Bryan Hawn reveals all in new Justin Bieber featured video

30/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

GT Hunks

Hilarious!

Shrillex and Diplo have released their new track which features music superstar Justin Bieber.
However, this version of the tracks video is a little different.
The track, titled Where Are U Now now features fitness enthusiast Bryan Hawn in his latest parody as he dances at the sea, gives a touch of camera sex up close and even rides a polar bear in his pants. Yes, really!
Oh, and he wears like no clothes. Complaining? We said nothing of the kind.
So what’re you waiting for?
Get watching…

Words William J Connolly, @wjconnolly

Romantic Irish package holiday aimed at LGBT market in US

30/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

A major US tour operator has become among the first to create a romantic Irish tour for the LGBT market following the passage of the marriage equality referendum.

Brendan Vacation has created a 10-day romantic Ireland itinerary for LGBT couples, but only for those with a lot of money too.

The cost of the trip will be $5,750 per person (€5,150). For that price the itinerary will include a chauffeur in a vehicle with free WiFi.

Same sex marriage legislation delayed until the autumn

Brendan Vacations specialises in high-end visits from North America to Ireland and Scotland. The company has offices in Dublin and Anaheim, California.

“It’s a new step for us,” its president Paul Wiseman said. “It’s a substantial change in the way that we are going to create and market [to the LGBT community]. We’ve done all kinds of different custom departures over the years. But this isn’t a one-off. This is now a much broader program that all agents would be able to get access to.”

The Romantic Ireland package begins with two nights in Dublin at the Merrion Hoteland continues with a night at the Cliff House Hotel in Co Waterford, two nights at theMalton Hotel in Killarney, a night at the Mustard Seed in Co Limerick and two nights at Ashford Castle in Mayo, before returning to the Merrion for a final overnight in Dublin.

Sightseeing will include Dublin, Glendalough, Blarney Castle, the Ring of Kerry, Torc Waterfall, the Cliffs of Moher and Strokestown Park House. Participants will also be offered a chance to cycle along the Wild Atlantic Way, drink Irish coffee at the Foynes Flying Boat Museum and eat St Tola goat cheese on a working farm.

Among those partnering with Brendan on the new product is Dan Mullane, owner of the Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge in Adare.

“We are so proud the Irish people voted yes for marriage equality, making us the first country in the world to do so,” he said. “Nobody blinks an eyelid here. Everyone is equal at the Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge, where they’ll be greeted by the warm, friendly welcome that Ireland is known for.”

The “pink pound” or “pink dollar” is now much sought after in the tourism market. At the World Travel Market in November, Out Now, an LGBT marketing solutions provider, valued the global LGBT tourism market at more than $202 billion annually.

The annual Gay and Lesbian Tourism Study in the United States has found gay people in the United States earn significantly more and travel more than straight people.

Tourism Ireland has already launched a new campaign to promote Ireland as a wedding and honeymoon destination for same-sex couples. The campaign was launched just a day after the referendum passed in May.

The “Ireland says I do” initiative aims to encourage lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender tourists to visit Ireland and to corner a larger slice of what chief executiveNiall Gibbons described as a “new and emerging” tourism market.

A conversation with Andrew Doyle about Forrest Reid, Northern Ireland’s forgotten author

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

BBF15: FORREST REID – ANDREW DOYLE IN CONVERSATION WITH STEPHEN CONNOLLY

Belfast Book Festival

Verbal Arts – Friday 12 June | 6.15pm | £6/£4

at Crescent Arts Centre

Described by E. M. Forster as “the most important man in Belfast”, Forrest Reid (1875-1947) is a major literary figure whose books have somehow fallen into obscurity.
The writer of sixteen novels, including Young Tom (winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction), Reid was a founder member of the Irish Academy of Letters, and received an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University, Belfast. Andrew Doyle discusses his life and his legacy, and explains why a revival of interest in Reid’s work is long overdue.
forrestreid.com

An Asian Minor by Felice Picano

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

By Felice Picano
Publisher: Sea Horse Pr Ltd (Oct. 1981)
An Asian Minor: The True Story of Ganymede is a clever retelling of the Greek myth of Ganymede in the language of a likeably streetwise American ‘teen’. There are a couple of lapses of style, but the joke outstays the welcome.
The illustrations are “Gay Act” at its worst, they appear to have been bought as a job-lot. They are irrelevant, contradict the words, the main characters in the pictures being an Aryan blond while the script describes him as swarthy and having curly brown hair.
The drawings are probably the reason why the book is so pricey though they drag it down from the plane of genuine wit to that of a questionable jest.
Amazon link

The Wounded by Tom Clarkson

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Originally this review was published in our paper magazine of Spring ’85

Published: Brilliance Books 1983

Originally published in 1953, this novel is a story of unrequited (heterosexual) love, by Gay characters play a significant part. The main gay character, Chris, is a ‘drag performer’, who plays the woman’s role in everyday life which, Clarkson implies, is the only possible one a homosexual man could play in England in the 1950s.
Chris’s attraction to other men is because of his deeply inculcated inferiority feelings, associated with a desire to be dominated, or even abused by them. He is a victim of the attitudes of his time.
Subconsciously, Chris wants to be a ‘real man’, but the social stigma attached to homosexuality forces him further into the sordid (and tragic) life-style of the homosexual sub-culture,which was all that was available before the rise of any kind of Gay Pride.
A good read – which has the salutary affect of allowing us to see how far we have come in a mere 65 years.

This book would now appear to be out of print, but there are still second-hand copies available on Amazon – here is the link – The Wounded Amazon LInk

Thousands march in Dublin’s first LGBT Pride Parade since Ireland’s Marriage Referendum

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

– Life Family

Thousands of people joined Dublin’s LGBT Parade this afternoon, as part of the city’s first Pride Festival since Ireland’s Marriage Referendum in May.

Thousands of Irish people splashed the city with colour as they marched from Parnell Square, and through Dublin’s O’Connell Street to finish up in Merrion Square.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar joined the annual parade for the first time since coming out as a gay man.

This year’s Dublin Pride Festival was particularly sweet for those celebrating following the results of last month’s Marriage Referendum.

“I think this Pride is especially significant because of this referendum passing,” a Parade-goer told Independent.ie

“Pride used to be the only day where I felt free but now that the marriage referendum has passed I feel free every day.”

Jade Corcoran from Walkinstown & Elizabeth Mazurok from Blanchardtown during the Dublin LGBT Pride Parade 2015

Another Pride marcher said the last few months have been remarkable for LGBT people around the world and in Ireland.

“It’s been an incredible year. To see what happened in the United States yesterday and with Ireland’s huge ‘Yes’ it’s been an incredible couple of weeks and months,” she said.

An Garda Síochána took part in the Pride Parade for the first time.

Politicians who marched in this afternoon’s parade included Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, Children’s Minister James Reilly and veteran gay rights activist Senator David Norris.

The festival kicked off on Thursday night with a gig by Samantha Mumba at 4 Dame Lane. It was the 31-year-old singer’s first trip back to Ireland from the US since her daughter Sage was born in March.

Online Editors

Celluloid

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

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›› Celluloid

a film by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan.

2013 | 107 mins | UK.

principal players: Janet Bamford / Dawn, Olivia Sweeney / Nicola, Daniel Booth / Josh, Jody Latham / Barnsey, Coby Hamilton / Chrissy, Joe Watts / Mikey, Josh Croft / Ryan, James Devlin / Dave, Neil Ely / Jonno and with Michael Ross as Dawn’s Father.

Adapted Synopsis: “Vulnerable and unable to articulate their worries, troubled teenagers Josh and Nicola struggle with their mother’s mental instability, whilst equally trying to forge relationships outside of the family unit. Only as their mother’s sessions of regression therapy continue to take a heavy toll, will their love for her prove unconditional or have they reached their breaking point?”

Dave says:-

Set for the main part on an estate that wouldn’t be out of place in Shameless and cue Jody Latham doing a loutish reprise of his Shameless character Lip Gallagher, here writer and director Lloyd Eyre-Morgan of Dream On fame has once again triumphed in delivering an emotional feature that wonderfully juxtaposes shades of comical light, with the dramatic darkness of its central theme.

It is a multi-faceted title piece that is played with zeal by its cast of largely fresh faces, fine performances that seamlessly blend in with those, leads Janet Bamford and Daniel Booth included, who starred in the theatrical production upon which it is based. Indeed and whilst Olivia Sweeney is on splendid form as sassy sister Nicola, it is Daniel Booth as her brother and avid video blogger Josh who charms the boys, given his homosexual orientation is all but apparent from day one thanks to some X-rated internet surfing, as he compensates for his unrequited love for his straight best friend and filmmaking partner Mikey and here cue a sensuous fantasy sequence with Joe Watts, with an online hook-up that sees America calling, courtesy of an out and proud performance from Josh Croft as California cutie Ryan.

Dream Boy in Celluloid.

Yet in a film in which the end credit footage truly concludes the story and yes, there’s a rainbow coloured twist in the tale, that is if you didn’t see it coming, LEM keeps his narrative grounded thanks to the solid work of Janet Bamford as the mother of the piece. Previously seen in LEM’s Dream On, here Bamford excels in the role of a woman on the verge of a mental breakdown; her Jekyll and Hyde-like personality causing friction on the home front, as the alarming issue of child molestation takes to the spotlight, along the way unleashing a series of emotional scars that she has still to come to terms with under the supervision of her somewhat creepy therapist. Only are such recollections fact or fiction? That of painful memories long suppressed or and as many think, the product of false memory syndrome?

Fact or fiction in Celluloid.

Intercut with an ever so sweet video montage of the lover boys in London, backed by a delightful turn from Coby Hamilton in the role of Nicola’s not so worldly wise best friend Chrissy and acutely charting a young man’s tentative steps into the world of same-sex relationships, this psychological feature frankly has a lot going for it. And whilst shades of its stage origin remain, this is not a criticism, given here Lloyd Eyre-Morgan continues to impress, his dialogue beautifully merging drama with comedy and his filmmaking played with an ever so realistic feel to it. All of which makes for a powerful and touching coming out work. For that is the bottom line here, given gay cinema has a new voice, one that and alongside the likes of Rikki Beadle-Blair, Darren Flaxstone / Christian Martin and Simon Savory, to name but a few, are keeping it provocatively fresh and vibrant. Oh and I kind of like the name of the film too. But then, I would – naturally.

Gay Visibility – overt.
Nudity – the erect monty / photos.
Overall – file under … 3+ stars.

official website:
www.lemfilms.co.uk

Tell Us What You Think!

Student Pride

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

In 2014 University of Warwick students officially launch their Sport Allies scheme. An initiative to promote inclusion and challenge homophobia among young people and has grown out of the success of the “Warwick Rowers” calendar. This was done as part of the Student Pride 2014, and if you are a student in Northern Ireland what have you done this year for Student Pride 2015?

A Century Later: LGBT – A Hidden History

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

From pre-decriminalisation of homosexuality to our visible emergence into a more inclusive and equal society, this local documentary explores how our hidden LGBT history in Northern Ireland, which has been locked away in records, diaries and personal memorabilia, can be remembered. It is also an exploration of how the living history of the last fifty years can be celebrated within the heritage of Belfast as a city. With local contributors Vince Creelan, Jeff Dudgeon, Brenda Murphy, Doug Sobey, Grainne Close, Shannon Sickels, David Grant and Heather Fleming.
The documentary was screened during the Outburst Queer Arts Festival (16 November 2013) between 3.30pm-4.45pm; and the screening was followed by an informal round table discussion, led by the LGBT History Archive Working Group in Belfast, around building an online public archive that shares the stories, memorabilia and key events that shaped, and continue to shape, our LGBT histories in Northern Ireland.

A Century Later: LGBT – A Hidden History from Northern Visions NvTv on Vimeo.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2)

28/06/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

NIGRA is on a retro feel today, and the latest to be brought out of the archive is A Nightmare on Elm Street (2) – but Deadly Movies says … is renowned for giving My Beautiful Laundrette a run for its money for the gayest film of 1985, but let us not forget Coach Schneider’s role in this man meat fest of homoeroticism. Fond of referring to his mostly topless and often wrestling male pupils as “dirt balls“, Coach Schneider is never very far from any male nudity, and has a penchant for appearing in dreams as a leather clad bondage slave. But it’s his death by shower-locker-room-towel-ass-slap which cements his place in horror history…

But the 2010 movie of A Nightmare on Elm Street has this delightful looking body to tease you:

Kyle Gallner stars as Quentin Smith in Warner Bros. Pictures’ A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Read more: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/still/00004595/nightmare_on_elm_street13.html#ixzz3eLal99R0

GT Hunks

10-day trip, which includes Blarney Castle and Cliffs of Moher, will cost €5,150 per person

BBF15: FORREST REID – ANDREW DOYLE IN CONVERSATION WITH STEPHEN CONNOLLY

Thousands of people joined Dublin’s LGBT Parade this afternoon, as part of the city’s first Pride Festival since Ireland’s Marriage Referendum in May.