The Dooryard

How you say it is half the message

I don't put much stock in the power of words. The three letters F-A-G just don't mean anything to me. But you put them in context, and they can be harmless or powerful. I was reminded of this watching the new trailer for the Facebook movie and the song, "Creep," that is laid under it. Don't think how you say it is half (if not most) of the message? How do these two identical songs draw out different emotional responses:

Irreplaceable

Generally twice a year I get super excited to see a movie. Earlier this year, it was Superman Returns, which was totally disappointing. It wasn't a surprise. About three-quarters of the time, when I get excited about a movie, my expectations rise and the movie can't match them.

Now, I'm getting excited for Dream Girls, and it doesn't help that Beyonce's new single, timed nicely a few weeks before the movie hits theaters, won't get out of my head. Some friends of mine have seen the movie, and their reaction has been unanimously positive. Of course, they were all gay men who enjoy musicals far more than I; But, I'm hopeful.

A live version of this great song after the jump>>

Paris Bennett: reason to watch American Idol

We love watching these disaster episodes of American Idol running right now, where people make fools of themselves singing in hopes of making it to Hollywood. But, once the show moves to Hollywood, it kinda sucks.

Not so now. Paris Bennett, whom the show discovered while in North Carolina, is the real deal. She has a squeaky speaking voice, reminiscent of Macy Grey, but she has a set of pipes on her that sent all three judges into a frenzy. Even Simon Cowell, who is often negative with singers (and usually justifiably so), was throwing praise on the girl.

So many of the contestants go onto the show with a lot of attitude. Not this girl. She seems humble and just happy to be there. And when they tell her she's headed to Hollywood, she collapses before she can get out of the audition room. She seems very genuine and very special.

If you didn't catch her audition on the show, check it out here.

The amazing Eminem retiring?

Many of the gays have their Madonna or their Streisand or their Manny Lehman. I have Eminem. Growing up as a kid, I always liked pop music but really loved rap. Not Tone Loc rap, but Run-DMC and Ice Tea. The good shit. When I was a junior in college, I found Dr. Dre's The Chronic. That album was, in my opinion, the best album ever released until a little white guy named Marshall Mathers put out The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000. To this day, I think it's the best album ever.

Lots of the gays took offense to the album and its lyrics that seemed to incite violence against gays and women. GLAAD organized a protest of the Grammys that year because they were having Eminem perform. I was there that night inside the Staples Center, and I was so happy to see Elton John give GLAAD the middle finger and perform Eminem's Grammy-winning song, Stan, with the rapper.

Now, five years later, comes word that Em is back with his wife Kim and may be retiring. It reminds me of when Mase left the game far too early because he had simply found something else that moved him. Hopefully Eminem will just be taking some time off like Mase, too.

Prussian Blue

OK, this can't be real. A friend showed me this Web site the other day for Prussian Blue, a supposed Olsen-twins-esque duet that sings about the beauties of racism. Say huh? It sounds too absurd to be true, like some sick spoof on the Olsen twins. And I'm not completely sold that it's not. Where do 10-year-olds get these lyrics:

"And black masked men with guns come bashing down the doors. Where freedom exists for only those with darker skin. Where lies and propaganda will never let you win. Where symbols of your heritage are held with such contempt, and benefits of country 'cept tax are you exempt. Aryan man awake, How much more  will you take, Turn that fear to hate, Aryan man awake."

ABC News did a story on them, so at least one news source is taking this group seriously. Is it real or farce?

Buzzworthy indeed

I am so not a big fan of a lot of indy music, TV and film. But, there's a set at Gay.com that I was actually impressed with. Buzzworthy is their spot to highlight gay artists and their music. You can listen to the tracks and download them. Right now, they've got a lot of folk stuff, but there's also a healthy dose of pop, dance and even at least one song with religious overtones.

Live 8 Ticket Bullshit

Seems like the organizers of the Live 8 concert are all for life and freedom - except when they don't like it. The concert series, scheduled for July 2 around the world to coincide with the G8 Summit, is designed to convinced the leaders in the summit to send more aid to Africa. The tickets to the concert were all free.

Some of the people who won the tickets were selling them on Ebay, which infuriated organizer Bob Geldof. He called Ebay's allowing of the auctions "sick profiteering" and asked people to place "impossible bids" to stop the selling of the tickets. Sure enough, some geniuses placed bids as high as 10 million pounds (the equivalent of about 18 million dollars).

Ebay has permanently banned everyone who placed one of the bids as they attempted to disrupt an auction. Unfortunately, they also caved to Geldof and removed all auctions for the tickets, even though Ebay stated that it is not illegal under U.K. law. On the face of it, it's certainly unsavory that these people would sell these tickets. But, many of them probably need the money - so, instead of seeing that and letting people use their tickets to distribute wealth (which is what Geldof is trying to do with the concerts), he is jumping up and down and whining about it.

In the U.S., the concert will be at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on July 2. Will Smith is the host with acts like Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder, Bon Jovi, 50 Cent, Rob Thomas, Sarah McLachlan and many more.

This is why award shows suck

Eight Grammy Awards? Album of the Year? Record of the Year? HUH? That's what Ray Charles took home posthumously last night at the Grammy Awards. Eight Grammys is an almost unheard-of number. They are telling us that this is one of the best, most dominant albums ever recorded. But, if you read between the lines, what they're really saying is that the Grammys are completely political, run by blue-haired Lefties and are little reflection of the quality of music being recorded and how it impacts on our culture.

If I was Usher or Black Eyed Peas or any of a number of other performers who had great years, I'd be pissed that my shot at a Grammy was smashed because a bunch of old folks decided it was suddenly time to give Ray his awards. This year (and they are ANNUAL awards, not lifetime acheivement awards) there were a number of outstanding performances.

The Oscars are almost as bad - and they'll get their ode to dead people in when they anoint Jamie Foxx as Best Actor; I'm holding out hope that the politics of the Oscars will overwhelm the Academy's sentimental side, and The Aviator will get snubbed because of their distaste for Martin Scorsese.

Why can't they just give the awards to the BEST performances? I guess human nature is too strong.

Esera Tuaolo sings triumphant

Openly gay former NFL player Esera Tuaolo is one of my favorite people I've met through Outsports. He has always come across to me as sincere and generous. And, maybe more than anything else, optimistic. He has long talked about making a transition into a music career - and with his voice, that is not such a stretch (hell, if Ron Artest can do it . . .).

His new Christmas single, “First Christmas,” is a winner. Originally written for the Backstreet Boys by Joe Hogue, Tuaolo fell in love with it the first time he heard it. While it was written as a romantic love song, Tuaolo poured his love for his children into his performance.

“If there was a song for me to write for my children,” Tuaolo says, “this would be the one.”