NY Times Podcast Review:Ricky Martin’s Sells Out On His New Album Sings About Loving Women & Not Other Men!!!
The NY Times reviews Ricky Martin new album Musica + Alma + Sexo since he came out as a gay man.
The question, Ricky Martin fans are probably wondering is how specific will Ricky discuss his love for men?
According to Jon Pareles, Ricky is trying to be relevant in 2011 because he wants to appeal to
heterosexual women.
Gay men will notice that Ricky Martin’s new single with the female singer Joss Stone The Best Thing About Me Is You is a heterosexual love ballad.
Of course, Ricky choosing to sing a song with a woman is clearly a marketing gimmick to appeal to heterosexual women. After all, heterosexual women are still Ricky Martin’s target demographic audience.
I wonder though, what does this say about Ricky Martin’s integrity? If Ricky Martin is so proud to be a gay man why can’t he make music videos about falling in love with another man? Why is Ricky making music videos with heterosexual women? Does this make any sense?
Will straight female still purchase this new album? Or will women reject Ricky Martin since they know their sexual fantasies will never materialize now that he’s out of the closet?
Adam Lambert utilized the same strategy as Ricky Martin make himself appear as heterosexual as possible and appeal to straight women.
It just seems that the more things change the more they stay the same.
A gay man can be gay but he can’t be TOO GAY. So what’s the point of Ricky Martin coming out anyway?
He claims he is so proud to be a gay man, yet he’s singing generic romantic love songs with heterosexual women?
It doesn’t make sense to me, if you come out of the closet you go all the way you don’t compromise to appeal to heterosexuals!
Of course, Ricky is a good entetainer and he wants to sell records, but if Ricky is being honest about his truth, why won’t he sing more about his homosexuality?
Well, the consensus is, the album is just trying to reach a universal audience.
Ricky sings mostly in Spanish and he says in some song lyrics that he is not a liar and he will live his life.
It is just disconcerting that Ricky refuses to be specific about his sexual attraction to other men on the album.
I am kind of disappointed, I was hoping that he would sing about his love for other men in more detail and be a bit more specific.
The message is still negative that a gay man can be out of the closet but he must still compromise and conform to compulsory heterosexuality.
Shocking News:Cross Dressing Director Tyler Perry To Star In New Action Film I Am Alex Cross!!!
Tyler Perry in, Idris Elba out of Alex Cross reboot: Producer explains why — EXCLUSIVE
Image Credit: Janet Mayer/PR Photos; Charles Norfleet/PR PhotosLast August, when news broke that The Wire‘s Idris Elba was to follow in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider) and reboot the James Patterson detective character Alex Cross on the big screen, we were psyched — and this was before we’d seen his Golden Globe-nominated turn as a detective in the miniseries Luther. EW chatted with Elba last October about the film, which was to then have been directed by David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, Pitch Black), and all he would reveal was that the script was “phenomenal” and if he could pick his dream costar/nemesis, it’d be Joaquin Phoenix. So cut to the news today that cameras will be rolling this June on I, Alex Cross with Tyler Perry in the titular role and director Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious and xXx) at the helm. What happened?
Elba’s rep had no comment, but Bill Block, CEO of QED International (District 9), which acquired the rights and the initial script by Kerry Williamson and Patterson late last year (and hired Marc Moss, who worked on the previous Cross films, to refine it for Perry and Cohen), just filled us in: “When we came on, we looked at it freshly, and just built it from the bottom up,” he tells EW. “Sure, Idris is a great actor; Tyler Perry is a phenomenon. Tyler Perry is one of the most significant entertainers in all of media. He is a huge cross-media talent and presence — and he’s a terrific actor whose range is going to be shown here. You’re going to see Tyler Perry like you haven’t seen him. He’s 6’5″, he is a linebacker. He is an awesome physical presence and is just going to tear it apart here. It’s an intense, dramatic role.” Block says the film — “a kickass, crusading action picture” — will be the first of several Alex Cross films. “This is going to be the new Tyler Perry franchise, a worldwide one,” he says. “That’s the other thing: Tyler Perry is going to take this to the worldwide audience. It’s just a very different, much bigger opportunity.” (It’s worth noting that Block was, in fact, phoning us as he arrived at the airport, about to fly to the European Film Market in Berlin to sell global distribution rights.) “We went to him,” Block says. “If you can get Tyler Perry or Will Smith, you try.”
Now I imagine most people, myself included, think of Elba and Perry as being two very different actors, and naturally find this to be a bemusing, almost amusing turn of events. The question is: Are you more or less interested in the film now? With Elba, I was looking forward to him getting a quality leading man role with mass appeal and bringing some heat. With Perry, I’m curious to see how he’ll handle a serious car chase (I assume there will be one), and whether his Madea fans will follow him when the makeup in the movie isn’t drag but deadly. Yes, we’ll all be dying to see the trailer. But is it the kind of curiosity that’s satisfied in two minutes or two hours?
While you ponder those questions, I’ll leave you with this: You can critique an actor’s performance after the film opens, but you can’t ever fault someone for wanting to try something new and show his range. I have no idea what kind of relationship Elba has with Perry, who directed him in 2007′s Daddy’s Little Girls, but that notion is something I’m confident Elba would agree with (at least on some level). Talking to us last October about the diversity in his credits, Elba said, “I would never be fearful of any character. I think there’s a tendency for actors like myself, and I don’t mean to generalize myself, but I’ve played ‘men’s men,’ if you will, characters that are simmering [with] rage and calculated. There’s a trend not to play anything that is opposed to that. I remember when I left Stringer [on HBO’s The Wire], one of the films I did was Tyler Perry’s Daddy’ Little Girls, which was about a man doting over his three little girls. I remember there was talk, ‘Why? Why would you do that? Play gangsters. Play ruthless.’ It’s really funny because the same people who loved me as Stringer Bell were the same people that were watching Daddy’s Little Girls literally in tears. Some people don’t like the film, but some of the guys that came up to me and said, ‘Yo, I want to see you play gangsters’ were the same ones that were in tears because they had either strained relationships with their children, or they loved their children so much and they were watching a character that they could relate to. I don’t mind playing characters that are opposite of what people think I am.”
CIUT 89.5 Kwame Stephens Interview About His Black Gay Men’s Play Man 2 Man Opening At Harbourfront Centre In Toronto On Feb 12th 2011 At 8 pm!!!
Man 2 Man followed by Q-and-AFebruary 12, 2011
Kwame Stephens’ Man 2 Man deals with the love story between Damien, a young man in his 20s, and the older and more mature Emmanuel. When they first met, it was not love at first at sight. It was a bumpy ride. Damien was sure of his sexuality. Emmanuel, who had recently separated from his wife, was still coming to terms with his sexuality. This love story takes us through the ups and downs that these two men experience from first encounter to committed relationship. The play, first staged to a sold out audience at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in June 2010, has been described as honest, humourous and tragic.
Information About Performance Dates & Time.
Link to Kwame Stephens Interview For His Black Gay Play Man To Man
at The Harbourfront Centre 8pm February 12th 2011!!!
http://www.ciut.fm/index.php/shows-2/the-more-the-merrier-tmtm/
Parenting.ca Article: Latino Canadian Students Are Victims Of Racism From Fellow Students & Teachers In The Classroom.
Racism, stereotypes hamper Latino students: Study
January 12, 2011
Kristin Rushowy and Louise Brown
EDUCATION REPORTERS
Latino teens, whose 40 per cent dropout rate is among the highest in the city, say they suffer in school because of racial stereotypes — held by both peers and teachers — that they are poor, lazy and criminal, says a University of Toronto study.
The study, one of the first to examine this vulnerable group of students, arose out of an April 2008 report by the Toronto District School Board that showed Spanish-speaking students scored among the lowest on standardized literacy tests, struggled to do well in school and dropped out roughly as often as black and Portuguese teens.
It also noted students from Spanish-speaking backgrounds often feel pressured to quit school to help support their families.
“The amount of racism reported by students was perhaps the most disheartening aspect of the research and an area in which much more work needs to be done at the classroom and school levels,” said the study’s author, Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
The study looked at 60 students in six Toronto high schools who completed a survey and took part in focus groups and one-on-one interviews.
Among the study’s recommendations:
More support for immigrant families and a Spanish “student guide” for those new to the country.
Implement a program providing peer support for newcomer students.
Provide part-time jobs in the school to help students stay enrolled while earning money. The board is already looking into this possibility for all at-risk students.
Create courses in Latin American history and culture in part to help dispel stereotypes.
Students shared poignant anecdotes about facing stereotypes and low expectations.
Elias, a Grade 10 student from Mexico, was the only student questioned when a classmate’s wallet was stolen in drama class.
Liliana, a recent immigrant from Mexico, complained: “It gets on my nerves that the representation of Mexico is, “Oh yes, they still wear sombreros and everything along with the mustache.”
Elena, a Grade 11 student of Salvadorean background, described how Latinas are expected to “pull off” wearing more provocative clothing than females of other backgrounds.
To Ecuadorian student Pablo, “People think that every Spanish guy is going into like, gardening, or is going to be a janitor.” Valeria was approached on the street in the affluent neighbourhood where her father had recently bought a home, by a woman looking for a maid to work for her.
Alejandro, a Grade 10 student from Colombia, said one teacher openly admitted, “I don’t like Latinos.”
Maribel, a Grade 12 student from Mexico, complained: “Everyone else generally thinks that we are not intelligent, that we only dance reggaeton and salsa . . . that we don’t study.”
Gayblackcanada 