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Reese Witherspoon thinks that Legally Blonde 3 might be possible. “A lot of writers, over the years have come up with different ideas for it. I actually think it’s kind of great right now because we’re talking about women in politics and how important that is to get more women. And I think it’d be kind of a cool thing to have her be a Supreme Court justice or someone who runs for office. I think we’re ready to see Elle and see what she’s up to lately. That said, I don’t know. Call MGM! I have no idea.”
The Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex commitment ceremony and was fined is appealing the decision to the Colorado State Supreme Court, saying his religious beliefs were violated. His attorneys say “From Masterpiece’s inception, he has integrated his faith and work. Phillips also honors God through his creative work by declining to use his artistic talents to design and create cakes that violate his religious beliefs.” Phillips has expressed a willingness to make a cake for a “wedding” for two dogs, however.
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Casey Conway, a former Australian rugby player for the Sydney Roosters, has come out. After leaving the team, Conway became the face of aussieBum, and then Sluggers swimwear. But while he played, he had to navigate the world of homophobia in sports, and as an Aboriginal person, the racism in the LGBT community. “I was out-and-about on the [gay] scene and meeting people. I was doing that undercover and it finally came to a point where I had to start accepting it. I wanted more than what I was having. There was a lot of casual racism. People would say things like, ’You’re hot for an Aboriginal guy’ or ’I’ve never been with a black guy’. I’d think, ’You know that’s not a compliment?’.”
Speaking of professional athletes, The Daily Mirror says that two Premiere League players, one that has represented England, are about to come out. This would be a first for the Premiere League, and only the second time active players in soccer have come out, with the first ending tragically when Justin Fashanu came out in 1990. The consensus seems to be that the players and teams are ready for this, but it’s the fans everyone is afraid of. Nobody is quite sure when they might come out, but it’s expected before the start of the next season.
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TMZ said that Adam Lambert was mad at Demi Lovato because he was in advanced talks to open her tour only to have her dump him for Nick Jonas. But Adam says that’s bull. “Aww I love you all very much. No beef tween @ddlovato & @nickjonas and me. Biz negotiations are complex – why do we care about the #rumors?” And Demi shot back “Just goes to show how accurate @TMZ really is… I [love] you @adamlambert.”
Guys have body image anxiety, and it’s a growing trend as more of us try to live better, eat better, and exercise more. Here are eight things men need to understand about body image anxiety. I found this extremely helpful.
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Because the universe can be an awful place, John Chu says that he’d love to make a GI Joe/Transformers/Jem crossover movie. “I mean, I’m a huge Transformers fan, I would totally be down for that, but I really want to build my universe with Jem – but you could have Jem, G.I. Joe and Transformers collide – one epic blockbuster!” Obviously at this point, he hadn’t read the reviews or seen the box office for Jem.
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Daniel Craig may enjoy playing James Bond, but he’s under no illusion that he’s a good person. ““But let’s not forget that he’s actually a misogynist. A lot of women are drawn to him chiefly because he embodies a certain kind of danger and never sticks around for too long. Let’s not talk these films up as some kind of life-changing experience. Bond is what Bond does. Bond is very single-minded. He takes his own course. And that’s simple, which is great.”
Did you ever want a travelogue with pictures of beautiful scenery that includes testicles hanging? Because have I got a surprise for you with Nutscapes!
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James Dawson, bestselling YA author of books such as This Book Is Gay, has come out as transgender. Dawson still wishes to use male pronouns, and says “I hope that in a year or so I will be considered a woman and can go out as a heterosexual woman and date men and not have to dwell in specialist underground lairs. I want to be able to walk in the sun as a woman.”
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Jeremy Renner became the only one of Jennifer Lawrence’s costars to not be supportive of her essay on pay equality this week, saying he didn’t deal in money, and that he’d leave that to his people, where Bradley Cooper and others said they’d negotiate with Lawrence and female stars for equal pay. Now Renner’s walking that back. “So to set the record straight and give some clarity to how I feel, which seems not to have been reported in its entirety, I lean on social media to relate with people directly because this is important to me.
On the issue of gender equality I have always supported women deserving equal pay. Period. A person should be rewarded only by their merit or service to their given field. Gender, race, creed, or sexual orientation should have absolutely no influence in pay, positively or negatively.
I have always asked for all of us to move towards a unity and equality not just in pay, but social acceptance and discover compassion and tolerance within ourselves, to bridge our differences; united we stand. We will always be one. Like it or not.”
How about some fart stories? Because that’s what Jake Johnson has as a takeaway from his time filming 21 Jump Street. Evidently, Channing Tatum may have the body of a god, but he has the mind of a 13-year-old boy, because he just loved ripping farts on the set, including a scene in a closed room, where he’d cup the farts and shove them in Jonah Hill’s face. Because why grow up?
Sasheer Zamata from Saturday Night Live filmed what may be the perfect video about understanding your own privilege in the world, and how to be a good person to those that may not come from the same place. I’ve saved this one to play for friends when they just don’t get it, because she opens the library, reads an entire trilogy, then drops the mic.
Now for a little news. I’ve been teasing this in the least mature way in the comments for a few days, but now it’s time to come clean: This is my last Meme. I’m not leaving the site, but it’s time to step away from this daily column after churning it out six days a week for just shy of six years (not to mention the period I did it twice a day). The migrations and mergers have made it impossible to find the first Meme I wrote, but going through my files, it looks to be November 3, 2009. That’s a long time. In fact, my time at the various sites at Logo makes this the longest I’ve ever stayed at one job.
There are a lot of reasons for me dropping the daily column for independent pieces. First up, it’s a very old school way of writing, Web 1.0 if you will. Summaries are dead, and people read things not a a morning paper, but via social media, and Meme doesn’t work via social media. People find it, click and realize that the title they clicked on is just a hint of that story.
I’d also like to stretch my writing muscles a little bit. I’m tired of writing a three sentence blurb on a news item and moving on to something else. I’d like to write bigger pieces, with a few hundred words on a single subject, and have some insight. I feel like everything I write is basically a series of tweets. Thankfully management is allowing me a lot of freedom to still write about what interests me. So one day it might be a post about hot guys, followed by something about Religious Freedom Restoration Laws, and then another piece with a funny video. It’s all the freedom I had before without the constraints of the Meme format. And I’m still going to do Celebrity Instagram, just three times each week instead of six.
The final reason is maybe the most important to me: I love what I do, but this was meant to be a bridge gig for me when I was between jobs. These days I have a house, a day job that takes 50+ hours each week, and a gym habit that takes ten hours. Then I come home and give Meme five hours. I want a life. I want friends. I want to quit telling people that I can’t do things because I have a column due. With this new arrangement, I can write five stories one night, and the next write none, see my family, go out to dinner, watch television. Maybe get laid. The point is to find some balance. I still want to see you guys, but I’d like to see other people too. We already know I’m not into monogamy. I hope you’ll still be in the comments on my articles. Don’t make me live only by the comments on the NNN Facebook page. Anything but that.
All that said, I’m not going away. We’ve had too many good times here. So many arguments, so many intelligent debates about issues large and small. I have so many favorites, but I’d like to remember one in particular.
Back in 2010, I included a tweet from Sesame Street, written from “Bert” that said “Bert: Ever notice how similar my hair is to Mr. T’s? The only difference is mine is a little more ‘mo,’ a little less ‘hawk.’” I thought it seemed like a cute nod to the relationship that has been implied between Bert and Ernie for years. It sat dormant for nearly six months before the Los Angeles Times ran a story about whether Sesame Street was becoming more gay friendly, and included my observation. The next thing I know, Fox News is calling me Satan. My editor at the time, Michael Jensen, is having to give statements to major media, and Sesame Street issues a formal denial that puppets have sex. My name lit up every major news outlet, and I was forced to examine what I’ve done in “The Ethics of Outing a Muppet: Did I Go Too Far With Bert Back In June?” This entire incident remains the single greatest moment of my writing career, and a highlight of my entire life that I shared with so many of you, and I’m so grateful it was possible.
So while Meme is ending, our journey is not. You can still find me here on NewNowNext mostly daily, examining some of the same topics I always have, with the same irreverence I always have. Just maybe with a few more words. I hope you’ll stay with me as I start a new chapter.