Dying Star Trek Fan Gets Special Screening Of INTO DARKNESS

This is such a cool story. Filmmaker JJ Abrams, who is known for being super secretive about keeping his various projects under wraps, did an extraordinary thing for a dying STAR TREK fan; he gave him an advance screening of the new film INTO DARKNESS since this fan will not likely live to see the film's commercial release this summer. 

I saw the story linked on IMDB yesterday from NextMovie.  The whole thing started on Christmas Eve as the dying man's family posted the request on a STAR TREK board on Reddit.  Things took off from there after many comments and eventually the request made it's way directly to the film's director. Kudos to Abrams for making a dying man's dream come true. A truly heatwarming Hollywood tale...

The Bottom 10: Worst Movies of 2012

Hollywood is in full on awards season mode as they roll out the contenders for this year's Academy Awards. After seeing ZERO DARK THIRTY, I think it's clearly got the lock on Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Yes--it's that good. But what about the bad movies of the last year? Well, these days with the proliferation of online critics, there are plenty of lists to choose from when looking for the Worst Movies of 2012.

CNN has a bottom 10 that has two Chris Pine movies (bad year for him) but also THE HOBBIT too (which people seem to love or hate). Moviephone has Tyler Perry's action misfire leading the list as well as TOTAL RECALL, which seems to be a bad-list regular.  GQ's list also includes TOTAL RECALL and the big budget disaster JOHN CARTER. Over at HitFlix, they thought 2012 was such a bad year that they came up with 20 films for their worst list---I hadn't even heard of PIRANHA 3DD but I'm somewhat intrigued (maybe because it stars one of my Kinda Cute dudes, Matt Bush). And the AV Club list features big budget, star-crossed films like HYDE PARK and THE PAPERBOY

As for me, I don't have a personal bad list as I tend to smell a bad movie a mile away (ie. Tyler Perry as a shotgun wielding detective formerly played by Morgan Freeman!). But I do have a de facto worst movie because I saw the trailer so many times I feel like I saw the whole horrendous movie; THE WORDS (starring Bradley Cooper). It was painful seeing this trailer once, but after the 7th time?  I don't know if anyone saw this film but it was on CNN's list which made me feel good.

The Miracle on 42nd Street Xmas Video

So I know this video is not new...it made the NYC-viral rounds last year during the holidaze. But, cleverly created by two Bway gypies who've got spunk and pizazz to spare, it is so good that I wanted to share it here again. It truly fills me with the joy of the season. I mean Mariah Carey, jazz hands, and Santa-inspired unitards. What's not to like!

Wishing everyone the merriest of Christmases and a joyous, dance-filled New Years!  :)

All I Want For Xmas Is A Non-Gender Specific EZ Bake Oven

This is one of the cutest holiday stories I've heard this year. A 13 year-old girl in New Jersey, Mackenna Pope, was shopping for an EZ Bake Oven for her brother Gavyn (real name!) who had it on his list. However, Mackenna noticed they only came in puple and pink which are pretty girly colors. Why was there no butch oven, she wondered....though I'm guessing she probably didn't use the word "butch."

So Mackenna got industrious and started a petition for Hasbro to make a non-gender specific oven that  received over 40,000 signatures online at Change.org. And guess what? Hasbro invited her to their headquarters and they will come out with a silver and black version of its iconic toy next year. (Turns out, it had been in the works for a little over a year but this certainly gave them some great press on it.) The new version of the EZ Bake will be in stores available for the 2013 Christmas season.

I love this story for two reasons: first their is the big sister angle which is just too adorable. But also there's a personal side too. When I was an aspiring young baker, I wanted an EZ Bake Oven for Christmas as well and put it on my list even. Needless to say, Santa did not bring me a pink plastic toy with which to bake cakes. Undeterred, my mom did allow me to use the adult oven and I baked up a storm in my youth; cookies, cakes, brownies and even fudge.

Anyway, this is just a lovely story in a season that could use it, with the tragedy in Connecticut dominating the news. Below is a cute report on these two kids from CBS News.

Omar Shariff, Jr And 49 Other Notables Who Came Out In 2012

Over at Towleroad, Andy has put together a list of 50 Most Powerful Coming Outs on his blog. I didn't realize 2012 had been a banner year in this manner but it truly has. Not only were there the super high profile people like Anderson Cooper and Sally Ride (though posthumous), but there were people like Omar Shariff Junior and Gillian Anderson.  Somehow I had missed Scully's coming out party! Not that that one was such a huge surprise anyway.

All in all, this is a great list of remarkable people from all parts of the LGBT spectrum. And I find it amazing to see that more and more coming out is not such big news either. That alone is progress in and of itself.

Meatpacking District Part II: Time Traveling Photos From 1985

On Friday, I posted about ice skating in the Meatpacking District under the High Line in a rink sponsored by the Standard. Today, via my favorite NYC nostalgia site Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, I found some incredible photos of the same Meatpacking District taken in the mid-1980s in which the streets are practically empty and the area is downright desolate. But there is beauty in its desolation and the contrast to what you find today when walking dow the same streets couldn't be more severe.

The pictures (like the one above of 14th and 9th ave) were taken by photographer Brian Rose and you can see the full gallery on his website. They are a fun time traveling trip to lost era, beautifully enshrined in Rose's austere photos.

Holidaze Skating Through The Meatpacking District

There used to be a time long, long ago (okay, in the 90s) when the only thing you could get in the meatpacking district was a burget at Florent and a hooker to go. Now of course, post-SEX AND THE CITY, MePa (as it is sometimes unfortunately called) is a teeming urban district of high end shops, fancy-pants clubs/restaurants, and the neighborhood's hulking landmark, The Standard hotel.  

This winter, the Standard has created the most unlikely spot for ice skating on a temporary rink set up adjacent to the High line park. It's a cute little rink, about 3000 sq ft in size so not exactly ideal for a hockey game or figure skating leaps. But it is the cheapest rink in town, with rentals and admission at $15. And, even better, it is not nearly as crowded as the ones in midtown that get jammed with tourists and onlookers during this most wonderfully crowded time of the year. 

The hotel doesn't have much info about it on their website but there was a nice review with some photos from a real estate blog called GlenwoodNYC. Check it out and I'll see you on the ice-ice, baby!

Princeton Freshman Questions Justice Scalia On Morality

A lot of people complain about this country--what's wrong with it, how it's failing, etc. But one thing that still works is freedom of speech, evidenced by the fact that a 19 year old student can challenge a sitting Supreme Court justice in a public forum and make the national news for it.

Towleroad reports today on Duncan Hosie, a poised Princeton freshman, questioned Scalia's equating murder and bestiality with homosexuality in previous court opinions. In response, Scalia merely doubled down on his dangerously antiquated views. There is little doubt how Scalia will vote on the two marriage equality cases now pending before the court as his view of "morality" trumps any reason or law. But one thing is clear--this young, articulate, openly gay man (interviewed below on MSNBC) provides a great deal of hope for the future.

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Some Amazing Photos Of Gay Marriage In Washington State

It was a big week for marriage equality, with Maryland's governor signing the marriage equality bill into law and actual marriages starting in Washington state. BuzzFeed's LGBT blogger Matt Stopera was out in Seattle for all the romantic action on day one and posted this photo above of two mature gentlemen taking their vows. It's a picture that is truly amazing and sweet and makes you wonder what all the fuss about gay marriage is after all, right? I mean these guys look like they could've voted for Romney even--though I'm guessing they didn't.

Here's a link to Stopera's photo album of 64 shots he took of all the couples lined up at city hall with some moving captions as well. And below is the photo that was seen in many newspapers of the first LGBT couple to get married in Washington State at the stroke of midnight. Jane Lighty, 77, and Pete-e Peterson, 85 (85!!!!) took their vows after having been together for 35 years. Cheers, ladies!

Nate Silver and Conan O'Brien Have Some Serious Jibber Jabber

Conan O'Brien sat down recently with superstar statistician Nate Silver, the man who predicted the exact electoral outcome of the 2012 Presidential race via his 538 blog on the NY Times website. However, Nate was not a guest on Conan's talk show on TBS. Instead, they had a 50 minute long, non-commercial interrupted wide ranging chat about things like global warming, statistical probability, and the nature of capitalism.  It's a fascinating chat and I've linked the full show below.

This interview is part of Conan's online-only "Serious Jibber Jabber" series of webcasts featuring guests that he chooses personally who he is interested in. Despite the silly title, it's all quite serious. The sidebar show started in September of this year, featuring historian Edmund Morris and a long conversation about Theodore Roosevelt. It seems almost as if Conan is angling for Charlie Rose's job in a few years as the format is similar but also features the same all black set with a table between them.