this is fyf

Was this gentleman the biggest gay pimp in Hollywood?  His book says he was.

Perhaps the most (only?) redeeming aspect of the whole conflama over Lana Del Rey's indie-cred amongst music bloggers is that authenticity is still (implicitly) valued.

(What a buncha fickin' posers!)

~~~~~

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

Lana Del Rey joins Yoann/Woodkid for an encore.

This weekend, "Hung" star Thomas Jane 'fessed up to being a hustler in real life when he was 18, homeless and starving in L.A. In the new times we live in, he fully owns letting "a guy buy me a sandwich" and acknowledges he was experimenting with his sexuality. What he says next ruffled some feathers amongst the commenters over on Towleroad but I feel largely sympathetic to his point.

"Jane: You're a lot more open to experimentation as a young man. And for me, being a young artist and broke in Los Angeles, I was exploring my sexual identity. And probably because of my middle-class, white blue-collar upbringing, I would have never had the opportunity to confront some of my own fears and prejudices had I not been hungry enough to be forced to challenge myself in that way.

Interviewer: So then it was productive for you in terms of self-knowledge?

Jane: Yeah, absolutely. It blew the doors off of my conventional upbringing and thinking and opened up possibilities for me that were akin to World War III. And then you actually have a choice, and I chose to be a heterosexual guy because that's what my DNA dictates and my nurture dictates that I am.

Interviewer: Then is that a choice?

I don't know. I think up to a point it's a choice. But I'll tell you what — it's not a choice until you're open enough to experience both male and female sexuality. Until you've tasted the food, you don't know whether you'll like it or not, as my mom always said."

(Emphasis mine)

His reasoning and expression of it is a bit rough, but the point I hear him trying to make is that we ultimately choose how to channel our sexuality, and I agree with him - with qualifications of course - on that point. I'd much rather stand proudly and own my sexuality as something I've "chosen" after having explored, experimented with and ultimately found a particular category that best fits me and my inclinations and desires than the passive-aggressive "It's not a choice!" which could just as easily be interpreted, "I'm a victim, here!", depending on the context.

More importantly (?), the message is you gotta try shit out first before you KNOW. I feel like this is pretty damn fundamental in every other area for Americans, EXCEPT sexuality. I also feel like this is not so true of the young generations coming up now. And - all jokes aside - I think it'll only be when they have that freedom to experiment with different expressions of themselves and their sexuality (within reason?) without condemnation that we'll truly begin to experience sexual freedom.

Image via

The curious marriage of corporations and non-profits is getting some light.

Oh!  This is a nice read about how a corporation (AT&T) uses its donations to force non-profits to do things for them.  This is something so very important!  GLAAD lost six board members over the controversy just this morning!

Speaking of focus...where's yours while watching this video?

We're getting a reputation with all these Undergear posts, but there's something simultaneously titillating (er...dicknotizing?) and repugnant about the brand's presentation that creates a whole (not hole) that's fascinating for a wide variety of reasons.

Some thoughts while watching this video:

• There are clear pros (both at walking and stealing/holding the spotlight) and amateurs in this line up.

• It's as fun (maybe more so?) watching the audience as it is the models.

• Expert(?) lighting, again, both spotlights and obscures the object of everyone's my focus when we get down to briefs and smaller.

• I've never noticed that much...er, movement in a show before, but I must have seen other shows with models wearing jocks, briefs and thongs or similar. Maybe it's the "construction" of the garment that gives the model's "walk" such "life"...

• My favorite - Ben - looks like he just adjusted before taking his final turn. He has been appealingly bashful every time he's appeared.

• Last thought: Mr. Guardino (Shaved head. Next to last in the final walk.) is having his moment, damn it!

Photo of Undergear model Christopher Fawcett that gives quite a bit more..."information", via (I am not - in any way - a fan, but just happened to run across this picture yesterday. [demur, demur])

Oscar Follow-up 2: 'Inside Job' has NOTHING to do with pr0n but IS about getting f*%#ed.

 
Another winner in Sunday night's Oscars ceremony was Inside Job which won the award for Best Documentary and - of all the nominated films I missed pre-Oscars (I've only seen How to Train Your Dragon, The Illuisionist, I Am Love and TRON: Legacy.) - this one's the must on the "catch-up" list.

In it, director Charles Ferguson pulls a kind of Michael Moore on the bold-faced named financiers involved in - nay, responsible for! (at least that's apparently the impression left by the documentary.) - the financial crisis of late 2008. In a recent interview with the NYT DealBook's Andrew Ross Sorkin (no relation to Aaron), Ferguson wasn't particularly impressed by the change on "The Street" "post"-crisis and, thus, couldn't deliver a very bright forecast for a future free of crises of similar magnitude to what we've already experienced.

Neither can Frank Rich, although he tries to see a silver-lining in the tenacity of Irving Picard's (bankruptcy trustee for Madoff victims) dogged pursuit of Madoff's ill-gotten gains and the alleged beneficiaries (e.g. - JP Morgan Chase and The Mets) thereof. In the end, Rich doesn't hold out much hope that Picard will create the context - or uncover enough damning evidence - to lead to any sort of lasting reformation of the financial system, however.

Oscar AND more explicit sex in movies follow-up mash-up!

We're combining a theme I wouldn't shut up about touched on last week (sex in film) and Oscars' wrap-up in one post! It seems Best Picture award-winner The King's Speech shared its primary location (Geoffrey Rush's speech therapy office) with at least one scene shot by British porn producers non-pareil UK Naked Men. More evidence after the jump (also NSFW).

Now you can re-watch The King's Speech with a whole new appreciation for Best Actor award-winner Colin Firth's struggle to "relax the throat".

Sleuth work by Queerclick.