ABC made waves this past week when it announced the line-up for the 13th season of Dancing with the Stars(DWTS). This season will showcase such D-list celebrities as Rob Kardashian - the brother to the famous Kardashian sisters -, Ricki Lake, David Arquette, and Carson Kressley - former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy commentator. However the person causing quite the controversy is political activist and son of superstars Cher and Sonny Bono - Chaz Bono. Chaz was born female but last year decided to take the tremendously courageous step to change his sex and officially change his name. The addition of Chaz to the season's cast has caused families to question if they should continue supporting ABC and DWTS; how will the parents of American ever be able to explain the scary and confusing concept of "transgender" to their children.

Angry conservative individuals, with little or nothing to do with their day, stormed the online ABC message forum to voice their opinion on why including Chaz on the show was a perversion and travesty to the show - many of whom had supported the production for years. Here are a few of the choice comments from the message board courtesy of Jezebel:

"A person who would allow his children to view perversion, to teach them that perversion is normal and acceptable, that is a person who hates his children"

"ABC doesn't know what "family" or "child-friendly" means. Have you ever seen their ABC Family channel? I would never let children watch that homosexual lust fest. It's sickening that they try to promote homosexual lust, portray it as something equal with Christian love. But ABC is owned by Disney, purveyor of homosexual entertainment that makes its money off of children."

Seriously? A homosexual lust fest; I think I attended one of those a few years ago. As someone who frequently watches the ABC Family channel there is nothing even remotely close to resembling a homosexual lust fest. Most of the programming involves privileged white girls keeping secrets or lying in some capacity, having babies and getting married at ridiculously young ages. If anything, their programming is some subversive heterosexist agenda to glorify teen marriage and parenthood. Hmm, I can't deny that Disney is a purveyor of homosexual entertainment ... shall we just examine High School Musical?

I didn't realize that ABC was the pinnacle model of virtue and morality in America. So many of the past DWTS cast members have been outstanding members of society. Many parents are concerned having to explain "transgender-identified" individuals ... I am concerned about having to explain everything else. How do I explain the idea of "sex tapes" and not using sex to bolster one's career or self-image after Kim Kardashian and Kendra Wilkinson were on the show? How do I explain unplanned pregnancy and teenage motherhood to my child after Bristol Palin was on the show; "no honey, Bristol is not a role model, but hypocritical tramp who made a mistake, but mommy is not a governor of a state ... or has a real vagina. so I won't be able  bail you out of problem should you get pregnant". 

****NEWSFLASH INDIVIDUALS**** Simply having someone who is transgender one your show is in no way FLAUNTING the "preverse" transgender lifestyle to the impressionable youth of American ... oh and btw I work with the youth of America ... they are not that impressionable. ****

All I know, is that the opposition has gotten so loud that they have dragged the one and only Miss Cher into the battle, and Cher is not pleased that people are being assholes to her son - full article here. At this point ... give up ... Cher is a hundred year old Cyborg from the future that has been sent back to save the world from general unfabulousness. I would not want to go toe-to-toe with Cher. I would be afraid it would be the start of Transformers 4: Gypsies, Tramps and Robotic Superstars. 

I just really hope that people don't watch this season for the express purposes of watching Chaz getting kicked off. I hope he makes it all the way to the end and sticks it to those fuckers. 

You'll love the train of thought on this one.

One of my near and dear friends is currently living it up in Mexico at the moment. While logging onto facebook this morning I noticed that he had tagged me in a photo; which is odd, because unless I am mistaken I haven't traveled to Mexico in the past couple of weeks. Intrigued, I open up the photo. What displayed on my screen was a little Mexican figurine. He aptly titled the photo "Miss Ginger Devine, Día de los Muertos style!". First I noticed how the figurine and I looked oddly similar. Then I noticed that me, as a figurine, is ridiculously skinny - praise Jesus - even if it is because she is a skeleton.  

So then I had a random thought that eventually played out into a fantasy and now is my new business venture; Ginger dolls! Imagine an entire line of my very own barbie-like dolls. I thought about the collector's editions that I would periodically release. Here are some of my favorite themes that I would have as part of my line.

1. Burlesque Ginger - complete with pop-off corset

2. Soccer Mom Ginger - complete with cooler full of margarita mix, a microphone to shout disparaging comments at other children. Bedazzled mini-van sold separately.

3. First Lady Ginger - features either blue or red power suits.

4. Croutching Tiger Hidden Drag Queen Ginger - the ninja Ginger. Accessories for this Ginger include Press on Nails Ninja Stars and her stilleto katana

5. Ghetto Ginger - complete with vocal sound bytes. Ghetto Ginger will intermittently say such things as "why are you getting all bijigady in my grill", "oh no he didn't", and "security!"

6. Autobot Ginger - aid Ginger as she tried to stop the Deceptacons and make the world a safer place.

On top of many of the variates of dolls that I would offer, I would also periodically release collector's editions like "Ginger Does her Favorite Divas" with me dressed up as Bette, Cher, Celine, Mariah, and Tina. There would also be the "Wizard of Oz" collector's edition with Ginger as the magnificent Glinda - with only a limited amount of flying pink bubbles available for sale. I think I could be on to something here; imagine the ridiculous and fabulous wardrobe options for a drag queen barbie doll.

Best part is that if I actually got a Ginger doll, then I would be able to break out my NSYNC dolls and have "play dates" - I'm just saying - and then break out my Cher doll and have Ginger and Cher play "dress up". My life would be complete ;)

I went and saw Burlesque for the 80 billionth time now. Every time I see the film I discover suttle nuances to the picture and fall in love with it more and more.  This is primarily due to the on-screen chemistry between the timeless Cher and the comedically-talented Stanley Tucci. The movie - though not receiving great praise from critics - is slowly and surely becoming a fan favorite. The soundtrack is blowing up the charts and most recently held the #2 ranking on the ITUNES chart. The movie was successful in that they incorporated classic components of a great romantic comedy with undertones of fame and achieving one's dreams and all that hooplah. Those components would be:

(1) Aspiring young blonde talent from podunkville nowhere who use to work in a bar/pizzaeria

(2) Hot man for girl to fall in love with and generally be nude throughout the movie

(3) A brassy club owner with a chip on her shoulder who decides to give the young blonde talent from podunkville nowhere a chance.

Then I realized that with a few modifications this could aptly describe a number of movies. The one that popped into my head the most was Coyote Ugly . The 2000 romantic comedy features Piper Perabo as an aspiring song writer who moves to New York with dreams of fame and success only to find herself working at Coyote Ugly - a bar featuring female entertainment - run by the sassy Maria Bello who decides to give this no-name girl from Jersey an opportunity. Similar to Christina in Burlesque, she is an instant success at the bar but of course struggles with family, work, and relationships on the road to overcoming her stage fright to finally save the day.

Thankfully, movie-goers can be rest assured that you will not find such trifiling crap in Burlesque. Instead of New York in a bar, we find ourselves in LA at a Burlesque club - which is so much better. The movie also leaves out such things as character development and sustainable plot and in lieu of that adds more dance/musical numbers. There were two things that held my attention and captivated me throughout the movie.

(1) Cher - This queen is 80 years old and doesn't have a single line on her. She is positively ageless and looks remarkable in this movie. She even debuts a track in the movie from her upcoming album entitled "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" - how appropriate seeing as how most people thought that after her farewell tour 20 years ago that she would leave the stage for good. Her voice is phenomenal throughout the show however I did notice that Cher doesn't really move at all during the movie. The dance sequence in the beginning features her standing and looking from side to side. Her face also doesn't move which made it really funny to see her do the dramatic serious scenes. I understand that Cher's pioneering efforts put plastic surgery on the map and it certainly shows in this film.

(2) Cam Gigandet - famous for his rather unfortunate brief appearance in Twilight, Cam is the one ofthe main reasons that I continued to watch the movie during scenes when Cher was not on screen. Aguilera's attempt at acting was laughable at best but Cam's rippling muscles and adorable personality - as well as him getting butt ass naked in the movie - managed to hold my focus.

Burlesque is definitely worth seeing - multiple times in fact. As long as you are not one of those movie-goers looking for the answers to life in the framework of a movie. The movie features flashy dance numbers exhibiting outrageous costumes, comedic wit served by Tucci, and I even appreciated Kristen Bell's jealous bitchy character. 

Most exciting though. The premiere of Burlesque, I believe, is going to mark the 3rd age of Cher ... THE RESURRECTION!!!! I see a flood of new movie offers coming her way which will coincide nicely with the new tour that she is developing as well. All Hail CHER!!!  

For the life of me, I cannot fall asleep. Reno has blossomed into Summer and with that means unbearable heat. I have both of my windows wide open, praying that a slight breeze might come my general direction. I am way too hot and uncomfortable to even think about sleeping anytime soon. So aside from rocking out to the FAME soundtrack and engaging in an epic game of RISK on Pogo, I thought I would do a blog entry.

It's been two weeks, so I thought I would do another couple of selections of my favorite song covers for the week.

CHER - COVERING "WALKING IN MEMPHIS": Now, it has been established that award winning actress and entertainer of the millennium Cher is one of my idols and icons of life. It is not very well known that Cher in 1995 she covered Marc Cohn's infamous hit Walking in Memphis. Once you adjust yourself to hearing Cher sing this, it is actually a really good cover. 

SAM TSUI & ALLISON WILLIAMS - COVERING "BREAKING FREE": Yes, shocking as it might be, I am probably one of the biggest high school musical fans in the world. There was a period in my life where all I did was listen to High School Musical - or HSM as groupies call it - all day, everyday, imagining that Zac Efron was singing to me instead of that annoying girlfriend of his Vanessa Hudgens. So I am constantly on the lookout for good covers of HSM songs. Now, Sam Tsui actually has a lot of videos on youtube and even a youtube show called College Musical. It's definitely worth checking out - witty writing mixed in with great vocals.

ALANIS MORISSETTE - COVERING "MY HUMPS: I remember working office hours at one of my student org. jobs back at UW-Madison and a co-worker coming in saying that we had to check out this video. I had always been a big fan of Alanis Morissette. Jagged Little Pill had rocked my 4th grade mind and though I did not understand most of the lyrics of the songs at the time, they spoke to my soul none the less. More than anything the video is just hilarious. It showed this humorous and comedic side to Alanis that I don't think necessarily comes across immediately.

Stayed tuned for more selections and feel free to post your own choices as well!

I heard a rumor through the grapevine that the iconic entertainer and drag queen role model Cher was playing on putting on another tour once her contract at Caesar's Palace expires. I immediately begin scouring the internet looking for any and all information about the Diva's return to the touring stage. There wasn't a whole lot of information about it - sadly and disappointing enough. A bay area radio station's website explained that she was working on a new album and the soundtrack for her upcoming film Burlesque with Christina Aguilera. Reports state that she already has a hit lined up for the album entitled Already Been There which she intends to premiere in a few weeks at the World Music Awards. Cher, has already previously put on the Farewell Tour - which she said was going to be the last time she ever performed in a touring concert series, though she would still record music. The tour lasted from 2002 to 2005 and was the second most successful tour by a single solo artist at the time.

God bless you Cher. Not only do you provide makeup and wardrobe inspirations for all of us queens out there but here you are 63 years old and having a second farewell tour. The comedic gold of another Cher Farewell Tour is going to be epic especially coupled with Whitney Houston's current cancellations of more concert dates of her own comeback tour.Poor Whitney, she has been seen with Bobby Brown and her old friend cocaine again.

I really do aspire to be like Cher. Her tenacity, smart business sense, and incredible determination and work ethic got her to where she is now. I hope that at 63, I still look that hot, and my picture is slapped in the dictionary under fabulous, sparkly, and iconic. I hope that she is still descending on adoring fans from a crystal chandelier when is 80 ... then not so many people will judge me when I do it at 85.

So for my mom's 60th birthday, we decided to have a big family reunion get together and travel to Vegas. It was a big dream of my mother's to go see the infamous Cher perform - huh weird, it has been my life goal to see diva herself ever since I came out of the womb.

So there I was about 9 rows back in the orchestra section of the Coliseum at Caesar's Palace attempting to soak in all the fabulousness that was and is Cher. Cher has reached such a level of divadom that she has a museum that is set up leading into the theater with all of original Bob Mackie designs inspired by Cher herself. It was so hard to not attempt to steal every costume that was in this museum. Knowing my luck I would make it all the way to airport security and then notice that I am attempting to take a 15 foot headdress on an airplane and then some CNN breaking news bullshit would come on about how there had been a theft at the Cher store. It would be all over then.

Anywho, the Cher experience was unforgettable. She may be 63 years old but there is not a single wrinkle or line on her entire body and some of the outfits she donned that evening left very little to the imagination. The show was presented as a linear outline of Cher's career. She pretty much performed all of my jams except she did not do "Bang, Bang". She has everything in her show that I eventually want to have, elaborate costume and wig changes, hot male dancers performing some Cirque du Soleil bullshit, and a bedazzled closet the size of an elephant. You know, all the normal things that a young aspiring drag queen wants in life 

So, it should come as no surprise that one of my heroes and idols of life is the infamous Cher. I recently learned that Cher is returning to the screen with a major starring role in the movie Burlesque. The movie which also stars Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell, and Alan Cumming is set to premiere in November of 2010 ... which is way way too far away. The basic premise of the movie is that Christina Aguilera is a small town girl from the midwest who comes to LA to follow her dreams. While there she comes across a slightly failing theater called The Burlesque Lounge - run by the fabulously iconic Cher. For pictures from the movie as well as a further description of the movie check out this blog devoted to the movie. Apparently they will not wrap up production of the movie until February so we shouldn't expect a trailer for at least a little while.

This is really the first major role that Cher has had in over a decade - Tea with Mussoilini premiered in 1999. I cannot relate how ecstatic I am for this. First of all it proves all of the haters wrong that believe Cher is a old Jurassic fleshbag and should have retired years ago. I just saw Cher in Las Vegas for her big concert and even though she is 63 years old she doesn't look a day over 25 and still puts on a hell of a show.

The movie Burlesque is a musical drama, which seems to be a running theme in TV and Movies. Musicals have always been popular in their own ways but over the years with many productions being translated to the silver screen AND, let's be honest, the rise of the High School Musical empire, musicals are ever incresingly popular and are now more accessible to the general audience. Musicals move quickly, are generally campy and therefore can get away with a ton of shit, and flashy and thus able to hold of the attention of the average American which at this point is about 5 seconds. I am totally in love with this new trend because in general I believe that life and other productions would be vastly improved if they were a musical - for pretty much the reasons I stated above. So I will keep everyone updated about any new developments with Cher or this new movie!!!!!