Always with their fingers on the pulse of all things new, Cosmopolitan Magazine has this diagram for the new “Te’o” sexual position.
Check out this comment on the Cosmo website:
Cosmopolitan on the Manti Te’o scandal
Dogs rule: German sheperd attends owners church services
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| Tommy at Santa Maria Assunta church (Nikonarte Fotografia/Daily Mail) |
From YahooNews: Tommy, a 7-year-old German shepherd, used to accompany his owner, Maria Margherita Lochi, to services at Santa Maria Assunta church in San Donaci, Italy, according to the Daily Mail, and was allowed to sit at her feet.
After Lochi died, the dog “joined mourners at her funeral service” according to locals and “followed after Maria’s coffin” as it was carried into the church.
Tommy, a stray who was adopted by Lochi, has been showing up “when the bell rings out to mark the beginning of services” ever since.
“He’s there every time I celebrate mass and is very well behaved,” Father Donato Panna told the paper. “He doesn’t make a sound.”
None of the other parishioners has complained, Panna said, and villagers give the dog food and water and allow him to sleep nearby.
The article goes on to illustrate more stories of dogs loyalty. If you love dogs, you have to read.
Kissing booth line forms to the left…
From George Takei’s Facebook. If you don’t follow George on FB, you’re missing out.
Conservative gay group GOProud now supports marriage equality
During the last election, GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia called gay marriage a “distraction” issue as he made the media rounds pumping the group’s support for Mitt Romney.
Now, however, GOProud has officially announced it’s support for marriage equality. Buzzfeed reports:
“We support same-sex marriage, civil marriage,” GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia said.
The move follows a decision by the GOProud board earlier this month to expand the group’s mission to include state-level work. It also comes after, LaSalvia noted, the re-election of a president who supports same-sex couples’ marriage rights, while some in the Republican Party are urging their party to reassess their position on the issue.
Since its founding in 2009, GOProud has always opposed the federal Defense of Marriage Act, calling the law a “federal power grab,” but it avoided the underlying issue of marriage rights. In the course of a 285-word statement provided to BuzzFeed on “marriage and relationship recognition” being released publicly Friday, though, the group declares, “Where civil marriage is possible, we support civil marriage.”
Read GOProud’s full press release.
American Idol: Lazaro Arbos
American Idol started up again this week.
I don’t follow the show very closely anymore as I feel like the weekly singing competition has become a bit formulaic.
BUT, as Towleroad points out, we do get some very inspiring stories, still, in the early audition weeks.
Lazaro Arbos has a speech impediment that for years caused him to hardly be able to speak. An outcast at school, his impediment is overcome when it’s time to sing.
He’s adorable, and his story brings the power of music back to center stage.
Gov. Chris Christie denounces NRA ad
“To talk about the president’s children or any public officer’s children who have, not by their own choice, but by requirement to have protection and to use that somehow to try to make a poetical point I think is reprehensible. They’ve got real issues to debate on this topic. Get to the real issues. Don’t be dragging people’s children into this. It’s wrong and I think it demeans them [the NRA] and it makes them less of a valid, trusted source of information on the real issues that confront this debate.” – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, responding to an ad by the NRA that asked whether President Obama was a hypocrite because his children are protected by armed Secret Service guards
President of gay journalist’s association passes away at 48
Michael Triplett, president of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association, has died at the age of 48 after a battle with cancer.
Triplett was assistant managing editor at Bloomberg-BNA, where he helped guide coverage of tax and labor issues, drawing on his background in law. He frequently served on NLGJA panels dealing with legal matters.
From the NLGJA website: “His quiet demeanor masked a steely resolve and an uncanny ability to push our organization forward. Michael quickly became someone who could be relied on both to provide sage advice as well as the time and energy to help us accomplish our goals.
“Michael was truly a joy for all of us to work with, and his loss will be felt among our organization for years to come. Our thoughts and prayers are with his partner, Jack and his family in Alabama.”
Lance Armstrong confesses to Oprah
This interview has so much news around it.
Basically – “Yes, I doped, and it wasn’t humanly possible to win seven Tour de France titles without it.”
No matter how you approach it, you can’t help but feel sad. Every question Lance Armstrong answers – and they’re all “yes” here – kind of diminishes the spirit of achievement that we all want to see in our athletic heroes.
And – as a cancer survivor myself – the voice and visibility Lance has brought to the cancer discussion has been so important. I think his sense of invincibility inspired so many. And I really don’t want that lost somehow.
Livestrong released a statement after Armstrong’s confession:
“We at the Livestrong Foundation are disappointed by the news that Lance Armstrong misled people during and after his cycling career, including us,” the statement posted to its website began.
“We accepted his apology in order to move on and chart a strong, independent course,” Livestrong continued. “We look forward to devoting our full energy to our mission of helping people not only fight and survive cancer, but also thrive in life after cancer.”
Darren Criss on the cover of Essential Homme Magazine
All GLEE fans – make sure you pick up this month’s copy of Essential Homme Magazine featuring fab photos of Mr. Darren Criss.
Check out a couple of pics from the shoot below, then go buy the issue 🙂
This Manti Te’o thing is huge…
Short version of the story: as the football season has gone on, and Notre Dame kept winning, the story of Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o grew as apparently his grandmother and his “girl friend” died either on the same day or near to the same day (his grandmother did, sadly, really die). Now, according to Deadspin, Manti Te’o’s story about having a girlfriend that died tragically of leukemia after having been in a car accident may have been false.
Notre Dame has released a statement regarding Te’o:
“On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.” – Dennis Brown – University Spokesman”
Update: Manti Te’o has released a statement:
“This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.
To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.
It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother’s death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.
I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.
In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.
Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I’m looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft.”
Twitter had a field day with this story.
Buzzfeed has assembled some of the best Twitter responses to the Manti Te’o story:
Head over to Buzzfeed for more.