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Lipstick Jungle Television Show Trailer

With the current writers strike going on, something has been in the works for months and is about to come to life.  From the creators of Sex in the City, we now have Lipstick Jungle.  Premiering on Thursday, February 7th on NBC, this show will showcase Brooke Shields, as a movie exec who does everything she can to balance career and a family, Kim Raver as an Editor in Chief of a hot fashion magazine who dreams of being the CEO, and Lindsay Price as a free-spirited designer all of whom find friendship in eachother.  Expect high fashion, product placement, and hair for the Gods—did I forget to mention this is sponsored by Maybelline New York?  This definitely seems like the type of show that you will be having Jungle Parties over and screaming with your friends.  For more information about this show go to:  http://www.nbc.com/Lipstick_Jungle/index.shtml 

If you are looking for a great, cheap, hip, modern, and fabulous place to stay at while in Amsterdam, I would definitely suggest the Qbic Hotel Amsterdam WTC, Qbic Hotel Antwerp, and Qbic Hotel Maastricht.  Their rooms, ranging around 39 Euros a night, are for the budget conscious traveler who is looking for fun, sassy, and efficient hotel accommodations.  Designed by Feran Thomassen, you get a Cubi-aluminum clad pod with a Phillippe Starck bathroom, kitchenette, and a Hästens bed.  For those of you who do not know a Hästens bed is quite possibly the most expensive bed ever made, coming out of Sweden and had multi-layered construction and is made for the long haul and   costing around $50,000 each.   Check out these pods at www.qbichotels.com. 

It seems you can’t go anywhere now or do anything without hearing a Natasha Bedingfield song, and that’s not about to change.  She has a new album out this week, Pocket Full of Sunshine, that is slated to be better and bigger than her premier album, Unwritten, back in 2004 that won her so much acclaim.  I have found the perfect song and possible next Gay Anthem, I Wanna Have Your Babies.  Sadly, that’s a song that will be released in England but not in the US because of the lyrics.  Of course, you can always count on The Art of Life and YouTube to bring you the video!  Check it out, it will make you go Umm Umm ah Umm-Hmmm…. 

After watching the video, it really makes me wonder what the Right Wing Christians want if they want to ban abortions and then turn around and condemn a song that promotes procreation and someone that wants to have children. When you make up your minds, call me.

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Natasha Bedingfield, I Wanna Have Your Baby Music Video

Famed Swedish store H&M has announced the launch of Fashion Against AIDS together with their Designers Against AIDS that will hit stores on January 31st.  Of the 650 stores in 27 countries, these programs will help alert young people to the actual HIV/AIDS situation and to make them think about prevention and caring for themselves and loved ones.  They have already had a Dress Up Against AIDS Condom Fashion Show in Kuala Lumpur where a multi-colored gown was the star of show that was made entirely from condoms.  Quite unique since it is a Muslim nation!  For more information about these organizations go to http://www.designersagainstaids.com/default.aspx. 

Do You Know Any Plungerheads? 

So, do you know anyone that would enjoy a nice bottle of Plungerhead?  Do you know any Plungerheads?  Well, at The Naked Grape Wine Co. in Wilton Manors they have a bottle just perfect for you.  Plungerhead Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel has a deep purple color with cocoa, vanilla, clove, and cherry pie aromas.  It is rich and snappy in the mouth with flavors of boysenberry preserves, cedar, dried raspberries, and coconut spice finishing with a great depth from oak barrel aging.  This is the ideal wine for those Plungerheads that love BBQ and steaks au polvre. Retail $16.99. 

The Naked Grape Wine Co. is located at 2039 Wilton Drive and can be reached at 954-563-5631. 

OZ Water™ is uniquely infused with Original Himalayan Crystal Salt, which contains minerals expanding the entire spectrum of every element found in the human body. So every sip of Oz Water completely refreshes, replenishes and rehydrates the entire body better than any other bottled water on the market today. Additionally, OZ Water™ is 99.9% pure and has three times the electrolytes of other energy drinks without any sugar, carbs or calories. Besides being refreshing and rehydrating OZ Water™ tastes and feels good so that you look forward to drinking enough of it each day.  A case of 12 16.9 fl oz bottles is only $28 and can be found at http://www.ozgarcia.com/detail.aspx?ID=68

All AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) members are invited to participate in the upcoming creative paper exhibition, The Show VII.  If you love paper, this is your chance to showcase your creative spirit, stretch paper beyond the ordinary form and most of all, have fun! The show which is a creative paper exhibition has been hosted for the past 6 years by AIGA Miami & Unisource.   I have covered this event for the past two years and is one of the most creative highlights of my year.

The deadline for submission is January 25th so if you are interested, Click for official rules and Entry Form (pdf) or contact them at www.miami.aiga.org. 

Just so you know the Carnival Centre has been renamed the The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Adrianne Arsht, a Miami Philanthropist donated $30M to help get it out of debt and it has been renamed for her. For tickets and information, for the time being, the www.carnivalcenter.org is still the URL to use.

Auditions for The Rising Action Theatre Co., February 5th and 9th 

The Rising Action Theatre will be holding Open Acting Auditions for upcoming plays on Tuesday, February 5th at 6pm and Saturday, February 9th at 1pm.  You will need to prepare a short monologue and be prepared to read from a script.   

There are three shows they are casting for:  Take Me Out, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, and Sisters Rosensweig (next Season). 

• Take Me Out needs:  10 Men between 18-50 years old

• Six Dance Lessons needs:  A Man between 30-50 and a woman 60-70

• Sisters Rosenweig needs:  A Woman between 20-60 ears old. 

This is a Non-Union PAID performance.  The Rising Action Theatre, Inc. is located at 840 E. Oakland Park Blvd in Oakland Park (across from The Fetish Factory) and any questions, call Vicky at 954-815-8826 or for press information, call David Goldyn at 954-772-0042

For those of you who do not know, for the past two years on Broadway they host a play/musical/fund raiser and call it Broadway Backwards that benefits The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center of New York.  For it’s third year and 25th Anniversary of The Center, they will take out all the stops and will be heading to Times Square and the Great White Way and take over the American Airlines Theatre.   

The show will contain such actors as:  Neil Patrick Harris (TV's "How I Met Your Mother"); Tony Award Winners Gary Beach (The Producers) and Len Cariou (Sweeny Todd); Tony Award nominees Brooks Ashmanskas (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me), Charles Busch (The Tale of the Allergist's Wife), Sandy Duncan (TV's "The Hogan Family," Peter Pan), Nancy Dussault (TV's "Too Close For Comfort"), Malcolm Gets (TV's "Caroline in the City," Amour), and Lainie Kazan (My Favorite Year); Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu, All Shook Up); Kerry Butler (Xanadu); Anthony Rapp (Rent); Ann Harada (Avenue Q); Julie Halston (Gypsy); Michelle Blakely (Annie Get Your Gun); Aaron Lazar (The Light in the Piazza); Tituss Burgess (The Little Mermaid); David Burtka (Gypsy); Tastiskank (Broadway duo of Kate Reinders and Sarah Litzsinger); Karen Mason (Mamma Mia!); Julia Murney (Lennon, Wicked); Jen Colella (High Fidelity); Jose Llana (...Spelling Bee, Rent); Disney's Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Sierra Boggess; and more. 

The show is on Monday, February 4th at 8pm and tickets are available at

http://www.gaycenter.org/events/bwayback3

Kravis Center Performances, January 24th through 27th

On January 24th & 25th Aquila Theatre Company will be performing Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 at the Rinker Playhouse.  Catch 22 is a term enshrined into our language to mean no matter what you do you are in a heap of trouble.  Tickets are $35.   

Along with Catch 22, Aquila is producing William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar on January 26th & 27th also at the Rinker Playhouse as well.  The New Yorker has called this production “beautifully spoken, dramatically revealing, and crystalline in effect” as well as the New York Times says that they are “an extraordinarily inventive and disciplined outfit.” Tickets are also $35 and can be purchased online at www.kravis.org.    

Your Blood, My Blood, February 22nd & 23rd 

The Colony Theatre of South Beach is proud to announce their next project, Your Blood, My Blood.  With the Miami Contemporary Dance Company, My Blood explodes in athletic achievement and thought-provoking movement in an evening of dance.  For tickets or more information go to www.ticketmaster.com, www.MiamiContemporaryDance.net or call the Box Office at 305-674-1040. 

Fill Our Mouths, January 10th through February 10th  

Fill Out Mouths is a play by Lauren Feldman that tell the story of two young women who meet on the streets of Paris.  The twist—one is hard of hearing.  Their relationship grows and starts to change everything they thought they knew about themselves, their language, loved ones, and the world around them.  Using spoken English and American Sign Language Fill Our Mouths is a story of love and choice, deafness and hearing, the trials of communication, and the search for self when caught between two worlds.   

This stars local legend Kim Ehly as well as Caroline Edelen, Lela Elam, Brandon Morris, and Katherine Michelle Tanner.  The New Theatre is located at 4120 Laguna Street in Coral Gables and can be contacted at www.new-theatre.org or by phone at 305-443-5909. 

Rebelling Against the Ordinary:  Argentina’s Diana Szeinblum Company Premiere of Alaska  February 15th & 16th  

Starting Saturday, February 15^th at the Byron Carlyle Theater in Miami Beach will be Argentina’s Diana Szeinblum’s Company premiere of Alaska.  Szeinblum’s piece uses the idea of the state of Alaska represents the way in which individuals in modern society are often isolated from one another. In the piece, two women and two men come together and fall apart in angular pairings and ménages simultaneously pan-erotic, veering towards violent and coolly held-back. Clothes are pulled off and put back on again (the evening contains brief nudity) as bodies rebel against the ordinariness and underlying loneliness of everyday life. At one point one of the dark, handsome male dancers, dressed in a business suit, sits alone on stage, a sign hung around his neck: estoy desesperado….I am desperate.

Tickets are $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors over 65 and students with a valid I.D., or $50 for VIP tickets with priority entrance and seating. Tickets may be purchased through Tigertail online at www.tigertail.org or by phone at 305-545-8546, through TicketMaster at their outlets or by phone at 305-358-5885 or 954-523-3309, and in-person at the Byron Carlyle Box Office at 500 71st Street.  Group sale discounted tickets and Patron level support memberships are available by calling Tigertail at 305-324-4337. 

Becoming A Man in 127 Easy Steps, January 25^th & 26^th  

The Carnival Center and Tigertail Productions are proud to produce Scott Turner Schofeild in Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps.  In this turnabout show, transgender perfomer Scott Turner will fill the evening with comedy, contradictions, aerial acrobatics, and multimedia storytelling.  Named Young Trans Hero of 2006 by The Advocate, he will give us a performance that is not only biographical but teaches us about the assumptions about gender, sex, and identity.  This performance is part of his weeklong Tigertail SpeakOut residency in Miami for GLBT youth.  For tickets or more information go www.carnivalcenter.org. 

Do You Wanna be “Popular?”, Opening March 12^th 

On Wednesday, March 12^th will be the opening of the now infamous Wicked:  The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz.  With songs like Popular, Defying Gravity, and Meet the Wizard you will be singing, crying, and be Green.  It will be at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts and tickets are available online at www.browardcenter.org or by phone at 954-523-3309. 

Matchbox Twenty, Friday, January 25^th 

On Friday, January 25^th the legendary Matchbox Twenty will take the Hard Rock Live stage as part of their Exile in America Tour with Special Guests Alanis Morisette and Mutemath.  Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at 954-52-3309.