Wow - when you look at the pictures from then till know, you realize that Austin didn't mature just as an actor, and a sometimes gentleman.
And then you look again and realize this is what makes all the difference. It is great to see!
Global Green USA - 10 Reasons to Build Green Schools
Friday, February 20, 2009
Man oh Man
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
72 comments:
Ok I'll go 1st. I hope Jkae and Austin are together now and not much reeking in store. I hope no reeking at all but we know thats not gonna happen. If Reese didn't have Jake to hang with and make it look like she's a popular sexy girl who the hell would she be with. No one I guessing.
Austins all grown up. Can tell in the pics a lot of sex happened in those 4 years heh
PG glad to hear about your dad.
Holy cow - what a blind vice!!! Man, is that the first mention for Jake as an "And it ain't"??????
This story is even worse than TT!! I mean about the predicament, not the story itself - well, you know what I mean. Aw, to dump the guy and then go back and.....I wonder who it is? You all are alot better at this than me, I'll look forward to seeing guesses.
flf! Greetings to you, what is it, evening over there now? Your weekend has already officially begun, hasn't it? We are counting down now..
And NE!! I understand about the break part - hah, I'm all about that, lol. But I'm glad you are still out there. No problem, I just missed seeing you and wanted to make sure.
And thanks to everyone, Destiny, Special, Wicked, and Chris for your thoughts & good wishes about my dad. I will tell him, Wicked! I guess him & Mom are officially "on" for this weekend. We'll just need to stop a few times so he can walk around. It's 2 1/2 hrs down to Wichita from here and soooooo boooooooring. The cattle pens are about the most exciting thing along the way. And there's never, never any cows being loaded up there. So it's just empty pens.
Got the LEGO Pirate Loot whatever wrapped up for my nephew. He wanted some combat something or other for his Nintendo DTS but I really folded my arms over that one when I saw the cover on it and it was teen rated. Why can't he want something cute like his Cooking Mama that he already has? Or Magadascar? He's only 10. I don't like those violent games. Why do they have to grow up????
That first picture of Austin's is something. How different he looks. LOL, Chris, I like your theory on the difference between then and now. Man, I can only imagine. And have all kinds of fun doing that, imagining. snicker
Well, it's a horrible, rough day here today. One of the Prod Lines broke down on our night shift and we're all kinds of behind. And now I'm trying to decide whether to try another bag of popcorn or not. Blue Bunny raspberry rhapsody yogurt just not cutting it.
Don't forget, Oscars on Sunday night. That is going to be something. All I want to see is one award, although I'll look forward to seeing Hugh Jackman. I hope he shaves for the event. Actually, I guess I'll look forward to hearing him talk all night with that accent & all.
Well, sorry for the long post, but better get back to the disaster that is all over my desk. Decided against popcorn for now. It's called Blast O Butter Lite, but man, is it dry. Just can't excited about it, I guess.
That blue scarf really brings out Jake's eyes.
J.J.'s story is enough to make one blue.
I'm turning blue from running out to get lunch because it is frigid here today.
But all these blues are making me long for some Blue Bunny ice cream.
The guy id'd as Wes from the production company in the Call Sheet photo shoot set 1/2 weeks ago is the same guy Unabomber Jake was hugging on the street in 2006.
I would guess Hayden Christensen for that BI.
I always wondered about those Unabomber Jake pics. Jake covers up with a hood and looks so distraught. He's totally into hugging the guy, he's totally leaning into him with his tippy toes and looks like he wants to kiss him. But the guy looks disconnected from Jake, trying to keep distant and uncomfortable like he's worried someone might see him.
Now its 3 years later and Jake would never be so open and vulnerable hugging a guy on the street like that.
Good detective work. And wow, one of the Unabomber pictures has over 7,000 views, another over 6,000, the rest in the 3,000 range. That's Lakers territory. The differences in the numbers are alway shocking. Even if you consider the passage of time, I'm willing to bet most of the hits came when the pictures first showed up. A far, far cry from today.
That picture of Austin always scares me a little, he looks a little too much like a mormon missionary in that series.
I thought of Hayden too, although some of the clues don't seem to fit, imo. I don't think of him as having a decent career, and I thought he'd had the beard for ages, this makes it sound like he got one more recently.
Destiny LOL, never noticed it before, your right. Mr Mormon. Wonder if he rode a bike to the premier. He can knock on my door anyday and I'll help him do the missionary.
Yea the Ihj pic views, way down. Jakes lucky to get 800 hits nowadays, average is 400. Far cry from pre Reeke.
Always wondered about that guy on the street. Thot he was crazy for not jumping Jake's bones considering Jake looked like he was ready right then and there. Not sure but the guy might be in the Vanity Fair shoot vid too. When I was looking at the set pics I was like whoa, guy looks familiar. So maybe Oh My Godot is onto something and there really was a photo shoot and casual lunch Feb 5 in Venice. Matt Frost, this Wes, Jake, another male couple, just like old times with the boys except it's 2009, gotta have the beard along for the ride.
I always wondered who that guy was. It was so obvious Jake had a lot of affection for him. This is what I like about the internet and the Jake websites. No stone is left unturned. It may take a while, but turned over it is.
This new BV gave Ted an excuse to say its not Jake, something he has never done for Toothy despite saying it's not to practically every other male actor in Hollywood.
It looked like Jake wanted to kiss the guy and didn't give a shit if anyone saw.
Is this around the time Boo disappeared? Because if it was and Jake needed comfort I sure as hell would have fucked him to make him feel better.
I would not only open the door if missionary Austin came knocking, I would even get down on my knees and do some praying of my own.
Austin's so tall you don't even have to kneel.
On the subject of "Wes", the actor/stand-in for Jake in Donnie Dark was named Wes. This according to the commentary on the re-released DVD with Jake and director Richard Kelly.
Nah Unabomber Jake didn't want to get it on with Wes. Look at the groins, Jake keeps them separate and leans into the kiss with upper bod only.
IMO This was a desperate attempt by Jake at that particular time when he was single and the gay rumors were big-time buzzing to say "Look I'm intimate with all my guy friends".
Wes the stand-in is not the same guy. He actually appears in Darko - he's the guy in the Egyptian costume. Very handsome man.
Prairie Girl, someone on dc forum slash discussion asked to be emailed a copy of Del Mar Painting and someone responded to their email. You may want ask for a copy too. This is one of the all time greatest slash stories. I had printed out a copy before the author took down her journal. I keep it in my closet and reread it periodically. Too many pages to scan, but at least I have a paper copy.
Dear Ted:
I have read many articles and seen many interviews with Robert Pattinson. I find him hard to figure out. It seems that he is attempting to sabotage his own success by talking about his poor hygiene habits etc. Perhaps he is just being very honest (refreshing to see). However, I am curious about his sexual orientation. I get the feeling that he is being told by his agent and the Twilight machine not to "come out" since his fans are predominantly young females. I have seen him with his friend Tom Sturridge, and they seem very close. It actually bothers me as I believe that he can't be himself. Haven't we gotten past all that by now?
—Eileen
Dear Déjà Vu:
It seems like you're telling Toothy Tile's tale hon. I think Pattinson's remains to be seen. I'd rather have him be mysterious than have fake publicity romances like his costar Kellan Lutz.
Dear Ted:
I can't stop thinking about Toothy Tile, and I think I finally have the answer! It's Ted Danson, isn't it? And if it isn't, can I get another clue? (I know, I need to get a life). Yours Truly,
—O.W.T. (Obsessed With Toothy)
Dear Life Goes On:
Sorry, babe, there's no closeted Ted in these parts. Toothy is more famous right now.
No lust, they were on a public street. I don't think people start grinding in the street. He did lift his foot up, a romantic gesture. Whatever, it was a long time ago.
Very interesting letter about Pattinson.
Me thinks Jake likes boys. He certainly liked Heath.
Good times
SNL
GLAAD
On stage with Rufus.
Thanks, m! Yeah, I may try & ask. I know, that thing sounds like Mt Everest, the epitome of slash mountains to reach, lol. I'll see if I can charm my way into them emailing me it, too!
Oh, Tom, just saw your post. Love the avatar!!
See y'all! It's time for Fred & Wilma Flintstone to slide down the dinosaur at the 1530 blow!
Wow - just back home. It was post and run this morning. I got to play eyewear stylist today.
Wow wow wow - about the BV. And the first thing I thought of was Hayden, but I think maybe that's what Ted wanted you to think first. I still thinking about it. I just really don't understand why HW continues to do this, is really a big deal - does Middle America really have that much of a strange hold on the box office?
Interesting is the it's not - since Joe Jonas, Pattinson and Jake have all have alot of chatter about their orientation.
Jake in People.
Have to say it again he looks great. GREAT. And it reminds me of how happy and relaxed he looked last spring when he was at the LA Conservation event with Maria Shiver too.
Jake needs a cause right now and it won't be Gay marriage thats for sure. His PR folks must have chosen the enviroment. He does have two stepchildren now.
No, he doesn't, just a beard with kids.
"Girlfriend" with kids. Ecology issues are evergreen.
Jake has always been environmental conscious, looking back even before TDAT, he participated in environmental causes. And he has talk about gardening and supporting local farming in interviews he's done. This is not a "need a cause" or quick jump on the bandwagon for him, this is one thing that Jake has had as a long standing interest.
His PR folks must have chosen the environment.
Actually, I'm glad someone has chosen it, because usually it's at the bottom of everyone's list, if it even gets there at all. I'd like to see it more than an afterthought, and it's at the top of my top priority list, and civil rights, because gay or straight, we all need a clean planet to live before anyone can set up housekeeping together. It's sad to see people think it's not important enough to be anything but a PR move for so-called "straight family men". That's why we're in the mess we're in. Gay or straight, we all need a clean place to live, and we owe something to the rest of the life on this planet. Special is right; Jake has always been involved in environmental causes.
I dont think anything Jake does is non PR involved anymore. Maybe never was.
But in this case, even if it is partially PR driven, it has a great benefit. California is doing great things for the environment under the leadership of Gov. Schwartzenegger, an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gases with tougher fuel standards, encouraging hybrid and electric cars, wind, solar power, and incentives for people who can't afford it to be able to improve the heating/cooling efficiency of homes with double-paned windows, etc. One of the architects of this plan is now Secretary of Energy in President Obama's cabinet. As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation, so good luck to California! Is this Green School Initiative part of that? :)
"because gay or straight, we all need a clean planet to live before anyone can set up housekeeping together."
Well said.
Glad your dad is feeling a little better PG. Great avatars PG and Tom!
Great posts, tree hugger! I'm glad to see those views mentioned. And no, the environmental cause is nothing new for Jake, I think he genuinely cares about it. I agree there should be more celebrities actively making it their cause, too.
Skeptic, I sadly have to agree with everything being PR driven.
That's why I can't get excited about Jake publically going to see Maggie and Peter's new play. It came after people had raised questions about his family ties in recent weeks.
Everything Reeke does seems to be in response to questions raised on the internet.
If they just lived their lives, they might be more believable as a couple and as decent human beings.
There was just another environmental event complete with photocalls on the red carpet and yet Jake didn't attend that one.
He decided to do something hands-on and relatively low-key compared to the event.
Jake went to support Maggie and Peter on the official opening of their play, I guess it also was part of his PR plan that the play didn't open before people started the stories about how Maggie clearly can't stand him anymore.
I'm not the biggest Jake fan these days but come one--he flew to NY to support his sister and brother-in-law on the opening of their play. And notice his midget shadow wasn't with him. That was interesting. I mean, Ryan could have had the kids for a few days while Reese went off with Jake to NY for a "romantic" holiday and to support his sister. Why not? Great photo ops there...it makes you wonder WHY she didn't go with him.
Reeke is Getting Old said...
I'm not the biggest Jake fan these days but come one--he flew to NY to support his sister and brother-in-law on the opening of their play. And notice his midget shadow wasn't with him. That was interesting. I mean, Ryan could have had the kids for a few days while Reese went off with Jake to NY for a "romantic" holiday and to support his sister. Why not? Great photo ops there...it makes you wonder WHY she didn't go with him.
The answer to that was that he wanted to spend some time with his boyfriend.
oh jake whut have they done to your hair
Cantara
Oh My Godot is in it too. Waiting For Toothy not Jakewatch
Great minds, 8:55!
To lay it at Ted Casablanca’s door would be to miss the point. There will always be a part of the internet audience that indulges in idle gossip. It’s when passions run high in justifying unjustifiable speculation, that mischief begins.
So is she denying that Jake is gay here or just lecturing Ted that all he says may not be true. She doesn't say jake or Austin are not gay. Am I right?
"It was very hard to leave him. When I left I was crying," he says.
A Goose's Best Friend
Awww, that goose story is both sweet and sad.
The paper Cantara attached to her post is kind of interesting, about gay gossip and TT.
And that is a strange patch on the side of Jake's head, I can't imagine what would cause something like that. No wonder he was wearing all those hats.
Ent lawyer posted Jake's pic from the Green thing headlined "Mr Reese Witherspoon". His own name is nowhere to be found. I don't visit a lot of web sites - it takes all my spare time just to keep up with WFT2, OMG, DC forum and a couple others, but it does not seem that Jake's image made it too far. Certainly not a lot of comments about him either, compared to others. He's dug himself quite a hole.
What strange patch ?
No, What The Hell, as usual, she's blaming the rebel blogs, saying it's not all Ted's fault, that we picked up the ball and ran with it. Both discussions are ridiculous IMO; the PhD got in a few plugs for Reeke and one of the ex-JakeWatcher/wouldbe writers, and I think Cantara's writing is interesting, but a little far-fetched at times. Good fiction tho.
m, I looked and theres NO comments at CDAN about Mr Reese Witherspoon so far. Is that bad or good? LOL
Someone posted this on WFT2.
During the segment “Dishy Dialogue: Gossip, Gender and Performance”, a paper exploring certain avenues of gay-oriented gossip on the internet was presented by Frank Miller of Georgia State University, entitled “I Dish, Therefore I Am: Performing Toothy Tile and Ted Casablanca”.
I Dish, Therefore I Am: Performing Toothy Tile and Ted Casablanca
by Frank Miller, PhD
On March 10, 2005, gossip columnist Ted Casablanca ran an item online under the heading "One Adorable Blind Vice":
Okay, sugar-muffins, the only reason this one's in the Vice section is because until quite recently, Toothy Tile was dating his superpopular, superannoyingly perfect girlfriend. Not boyfriend. Which, if you ask this old gossip whore, is the classification Tile would prefer his significant others be filed under in the very near future. Mere days ago … Tile was right out in the open holding hands with his man in a West Hollywood restaurant—which shall remain nameless—because I love going there and they probably wouldn't serve me anymore if I start outing their customers, ca-friggin'-peesh? Not that I'd be outing anybody, anyway. Mr. Tile took care of that himself. Covertly, but he did it. It was late in the afternoon; everybody had cleared out. Save Tile and his man-amigo, who extended his hands flat on the marble table (yes, that's a hint) until they were intertwined with Tile's. Massive smiles then appeared on both daring dudes...
And it ain't: Tobey M, Keanu Reeves, Jamie Fox(1)
The story was similar to numerous blind items Casablanca has run since bringing his column, "The Awful Truth," to E! Online in 1996. He relates a potentially scandalous story, usually with the kinds of revelations a major media gossip columnist would avoid, but disguises the object of his gossip behind a fanciful name like Morgan Mayhem, Furrowed Frank or Toothy Tile.
Most of the Blind Vice items lead to a quick burst of speculation then die out. But Toothy Tile has lived on, partly thanks to Casablanca, who has followed up over the last three years with stories suggesting that Tile and his boyfriend, whom Casablanca dubbed the Gray Goose in October 2007, had almost been arrested for "canoodling" in a parked car off the Sunset Strip, that Tile was shopping for the right news magazine in which to come out, that his management had convinced him to stay in and that he and the Goose were planning to either adopt a baby or father one with a surrogate. And as readers' guesses poured in, the items triggered more on-line responses, particularly on gay chat boards, and even led to the creation of ToothyTile.com, a website devoted primarily to speculation about Tile's identity.
The ongoing saga of Toothy Tile says a good deal about Internet gossip, its place within the gay community and its function as a moral compass. It also points to some interesting intersections of gossip and gendered performance.
Hollywood gossip, of course, was around long before the Internet. Usually dated from the start of Louella Parsons' syndicated column in 1925, the field has traditionally been female-dominated, with Parsons and her chief rival, Hedda Hopper, engaged in an often-uneasy power struggle with the movie industry. The film studios used them to promote their films and personalities but also dreaded the effect of a personal attack or untimely revelation. One unwritten rule, however, was that the most damaging items—criminal arrests, long-term affairs and homosexuality—were not for publication in any but the least reputable venues. Parsons, Hopper and most of Hollywood may have known that Ramon Novarro was gay, but they weren't about to publish the fact. And if a writer broke the rules—as Bill Robinson did when he wrote about Spencer Tracy's drinking problems and his relationship with Katharine Hepburn in a 1962 issue of Look—the offender was cut off from industry sources.
Even with the decline of the studio system, some restrictions still hold. Unless a star's drug use is impossible for the media to ignore, it's kept out of the gossip columns. And "outing" is still considered off-limits, at least to columnists working in the major media. That does not, however, mean that homosexuality and the closet are forbidden topics. That's where the blind item comes in. A blind item is a piece of gossip with no names attached. The subject is only hinted at, either with a reference to her or his role in the industry (eg, "Missy Movie/TV Series Actress(2)") or through clues hidden in the item's wording. Columnists use such items for stories they deem too damaging or stories for which they lack sufficient corroboration to withstand legal action. As The Hollywood Kids dubbed their blind items in Movieline Magazine, "Guess Who, Don't Sue (3)."
The performative nature of the blind item lies in its mediation of conflicting social roles. In "A Performance-Centered Approach to Gossip," Roger D. Abrahams analyzes gossip among the inhabitants of Richland Park, St. Vincent, in the British West Indies. He describes conflicting attitudes about gossip, which the Vincentians see as a form of "calling name," a presumption of familiarity that can include both addressing someone informally or, as he puts it, "naming a person when discussing his activities in conversation(4)." The blind item is a way of gossiping without the presumption of "calling name."
For the gay online community, gossip serves a variety of purposes. If nothing else, it provides its readers with a sense of titillation as they vicariously enjoy celebrities' lives, even when the object of interest is masked behind the veil of the blind item. Like many on-line discussion boards, gay gossip sites provide their geographically dispersed users with a sense of community. Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke describe gossip as "the glue that binds individuals together, especially in societies marked by rampant loneliness(5)."
One element unifying gossip communities is a shared sense of morality. In his pioneering study of "Gossip and Scandal," Max Gluckman describes the ways in which often quite vicious gossip has unified the Makah tribe of Washington's Puget Sound area by "mark[ing] it off from other groups(6)." A good deal of the Makah's gossip relates to the behavior of other tribe members, "demonstrating that the other parties are not worthy to be Makah(7)." In the same way, gay gossip unites the gay and lesbian community by establishing behavioral norms for that community, creating insiders aware of those norms and outsiders unaware of or opposed to them.
In the case of Toothy Tile, the nature of those norms depends on whether one is inside or outside the gay community. Within the world of heteronormativity, Toothy Tile is at fault both for being gay and, more important, for wishing to make a public proclamation of that fact. Despite the social changes of the past 50 years, the entertainment industry appears to be dealing with sexual orientation by the same standards in operation when Universal Pictures forced Rock Hudson to take a wife to forestall suspicions of homosexuality. The current attitude is described quite simply in one publicity-shy, or rather gay-publicity shy actor's legal complaint against a porn star who had claimed a relationship with him: "While plaintiff believes in the rights of others to follow their own sexual preference, vast numbers of the public throughout the world do not share his view and, believing that he had a homosexual affair and did so during his marriage, they will be less inclined to patronize [his] films, particularly since he tends to play parts calling for heterosexual romance and action adventure(8)." No doubt, these are the same audiences who would expect the actor to know how to pilot a jet fighter in real life.
The same values would not hold for gay men and lesbians, particularly the increasing numbers living openly. I would suggest that for that audience the norm violated by Toothy Tile is openness. His transgression is staying in the closet. Aaron Ben-Ze'ev suggests, "the immoral behavior of famous people, reported in gossip columns, enhances our self-respect.(9)" The story of Toothy Tile allows gay men and lesbians to feel superior to a public figure who may in many other ways be superior to them. In this sense, gay gossip gives the illusion of a level playing field. As Ferdinand Schoeman suggests, "[Gossip] is a primary means of maintaining and reinforcing social norms and of holding those in high status to the same standards that govern those not so situated.10"
The irony here is that gay and lesbian gossipers, and indeed most subscribers to on-line discussion groups, frequently closet their identities, if not their sexual orientations. Most contributors to these groups are either anonymous or identified by often-fanciful handles. Among the more prominent identifiers on the gay gossip board Datalounge are SusieLee, Ms. Irma Savant and Dame Celestia Crackhead. But even posters who identify themselves more clearly—including composer Marc Shaiman and film critic David Ehrenstein—only present a small portion of themselves on line, closeting what they do not want to share. Shaiman responds sporadically to defend entertainers he feels are being unjustly maligned, while Ehrenstein most often shares his anger over social inequality or frustration with allegations of homosexuality he considers false.
C. Lee Harrington and Denise D. Bielby have described this type of performance as the "'partial' presentation of self," something that happens in most human interactions, but is "magnified" on the Internet, "due to the relative absence of traditional identity markers.(11)" In relation to gossip, this poses special problems in evaluating the information posted. Online gossipers need to find a way to perform trustworthiness since, as Harrington and Bielby suggest, "speakers cannot implicitly trust one another on the basis of an intimate relationship.(12)" Posters can do this by citing sources or claiming some form of insider status, but not all claims of insider status are accepted. Obviously, some self-proclaimed insiders are fakes. But even those who clearly are who they say they are can have their assertions questioned. Despite his professional credentials, Ehrenstein has yet to convince many Dataloungers that Lena Horne and George Clooney are straight.
This brings up another characteristic of gossip that applies in the physical world as much as it does on line. As Maryann Ayim has written, "The test for truth in investigative gossip is inherently social. That is, the investigators will use community consensus as a primary indication of their proximity to the truth.(13)" In a world where gay men from Oscar Wilde to actor Robert Reed have had wives and children, there really is very little in the way of concrete evidence for the gender preferences of the famous. Such non-factual elements as the effectiveness of the gossip narrative and the desirability of the person considered to be closeted are often all it takes to support the veracity of gay gossip, creating a Pirandellian world in which it is gay if you think it gay.
Who, then, is thought to be the perpetually closeted Toothy Tile? Consensus gives the honor to Jake Gyllenhaal. In fact, there are several gay discussion boards like JakeWatch and Waiting for Toothy devoted primarily to discussion of the connections between the young actor and Casablanca's blind item, while another site, Oh My Godot, focuses on his friendship with Austin Nichols, the actor most often posited as the Gray Goose. Claims that Gyllenhaal has been romantically linked with Kirsten Dunst in the past and Reese Witherspoon at present are dismissed as bearding, relationships arranged to create the illusion of heterosexuality. Posters on Oh No They Didn't have even uncovered 16 clues within the Toothy Tile stories they say point to Gyllenhaal. For example, the marble table on which Tile and the Goose held hands has been linked to the tables at Basix Café in West Hollywood, where Casablanca's column had reported Gyllenhaal and a male friend lunching five days before the first Toothy Tile story appeared(14). Coincidence or, as Casablanca would put it, "co-inkydinky?" You be the judge.
So, what team is Jake playing for? How many beards do you see in this picture? And…Well, do I really have to say anything.
Whoever Toothy Tile may be, he clearly is performing only a "'partial presentation of self" in his public life. The story rings true because it reflects narratives about the Hollywood closet dating back to the silent era. But though barricading the closet door is business as usual in Hollywood, Casablanca's performance in this is something else entirely.
As surely as everyone else in this story—from gay Internet gossips to the real or invented Toothy Tile—is performing, so is Casablanca, or should I say, Bruce Bibbey (and why do I suddenly feel like Addison de Witt confronting Eve Harrington née Gertrude Slescynski?). Bibbey is a Texas-born entertainment reporter who adopted his pen name in 1987 when he started "The Awful Truth" column in Premiere magazine. He took the name from a character in Jacqueline Susanne's novel Valley of the Dolls, a bi-sexual film director widely believed to be modeled on Vincente Minnelli.
In his columns and media appearances, Casablanca projects the image of an effeminate gay man, breezy, self-assured and effortlessly caustic. A key part of that performance is the style in which he writes, a language he calls "Awful-Speak." His website even includes a glossary where the uninitiated can look up such pop culture neologisms as bod-goon, he-ho and sweatilicious(15).
This special language serves a dual purpose for Casablanca. For one thing, it provides a unifying device, reinforcing the sense of community gossip can create. Those who understand "Awful-Speak" become insiders, a linguistic reflection of the group's unity of interest in celebrity gossip of a lavender hue. The hyperbolic and allusive nature of his writing also gives it a camp quality, clearly establishing the writer and his performance as gay, yet another unifying element.
One important effect of that unity is the creation of trust, which, as I have mentioned, is an important factor in on-line gossip. Casablanca performs trustworthiness in two key ways. His use of "Awful-Speak" becomes a badge of friendship with his readers, creating the sense of intimacy that is a necessary prerequisite to effective gossip. In addition, his column is structured to underline his performance as a Hollywood insider. The first thing a reader sees when surfing to "The Awful Truth" is a page of gossip items—exclusive interviews, industry news and celebrity sightings—that help establish Casablanca's trustworthiness. The most recent column to include a Toothy Tile item leads with a report on actor Christian Bale's recent brush with the law. Casablanca pulls on an earlier interview to provide his own exclusive insights on what might have led to the actor's physical altercation with his mother and sister.
Yet, the performances that establish Casablanca's reliability as a gossip source actually conflict with each other, a problem not uncommon to professional gossips. One basic rule of gossip, as identified by Gluckman, is that "it is bad manners…to tell unpleasant stories about your friends to strangers(16)." The gossip columnist, however, does just that. To present oneself as a show business insider is basically to present oneself as a friend of the subjects of gossip. But the columnist also performs as a friend of the reader, who expects insider information that would violate the trust accorded to an insider. The blind item is a performance that mediates those conflicting roles, allowing the gossip columnist to perform as friend to both inquisitive readers and secretive celebrities.
The implications of Toothy Tile go further. More than simply the performance of Casablanca's conflicting roles, I would suggest that the Toothy Tile items also serve a subversive purpose. I am not, of course, imputing any revolutionary motive to Casablanca. His chief goal is to attract and keep readers, who in turn will read the advertising on his site and tune into the E! Entertainment Network, building its ratings and increasing its ad revenues.
The social implications exist nonetheless. I suggested earlier that the moral interpretation of the Toothy Tile story would be different for different communities. Within the context of "The Awful Truth," however, only one interpretation is possible. In his columns and television appearances, Casablanca is totally out with his own sexuality. He frequently alludes to the desirability of male sex symbols, as when he defines sweatilicious as "anything Christian Bale does with his shirt off(17)" For the past year, Casablanca has made frequent mention of his engagement and May 2008 wedding to partner Jon Powell. This clearly points to openness as the behavioral norm violated by Tile. Like his gay readers, Casablanca can position himself as morally superior to his subject. By doing this in the language of camp he also valorizes one of the most maligned stereotypes associated with male homosexuality, effeminacy, at the expense of an actor afraid to lose his traditionally masculine credibility should he ever come out.
The Tile stories also point to a future in which the Hollywood closet may be no more. One important element of gossip is its dialologic nature. It develops through the interactions of two or more people.
By provoking speculation, the blind item is inherently dialogic, functioning as the first part of an "adjacency pair," which Deborah Kapchan defines as an utterance that "requires a response, whether spoken aloud or silently(18)." The required response to the blind item is speculation about its subject. Even without calling name on Toothy Tile, Casablanca lays the groundwork for greater openness by leaving his audience unsure of the old Hollywood paradigms of masculinity. With Tile's identity in suspense, the reader must view all rising young actors differently, not as paragons of heteronormativity but as potential gay men. Nor do the sites claiming Toothy Tile is Jake Gyllenhaal lessen the uncertainty, as such claims are balanced by more traditional gossip pieces promoting his heterosexual performance as Reese Witherspoon's boyfriend.
In the most recent Toothy Tile item, Casablanca adds one final role to his repertoire, the performance of power that can accrue through gossip, both from the knowledge of what people would keep hidden and from the naming of names. Under the heading "One Fruit-of-the-Doom Blind Vice" he reveals that after a period of circumspect behavior, Tile is once again flirting with openness, this time by:...gleefully telling more than a few gossipy girls—which means boys, natch, in highly exaggerated fagola speak, but then, I'm sure you already know that hon-cakes—that he's quite aware the hunt for his identity is on. And has been for sometime. Says he enjoys it, even. Who wouldn't really? Especially if you're dead certain your identity will never be revealed.
Casablanca then adds that one of the reasons for Tile's new openness among friends is his certainty, "as it's been relayed to this columnist, that the true identity of Mr. Tile will never, ever be disclosed by yours truly. Oh, really? Is that so? Just don't count on it, bud. What with the myriad of lies to the public...you're on thin vice, babe, so watch it.19" As with all Blind Vice items, Casablanca ends with a statement of whom the item isn't about, followed by pictures of Matthew Broderick, Ricky Martin and Wentworth Miller, three celebrities who have been the subject of more than their share of gay gossip, particularly online.
Co-inky-dinky? You be the judge.
1 Ted Casablanca, quoted by imiinew_wave in Oh No They Didn't March 31, 2005.
2 The Hollywood Kids, quoted anonymously in "Guess Who/Don't Sue (Vintage May 1992)," online posting, Datalounge July 4, 2008.
3 The Hollywood Kids, Datalounge.
4 Robert D. Abrahams, "A Performance-Centered Approach to Gossip," Man New Series Vol. 5, No. 2 (Jun., 1970), 295.
5 Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke, Gossip: The Inside Scoop (New York and London: Plenum Press, 1987), 25.
6 Max Gluckman, "Gossip and Scandal," Current Anthropology, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jun., 1963), 311.
7 Gluckman, 312.
8 Tom Cruise vs. Chad Slater, quoted on The Smoking Gun: Archive, May 2, 2001.
9 Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, "The Vindication of Gossip," in Robert E. Goodman and Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, eds., Good Gossip (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas), 1994), 17.
10 Ferdinand Schoeman, "Gossip and Privacy," in Goodman and Ben-Ze'ev, 80.
11 Harrison and Bielby, 626.
12 Harrington and Bielby, 613.
13 Maryann Ayim, "Knowledge Through the Grapevine: Gossip as Inquiry," Goodman and Ben-Ze'ev, 92.
14 See "All of Toothy Tile Articles," Oh No They Didn't, July 28, 2005.
15 Ted Casablanca, "The Awful Decoder," E! Online.
16 Gluckman, 313.
17 Casablanca, "Decoder," 3.
18 Deborah A. Kapchan, "Performance," The Journal of American Folklore, Common Ground: Keywords for the Study of Expressive Culture, Vol. 108, No. 430 (Autumn, 1995), 492.
19 Ted Casablanca, "One Fruit-of-the-Doom Blind Vice," "The Awful Truth," E! Online July 24, 2008
"hat said...What strange patch ?"
Sorry but a pic in outdoor natural light is more believeable than a stage pic. Globes hair looks like there was a supplement attached, like on the Nailed set. Maybe thats why Jake was so stiff and nervous on stage, he was worried if he moved wrong his hair would fall off!
Outdoor natural light pics
Jake's got some gray at his temples.
To me, this paper says nothing about gay gossip, just about gossip in general, all the while undermining Ted's credibility, and the supposed gullibility of his audience, the draw of the community of the internet to bring readers together fulfilling needs of an audience, all with the supposed air of credibility a PhD gives. This has all been said before about gossip, the same repeats of 50s HW closet mentality, nothing new here. Grade? C
OMFG 10:09/10:26 give it up already. What are you trying to prove with all the links to pics of Jake saying "here he doesn't have a bald spot"? The latest Green thing pics show a spot where hair is growing out, so what. Get over it, no one cares.
Sorry Yawn, your crankiness is your problem.
You know how to scroll, don't you?
Shades of flabby, I did not read the article that way at all. I thought it was interesting that Toothy himself was the subject of the analysis. Lots of good points about the social implications of gossip. Also, he nailed it on the head when he said that Toothy's fault is in hiding his gayness and not coming out. To me that is evidence of a real cultural shift from the Rock Hudson days when to even consider coming out would have been impossible.
The point of this paper, to me, is to undermine Ted, which is why Cantara included it. Some of you may not be familiar with her, she does this periodically with WFT type blogs. The points about the social implications of gossip have been made before, many, many times, this is not new ground being covered. Toothy hiding and not coming out because TPTB advise him not to vs. 50s HW mentality, I don't see much of a difference here. Any cultural shift is barely a blip on the cultural Richter scale IMO. I did notice a couple of plugs for Reeke, and a "the whole world is gay" generalization of gay gossip readers, which gave me pause.
Jake head
I don't think the point of that article was to undermine Ted. Seems to me it was saying Ted was trying to undermine HW's insistence on keeping stars in the closet. This portion of the article in particular stuck in my mind:
The Tile stories also point to a future in which the Hollywood closet may be no more. One important element of gossip is its dialologic nature. It develops through the interactions of two or more people.
I also found it interesting to read this article on the heels of the letter Ted answered about Pattinson. Seems to me Ted was saying that TPTB in HW should let him be sexually ambiguous, rather than forcing him to engage in the bearding that has hurt Jake to the point of turning him into a joke. And yes, I know the tabloids don't picture him that way. But as time goes on, US is going to continue to lose out to people like Ted and DListed.
Not to mention independent minded fan blogs like OMG and WFT2. People are threatened by us because we won't follow the party line, and I do think in the long run the internet is going to be one of the things that really smashes the HW closet. Not to mention that someday someone is finally going to have the balls to say "no" and prove HW wrong about what middle America will accept. Maybe we should be keeping our eye on Pattinson.
Agree with you Destiny. Actually after reading this I have new respect for Ted. He is "laying the groundwork for greater openness" as the article says. And you know he must get a lot of flack for it, so it takes balls of steel to keep doing it. He has not backed down from toothy or calling Reeke fake despite what must be intense pressure to toe the party line.
Maybe undermine is too strong a word, and the writer did throw in some acknowledgement of the social benefits to gossip dialog, just the implication that may be that even if the subject of the gossip is nebulous, or doesn't even have to be true, it's the benefit of having the discussion that counts, which made me wonder. Here's what stuck out in my mind:
This brings up another characteristic of gossip that applies in the physical world as much as it does on line. As Maryann Ayim has written, "The test for truth in investigative gossip is inherently social. That is, the investigators will use community consensus as a primary indication of their proximity to the truth.(13)" In a world where gay men from Oscar Wilde to actor Robert Reed have had wives and children, there really is very little in the way of concrete evidence for the gender preferences of the famous. Such non-factual elements as the effectiveness of the gossip narrative and the desirability of the person considered to be closeted are often all it takes to support the veracity of gay gossip, creating a Pirandellian world in which it is gay if you think it gay.
I agree M, sometimes Ted seems like a lone voice in the wilderness, all the reason more why I love reading him.
Plus Teds nice to look at in the vids and he has a great voice and how nice he's with his animals and especially the way he strokes his thighs with his hands while he's talking .. fuck, he could be reciting a chinese phonebook in russian and I'd still tune in. Shit I'd be learning russian.
Did POP and Informers film the same time? because it would have been funny seeing Billy Idol having sex with Jesus.
I can't past the "unpleasant things" comment in that essay. The point of the Tile legend was that fans thought it was pleasant. That's why it (and not the more sordid items) took off. Fans found it, and Jake, pleasant.
Cantara is looking for posts to her site, nothing more.
Seems to me Ted was saying that TPTB in HW should let him be sexually ambiguous, rather than forcing him to engage in the bearding that has hurt Jake to the point of turning him into a joke. And yes, I know the tabloids don't picture him that way.
Actually, to me the rag mags present Jake as some spineless, ball-less, led on a leash, perfect catering boyfriend to the wonderful Reese. Friends of mine that just read the rags for entertainment comment about him as the good looking guy dating Reese. Only one of my friends knows him as the guy from the gay cowboy movie. Ent. Lawyer had a pic of Jake yesterday calling him Mr. Witherspoon. I agree with him. 2yrs of bearding and all it did for Jake is have him known as Reese's wimpy boyfriend to casual rag mag readers and to the internet blogs, most of them still believe Jake is gay and bearding. I wonder if he is aware of any of this and if he ever questions whether to end the bearding.
Is the guy septic with Ted credibility???
Cantara is looking for posts to her site, nothing more.
I've always thought this is the real reason Cantara is interested in Jake's fandom- to get attention for herself and for Stephen's work. Maybe she should try to focus on promoting herself and Stephen on their own merits, rather than those of his son.
Prairie Girl, I am glad to hear that your father is doing better. I
just want you to know that I have
you in my thoughts. I am one of your biggest fans as I am a fan of
OMG!
I hope that J@A are still in touch with each other and are still
together. But at times I have my
doubts.
I also get tired of Jake and
Reese photos all the time. I just
hope that Jake does what makes him
happy. He is the one that will have
to live with his choice.
It is on Jake's own website that
he picked out Reese an engagement
ring, is going with her to Egypt,
and propose. If they were to marry,
just promise me one thing that OMG
will not close up! There are some
wonderful caring people here!!
All I can say it is such a shame that people just cannot be just what they are for real in spite of their career! Sometimes,
it just gets so disgusting!! Anyway, please take care everybody
and be thankful for each day!!
"It is on Jake's own website that
he picked out Reese an engagement
ring, is going with her to Egypt,"
Its a website run by a fan who doesn't know any better than to believe Reeke.
Even if it was a real site run by Jake, and the trip, ring, genuine love for Reese etc was the real thing, do you really think Jake would announce his upcoming marriage proposal on his site to the world before it happened?!
Special, are you in battle again?
Those internet wires at Special's house sure are tasty!
Post a Comment