News

In a new podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper, Jk Rowling will give a rare interview in which she addresses her controversial remarks on transgender rights.

The forthcoming seven-episode podcast, titled The Witch Trials of Jk Rowling, has been made after the Harry Potter author sat down with US writer Phelps-Roper at her home in Edinburgh.

But who is Phelps-Roper and how did the podcast come about?

Here’s what we know...

Megan Phelps-Roper is 37 and she lives in rural South Dakota. She is best known for escaping what Louis Theroux called “the most hated family in America” in his 2007 documentary on the extremist Westboro Baptist Church, led by Phelps-Roper’s grandfather Fred Phelps.

The hate group, founded in Topeka, Kansas, picketed the funerals of soldiers and Aids victims. It is known for its hate speech against atheists, Jews, Muslims, LGBTQ+ people, and numerous Christian denominations. Their theology and practises have...

Megan Phelps-Roper has said her forthcoming podcast with Jk Rowling was “never intended to vindicate” the author.

The Witch Trials of Jk Rowling is a seven-part podcast, which will be released on Tuesday (21 February).

According to its blurb, the episodes will “examine some of the most contentious conflicts of our time through the life and career of the world’s most successful author”.

The blurb also states that it will include interviews “with Rowling’s supporters and critics”, including members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The author has faced accusations of transphobia in recent years over statements she has made about transgender people and gender. A number of the Harry Potter cast have distanced themselves from the author.

Rowling has rejected the idea that she is transphobic and has said previously that she “knows and loves” trans people.

Speaking to The Times ahead of the podcast’s release, Phelps-Roper – author of...

Jk Rowling is addressing the controversy surrounding her stance on transgender rights head-on in an forthcoming podcast entitled The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling.

The Harry Potter author has faced a sustained backlash in recent years for statements she’s made about gender ideology that critics and prominent voices in the LGBT+ community have described as “transphobic”.

“I never set out to upset anyone. However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal,” Rowling says in the trailer for the podcast, which is hosted by Free Press.

Free Press is the independent media company founded by former New York Times opinions editor Bari Weiss, who is known for writing provocative columns about “woke culture” and gender issues.

“What has interested me in recent years, particularly on social media [is when fans say], ‘You’ve ruined your legacy. Oh, you could have been beloved forever, but you chose to say this.’ And I...

Jk Rowling is addressing the controversy surrounding her stance on transgender rights head-on in an forthcoming podcast entitled The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling.

The Harry Potter author has faced a sustained backlash in recent years for statements she’s made about gender ideology that critics and prominent voices in the LGBT+ community have described as “transphobic”.

“I never set out to upset anyone. However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal,” Rowling says in the trailer for the podcast, which is hosted by Free Press.

Free Press is the independent media company founded by former New York Times opinions editor Bari Weiss, who is known for writing provocative columns about “woke culture” and gender issues.

“What has interested me in recent years, particularly on social media [is when fans say], ‘You’ve ruined your legacy. Oh, you could have been beloved forever, but you chose to say this.’ And I...

The United States is “my country, right or wrong,” of course, and I consider myself a patriotic person, but I’ve never felt that patriotism meant blind fealty to the idea of America’s rightful dominance over global politics or culture, and certainly not to its alleged preferred status on God’s short list of favored nations, or that allegiance to said country was a license to justify or rationalize every instance of misguided, foolish, narrow-minded domestic or foreign policy.

In 2012, when this piece was first posted, it seemed like a good moment to throw the country’s history and contradictions into some sort of quick relief, and the most expedient way of doing that for me was to look at the way the United States (and the philosophies at its core) were reflected in the movies, and not just the ones which approached the country head-on as a subject.

Now I loves me some catharsis. This past weekend I went down to New York’s lower east side to enjoy a David Bowie tribute night at The Delancey. They played the Cracked Actor documentary, had a cover band play a set exclusively from my favorite Bowie era – Station To Station through Scary Monsters And Super Creeps. It was a good time that I’m still reeling from.

With the impending conservative wave reaching its pinnacle in less than two weeks, I’ve been searching for other means to cope. Luckily I received my Kickstarter reward from backing the Black Mask Studios comic Toe Tag Riot the other day. That reward was the graphic novel collecting every bit of it including the shorts and, boy, could it have not come at a better time.

For those of you that don’t know, Toe Tag Riot is a four issue miniseries...

It's been nearly two years since 22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps finished a 45-day stint in rehab following his second DUI arrest. Now, with those dark days in his rearview mirror and his fifth and likely final Olympics right around the corner in Rio, the greatest swimmer of all time is opening up to Espn The Magazine about his past struggles with alcohol and suicidal thoughts. Phelps cemented his place as an Olympic legend two years before checking into rehab in October 2014. He should have been on top of the world at the time, but instead he was drifting -...

It's been nearly two years since 22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps finished a 45-day stint in rehab following his second DUI arrest. Now, with those dark days in his rearview mirror and his fifth and likely final Olympics right around the corner in Rio, the greatest swimmer of all time is opening up to Espn The Magazine about his past struggles with alcohol and suicidal thoughts. Phelps cemented his place as an Olympic legend two years before checking into rehab in October 2014. He should have been on top of the world at the time, but instead he was drifting -...

In The New Yorker's fascinating exploration of Megan Phelps-Roper's decision to leave the Westboro Baptist Church, the granddaughter of church founder Fred Phelps reveals that her disenchantment with her family's beliefs sprung from their reaction to the death of Brittany Murphy in 2009. As Phelps-Roper tells reporter Adrian Chen, she learned of Murphy's death on Twitter, where she was active in spreading the church's antigay message. Her fellow churchgoers were delighted by the news: "Lots of people were talking about going to picket her funeral," she recalled. But she couldn't muster the same glee. She tells Chen she "had loved Murphy in Clueless, and she felt an unexpected pang — not quite sadness, but something close — over her death." Seeing all the mournful tweets about Murphy made Phelps-Roper stop and reconsider the Church's message of hate — "I felt like I would be such a jackass to go on...

The United States is “my country, right or wrong,” of course, and I consider myself a patriotic person, but I’ve never felt that patriotism meant blind fealty to the idea of America’s rightful dominance over global politics or culture, and certainly not to its alleged preferred status on God’s short list of favored nations, or that allegiance to said country was a license to justify or rationalize every instance of misguided, foolish, narrow-minded domestic or foreign policy.

And now more than ever we seem to be living in a country poised at the edge of some sort of transition, with all the attendant tension and conflict and intense conviction that can be expected on either side of the chasm that prevents us from a true state of national togetherness. Just last week we celebrated a Supreme Court decision that finally offered legality (and legal protection) to the...

Brad Paisley made a stop on his way to his Kansas concert Sunday to take a selfie with Westboro Baptist Church protesters.

Brad Paisley Takes Westboro Baptist Church Selfie

Westboro Baptist Selfie!! Or west-Burro(ass) selfie. Hopefully they can hear the show out here. We'll play loud. pic.twitter.com/OrMhJjD8NE

— Brad Paisley (@BradPaisley) June 2, 2014

A handful of Westboro Baptist Church members were protesting Paisley’s concert, supposedly for his songs that encourage drinking, such as “Alcohol,” or other ‘sinful’ behavior. Paisley saw the protesters from his car and pulled over with his team to stand in the road for a selfie.

“God Hates Drunks,” reads a sign in the photo.

Paisley uploaded the selfie to Instagram and Twitter, where it was re-tweeted over 6,000 times, on June 1. Paisley also shared a short Instagram video of himself posing with the protesters, captioned “Crazies for Paisley!”

The Westboro Baptist Church, never...

Birthday shoutouts go to Lenny Kravitz (above), who is 50, Genie Francis is 52, and the faboo Pam Grier is 66.

Our thoughts go out to Christine Baranski on the death of her husband Matthew Cowles. Those of us of a certain age will always remember Matthew as one of the greatest (and most entertaining) villains in daytime history, Billy Clyde Tuggle on All My Children.

Did Fred Phelps have a change of heart before his death?

Bianca Del Rio Talks Hurricane Bianca and what’s next for her infamous Rolodex of Hate

It was Tom Daley‘s 20th birthday last week, and here he is baking his own birthday cake. Wait … why is Tom baking his own birthday cake?

Here’s the tease for the new E! “Two-Hour Reality Movie Event” Men Of The Strip, which premieres on Sunday

And here are a couple of promo postcards to get you in the mood.

Stars: Ron Berryessa, Sam Dalton, Olivia Bishop, David Eby, Luke Hatmaker, Nomalanga Eniafe, Jesse Warrick, Annie Thurman, Phil Perry | Written and Directed by Steven Berryessa

Three years have passed since war destroyed the world. Civilization has fallen into anarchy and tribalism. In the shattered remains of the Southern United States, an old evil has returned and taken power. Led by the vile Reverend Josiah Phelps, a new Confederacy is built on the rubble of the American Republic. Michael, a lone warrior returning from the ruins of the front line, finds his wife murdered and his daughter kidnapped by the Reverend and his followers. He sets out to find his daughter and take vengeance on the men who killed his wife.

Merely five minute into The Forgotten you realise just what the hell you have let yourself in for watching this no-budget post-apocalyptic tale. Any film that starts with a self...

First, on behalf of snicks, let me apologize for there being no Briefs yesterday. We’re going through a massive upgrade on our system, and it’s been … difficult. We hope to return to normal shortly.

Nintendo dodges same-sex marriage in Tomodachi Life, Charlie Crist left Republican Party because it was anti-gay, military wedding proposal takes web by storm

The proposal that almost broke the internet will melt your heart. “When we as service members ask our partner to become our spouse, we’re also asking them to commit to being a part of the military family. Lance has sacrificed a great deal for me and the Navy. He moved from his comfort zone and family in rural Western North Carolina to the metropolitan D.C. area. He will sacrifice even more for his country in November as we move halfway around the world to the Island of Guam for three years.

Did you know that Fred Phelps was a Democrat? I didn't either! But he was. He even received 31 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Kansas in 1992. I know! I knoooow. In later years, of course, Phelps became known for founding the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, frequently inciting members of his congregation to picket at military funerals and fundraisers benefiting disaster victims with signs bearing such delightful sentiments as "God Hates Fags" and "Pray For More Dead Soldiers." Because...that's what Jesus would have wanted, I guess? Well, Fred Phelps is dead now, but nevertheless the horrid activities of the church he founded continue unabated - though the parishioners apparently met their match in the town of Moore, Oklahoma on Sunday when they were literally run out of town by an angry mob while picketing at a junior high school. Thankfully no one was hurt,...

Here is last week’s caption pic winner. This week’s caption pic is at the bottom of the page.

Cheeto!

Thanks to everyone for participating! The winner is …

“Orange Is The New Jack.”

Thanks to Dback for this week’s winning caption!

Weekend Birthdays! Gareth David-Lloyd (above) is 33, Reba McIntire is 59, Amy Sedaris is 53, Lucy Lawless is 46, and Jason Dohring is 32.

Mississippi News Anchor: ‘Too Much’ Lgbt Coverage, Take a ‘Gaycation’

Arizona vice mayor praises Fred Phelps on Facebook with link to satirical Onion obituary

Betty White, Hot In Cleveland Cast Doing Golden Girls Benefit Reading in L.A.

Michelle Visage talks to this week’s eliminated Queen. I’m … heartbroken.

Are there any Tbl readers in England and Wales getting married this weekend?

Stevie Nicks invited The Today Show to our house yesterday to announce that … after 15 years, Christine McVie would be reuniting with Fleetwood Mac for a new tour.

Nathan Phelps mourns the man his father could have been, Ryan Steele suns on the beach, Cher previews Dressed To Kill

Does Allison Argent on Teen Wolf deserve to join the rare ranks of independent female characters like Buffy? “It shouldn’t be groundbreaking for a female character in a supernatural romance to have the degree of agency that Allison was afforded. And yet, we’re so used to seeing characters like Allison defined in relation to the male lead. There was something truly transgressive about the way she surpassed her original role as love interest, eventually dumping Scott at the end of Season 2. By the time of her death, her past with Scott was nearly incidental.” Of course, at the bottom of the article, Buzzfeed tags it “More news about Tyler Posey” so maybe not.

Nathan Phelps, the estranged grandson of Westboro’s Fred Phelps says that he will...

Source: AP / Charlie Riedel Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps has died at 84. His daughter says they will not hold a funeral. Remember when Madonna dressed up as Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones? Turns out she borrowed Emilia Clarke's real costume. Truly outrageous news: Jem and the Holograms are coming to life! A modern-day, live-action reinvention of the '80s cartoon is in the works. Divergent finally hits theaters today. Read our review to decide if you should see it, and check out all of our coverage after you become obsessed. Jason Segel is already leaving his How I Met Your Mother character behind - he's completely unrecognizable while playing David Foster Wallace alongside Jesse Eisenberg. Scandal star Norm Lewis will play the first black Phantom on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera. Lisa Kudrow's short-lived cult favorite TV show The Comeback may be making a comeback.

Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps died on Wednesday of natural causes. He was 84.

Fred Phelps Dies

Phelps was reported to be in poor health by his son, Nathan Phelps, earlier in the week. At the time, Nathan Phelps revealed that his father was in a hospice facility and “on the edge of death” in a Facebook post. Westboro spokesman Steve Drain, who admitted Fred Phelps was having “health problems” on Monday, confirmed the death.

Throughout his tenure as the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, Phelps was regarded as the “most hated man in America.” Under the guise of religion, Phelps and his followers – who are mostly made up of his family members – protested funerals of slain soldiers and other events. At their protests, the group would hold up signs, which read, “Thank God For Dead Soldiers” and “God Hates Fags.”

Phelps took a particular interest in the last...

Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, Sr. has died, family members have confirmed to various media outlets. The church has long made headlines for its anti-gay protests and picketing soldiers' funerals. The church protested the funerals of slain gay college student Matthew Shepard, Glee star Cory Monteith, film critic Roger Ebert and Apple founder Steve Jobs. The church also recently said they had planned to boycott concerts by pop singer Lorde. Phelps' son, Timothy, told Kansas City affiliate Wibw that his father died just before midnight. Story: Westboro Baptist Church Says It Will Picket Cory Monteith Funeral Phelps' daughter,

read more...

The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., who founded a Kansas church widely known for its protests at military funerals and anti-gay sentiments, has died, according to his son Tim Phelps, reports Kansas First News. He was 84. Phelps was being cared for in an unidentified Kansas facility, Westboro Baptist Church spokesman Steve Drain said on Sunday, adding as the only detail, "He's an old man, and old people get health problems." Members of the Westboro church, based in Topeka, frequently protest at funerals of soldiers with signs containing messages such as "Thank God for dead soldiers," and "Thank God for 9/11," claiming the...

Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., the Westboro Baptist Church founder who was a fierce critic of the gay rights movement,  died Thursday, his son Tim Phelps told Kansas First News. He was  84. A spokesman for the Kansas-based church could not immediately be reached for comment. Phelps and the independent Baptist Church he launched were frequently involved with protests of political events, gay pride rallies and the funerals of celebrities, military figures and any other high-profile people he identified with gay, lesbian and transgender causes. His targets included  film critic Roger Ebert, actor Heath Ledger, Princess Diana and President Ronald Reagan. Also read: Rupert Murdoch.

(source)

Birthday shoutouts go to Adam Pally (above), who is 32, the faboo Vanessa Williams is 51, and Irene Cara is 55. Here is her most underrated song.

Sofia Coppola is in talks to direct a live-action version of The Little Mermaid. This won’t be a Disney film, but a more faithful retelling of the Hans Christian Luckerhooven story, which was dark and twisted.

Teen Wolf‘s Latest Victim Speaks Out: Why I Asked To Leave the Show.

Satanists Promise To Turn Fred Phelps Gay After He Dies

‘Busy Bea,’ Bea Arthur Video Game, Released For Iphone

Akil Patterson And Josh Dixon Discuss Race And Sexual Orientation In Sports

Adam Shankman will direct and produce Madame Rose for HBO Films, “based on the life story of Rose Hovick, the indomitable mother of burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee and actress June Havoc, who would do anything to advance her daughters’ career in show business.

Birthday shoutouts go to Mathew St. Patrick (above), who is 46, Rob Lowe is 50, and Kurt Russell is 63.

The setting for the next season of American Horror Story has been revealed. This could definitely get creepy.

Fred Phelps’ Funeral Will Not Happen, According To Westboro Baptist Church Member

George Takei: “I take no solace or joy in this man’s passing. We will not dance upon his grave, nor stand vigil at his funeral holding “God Hates Freds” signs, tempting as it may be. He was a tormented soul, who tormented so many. Hate never wins out in the end. It instead goes always to its lonely, dusty end.”

The ‘Hidden Gay Agenda’ Movie Test

Chris Colfer will be writing an episode of Glee to air later this season.

In news I was not aware of, the Barilla boycott has apparently ended.

Gay St. Patrick’s Day Float Crashes Boston...

Guinness pulls out of parade, Chris Pine convicted of DUI, Kris Allen makes SXSW beautiful and wild

In what has to be the fastest trial I’ve ever heard of, Chris Pine was convicted of DUI in New Zealand. The actor was arrested last week after a wrap party. His lawyer argued he had a clean record, and that a conviction would make getting a visa difficult for the actor. The judge wasn’t buying it though. “This issue of a visa will be a complication, but you’re no different to other people who may wish to travel to Canada.” Pine still stopped outside the courthouse to sign autographs for fans.

Guinness joined Sam Adams, Hilton, and Heineken in dropping sponsorship of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade because Lgbt groups are banned. Prominent gay bars including the Stonewall Inn were set to ban the beverage tomorrow in protest.

Westboro Baptist Church founder Rev. Fred Phelps is reportedly in ill health and nearing his death.

Fred Phelps 'On Edge Of Death'

Phelps, 84, has been admitted to a hospice facility, according to his estranged son, Nathan Phelps. “I’ve learned that my father, Fred Phelps Sr., pastor of the ‘God Hates F--s’ Westboro Baptist Church ... is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice in Topeka, Kansas,” Nathan Phelps wrote on Facebook.

“I'm not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made,” Nathan Phelps added. “I feel sad for all the hurt he's caused so many. I feel sad for those who will lose the grandfather and father they loved. And I'm bitterly angry that my family is blocking the family members who left from seeing him, and saying their good-byes.”

Westboro spokesman Steve Drain...

Birthday shoutouts go to Chace Crawford (above), who is 28, Vin Diesel is 46, Wendy Williams is 49, and Kristen Bell is 33.

Adam Pally is joining the cast of The Mindy Project for a multi-episode arc.

44 Emmy Snubs

House Republicans Cave On Marriage Fight.

Ender’s Game Director Talks Gay Boycott. “I think [Card] wrote a great book, and the themes and ideas in the book, I think, are universal and timeless and applicable, and I hope the book will still be appreciated as a great work of art, even though I don’t agree with the author. I optioned the book, not an author, and I love what the author said in that book.”

There’s always that one guy.

‘Pink Mass’ Has Made Westboro Baptist Church Founder’s Mom Gay In Afterlife, Satanists Claim.

Here’s a nice ad from Seattle mayoral candidate Ed Murray

Jane Lynch talks about Cory Monteith

Below...

Ah summer camp! Who doesn’t have fond memories of their days at Camp Mosquito, swimming, hiking, canoeing, sitting around the campfire making s’mores and telling ghost stories, desperately hiding your crush on the boy in the next bunk but secretly hoping he feels the same way…

Two new summer series debuted last week, each angling to capture that camp nostalgia and each including gay characters. One of them is really bad and one of them is pretty good. First, the bad.

Summer Camp

USA Network’s Summer Camp is a reality series pitting two teams of eight against each other in a “boys vs. girls” competition. Each of the contestants is identified by either a character trait (“The Mean Girl”, “The Class Clown”) or an occupation (“The Soldier”, “The Model”). Gay contestant Kyle Kleiboeker is “The Broadway Performer” so it kind of works as both, I guess?

I...

Add Taylor Swift to the Westboro Baptist Church's ever-growing list of people they've taken issue with.

The Topeka, Kansas-based hate group has announced plans to picket Swift's Aug. 3 concert at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Swift is known for what sometimes seems like a revolving door of highly publicized romances, and the Wbc apparently doesn't look too kindly on all her "fornicating."

"@TaylorSwift13 works her 'girl next door' country-singer shtick, while hopping from one young man to the next and strutting across the world stage like a proud whore," the group wrote in a press release, and went on to criticize the singer's own father, claiming:

"He has no compunction about her immodest vulgar appearance or serial fornication. With a hating hypocrite for a dad – who will jealously guard her income, while not giving a thought for her never-dying soul – no wonder she grew up to be the...

Call Me Kuchu: The universality of anti-gay hate in Uganda (photo: Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato in Call Me Kuchu) It’s impossible to watch Call Me Kuchu, Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s affecting and shocking documentary about the fight for gay rights in Uganda, and not rail against the religion-inspired hatred that many Ugandans hold towards homosexuals. It’s even tempting to look down upon the ignorant and hateful East Africans who embrace such views and consider them the product of "Third World thinking." And yet many Americans hold comparable opinions. Search the various comment boards that deal in such political and social matters and you’ll easily find educated, technology-savvy, big city Americans who use the same justification to condemn, sometimes violently, "the gay lifestyle." So, while Call Me Kuchu bears witness to those fighting against well-organized prejudice in Uganda, it also reminds us...

Zac Efron frats out again, Spider-Man plays basketball with kids, Greg Louganis dives with Matthew Mitcham

James Franco thinks that sex isn’t just for titillation in movies. “Directors are trying to use more sex in films and certainly on places like HBO, where these cable people have lots of sex. Gus Van Sant told me in his pilot [Boss for Starz] he had a sex scene but they told him, There’s not enough nudity. We need ‘pay-cable moments.’ They’re actually pushing for more sexual content. And if they’re done the right way, it won’t just be a ‘pay-cable moment,’ it will actually be intrinsic to the story. Sex has the potential for being a great storytelling device. But it just hasn’t been used up until now.”

Nasa is giving a grant for a 3D Pizza Printer. The idea makes sense, since you’re essentially giving dry tubes...

FilmOn’s interview with Westboro Baptist Church member David Phelps went awry when a naked, obese man charged from the mobile studio’s bathroom and tackled Phelps, according to the Daily Mail. Phelps, the son of Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps was giving his comments about FilmOn’s upcoming Easter celebration, which will involve a “30 year-old sado-masochist from Florida” named Robert Garrison being hammered onto a huge wooden cross behind a glass window for the viewing public at Battlecam TV’s Los Angeles headquarters. During the interview, the man known as Billy The Fridge, interrupted the interview by storming the studio, attacking Phelps and yelling, “Who’s your daddy now, Davey?” The video [ Read More ]

The post Westboro Baptist Church Leader Attacked On FilmOn.com appeared first on Shockya.com.

Greg Louganis photographed by Clinton Gaughran for AfterElton

Take ten celebrities, put them in swimsuits, give them some training by a sexy Olympic legend and then make them dive into a swimming pool. There you have the basic concept behind ABC’s new reality competition series, Splash.

The reality competition series, which kicks off tonight, has celebs learning from the skilled prowess of Greg Louganis, the show’s Dive Master. But the hook of Splash is watching as the celebs – basketball icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, comedian Louie Anderson, actor/singer Drake Bell, comedian Chuy Bravo, reality star Kendra Wilkinson, actress Keshia Knight-Pulliam, skier Rory Bushfield, actress Nicole Eggert, Miss Alabama Katherine Webb, football’s Ndamukong Suh – grow (or not grow) as divers both physically and emotionally.

As you probably know, Louganis won Gold Medals in both 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games on both the springboard and platform events. He was diagnosed with HIV...

Tags: Lost GirlLost Girl recapsIMDbDoccubus

Bo is having some invisible threshold problems, which – come on – haven’t we all? Though our invisible thresholds might be a little more figurative and Bo’s is a little more literal. Like an actual invisible threshold that keeps knocking her on her very real ass.

Trick is trying to help her focus on the now to get ready for The Dawning. It’s a rite of passage for all Fae a bit like adolescence, but with more at stake than just really embarrassing yearbook pictures and bad prom dates. But like adolescence all she has to do to conquer it is shift consciousness and achieve an effortless merging of action and awareness. You know, like popping your first zit.

Meanwhile, on an idyllic country road a couple has encountered car trouble and the call of nature simultaneously. While he fiddles with a tire, she finds cover in the bushes.

A group of Westboro Baptist Church protesters brought their signature brand of in-your-face activism to Hollywood today, chanting and waving signs with messages like "God H8S Fags" at tourists and insiders making their way to this year's Oscar ceremony.

The protest was situated on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and N. Highland Ave., at the edge of the daunting security perimeter surrounding the awards show.

"We're here right now at the Oscars because the power brokers of Hollywood … and the news media, in the main, is in kind of a slave mentality to the militant fag agenda," said Steve Drain, a protester representing Westboro, who was holding a sign that pictured two Academy Awards statuettes engaged in highly suggestive foreplay.

Westboro's virulent brand of anti-homosexual activism has attracted condemnation from gay-rights and Christian groups alike. In December, a petition to designate Westboro a hate group following the church's threats...

The Westboro Baptist Church is known for hate mongering on a scale that borders on the comedic. So perhaps its no surprise that some of the most effective -- not to mention hilarious -- confrontations with the ultra-homophobic and anti-Semitic picketing group have been devised by comedians.

Case in point, this video produced by Australian satirical news team The Chaser, which a few years ago surprised a male member of the church with a little harmless flirtations. Harmless, that is, unless you're a member of the Wbc, which believes that God is punishing America for its acceptance of homosexuality.

In the roughly four-minute clip, which is now going viral again due to the Wbc being in the news this week after threatening to protest the funerals of those involved in the Newtown shooting, The Chaser's Chris Firth shares a little gay lovin' with a protester identified in the video as Fred Phelps Junior.

Victoria Jackson sank to a new low with a post on her Facebook page just hours after the tragedy began unfolding at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

The former "SNL" star is no stranger to stoking controversy. She repeatedly made headlines throughout the presidential election, most notably for her response to Todd Akin's legitimate rape controversy.

But this post, quoting her friend and fellow Tea Partier Jim Riley, is her most shockingly tone deaf yet, echoing a sentiment that seems more like something you'd hear from Fred Phelps:

My friend Jim Riley posted: "Wasn't the Connecticut killer just doing what abortionists do every day? It's a wonder we don't have more 20 year old "dads" doing what women and doctors have been an accomplice to for years in America. When you forget the Ten Commandments, people, This is what you get."

The post quickly began filling up with angry comments,...

Aw, I still want to see Kermit sitting on one of The Voice's swivel chairs.

News

First, Merlin is cancelled, now EW reports that the third season of Sherlock will be delayed. New episodes aren't expected to air until late 2013 in the U.K. and 2014 on PBS. This isn't a good week for slashwink fans.

The internet has been abuzz about a vlog featuring Two and a Half Men's Angus T. Jones calling his TV series "filth" and asking viewers to stop watching it. When I first saw the headlines, I was ready to cheer Jones, but it turns out he's offended by the show from a religious conservative perspective (he seems to be one of those people who thinks any entertainment that offends them comes directly from Hell's Ministry of Propaganda), and he made his plea on a vlog with a homophobic past.

Southfork Ranch will open...

Russell Brand did the seemingly impossible: He brought together the Westboro Baptist Church and gay men on the same stage. Of course, it took a little bit of deception to do it. The Wbc, run by Fred Phelps and known for protesting military funerals with signs splashed with anti-gay slogans, sent two members to Brand X, Brand's new show on FX. As the audience booed the men and their condemnation of homosexuality, Brand called for respect for the church members for their willingness to come to hostile territory. Review: Russell Brand Brings His Manic Genius to FX's 'Brand X'

read more...

Politics can be scary. In honor of Election Day, we’ve assembled a list of politically-charged horror films to take your mind off the real elections. Go vote, wear your “I Voted” sticker proudly, and come home for a political horror movie marathon to drown out the political horror punditry on the television.

They Live

In one of the most overtly political horror flicks on the list, John Carpenter’s They Live is about a drifter who, after obtaining a pair of sunglasses, realizes that they are magic and allows him to see that the current political leaders are aliens with totalitarian leanings. They have taken over the earth and are causing global warming, and collaborating with the earth’s “elite.”

They Live trailer

Masters of Horror: Homecoming

Joe Dante’s 2005 episode of the anthology series dealt with soldiers killed in action who come back to life to vote...

NBC has announced plans to air Mockingbird Lane's pilot as a Halloween special to help recoup their $10 million investment in the show. I'll probably watch, just to see what they were trying to do. Plus, Cheyenne Jackson!

Timeshare billionaire David Siegel, most famous for his plans to build the biggest house in America, sent his employees a letter saying that if President Obama is reelected, he's going to fire some people. Ironically, he's sent a real version of a satire letter that made the rounds earlier this year..

Jonathan Phelps, the son of Westboro Baptist Church's Fred Phelps, says "absolutely" homosexuals should be put to death. “It’s the view of the Bible, it’s the clear teaching of the Bible,” adding that “the established human government should be following the rules of the Bible.”

Matt Bomer will guest star on The New Normal as the sexy ex-boyfriend of Bryan,...

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have been called to picket actor Sage Stallone's funeral on account of his "adulterous dad," Sylvester Stallone.

After it was announced that the 36-year-old actor had died on July 13, Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro leader Fred Phelps, tweeted to her 5,600 followers, urging them to picket Stallone's funeral.

"Thrice-married rebel taught his son to mock God. ‪#picketfuneral‬," Phelps first tweeted on July 13.

The Westboro Baptist Church, infamous for its organized pickets at military funerals as part of its anti-gay agenda, is apparently targeting Sage because of his father's previous relationships.

"Adulterous dad brought wrath of God on son. ‪#BloodOnDadsHands‬ ‪#picketfuneral‬ ‪#woe‬," Phelps tweeted, adding, "Tell @TheSlyStallone to mourn for his sins, not pimp out son's dead body to more proud sin!"

Sylvester Stallone has been married three times and Sage was his first child with his first wife, Sasha Czack, to whom he was...

Killer Joe

Directed by William Friedkin

Written by Tracey Letts

USA, 2012

It’s not particularly difficult to see what attracted director William Friedkin to the twisted charms of Killer Joe, his new homicidal and unpleasantly hilarious southern baked neo-noir which opens today and seems destined to stir up a minor whirlwind of controversy for its risqué concoction of sexual violence and prepubescent sexuality. During the halcyon period of the early Seventies Friedkin was fettered as one of the saviours of American cinema, and both his critical, commercial and cultural smashes The French Connection and The Exorcist showered him with Oscar nominations and unprecedented box office success, but as is usual with such icarus like rises an inevitable, incendiary fall was soon to follow. After a string of flops over the next two decades with only the cult crime favourite To Live & Die In La distinguishing an increasingly mediocre career – one...

A few years ago, my friend told me that he'd heard Westboro Baptist Church was an elaborate scam led by former civil-rights lawyer Fred Phelps to profit from filing lawsuits against those who violate their free-speech rights. Yet after watching the Wbc spit on AIDS patients, picket soldiers' funerals, and generally behave like the biggest bag of dicks of all time for the past decade, it became clear that my friend was wrong, and that the Wbc was all too real. Today, however, for the first time in my adult life, I am looking toward the heavens and thanking God that Phelps and his merry band of hate-mongering, spluttering lamewads are the real McCoy. The church's recent remarks on Radiohead are so bizarre and outlandish that you'd think they were the brainchild of some mediocre SNL sketch-writer, and the fact that they aren't makes them [...]...

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church continue their campaign to be the silliest extremist hate-mongers in the country with their recent protest of Whitney Houston's funeral... or lack thereof.  The infamous anti-gay hate group masquerading as a church claimed to have been at the funeral, and even tweeted a photo of themselves picketing. But their brilliant ruse failed; the poorly photoshopped image was proven fake when the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported that the area around the ceremony was restricted to protestors, and no one from the Westboro Baptist Church had shown up. Yes, the most well-known religious extremists in the nation have the same tactics as an eleven-year-old girl who edits her face over Selena Gomez's so it looks like she's dating Justin Bieber.  During the funeral, Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro pastor Fred Phelps, tweeted, "All NJ & all who came to lie about [...]...

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Everyone knows what to expect when they go into one of Kevin Smith’s signature Q&A one-man shows, but no one is quite so sure how they’ll feel once it’s over. Having watched other Smith specials, not all, I had a general expectation to hear some pretty hilarious and well told anecdotes concerning anything from dick and fart jokes to high-minded discussions of the film industry and really anything in between perhaps peppered with some vague advice or helpful recommendations, but Burn in Hell, the fifth installment in the Q&A specials, left me feeling absolutely awe-struck by the deep reverence for life and art and genuinely sage wisdom Smith possesses and shares with his loyal fans. Granted I’m a fan of Smith and his works (and a fellow New Jersey resident), but one doesn’t need to be to be affected by his words on stage.

In a career that spans more than three decades, John Goodman has seemingly done it all. He's starred in the nation's No. 1 sitcom ("Roseanne"), earned indie-cult-hero status (in "The Big Lebowski"), played both a President ("The West Wing") and a Congressman ("Evan Almighty"), voiced animated characters ("Cars" and "Monsters University") and even played a live-action cartoon character (Fred Flintstone). Now, he can cross starring in a silent movie off his list, too, as he features as an angry Hollywood studio executive in the Best Picture frontrunner, "The Artist."

Goodman, who was in London preparing for the upcoming BBC miniseries "Thicker," spoke to The Huffington Post about his role in the charming film that is sweeping awards season, as well as a number of his other big career milestones.

How did you get involved in "The Artist?"

They asked for me. My agent told me this guy wanted to do something...

A few days ago, Miley Cyrus caught some flak from Internet types for being photographed with a penis-shaped cake at boyfriend Liam Hemsworth's birthday party (above). This incident, compounded with the controversy over Cyrus being presented with a ganja cake at her birthday party a few months back, would lead most people to conclude that Miley Cyrus is either a typical nineteen-year-old girl with occasionally questionable judgment, or an ideal candidate for an exceptionally badass celebrity edition of Cake Boss. Rather than find Miley's encounter with the penis-shaped pastry endearingly vulgar, however, conservative watchdog group the Culture and Media Institute treated the incident as the final layer of icing atop a figurative "Miley Cyrus is a godless whore" Satancake (which, y'know, is like a regular cake, except filled with fire and brimstone and Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps' pubes). The organization, which aims [...]...

Margie Phelps, daughter of Pastor Fred Phelps, announced on Twitter today the Westboro Baptist Church would be picketing the funeral of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.Paterno passed away earlier today from lung cancer. He was 85.Last October, Westboro announced they would picket the funeral of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. They also picketed the funeral of Michael Jackson. The church is known for their extreme views against homosexuality. Based on other tweets (see...

I’ve started and stopped, deleted, began from scratch, it must be a year end list. I let these things stress me out far more than I should. I have a real problem with ranking films. I feel as, every film I watch, even some bad ones, are enjoyed at different levels, for different reasons. It seems wrong to me to slap an arbitrary number next to it. How do I rank my enjoyment? Especially if it’s due to different factors? Well, the answer is, I don’t. I’m going to list for you, 10 films of 2011 that I feel should be seen. Please don’t take it as an extensive list, as there are still Far too many flicks that were released at some capacity during the year that I gotten around to yet. Keep in mind that that there is no ranking involved. Movies are listed as they come to me,...