Tag Archives: village-voice

KimYe Kaught Up In TSA Security Investigation After Boarding A Commercial Flight Without Pat-Down

The Transportation Security Administration don’t play that Kim Kardashian And Kanye West Involved In TSA Security Investigation According to TMZ reports : Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are at the center of a TSA investigation following a major security violation at JFK yesterday … but the TSA tells TMZ Kimye is NOT to blame. We’ve learned … K&K had taken a flight from Brazil to JFK on Tuesday, where the plan was to catch a connecting flight to Los Angeles. But once they landed in NY, the couple met up with an airline greeter … who, according to the TSA, allowed them to bypass a key security checkpoint to get them to their next flight as quickly as possible. After Kim and Kanye took their seats on the L.A.-bound plane … a TSA agent yanked them off the flight … and made K&K go through another layer of security. We’re told the plane was delayed for roughly an hour while the couple was screened by TSA agents. TSA claims that KimYe was not at fault for the security breach. “An airline employee escorted the two travelers through a non-public area in order to provide expedited access to their domestic flight.” “In doing so, the airline employee violated security protocols by permitting the travelers to by-pass the TSA security checkpoint. TSA officials learned of the violation and conducted a private screening of the two passengers in the area of the jetway.” “The passengers were cleared to board their flight, which departed after a delay of approximately 50 minutes. TSA is actively investigating the incident.” The couple ultimately touched down in L.A. … where they were greeted by a gaggle of paparazzi … but seemed incredibly calm considering all they had been through. This airline employee is going to lose his job and possibly catch a charge behind being a KimYe stan. The least Kim and Kanye could do is try to get homie a gig for his effort. Image via Splash

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KimYe Kaught Up In TSA Security Investigation After Boarding A Commercial Flight Without Pat-Down

Quote Of The Day: “Gay Will Never Be The New Black…” Gay White Student Takes A Stand Against Equating Homophobia To Racism

Gay White Student Examines Similarities Between Struggles With Racism And Homophobia A gay white male student recently shared his thoughts on the similarities between being a black person dealing with racism and being a gay white person dealing with homophobia. via Huffington Post Mainstream gay culture privileges the white narrative, and it does so at the expense of its own legitimacy. As Baldwin understands and so eloquently states, the fight against homophobia and racism are undoubtedly entwined through their shared struggle for human dignity. However, conflating the two does discernible harm, both to those persons of color who are repeatedly forgotten in progressive social movements, and to white LGBTQ persons who tarnish their own humanity by forgetting the humanity of others. In one of the most interesting excerpts from the piece, the student examines Baldwin’s point that white gay citizens often feel slighted because society teaches them that they are entitled to ‘white privelege’ and therefore supposed to be protected from bias and hatred. Baldwin explains that white LGBTQ men and women feel slighted precisely because they know that had they been straight, they would have been heirs to incomparable privilege. In a 1984 interview with Richard Goldstein, then the editor of the Village Voice, Baldwin said, “I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, in a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality puts them in danger, unexpectedly.” He went on to say: Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to their sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society. There’s an element, it has always seemed to me, of bewilderment and complaint. Now that may sound very harsh, but the gay world as such is no more prepared to accept black people than anywhere else in society. He concludes the write up with the thought that although strides are being made with gay rights, they will never be the same as the struggles with racism. As we celebrate Black History Month this February, and as we await the Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality, we must remember that the struggle to restore dignity to people is not finished. The work to ensure that all people have access to fair and equitable employment, health care and proper medical attention and aren’t targets for violence by the police or their fellow community members must continue even after gays and lesbians are granted the right to marry the persons they love. This is not a new civil rights movement as some have said but a different one. Baldwin’s legacy teaches me, as a white person and an LGBTQ activist, that gay will never be the new black, and that the fight for racial equality is far from over.

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Quote Of The Day: “Gay Will Never Be The New Black…” Gay White Student Takes A Stand Against Equating Homophobia To Racism

Hate It Or Love It?!?! Minnesota’s Hip-Hop “Sensation” Y.N. Rich Kids “Hot Cheetos And Takis” [Music Video]

These kids must be EATING! North Side Kids “Hot Cheetos And Takis” Ok, so we’re admittedly a lil’ late to this party, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know a banger when we hear one! According to The Village Voice Surely you’ve heard of “Hot Cheetos and Takis,” the banger from the Y.N.RichKids, by now? The song, a product of the Minneapolis North Community YMCA’s Beats and Rhymes Program, is as infectious as its titular snacks are artificially flavored, with what appears to be a bunch of community school-educated pre-teens spitting the ode to the convenience store staples. It’s also sincerely one of the best rap songs of this summer. It’s actually really nice to see little kids rapping about little kid isht, as opposed to Chief Keefin’ (yes, he’s a verb now) and rappin’ about guns and killing people. So without further ado… Image via YouTube

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Hate It Or Love It?!?! Minnesota’s Hip-Hop “Sensation” Y.N. Rich Kids “Hot Cheetos And Takis” [Music Video]

Smokey and the Bandit at 35: A Case for the Genius of Hal Needham

As part of their 100th anniversary, Universal Studios has just released a commemorative Blu-Ray edition of Smokey and the Bandit . Today, the 35-year old Burt Reynolds vehicle is mostly remembered for Reynolds’ good ol’ boy schtick, Jackie Gleason’s mugging and first-time director Hal Needham’s stuntwork. Unfortunately, while Needham’s contributions to Smokey are probably the most essential, he remains the least renowned of that bunch. But thanks to the behind the scenes featurette included on Universal’s new release, laypeople and stuntwork junkies alike can get a good idea of why Smokey and the Bandit belongs to Hal Needham. Apart from co-writing the film’s screenplay, Needham, the best paid American stuntman to date, also played a big part in casting Smokey and the Bandit (Reynolds, in archival interview footage, compares the film to “Chinese food” and “sex”). After working with Reynolds on Gator , Needham showed the leading man the script for Smokey . Reynolds, who put Needham up in his house for twelve years after Needham divorced his first wife, immediately scoffed at the crude screenplay but quickly succumbed to Needham’s charms. The same was true of an initially skeptical Gleason. According to Needham, the cocky pitch that he won Gleason over with went something like this: “‘I’m going to direct it, I love your work, and I think it’s a funny, funny part for you.’ He says, ‘I’ll do it.’ That’s all there was to it.” Needham’s utterly charming take-no-prisoners attitude also won over co-star and singer Jerry Reed. Reed apparently banged out East Bound and Down , the film’s iconic theme song, overnight. When he played it for Needham, he nervously offered to change it if it wasn’t satisfactory. “‘You change one word, one note and I’ll choke ya,'” Needham recalls jocularly threatening. Still, the car chases and crashes that Needham choreographed are undoubtedly the best reason why the man was and remains such a memorable presence. “By the time we got to the last shot, we barely had a car runnin’,” Needham recalls. He specifically remembers that the Trans-Am used during the film’s iconic bridge jump scene was a wreck after it landed on the other side of the bridge. But that devil-may-care attitude is why everyone wanted to work with Needham, a man that broke his back twice and is still walking. In the featurette, Needham describes a stunt where a cop car vaults onto the back of a flat-bed truck. For the first take, the car overshot the truck but that didn’t phase the stunt driver. “He just stuck it back in gear,” Needham said, “went back to his start position and said, ‘Ok, Hal, ready for take two.’ So we did take two and we got it.” Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has been featured in outlets like The Village Voice , Time Out New York , Vulture and Esquire . Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects at Extended Cut .

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Smokey and the Bandit at 35: A Case for the Genius of Hal Needham

‘RJ Berger’ Star Paul Iacono Comes Out

23-year-old actor opens up to The Village Voice about his sexuality and his new show, ‘Kenzie’s Scale.’ By Jocelyn Vena Paul Iacono Photo: Getty Images “The Hard Times of RJ Berger” star Paul Iacono took to Twitter on Wednesday to open up about his personal life, announcing to the Internet that he is gay. “Yes I’m gay,” he tweeted . “And yes, it does get better. #YOLO.” (#YOLO is short for “You Only Live Once.”) Iacono opened up about his decision to come out in an interview with The Village Voice, noting that while he does identify himself as gay, he believes that sexuality isn’t all that black and white. Yes I’m gay. And yes, it does get better. #YOLO — Paul Iacono (@paul_icon) April 11, 2012 “I didn’t think I’d be coming out. But why not now? I think it’s the right time to say something. It’s not about me, it’s about change and the work,” he explained in the interview, adding that his sexuality wasn’t always something he was comfortable talking about. “I grew up in a really old-school Italian traditional family in New Jersey. I tried coming out a couple of times as a kid, from 13-14 on, and was always squashed on,” he recalled, before noting that it then took years for him to open up to his family about it. “I was just coming to terms with the fact that I was bisexual, which culturally I do identify with as a gay man — I am attracted to girls, I’m just attracted to guys much more. I had to feign heterosexuality for a couple of years,” the 23-year-old explained. “It messed with my head. It took me a longer time to be OK with it. It was not until I was 18 that I came out with my mom and 20 with my dad. I was older and able to address it from a different perspective.” He now wants to explore those themes on his new show, “Kenzie’s Scale,” which is not only the name of a character on the show, but also a reference to the famed Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale designed by Dr. Alfred Kinsey that places a person’s sexuality on a scale of one to six. “The whole reason we came up with ‘Kenzie’s Scale’ is to give young gays characters to look up to. … I didn’t have much to look up to as a kid,” he explained to The Village Voice. “I had to search to find like-minded images. I’m happy to be that person so kids won’t have to grow up and be afraid of their sexuality and this won’t be an issue.” The show follows a young couple, Cole (Iacono) and Kenzie, who continue to live together as roommates in New York City after Cole realizes he’s gay. Iacono described the show as a “radical young ‘Will & Grace.’ ” Related Videos It Gets Better

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‘RJ Berger’ Star Paul Iacono Comes Out

‘RJ Berger’ Star Paul Iacono Came Out For ‘Gay Pride’

‘It’s our duty to the community to step forward and be vocal,’ actor tells MTV News. By Jocelyn Vena Paul Iacono Photo: MTV News “The Hard Time of RJ Berger” star Paul Iacono made headlines this week when he revealed that he’s gay . The actor said he wanted to come out now because “we need to have gay pride.” “I feel really good,” he told MTV News, just a day after the Village Voice posted the candid interview about his sexuality. “I fell like a weight has been lifted that I didn’t know was there. I’ve been out with my friends and family for five years, but coming out in a public forum like that is inspiring to myself and hopefully to other people. “I think at the moment, we need to have gay pride, because there are so many people who don’t feel as comfortable as I do,” the 23-year-old continued. “And it’s taken me a very long time to get to be comfortable about it, but it’s our duty to the community to step forward and be vocal. I’m gay, it’s cool.” The events that led to his coming out just kind of happened, he explained to us. “A lot of the work I do writing-wise tends to have gay themes, and I’m performing in a piece, in a play in New York, ‘Justin Sayre Is Alive and Well … Writing’ … and there are some gay themes in the play, and the producers asked me If I was comfortable doing gay press,” he recalled. “And I said, ‘Of course,’ and [writer] Michael Musto of The Village Voice sort of brought up the fact, I know him socially, [and asked] if I was comfortable coming out, and I was like, ‘Why not?’ I’m happy to be. I’m happy to shed some light to people who don’t have the courage to do so.” He added that it was the right place and time up to the New York-based columnist, calling him a Big Apple “icon,” adding, “I was very honored to use that forum to have this discussion.” While he’s been out to his family, Iacono did want to give them a heads-up that he’d be coming out on a much bigger scale. “I called my mom and my dad, and i just told them I was doing this, and my mom and my dad are both very New Jersey Italians, and my mom was like, ‘But, yeah, you’re gay already; everybody knows.’ And I was like, ‘No, not everyone knows. Most people assume you’re straight, as crazy as that is.’ I was telling my younger brother, and I was like, ‘You never had to come to Mom and Dad and say, “Mom and Dad, I’m straight.” ‘ It’s a double standard and it’s pass

Why Ya Gotta Be So Hard on Gigli?

“It’s got Ben Affleck as a big, dumb mook, and, well, he’s pretty good at it. And it’s got Jennifer Lopez playing her most interesting character since Out of Sight But those two are the reason that Gigli arrived with such built-in hostility from moviegoers and critics, because this was the film where the duo met and fell into the PDA-heavy romance that become such a constant, unceasing annoyance in the months that followed. It was a classic example of buyer’s remorse — through tabloids and entertainment ‘news’ programs, we couldn’t get enough Bennifer coverage, and then, in the blink of an eye, we’d had enough, we were done with them, and we didn’t want to see anything that had anything to do with them.” Yeah! Sheesh. Actually, no , but still. [ Flavorwire ]

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Why Ya Gotta Be So Hard on Gigli?

Women Film Journalists Favor Artist, The Help, Bridesmaids

Awards! So many awards — this time around it’s the Alliance of Women Film Journalists passing along the EDA Awards, their annual choices for the best, worst, weirdest and otherwise noteworthy films of 2011. Find an old standby at the top of the list, along with a few of the Alliance’s customarily female-forward and refreshingly cheeky (“Most Egregious Love Interest Age Difference Award,” anyone?) accolades. Congrats to all the winners! EDA ANNUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS Best Film : The Artist Best Director : Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist Best Screenplay, Original : Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen Best Screenplay, Adapted : (TIE) The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash; Moneyball – Steven Zallian and Aaron Sorkin Best Documentary : Buck Best Animated Film : Rango Best Actress : Viola Davis as Abileen in The Help Best Actress in a Supporting Role : (TIE) Janet McTeer as Hubert Page in Albert Nobbs ; Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson in The Help Best Actor : Michael Fassbender as Brandon Sullivan in Shame Best Actor in a Supporting Role : Christopher Plummer as Hal Fields in Beginners Best Ensemble Cast : Bridesmaids Best Editing : Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker Best Cinematography : The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki Best Film Music Or Score : (TIE) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Original Score; Hanna – The Chemical Brothers, Original Score Best Non-English-Language Film : A Separation – Ashgar Farhadi, Iran EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS Best Woman Director : Lynne Ramsey – We Need To Talk About Kevin Best Woman Screenwriter : Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo – Bridesmaids Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star : (TIE) Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ; Saoirse Ronan as Hanna in Hanna Best Animated Female : Isla Fisher as Beans in Rango Best Breakthrough Performance : Elizabeth Olsen as Martha in Martha Marcy May Marlene Female Icon Award : Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs in Albert Nobbs Actress Defying Age and Ageism : Helen Mirren as Rachel Singer in The Debt This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry : Jessica Chastain for performances in four highly acclaimed films AWFJ Award For Humanitarian Activism : Angelina Jolie for UN work and making In The Land of Blood and Honey to raise awareness about genocide. EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award : The Hollywood Reporter for failing to invite any women to join the Directors Roundtable Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent : All actresses in New Year’s Eve Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn‘t : Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Unforgettable Moment Award: The Artist – The sound of the glass clinking on the table. Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction : (TIE) Melancholia – Justine in the moonlight; Shame – Opening sequence on the subway train. Sequel Or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award : The Hangover Part II Most Egregious Love Interest Age Difference Award : (TIE) Albert Nobbs – Glenn Close (64) and Mia Wasilkowska (22); Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I – Bella (18) and Edward (Over 100) [ AWFJ ]

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Women Film Journalists Favor Artist, The Help, Bridesmaids

‘That Jackass’: Armond White Charms Again at the NYFCC Awards

Looker proprietor and all-around swell guy Lawrence Levi braved last night’s New York Film Critic’s Circle Awards so you (read: I) didn’t have to, submitting to Twitter one of the juicier exchanges overheard on a night when anecdotal blips rained down like thumbs at an Adam Sandler flick. Perhaps obviously — despite the attendance of such luminaries as Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro and others — we turn the spotlight to contrarian messiah Armond White, in conversation with Best Supporting Actor award-winner Albert Brooks about a certain recently laid-off Village Voice institution : At NY Film Critics Circle awards dinner, I overheard Albert Brooks ask Armond White, “Is J. Hoberman here?” White replied, “That jackass.” Tue Jan 10 04:17:19 via web Lawrence Levi lawlevnyc Yowza! I mean, at least this year White downgraded from ” That racist ,” but… Anyway. This guy! [ @lawlevnyc ]

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‘That Jackass’: Armond White Charms Again at the NYFCC Awards

Justin Bieber Movie Reviews: Mostly Positive!

Hey, did you hear that Justin Bieber is starring in a 3D biopic about his life? The singer hasn’t been engaged in much publicity about the film, but it’s true. While it’s likely that every teenager under the age of 18 has already pre-ordered tickets for the release of ” Never Say Never ,” it should be encouraging to read that movie critics have given the flick mostly positive reviews. A handful of examples follow… Though anyone who needs convincing won’t touch this one with a 10-foot pole, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never makes a persuasive case for its titular star as a far more talented-than-usual teen idol. – Variety Justin Bieber: Never Say Never may be the concert film as glorified promotional product, but it captures a genuine youthquake. – Entertainment Weekly The surprising thing about the new behind-the-scenes documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is that it should have appeal well beyond the star’s young, adoring female fan base. – Box Office Magazine An undeniably engaging musical portrait that delivers major bangs for the buck. – Hollywood Reporter There’s no scrimping on the Bieber here, but he’s a curiously vague presence, obscured in the shadow of this monument to his brand. – Village Voice

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Justin Bieber Movie Reviews: Mostly Positive!