According to GLAAD (Gays and Lesbians Against) this year, the percentage of regular characters on network scripted series who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender is 3 percent - up from the 2.6 percent of regular characters last season and 1.1 percent of the previous year.
This past weekend, the science fiction series Stargate Universe (SGU) introduced Camile Wray, played by actress Ming-Na. Ming-Na, who starred in the Joy Luck Club also voiced the lead heroine in Disney's "Mulan," and played season regular Dr. "Deb" Chen on the NBC drama series ER.
The SGU's Camile Wray is the first Asian-American lesbian series regular on a primetime broadcast or basic cable TV show.
Although the total number of LGBT regular television characters has increased, the number of TV's lesbian characters have declined over the past year writes SheWired Magazine.
"As the number of TV's lesbian characters has seriously dwindled over the past year, Stargate Universe, a show that falls into a genre notorious for pushing social and political boundaries, is poised to make history with it's premiere Oct. 2. It's fitting that Ming-Na, the actress who voiced Disney's only real proto-feminist, the warrior Mulan, steps into Stargate Universe (SGU) as Dr. Camile Wray, marking the Stargate franchise's --Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis preceded SGU-- first gay character and the first Asian-American lesbian series' regular on television."
So, I've been a pretty huge sci-fi fan (geek?) since forever. From Star Trek to Star Wars and from X-men to NBC's Heroes.
Our friends at Paramount sent over these exlusive photos from the J.J Abram's Star Trek movie which are featured in this week's Entertainment Weekly, on sale now.
So, why am I posting it on my ChicagoPride.com blog? Take a look at the cast... and you tell me :)
With Chris Pines (Kirk), Heroes [Sylar] Zachary Quinto (Spock), Eric Bana (Nero), Karl Urban (Bones McCoy), Harold and Kumar's John Cho (Sulu)...
Yum.. All of them! Yes, even the lovely Zoe Saldana as Uhura!
There are 4 photos attached (click thumbnail to enlarge):
Photo cap #1: Chris Pines as Captain Kirk (in black) leads his Crew
Photo above: With Margaret Cho at the red carpet premiere of the new "The Cho Show," airing Thursday nights on VH1.
CHICA"GOPRIDE".com
It has been such a busy year working on wonderful projects on ChicagoPride.com. From the grand new look of the website, to the launch of the MyPride profiles and extended event and business listings, it has been an incredible labour of love for me and the wonderful ChicagoPride.com team.
This past weekend, I had the great pleasure of visiting the west coast with Boystown's ambassador - and ChicagoPride.com's Entertainment Director, Miss Foozie. It was amazing how many people that were out were already familiar ChicagoPride.com and Miss Foozie - a few even admitted to using the website just over a week ago during Market Days weekend! One of the questions I got asked over and over was, "Will we see a website like ChicagoPride.com in L.A.?"
Funny enough, our purpose for being in L.A. this weekend was for a fact finding mission. It was our objective to make our way through the endless sea of beautiful guys and gals in West Hollywood to see if there was a need for this type of a online presence in L.A. Getting those inquiries was all we needed to determine the answer - "Absolutely!"
Earlier this year, ChicagoPride.com started unveiling our GoPride brand. You can bet on it that you'll see alot more of the new logo - not only here in Chicago, but in a handful of cities starting this fall.
ON THE RED CARPET
Our adventures this past weekend took us to the red carpet premeire of the new Margaret Cho reality-sitcom "The Cho Show." Miss Foozie will have all the fun, juicy photos (not only from the premiere, but from the rest of the weekend's adventures, including Miss Foozie's encounter with Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez) in her blog, so watch for it soon!
The event was hosted Sunday night at the here Lounge, and it was jam packed! Luckily, Miss Foozie worked her charms to make sure we got the best seat in the house. And the best seat it was (thanks Ryan!)...
We met (squeezed into a booth with) a bunch of great people - from the photographers and editors of other wonderful gay and lesbian publications, to the cast of "The Cho Show." And as amazing as Margaret Cho was, her friends, cast, management, and new TV show were equally impressive.
In the show, Cho is awarded "Korean of the Year", which brings on a funny array of challenges that Cho and her co-stars take on.
Special thanks for the evening goes to Ryan, Jessica and Tim (from here! TV/media), the incredible and inspiring Margaret Cho for her encouraging words, Cho management Keri and Ryan (had a great time with you guys after the event), "The Cho Show" cast members [Cho's personal assistant] Selene Luna (you rock!) and [Cho's wardrobe stylist] Charlie Altuna (was a pleasure meeting you in the restroom!), Monica, Tanner (thanks for being so attentive to our drinks and I hope to see you come onboard with the website detailing your travels!), and OUT/Advocate photographer Tony for taking such wonderful shots of Miss Foozie.
IN OTHER NEWS
Hotspot The Abbey is a mainstay bar for the gay community in L.A. Our friends at the Abbey tell us that they are opening up two new locations. One in Las Vegas and one in... you guessed it... Chicago! But where or where in the Windy City? Stay tuned.
One last special thanks goes out to my friend Joe, who finally has moved back to L.A. this past month and took some time out of his busy schedule to dine with me at Bossa Nova and fill me in on a few happenings. Watch out WeHo: Joe is hot, single, has spent the last 8 years in Texas - and he's happy to be back!
There is 1 photo attached (click thumbnail to enlarge):
Photo cap #1: With Margaret Cho at the red carpet premiere of the new "The Cho Show"
I'm loading in a ton of new video and photos in my ipod and appletv today, so I thought I'd share a few photos I took while vacationing in WDW. Thanks for a great weekend in Florida Roberta, Brian, Johnathan and Miss Foozie ;-)
We got to see the live taping of the Christmas parade with Regis and Kelly Ripa (airing on Christmas day on ABC), admire Neil Patrick Harris, see a ton of great fireworks, and watch our friend puke her guts out all Saturday night after a night of debauchery at the Parliament House - fun times!
Photo #1 is of our favorite mouse.
Photo #2 is of Neil Patrick Harris who lead the Christmas candlelight celebration at Epcot. Neil was at the launch of a new gay bar in Orlando called "Revolution" a few weeks ago - hmm - maybe he'll come back to help us launch a chicagopride.com-like website in Orlando? Right, Neil? ;-) (Okay folks, I'm not SAYING it's happening, but, you never know...)
And in Photo #3 is that new pop group - well new incarnation, at least - called Menudo. I barely remember them in the 80's, but wasn't Ricky Martin a part of the group when he was younger? Anyway, they sounded great!
If you're wondering who's in Photo #4, we have no idea. We all called him "cute producer guy" because he was directing the parade and looked really official with his headset.
PS - See the fun shots we took of Kelly on Brian's blog
There are 4 photos attached (click thumbnail to enlarge):
Photo cap #1: Mickey Mouse Photo cap #2: Neil Patrick Harris Photo cap #3: The new Menudo Photo cap #4: Cute producer guy
Happy fourth of July everyone. To all the straight friends and family who gave a supporting hand during the parade and through Pride Month, here's a fun(ny) clip from YouTube.
It's comedian Stephen Lynch's "If I Were Gay"
And for everybody who missed church on Sunday morning because they had to be at the parade - here's one for you (the ending is hilarious!)
It's comedian Stephen Lynch's "Priest" / "Altar Boy"
Okay, so the title of this blog is "Gay iPod," but I figure since there was an influx of ads for the Zune everywhere around Christmastime, I'd write about my experiences over the past month and a half with the Microsoft Zune.
The Verdict: iPod is the way to go right now, but the Zune has megatons of potential in the upcoming months.
I was in New York City the day of the Zune launch to pick up my own Zune. It looked cool. It felt cool.
But even as I was at the counter purchasing the item, the questions started. "Can I convert my iTunes libary to Zune?" Of course, being day one of the launch, Microsoft had not released any addition information except for the meager specifications on the orange and brown box.
Before my flight back to Chicago, I installed the software on my notebook and uploaded a few MP3 songs I had on the laptop. The process was flawless and I enjoyed watching the comparitively larger screen on the plane.
So I get home and load up iTunes. Uggh.
And all those videos and TV shows I bought and downloaded from Apple? Double Uggh.
I was able to copy over music that was in a universal MP3 format - or - music that was ripped from physical CD's.
As for the hundreds of dollars of Apple music purchases? Forget it.
I would have to rip every song onto CD. Then I would need to rip those CDs back to my Zune. And after that, I'd have to manually type in all the titles, catageories and other data for each song. Umm. Nevermind.
Now, I do like the subscription based downloading offered by the Zune. For about twenty bucks a month, I can download as many songs as I want from Microsoft and save them to my Zune and listen to them unlimitedly. Much better than Apple's One-Dollar-Per-Song.
Of over 600 music purchases from iTunes, I've only listened to maybe 25 or so songs more than once. Yes, like many, I'm an impulse buyer. And that's how Apple gets rich every day.
But then there's TV shows and movie downloads. I've purchased the entire Season Two of Desparate Housewives, Lost, and the first season of Heroes on iTunes. They're all "Lost" for good - unless, that is, I watch them on my iPod rather than my Zune.
But then I'll miss the brighter and bigger picture that the Zune could have given me.
The last of the cool Zune features has to do with wireless. My friend Chris and I had a lot of fun "beaming" songs to each other. He could listen to my songs on his Zune (for up to three days) when I beamed them over. Sweet!
Unfortunately, Chris was the only friend I know as of this writing who had a Zune - and he returned it last month to go back to his shiny iPod too.
Oh well.
Maybe when the Zune catches on (after all the money they spent on marketing over the holidays) it'll be worth it.
I guess I'll just hold on to my Zune instead of e-baying it. Maybe I could donate the "Zune Version One" to a museum in a few decades?
There are 3 photos attached (click thumbnail to enlarge):
Fields on State is changing its name to Macy's soon - but here's a reason to pay a visit to the shopping landmark this weekend.
Men's boutique shop Thomas Pink, which is located at the Marshall Fields on State store, now carries the "Commuter," a sophisticated silk necktie that holds your iPod close to your heart.
Currently, the tie is in red, navy and, of course, pink.
Here's the official description from the Thomas Pink website: Limited edition - the commuter tie features a pocket on the reverse to hold your iPod Nano or MP3 player and an extra fabric loop to keep headphone wires out of sight and close to your body. 100% Silk - dry-clean only - imported.
The price of the tie - a reasonable $100.
There are 4 photos attached (click thumbnail to enlarge):
