OH NO! Another one of our RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2 queens had to leave last night, but does she have another shot? Find out her reaction IMMEDIATELY after leaving the main stage. WARNING: The eliminated queen will be RUvealed!
The post SPOILER ALERT: Check Out Last Night’s Eliminated ‘RDR All Stars 2’ Queen IMMEDIATELY After Leaving the Main Stage! appeared first on The WOW Report.
Entertainment Weekly got an exclusive sneak peek at new photos released for the upcoming Netflix revival of the coveted Gilmore Girls and they might reveal some of the super top secret plot twists.
Check them out:
1) Richard’s funeral?
It would make since that the cast and crew would want to honor Richard Gilmore (the late Edward Herrmann).
2) Rory’s career?
There’s rumors she’s a teacher in Stars Hollow now…but maybe she’s running shit in D.C. and is back to show the kids how to be a boss bitch?
3) Luke and Lorelai are still together?
Just as we left them.
4) What’s in store for Emily now?
Will she have a new love interest? A new take on life and social etiquette now that she is widowed? Either way, there’s no question that she looks incredible.
The post New “Gilmore Girls” Set Photos Reveal Some Truths appeared first on The WOW Report.
“A source” close to Taylor Swift spoke to US Magazine about the tragic breakup of America’s favorite couple, Hiddleswift. It was a whirlwind 12 weeks of bliss that came crashing to an end because, gosh darn it, Tom Hiddleston went too fast, and just loved her too damn much. And Taylor, she’s VERY PRIVATE, don’t you know. She was uncomfortable with his public displays of affection. In front of the paparazzi! Can you IMAGINE?
Explains a source close to the couple, “Taylor knew the backlash that comes with public displays of affection. But Tom didn’t listen to her concerns when she brought them up.” Instead, a madly-in-love Hiddleston boldly donned an I [heart] t.s. tank and a temporary heart tattoo emblazoned with the letter T at her annual 4th of July bash. Days later, he gushed to The Hollywood Reporter that he and Swift “are together and we’re very happy.”
Hiddleston’s declarations stunned family members. “The paparazzi photos, the public displays of affection, they all seemed very un-Tom,” a Hiddleston family source says of the actor, who never confirmed his 2015 romance with I Saw the Light costar Elizabeth Olsen in the press.
They also concerned Swift. “Tom wanted the relationship to be more public than she was comfortable with,” says the Swift source. Though the pair tried to work out their issues — texting and speaking on the phone regularly, as well as convening at her Rhode Island home for two days in mid-August — Swift realized she needed to take a step back. Explains the source, “She was the one to put the brakes on the relationship. They get along great and will remain friends, but they just don’t see it working romantically right now.”
How is she doing now, the poor dear?
“She’s doing OK — just living her life and not talking about Tom,” says the insider, adding that, yes, “she’s been writing a bunch.”
I’ll bet she has.
(Photo: Pacific Coast News)
The post Hiddleswift Broke Up Because He Loved Her Too Much appeared first on The WOW Report.
The following video really happened. Donald Trump really held a rally in Iowa in which he brought up hunky young Iowa State football players and wrestlers onto the stage. Yes, the words are real, YouTuber Peter Serafinowicz just dubbed in a sassy gay voice for Trump… and the rest is viral video history. “Look at the size of these guys!” he squeals. “They’re monsters! How big! How strong! And they endorsed Donald Trump! They like me and I like them!” Sooooooo good. It’s your must-watch video of the day. (via Towleroad)
Bonus: “Sophisticated Trump” speaks to Barbara Walters in posh British accent.
Dozens of other gay, sassy, sophisticated, and racist Donald Trump videos at Peter’s YouTube page.
Related: If you don’t follow DonaldGayTrump on Twitter, you are missing out.
The post Watch: Sassy Gay Trump Meets Hunky Athletes appeared first on The WOW Report.
Amy Irving
Big Daddy Kane
Bill O’Reilly
Chris Columbus
Coco Rocha
Colin Firth
Guy Ritchie
James Duval
Joe Perry
Johnathon Schaech
Jose Feliciano
Karl Lagerfeld
Kate Burton
Matthew Followill
Mikey Way
Philip Baker Hall
Ryan Phillippe
Sanjaya Malakar
Siobhan Fahey
The post September 10th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.
September 10, 1918– Rin Tin Tin (I think the name is Jewish) was born on a battlefield during WW I. He went on to be a big American film star and a Gay Icon. Rin Tin Tin is credited with saving Warner Bros. Studios from certain bankruptcy in the 1920s. At the apex of his popularity, Rin Tin Tin received more than 20,000 fan letters a week, that’s 140,000 a week in dog years.
In late summer of 1918, US Army Corporal Lee Duncan discovered a bombed out German war dog station while on a scouting mission. Inside he found a shell-shocked mother German Shepherd along with her five puppies.
Not wanting to leave them alone and helpless, Duncan brought them back to his base camp where he took care of them. When he returned home to California, Duncan brought Rin Tin Tin with him. Rin Tin Tin was named after the small dolls that French soldiers carried with them for good-luck.
Duncan settled into his home in LA and he became interested in the fledgling film industry. Knowing his dog was mighty special, he made the rounds to the studios, but they foolishly showed little interest in a canine movie star.
Duncan and Rin Tin Tin finally caught their big break when they came upon a crew shooting a scene with a wolf while they were hiking around the Silverlake reservoir. Asking for the chance to show what he had, Rin Tin Tin performed a stunt in a single take that had frustrated the director and crew trying to make the scene work with the real wolf.
In 1922, Rin Tin Tin (his friends called him “Rinty”) made his debut in a low budget western called The Man From Hell’s River. He did all his own stunt work and learned his dialogue phonetically.
Rinty’s charisma, good-looks, athleticism, fearless stunt abilities and acting talent attracted the attention of the struggling Warner Bros. Together they made 24 films that helped reestablish the studio and made Rin Tin Tin a household name, fashion icon and magazine cover boy.
In 1929, Rin Tin Tin received the most votes for the first ever Academy Award for Best Actor, but the Academy determined that a stupid human should win.
At the height of his celebrity, Rinty earned a salary of $1000 a week, had his own production unit, a chauffeur driven limousine, a personal chef, a Pilates teacher, lawyer, life-coach, and a diamond studded collar. Not much is known about his personal life, but Rinty was spotted at several underground gay spots around Hollywood and was known to attend director George Cukor’s infamous male-only Sunday afternoon pool parties, until one Sunday when he tragically ate the entire buffet and humped hunky Forrest Tucker’s leg. Although he was quite a stud, siring 48 pups, including a favorite named Junior, Rin Tin Tin was known to lick the butt of male stunt dogs and was very probably bisexual. Despite a series of rumors, there is no definitive proof that he ate poop.
In 1930, in an ungrateful gesture, Warner Bros. released Rinty from his contract. He was forced to work low budget serials. He admitted to a Milk Bone addiction and went into rehab. After 40 films, Rin Tin Tin retired in 1931.
Surrounded by family and friends, human and canine, Rin Tin Tin took his final bow-wow in winter 1932. Millions of fans grieved at his passing. Rumors abounded and the fan magazines reported that Rinty died on the front lawn and in the arms of blond bombshell Jean Harlow who lived on the same street.
In a private ceremony, Duncan buried Rin Tin Tin in a bronze casket in his own backyard with a plain wooden cross to mark the location. Duncan suffered the financial effects of the Great Depression and could not afford a better burial. Eventually Duncan grew unable to even keep his own house, which he sold, and he quietly arranged to have Rinty’s body returned to the country of his birth for re-burial in the Cimetière des Chiens et Autres Animaux Domestiques, the famous pet cemetery in the Paris neighborhood of Asnières-sur-Seine.
Rin Tin Tin’s son Junior continued to work in serials and radio. Junior made a single film, playing opposite a young butt-sniffing Robert Blake in The Return Of Rin Tin Tin (1947). Junior also assisted Duncan in the training of more than 5,000 dogs for the Canine Corps in WW II war effort.
Rin Tin Tin’s grandson, Junior Jr., appeared on a television series in the 1950s, The Adventures Of Rin Tin Tin, where I first fell in love with him, and I fell hard. I had a Rin Tin Tin lunch box and a series of adventure books.
Several of Rin Tin Tin’s children and grandchildren were adopted by films stars including Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn and Clark Gable.
Rin Tin Tin is the subject of an excellent biography, Rin Tin Tin: The Life And Legend (2011) by Susan Orlean, but his story really deserves its own film treatment. Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) is a spoof of Rinty’s story starring Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn and over 100 Golden Era movie stars in cameo roles, but we pee on it.
No other canine star ever again matched Rin Tin Tin’s very special magical brand of screen charisma, star power, or talent, especially which bitch Lassie.
The post #BornThisDay: Canine Star, Rin Tin Tin appeared first on The WOW Report.
It’s New York Fashion Week, so everyone is focusing on the runway. But according to some statistics, over 50% of American women are over a size 12 and yet, the fashion industry, magazines, TV and the red carpet still use the size 2, 14 year-old model as the standard. Well, Project Runway‘s Tim Gunn sounded off in a Washington Post editorial and let the industry, along with Ashley Nell Tipton, the plus-sized designer who won Project Runway, have it, saying,
“I’ve never seen such hideous clothes in my life: bare midriffs; skirts over crinoline, which give the clothes, and the wearer, more volume; see-through skirts that reveal panties; pastels, which tend to make the wearer look juvenile; and large-scale floral embellishments that shout ‘prom.’ Her victory reeked of tokenism.“
Ouch. He goes on. Read along as he READS the biz,
“When I was chief creative officer for Liz Claiborne Inc., I spent a good amount of time on the road hosting fashion shows to highlight our brands. Our team made a point of retaining models of various sizes, shapes and ages, because one of the missions of the shows was to educate audiences about how they could look their best. At a Q & A after one event in Nashville in 2010, a woman stood up, took off her jacket and said, with touching candor:
‘Tim, look at me. I’m a box on top, a big, square box. How can I dress this shape and not look like a fullback?‘
It was a question I’d heard over and over during the tour: Women who were larger than a size 12 always wanted to know, How can I look good, and why do designers ignore me?
At New York Fashion Week, which began Thursday, the majority of American women are unlikely to receive much attention, either. Designers keep their collections tightly under wraps before sending them down the runway, but if past years are any indication of what’s to come, plus-size looks will be in short supply. Sure, at New York Fashion Week in 2015, Marc Jacobs and Sophie Theallet each featured a plus-size model, and Ashley Graham debuted her plus-size lingerie line. But these moves were very much the exception, not the rule.
I love the American fashion industry, but it has a lot of problems, and one of them is the baffling way it has turned its back on plus-size women. It’s a puzzling conundrum. The average American woman now wears between a size 16 and a size 18, according to new research from Washington State University. There are 100 million plus-size women in America, and, for the past three years, they have increased their spending on clothes faster than their straight-size counterparts. There is money to be made here ($20.4 billion, up 17 percent from 2013). But many designers — dripping with disdain, lacking imagination or simply too cowardly to take a risk — still refuse to make clothes for them.
In addition to the fact that most designers max out at size 12, the selection of plus-size items on offer at many retailers is paltry compared with what’s available for a size 2 woman. According to a Bloomberg analysis, only 8.5 percent of dresses on Nordstrom.com in May were plus-size. At J.C. Penney’s website, it was 16 percent; Nike.com had a mere five items — total.
I’ve spoken to many designers and merchandisers about this. The overwhelming response is,
‘I’m not interested in her.’
Why?
‘I don’t want her wearing my clothes.’
Why?
‘She won’t look the way that I want her to look.’
They say the plus-size woman is complicated, different and difficult, that no two size 16s are alike. Some haven’t bothered to hide their contempt.
‘No one wants to see curvy women.’
on the runway, Karl Lagerfeld, head designer of Chanel, said in 2009. Plenty of mass retailers are no more enlightened: Under the tenure of chief executive Mike Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch sold nothing larger than a size 10, with Jeffries explaining that
‘we go after the attractive, all-American kid.’
This is a design failure and not a customer issue. There is no reason larger women can’t look just as fabulous as all other women. The key is the harmonious balance of silhouette, proportion and fit, regardless of size or shape. Designs need to be reconceived, not just sized up; it’s a matter of adjusting proportions. The textile changes, every seam changes. Done right, our clothing can create an optical illusion that helps us look taller and slimmer. Done wrong, and we look worse than if we were naked.
Have you shopped retail for size 14-plus clothing? Based on my experience shopping with plus-size women, it’s a horribly insulting and demoralizing experience. Half the items make the body look larger, with features like ruching, box pleats and shoulder pads. Pastels and large-scale prints and crazy pattern-mixing abound, all guaranteed to make you look infantile or like a float in a parade. Adding to this travesty is a major department-store chain that makes you walk under a marquee that reads ‘WOMAN.’ What does that even imply? That a “woman” is anyone larger than a 12, and everyone else is a girl? It’s mind-boggling.
‘Project Runway,’ the design competition show on which I’m a mentor, has not been a leader on this issue. Every season we have the ‘real women’ challenge (a title I hate), in which the designers create looks for non-models. The designers audibly groan, though I’m not sure why; in the real world, they won’t be dressing a seven-foot-tall glamazon.
This season, something different happened: Ashley Nell Tipton won the contest with the show’s first plus-size collection. But even this achievement managed to come off as condescending. I’ve never seen such hideous clothes in my life: bare midriffs; skirts over crinoline, which give the clothes, and the wearer, more volume; see-through skirts that reveal panties; pastels, which tend to make the wearer look juvenile; and large-scale floral embellishments that shout ‘prom.’ Her victory reeked of tokenism. One judge told me that she was ‘voting for the symbol’ and that these were clothes for a “certain population.” I said they should be clothes all women want to wear. I wouldn’t dream of letting any woman, whether she’s a size 6 or a 16, wear them. A nod toward inclusiveness is not enough.
This problem is difficult to change. The industry, from the runway to magazines to advertising, likes subscribing to the mythology it has created of glamour and thinness. Look at Vogue’s “shape issue,” which is ostensibly a celebration of different body types but does no more than nod to anyone above a size 12. For decades, designers have trotted models with bodies completely unattainable for most women down the runway. First it was women so thin that they surely had eating disorders. After an outcry, the industry responded by putting young teens on the runway, girls who had yet to exit puberty. More outrage.
But change is not impossible. There are aesthetically worthy retail successes in this market. When helping women who are size 14 and up, my go-to retailer is Lane Bryant. While the items aren’t fashion with a capital F, they are stylish (but please avoid the cropped pants — always a no-no for any woman). And designer Christian Siriano scored a design and public relations victory after producing a look for Leslie Jones to wear to the ‘Ghostbusters‘ red-carpet premiere. Jones, who is not a diminutive woman, had tweeted in despair that she couldn’t find anyone to dress her; Siriano stepped in with a lovely full-length red gown.
Several retailers that have improved their plus-size offerings have been rewarded. In one year, ModCloth doubled its plus-size lineup. To mark the anniversary, the company paid for a survey of 1,500 American women ages 18 to 44 and released its findings: Seventy-four percent of plus-size women described shopping in stores as “frustrating”; 65 percent said they were “excluded.” (Interestingly, 65 percent of women of all sizes agreed that plus-size women were ignored by the fashion industry.) But the plus-size women surveyed also indicated that they wanted to shop more. More than 80 percent said they’d spend more on clothing if they had more choices in their size, and nearly 90 percent said they would buy more if they had trendier options. According to the company, its plus-size shoppers place 20 percent more orders than its straight-size customers.
Online start-up Eloquii, initially conceived and then killed by the Limited, was reborn in 2014. The trendy plus-size retailer, whose top seller is an over-the-knee boot with four-inch heels and extended calf sizes, grew its sales volume by more than 165 percent in 2015.
Despite the huge financial potential of this market, many designers don’t want to address it. It’s not in their vocabulary. Today’s designers operate within paradigms that were established decades ago, including anachronistic sizing. (Consider the fashion show: It hasn’t changed in more than a century.) But this is now the shape of women in this nation, and designers need to wrap their minds around it. I profoundly believe that women of every size can look good. But they must be given choices. Separates — tops, bottoms — rather than single items like dresses or jumpsuits always work best for the purpose of fit. Larger women look great in clothes skimming the body, rather than hugging or cascading. There’s an art to doing this. Designers, make it work.”
Actress Melissa McCarthy’s Seven7 fashion line is designed for women sizes 4 through 28
(via Washington Post)
The post #PlusSizedScandal: Tim Gunn READS the Fashion Industry & SLAMS “Project Runway” Winner’s “Hideous Clothes” appeared first on The WOW Report.
The annual bike ride Cycle For The Cause returns next week! Started back in the 90s as a way to raise money and awareness about the AIDS epidemic, The Ride, from Boston to NYC, still is as important as it was at its inception. Of course, we have made HUGE strides in providing information about AIDS and HIV treatment/prevention, but services and funds are still needed for the 133,000 New Yorkers and 1.2 million Americans living with HIV who continue to experience serious adverse health effects and overwhelming stigma. You can get more info HERE, and check out some of the supporters on The Center IG page, and vids below with Lance Bass, Naomi Campbell, Patricia Field, and RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 8 girls Bob The Drag Queen, Chi Chi DeVayne, Naomi Smalls, Kim Chi, Derrick Barry, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, and more.
The post “Cycle For The Cause” Bike Ride to End AIDS Sept. 15-18 appeared first on The WOW Report.
If you are in L.A. and a certain age, Queen Kong means one thing. It’s a club night at Precinct DTLA featuring some of RuPaul’s Drag Race stars from time to time. But the name was inspired by the film.
Queen Kong is a 1976 British comedy film spoofing King Kong. It was never released due to legal action by Dino De Laurentiis, the producer of the 1976 King Kong remake and RKO copyright holder of the movie at the time. Although it got a limited release in Italy and Germany, the film has since resurfaced on DVD. Thin as it is, the plot goes like this;
After being kidnapped by film director Luce Habit, Rula Lenska is set to to star in her new African jungle movie. Petty thief Ray Fay (Robin Askwith) finds himself the amorous attraction of a giant female gorilla which pursues him across London.
Watch.
The post #BMovieHerStory: The ’76 Spoof “Queen Kong” Still Inspires. Watch appeared first on The WOW Report.
Damien Hirst is THE richest living artist in the world (net worth, an estimated $1 billion.) He of diamond skulls and floating sharks in tanks has been endlessly reported on for one one controversy or another but we’ve rarely seen behind closed doors. But now are getting an inside scoop –however filtered– through his girlfriend of two years, 26-year-old Katie Keight.
The British tabs have been closely following their relationship at one high-profile social event to another. Keight is an actress & model and they just moved in together in April. When asked to name her
“perfect art-world gentleman”
Keight said Hirst,
“because he always opens my car door and lets me have music control.”
And probably picks up the check too, because that’s what (rich) gentlemen do. She told the Standard in June.
“The age difference doesn’t really exist. I don’t notice it. We are both Geminis, so it’s like there are four of us all the time and you can’t get a word in edgewise.”
The two met at a Foundation for AIDS Research Party, at a time when Keight says she was struggling with alcoholism. She counts the artist as a major factor in turning her life around, saying
“Damien is very passionate and positive, just being around him made me realize you can have anything you want.
I wish I’d known it would get better. I used to wake up crying but my life has done a 180-degree turn.”
It looks pretty nice. You can see snaps on her Instagram of the two with Jeff Koons (#2 richest artists at $500 million) as well as pics of cool jewelry and eating (just like us)
Before meeting Keight, Hirst had already split from longtime partner Maia Norman in 2012. The couple have three children together. So, now he’s Daddy times 4 now, sugar or not.
The post #InstaGlam: Damien’s Hirst’s 26 Year-Old Girlfriend Shares Pics of Their Life (& It Looks Like Fun!) appeared first on The WOW Report.
Pearl
Ginger Minj
Amy Madigan
Ariana Richards
Ben Lee
Brad Fischetti
Brian De Palma
Cameron Richardson
Charles Kelley
Elephant Man
Elizabeth “EG” Daily
Harry Connick Jr
John Hawkes
Kristy McNichol
Lola Falana
Ludacris
Maria Bartiromo
Mike Comrie
Moby
Paul Heyman
Richard Ashcroft
Taraji P. Henson
Ted Leo
Tyler Hoechlin
Virginia Madsen
The post September 11th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.
September 11, 1962– Kristy McNichol walked away from show biz in the early 1990s, but we know her best for her two time Emmy Award winning role as Buddy on the television series Family (1976-1980) and her work with fellow future lesbian Tatum O’ Neal in Little Darlings (1980), oh never mind… she is sort of interesting, her story might make for a good #BornThisDay column, but let’s get down to what happened 15 years ago. Okay?
6’4’’, 225 pound Mark Bingham was the last person to board United Flight 93, having arrived late, nearly missing the flight.
Bingham was openly and proudly gay. He was well known and much loved in San Francisco’s gay community. He was a public relations executive, a graduate of UC Berkeley, an athlete with a very considerate, chivalrous, caring and creative personality. He has become perhaps the first openly gay, great American patriotic figure and an icon for the gay community.
Bingham’s friend Hani Durzy says he once fought off a mugger who had a gun:
“Mark knew how to use his size and would get into situations without thinking about it – which used to amuse us and scare us. I think he knew himself that was not anyone’s idea of a typical gay man”.
Bingham’s friend and roommate Per Casey:
“He didn’t politicize his sexuality at all. It’s ironic that in death he is being celebrated for something he did not think was worth politicizing, and that’s lucky for all of us, and unlucky for people who are biased against us. What he did is both inconceivable and great.”
Durzy:
“My feeling is that if told he would become a Gay Icon he would laugh. Then he would sit back and think: ‘but if this is going to do some good for the gay community, then so be it… good’.”
Bingham had overslept on that morning and the friend with whom he had been staying, Matthew Hall, drove as fast as possible to get him from Manhattan to Newark, screeching to a halt outside the terminal at 7:40am. Bingham jumped from the car, slinging his canvas duffel bag. He ran to the gate, down the ramp, boarded the Boeing 757, and sat down in seat 4D, first-class, just behind the cockpit. Then he called Hall: “Hey, it’s me. Thanks for driving to get me here. I’m in first-class, drinking a glass of orange juice.”
United Flight 93 was scheduled to take off at 8:01am. It pulled away from the gate, but was then delayed for 41 minutes, leaving the passengers to sit and wait onboard before taking off on what should have been a six hour flight across the USA to San Francisco.
Two men aboard had stayed at the Marriott at Newark’s Liberty International Airport, paying cash for their rooms and expensive meals: Ahmed al-Haznawi, a student from Saudi Arabia and Ziad Jarrah from Lebanon. They also sat in first-class, with a colleague, blending in, as they had been trained to do.
After 41 minutes of sitting, waiting and complaining by the passengers, United Flight 93 moved down the runway, light with passengers and heavy with fuel. The view of lower Manhattan was probably dazzling with the World Trade Center Towers glimmering in a blue September sky. Coffee and breakfast were served.
At 9.30 am, three men with red bandannas suddenly rushed towards the cockpit. Air traffic controllers in Cleveland picked up this message: “Hey, get out of here!” It had begun. Cleveland could hear an announcement, probably from one of the terrorists having flipped the wrong switch, with a message he thought he was delivering over the PA:
“There is a bomb on board, we are meeting their demands. We are heading back to the airport.”
The airplane began to gain altitude.
The tape recording from the cockpit is a 30 minute loop, beginning with screaming, and someone pleading not to be hurt or killed. Shortly afterwards, both pilots were seen lying motionless on the floor just outside the first-class curtain, with their throats cut, according to a passenger.
United Flight 93 had changed course and was heading for Washington DC.
Final words of love and goodbyes were sent, with passengers passing their phones to strangers. Through these calls those aboard learned what had been happening that morning.
The first call answered was by Deena Burnett, wife of Tom Burnett, the passanger sitting next to Bingham. Deena Burnett:
“Are you okay?”
Burnett:
“No, we’ve been hijacked. They’ve knifed a guy; there’s a bomb on board; tell the authorities, Deena.”
Bingham’s call was to his mother was oddly succinct:
“This is Mark Bingham. I love you.”
Bingham’s friend and former employer Holland Carney, has written that Bingham’s economy of language was the first indication of revolt aboard United Flight 93:
“He would not have said anything about what he intended to do. I remember him coming to work one day with a huge black eye. I asked what had happened. He said two guys had jumped him and he had fought them off. I said that was dangerous, better to give them the money, but he would have none of it. That would have been him on the plane. He was not someone afraid to act.”
Burnett made another call home, by which time his wife was watching the World Trade Center Towers collapse on television news. Burnett asked: “Are they commercial planes?”
Deena Burnett later related:
“Tom said he was going to have to go out on faith because they were talking about jumping the guy with the bomb. He was still holding the phone, but he was not talking to me, he was talking to someone else and I could tell he had turned away. He said: ‘You ready? Okay, let’s roll’.”
The terrorists had formidable opposition: one passenger was a 6’1″ Judo champion, Bingham was a rugby player. Burnett had been a college quarterback. Among the other passengers there was a weightlifter and a former Marine paratrooper.
No one will ever know how the plan to attack the terrorists was hatched, but experts listening to the tapes agree that the scuffle began not at the back of the plane but at the front, where Bingham and Burnett were seated.
Denna Burnett:
“Tom, sit down. Don’t draw attention to yourself.”
Burnett:
“If they’re going to run this plane into a building, we’re going to do something.”
The cockpit recorder picks up the sounds of fighting, the crash of trolleys, and dishes being smashed. The terrorists scream at each other to hold the door against what is obviously a siege from the cabin. A passenger cries: “Let’s get them!” Then there is more screaming.
Across Somerset County, Pennsylvania, farmers and commuters watched a plane rock and sway in the sky and then crash down to earth.
Bingham, Burnett and the others saved many lives and probably our country’s Capitol Building. But the richness of Bingham’s part in the tale is that he so narrowly failed to save himself and the other passengers. Carney:
“I can so much more easily imagine Mark bouncing out of the wreckage of the plane punching a high five and saying: ‘we got the bastards’.”
The Husband and I had stood on the very top of one of the World Trade Center Towers on our 20th anniversary, a gorgeous October evening in 1999, watching the skyscrapers of Manhattan turn pink in the sunset. I thought of that day as we watched the news from our Seattle bungalow on 9/11. We actually watched as that second jet flew into a tower.
We would leave Seattle after 20 years and move to our new home in Portland just a few weeks after the towers fell. It was an unsettling time with so much to be afraid of, a new world, a new city, a new home, a new start. I would read Portraits Of Grief, the daily special section of the NY Times with the photos and short biographical sketches of the victims. I cried every day for weeks. The day I read about Bingham, I was transformed. I had lost one of my own. The more I discovered about him, the more I felt that I had my own personal Gay Hero: a gay jock, a bear, a good guy, a brave man.
The first tree I planted in the garden of my new home was a small graceful Japanese maple. I dedicated the tree to Bingham. I prayed for the first time in years:
“God bless my big gay hero Mark Kendall Bingham.”
Years earlier, Bingham had written:
“We have the chance to be role models for other gay folks who wanted to play sports, but never felt good enough or strong enough. This is a great opportunity to change a lot of people’s minds, and to reach a group that might never have had to know or hear about gay people. Let’s go make some new friends and win a few games.”
The post #BornThisDay: Special 9/11 Edition appeared first on The WOW Report.
Right about the time I’m posting this, the hijackers were boarding American Airlines Flight 11. After waking up to two mirrors falling off the wall and into into our bed (true), my ex and I were watching The Today Show when a maintenance worker called into the show to say a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. 30 Rock, where NBC is headquartered, had a rooftop camera that they cut to which showed the North tower smoking. Our apartment, on West 14th near the corner of 8th Avenue, was on the top floor so we were on our roof in 30 seconds, and there, in our backyard –which happened to be Manhattan– we saw an unobstructed view of the world changing forever.
Nearly everyone alive 15 years ago has a story about where they were on 9/11. Some are mundane, others are terrifying, but if you lived in New York City, many have mixed emotions. You feel the significance of never forgetting, to not ignore what happened, but every year as you watch as the world rips off the band-aid and relives the nightmare, it brings that horrible day back. Many people lost loved ones, and that grief, I can’t even imagine…
This year is the 15th anniversary, so you expect more coverage and more attention paid. Yesterday there were fly-overs, what sounded like fireworks and the lights shining up into the heavens. I’ve been to the memorial at Ground Zero only once and it is very moving, but it’s also a bit of a circus with people taking selfies and buying souvenirs. I can’t bring myself to go not the museum, I doubt I ever will. Everyone is entitled to deal with a tragedy, even a monumental national one, in their own way, but when YOUR city was attacked –Boston, Paris, Orlando and others understand– sometimes you NEED to forget the other 364 days of the year and get on with life.
We will never forget, even though sometimes we’d really like to.
The post #Opinion: 9/11 Should Never Be Forgotten, But When It Happened In Your Back Yard, It’s Complicated appeared first on The WOW Report.
Have seen this in your Facebook feed? THE most worst marketing idea EVER.
Miracle Mattress in San Antonio, Texas, decided to have a “Twin Towers sale” and make a commercial making light of the September 11 attacks.
Mattresses are stacked side by side in two vertical columns while the daughter of the store owner announces a sale on all mattresses for a “twin price.”
Two men who are standing behind her then crash into the mattresses, toppling them. The woman feigns shock, then turns to the camera and says, “We’ll never forget.”
Obviously, in the face of immediate backlash, store owner Mike Bonanno issued an apology that did little to temper the outrage.
“I say this unequivocally, with sincere regret: the video is tasteless and an affront to the men and women who lost their lives on 9/11
I am disgusted such a video would have been conceived as a promotional tool. And even more incensed it was created and posted on any social media site that represents Miracle Mattress.“
On Friday, Bonanno took things a step further, saying on the company Facebook page that the Miracle Mattress store will close “indefinitely.”
“There is very little we can do to take away the hurt we have caused, but we can begin with silence through the Anniversary and then do our best to follow up with actions that reflect the seriousness of our mistake.“
Duh. Watch below. Or don’t.
Nearly as bad was the 9/11 Coke Zero/ Ground Zero can display at a Walmart in Panama City Beach.
Coke Zero packages were stacked to resemble the towers. A banner above read,
“We will never forget.“
Surprise! shoppers were NOT amused and it was quickly taken down. Walmart said it didn’t mean any disrespect. It told Orlando Weekly that Coke approaches Walmart with display ideas and they had approved the display.
The post #9/11Shocker: This “Twin Towers Mattress Sale” Commercial Is a National Tragedy appeared first on The WOW Report.
Sad news to report. According to TMZ, Alexis Arquette, transgender activist, actress/entertainer, has passed away at the age of 47.
Alexis Arquette’s most notable role was playing transvestite Georgette in the screen adaptation of controversial novel Last Exit to Brooklyn. She had bit parts in I Think I Do, Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror, The Wedding Singer, Blended and Sometimes They Come Back… Again, and in TV shows like VH1’s The Surreal Life and Bravo’s Top Design.
Born Robert, the sibling of actors David, Rosanna, Patricia and Richmond transitioned to female in 2006, which was documented in the film Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother. Alexis’ brother Richmond posted the following on Facebook Sunday morning, using Alexis’ name she was born with;
Alexis’s brother David, tweeted,
“Thank you all for your love and kind words about Alexis. My hero for eternity.“
And her sister, Patricia tweeted just,
“Breaking through the veil singing StarMan“
Breaking through the veil singing StarMan https://t.co/A3way5S3Lb
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) September 11, 2016
Boy George tweeted this earlier and I hoped he had the wrong info, as no other news outlet but X17 was reporting the news, so I waited for confirmation. But it seems the sad news is true.
(via TMZ)
The post #RIP: Trans Actress, Alexis Arquette appeared first on The WOW Report.
So exciting! RuPaul Charles just won his first Emmy award for Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program! ConDRAGulations to the everyone at RuPaul’s Drag Race, Logo TV and World of Wonder Productions!
Emmy-winner RuPaul Charles with World of Wonder’s Randy Barbato (left) & Fenton Bailey
Here's Winner of Host, Reality/Reality-Competition Program, @RuPaul, @RuPaulsDragRace with #EmmysArts Gold! pic.twitter.com/D2G6JxMyaj
— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) September 12, 2016
The post #ConDRAGulations! RuPaul Just Won an Emmy! appeared first on The WOW Report.
Jason Blum
Amy Yasbeck
Ben Folds
Benjamin McKenzie
Bizzy Bone
Dickie Moore
Elisabetta Canalis
Emmy Rossum
Hans Zimmer
James Frey
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Nettles
Joe Pantoliano
Linda Gray
Louis C.K.
Paul F. Tompkins
Paul Walker
Rachel Ward
Ruben Studdard
Sir Ian Holm
Yao Ming
The post September 12th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.
September 12, 1964– Chip Kidd, you kids know Kidd’s work even if you don’t realize it. He designed the covers for the original hardbacks of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Cormac McCarthy‘s The Road, David Sedaris’ Naked, plus my own favorites: Donna Tart‘s The Secret History and The Goldfinch.
No one who is in the publishing world would actually say that you can’t judge a book by the cover. The industry spends a great deal of money hoping that is exactly what readers will do. Artist-Graphic Designer Kidd is probably the biggest star in the rarefied world of graphic design, regarded as our pretty planet’s foremost designer of the special niche of book jackets. In his 30 years at NYC publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, Kidd has created more than 2000 book jacket designs, averaging 75 a year. His always ingenious, vivid, audacious covers helped revolutionize and revitalize the art of book packaging.
I am a big fan and I have wondered about Kidd’s design process. It’s crazy, but it turns out that he reads the book first. Then he says that he uses:
“The magpie method of picking, choosing, borrowing things that have been done before. The process is driven by nothing.”
“A really good book cover has to work regardless of what it’s about, on a visceral and emotional level. I’m a matchmaker, not a pimp. I design jackets that are elaborate versions of name tags at singles parties. I introduce the prospective buyer to the text, and they either hit it off and go home together or they don’t.”
Kidd’s many influences include graphic design legends Alvin Lustig from the 1940s and 1950s, and Peter Saville, who did super album covers in the 1970s through 1980s. Kidd also is inspired by Soviet era Russian propaganda art. Kidd learned that often the best style is no style.
“A signature look is crippling. Often, the simplest and most effective solutions aren’t dictated by style.”
I guess Kidd’s signature look is smart, striking, sly, bold design.
Crichton’s Jurassic Park is a perfect example what he does so well. It is probably Kidd’s best known cover, with its illustration of a dinosaur skeleton that then became the central image of the hugely popular film’s own marketing campaign.
Kidd puts together and writes his own books too. He then provides the covers. His first book was Batman Collected (1996), a volume for those with a proclivity for that Caped Crusader. Since then he has edited and designed other superhero coffee-table collections, including Superman (2001) and Wonder Woman: The Complete History (2012). Kidd’s first novel, the screwy, comic The Cheese Monkeys (2001) is a slightly disguised story of his time studying design under a sadist professor at a Penn State. His second work of fiction, The Learners (2008), is a sort of sequel to The Cheese Monkeys with an intriguing exploration of the interplay between words and images and how we relate, and again, it is funny. His newest, Judge This (2015) is lighthearted examination of the importance of first impressions in design and in life.
Last year Kidd published Only What’s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and The Art Of Peanuts, a collection of the art of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, curated with the cooperation of the late artist’s wife. Kidd spent a week exploring in Schulz’s studio. The concept for the book’s design promises to make the reader feel as if they are rifling through Schulz’s sketches and drawings.
You most likely have many of Kidd’s artful covers in your own shelves or piles of books, but I highly recommend Chip Kidd: Book One, Work: 1986-2006. Stylishly designed and richly produced, this witty volume works both as a retrospective of Kidd’s renowned book covers gorgeously reproduced in lush color plates & as a memoir of his career in publishing.
“I did not grow up yearning to become a book designer. What I wanted to be was Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family.”
I am glad that didn’t work out. I am such a big admirer of Kidd’s striking covers. They serve as objects of art. I really dig Kidd’s writing as well. He is one more example of how God does not spread out her gifts equally; they are given in clumps, because Kidd is simply overflowing with talent and ideas. He is even in a rock band. Plus, he is cute.
“One of the great advantages to designing book covers is that you don’t ever have to have an idea, much less a thought, ever, in your head. That is the author’s job.”
Three years ago, Kidd married his longtime partner, Yale professor and noted poet, J.D. McClatchy. The couple has residences in Manhattan, Stonington, and Palm Beach.
Kidd has stated that the cover of his own memoir would be:
“The most pornographic version of The Bible you’ve ever seen.”
I am rather sure it would be a bestseller.
The post #BornThisDay: Art Director, Chip Kidd appeared first on The WOW Report.
Daniel Franzese and his Italian mom Denise discuss fame. Does Daniel love it or hate it? What about Denise?
The post Daniel Franzese’s Italian Mom on…The Perks and Perils of FAME appeared first on The WOW Report.
Laverne with you-know-who at an LGBT fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in NYC
TINA TURNER
rock ‘n roll legend, born 1939
“The pain, pleasure, and agony of all she’s been through is in her voice. Her story is the story of so many black women who’ve endured abuse and come out the other side in such a brilliant, beautiful way.“
TRACEY AFRICA
trailblazing model, born 1951
“She was a black trans woman who modeled in the ’70s, and had cosmetics deals and a hair contract with Clairol — it was a big deal. People think, ‘Oh, this trans revolution is just starting,’ but we’ve been around for a very long time. It’s important to know that there’s been a path blazed for me.“
BEYONCÉ
Queen B, born 1981
“Beyoncé represents excellence. Her work ethic is like nobody else I’ve ever seen. There were so many moments when I was shooting Rocky Horror, and I’d be exhausted. My body would be hurting, and I’d be like, ‘Beyoncé. Beyoncé does this.’ You have to just put in the work.“
(Photos, Ruven Afanador; via Cosmopolitan)
The post #CosmoGirl: See Laverne Cox’s Tribute to 3 Trailblazing Icons (One You’ll NEVER Guess…) appeared first on The WOW Report.
ATIE 
