Golden Globes Open Thread

Closeted homosexual Matt Drudge is very disappointed with tonight's Golden Globes. What did you think? The complete list of winners and nominees is here.

Because Language

Via the New York Times:

After a year dominated by upstart words like “selfie,” “bitcoin” and “twerk,” the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year for 2013 seems slightly banal: “because.” Ben Zimmer, chairman of the dialect society’s new words committee, explained that casual online usage had transformed “because.” “No longer does ‘because’ have to be followed by of or a full clause,” he said in a statement. “Now one often sees tersely worded rationales like ‘because science’ or ‘because reasons.’ You might not go to a party ‘because tired.’ As one supporter put it, “because” should be word of the year ‘because useful!’” The society also hung laurels on a number of other words.”Sharknado” won the “most unnecessary” category with 162 votes, crushing second-place finisher “cronut” (18 votes, presumably cast by people who have so far been able to secure one of the sought-after croissant slash doughnuts). “Catfish,” meaning to misrepresent oneself online, won in the “most creative” category.

(Via JMG reader James)

Microsoft Celebrates Edith Windsor

In a new commercial for Bing, Microsoft celebrates the "heroic women" of 2013, including DOMA champion Edith Windsor and distance swimmer Diana Nyad.

Happy New Year, JMG Community!

Yet another eventful year has come and gone for this here website thingy. In 2013 we saw nearly 28 million pageviews on just over 10,000 posts on which you folks left over a million comments.  As I mentioned in this post last year, news blogging is like a homework assignment that is never done, but is always due. Nevertheless, you all make it a lot easier with your emails, your story tips, and your encouragement.

Years from now it might be argued that 2013 was the most momentous in the history of our movement. From Edith Windsor's DOMA win to the final overturn of Prop 8 to state after state coming into the light of civil equality, it was truly breathtaking the speed at which our victories piled up. But as we saw with the intensely ugly spectacle at the Hawaii statehouse, the enemies of justice, to a discouraging degree, remain committed to inflicting religious dogma upon secular laws. Still, even with all the battles already lined up for 2014, the future does indeed look fabulously, glitteringly gay.

I thank you all for your robust opinions and for making the JMG comments section the most lively in the entire homo-blogosphere, even if Eric Holder ends up knocking on my door. (Yeah, right!) I'm happy to have met so many of you at the 2013 JMG meetups around the country and look forward to meeting many more of you over the next year. Tonight, I'll be raising my glass to each and every one of our flying monkeys. I'll be raising it a lot!

SPECIAL THANKS: Special thanks go out as always to JMG's behind-the-scenes copy editor Betty (AKA Birdie) who corrects my sleep-deprived syntax, careless typos, and brain-freeze misspellings!

JMG Top Ten Tracks For 2013

Culled from my Spotify favorites playlist, here's my annual roundup of the tracks that got the most play this year at Casa JMG. Some of them appeared here during the year, some did not.

1. John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts
(Openly gay, openly HIV+, very Dead Can Dance.)
2. Boy George - King Of Everything
(One of his loveliest ballads ever.)
3. The Knife - Full Of Fire
("Liberals giving me the nerve itch.")
4. David Bowie - Love Is Lost
(Hello Steve Riech Mix by James Murphy.)
5.  Nine Inch Nails - Copy Of A
(And the title track from Came Back Haunted.)
6. Brandon Maclean - Stupid
(Plus the Stereogamous remix on Spotify!)
7. Holy Ghost! - Dumb Disco Ideas
(Delicious nu-disco out of Brooklyn.)
8. Young Galaxy - Pretty Boy
(The Peaking Lights remix is very New Order-y.)
9. BT - Skylarking
(Glorious trance that evokes the mid-90s.)
10.  Lindstrøm - Lanzarote
(Instrumental retro Italo featuring Todd Terje.)

MORE FAVORITES:
FKA Twigs - Water Me
Bright Light Bright Light - In Your Care 
Purple Crush - Thirsty
Chicane - One Thousand Suns

Obama & Hillary Top Gallup's Most Admired Persons Of 2013 Poll

Gallup reports:

For the sixth consecutive year, Barack Obama ranks as the Most Admired Man among Americans, and Hillary Clinton is again the Most Admired Woman. Both won by comfortable margins. Hillary Clinton has been named Most Admired Woman a total of 18 times, more than any other woman in Gallup's history, including each of the last 12 years. Clinton first won the distinction in 1993, when she was first lady, and has continued to rank at or near the top of the list while serving in a variety of public roles including as U.S. senator and as secretary of state. The 15% naming her this year is down from 21% last year and is the lowest figure for her since 2006.

Tony Perkins: We Were Winners In 2013

"Dear Joe, With the end of the year right around the corner, FRC can look back and be proud of all we've accomplished in 2013. We took the Obama Administration on headfirst. We challenged its unconstitutional breaches into our lives. We fought back. And we are winning. The momentum is on our side and your support has never been more necessary. We will never back down in standing for advancing faith, freedom, and family. But the Obama Administration has unlimited resources and federal courts that are growing more supportive of its agenda with every passing day.

"We Need Your Help: Protect traditional family values. Fight for stronger religious liberty protections for those serving in the military. Force the Department of Justice to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act. Challenge the provisions of Obamacare that force Christians to violate their convictions and fund abortion. Joe, stand with FRC as we fight to uphold our values in the face of the Obama Administration and its relentless supporters." - KKK-affiliated hate group leader Tony Perkins, claiming to be a winner without actually having won a single battle in all of 2013.

Historic New Low For NYC Homicides

Gothamist reports:

At today's NYPD graduation ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg announced some impressive news: The 2013 murder total, through today, was 332—a 20.7% drop from 2012's total of 419. This is the lowest since the city started keeping track in 1963. Bloomberg bragged, "New York’s crime-fighting strategies have made us America’s safest big city—and one that cities across the globe want to learn from. Twelve years ago, no one thought New York’s crime rate could go any lower. But it did: since 2001, crime has gone down by 32 percent and in a city of 8.4 million people, there have been fewer than 350 homicides."

At the peak of the crack epidemic in the late 80s/early 90s, New York City saw about 2000 homicides annually. Gothamist has the breakdown by year at the link.

Open Thread Thursday

What were your favorite tracks/songs of 2013?

JibJab: 2013, What A Year

1.1M views already.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jeff)

This Is The 2013 Photo Of The Year For The Sports Site Deadspin

Deadspin has named the above as their favorite sports photo of 2013.

In January, photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice was on assignment for Sports Illustrated when she went to a San Francisco gay bar, HiTops, during the 49ers-Falcons NFC Championship game. She was assigned to get a photo that would accompany a story about the diversity of 49ers fans. Her photo, above, was a dream shot: Two guys making out, just as the 49ers took a fourth-quarter lead.

It was a random smooch and the photographer later learned that the two men were not a couple. (Tipped by JMG reader Helen)

Advocate: Pope Is Person Of The Year

The Advocate writes:

Edie Windsor is a hero, one well worth recording in history books that retell the story of DOMA's demise. But she is not the Person of the Year. She couldn't possibly be, not for The Advocate, where we celebrate the work of so many who contributed to that landmark Supreme Court victory. The most influential person of 2013 doesn't come from our ongoing legal conflict but instead from our spiritual one — successes from which are harder to define. There has not been any vote cast or ruling issued, and still a significant and unprecedented shift took place this year in how LGBT people are considered by one of the world's largest faith communities.

Pope Francis is leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics all over the world. There are three times as many Catholics in the world than there are citizens in the United States. Like it or not, what he says makes a difference. Sure, we all know Catholics who fudge on the religion's rules about morality. There's a lot of disagreement, about the role of women, about contraception, and more. But none of that should lead us to underestimate any pope's capacity for persuading hearts and minds in opening to LGBT people, and not only in the U.S. but globally.

Gay City News reporter and Queer Nation member Andy Humm comments at the above link:

"This is just about the most pathetic, self-hating bowing down to a bigot that I've read in my 40 years of gay activism. Francis is doing good public relations in the service of propping up the patriarchy--an infantile style of governance that sees the 'leaders' as parents and the members as children. Catholics need to grow up and govern their own church if they want to avoid continued scandal. The fact that so many are in a thralll to this man--who has not changed one iota of anti-gay, anti-woman doctrine--is pathological."

2013 News In Review

From the Boston bombing to DOMA to Edward Snowden and much, much more. Excellent production by filmmaker Jean-Louis Nguyen.

Pope Francis, Barack Obama, Ted Cruz

Source.

2013 In One Cartoon

How many 2013 pop culture moments can you see in this one panel? Embiggens nicely. (Via JMG reader Ray.)

LGBT Allies Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis Land #1 Pop Single For 2013

Billboard Magazine has compiled its year-end charts and named the Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis single Thrift Shop as the most popular song of 2013. This is somewhat of a surprise as the #2 single for the year, Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, had twelve weeks at #1 vs the six weeks at #1 for Thrift Shop. Lorde's smash single Royals, which had eight weeks at #1, is ranked at #15 for 2013 due to its late in the year peak.

Here are Billboard's top ten singles for 2013.

1. Thrift Shop - Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis
2. Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke
3. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
4. Harlem Shake - Bauer
5. Can't Hold Us - Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis
6. Mirrors - Justin Timberlake
7. Just Give Me A Reason - Pink
8. When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars
9. Cruise - Florida Georgia Line
10. Roar - Katy Perry

It's "fucking awesome" that the most popular song of the year is from two of the most outspoken straight allies in pop music.

The Advocate Names Russian President Vladimir Putin "Phobie Of The Year"

The Advocate today announced its Phobie Awards, with Russian President Vladimir Putin topping their list of the thirteen most homophobic people in the world. The rest of the list features evildoers well known to JMG readers: Orson Scott Card, Scott Lively, Pat Robertson, E.W. Jackson, Marco Rubio, Frigide Barjot, Ken Cuccinelli, Robert Mugabe, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rep. Louie Gohmert, and two anti-gay California groups working to overturn transgender rights. Hit the link and read the Advocate's justification for each selection.

Politifact's Lie Of the Year: If You Like Your Health Insurance, You Can Keep It

Politifact has named its Lie Of The Year for 2013.

It was a catchy political pitch and a chance to calm nerves about his dramatic and complicated plan to bring historic change to America’s health insurance system. "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," President Barack Obama said -- many times -- of his landmark new law. But the promise was impossible to keep. So this fall, as cancellation letters were going out to approximately 4 million Americans, the public realized Obama’s breezy assurances were wrong. Boiling down the complicated health care law to a soundbite proved treacherous, even for its promoter-in-chief. Obama and his team made matters worse, suggesting they had been misunderstood all along. The stunning political uproar led to this: a rare presidential apology.

Right wing sites (which typically denounce Politifact) are doing back flips.

YouTube's Top Videos For 2013

YouTube yesterday issued the lists of their most-watched viral and music videos for 2013. The Washington Post reports:

It turns out we’re all really interested in knowing what the fox says. According to YouTube’s annual list of top-trending videos, Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis had the hottest video of the year with “What Does the Fox Say?” The posting drew 276 million views since it was posted in September. Actually, it was a good year for Norwegians: The Norwegian Army version of the Harlem Shake dance craze came in right behind Ylvis’s video as the most popular of the 1.7 million versions of the dance that got uploaded to the site, YouTube said Wednesday in announcing the statistics. It was also a good year for brands on the site, with three brand videos making the top 10 trending list: “Evian Babies,” “Volvo Trucks” and “Telekinetic Coffee Surprise,” which promoted the new “Carrie “movie.

Ad Age breaks down the dough:

Earlier this year YouTube crossed the billion-user mark, and now it's poised to surpass the five-billion-dollar mark. The Google-owned video service is expected to record $5.6 billion in gross revenue this year, according to estimates from eMarketer. That's up 51% from last year and would equate to 11% of Google's total ad revenues. That figure does not include money YouTube passes on to advertising partners and content creators. This year Google will keep 35% of that total or $1.96 billion, according to eMarketer's estimate. Google generally takes a 45% cut of advertising sold into its content partners, and Google's take is exected to rise in the coming years as it phases out less-favorable revenue-sharing deals with TV networks. After revenue sharing, YouTube will take $850 million this year from video ads served in the U.S., which is up 50% from last year. Including display ads, YouTube will will net $1.08 billion this year in U.S. ad revenues.

YouTube: What Does 2013 Say?

YouTube: "To celebrate 2013, we invited some YouTubers to star in a mashup of popular moments this year. Can you spot all the references?"