Now this is very sad. At the age of 33, slightly younger than this blogger, Andy Hallett has died of heart failure. He had been fighting heart disease for five years and he lost that battle on Sunday night.
He will always be best known as Lorne on Angel and he was frequently the best thing about many episodes. He was also my most favourite character in the show. I had no idea he was even ill, so to read of his passing this morning was a very unpleasant surprise.
You know how sometimes you hear a news report about a celebrity injury and think "oh they'll get better"? The reports about Richardson's skiing accident were so inconsistent that throughout the two days I kept expecting her to appear on TV and say "oh for heaven's sake people, I'm fine!"
But no. She died last night and it's so shocking and sad. She was young, she was fiercely talented and she leaves behind a grieving husband and two teenage sons. I saw her on stage twice (once in Closer, once in Streetcar) but the role for which she will always be remembered is Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of Cabaret. I didn't get to see her in the role (she'd left the production the weekend before my first ever trip to NYC), I have the cast recording and her performance of the songs on there is so new, so unexpected and to be quite honest, so pitch perfect that to have just her take on the title number as her sole legacy would be a huge achievement.
However, it's just one entry in a distinguished career and it really underlines how tragic her early unexpected death is. In addition to the talent, Richardson also possessed something sadly lacking in a lot of today's stars: class. She was supremely classy and I've never forgotten how sweet and funny she was at the stage door for Closer, even with fans more interested in talking to her about her husband. She will be missed.
No, not really. I have the WORST record for spotting celebrities. I spent a 15 day vacation in LA and saw NOBODY! But since arriving on this trip, I haven't been doing too badly. So, in order to tie in the title of this entry:
Spotted, in the west village: Famke Janssen.
Spotted on the L Train: Julianne Moore.
Spotted at the Walter Kerr Theatre box office: John Turturro.
Spotted in the audience of Shrek: The Musical: John Lithgow and Wilson Cruz.
Seeing any one of those would have been unheard of for me. But to see all of them is frankly ridiculous. But fun.
between myself and a friend who attended last weekend's SAG Awards:
Him: You know how when you're in a crowded room and you have to sort of squeeze past people?
Me: Sure......
Him: Well, I rubbed my cock against Zac Efron.
Me: I'm sure he loved it.
I was going to post about the Oscar nominations, but the completely shocking news about Heath Ledger being found dead has derailed that. I've been a fan since Ten Things I Hate About You and was of course mesmerised by his intense performance in Brokeback Mountain. The way he handled the attention that role brought him made me respect him so much. I was really looking forward to seeing him as the Joker in The Dark Knight this summer. He was ideally cast in the role and now what should have been one of many highlights in his career will be his epitaph. So sad.
It was announced today that Kelly Osbourne would take on the role of Mama Morton in the West End run of Chicago. Leaving aside the fact that she's whiny and annoying, ungrateful and stupid, she's also devoid of any acting talent and she can't really sing. But let's look at some previous Mama's here:
Marcia Lewis: Born 1938
Roz Ryan: Born 1951
Angie Stone: Born 1961
Jennifer Holliday: Born 1960
Debra Monk: Born 1949
Diane Langton: Born 1947
Lynda Carter: Born 1951
Alison Moyet: Born 1961
While I don't have the exact dates they performed in the revival, it would have been in the last decade. So the youngest any of them could have been at the time they took on the role is 36. Do we agree with that? Yes?
Then can you tell me why Kelly FUCKING Osbourne, who turns 23 on the LAST day of her 10 week run as Mama Morton, has been given the role? Someone? Anyone? Please just close this fucking show already. What was once one of the most starkly brilliant revivals is now in desperate need of being put out of its misery.
Cate Blanchett's entirely terrifying appearance is for the title role in the upcoming Cancer Vixen. Her involvement in the project was announced as early as last September so I don't know how I managed to miss it. It doesn't feature on her IMDb page, other than in the message boards though. ANYWAY, point is she's not fallen foul of the insanity sweeping through Hollywood, rather she's doing a Christian Bale. Albeit, for what sounds like a more worthwhile project.
Many of the comments left on the post I made about her appearance pointed me towards articles detailing the project and one person stated that their first thought was "she's doing it for a role". It's funny that the anorexia epidemic in Hollywood has reached such a horrifying level that my first thought when I see a newly thin celebrity is never "that must be for a role" it's always "fucking hell, Rachel Zoe got to you too?"
While Ms Blanchett has never been someone you look at and think "ah, so THAT'S who ate all the pies", it's a little alarming to see that she has fallen foul of the starvation army currently marching through Hollywood. Don't believe me? Well here she is, 8 years ago as Susan Traherne in the London revival of Plenty:
and here she is, earlier this week at the Met Costume Institute Ball: 
Terrifying, no? Her hair is clearly begging for some nutrients, her skin is no longer luminous but deathly pale and she looks like she's about 200 calories from death. That the Rachel Zoe inspired cult of scary and unhealthily thin could warp the minds of the young and impressionable Hollywood set is bad enough. That it has seemingly also broken the mind of the adult and intelligent Cate Blanchett is truly frightening. I hope she lives long enough to see the awards glory that will be showered upon her next year for The Golden Age though. The trailer gives me chills. Check it out for yourselves:
Happy hump day everyone. Firstly I would like to thank everyone who left a kind comment on my recent photo blogging entry. And secondly I would like to add that the reason for the post below asking about increase and decrease will soon become clear. So far, only Grouchbutt has dared say anything on there, but it's not a trick or loaded question, I promise.
And now without further ado, on to the celebrity caught on camera inadvertently demonstrating they have other talents. This time: Dominic Monaghan. 
Seems like everyone's favourite hobbit could pack quite a punch, no? Gives some truth to the whole "short guys have whopping great cocks" generalisation, doesn't it?
I was in a pub last week that had a Celebrity Death Sweepstakes. You picked a celebrity and if they died in 2007, you would win money depending on how unexpected the death was. We were all thinking of picking someone like Keira Knightley or Nicole Richie. Nobody thought of Anna Nicole Smith. I'd've made out like a bandit.
Seriously though, this was sort of inevitable. She's clearly been exhibiting the behaviour of someone with a drink or drug (or both) problem and her life was pretty much imploding around her. It's all very sad, most especially for her five month old daughter.
The UK press is already reporting it's a suicide. Despite the fact no autopsy has been performed and the coroner has said if it wasn't natural causes, the details would be withheld in the beginning. What's worse is an internet rumour has already begun to circulate that the reason for the suicide is the court ordered paternity test that was scheduled for later this month would have revealed the father of her new daughter was her recently deceased 20 year old son. Now that is just so wrong in so many ways.
Just reading over on Towleroad that the following celebrities had all marched out of the closet in 2006 and somehow I had NO IDEA that it had happened:
Darren Hayes
Michelle Rodriguez
Kristanna Lokken
Raul Esparza
And 2007 has started with a bang as Ian Watkins, aka H from Steps preceded his stint on Celebrity Big Brother (which I would rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon than watch 3 seconds of) with an interview confirming his homosexuality. Somehow I missed this as well. There were some on the list that I had been aware of (Neil Patrick Harris, TR Knight, Lance Bass etc) but the listed four passed me by totally. I would like to point out that I already knew they were all gayers because, well, I have eyes. That said gayness was announced to the world is news to me. But seriously, good for them. I'm a firm believer in the fact that the perception of homosexuality as evil needs to be altered from the ground up. People so firmly in the public eye coming out and being very "so what?" about it and having it not alter their career trajectory is a fine place to start.
The Dreamcaps forum had a poll to find the hottest moment on TV in 2006. The winning scene was Eric Dane emerging from the shower in Grey's Anatomy. And honestly, who can blame them. I mean, look at him. 
And clearly having him enter the scene whilst still wrapping himself in the towel was the genius moment that tipped the voting. Delicious.
God bless you, queerclick. I was perusing their site this morning and found these pics of Jensen Ackles all but busting out of his dress pants. Supernatural is a treat as both he and Mr Paladecki are just so easy to look at anyway, but this little photo set is a much bigger treat. Enjoy. 
Edited to say: wow the pics came out small, despite using the "large"option (ahem) when I uploaded them. Clicking on the image enlarges it sufficiently though (ahem).
And I am not ashamed to say it! Not only is he super hot - 
- see?, but he's also an out and proud proper gay homosexualist and has plenty to say on the matter. He's also very funny. Recently he took part in Attitude magazine's regular feature, "Any Queries?" where readers send in questions and the best ones are answered. Here are some choice samples from the interview:
When asked about the nude scene he shot for Doctor Who, he had this to say: "There is footage out there in the ether of me with naked with my pert bottom and my HUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGEEEEE cock hanging out. What, you think I'm gonna say average?"
When asked about if watching Doctor Who as a child made him hide behind the sofa, his response was "I didn't hide behind the sofa, I sat on the sofa with a pillow in front of my face. Or my face in a pillow....which sometimes happens these days."
But when asked if he would seriously consider pursuing a career in Hollywood, he gets much more serious: "If Hollywood ever said we want you, I would go, but I am not going to pursue it. To be honest with you, it's gay men and women in America, in Hollywood, who are the worst and the most homophobic and it frightens me. There are casting people, industry people, they find out you're gay and they don't want to touch you, you're a hurdle to be overcome, you're not marketable. Well fuck you. We are marketable. Take a risk. You would change the industry and be a mover and shaker if you did something like that. I'm not an advocate of outing people at all. It's no-one's place to do that because people have emotional issues to deal with. But if you're creating a lie for Christ sake, that is not good. We need some huge Hollywood name to come out. I know a lot of people in this country who are in the closet and married. It's absolutely horrible. I find it difficult. I understand it but I want to say "why?". It's a slap in the face to the rest of us."
So there you are. John Barrowman, you are officially fabulous.
While I may have run hot and cold where his films were concerned (Pret A Porter remains one of the worst films I have ever seen, while The Player is a work of genius), there's no denying that Hollywood lost a unique and visionary filmmaker on Monday.
Apparently considering legal action against Vanity Fair for publishing pics of him from an avant garde photo shoot without his permission. But I ask you, if you looked like this, would you really mind the world seeing the pics:
I mean, I know I wouldn't. And Just Us Boys presented themselves with their first darndest thing moment in a thread discussing how great the pics are:
"In my opinion, he's hot, but way too old." So there you have it. If you are approaching 43 and still look as good as Mr Pitt does, it doesn't matter. A 26 year old faggot has deemed you too old regardless.
In other news, it's my day off today and I have another extensive fun day in London planned. So of course, I woke up 45 minutes earlier than my alarm would go off on a work day and could NOT get back to sleep. Why, body? Why do you do this to me?
Gutted. Although I have to say it's not wholly surprising, especially after his somewhat over the top reaction when she won the Golden Globe. But still, gutted.
After my posting with Jake Gyllenhaal inadvertently giving good bulge, I was idly surfing on the Just Us Boys message boards (which will in time, I am sure, throw up a darndest thing or two) and I found the following pics.
First up is Eric McCormack, in a still from Will & Grace. I stopped watching that show in the middle of season 4 so the pic below was news to me 
Looks pretty impressive, no? But of course, it's TV and he's on a show that has a fairly sizeable fan base so he could have padded himself out to appear, well, fairly sizeable. However, in early seasons of the show, he was shown naked on a couple of episodes. Here's a still from one of those
Now this shot is obviously designed to make you think he's in the buff but his modesty is protected. So the bulge isn't meant to be seen by anyone. And yet it still looks roughly the same as in the first pic.
And now it's the pic of the bulge that started it all. In the season that I stopped watching Dawson's Creek due to being completely unable to tolerate that pouting idiot Katie Holmes, Chad Michael Murray popped up in some early episodes to sleep with and cheat on Jen. I remember emailing with my friend Lottie the next day, asking if she'd watched the show and whether or not my eyes had been deceiving me on the CMM front. Her reply was "Yeah I saw it and as for Jen's friend, he seemed, um, gifted". Ever since then, this has been my euphemism for the well endowed and it always will be. So that's what I mean when I say this is the bulge that started it all. Anyway, check out the gift for yourselves
Sigh. Yes, he divorced Sophia Bush after like 3 minutes, and yes he's now dating a 12 year old but look. Just look.
Well, to brighten the day of everyone who, like me, thinks Jake Gyllenhaal is the hottest man walking the planet. Here's a little pic of him just walking around. Wearing clothes. But not, quite obviously, wearing any underwear. God love him. 
