Jeff Reys’ blog

I’m going back home to New York for an 8 day visit. I’ll be connected online through that time but I probably won’t spend a whole lot of time blogging unless something really important arises. I’ll definitely Twitter randomly when the mood strikes. Hope your week goes well, i’m planning that mine will.

The Films:

1: Chicago
2: Gypsy 1993
3: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
4: West Side Story
5: The Nightmare Before Christmas
6: The Wizard of Oz
7: Scrooge
8: The Little Mermaid
9: Moulin Rouge
10: Dreamgirls

The Stage:

1: Gypsy
2: Stay Forever: The Dusty Springfield Story
3: Avenue Q
4: Ragtime
5: West Side Story
6: Side Show
7: Chicago
8: Mame
9: The Boy From Oz
10: La Cage Aux Folles

The Scores:

1: Mack & Mabel
2: Jekyll & Hyde: The Gothic Musical
3: The Boy From Oz
4: Ragtime
5: Les Miserables
6: Side Show
7: La Cage Aux Folles
8: Mame
9: Dear World
10: Bare: A Pop Opera

Honorable Mention:

Sunset Boulevard

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a press conference, protest and rally Monday, June 15th at 9:00pm at porn impresario Larry Flynt’s Hustler/Hollywood Store on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood (8920 Sunset Blvd.) to call for the introduction of landmark California legislation that would require the use of condoms by actors performing in porn videos produced by California’s multi-billion dollar adult entertainment industry.

AHF believes the State of California should mandate the use condoms by actors performing in films produced by the California industry. AHF further believes a ‘condoms in porn’ bill should be drafted as a worker safety provision of California’s Labor Code akin to how the Labor Code currently requires the use of hard hats and other garments and barriers as safely precautions on certain California work sites and locations.

What AHF’s goal? To ensure the safety of the performers? To influence and change consumer behavior? If it’s to protect the cast of adult films, it’s noble but if an adult performer is leery of catching HIV, they’d choose to work in condom only productions already or leave the business alltogether.

If the goal is to influence behavior of the consumer, good luck! Porn is a fantasy and if advocates want to play the morality card, porn movies would show nothing but 1 man & 1 woman engaging in missionary sex inside the sanctity of a marriage. The answer is NOT government legislation, it’s private EDUCATION. Inviting the government to monitor and oversee sexual activity is the first step of what could be a dangerous and treacherous staircase. As soon as government is given the key to unlock and peek through one door, it will try to unlock and condemn what is behind other doors. If the government or an advocate finds success legislating one area of activity, it will try to outlaw other acts it and it alone finds objectionable.

Advocates need to work harder to educate performers and consumers about HIV, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. If a performer is fully knowledgeable in what is safe and unsafe, for their bodies (not unlike how there are some good and bad foods) perhaps they will be less inclined to sell their sole possession - their bodies - for risky activity. Pressure also needs to be placed on adult film producers, not through legislation, to ensure more measured safety. I don’t work in adult films so I can’t hypothesize the types of reprimands that can be imposed but I strongly believe that if the performers are educated, band together - in union - and refuse to work for shady producers, then the producer will have to either cave in to the will of the performers, go out of business or, unfortunately, look for uninformed non-union labor. That is why mass education of the public is key.

Legislate until there is so much red tape that nobody can work until they’re eighty but if there are still diseases out there with no cures, all the precautions in the world won’t matter if performers and the public are still engaging in risky activity in their private life through lack of awareness and education. Red tape doesn’t stop an STD.

http://www.amfar.org

A prominent South Carolina Republican killed his Facebook page Sunday after being caught likening the First Lady to an escaped gorilla.

Commenting on a report posted to Facebook about a gorilla escape at a zoo in Columbia, S.C., Friday, longtime GOP activist Rusty DePass wrote, “I’m sure it’s just one of Michelle’s ancestors - probably harmless.”

Busted by South Carolina political blogger Will Folks on his FITNEWS blog, DePass told WIS-TV in Columbia, “I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest.”

Then he added, “The comment was hers, not mine,” claiming Michelle Obama made a recent remark about humans descending from apes. The Daily News could find no such comment.

http://www.nydailynews.com

Here’s a note that should be common to anyone who fucks up and has to later make amends or a retraction: Using the phrase “If I offended” is a cop-out apology. The point is not whether or not you offended anyone, the point is that you be an adult and own up to the fact that you made an asinine and thoughtless remark. Be an adult and make a REAL apology and don’t hide behind the “if I offended” phrase by laying the sensitivity on the shoulders of those you DID offend. You either become an adult and own up to your shit or you’re an immature child playing word games.

The top 4 are definitely the top 4, others might shift position depending on moods.

1: Prayers For Bobby, Leroy Aarons
2: The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins
3: Pocket Powter, Susan Powter
4: The Gay Book of Days, Martin Greif
5: The Big Book of Pasta
6: Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time, Ken Bloom
7: Big Lies, Joe Conason
8: The Prime Time Closet, Stephen Tropiano
9: Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford
10: Complete Stories, Dorothy Parker

This is a pretty rock-solid list, not much need to alter or change positions.

1: Golden Girls
2: Arrested Development
3: King of the Hill
4: Knots Landing
5: Frasier
6: The Judy Garland Show
7: The Carol Burnett Show
8: Dynasty
9: The Ellen Show
10: Dallas

Honorable Mention:

I Love Lucy

In semi-particular order.

No. 1: Can’t Stop The Music, Village People
2: A Shoulder To Cry On, Tommy Page
3: Left To My Own Devices, Pet Shop Boys
4: MacArthur Park, Donna Summer
5: With All My Heart, Deborah Gibson
6: I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor
7: Love Child, the Supremes
8: Where The Boys Are, Linda Imperial
9: Your Disco Needs You, Kylie Minogue
10: Be My Baby, Ronettes

The top 3 are pretty solid, the rest fluctuate depending on mood.

No. 1: Mommie Dearest
2: What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?
3: Girls Will Be Girls
4: The Wizard of Oz
5: The Women 1939
6: I’ll Cry Tomorrow
7: I Could Go On Singing
8: The Amityville Horror 1979
9: Strangers On A Train
10: The Out-Of-Towners 1999

Honorable Mention:
Life With Judy Garland - Me & My Shadows

Daisy Deadpetals elevates Joan Crawford, or, Mommie Dearest, to the stratosphere.

Courtesy The Drag Queen Posse

The Tony’s aired tonight. I’m entirely enthralled with the world and in love with everyone as a result. It’s the only awards show I have any interest in watching and always the source of great performances, speeches and montage’s.

If you don’t watch it because you don’t know the stars or any of the nominee’s, you’re missing out on a great evening of triumph and tragedy. This year was a wealth of both. Liza Minnelli and Alice Ripley gave a great show. Plus, Neil Patrck Haris was the host. True, I don’t watch his tv show but the guy was a good host.

Billy Elliot The Musical stole the awards, unsurprisingly. Liza laid claim to her own trophy. As did Angela Lansbury who marked her fifth trip to the podium. The aforementioned Alice Ripley left her mark on audiences with one of the wildest acceptance speech with what’s been said as the best of any awards show this year. Dolly Parton and Poison shared the stage and performed alongside each other. So did Liza and the three boys from Billy Elliot. Jerry Herman took a long overdue and well deserved Lifetime Achievement award. Frank Langella was out with tongue firmly in cheek as a presenter. Carrie Fisher was a comic genius. Jane Fonda, Bebe Neuwirth, Marcia Gay Harden and Lucy Arnez were stunningly beautiful. Aaron Tveit and Matt Cavanaugh were in fine form. The Billy’s acceptance moment was priceless as was Trent Kowalik’s performance.

It was a fucking brilliant show! I live blogged and Twittered the whole thing.

Too bad you missed it!