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From NY Daily News:

“Borat” star Sacha Baron Cohen packed an Arkansas cage fighting match with beer-swilling good ol’ boys who got the shock of their life when the male fighters started tearing off their clothes and making out.

The elaborate stunt is expected to be part of Cohen’s next big flick called “Bruno,” in which he plays a campy gay fashion reporter from Austria.

Posters for the Blue Collar Brawlin’ event were promised “hot chicks, cold beer, and hardcore fights” but got a little bit more when another Cohen character, “Straight Dave,” pulled an audience member into the ring. The audience member was in on Cohen’s scheme and all hell broke loose when the two stripped to their tighty whiteys and locked lips.

“It was all staged to get a reaction,” said Karin Hobbs of the Ft. Smith Convention Center. “The crowd went nuts when they started making out.”

Cops broke up the event on June 6 after audience members started tossing beer and threatening to rush the stage. Cohen and another performer had to race off-stage to safety through a tunnel as the cameras rolled.

Cohen’s publicist, Matt Labov, declined comment.

An elaborate array of mounted and handheld video cameras captured the crowd of 1,600 who had to sign release forms to gain entry. Cops invited to the event were also fooled by the “Borat” star and not happy. “They said it was to essentially poke fun at wrestling - two guys rolling around on the floor, all sweaty,” said Fort Smith police sergeant Adam Holland. The officers thought they were in on the joke, but were not prepared for the man-on-man display.

It “went right up to the line” of the city’s morality laws, said Holland. “It set the crowd off lobbing beers. They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually.”

Cohen became a national celebrity after his 2006 hit “Borat,” in which he played a bumbling reporter from the Central Asia nation of Kazakhstan. He has often used the “Bruno” character originally developed for his HBO “Da Ali G Show” to shock homophobic individuals. His past targets have included racist and anti-gay skinheads.

Click on the photo below to see the complete gallery.

We’ve compiled a series of photos to illustrate the real Harvey Milk and how Sean Penn was transformed during the film to look like him. We also have photos from The Castro, what it looked like pre-production, and how they transformed it for filming that wrapped in 2008.

The older photos were sourced from Uncle Donald’s Castro Street where you can view lots of great images from the era.

(photo source)

Almost 30 years after his assassination by a fellow city lawmaker, Harvey Milk returned to San Francisco City Hall, according to Mercury News. A bronze bust of the first openly gay politician to win an elected office of any prominence was unveiled Thursday evening on what would have been Milk’s 78th birthday. Milk, long considered a martyred hero of the gay rights movement, is the first non-mayor to have his likeness permanently installed in the civic building. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 and shot to death a year later along with Mayor George Moscone by Dan White, a former police officer who had just resigned his supervisor’s seat.

The bust, sculpted by the Berkeley-based Daub, Firmin, Hendrickson Sculpture Group and based on a photograph taken by a friend, shows Milk with a wide grin and his tie fluttering in the breeze. It sits atop a solid granite base inscribed with a prophetic statement he recorded before his death.

“I ask for the movement to continue because my election gave young people out there hope. You gotta give ‘em hope,” it reads.

Standing 75 inches high and weighing over 200 pounds, the sculpture also has three scenes depicted in relief on the base. One features Milk during his stint in the Navy, another shows him riding in a gay pride parade, and the last depicts the candlelight march held the night of the assassinations.

The sculpture was unveiled during a gala reception, seven years after the Board of Supervisors first passed a resolution authorizing a public memorial for Milk. The project was delayed when the private committee formed to raise money for the project had a hard time soliciting donations.

The private funds were ultimately secured and the sculpture ended up costing $57,500, with another $26,500 going toward a design competition, engineering and installation, said Jill Manton, director of public art for the San Francisco Arts Commission.

A panel of jurors selected the winning design of the grinning Milk from three finalists. Another entry was a more serious, classical design and the third was contemporary interpretation, Manton said.

“Everyone really felt that this particular proposal captured his vitality, his vigor, his energy,” she said.

The bust will stand in a ceremonial rotunda outside the Board of Supervisors chambers, a spot where couples frequently choose to get married. Manton said she expects the bust to be popular with City Hall visitors, especially now that California has legalized same-sex marriage.

“What I’ve heard from the head of the docent tours is the most frequently asked question (by visitors) is, ‘Where is the statue of Harvey Milk?’ or ‘Is there anything commemorating where he was assassinated,” she said.

The installation comes at a time of renewed interest in Milk and his legacy. A biographical film starring Sean Penn as the slain supervisor is scheduled to be released later this year. In the meantime, California lawmakers have been asked to establish a state holiday in Milk’s honor. Mercury News

(Harvey Milk)

If Harvey Milk was alive today, he’d be turning 78 years old. 

Harvey Bernard Milk (22 May 1930 – 27 November 1978) was an American politician and gay rights activist, and the first openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco, California. He was, according to Time magazine, “the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet”.

As the self-described “Mayor of Castro Street” he was active during a time of substantial change in San Francisco politics and increasing visibility of gay and lesbian people in American society. He was assassinated in 1978, along with Mayor George Moscone, by then recently-resigned city supervisor Dan White, whose relatively mild sentence for the murders led to the White Night Riots and eventually the abolition of diminished capacity defense in California.

Harvey Milk was named in the “Heroes & Icons” section of Time magazine’s Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century. Many institutions and organizations are named for Milk, including the Harvey Milk Recreational Arts Centre, Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, the Harvey Milk Institute, the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library,and the Harvey Milk Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgendered Democratic Club in San Francisco.

Outside of San Francisco, there are a number of alternative schools named for Milk in the United States, including Harvey Milk High School in New York City. Oakes College at the University of California, Santa Cruz has an on-campus apartment building named Harvey Milk.

In February 2007, the city of San Francisco agreed to erect a bust of Harvey Milk in City Hall in tribute to his service and memorialize his life’s work. A lengthy process to choose a design took place and a gala installation event is planned for this evening to coincide with Milk’s birthday.

In April 2008, the California Assembly passed a bill that would declare May 22nd “Harvey Milk Day”. We are now waiting for the Senate to pass it.

Director Gus Van Sant’s film titled Milk was filmed on location in San Francisco in January 2008. It stars Sean Penn as Milk, Josh Brolin as White, Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, Victor Garber as Moscone, Lucas Grabeel as Danny Nicoletta and James Franco as Smith. Reportedly Tom Ammiano will portray himself. It is set for a November 2008 release.

Like many women (and men), we are pretty excited about the upcoming Sex and the City movie. While the show was awesome for its humor, fashion and catch-phrases, what often gets overlooked is that Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) was a Mac girl. From 1998 through 2004, Carrie almost always started and ended each show typing on her Mac. Can you really imagine someone that fashion and style conscious using anything else?

The official website for the movie has added a new feature, “Carrie Bradshaw’s MacBook Pro” that allows fans to “explore” the virtual desktop of our favorite fashionista, answer trivia questions in “chat” windows with other SATC characters, based on clues found on the desktop, to unlock bonus content/videos and for a chance to win a Sex and the City movie poster.

http://www.sexandthecitymovie.com/macbook/#

One critic at the late-night viewing said: “It woke up all the dopey critics and practically got a standing ovation.”

If you want to see the trailer, check it out here. 

Woody Allen’s new movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, is set for release in September, and is looking as if it might be a hot, sexy film. The movie’s first video trailer was released today and shows just how sexy this movie is likely to be, including a steamy lesbian scene between Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz, and lots of Javier Bardem’s body (who’s very sexy, even though you wouldn’t believe that from No Country for Old Men).

In the movie, a painter (Javier Bardem) meets two American tourists (Johansson and Rebecca Hall) and becomes infatuated with both. Ex-lover Cruz isn’t too happy about it, though. In the newly release trailer, there’s lots of foreplay and sex, but no words - which is how hot sex sometimes should be. 

The movie opens in theaters September 5. Here’s the trailer.

Source: TheImproper

(source)

A statue of San Francisco’s first gay supervisor is going to be unveiled during a gala party at City Hall this month.

The project to place the memorial of former Supervisor Harvey Milk is a joint undertaking between the Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee and the San Francisco Arts Commission. It is reportedly the first such public/private partnership of its kind.

The effort to honor the politician began in 2003 when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution supporting the creation of such a memorial.

Milk advanced the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights by becoming one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country, winning a seat on the board of supervisors in 1977. Less than a year after taking office, he was assassinated by a political opponent.

The statue is being unveiled May 22. May 22 would have been his 78th birthday, and is being considered for Harvey Milk Day by the California State Legislature. 

Source: cbs.5

The following short on gay rights for “Amnesty International,” was directed by Juan Varela and features Slim Khezri. 

The spot will be presented as well at this years “Cannes International Film Festival” (14-25 May 2008).

(source)

Word on the street is that Focus Features has called up The Hudson Valley Film Commission to help find locations for the upcoming film, Taking Woodstock. The Hudson Valley Film Commission operates in conjunction with the Woodstock Film Festival to help with preproduction, production, and postproduction for filmmaking in the Hudson Valley and Catskill region. 

The film, Taking Woodstock, is to be directed by Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee’s, and is based on the memoir of by Elliott Tiber, whose parents owned a motel near Bethel. Taking Woodstock examines how Tiber kept his gay lifestyle hidden from his family, his involvement in the Stonewall Riot and the role he played with the 1969 concert. Tiber helped promoters of the 1969 Woodstock concert find Yasgur’s Farm, where they held the famous concert after being turned away from different locations.

According to PoughKeepsieJournal, a production designer and location scout from Focus Features have visited the Hudson Valley, checking on possible locations for Taking Woodstock, scheduled to start filming in August. The production designer and location scout will return to the region soon with Lee to visit possible filming locations.