Forty years after Queen dazzled us with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the piece continues to inspire.
From the English National Ballet – Dancers Erina Takahashi (Lead Principal) and James Forbat (First Soloist)
Choreographer – James Streeter
Norman Becomes First Oklahoma City To Pass LGBT Protections
Norman, Oklahoma – home of the University of Oklahoma – has become the first city in the state to adopt protections for LGBT citizens.
Via LGBTQ Nation:
The Norman Transcript reports that the council voted Dec. 22 for the resolution that affirms that sexual discrimination can include gender preference and sexual identity.
Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director Troy Stevenson, since federal law will apply and trump municipal law, it was not necessary to adopt an ordinance.
“As the first city in our great state to fully protect all of its residents, Norman has set a precedent for every municipality in Oklahoma and a challenge to our state legislature to follow suit,” Stevenson said.
Council member Lynne Miller said the city’s civil rights ordinance has been on the books since 1986 and that Norman was affirming that all of its residents have a right to equality.
5 Predictions For Apple In 2016
We’re big Apple geeks at my house. We have just about all the Apple toys you can get – except the Apple watch, which we can’t seem to figure out the advantages of :-/
No Christmas would be complete without new toys, and this year didn’t disappoint. Michael gave me a new iPad Air and I gave Michael the new Apple TV.
I’ll be curious to see how many of these predictions come true.
Speaking of toys – what was YOUR favorite gift from Christmas this year? Leave answers in the comment section below. I’m curious to see what you folks all go for 🙂
New Approach In HIV Treatment Shows Big Success In Phase One Trials
Newly completed Phase 1 clinical trials of a new HIV treatment look promising and could lead the way to a new approach to stopping HIV using antibodies.
From the San Diego Tribune:
The drug is an antibody that neutralizes a broad range of HIV strains. The broadly neutralizing antibody, called VRC01, reduced the level of circulating virus more than 10-fold in 6 of 8 HIV-positive patients who had not received antiviral drugs.
The other two were found to have a strain of HIV resistant to the antibody. And in 15 people whose infection was already suppressed with antiviral therapy, the antibody had no effect.
In all 23 patients tested, the antibody was found safe. VRC01 kills about 90 percent of HIV strains.
Because the antibodies are made by the body, after being “trained” by the vaccine, this approach is called active immunization. Administering a prepared broadly neutralizing antibody is known as passive immunization, because it doesn’t rely on an immune response from the patient. The antibody directly attacks the virus.
While active immunization is generally the best way to fight disease, an effective HIV vaccine hasn’t been yet developed. So developing more and better treatments to stop HIV remains a high priority.
Trailer: “Deadpool”
Four million views in a day.
Deadpool tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool.
Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.
The trailer also includes our first look at hunky X-man “Colossus” (Serbian actor Stefan Kapicic). Whoo-hoo!
The Marvel flick opens February 12th.
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| Stefan Kapicic as “Colossus” |
Christmas Music: Band Aid “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
I remember what a big deal this was at the time back in 1984.
Sadly, it’s all still relevant today.
Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas Address – “Light Can Triumph Over Darkness”
Queen Elizabeth II released her annual Christmas message Friday, emphasizing that light can triumph over darkness after a difficult year.
The Queen also mentioned how she enjoyed watching great-grandchildren decorate the Christmas tree.
Christmas Music: Olivia Newton-John “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”
One of my absolute favorite live Christmas performances.
My hubby Michael booked Olivia Newton-John on Good Morning America (he’s her publicist) back in 2007 when she released her Christmas Wish holiday album.
Her vocal here is pretty flawless, made even more so by the fact that it’s 8:17am.
Check that last note 🙂
Merry merry, everyone!
The Beatles Catalog Now Available On Streaming Music Services
I’m always fascinated by the ever-changing landscape of the music industry. From vinyl to CDs to digital download to streaming, how we get our music AND how artists get paid for that music continues to change almost every day it seems.
Streaming music services are the latest method for music fans to digest digitally, and today, for the first time the entire catalog of The Beatles will join nine major streaming services including Apple Music, Amazon Prime and Spotify.
For some time now, many artists have complained about the low royalties afforded musicians via streaming services. So much so that folks, like Taylor Swift and Adele, have held back on sharing their music on those services.
Industry execs are hoping The Beatles move helps “validate” the streaming services to some degree. I have to admit I’m using my Amazon Prime streaming music (which seems to have just about every song under the sun) a lot more lately.
Out Rugby Player Keegan Hirst On Other Athletes Coming Out
In an recent interview with GuysLikeU, out rugby player Keegan Hirst says we’ll see an out footballer when the right guy feels ready, and to “force” someone out of the closet wouldn’t be fair.
“When they’re ready to. I don’t think its fair to try and force it.
“A person, whoever they are, can only come out when they want to. They’ll feel the same as anybody else does before they come out.
“But if a regular guy has 100 people to come out to, to be possibly rejected by, footballers have 50,000 people who they feel may reject them.
“I think only when they’re totally comfortable with their situation will you get a footballer who publicly comes out.”
And speaking of fair, I don’t think it would be fair to bring up the handsome Hirst without revisiting this “behind-the-scenes” of his photo shoot for Attitude Magazine.