News 6/22/10

(Today in hair, makeup, clothing, opera gloves, cocktails and astonishing attitude: Bette Davis as Margot Channing. "That's me just an old kazoo and some sparklers.")

• Turns out gay guys are better at remembering people's faces because we use both sides of our brains. Just like women, thank you very much.

• Itty Bitty progress at a glacial pace helps conservatives rally against real change for GLBTQ's. Just a teeny bit frustrating. We need commitment and follow - through from this Administration, and I'm just not seeing it.

• Gulf rig owner complains that six - month drilling ban "seriously impedes our ability to destroy the planet."

• "Maybe I shouldn't have called my boss and idiot who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground?" Gen. Stanley McChrystal regrets some of his recent comments ahead of meetings with the very people he yakked about.

• Only five days left to vote for The Flaming Chef (Jason Zenobia). Thanks to all of you who have already voted in the Freedom to Marry Blog 4 Equality contest! Go vote again for The Flaming Chef (Jason Zenobia). Not once, not twice, but once every 24 hours until and including the 25th.

Gaydar @ Chicago Tribune and Elsewhere

Rex Huppke over at the Chicago Tribune has a nice, short little article about gaydar and the phenomenon of the "glass closet."

No one was surprised by Ricky Martin's recent announcement about his sexual orientation and Huppke goes into some interesting research by J. Michael Bailey from Northwestern University. It turns out that both gay and straight people are pretty good at guessing who is queer and who is not.

If you are interested in some recent findings about how gay people tend to be physiologically distinct from straight people, check out the New York Magazine article from '07 "The Science of Gaydar." It is full of pictures and nifty correlations. Go look, you won't regret it.

Who knew that the direction your hair swirls, the length of your ring finger and the density of your fingerprint ridges (among other things) all point to whether or not you think "All About Eve" is the best movie ever made?

(Hat tip to Dr. Snickerdoodle, super genius.)

(Public domain image of Bette Davis as Margot Channing in the best movie ever made.)

Thelma Ritter - Goddess

I'd like to take just a moment to draw your attention to a fabulous actress. Thelma Ritter's first role was in "Miracle on 34th Street" where her performance was so good that the director expanded her role.
She was marvelous in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," and kicked ass in "All About Eve," a movie from which she mysteriously disappears about half way through.
Go. Find her. Love her.