I just heard on the news that Jennifer Hudson's mother was found dead in her home. Early reports are saying that she had been shot to death. The body of a man was also found.

Terribly sad.

Why on Earth would Beyonce advertise her crazy like this? I just don't get it. First, no one didn't know that Beyonce is Sasha Fierce. She's been calling herself Sasha for years. (I got into a fight with one of my best friends, who is a giant Beyonce fan, for saying I thought calling her performance self "Sasha" made her sound unstable.) It makes her sound unstable. That is the kind of crazy you keep far away of the public. Unless, of course, you are trying to rip off Mariah Carey, which Sasha apparently is. Then, you advertise your crazy in a bizarre and ineffective ad campaign that brings to mind "Nomi Malone" from Showgirls. "Ain't nobody 'No-the-real-mi,'" an unmodern Beyonce seems to be saying, "that's why I'm trying to trick you guys!" Yeah, real tricky, B.

In her album "The Emancipation of Mimi," Mariah pulled herself from the brink of irrelevance with sheer talent. Now, we get Beyonce's ersatz version. She stole the idea to re-invent herself through a private personality directly from Mimi. And, I mean, "I Am Sasha Fierce?" Christian Siriano retired that word last year. Sasha should have just gone with "Sasha." And left the "fierce" for her drag friends trapped in a 2006 time-warp.

Even worse, her "double-album" features a total of 11 songs. 6 on one, 5 on the other. Her father, Music World CEO Mathew Knowles, says, "Beyonce was adamant -- and she has complete creative control -- about dividing her songs. She felt she couldn't mix the songs together. She's in a much different space now than she was one year ago. She's married and in a really good place and this album reflects that."

Uh . . . being a really famous person trying to trick people into thinking you're someone else in order to garner yet more attention for yourself(selves) is just a little too Jan-Brady-in-a-curly-black-wig for my taste.

Oprah just gave out the new Kindle 2 to her entire audience. The rest of us have to wait for Christmas. That was a hint. To my loved ones.

Now, she just offered a coupon code to give her home viewers a $50 discount. But when I went on her site, the discount was for the ORIGINAL Kindle! She was holding the much smaller and much NEWER Kindle 2. Bait and switch, is what that is. Jeff Bezos went on Oprah trying to clear his warehouse to make room for the new version. Shady.

Americablog reports:

In a nutshell, Google has an explicit policy for its advertising that says no ad may advocate against a protected class, and among those protected classes is "sexual orientation." Yet, Google is running ads from anti-gay forces advocating the repeal of gay marriage in California, and advocating against gays in Arizona.

From Bilerico, where the story originated:

After I inquired with Google to see why they approved the ads since they are obviously in violation of the posted policy, spokesperson Diana Adair told me, "Google allows ads that advocate for a particular political position regardless of the views that they represent. We currently allow ads advocating both for and against Proposition 8." She directed me to another page of the advertising policy entitled, "Political Advertising."

Thinking that there must be a different set of rules in place for political advertising than other ads, I clicked the link and this is what met me.

"Political advertising is allowed. We permit political advertisements regardless of the political views they represent. Stating disagreement with or campaigning against a candidate for public office, a political party, or public administration is generally permissible.However, political ads must not include accusations or attacks relating to an individual's personal life, nor can they advocate against a protected group.

Both of these blogs think that Google is flat-out wrong to be doing this, and I am inclined to side with the bloggers. But, and it's a big "but," I think Google might be right about this.


Might. It's painful and more than vaguely repulsive, but Google is accepting ads from a political group voicing a political opinion, however wrong that opinion is. If Google allows anti-Prop 8 ads, then they must accept the pro side as well. Do we really want a company as large and rich and powerful to step in and interfere with political advertising? Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google recently stated:

However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality.

While, to many of us gays, gay marriage is a basic human right, it is a political issue to many others. Brin was expressing his opinion and the codes of conduct implemented within Google. He was not stating an opinion that would mandate the behavior of the companies dealing with Google. If the ACLU can take on less than savory clients in order to defend all of our basic rights, then I think Google should probably do the same thing.

Peggy Noonan says Obama looks like a winner. But she wonders, "One wonders if in the presidency he'll be like the dog that chased the car and caught it: What's he supposed to do now?" Um, a great job?

From Daily Kos: "You heard the story -- it was all over the right-wing blogs. Some poor white girl, 20-year-old Ashley Todd of Texas, was mugged at an ATM, but when the mugger (a big black guy) saw her car with the McCain sticker, he beat her and carved a letter "B" in her face with a knife. Apparently it was a dyslexic mugger because the "B" was carved backward, but whatever -- it proved that Obama's supporters were violent and craaazy!" Except it was a hoax, made up by a campaign volunteer.

Former Massachusetts governor William Weld, a Republican, became the latest political figure to cross party lines with his endorsement of Barack Obama today

McCain fights to keep working class men

There is, apparently, a movement called "Intellectuals for McCain and Palin."

Find more videos like this on !! omg blog !!
Video footage of Daniel Radcliffe naked in Equus. (NSFW)
Bono to write the occasional column for The New York Times

The director of Quantum of Solace: "Daniel and I are very much in sync; he's a highly intelligent and sensitive actor. His achievement has been to humanise Bond, so that he could be one of us - not a hero, but an antihero with a dark side. Meeting him made me want to jump in, take the risk.'"

Beyonce enjoyed gaining weight for her role as Etta James

The Bastard Life website (Kinda NSFW). I don't get this website at all. It's supposed to be about sex for straight people, gay people, bi people, but there's something kind of creepy about the weird whiteness of the site. But they had this pic, so . . . .

No pride march for the gay king of Poland

CNNSI's Jon Wertheim's Weekly Tennis Mailbag

You don't need to be smart, just controlling. There's a new scientific appreciation for the importance of self-control. This trend began with Walter Mischel's astonishing marshmallow experiments, in which the ability of a four-year old to resist the temptation of a second marshmallow turned out to be a better predictor of future academic success than his or her IQ score. In other words, willpower trumped raw intelligence."

The New York Times' endorsements through the ages


From a DVD on the making of Mika's Paris concert. And, Mika is working on new album.

I was thinking last night that maybe guys who are into bears are the only real gays. The only real and true ones. I mean, look, 10,000 years ago, being gay meant being a guy who was attracted to beards, chest hair, body hair. There weren't a lot of razors or tweezers (or soaps), for men or women. But women, generally speaking, do not have heavy facial hair. Or chest hair. Or back hair. Gay people evolved to be bear-lovers, so maybe those of us (including myself) who sort of prefer a shaven (or slightly scruffy) guy might not have been so gay way back in the day. Maybe most of us aren't really gay.

Imagine this: It's 25,000 years ago, and you are out hunting for some now-extinct game because your tiny little village needs something to eat for dinner because, let's face it, the Flintstone's berries you've all been snacking on just aren't cutting it anymore. It's you, trekking through the savannah wearing a cute little loincloth, carrying your stone arrowhead, wondering how exactly you kill a three-toed sloth. Suddenly, you come across a couple, a male and a female, bathing in a clear pond that you had planned on drinking out of at some point.



You haven't had any kind of sex because the savannah is just not all the popular these days, and you've been wondering what you're supposed to do with all these body parts. You hide inside of some long grass and quietly try to unwrap your loincloth while spying on the couple as they walk out of the pond, their bare skin glistening with water. And then you start fantasizing. Nature takes over, and you need to have one of them. Do you start thinking about touching the hairy beast of a man with the two-foot ponytail and the three-foot beard infested with millions of parasites? Do you imagine kissing his mouth after parting his handlebar moustache with both hands so you could at least see his lips?

Or, do you imagine touching the smooth-ish woman? Sure, her legs are kind of hairy, and so are her armpits. But that's kind of hot. Her face is pretty smooth, although she's a little too round in some places. But it's either her or Sasquatch. Which person do you pick?

See, that's what I mean. You just might pick the woman. You might prefer the woman. But the bear-lover wouldn't. Not then and not now. He'd pick that beast of a man every time. Really, bear-lovers should be treated like gay royalty since they have a lineage stretching back millenia.

Josh Wald. This guy works out at my gym, and every time I see him I drop something or run into something or trip over something. I know these pics have made the rounds before, but they deserve another lap.

Click thumbnails to enlarge. Bonus NSFW pic after the jump.

Pork here with this week's Chart Attack.

Spears slips as T.I. climbs. Hudson ain’t going.

If you read last week’s Chart Attack, you’d understand exactly why Britney wasn’t able to keep T.I. down as “Whatever You Like” rebounds to the top spot for the third time on the Hot 100 and “Womanizer” drops to No. 4. T.I. (with a little help from Rihanna) also solidified the No. 2 position with “Live Your Life.” It’s all good with me! “Whatever You Like” has a certain swagger and is as infectious as “Womanizer” is annoying. Britney’s short-lived stay at the summit (after a record-setting jump from 96-1) was most likely due to a sales surge upon the first week of digital availability and has now leveled off. Otherwise, it is just not the time to be battling with T.I. as he is in the midst of some chart dominance. Chart Attack indeed. (Warning: Here comes some chart trivia that possibly only my hardcore chart-ians will appreciate.) Keep reading here, Chart-ians. As covered last week, T.I.’s “Live Your Life” replaced his own song “Whatever You Like” on the top of the Hot 100, making him the 9th artist in the “rock era” to achieve such a feat. Well, this week T.I. has a first. Here’s how it goes. T.I. is the first artist to have a former No. 1 return to the peak position after that same artists follow-up spent time at the top. It’s like an amusement park ride. :]

Look out for “Fearless (Big Machine)” by Taylor Swift as the track moves swiftly (I had to) into the Top 10 at No. 9 this week. Ms. Swift is on the move. Can the tweeners take on the hip-hoppers? Stay tuned.


Meanwhile, Jennifer Hudson doesn’t give it up as easily as Britney does and secures the “Spotlight” for another week as her song of the same name stays solidly at the top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. There is an easy explanation for this streak atop the charts: stellar songcraft, brilliant production by StarGate and Ne-Yo and…that voice. Viva la Jhud!

What's currently sitting atop all of this week's Billboard charts, plus Bing Crosby better than ever, after the jump.


A View From The Top:
Here is a look at what’s currently sitting atop this week’s Billboard charts:

November 1st, 2008 (week ending)

Singles:
-Hot 100: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: Jennifer Hudson “Spotlight”
-Pop 100: P!nk “So What”
-Mainstream Top 40: P!nk “So What”
-Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop: T-Pain feat. Lil Wayne “Can’t Believe It”
-Hot Modern Rock Tracks: The Offspring “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”
-Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks: Metallica “The Day That Never Comes”
-Triple A: O.A.R. “Shattered (Turn The Car Around)
-Hot Rap Tracks: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
-Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks: Jason Mraz “I’m Yours”
-Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks: David Cook “The Time Of My Life”
-Hot Digital Songs: Britney Spears “Womanizer”
-Rhythmic Top 40: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
-Hot Dance Club Play: Georgie Porgie “Can You Feel That Sound”
-Hot Dance Airplay: Kaskade & Deadmau5 “Move For Me”
-Hot Dance Single Sales: Jealous Sound “Got Friends”
-Pop 100 Airplay: P!nk “So What
-Hot 100 Airplay: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
-Hot Singles Sales: Artists Stand Up To Cancer “Just Stand Up!”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales: Artists Stand Up To Cancer “Just Stand Up!”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay: Jennifer Hudson “Spotlight”
-Hot Adult R&B Airplay: Jennifer Hudson “Spotlight”
-Hot Singles Recurrents: Natasha Bedingfield “Pocketful Of Sunshine”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrents: Noel Gourdin “The River”
-Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay: Natasha Bedingfield “Pocketful Of Sunshine”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrent Airplay: Noel Gourdin “The River”
-Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles: Billy Currington “Don’t”
-Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: Soulja Boy Tell’em – “Birdwalk”
-Hot Ringtones: Grupo Montez De Durango “Adios Amore Te Vas”
-Hot Country Songs: Toby Keith “She Never Cried In Front Of Me”

Albums:
-The Billboard 200 Albums: Kenny Chesney – Lucky Old Sun
-Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: T.I. – Paper Trail
-Top Rock Albums: Ray LaMontagne – Gossip In The Grain
-Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums: Metallica – Death Magnetic
-Top Hard Rock Albums: Metallica – Death Magnetic
-Top Independent Albums: Ray LaMontagne – Gossip In The Grain
-Top Electronic Albums: M.I.A. – Kala
-Top Rap Albums: T.I. – Paper Trail
-Top Soundtracks: Mamma Mia!
-Top Cast Albums: Original Broadway Cast Recording – Wicked
-Top Country Albums: Kenny Chesney – Lucky Old Sun
-Top Heatseekers: Gojira – The Way Of All Flesh

. . . and on the international front:-European Hot 100 Singles: P!nk “So What” (go P!nk!)
-European Top 100 Albums: Metallica – Death Magnetic

. . . and . . . why not?
-Hot Holdiay Songs: Bing Crosby “White Christmas” (after all these years . . . .)

The Washington Blade reports:

The Human Rights Campaign released its biennial scorecard assigning U.S. lawmakers ratings for their votes and sponsorship of gay-related legislation in the 110th Congress.

• Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the Democratic presidential nominee, scored 94 on the scorecard. He lost points for not supporting HRC’s position on the Uniting American Families Act. Obama supports the bill but has not signed on as a co-sponsor. HRC's scoring criteria included points for co-sponsoring the measure.

• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential nominee, scored 0.

• Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, scored 95. She also did not support HRC’s position on the Uniting American Families Act. She also supports UAFA but has not signed on as a co-sponsor.

• Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Obama’s running mate, also scored 95. Like Obama and Clinton, he supports UAFA but has not signed on as a co-sponsor.

After Elton has a great review of the new movie, Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, based on the origingal Logo series Noah's Arc.

Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom is a ferociously funny, witty, and sexy bookend to the groundbreaking television series of the same name which aired on Logo (AfterElton.com’s parent company) for two seasons. Playing like an extended version of the most well-written and acted episode of the show, the film version successfully extends the scope of the series to fit its big-screen surroundings.

The film takes its title from slavery-era slang for getting married (a broom was literally jumped over in view of witnesses due to the lack of access to other signifiers), and also jumps forward in real time two years after the events of the Noah’s Arc series finale that found Wade and Noah inching back together after a serious motorcycle accident.

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom opens in select cities today.

Via The Daily Beast:

The best gadgets have yet to be released, including:

Amazon Kindle 2
When Amazon announced the breakthrough Kindle electronic book reader, Newsweek proclaimed on its cover that the device was "the future of reading." Now, eleven months later, wired bibliophiles are seeking a Kindle that's even more futuristic—or at least, one that fixes the annoying design and user-interface defects of the original.

Motorola's Android phone
The T-Mobile G1, the first smartphone to run Google's "Android" operating system for mobile phones, is now in stores. But other mobile phone manufacturers are readying their own Android headsets, including Motorola, whose phone BusinessWeek reports "will boast an iPhone-like touch screen, a slide-out qwerty keyboard, and a host of social-network-friendly features."

Via Pink News

In 1998, six people gathered in a gay bar in London to plan a revolution. They wanted to challenge anti-gay practices in their workplace - and as employees of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, they soon had a plan.

. . . While the outright ban on gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans people had been lifted seven years previously, there were still difficulties for staff who had not previously declared their homosexuality and many managers were resistant to change.New recruits were joining an organisation where the files of gay staff where marked with tags and same-sex partners were invisible.

FLAGG - the Foreign Office Lesbian and Gay Group - faced serious challenges when it started a decade ago . . . [but] The group they founded that night in The Yard celebrated its tenth anniversary last night, with a minister heaping praise on their achievements and original members remarking that all their objectives have been met.

Ten years ago, in CA, I was fired for being gay. At the time there were no laws prohibiting firing someone because of his or her sexuality, but I sued my former employers anyway. And won.

It was a nasty fight. I had no idea the battle would, or even could, get so rough. But it was a battle worth fighting. Congratulations to the FLAGG members for keeping up the good fight.

Click below to jump the the full size players, or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just pull up a chair, hang out, and watch them in The Media Bar.

Today's Buffet:

Daily Song:
T.I Whatever You Like (#1 Song)



Television:
Will Ferrell returns to SNL with with Tina Fey. Did anyone else think of Josh Brolin or Oliver Stone? (5:16)


Movies:
With all the political piling going on right now (motivated at least in part by sexism), I've been thinking of Blade Runner, Harrison Ford's Deckard, and Sean Young's Rachael. (7:57)

Politics:
From the First to the Last Debate in Four Minutes, Slate V recaps everything you need to know about the presidential race between the first and last debates. (3:51)

Music Video:
In honor of my blog's new name, kd lang's "Hallelujah" (5:15)

The players after the jump. Or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just pull up a chair, hang out, and watch them in The Media Bar.


Daily Song:
T.I Whatever You Like (#1 Song)

Television:

Will Ferrell returns to SNL with with Tina Fey. Did anyone else think of Josh Brolin or Oliver Stone? (5:16)


Movies:

With all the political piling going on right now (motivated at least in part by sexism), I've been thinking of
Blade Runner, Harrison Ford's Deckard, and Sean Young's Rachael.

Politics:

From the First to the Last Debate in Four Minutes
Slate V recaps everything you need to know about the presidential race between the first and last debates. (3:51)

Music Video:

In honor of my blog's new name, kd lang's "Hallelujah" (5:15)

Wake Up With These:

The New York Times:
The Front Page
Summary of the NYT front page, Friday October 24, 2008.

NPR
Tell Me More:
Stories: 1) UNCH Pillay Set To Observe U.N. Day 2) Businessman Bob Johnson Invests In Liberia 3) Darfur Women Scarred By Fighting 4) Cultural Workouts, A New Fitness Trend

Fresh Air:
Stories: 1) Charlie Kaufman On Being — And Directing 2) The Many Facets Of 'Changeling' Eastwood

Slate:
Culture Gabfest
In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the unexpected catharsis they felt watching Oliver Stone's W. Then, in a special lightning round, they revisit past Gabfest topics, including the ongoing Fey/Palin tragicomedy, Rachel Maddow, and the future of the current environmental movement.

Audio player after the jump. Or click here to launch the player in a new window so you can browse while you listen. Or, head over to The Media Bar and listen there.