Everyone should tune into tonight’s episode of THE REAL WORLD: BROOKLYN to see if yours truly can be seen standing next to the newest set of fishbowlers. If you’re wondering what the frak I’m talking about, so was I until last week…
I received an email that said Braking The Cycle, the AIDS Ride I’ve been a part of for the last 4 years, will be featured in tonight’s episode which airs at 10pm on MTV.
I thought huh?
So I clicked on the link and saw the picture above and like a V8, I slapped my forehead. I knew the newest cast looked familiar but I couldn’t place them until I saw that picture. I stood right next to them at 6:30am in the parking lot of some restaurant during the opening ceremonies in Gettysburg. I remember Chet specifically because his outfit was ridiculous and I always assumed they were interns/students filming the ride for a project. Turns out those cameras were filming The Frakkin Real World. Bizarro.
JD, the gay dolphin laugher trainer from FL spoke at closing ceremonies and was only referred to as an intern, not a member of the show. Sarah and Katelynn were also interns during their time in NYC. Small world.
Word on the street is that Braking the Cycle and The Center will be featured in the episode tonight and that’s pretty fucking amazing exposure for the ride that I love and support. So check it out and come back and let me know what you think!
Like Where’s Waldo or Spot The Observer (FRINGE), let’s see if we can spot this guy!
Way to go BTC! To learn more about Braking the Cycle and The Center, click here.
Braking The Cycle 2008 is over and I’m back home… in one piece. Sure that piece is shriveled, prune like, still jammed up in my abdomen possibly never to descend but nevertheless… one piece.
That’s right, after 3 days, almost 300 miles, 5 million hills, 400 pounds of horse dung, 16,000 gallons of rain, 200 liters of gatorade, 1,000 laughs, 100 clif bars, 50 screams, 40 bananas, 20 Gu packets, 10 packets of butt balm, 5 flies eaten, 1 big good cry at the end of Day 2 and 1 vomit, the weekend is over.
Usually I do some huge write up of each days events and I try to be all fun and witty but right now with the layer of skin missing from my ass and the blisters on my feet, I’m not in the mood to wax properly but I’ll do my best.
On Wednesday night I headed from Boston to NYC on the Acela. I watched the Sex and the City movie which I hadn’t seen yet. It was good, not great but good. It was exactly what I wanted it to be and the perfect extension of the show so I was a happy man on my train ride. I had dinner with my friends Matt and Armando in Hoboken then some Pumpkin ice cream. Yummers.
Day 0 aka Thursday I lounged around a bit, roamed around the city for a while then headed down to The Center to meet up with everyone to take our chartered buses to Gettysburg. As none of my previous BTC bitches (Dan R., Hector, Paul, Jim, Leslie) were riding this year, I sat near some familiar faces. I caught up with Amy, Charl, Greg, Hot John, Roger and Team MTV. The bus ride was fun but long. I won’t confirm nor deny that I dropped a whole container of homemade brownies on the bus floor… you can’t prove a thing, none of you!
Once we arrived it was time for our registration, safety orientation, etc. I had to check on my bike which I shipped the week prior and sadly a spoke broke in transit so the amazing bike techs had to replace it. I paid up the man then headed out to the hotel as it started to rain. I checked into my hotel with every intention of walking up the street, getting something to eat and then coming back to watch the premiere of Survivor but damn if forcing myself to be social didn’t win out.
I headed to The Gingerbread Man with Team MTV and some others and ate. Greg ordered a couple plates of fried pickles which though they may sound hideous, were seriously the frakkin’ best things I ate all weekend. Across from us was a table of Civil War reenactment soldiers in full regalia… only in Gettysburg. Dinner was a blast, I’m so glad I went and missed the premiere of Survivor. I did however catch the new Tabatha’s Salon Takeover when I got back and the minute it was over, I passed out. Love that bitch!
Day 1 or Friday to the rest of the world started out nicely. I woke up at 4:45am and stretched, took a shower, packed the plums and banana into my cycling outfit and headed off to get my bike and head to breakfast. The Opening Ceremonies started at 7:00am, they were touching and inspirational I peed 2x during them. Sorry everyone, when we hydrate as much as we do, there’s bound to be a few inappropriate times for relieving yourself. After a moment of silence and some more amazing speakers, we left Gettysburg on our 95 mile day.
The thing that always kills me about the first part of the morning is that about 10 miles after we leave, we circle back about a block from where we began. If you’re wondering WFT? then all you need to know is that sometimes they have to get creative with the route to make the day longer or harder for us.
I don’t remember much of Day 1 (I think I blocked it already) other than the fact that Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog got me through the worst parts of the route. From “My Freeze Ray” to “Everything You Ever” I sang every word out loud and you’d be surprised how it helped. Hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do!
Continue reading my account of the ride and all my photos after the jump… (more…)
I’m going to be away from the blog for the next 5 or so days as I gear up for my big AIDS Ride this weekend. I’m freaking out that the ride is already here and that I have 300 miles in front of me before the weekend is over. If you donated to the cause, I abso-love and adore you! If you didn’t, I’ll curse your name on every hill that’s before me… unless of course, you donate now!
Wednesday, I leave for NYC and I’ll be spending the night with my besties Matt & Armando. Thursday I’ll meet up with the other riders in the Village as we board buses to the starting point of the ride, historic Gettysburg. We’ll have registration, orientation and dinner then it’s off to bed because I have to be at breakfast by 6:00am. At 7:00am on Friday morning my ass hits the seat and barely moves off of it for the next 300 miles.
If you’re in NYC on Sunday, come to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center (208 W 13th Street) for the ride in and closing ceremonies (4:30 or 5pm). I’d love to see some friendly and familiar faces down there.
You can follow me all weekend through my Twitter. Below are the most recent 20 updates I’ve posted from the ride so come back and refresh this page often. You can also follow me/subscribe to my Twitter page for all of the updates.
If you just listened to our most recent TV Talk Podcast, you know that Monday night is straight up banoodles! In an ideal world, there’s a good 5 or 6 shows that I would love to watch but considering I don’t have a time machine and I’m not unemployed (yet), I have to make a lot of dirty decisions.
Thanks to my good friends at THE BIG BANG THEORY, I’ve already seen tonight’s premiere episode entitled “The Bad Fish Paradigm” and I absoloved it. There is a killer scene between Sheldon and Penny in the laundry room that is legen…wait for it…dary! Plus, wait till you see what Sheldon uses to fold his clothes, pure brilliance. Everyone is in rare form tonight and it truly puts the show at the height of ensemble comedy.
I’m dying to see HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER’s premiere! It’s been a while since we last saw Ted, Robin, Barney, Marshall and Lily and I can’t wait to see what they’ve been up to all summer. From everything I’ve heard, it’s an episode that does not disappoint so do not miss out!
This week will be the first GOSSIP GIRL episode I actually have to watch and that’s killing me! I loved having the 3 week buffer (courtesy of some screener action) and to be honest, I’m counting to hours until it airs but worried that I actually won’t be able to watch (more on that later).
HEROES Season 3 kicks into gear tonight and as much as intrigued as I am to see what happens and where “Villians” will go, I don’t think I’ll be able to watch some Sylar action for a couple weeks. WHATTHEWHAT?! Believe me, it pains me more than you know.
So what’s with all the not being able to watch my favorite shows? Well, I leave for my AIDS Ride on Wednesday which means I have a shit load of stuff to do before Wednesday rolls around and my TV viewing is going to take a major backseat.
Big huge thanks to everyone that donated to my AIDS Ride, you’re all amazing and I couldn’t do it without your support! Stay tuned later in the week for info on how to follow me on the ride!
If you feel like you’ve been bombarded lately by a slew of star-studded ads urging you to StandUp2Cancer - then get the frak up and pay attention.
Tonight ABC, CBS, NBC and E! will all air the StandUp2Cancer Special which aims at raising cancer awareness and money as a show of solidarity by the networks. Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson will co-host the one-hour event tonight at 8pm.
Set to appear: Salma Hayek, Scarlett Johansson, Lance Armstrong, America Ferrera, Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron, Forest Whitaker, Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Jack Black, Sheryl Crow, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Garner, Diane Keaton, Dana Delany, Rob Lowe, Sharon Osbourne, Keanu Reeves, Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and Rihanna.
December 1st is WORLD AIDS DAY and every year I try to post something to get you all thinking and active. I’ve urged you to watch TV specials which I’ll do again this year as this is a TV Blog after all, but this year I also have a special request for all of you on my behalf.
Since 2002 I’ve participated in various AIDS Rides and have raised over $14,000 for various HIV/AIDS related organizations. In 2008 I will once again hit the roads as part of BRAKING THE CYCLE (my 3rd year) but I’m not asking you for money yet… I’ll wait until we’re actually in 2008 for that!
$5,000 for Braking the Cycle: Nance, a fellow rider ran into a colleague of hers from the University of Victoria that needs 1,000 subjects for an online experiment. The study is about “the impressions people form and retain when they watch videotaped depictions of complex human behaviours and interactions”. The research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and has a nice budget for participants. He has offered to donate $5 per participant to Braking The Cycle. In addition to the $5 donation to our cause, participants are entered into a lottery, with approximately 1/100 chance of winning $100.
Completing the study takes about 20 minutes, and involves watching a short video, performing some word-puzzle tasks, and answering questions about the video. It¹s fun! The study has been approved by University of Victoria’s Human Research Ethics Board.
Click here to participate and help Braking The Cycle. *One thing to know is that as you are downloading a video (which took about 3 minutes on my computer) there is no sign that anything is happening so just hang tight and it will start up. (Thanks to Blake for the tip)
Educate and Activate The Brain Through TV! Here are a number of television events in honor of World AIDS Day.
It’s so sad to me that MTV/VH1 aren’t representing more. They used to be huge on World AIDS Day, airing many specials and documentaries and this year basically nothing. I guess they pushed it all on LOGO which is not on basic cable, isn’t targeted toward teens, and sadly gives the impression that AIDS is more of a gay disease than a human pandemic. That’s really frustrating.
The tear jerkers are the movies, Longtime Companion and In The Gloaming. They’re my faves. Documentary wise they all look great; Ashley Judd has worked her ass off over the last few years to educate on AIDS and her films are always incredible. I’m really intersted in the “I Want to be a Pilot” one because it’s interviews with 50 orphaned African kids due to AIDS, you know that’s going to be moving. I liked “The Ride” mostly because it speaks to the rides I’ve done over the past 6 years but 7:30 a.m. is early.
Hope you spend some time this weekend thinking about HIV/AIDS Prevention, Education, and the fight for a cure. Enjoy the weekend gang.
If you happen to be hanging out on Fire Island this weekend with you gays, get thee to Fire Island Dance Festival! Our boys TRAVIS WALL and IVAN KOUMAEV will be performing as part of the Dancers Respond To AIDS program which is part of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Aside from Travis and Ivan, the roster of performers includes Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Battleworks Dance Company, TheChase Brock Experience, Corbindances, Darrel Grand Moultrie, Jorge Guzman & Willem Devries, Momix, Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre, Tapaholics, Trey Mcintrye Project.
Whoopi Goldberg hosts the event this Friday, July 20th. Wait, does that mean they won’t be in line to get their Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book? What’s that all about?
Do you think they would come and dance for the AIDS Ride I’m doing? I could throw a shin-dig and have those two work it out. If you’re interested in helping me raise $3,500 to fight AIDS, please head on over and visit Ducky’s Big AIDS Ride 2007 for more information.
Let’s not pussyfoot around. Shauna Noland and Cedric Garnder were sent home last night on a semi-bloated hour of So You Think You Can Dance.
Was it time for either or both to go? I’m not sure. I 100% believe it was time for Cedric to go home. He had learned a ton while on the show, he’d grown as a dancer, as a person and scored himself a sweet free ride to the Debbi Allen Dance Academy. Can’t beat that. I think he was proud of his performances and I think that he knew it was his time to go (two weeks ago)…
Shauna on the other hand was totally screwed. There’s a part of me that didn’t mind her going home, but then there was that part of me that thinks she got the short end of that dance stick. Nigel complained that she didn’t grow much during the course of the season and that she isn’t showing the potential needed to stay around at this stage of the game. That may fully be the case but come on… YOU GAVE HER CRAP PARTNERS!
Jimmy was a good dancer, but they had zero chemistry together and never connected. Cedric was like dancing with a first year at Hogwarts. Shauna was Hermione and Cedric, Neville Longbottom. It was never going to work and how could Hermione grow if she’s always left behind because of Neville’s shortcomings? What am I talking about here?
Farewell you two, good luck and sorry but we’ve got to move on!
I’d like to say I so called the Bottom 3, but patting myself on the back seems pointless when there’s more to chat about. (more…)
First of all let me start by saying I was so happy to see Cat Deeley and the Top 14 kids back in action after that mini-holiday hiatus they took last week. It was like seeing an old friend again, putting on those comfy pajamas, or biting into a bing cherry for the first time all year. You know, things you love and are happy when they come back and they just make you giddy like a school girl…
Before I get into the show at all I want to say that I want to hug, squeeze, kiss, high five, dap, and maybe give a happy ending to Hairspray The Musical Director/Choreographer/This Week’s Guest Judge ADAM SHANKMAN for finally having the balls to say that Danny Tidwell acts like he’s way above this competition! In fact I think the words were, “you dance like you’ve already won this competition.” There was some calling out of sticks being up asses and cockiness and my paragraph has just gone to a whole new level of innuendo but seriously, I WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE SHANKMAN CALL HIM OUT! Amen brother man! Needed to be done but we’ll talk more about it later.
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