Candis Cayne is a transgender woman who plays Billy Baldwin’s mistress Carmelita on ABC’s primetime soap Dirty Sexy Money, making her the first MtF (male to female) playing a MtF character in prime time television. Cayne was on The View recently and said that she is thrilled that this is turning out to be “the year of the tranny.” Dirty Sexy Money is a cheeky drama about an elite Hilton-like family in New York City. They are cursed with scandals and controversy and when this blasted writer’s strike is over, I highly recommend you check out Dirty Sexy Money Wednesday nights at 10 on ABC.
And if you want to see the very first transgender lead character on a primetime network show, check out Rebecca Romijn as she plays Alexis Meade on ABC’s Ugly BettyThursday nights at 8. Romijn does an amazing job playing Alexis.
Ugly Betty is my all time favourite show and thankfully, they had a few extra scripts on back-up before the writers went on strike, so you can still check out new episodes, but who knows how much longer they will last.
It’s great to see a strong, confident Transgender character on network television. Kudos to ABC for starting to break down these walls.
In the pop world, it is hard to find anyone who is not completely superficial. Heroes Star Hayden Panettiere and V for Vandetta’s Natalie Portman are two celebs actually trying to make a difference in the world and they are both vegetarians.
Natalie Portman recently designed a line of vegan shoes in collaboration with Te Casan
with 5% of all profits going to charity. Unfortunately for me, it is only a women’s line, but hey it’s still great news for the planet.
Back in October of ‘07 Hayden Panettiere went to Japan to protest the annual whale hunt. Panettiere and a group of activists confronted angry fisherman about the barbaric hunt, which sees the murders of about 14,000 defensless dolphins and whales each year. Watch what happened to the group in this heart-wrenching video:
Unfortunately the Heroes star failed to stop the massacre, but she has not given up her fight. Panettiere has launched this website www.panettierecloset.com
where you can buy items of clothing from the stars closet and ALL profits go to the “Save the Whales Again” campaign.
All the time people ask me questions about why I am a vegan or even, what is a vegan?
Simply, a vegan is someone who lives a life based on compassion. They consider every life to be important and special. Every cow has a life, has a heart, has emotions and has memories. I don’t believe it is Ok to kill.
Almost everyone can understand why someone would be a vegetarian, but it is difficult for them to grasp the vegan concept. I have been a vegetarian since I was 12-years-old (11 years now). I never thought it was ok to kill an animal just so I could have a snack. I quickly learned there were adequate alternatives. I ate dairy and eggs till I was 21. My reasoning was that you did not have to kill an animal for its milk or eggs, but I soon realized that I was wrong. After doing a lot a research and watching videos I realized that dairy animals and egg chickens are inevitably exploited and killed for their “goods”.
Dairy cows are given hormones and other drugs to produce more and more milk. They are kept indoors and treated like machines. And when they can no longer produce milk, they are turned into meat.
Poultry are reportedly the most abused animal in the world! Chickens are deprived of sunlight and crammed 3 or 4 into tiny cages. They go crazy from lack of basic affection and they start to peck each other to death, so their beaks are chopped off when they are babies. When they can no longer produce eggs, they are usually too skinny to be used as meat so they are commonly buried alive.
So, why vegan? Why not? I have alternatives. Soymilk is delicious and works the same in recipes. Egg-replacer works great in cakes and other desserts. And I can look at my lunch and say, ” no animals were harmed in the making…”
Not to mention the environmental repercussions. Just do a simple Wikipedia search to see how bad livestock is on the planet http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/environment.htm
There are alternatives to everything. And they are easy to find with little effort. Am I healthy as a vegan? Absolutely! I recently had a blood test and my protein, iron, everything came back, top notch. My doctor said, “How does it feel to be in such great health?”
For more information go to goveg.com
So I leave you with this video; whether you agree with me or not, you should at least know what or who you are eating.
I wrote this review a couple months ago and it was put in Mohawk’s paper, The Satellite.
I honestly like this CD. Let me know what you think…
After Britney Spears’ less than stellar performance on the 2007 VMAs, it is a shock to see that Britney is still able to do something right.
Spears’ new record, Blackout is surprisingly great. There is no question that Britney may be a little crazy, but the girl knows how to make good pop music. The record is packed with back-to-back dance tracks, soon to be club-hits. Like the addictive song “Radar,”
the entire album has an 80s sound, obviously inspired by Madonna with modern beats, rhythms and catchy melodies from beginning to end.
Spears is credited with co-writing 3 of the CD’s 12 tracks, but I wonder, how much work did Spears actually put into making this album. Every time we hear news about Britney, it is not about her music. Maybe that is the reason the CD is called Blackout.
However, Britney does deserve some credit for doing what she does best: Pop music. From start to finish, this record sounds like Britney Spears. It is infused with Britney’s style.
I don’t know who deserves the final grade for this work of art, but I give this CD an A+. It is not a CD that you are going to toss into the back of your collection. It is jam-packed with hit after hit and whether you want to or not, you are going to hear a lot more come out of this record. “It’s Britney, Bitch!”
Last month, Health Canada implemented new rules banning sexually active gay men from being organ donors.
Health Canada says, “Men who have had sex with other men within the preceding five years are excluded from being organ donors.”
There are approximately 1,000 organ transplants every year in Canada and about 4,000 people on the waiting list to receive organ donations. Hundreds of healthy organs will be discarded because of this new ban.
Similarly, gay men have been banned since 1983 from donating blood in Canada.
So what’s the big deal? Why are my organs and blood unwanted by Health Canada?
According to a report released by Health Canada, men who have sex with men made up for about 58% of all HIV/AIDS cases in Canada in 2002 and heterosexual women represented 25% of all cases. Also they said the number and percentage of women living with HIV/AIDS in Canada is increasing more than any other group.
So, why now? Why just gay men? In all the research I did, I could not find one case of HIV, AIDS or Hepatitis being transferred to an organ recipient. To me, it appears to be nothing more than bigotry from The Conservative Government and Health Canada, promoting stereotypes, homophobia and ignorance. I would like to know what prompted these new measures. Without proper explanation, it feels like a slap in the face from my own country.
So how does this affect me? Well my fiancé Carlos has a little brother, who needs a kidney transplant before next year. The best match for an organ transplant is a family member. Carlos is the youngest and healthiest person in his family so he was set to be his brother’s donor. Now thanks to the Harper government, it is unsure where he will get his kidney.
I’ll keep you posted on this situation, so stay tuned…
First of all, to tell what my blog is going to be about, first you need some insight into who I am.
Love makes my world go round…
I’m engaged to the sweetest, most beautiful person I’ve ever known. His name is Carlos. He is the most important thing in my world.
I’m a vegan. I believe that every life is important on this planet. I can’t stand any sort of suffering: human or otherwise.
I feel compelled to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Animal rights, human rights, minority rights.
I love pop culture! TV, music, movies, celebs. Some of my faves are Ugly Betty, Heroes, Christina Aguilera and good music I can dance to.
So what can you expect from my blog?
Politics: I am a part of society that does not always get heard, so I will stand up and talk about injustices in our world. And hopefully there will be some good things about our society that I can mention too.
Gay interest: I’m gay and I’ll highlight some interesting things in the gay culture. Outings, pride, society and gay rights.
Veganism: I’ll post some good vegan recipes, talk about veg celebs. Enlighten you with some vegan literature via Peta.
Pop culture: Celebrity gossip – I just can’t help myself. When something excites me, I will feature it here. Expect a juicy review I wrote on Britney Spears’ new album Blackout!
So if you have similar lifestyle, interests or you are just curious then stay tuned!
January 11, 2008
· Filed under intro · Tagged Welcome
This is my first post.
I am a 23 year-old journalism student at Mohawk College.
I am a very unique individual. Very liberal, very unconventional.
I am the future of journalism.
Stay Tuned
