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. 

This past Saturday was a night of theatrical indulgence. First, I made my way to Good Luck Macbeth's theater to see their rendition of "Dial M For Murder". Reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel, this play has all the good qualities of a mystery; murder, an adulterous affair, blackmail, and a charismatic inspector to put all the pieces together. I have such awe and admiration for those that write mystery novels, screen plays, and the like; there is so much detail that the author must account for. In the case of "Dial M for Murder" a perfectly well conceived and thought out plan immediately turns to rubbish all because our slimy villain happened to overlook a seemingly minute detail that ended up being the game changer in our story. 

Afterward, we traversed the block and a half to Bruka Theater to see the last installment in their "Late Night TV Show" run; No Sex in the Biggest Little City. Inspired by an episode of Sex in the City, this TV episode was re-written a little bit to apply to Reno. When Carrie's - played by the masterful Mary Bennett - first voice over came on over the speakers I about peed my pants. The impressive cast of talented ladies - Stacey Spain, Kristin Moffitt Steedman, and La Ronda Etheridge - made this production come alive. It also didn't hurt that they had a ridiculously gorgeous man - Jason Burk - in a baseball uniform ... I'm just saying. 

The show brought up many fond memories of college. Three of my gay friends and I use to get together once a week at a local coffee shop in Wisconsin called Fair Trade, where we would talk about our lives, families, relationships, school, work, etc. One day we decided that we were going to title our rendezvous sessions "Four Gays in a Relatively Small Metropolitan Area". For the longest time I had aspirations about creating  show with that name; then I realized one already existed, "Queer as Folk". One of these days one of my ideas for a television show will pan out. 

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!!!

 Aside from starring in a musical porno film with Matthew Morrison. Hmmm musical porno, I think I am on to a new creative endeavour here. It will fit in nicely with the new GLEE church I want to open - this church would also perform GLEE weddings.

 My fellow Renoites, you have another opportunity to catch the last TV show in Bruka's run of "Late Night TV Shows" - The Golden Girls.

This infamous television show featured some - if not the - funniest and smartest women in comedy and television; Betty White, Estelle Getty, Bea Arthur, and Rue McClanahan. These iconic women have left impressions on all us. For many us, these four women created a generation of gays and are responsible for the bright flames of our faggotry. In many ways, the show allowed for audience members to reminisce. What comes to mind for me when I think of the Golden Girls? Firstly, I think of staying up with my mother when I was young and watching episodes - like I said, a whole generation of gays.  When I came back to the show years later I found a greater appreciation for not only the humor but the strong social messages woven into the storylines. Four elderly women, all sexually active, struggling with such issues as divorce, gay siblings, pregnancy, sex, HIV/AIDS, suicide, and more. The four women shed light on struggles faced by the elderly - as well as many other populations in our society.  

We performed the episode, "the Artist", to a packed audience, who stood in awe of four men who were able to convincingly portray these characters. When Adam (Dorothy) first walked on stage, the audience went absolutely nuts. The mannerisms, the tone of voice, and the costume have all been worked and refined to get it as close as possible to the actual characters. Any who attend this show will not be disappointed. The show starts at 11:00pm at Bruka in the heart of downtown Reno, with doors opening at 10:30pm. Admission to the show is just a mere $5.   Hope to see you all there!!!

I'm not an avid America Idol fan. After the awe-inspiring first season featuring the musical talents of the one Miss Kelly Clarkson, idol has been a disappointment. Contestants win and then end up doing nothing; their shining careers are over shortly after they have started. The feedback, critiques, and buzz phrases of the judges quickly became boring and overdone. Finally, the audition process became an awkwardly uncomfortable parade of non-singers who were hoping that they were so bad, that producers will give them their own reality TV show or help them release their debut album.

After hearing about the switches on the judge's panel, I decided to give Idol another try. In some ways, this latest season is the best yet. The judges have thoughtful and insightful commentary to give thecontestants as opposed to Paula's pointless, though hilarious, drug-induced feedback and obnoxious clapping.  Steven Tyler now provides the drug-induced commentary yet oddly enough I can follow him better than Paula. The contestants represent a unique and interesting makeup of the musical landscape of America. We have your stereotypical pop ballad singers, the country folks, and your rock fans. However there are also unique and "indie" performers that are in the competition this year. Individuals who can play multiple instruments beautifully and have a distinctive voice that makes them stick out from the rest.

One issue that I do have with the new American Idol is the judges' unnecessary commentary about how dumb the American public is when it comes to music. Every time a performer goes up and does anything other than sing a Mariah Carey song, the Judges begin a long diatribe about how they hope that "America gets it ...". What the hell does that mean? If Casey goes up to perform a Nat King Cole song while playing the cello it does not confuse me nor does it send me into a state of hysterics because he didn't perform a pop song, in fact I rather enjoyed it. Michael Buble is not a foreign artist to me nor do I believe that somebody performing Michael Buble is delivering us an avant garde performance ... it's someone singing Michael Buble. Come down to the Patio for karaoke and invariably somebody will be singing him.  

I may have the musical tastes of a 13-year old pre-teen girl, but I can still recognize and appreciate talent and good music when I see and hear it. So dear American Idol judges ... shut up ... and let America decide. I hear that is how democracy is supposed to work ... or something. 

The answer is because it hates me and is somehow trying to send subliminal messages to get my ass off the couch and go outside and experience …. Nature … or something to that effect; haha silly Universe, in the age of Hulu, Youtube, Netflix, and a arsenal of free streaming TV websites I shall never go outside again! Today, I learned the epic crime drama series Southland – staring the vivacious Regina King and the incredibly studly Benjamin McKenzie – got canned. I have barely gotten over the trauma of learning “No Ordinary Family” got the axe as well as the less than popular comic book hero, the Cape – incidentally the final episode of the show didn’t even appear in syndication and the few and unfortunate fans of the show had to watch it online. My question is why? In an age, where the consumer is faced with numerous choices of what to watch, how is that trite and trivial shows staring coke-addicted meth heads – cough cough 2 and a half men cough cough – are able to survive for 8 seasons, while smart, intelligent shows with gripping characters are not even able to bust out one season – some don’t even make it past the 4^th episode.

There are a few consistent patterns that I have noticed with cancelled TV shows. In general, if your television shows happens to deal with aliens, super heroes, mutant powers, magic, witches, science fiction, or alternate universes you have a greater chance of being cancelled than your non sci-fi fantasy counterparts. Along the same line, if you your show is written and created by Joss Whedon it will probably be one of the most original and amazing shows you have ever seen … but regrettably your show won’t make it past the first season.  If you’re show has too many characters; individuals need to be invested in the characters and be able to relate to them. If you have too many characters with disjointed storylines, audiences might not care about them … and if they don’t care, then they won’t watch.

Are we lazy? It’s comical to refer to someone’s TV-watching behavior as lazy, but perhaps that is what it is. Do we not have the attention span to stay engaged in an hour long drama?  Do we instead gravitate toward a 20 minute sitcom, whose self-contained plots and storylines are primarily filled with comedic one-liners? We, as audience members, don’t necessarily need to know anything about the characters to appreciate the show nor do I need to watch the show with such a critical eye, like you have to do sometimes with dramas, to identity plot twists and the like. Perhaps people do not want to make the time and energy investment required to get into a drama. But dear god people, I can only watch so many TV sitcoms whose premise involves an unattractive guy, working a dead-end job, who is somehow married to a ridiculously beautiful woman, and the two of them have a litter of obnoxious and irresponsible children and a gaggle of irritating relatives that periodically show up. All this boils down to one question really; did everyone in fact love Ray, or did they merely tolerate him or at best mildly like him.

Today I learned that Roseanne might be one of the greatest television series in history. The minute details that the writers, directors, costumers put into conveying the life of lower-middle class family in Landford, Illinois is astounding. Nowadays, your average sitcom might have their disgruntled bouts with one another, but only for comedic effect. Most of the time, these families are middle class/upper middle class families with two working parents - though you hardly see them actually working - navigating the sometimes trite mundaity of their life.

Today I learned that life truly is a miracle. In 9-month gestational period for humans, a million and one things need to align perfectly for a healthy baby to be brought into this world. During that time, any number of mutations, accidents, mishaps, or whatever could occur, terminating the pregnancy or irrevocably changing the life of that child - and their family - forever. I learned that some parents are willing to face that uncertainty while others are not.

Today I learned that if you want help you need to ask for it. Expecting people to come to your aid because you assume that they should or because if you were in their shoes you would offer to help, will only lead to disappointment and resentment. If you don't express what is on your mind to friends, co-workers, partners than you cannot possibly be mad. You take their ignorance as inconsiderateness. Today I also learned that sharing your true feelings with those around can be a liberating fulfilling experience, if those individuals are open to hearing it. Whether or not they are or aren't shouldn't stop you, though, for why should you live your life in state of perpetual terror.  

Today I learned that it is really not ok to listen to Miley Cyrus.

Today I learned that our system of law is racked with flaws. We pass laws to resign certain members of our citizenry to a second-class like status. Federal laws that are passed to help the individual are largely not enforced, dependent upon the state to define ambiguous language and incumbent upon them to enforce said federal regulations, and more often than not are blithely unaware that a law has passed and their state is not in compliance with new statutes. Of course, no one is necessarily penalized for the lack of follow through ... well except those individuals that might benefit from the new law or regulation.  

Today I learned that any meal can be made better with the addition of avocado.

Today I learned that people from Texas are different from the rest of the denizens of the US. Warranted or unwarranted, I think sometimes we - and our state - is better than everyone else. Being from Texas is like gaining instant entry into an exclusive club; a club that probably still wishes to secede from the US.

Today I learned that there are numerous children in the United States that lack basic necessities of life; food, water, love, shelter, safety. Years ago I learned that children are our future; today I learned that for many children in our country that future is bleak and hopeless. Today I learned that there are loving and capable parents, whose requests for adoption are denied, just because of their identity. I also learned that there are heroes everywhere that are trying to make the lives of children and families better and attempting to end this appalling reality for children in America.

Today I learned that, though Disney has an impressive lexicon of animated movies to their credit, I will always rank the trifecta of Disney classics - Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Aladin - above all other Disney movies.

Today I learned that the best way to start my morning is with McDonald's breakfast - 2 sausage biscuits and 2 hash browns Large Diet Coke. If McDonalds is not available than a Venti White Chocolate Mocha with an extra shot from Starbucks will do just fine.

Picture it. It’s a typical Wednesday night and the clock blinks an alarmingly red 7:53pm at you. You have everything set up; you checked the TV guide and verified the correct time and station – factoring time zones into the equation. You even used two brand new tapes, fresh from the shrink wrap, to make sure that you had plenty of space. If you have timed everything perfectly, you will hit the record button on the TV taping Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the family room and then run downstairs to your room in the basement and hit record button just as Charmed is about to begin.

Can you remember a time before the miracle that is DVR or Tivo? In a time before websites provided free streaming videos of your favorite TV shows, I remember having a library of VHS tapes – everything from TV movies of the week to the X-Files. Sometimes when I would run out of tapes and was unable to get more, I would have to make a difficult decision and sacrifice a tape to get taped over.

I remember giving family members explicit directions on taping my show, asking them if they were going to pause during commercials or periodically check in on it to make sure it was still recording. Or tapes having vague labels or labels that ripped off forcing you to put the tape in the VCR just to find out what was on it.  I also remember the devastation of miscalculating how much space you had left on a VHS tape and it cutting out during the final minutes of the epic season finale of your favorite TV show. Or even more tragic, watching your VHS tape slowly decrease in its quality – due to over-watching – to a point where you can no longer watch it.  

It’s scary to imagine that there is a generation of youth growing up lacking this pivotal character building experience.  The increase in channels and potential television shows to occupy one’s time with has come with an increase of venues to watch said programming. Though I don’t relish the days of the VCR nor have any desire to go back to them, there was something exhilarating of successfully taping multiple shows. There was a certain joy in having the ability to fast forward through commercials – no matter how slow the fast forward function was. However, I do not miss trying to find places in my room to store my VHS tapes. ;)

Los Angeles, CA: Groundbreaking channel Bravo TV is once again pioneering the fine art of reality TV with a new show set to debut this spring. Known for such masterpieces as Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, Top Chef All-Stars, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Beverly Hills, and New York, Bravo TV is certainly a leader in quality television; Project Bengay stands to be their greatest contribution to television yet. A spin-off of the already successful hit Project Runway, Project Bengay will follow the same basic premise except that the minimum age of contestants will be 55.

Pop culturalist and blogger Princeton Aarons applauds Bravo TV for their risk taking outlook. “It makes perfect sense. This is one of the last untapped communities in reality television. The show has a fresh perspective with an already pre-established fan base”.  Given the success of D-List celebrity Kathy Griffin's mother Maggie Griffin, this should come as no surprise. The elderly, and often drunk off of box wine, mother of the ginger comedian has become wildly successful after her appearance on the show. Dr. Parker Thomas, leading researcher at UCLA in TV/Film Studies, predicted this turn in focus to the elderly. “Audiences have become tired with the predictable patterns of drunken adults who sleep around and pregnant bratty teenagers. America is looking for an inside perspective into the golden years of America’s elders”.

Agnes Gladstone, one of the sixteen contestants, is a retired lawyer. After retirement, Gladstone pursued a number of hobbies – cross-stitching, Tae Bo, and archery – but ultimately fell in love with fashion design. “I was often disappointed by the selection at clothing stores. So I began making my own clothes and suddenly all of my girlfriends were asking for a chic comfortable outfit.

The show is rumored to have secured eccentric personality Joan Rivers as host; Rivers only commented that they were still in negotiations. Other suspected hosts for the show include Dame Judi Dench, Blonde, and Betty White. Some of the challenges for the 10 episode season include vintage versus retro, a modern funeral wear outfit, and a red carpet look for Helen Mirren. The show experienced minor setbacks early in the production process when contestants had difficulty remembering the challenges. Bravo's new television show "Project Bengay" is set to premiere March 16th at 6pm Eastern/5pm pacific.

The following is my attempt at fake news, much in the stylings of The Onion. The names, events, and places mentioned in this article are all fictional including Los Angeles. Stay tuned for more daily gossip articles!

This is probably one of the most exciting Super Bowls I have ever witnessed; it definitely helped that I had a team I was cheering for instead of just blindly watching the game with not caring who wins. Often when I am in that situation I choose the team that has the hottest players or the best colors for their jerseys. My Green Bay Packers attained an impressive victory against the Pittsburg Steelers, winning the Super Bowl 31 to 25. For once in my recollection of Super Bowl experiences, the game was far more entertaining and engaging than the lame ass commercials and less than stellar performances during the halftime show.

A quick examination of the Super Bowl – Lea Michele gave an incredible rendition of “America the Beautiful” which made me question why they then brought Christina Aguilera to sing the National Anthem. As gaytastic as Burlesque was, I still think that you should have gotten Lea Michele to sing the National Anthem – at least that way there is a chance that the rest of the GLEE cast will pop up out of nowhere and perform it with her. Now I wouldn’t have wanted to follow Lea – perhaps that is what contributed to the devastation that ensued. Christina got up there and started working it and I began to sing along with the overtly blonde diva. Close to halfway through the song I noticed that Christina and I were singing different lyrics. Confused – for at this point I had only two beers – I stopped singing and waited to hear where she was in the song. Uncertain at the time of whether she actually screwed up or if I was hearing things – it was confirmed this morning the pop star got caught up in the moment and fudged the lyrics. No honey, I love you, but you forgot the lyrics, and screwed up. Have we learned nothing from the slue of pop cultural icons that have braved to sing the National Anthem only to have their performance fall flat, literally and metaphorically? Without question the best performance of the National Anthem to date is the once great Miss Whitney Houston.

The Packers started off the first half with an impressive domination led by my future husband of life Jordy Nelson. At this point, I began to fantasize what it would be like to be a football wife. The newest addition to the reality show, I imagine myself wearing some large Derby hat and Jackie O suit, schmoozing with the other VIPS, and trying to sneak whoopee cushions on President Bush’s chair. Now, the other joy and thrill of watching the Super Bowl is watching all of the commercials that people will invariably be talking about more than the game the next day. However this year the commercials generally sucked beyond the telling of it. Dominated by a few key sponsors – Bud Light and Pepsi Max – the commercials were not funny at all. Honestly my favorite commercials were the ones that Eminem did and then the car commercial with the little Darth Vadar kid. Disappointed by the lack of ingenuity of the commercials, I anxiously waited for the halftime show – another make or break point for any artist. Featuring the Black Eyed Peas as the act for the show, I assumed the half time show would be absolutely stellar. I left the performance – a compilation of their greatest hits, featuring Slash and Usher – less than impressed and uttering a general “meh” at the end of it. The two most exciting things about the performance were Fergie’s bedazzled shoulder pads – to draw attention away from her voice - and Usher jumping into the splits – to draw attention from the fact that his mic wasn’t on. One technical catastrophe after another made the performance awkward and non-watchable at times.

As we entered the second half it seemed as though the Packers were loosing steam and perhaps unraveling a bit. The Steelers certainly capitalized on the Packers’ injuries and attempted a large comeback. Flashbacks of the Rose Bowl were flooding back to me and I got concerned that we would lose again – and all that trash-talking I did would come back to bite me in the ass. Thankfully that did not happen and my Packers held out and were able to squash the Steeler’s comeback and secure the victory.

After a rather fantastic game, life only got better with the return of GLEE. Featuring incredible musical numbers and a plot line that was both believable and endearing, I am truly pumped for the rest of this season. What was hilarious is that the GLEE episode centered on a championship football game and my roommate and I got way into it cheering and swearing at the screen. Realizing that it was not an actual game and was pre-scripted, we chided ourselves for getting so into it. I gorged myself to excess and am now regretting it today. All in all, it was a pretty amazing night.

Yesterday morning, I woke up with an incredibly annoying hangover. It was one of those hangovers where you find yourself in a dark room with a cold wet towel on your forehead, swearing that you will never consume any sort of alcohol ever again. Uninspired by what was on TV; I decided to see what was on demand.

Remember seeing previews for NBC's new superhero drama "The Cape", I decided to give it a try. I typically gravitate toward any “cape crusader” series, but as of left, the television shows have lacked originality or what originality they do have quickly fizzles out is replaced with trite dialogue and inconsistent character development/plot lines. However, if the plot sucks and is generally unbearable, then at least I can stare at a hot man in a spandex costume for an hour. 

I watched the "Pilot" episode and the follow up episode "Tarot". Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the show. When I first started watching the show I saw far too many parallels to other comic book/super hero story lines. Vince Faraday (David Lyons) works as a cop in Palm City - a generic made up city wrought with corrupt police officers and crime, not unlike Gotham or Metropolis. An evil power-seeking CEO named Flemming (James Frain) - somewhat similar to the infamous Lex Luthor - is attempting to take over Palm City, one bureaucratic office at a time. Flemming frames Faraday for a whole slue of nasty crimes. Believed to be dead, Faraday shacks up with a troupe of circus criminals led by the ostentatious and comedic Max Malini (Keith David). There ringmaster Malini instructs Faraday on the art of illusion, disappearance, and more all with the use of a “cape”. Faraday is also aided in her endeavors by a blogger in hiding named Orwell (Summer Glau) who serves as the tech guru and genius behind the operation.

Overall, the show wasn’t as terrible and crappy as I thought it would be. Though in many respects the show mimics classic storylines of some many other superhero shows/comics/movies, The Cape deviates just enough to engage me and keep me watching. The supporting cast is going to be crucial in the success of this show as well as the nuanced plot twists the creators decide to include. Also it will be crucial it include more moments of sexiness of David Lyons ... I'm just saying.