CHEERS, PIERS
Piers Morgan, you old charmer. Thank you. We need more men willing
to criticise women's bodies, so I was impressed by your personal
remarks about Madonna's arms and breasts during the Golden Globes
on Sunday. Cue your classy cleavage comment: "Oh Madonna, put them
away. Please. #NotSoGoldenGlobes". That, I thought to myself, is
the tweet of a true gent. It's such a relief that guys like you
take the time to police women's bodies, should we fall outside your
predefined ideas of what's acceptably female. I value your
important commentary on the physical appearance of others, and the
succinct way in which you attempt to humiliate them: "Madonna's
muscles. Yuk. #GoldenGlobes". A woman with muscles? Disgusting.
These tweets were almost as heart-warming as the time you accused
Madonna - a woman you clearly know intimately - of being a bad
mother. Working mums eh? (NB: how immature of Madge to simply
ignore these continued and unprovoked insults.) Thinking of
mothers, parents around the world must look to you as a role model
for their sons. After all, you never come across as spiteful, nasty
or misogynistic. Honest.
twitter.com/#!/piersmorgan
RIGHT UP OUR STREEP
Congratulations to Meryl Streep for winning the
Golden Globe for Tricking People into Thinking Margaret Thatcher Is
a Human Being. Only joking. She did take home this year's Best
Actress award though, something which Streep alone seemed to find
surprising. Her reaction when they called out her name at the
awards ceremony was so hammy that I'm almost inclined to think it
was genuine. Or possibly some sort of complex reverse psychology.
Either way, her portrayal of Thatcher is formidable. And what an
acceptance speech! Firstly, she was bleeped for foul language -
Shit! Shit! Shit! - before thanking the English for letting her
"trample all over their history". Using "English" as a synonym for
"British", Meryl? Cute. But the best part was when she bigged up
the star of Pariah, a low budget lesbian drama. The feature, which
is set in New York, shows an African-American teenager blossom into
a gay gal - something which there's simply not enough of on film.
Though Pariah was not nominated at the Globes, it took the
Excellence in Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sundance Film
Festival. It deserves wider attention, so good call Meryl. Not a
hint of thanks for a certain Baroness though. Impressive. See
YouTube clip, below.
POWERFUL STUFF
Finally, New York's free weekly newspaper, the Village Voice, has
published a list of the 100 Most Powerless New Yorkers. Yes:
powerless - an interesting take on the Forbes 500 or Time 100. The
list reveals the overlooked and the disenfranchised, including
homeless young lesbian Tiffany Cocco at number 22:
"Cocco sounded damn powerful when she spoke about LGBT youth
homelessness at a recent Union Square rally. But she also talked
about the beauty of waking up to the sun rising in Far Rockaway
after spending the night on the A train. Cocco (and nearly 4,000
homeless youth, who are disproportionately LGBT) has to fight for
one of less than 300 shelter beds for homeless kids. Of those on
the street, about 20 percent become HIV-positive. The budget to
help combat homelessness has gone down under Mayor Bloomberg's
tenure, while rates of homelessness (and his personal wealth) have
consistently risen."
Well done to the Village Voice for highlighting New York's problem
with homelessness, plus various other social issues. Clearly, Mayor
Bloomberg has some serious work to do. Tiffany Rocco, meanwhile,
has to find herself a bed. Spare a thought for her tonight, when
you crawl into yours.
Village Voice
