Tales of the City.

Armistead Maupin talks about The Days of Anna Madrigal, the last Tales of the City novel, his Republican beginnings and his plans for life after Tales.

“Anna Madrigal is a good person by the time we meet her at the beginning of Tales, and I had to go back and find out what it was that created this person, that created the possibility of this person. And darkness was required.”

Why America Forgets Its Mistakes.

The United States of Amnesia is an appreciative look at the life and work of the late Gore Vidal, and shows a man who was always ahead of time.

“Everything we chose was to show the lineage in his thinking, to show the consistency of his analysis, and how he was ahead of his time. He’s always been ahead. When you see it over and over again it really stands out. He was pointing this out all the way. Now he’s gone and we should pay attention.”

[rating=5]
Released 1959

The second album from the comedy icon Lenny Bruce. Religion, Sexuality, and Airlines. Classic Music Review.

“What truly shocked audiences in the ’50s wasn’t the language, it was the targets of Lenny’s bits. Here’s a man poking fun at tragedy, political corruption, sexual deviance and religion.”

Lady Warsi gets a state-funded holiday to the Vatican

Lady Warsi talks nonsense about Christianity and tries to divert attention from the dismantling of the NHS

The tactic of the current Christian Right is to cry victim, but what they really want is the right to persecute others using whatever biblical statute will do the job. And so Lady Warsi launches her attack on the secular mind.

Polari Facts on the FBI

The bureau had questionable dealings with homosexuality in the 1950s and ’60s. There were certainly a great many probes.

There were rumours that Hoover and associate FBI director Clyde Tolson were lovers. Hoover ordered a crack-down that was nothing less than vicious. The subject rather unhinged him.