Ricky Martin Announces He is Gay

Kate Langenburg/A&E Groove

The singer and songwriter Ricky Martin has finally come out of the closet. But really, was it any surprise?

For years, Martin had girls drooling with his over the top sexuality. From his videos to his song lyrics, much of his content was made of pure sex. (Remember the video for Livin’ La Vida Loca?) Something always felt a little off though. It was just too much. And talk about metrosexual…

According to the Yahoo! Music Blog, Martin announced “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.”

Well, good for him. Now he can finally be at peace with himself and get on living his life without a dark cloud hanging over his head. All those girls who had mondo crushes on the singer will have to find another pseudo masculine figure to dream about.

At least he’s already got kids.

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Artist Creates Nude Masterpiece with a Message

Kate Langenburg/A&E Groove

Holy butt cheeks!

Artist Spencer Tunick has created a new installation in his already strange line of artwork. This time, he has decided to place 5,000 people around the base of the Sydney Opera House in Australia — did I mention they’re all completely naked?

This is not unusual for the artist. He has done similar work like this in over 75 locations around the world, including Mexico City and Canada. He strives to study the human form and also aims at breaking the boundaries between what’s considered public and private.

By focusing on a solid mass of human beings, he can give them the appearance of one who entity, which sends us a message that together, we are very similar to one another, regardless of our sexual orientation.

The latest photo from Sydney is being called “Mardi Gras: The Base” and pays homage to people of all sexual orientations. In fact, the installation was commissioned by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

The interesting thing about this project was that Tunick only asked for around 2,000 people to join in for the photo shoot, but a whopping 5,000 showed up instead. Rather than turning them away, he embraced the popularity of his art and invited them to be a part of his message.

View more images from this installation at Oddity Central.

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No Thanks, Bruno

Kate Langenburg/A&E Groove

Even though the movie Bruno came out a few months ago, I have just had the displeasure of seeing it recently. I say displeasure because, well, it was awful…and I completely understand why it was banned in several countries.

Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious. I love the sick and twisted humor he brought in his two earlier movies, Ali G Indahouse and Borat. But I think that perhaps he went a little overboard in Bruno. I don’t know too many people who can handle watching two men have sex, let alone watching one of them being catapulted into the other one’s bum.

I’ve watched Bruno’s character on the Ali G show many times and was highly amused, but I’m rethinking that now. He’s good in small doses, but when you have to sit through an hour and a half of his nonsense, things can get a little old. Throughout the movie, I kept getting progressively more annoyed at his character. I even tried to watch some of the extra features at the end, but then sourly gave up.

As far as the actual plot of the movie goes, it’s pretty much the same as Borat. A foreign celebrity travels to America to become famous. He meets all different kinds of people and makes a huge ass out of himself in the process. He deeply offends costars and audience members. Yep, sounds like the same plot line to me.

It’s also amusing that Bruno is following in the footsteps of Borat in that Cohen has been sued. According to the Wall Street Journal, ‘Ayman Abu Aita filed a lawsuit in the District of Columbia federal court last week against Cohen, talk show host David Letterman and others for slander and libel. Abu Aita is seeking $110 million dollars in damages after Cohen appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and spoke about finding and meeting a terrorist in a secret location. Cohen’s film “Bruno” identified Aita as a ”terrorist group leader al-aqsa martyrs brigade,” which Aita says isn’t true.’

So, to conclude…if you are in any way offended by homosexuality, don’t see this movie. Perhaps if you’re one of those sick individuals with a twisted sense of humor, you might enjoy. As for me, I’m saying “No thanks, Bruno.”

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Does Bruno Have What it Takes?

Kate Langenburg/A&E Groove

What can you say about Sacha Baron Cohen? Sometimes, he’s really offensive. Sometimes, he’s really hilarious. One thing is for sure — he’s always out of his mind. That pretty much describes his next movie, Bruno.

Meet Bruno, the Australian homosexual news reporter. Image from filmonic.com.

Because Borat was such a well-known movie, it seems that Cohen had a lot to pull off this time around. He was already known for setting up crazy antics and not cluing any of his co-stars in on the fun.

Whether you liked Borat or you were offended by it, you have to admit that it was a definite hit at the box office. Setting up that kind of fan base and then making another movie with a similar setup is not an easy task.

Having not seen Bruno yet, I honestly don’t know what to expect. I’ve heard from those who have watched it that things appeared more staged in this movie than any of his other movies. If this is the case, it might have to do with the fact that Cohen was sued numerous times over by many of the bystanders in Borat. To make that kind of unrest would be unwise a second time around.

Either way, I have to give it to Sacha Baron Cohen. His creativity may be crude, but it certainly is entertaining.

What do you think about Bruno?

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UPDATE: (7/15/09) This just in — Bruno has been banned in Ukraine. The movie contained too much sex for them to bear. Read the full article from Yahoo! News here.

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