up and explain the reason behind their comments. Perez is first to stand up and explain why he said that he thought Calum would be evicted over Alicia. When Perez suggests that the “showmance” between Cami-Li and Calum won’t happen because Calum has a girlfriend, Calum is visibly shocked before saying “it’s all good. All I can bring to the show is a fu*king showmance” Katie Hopkins jokes, “Calum’s translation of ‘it’s all good’ means, ‘I’m going to fuc*ing kill him!’”

    So will all be much happier in the house?

    Celebrity Big Brother TX tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.

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