ENTERTAINMENT NEWS FOR US

SiriusXM OutQ’s “The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick” Launches Search for “America’s Best New LGBT Pop Star”

Larry Flick—veteran Billboard editor and pop culture commentator—has launched the search for “America’s Best New LGBT Pop Star” on The Morning Jolt, his daily show on SiriusXM’s 24/7 LGBT channel OutQ.

Flick is teaming up with music industry veteran Rosie Lopez, VP/Tommy Boy Entertainment, to find the next artist with the talent to conquer the country. The winner will have their original single released by Tommy Boy Entertainment and distributed digitally by ReverbNation.

Flick and Lopez will play select entries with a rotating cast of guest celebrity experts weekly for listeners across the country, offering constructive critiques and career advice. The winner will be announced live February 17 on The Morning Jolt. Visit www.sirius.com/outq and www.xmradio.com/outq for Official Rules and details.

Since its inception in 2009, The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick has become an influential voice in pop music, premiering releases from a variety of new and established acts—including Lady Gaga, Leona Lewis, Duffy, La Roux, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, The Noisettes, Florence + The Machine, Mika, Adele, Far East Movement and Tony® winner Levi Kreis. 

The Morning Jolt airs live Monday – Friday from 7:00 – 11:00 am ET on OutQ, Sirius channel 109/XM channel 98. Flick also hosts Feel the Spin, a weekly music show on OutQ on which he plays hits-in-the-making by budding and superstar acts from all over the world as well as must-hear recordings by the legends and unsung heroes of rock, pop, disco and country. 

OutQ is a trailblazer in LGBT media, offering groundbreaking coverage of social and political issues, as well as music, news, and entertainment programming, all of which is produced by and for the LGBT community. For more information on OutQ’s programming visit www.sirius.com/outq and www.xmradio.com/outq.

 

New Social Network for Gay Men is ‘Fab’ – As in Fab.com

Expanded Site Includes Largest Global Directory of Gay-Centric Places & Events; Company Closes $1.75 Million in Series A Financing

NEW YORK, NY (January 14, 2010) – Combine Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Eventful and Foursquare, tailor it to the gay community, and what do you get? Fab.com, a new social network designed to help gay men discover people, places and activities wherever they live or travel anywhere on the globe.

Launched as Fabulis.com seven months ago, the renamed and newly expanded Fab.com:

·      Now has more than 110,000 members with 40% logging in at least 10 times per month, 25% visiting more than 50 times per month, and upwards of 5,000 new users joining on a weekly basis.

·      Just introduced the largest worldwide directory of gay-friendly places with accompanying rankings, reviews, tips and photo uploads, complementing the site’s interactive profiles and extensive database of gay-relevant events.

·      Offers a full-featured iPhone app including the ability to check in, identify your current location, name the people you’re with, upload images, rate places, provide tips, and perform all other functions available from the Web.

·      Just closed the first $1.75 million Series A financing with investors including First Round Capital, The Washington Post Company, Baroda Ventures, and Zelkova Ventures, adding to an earlier $1.25 million in angel financing.

“Before Fab.com, people thought of gay social networks as dating sites. Fab has a completely different mission,” said founder and CEO Jason Goldberg. “We help gay men meet new friends anywhere in the world, find places to go and things to do that suit gay tastes, share their experiences through reviews and rankings, and in general expand their social circle in a way that fits the gay social graph.”

Passport to the Gay World

 

Goldberg, a serial entrepreneur who previously founded the social news site Socialmedian that was sold to XING AG in 2009 as well as the employment website Jobster, was inspired to create Fab after encountering difficulty in finding gay-centric online recommendations while working in Europe.

He set out to fill the void with a new platform that would serve as a central clearinghouse of gay-oriented activities and destinations as well as providing a safe forum for gay conversation removed from Facebook communications with family and co-workers.

In a unique approach to promoting member interaction, Fab builds user profiles by adding content based on the member’s check-ins and answers to questions posed by other users – whether they know each other or not. The site currently handles more than 15,000 user-answers to questions every day, essentially hosting dozens of freeform conversations that help “Fabbits” get to know each other as well as exchange advice on navigating the gay environment.

Users can check in directly on Fab or import their Facebook check-ins, search for gay-oriented events by city and date, filter those searches by Fab followers if desired, and view lists of top-ranked Fab people, cities and tags (e.g. writer, activist, gamer, foodie, musician, blogger, etc.) to quickly zero in on people with common interests. 

With the new Fab Places feature, members can also browse a database of more than 50,000 gay-rated locations in categories ranging from travel, food, nightlife and bed and breakfasts to arts, shopping, buildings and outdoors – complete with comments that meet gay needs in a way that reviews like those on TripAdvisor and Yelp cannot.

“If you’re going to Boston next week and you post that on your Facebook wall, it’s not going to help you when you get there. With Fab, you can find out what events are going on in Boston, who’s going to be there, arrange to meet, and research gay-friendly hotels and restaurants – all in one place,” said Bradford Shellhammer, co-founder and chief creative officer. “Facebook still helps you communicate with your current friends, but Fab gives you a whole new channel for expanding your horizons and connecting with the gay community wherever you go.”

What could be more fab than that?

About Fab.com

Fab.com – the fun way to discover the gay world – is the definitive resource for gay men, helping them find “fab” places to go, things to do and people to meet. Fab’s website and mobile applications provide instant access to the largest global index to gay-centric places and events, unique interactive profiles that assist in making new friends, and other features that quickly connect members to the best of gay life. The company is headquartered in New York and has development operations in Pune, India and Deinze, Belgium.

Ramblings of A TV Junkie: CBS To Advertise Hate Group During Super Bowl

CBS Sells Ad Time to Anti-Gay Group.

Pride Entertainment Online would like to make our GLTB community aware of the fact that CBS has accepted for broadcast a couple television spots from Anti-Gay group Focus on The Family. These ads will be broadcast during and preceeding the Super Bowl on Feb 07 2010. 

This news first came to my attention in an article written by Lyndon Evans for an online newspaper, The Gay Agenda, (website: www.GayAdenda.com) late last week. Evans, a former CBS employee, expresses his dismay at the actions of his former employer by saying “to sell ad time to a hate group which professes to spread the gospel and “family values” is unconscionable.” He further goes on to suppose that “if we were back in the 30’s and 40’s CBS would be selling ad time to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis”  (Lyndon Evans Gay Agenda article can be found HERE ) 

The article written by Electa Draper, a columnist for the Denver Post, that Evans referenced in his, reported that the Super Bowl ad will heavily feature 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Lebow and his mother. 

At the time of this writing there has been no confirmation from my sources at CBS, nor from Focus On The Family about the thrust, tone, or subject matter of the upcoming Super Bowl ads, the group Focus On The Family has been in the past noted for their vociferous protestations against birth control, abortion, homosexuality and gay rights as well as other issues. In their writings and adverts, their ministry frequently eschews the truth to rely on stereotype, rumour, and rhetoric to make their points. (Electa Draper’s Denver Post article can be read HERE)

As an out gay man I am appalled that CBS, who has been known in the past to be gay compassionate, if not outwardly gay friendly in their dealings with our community, would even consider these ads.

In protest I will not be watching the Super Bowl, nor CBS’s hit shows The Mentalist, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Ghost Whisperer, Medium and Numbers for quite a while unless they address and redress this issue. As an ardent fan of these six series, this is a heady sacrifice to make.

NOTE: Clay Travis of ncaafootball.fanhouse.com shares an additional viewpoint on Tim Lebow’s role in this matter HERE.

Ramblings of a TV Junkie: Heroes and Witches

In response to the TV Squad question about Heroes; I will stick with “Heroes” for a little while longer.

Although Samuel’s character’s motivations confound me, I think he is a nice addition to the cast of characters. My questions about him would be: Is Samuel a man with good intentions, albeit misguided about his follow-through? or Is he a true villain gathering together people with powers to retaliate against those who might persecute them?  As to Sylar, I think he is a flawed hero that is also misguided and confused as to his purpose in life. (He’s just trying to find his place in the world) 

I am happy that “Chuck” will continue, although in a new time slot, as I’ve routed for him all along. Chuck has been a nice attempt to recreate the popularity of the Spy-Fi genre that was popular during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s (Burke’s Law, Honey West, The Avengers, Charlie’s Angels, The Bionic Woman, Six-Million Dollar Man, Knight Rider, Et al).

Jennifer Jones, Franz Werfel … and Me.

I have a personal tradition which I observe twice a year.  A tradition that the recent death of an actress whose performance I greatly admire reminds me that I still need to observe. The actress’es name was Jennifer Jones.

This tradition I observe is a simple one. Its involves myself, a cup of Rose Hip tea and watching a certain movie. 

The movie I watch is ”The Song of Bernadette“

Why is this movie of interest to me?  Well for several reasons.

One, being Jennifer Jones’ performance.  Her performance was very understated, not full of bold broad movements that were gaining popularity at the time, but demure and simple. A performance that borders on elegance, yet spoke volumes about the character she was portraying with its simplicity. The soft-spoken delivery of her lines, the small short movements she made on-screen all added to her portrayal of the simple peasant girl who first saw the Virgin Mary in a grotto in Lourdes. (and this performance brought her an Oscar as well!)

The second being “Faith.” I am not Christian but I admire people of simple faith greatly.

I must make a clarification though. There is are big differences between “Faith”, “Religion” and “Spirituality”.  In my opinion “Faith” is a belief in things of a spiritual nature that are felt but not seen (or as one of my favorite films states “Faith is believing in things that common sense tells you not to”); “Religion” is an organized belief system based on ideology and dogma; “Spirituality” is a sense of a higher power that guides us and that we can tap into for guidance.  “Spirituality” can lead one towards “Faith” (or vice versa), Either of these CAN (if you choose it) lead you to “Religion”

Thirdly, is the story behind the creation of The Song of Bernadette.

The book that forms the basis of this movie was written by author Franz Werfel, who was married to Alma Mahler (but more about that later).

Werfel was a Jew that escaped from Nazi occupied France with the help of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee. While Werfel was “hiding out” in France he and his wife visited the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, where Werfel found a sense of spiritual solace experiencing much help and kindness from the citizens of Lourdes and the Catholic orders that staffed the shrine.  He promised that he would write about his experiences in Lourdes.

Werfel kept this promise upon the 1942 publication of the historical novel, The Song of Bernadette.

The book told the story of Bernadette Soubirous who had seen the visions of the Virgin Mary. The book also placed the events in a historical context of the times they occurred. While embellishing much, Werfel also included many facts that he learned by interviewing many of the older villagers who knew Soubirous during her lifetime, and  by researching church documents and other written works. However as Hollywood is known to do, Hollywood’s adaptation included creating a romance between real-life characters that most likely did not occur in Soubirous’ life, making some characters more villainous, and dramatizing events that never occurred (her deathbed scene).

However as a fan of this film I urge you to take a couple hours and watch it. … Which reminds me I myself have a tradition to observe soon!

[Historical Note] Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee helped Werfel and many thousands of other artists and intellectuals escape the Nazi’s regime. If Fry hadn’t helped Werfel and his wife survive, The Song of Bernadette would have been never written, the movie never made, and Jennifer Jones would (most likely) still be Phyllis Isley. In addition Werfel’s wife would never have been able to smuggle out the works of her first husband Gustav Mahler, and these symphonic works would most likely still be missing.

Story Links of Note (courtesy of Wikipedia):

• Movie: “The Song of Bernadette“
• Novel: The Song of Bernadette 
• Author: Franz Werfel 
• Historical figure #1: Varian Fry
• Historical Figure #2: Gustav Mahler
• Historical Figure #3: Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel

Welcome To My Blog

Welcome to Pride Entertainment Online’s blog.

This blog serves as a companion to my web magazine, Pride Entertainment Online, which is located at:  www.PrideEntertainment.web.officelive.com.

Within the pages of this blog you will find information about the magazine and its contents.

Pride Entertainment Online is an online magazine geared towards the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual community as well as our friends and supporters.

Our current issue: "The OZ Issue"

Our current issue is “The Oz Issue” which celebrates a legendary film precious to our community and the film’s star that went on to become one of the GLTB community’s most beloved icons. The film is (of course) The Wizard of Oz and it’s star is Judy Garland.

“The Oz Issue” also pays tribute to the book that inspired the movie and the film’s lasting legacy on pop culture.

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