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Daily Archives: November 9, 2017
A Spot-On Joel Osteen Impersonator Punked and Trolled the Faithful at an Osteen Prayer Event in L.A. – WATCH
A Spot-On Joel Osteen Impersonator Punked and Trolled the Faithful at an Osteen Prayer Event in L.A. – WATCH
Michael Klimkowski, a Joel Osteen impersonator who has got the televangelist’s crap down pat, recently faked his way into a Joel Osteen prayer event at The Forum in Inglewood, California with his posse.
RELATED: Houston Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen Prepares To Open Church To Flood Victims After Being Shamed Online
Watch as J.O. is escorted through security at his event, takes selfies with starstruck worshipers and Forum staffers, and gets to the stage before someone is on to him.
Watch:
[One of Klimkowski’s crew] tells us that the confrontation recorded at the end of the video was with Osteen’s head of security. Though that guy asserts they’re going to the jail, Henke notes the “real police” just thought it was funny. “Especially because Mike, our ‘Joel,’ never really dropped character and kept getting approached by ‘fans’ even as we were detained.”
The post A Spot-On Joel Osteen Impersonator Punked and Trolled the Faithful at an Osteen Prayer Event in L.A. – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Robots In Cities
Robots In Cities
Robots are coming. What will they mean for urban life? I doubt they’ll be the perfections of the human form we see in the Blade Runner films. They’ll do particular, specified, tasks very efficiently. They are already common in closed environments – in factories and distribution warehouses. Out on the city street they’ll be focused initially on the dirty, dull and dangerous tasks: unblocking drains; monitoring tunnels; cleaning tall buildings.
As well as maintaining the urban infrastructure, robots will build our cities. As the off-site manufacturing of buildings increases, it will be automated. And on-site, robots may replace the construction worker. In Amsterdam, last year, I saw a metal canal-bridge being 3-D printed. In Dubai, last year, they 3-D printed an office with a cement printer in just 17 days – with a saving of about 50 percent on normal labour costs.
Robots will increasingly shape how people and products move in our cities. There has been a lot of publicity about Amazon’s investment in delivery drones in the skies. On the ground, Tesco have also been piloting a delivery robot and Ocado a driverless van.
The big investment is in the self-driving car. The UK Government wants the country to lead in this technology and is funding on-street trials, with various levels of automation, in cities across the country. Step-by-step, year-by-year, such vehicles will penetrate the market and the city until they’ll become the norm within 20 years.
This widespread uptake of autonomous vehicles will re-shape our cities further. With seamless, and instant, on-demand autonomous vehicles, why own a car? Why pay for parking? Why devote so much precious urban real-estate to inanimate metal objects? An MIT study estimated that Singapore could reduce the number or vehicles by two-thirds with full automation.
These developments will reduce pollution and free-up lots of space in cities. Multi-storey car parks may become urban farms; pocket parks may spring up on empty suburban streets; new housing may replace redundant expressways.
Autonomous vehicles will also have profound social and economic impacts. What do they mean for taxi-drivers? White van man? Or the school run? As automation changes, or replaces, existing jobs, society will have to adapt fast.
Of course, artificial intelligence and automation will actually augment many human tasks. Humankind has developed over millennia by developing and using new tools. And the doom-mongers underplay the productivity benefits of augmentation. But the transition will be painful for many. What films like Bladerunner do capture well is the underlying societal angst about the rise of the robot. This angst is already partly underpinning the election of populist politicians across the Western world. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a surge of 21st Century Ludditism – the modern version of the 18th Century textile workers, who smashed machines to protect jobs.
As with previous waves of disruptive technologies, new opportunities will, of course, emerge. Just as the desktop publishing revolution that destroyed print-workers’ jobs in the 1980s led to a huge increase in productivity and creativity, there will be upsides. And new policies will emerge: robots might be taxed to pay for pensions; universal basic income – like the one being trialled in Finland – might become the norm. But it doesn’t feel like politicians or citizens are well equipped to navigate these changes at the moment. Our more automated cities may also be more uncomfortable places to live.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/peter-madden-obe/robots-in-cities_b_18504346.html
HRC Endorses Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown for Re-election
HRC Endorses Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown for Re-election
Today HRC announced its endorsement of Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown in his bid for re-election.
“Since entering public office more than two decades ago, Senator Brown has stood shoulder to shoulder with our community, relentlessly championing justice, fairness and equal rights for every American,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Senator Brown has proven himself to be an effective legislator and one of our staunchest allies in the United States Senate. HRC is proud to endorse Senator Brown in his bid for re-election and we look forward to continuing to work with him to pass the Equality Act and achieve full federal equality.”
“HRC has a long record of making our nation a more just and equal society,” said Senator Brown. “I am proud to call them a partner in our efforts to ensure all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, are treated with dignity and respect. Working together, we will continue to stand with the LGBTQ community in Ohio and throughout America to reaffirm that hate and discrimination have no place in our laws or hearts.”
Sherrod Brown is a longstanding advocate for LGBTQ equality, scoring 100 percent on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard for the last six years running. He voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2010 and for passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009. Brown has also been a consistent ally for marriage equality, voting against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 and Constitutional bans on same-sex marriage in 2004 and 2006. He is currently a co-sponsor of the Equality Act, crucial federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ people under our nation’s existing civil rights laws. In 2018 he will likely once again face off against anti-LGBTQ Republican Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who lost to Brown in 2012.
HRC recently announced a bold, proactive grassroots expansion with the launch of HRC Rising — a campaign to accelerate progress in states from coast-to-coast, resist the politics of hate, fight anti-LGBTQ legislation, and fuel pro-equality candidates and initiatives. The expansion is the biggest strategic investment in the organization’s 37-year history and will include significant investments in Ohio. HRC has identified more than 1,550,000 Ohioans as likely Equality Voters, meaning they are strong supporters of progressive LGBTQ policies including same-sex marriage, adoption by LGBTQ people, and laws that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
| Paid for by Human Rights Campaign PAC and authorized by Friends of Sherrod Brown. |
GLAAD’s ‘Where We Are on TV’ report highlights why #RepresentationMatters
GLAAD’s ‘Where We Are on TV’ report highlights why #RepresentationMatters
Photo Credit: GLAAD
GLAAD today released its annual Where We Are on TV report; a comprehensive forecast of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ) characters expected in primetime, scripted programming in the 2017-18 television season. This is the 22nd year that GLAAD has tracked the presence of LGBTQ characters on television, and the third year since GLAAD expanded that count to quantify LGBTQ characters on original series that premiere on the streaming content providers Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix.
Of the 901 series regular characters expected to appear on broadcast primetime scripted programming in the coming year, 58 (6.4%) were counted as LGBTQ. This is the highest percentage of LGBTQ regular characters GLAAD has counted on primetime scripted broadcast programming. There were an additional 28 recurring LGBTQ characters. This is 86 total LGBTQ regular and recurring characters on primetime scripted broadcast TV, up from the previous year’s 71. The five broadcast networks are ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, and NBC.
VIEW THE FULL REPORT HERE
The number of LGBTQ regular characters counted on cable increased from 92 last year to 103 this year, while recurring LGBTQ characters is up from 50 to 70. This is 173 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters, though it should be noted that 27 of these characters are not expected to return for the 2018 season due to series cancellations, announced finales, or characters being written off but who appeared as a regular or recurring character during the research period.
On streaming originals on Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix, LGBTQ regular characters are up with 51 (from 45), but recurring characters are down by one to 19 this year. This is 70 LGBTQ characters on streaming original series, up from last year’s 65.
“As LGBTQ acceptance in government and the broader American culture reverses course, television is a critical home for LGBTQ stories and representation matters more than ever,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “At a time when the Trump administration is trying to render LGBTQ people invisible, representing LGBTQ people in all of our diversity in scripted TV programs is an essential counterbalance that gives LGBTQ people stories to relate to and moves the broader public to support LGBTQ people and families.”
For the first time, GLAAD has been able to count regular and recurring characters who are non-binary and asexual characters in the Where We Are on TV report. While these identities have been depicted on screen before, those characters were often relegated to one-off episodes, which did not allow for nuanced exploration. Broadcast is the only platform tracked without a canon asexual character; cable and streaming each count one asexual character (Raphael of Freeform’s Shadowhunters, Todd on Netflix’s BoJack Horseman).
The emergence of these new stories is reflective of the real world. GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance survey found that 20 percent of Americans aged 18-34 (a key demographic for networks) identify as LGBTQ. Twelve percent of 18-34 year olds would call themselves “not cisgender,” and four percent identify as asexual. The inclusion of these stories is a welcome change, and GLAAD looks forward to seeing more of these characters.
Other encouraging findings include a record-high percentage of series regulars on broadcast television who are people of color (40 percent, 356 out of 901), as well as a record-high percentage of regular characters with disabilities on broadcast television (1.8%).
While much progress has been made and TV remains far ahead of film in terms of LGBTQ television, it is important to recognize where programming is still falling short. This report brings to light the continued lack of diversity among LGBTQ portrayals on television. In all forms of television that GLAAD tracks, LGBTQ characters are still predominantly white (77% of LGBTQ characters on streaming, 62% on broadcast, 64% on cable). The majority of LGBTQ characters are men (55% of LGBTQ characters on broadcast), and cisgender. There are only 17 transgender characters across all three platforms tracked – broadcast, cable, and streaming originals.
“Numbers are only a small part of the story when it comes to LGBTQ representation on TV and simply being present onscreen is not enough,” said Megan Townsend, Director of Entertainment Research & Analysis at GLAAD. “While we’re pleased to see numbers on the rise, consideration of how LGBTQ characters are woven into storylines and whose stories are making it to screen is crucial for judging progress of the industry. And there is still work to be done.”
Additional findings include:
- Of the 901 regular characters expected to appear on broadcast scripted primetime programming this season, 58 (6.4%) were identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. This is the highest percentage GLAAD has found in the history of this report. There were an additional 28 recurring LGBTQ characters.
- The number of regular LGBTQ characters counted on scripted primetime cable increased to 103, and recurring characters increased to 70, making for 173 characters.
- There were 51 LGBTQ regular characters counted in original scripted series on the streaming services Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix as well as 19 recurring characters. This is an increase of five total characters from last year’s 65 total LGBTQ characters.
- Bisexual+ characters make up 28 percent of the LGBTQ characters tracked across all platforms (broadcast, cable, streaming originals), a slight decrease from last year. These characters still heavily skew toward women (75 women to 18 men).
- This year, there are 17 regular and recurring transgender characters tracked across all three platforms. Of those, nine are trans women, four are trans men, and four are non-binary. This is notably the first time GLAAD has been able to count non-binary characters.
- Racial diversity of LGBTQ characters remains an area of concern. Of the 70 LGBTQ characters counted on streaming originals, 77 percent were white. All three platforms tracked here – broadcast, cable, and streaming originals – lacked LGBTQ characters of color.
- For the first time since GLAAD has started this report, we were able to count asexual characters. Cable and streaming each include one asexual character (Raphael on Freeform’s Shadowhunters Todd on Netflix’s BoJack Horseman), while there are no canon asexual characters on broadcast. While the Jughead character is asexual in the Archie comics, The CW’s Archie series Riverdale is not yet telling this story. GLAAD would like to see the series address this moving forward, as the ace community remains nearly invisible in media.
- Only 43 percent of the regular characters counted on broadcast primetime television are women, a decrease of one percentage point from last year and a severe underrepresentation of the U.S. population, which is estimated to be 51% women.
- The amount of regular primetime broadcast characters counted who have a disability has slightly increased to 1.8 percent, but that number still vastly underrepresents the actualities of Americans with disabilities. There are only two characters across all three platforms that are depicted has HIV-positive, a decrease of one from last year.
GLAAD’s annual Where We Are On TV report not only propels national conversations about LGBTQ representation, but informs GLAAD’s own advocacy within the television industry. GLAAD uses this yearly data to create a clearer picture of the stories and images being presented by television networks, and to work alongside the networks and content creators to tell fair, accurate, and inclusive LGBTQ stories on screen.
Join the conversation by following @glaad on Twitter, and using the hashtag #RepresentationMatters. Read the full 2017-18 Where We Are on TV report at glaad.org/whereweareontv.
November 9, 2017
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www.glaad.org/blog/glaads-where-we-are-tv-report-highlights-why-representationmatters
The Truth About HIV and Being ‘Untransmittable’
The Truth About HIV and Being ‘Untransmittable’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared “Undetectable Equals Untransmittable.”
www.advocate.com/current-issue/2017/11/09/truth-about-hiv-and-being-untransmittable
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Ridley Scott to Replace Kevin Spacey in Film Out in 6 Weeks; Role Has Been Recast, Scenes to be Reshot
Ridley Scott to Replace Kevin Spacey in Film Out in 6 Weeks; Role Has Been Recast, Scenes to be Reshot
Ridley Scott’s All The Money in the World starring Kevin Spacey, Michelle Williams, and Mark Wahlberg is in the can and due for release in six weeks but Scott and producers from Imperative Entertainment, with the full support of Sony Pictures, has decided to cut Spacey from the film and reshoot all his scenes with Christopher Plummer.
The decision was made as as sexual assault and harassment allegations continue to mount against Spacey.
The film is based on the 1973 abduction of John Paul Getty III. Spacey played Getty’s billionaire grandfather in the movie, donning extensive prosthetic makeup for the role.
The recast comes just one day after Sony and TriStar decided to pull the film from the AFI Festival’s prestigious closing night spot.
In a statement provided Tuesday that confirmed the film’s exit from AFI due to the allegations regarding Spacey, TriStar Pictures called “All the Money in the World” a “superb film” that was “more than worthy of its place of honor in the AFI Fest.”
“There are over 800 other actors, writers, artists, craftspeople and crew who worked tirelessly and ethically on this film, some for years, including one of cinema’s master directors,” TriStar’s statement added. “It would be a gross injustice to punish all of them for the wrongdoings of one supporting actor in the film.”
The latest allegations against Spacey came yesterday from former Boston TV news anchor Heather Unruh, who said Spacey sexually assaulted her teen son on Nantucket in 2016.
An allegation against Spacey by actor Anthony Rapp snowballed into an avalanche of similar accusations including filmmaker Tony Montana, who said that Spacey groped him in public in 2003, and the actor Roberto Cavazos.
That was followed by an as yet unnamed man who claimed Spacey raped him at 15, and 8 crew members on House of Cards who said they were harassed by Spacey as well as a London bartender who said Spacey flashed him and then tried to shut him up with an expensive watch.
Spacey was also dumped by his agency, CAA, his publicist Polaris, and also by Netflix.
The post Ridley Scott to Replace Kevin Spacey in Film Out in 6 Weeks; Role Has Been Recast, Scenes to be Reshot appeared first on Towleroad.
It’s Not For Me Say If Boris Johnson Should Lose His Job
It’s Not For Me Say If Boris Johnson Should Lose His Job
Richard Ratcliffe is the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian charity worker currently detained in Tehran’s Evin prison.
In this exclusive vlog for HuffPost UK, Richard talks about his wife’s deteriorating mental and physical condition, and the effect the separation has had on their daughter Gabriella.
After the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson erroneously told Parliament Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in the country last week, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was dragged again before a court and charged with spreading propaganda, exposing to her a potentially even longer sentence. Here, Richard explains why it’s not for him to say if Johnson should lose his job – he just wants to see his wife home for Christmas.
For more information on the campaign to free Nazanin, click here or sign the Change.org petition here
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/richard-ratcliffe/nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe_b_18512176.html
Trump’s 14 Most Egregiously Homophobic and Transphobic Moves
Trump’s 14 Most Egregiously Homophobic and Transphobic Moves
Only a year after being elected, the tyrant-in-chief has bulldozed over LGBT rights.
www.advocate.com/politics/2017/11/09/trumps-14-most-egregiously-homophobic-and-transphobic-moves