[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/banksy_funglejunk.jpg[/img2]A number of works by guerrilla artist Banksy have failed to sell at a modern art auction in London.

Fungle Junk - a mural painted on the side of a van - was expected to make £150,000 but was withdrawn after a bid of half that price was made.

A spokesman for auctioneer Lyon and Turnbull said the artist's refusal to authenticate the works was to blame.

The modern art sale's "disappointing" outcome was also put down to the current economic climate.

Some 80% of the lots at the auction failed to sale, according to Ben Hanly, Lyon and Turnbull's contemporary art specialist.

'Extreme caution'

A self-portrait of Kate Moss, inscribed in blood by her former boyfriend Pete Doherty, eventually made less than its expected £40,000.

Works by other leading artists including Sam Taylor-Wood were not sold.

Enigmatic artist Banksy refused to authenticate his five works after setting up an organisation, Pest Control, to verify his art after a series of fakes were attributed to him.
Gangsta Rat by Banksy
Gangsta Rat was expected to make up to £30,000, but was unsold

He has also expressed a dislike for his street art being removed from its original setting.

But the auction house said it was sure the work was genuine and it decided to go ahead without official verification.

Of other main lots by Banksy, only Bomb Middle England sold for £13,000, while a number of prints were auctioned off for relatively small amounts.

On its website, Pest Control said that since its creation in January, 89 street pieces and 137 screen prints attributed to Banksy had turned out to be fake.

"Pest Control does not authenticate street pieces because Banksy prefers street work to remain in situ and building owners tend to become irate when their doors go missing because of a stencil," it said.

"He would encourage anyone wanting to purchase one of his images to do so with extreme caution, but does point out that many copies are superior in quality to the originals."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/littlebritainusa.jpg[/img2]Gay comedian Matt Lucas and David Walliams' multi-award-winning comic creation, Little Britain, is returning to television this Friday with a brand new series, Little Britain USA.

Filmed entirely in the States, the series features familiar Little Britain characters in new sketches, as well as brand-new characters, all performed by Lucas and Walliams.

Returning favourites include Dafydd Thomas, the self-proclaimed "only gay in the village"; Emily Howard, an awkward and obvious transvestite in denial; Lou and his seemingly wheelchair-bound best friend Andy; Marjorie Dawes, the insensitive leader of a chapter of the weight-loss support group Fatfighters; Vicky Pollard, a motor-mouthed teenage delinquent with a terrible attitude and Harvey, a young adult who still craves his mother's "bitty".

Among the new characters on the show are Bing Gordyn, the eighth astronaut to go to the moon; Phyllis, who is powerless to ignore suggestions from the manipulative and dangerous Mr Doggy, her King Charles spaniel; Mark and Tom, hyper-masculine gym buddies who will do anything for each other; Mildred, who shares wildly inappropriate secrets from her shocking past with her grandson Connor; Ellie-Grace, a frilly little girl with the mouth of a truck driver; and Sandra and George, who have been married for 40 "glorious" years.

The series will feature several cameo performances, including Geraldine James, Rosie O'Donnell, Paul Rudd and Sting.
Simon Fuller, Executive Producer, says: "Little Britain USA is a show we made for HBO, however we always had in mind our British audience and hope everyone enjoys the new characters as much as they do the familiar ones.

"Matt Lucas and David Walliams are two of Britain's most talented comedy writers and performers and I am happy to continue Little Britain's special relationship with the BBC.

"I am proud at the same time to introduce them to an American audience. The anticipation for the new shows has been quite remarkable."

Matt Lucas and David Walliams met at the National Youth Theatre in 1990, where they became immediate friends and collaborators, writing and appearing in a number of TV and radio projects.

In 2001, they launched the Little Britain sketch comedy radio series for BBC Radio 4, which was renewed for a second season on Radio 4 before becoming a TV pilot for both BBC Two and BBC Three in February 2003.

In 2004, they picked up a three British Comedy Awards, a National Television Award and a BAFTA for the first TV season and won two BAFTAs, a South Bank Show Award, a Broadcast Award, two Rose D'or Awards at Montreux and two RTS nominations for the second season. Little Britain has also been the recipient of two International Emmys.

Little Britain USA is written by Matt Lucas and David Walliams and was shot on location and in studio in Wilmington, North Carolina and Los Angeles.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/rocketmanyves.jpg[/img2]A Swiss man has become the first person to fly solo across the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing.

Yves Rossy landed safely after the 22-mile (35.4 km) flight from Calais to Dover, which had been twice postponed this week because of bad weather.

The former military pilot took less than 10 minutes to complete the crossing and parachute to the ground.

The 49-year-old flew on a plane to more than 8,200ft (2,500m), ignited jets on a wing on his back, and jumped out.

Mr Rossy had hoped to reach speeds of 125mph.

It felt "great, really great", said Mr Rossy: "I only have one word, thank you, to all the people who did it with me."

He said weather conditions on Friday had been perfect and his success signalled "big potential" for people to fly "a little bit like a bird" in the future.

Known as "Fusionman," he was aiming to follow the route taken by French airman Louis Blériot 99 years ago when he became the first person to fly across the English Channel in a plane.

In an interview earlier this week, he said: "If I calculate everything right, I will land in Dover. But if I get it wrong, I take a bath."

The stunt was broadcast live for the National Geographic Channel. Its producer, Kathryn Liptrott, said Mr Rossy was fearless.

"When we've talked to him and asked him are you worried about risk his quote consistently is: I'm not worried about risk, I manage risk.

"He flew Mirage fighters for the Swiss army, he now flies an Airbus. And in his sort of heart he's a pilot and a parachutist and what they do is manage risk. He won't fly if he doesn't think that he will arrive in Dover."

The longest flight he had previously taken lasted 10 minutes.

The wing had no rudder or tail fin, so Mr Rossy had to steer it using his head and back.

As well as a helmet and parachute, he wore a special suit to protect him from the four kerosene-burning turbines mounted just centimetres from him on the wing.

Here's a story that appeared on the msn news:
Clay is gay: Aiken comes out of the closet
Sept. 23, 2008, 6:20 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- Clay Aiken is finally confirming what many people already knew: He's gay.
The cover of the latest People magazine shows Aiken holding his infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, with the headline: "Yes, I'm Gay." The cover also has the quote: "I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things."
The magazine has an interview with Aiken and confirmed that he was on the cover but refused to release the article to The Associated Press until Wednesday.
The baby's mother is Aiken's friend and record producer Jaymes Foster.
Aiken, who gained fame as the runner-up on "American Idol" in 2003, rarely addressed the frequent rumors about his sexuality. In an interview with The Associated Press two years ago, he said: "I don't really feel like I have anybody to answer to but myself and God and the people I love."
The multiplatinum singer recently released the CD "On My Way Here" and made his Broadway debut this spring in "Monty Python's Spamalot."

Good for you Clay!!! mile: Bravo on becoming a dad.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/lindsaylohan.jpg[/img2]Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan has confirmed she is "going out" with DJ Sam Ronson. (Mark Ronson's elder sister)

There have been constant rumours about their relationship, with everyone from Ms Lohan's father to the Los Angeles chief of police publicly airing their views.

Ms Ronson, speaking on a phone in radio show in the US about the plane crash last weekend in which her friend DJ AM was seriously injured. She then passed the phone to Ms Lohan.

Presenter Ted Stryker asked her:

"You and Samantha, have been going out for how long now?

"Like two years, one year, five months, two months?"

"For a very long time," Ms Lohan replied.

The two have been friends for years and it is said they got closer during Ms Lohan's stint at rehab last year, but the movie star's publicist has always denied they are in a relationship.

Earlier this month they issued a joint statement criticising the Republican party nominee for Vice President of the United States, Sarah Palin.

"I find it quite interesting that a woman who now is running to be second in command of the United States only four years ago had aspirations to be a television anchor, which is probably all she is qualified to be."

Lohan also attacked the candidate's views on sexuality: "Is it a sin to be gay? Should it be a sin to be straight? Or to use birth control? Or to have sex before marriage? Or even to have a child out of wedlock?

"Is our country so divided that the Republicans' best hope is a narrow-minded, media-obsessed homophobe?"

In August Ms Lohan hit out at the Los Angeles police chief after he said she had "gone gay."

Chief William Bratton made the remark while explaining why he does support a crackdown on the paparazzi.

"If you notice, since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving, Paris is out of town not bothering anybody, thank God, and evidently, Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don't seem to have much of an issue," Bratton told LA news channel KNBC.

"Police chiefs shouldn't get involved in everyone else's business when it comes to their personal life. It's inappropriate," Lohan said in a video filmed by paparazzi and posted on celebrity website TMZ.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/g-a-y.jpg[/img2]The group that owns G-A-Y has ended months of speculation and confirmed it has purchased Heaven nightclub.

The Astoria had been the venue for G-A-Y club nights for 15 years. It is to be demolished to make way for the Crossrail project and a redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road station.

Promoter Jeremy Joseph said in May that he made the decision to leave the Astoria after fifteen years "after a lot of thought and consideration. The last night there was in July.

The G-A-Y franchise includes two other bars, G-A-Y Late located just off Charing Cross Road and G-A-Y Bar on Old Compton Street in Soho.

The MAMA group, owners of the Barfly music venue chain and the management company of top British bands such as the Kaiser Chiefs, bought a 75% share in Manto Soho Limited (MSL), the company which operates G-A-Y Bar and G-A-Y Late, in August 2007.

Mr Joseph retains ownership of the G-A-Y brand.

He told clubbing blog dicscodamaged yesterday:

"I'm proud and excited that I can now confirm that G-A-Y is the new owners of HEAVEN Nightclub.

"Together it is 44 years of gay history.

"After years of being competition to each other, the world's best known gay club becomes the home to the world's most famous gay club night.

"Despite much speculation about the future of Heaven, it is my priority to make sure not only will Heaven be the new home for G-A-Y, but also to continue the success of other nights, allowing Heaven to be a diverse venue, making it Britain's best gay club."

"The next couple of weeks I will spend getting to re-know Heaven & will be making plans that will include a major refurbishment."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/russelltovey.jpg[/img2]One of the most popular programmes on the BBC could soon have an out gay star as its leading man.

Emails from Doctor Who creator Russell T Davies printed in The Times reveal that he wants Russell Tovey to succeed David Tennant in the iconic role.

Tovey appeared in the show's Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, as Midshipman Frame. At 26, he would be the tenth and youngest Doctor.

He gained rave reviews for his portryal of Rudge in the stage and film versions of Alan Bennett's The History Boys and in the Royal National Theatre’s production of His Dark Materials.

Russell T Davies leaves Doctor Who as lead writer and executive producer next year. He said Tovey was "going to be huge" and is "amazing."

The children's science fiction series was on air from 1963 to 1989, with seven different incarnations of the Doctor, among them Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.

Doctor Who was revived in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the eponymous time traveller. He was succeeded by David Tennant after one series.

The creator of iconic gay drama Queer as Folk, Davies is developing a new BBC drama series about forty-something gay men, it was confirmed last year.

In the emails Davies' humour shines through. He describes a press event in which he meets Tovey:
"In the middle of the line-up, I say hello to Russell Tovey [actor who plays Midshipman Frame]. He's in front of GMTV. I'm with Newsround. We both look embarrassed…

"Then it's the screening. We're hustled to our seats. "That's Russell Tovey's boyfriend," someone points out - and a whole fantasy night dies in my mind… "

The producer and writer also admitted to wrestling with fancying Conservatives and shares his distaste for politicians:
"I hate any Q&A. I'm 44 and balding and putting on weight, in a cheap suit because nothing else was clean and my alarm didn't go off; the last thing I want to do is sit in front of 500 people…

"Then it's the party afterwards. But I can't relax. It's all work. In three hours, I have half an apple juice and half a Coke. I have to speak to everyone. That's my job. Signing autographs for kids, which is nice, but then the MPs, the bloody MPs…

"The one time I do get five minutes to myself, one of the sci-fi magazine men is drunk and won't leave me alone, while I'm fending off his sly, smiling insults ("That was a fun episode, wasn't it? Just fun!"), and then I find myself with two gay boys who work as researchers in Parliament, and they're gorgeous, but it turns out that they're with the Shadow Secretary of Something. I'm thinking, would I sleep with a Tory?

"But then they're telling me that they were 13 when Queer as Folk was on, and I realise that I'm as old as George Bernard Shaw to them…

"Then more bloody MPs, and there's the nice man from The Guardian, all smiles and hellos, the same man who wrote a Guardian blog last week describing Doctor Who as the Most Overrated TV Show of the Year, but I'm smiling back, because they can write what they like.

"And it goes on and on and on. When I say I hate it, I'm really so unhappy - and smiling like an idiot. A hundred versions of me, and every single one sounds like a fool."

The role of Time Lord may not appeal to Tovey - in an interview with Attitude magazine in January he described his dream role:
"I want to play really dark, fucked-up characters, I want to play characters like drag queens, rent boys, someone who has been abused, a rapist."

In the emails Davies also revealed he had wanted Harry Potter author JK Rowling to star in a Christmas special.

"David (Tennant, the current Doctor Who) doesn't like the JK idea, he thinks it sounds like a spoof, so we've paused slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something that he's not going to be happy with," he wrote.

After this year's Doctor Who, the next series will not air until 2010.

I am wanting to start a new thread for Youtube videos. I havent seen one on here except for those just talking about youtube, but no thread just for the videos. I could be wrong, i have been gone for some time. Here is my submission for the thread at this time.




*If the video isnt working here is the link*
http://videos.komando.com/2008/08/19/water-painting/

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/nycity.jpg[/img2]An annual US workplace survey has found that 79% of heterosexual adults think gay co-workers should be judged on how they do their job.

The 7th national Out & Equal Workplace Survey also found that 71% of heterosexuals agree that how an employee performs at their job should be the standard for judging them and not whether or not they are transgender.

Nine out of ten heterosexual adults said they would feel indifferent or feel positively upon learning that a co-worker was gay or lesbian, compared to one of ten who said that they would feel negatively.

It also found that 75% of heterosexuals feel that spouses of married heterosexual employees and committed partners of gay and lesbian employees both should receive leave when they lose a spouse/partner or close family members.

64% said that spouses of married heterosexual employees and committed partners of gay and lesbian employees both should receive untaxed health benefits under federal law.

The 2008 Out & Equal Workplace Survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive in conjunction with Out & Equal and Witeck-Combs Communications, among 2,637 US adults, of whom 343 self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

The survey is an annual barometer of attitudes surrounding LGBT issues in the workplace and is the longest-running survey of its kind.

"It’s encouraging that heterosexuals appear more and more committed to ending these forms of employment discrimination and to extending equal benefits to all employees," said Out & Equal Executive Director Selisse Berry.

"Despite these recent strides, however, there remain far too few companies and jurisdictions that provide meaningful protections to all employees, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. There is still much progress to be made in today’s workplace and in society itself."

LGBT respondents reported experiencing discrimination and many still feel the need to conceal their sexual orientation.

65% of gays and lesbians faced some sort of discrimination in the workplace and 47% heard anti-gay comments on the job.

36% of gays and lesbians say they remain closeted at work. 20% reported being harassed on the job by co-workers.

The survey also suggests that public education is needed on the lack of protections that exist today in the workplace for LGBT employees.

Despite their support for LGBT rights, 61% of heterosexuals are still unaware that under US federal law it is legal for an employer to fire someone because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Last week new research from a lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans civil rights group revealed that the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies include sexual orientation in their employment nondiscrimination policies.

Equality Forum reported that 471 (94.2%) of the top 500 American corporations voluntarily include sexual orientation.

Attempts by the US Congress to pass a federal law protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans Americans from workplace discrimination fell apart last year amid acrimonious claims and counter-claims over trans rights.

In November the Employment Non-Discrimination Act was passed by the House by 235 to 184.

ENDA was originally designed to make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or promote a person based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The decision to remove trans people from the scope of the legislation caused anger among the LGBT community in the US, with many demanding an "all or nothing" stance.

Many of the House Democrats serving their first term did not want ENDA to include protections for trans people, fearful of a backlash from conservatives.

President Bush has already indicated he would veto ENDA.

The White House expressed constitutional concerns that the proposal could "trample" religious rights.

Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama favours including sexual orientation in federal workplace protection laws.

His Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, opposes the bill.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/katyperry.jpg[/img2]American singer Katy Perry has rejected criticism of her new single UR SO GAY.

She came to prominence this year with her worldwide hit, I Kissed A Girl, that angered some gay and lesbian rights activists.

The song, which includes the lyrics "I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chapstick", was an instant number one hit.

Slant Magazine said the song: "isn't problematic because it promotes homosexuality, but because its appropriation of the gay identity exists for the sole purpose of garnering attention—both from Perry's boyfriend and her audience."

Now gay rights activist Peter Tatchell has spoken out.

UR SO GAY mocks a former 'metrosexual' boyfriend of Perry's with lyrics that one critic described as "schoolyard homophobia."

"I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf"

"While jacking off listening to Mozart"

"You bitch and moan about LA"

"You’re so gay and you don’t even like boys"

"No you don’t even like, no you don’t even like, no you don’t even like boys"

"You’re so gay and you don’t even like boys."

Perry's tune has infuriated outspoken activist Peter Tatchell, who said the song demeans gay people."

"I am sure Katy would get a critical reception if she expressed comparable sentiments in a song called 'UR so black, Jewish or disabled.'"

Perry defended her song's use of the word 'gay.'

"We live in a very metrosexual world," she said.

"You know, a girl might walk into a bar, meet a boy, and discover he's more manicured than she is. And they can't figure it out. Is he wearing foundation and a bit of bronzer? But he's buying me drinks at the same time!"

"I'm not saying you're so gay, you're so lame. I'm saying, you're so gay, but I don't understand it because you don't like boys!"

Perry started out as a Christian pop artist, listening to gospel music and strutting her siren’s voice at church.

Perry's parents, Evangelical preachers Mary and Keith Hudson, spoke out against her song.

Mrs Hudson said:

"We hate it. It promotes homosexuality, which the Bible clearly states is a sin, and it is shameful and disgusting."

"When it comes on I bow my head and pray."

"She is our daughter and we love her and can't cut her out of our lives."

"But we strongly disagree with how she is conducting herself and she knows how disappointed we are."

"Katy is not a homosexual and has just been led astray by Hollywood."

"She changed when she went to LA and is going through a period of rebellion."

"She's told me, 'Oh Mom, I'm not going to turn into Amy Winehouse,' but I pray all the time God will help her find salvation."