Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Eric Stonestreet

Modern Family co-stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Eric Stonestreet have been tapped by the WGAW to co-host the 2011 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony on Saturday, February 5, 2011, at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel-Grand Ballroom.
Ferguson & Stonestreet currently co-star as gay adoptive parents Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker on ABC’s hit comedy series Modern Family, the critically acclaimed show that’s helped usher back the sitcom on network primetime television. Co-created by executive producers Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, in its first season, network TV’s #1 new comedy earned six Emmy Awards, including Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. Last year, the show also took home two Writers Guild Awards for New Series and Episodic Comedy for the series’ pilot co-penned by series co-creators Levitan & Lloyd.
“I am humbled, honored and excited to be asked to host the WGA Awards. I’m also thankful that the WGA has recognized me as an individual apart from my co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson. I am very fond of Jesse but also very sick of him. Did you know we’re not an actual real couple? And I’m tired of people thinking I can’t exist without him. Anyway, I look forward to a great evening,” said Stonestreet.
“I am honored to co-host the WGA Awards with Eric. I love Eric so much and any opportunity I have to be around him in the public eye or in private I will jump at. I love that he can’t exist without me. I feel like we are an actual couple sometimes. He doesn’t know it yet but I am having a custom three-legged tux made for us later today. Anyway, I look forward to a great evening. With Eric,” said Ferguson.
“Eric and Jesse are on Modern Family every week, but audiences don’t know these guys can sing, dance, juggle, clown, and have done everything from motion pictures to Broadway. They’re a pair of old-fashioned entertainers, and I’m looking forward to cutting them loose,” said 2011 Writers Guild Awards L.A. show Executive Producer Spike Jones, Jr.
For his work on Modern Family, Stonestreet received a 2010 Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, while Ferguson received a 2010 Emmy nomination in the same category. Both actors shared 2010 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. That same year, Stonestreet also received a Television Critics Association/TCA Award nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy. Most recently, Stonestreet received a 2011 Golden Globe nomination for his role on Modern Family (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television).
In 2006, Ferguson received rave reviews and was honored by The Hollywood Reporter as one of “Ten to Watch” for his role on the CBS sitcom The Class. His additional television credits include Ugly Betty. Ferguson’s film credits include Untraceable, Griffin & Phoenix, and Wonderful World.
Ferguson first made the decision to become an actor when he was eight-years old and soon after joined the Albuquerque Children’s Theater, where he remained a member for six years. After graduating high school, he moved to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and began performing in Broadway and off-Broadway productions, the most notable of which were the critically-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (Outstanding Ensemble Performance winner, Drama Desk Awards, 2005; Distinguished Performance nominee, Drama League Awards, 2005), in which he played Leaf Coneybear, and the Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Distinguished Performance nominee, Drama League Awards, 2008). He recently returned to the Park in the 2010 productions of “The Merchant of Venice,” where he performed alongside Al Pacino, and “The Winter’s Tale.”
Born and raised in Kansas City, Stonestreet was first introduced to acting after a friend dared him to audition for the play “Prelude to a Kiss” while he was studying at Kansas State University.
After graduating with a degree in Sociology, he moved to Chicago to study and perform theatre and improv, spending two years doing television commercials and studying with Improv Olympic Chicago, whose alumni include Amy Poehler, Mike Meyers, and Chris Farley, among others, and The Second City, whose alumni include Steve Carell, Tina Fey, and Stephen Colbert, among others, before moving out west to pursue his acting career.
While continuing to book commercial work, Stonestreet built an impressive resume of memorable characters, appearing on hit TV shows such as ER, The West Wing, Bones, Malcolm in the Middle, American Dad, Monk, Crossing Jordan, Party of Five, and Spin City.
Perhaps his most notable character was his recurring role as Ronnie Litre, the dubious documents technician on CSI. More recently, Stonestreet guest starred on such TV shows as The Mentalist, NCIS, Nip/Tuck, and Pushing Daisies. On the big screen, Stonestreet has appeared in Almost Famous and starred in IFC’s indie cult film Girls Will Be Girls. Next up, Stonestreet co-stars with Cameron Diaz, Jason Segal, and Justin Timberlake in Columbia Pictures’ comedy Bad Teacher, due in theaters on June 17.
from Talk Movies World
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Welcome To My Coming-Out Party

A candid admission: There was a time when I hated it when my mother would call with an urgent request that I drop everything to take her shopping.
These trips often involved the pursuit of trivial items — shoes, a table lamp, frozen strawberries. Or scatter rugs: In any given year, my mother would acquire enough scatter rugs to cover every inch of the playing field at Fenway Park [map], including the bullpens.
I, on the other hand, had much more important things to do — such as go on the radio to share my concerns about the depth of the Patriots [team stats]’ special teams, or take Dan Duquette to task over his stated belief that Jose Offerman was going to replace Mo Vaughn’s on-base capabilities.
But my mother’s calls were not really about shopping, of course, but about enjoying life — getting out of the house, hearing news about what’s going on with the family, maybe even quizzing me about my job, though she was no sports fan at all and didn’t know Johnny Damon from Johnny McKenzie.
And the truth of the matter is that, as my mother aged, even as she was being treated for cancer, she had become wonderfully anecdotal, using her sharp mind to share stories about her younger days that might otherwise have been lost to the passage of time were it not for these midweek Scatter Rug Adventures.
Just over seven years ago, before Thanksgiving, we were getting into the car outside of a CVS when my mother said, “I think you should go ahead and do that story you’ve been talking about.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” she said. “Just go ahead and do it. And then we’ll have a party.”
She was talking about the story in which I would say that I am gay.
(I guess I’ve kind of buried the lead here, which, I admit, has been a common complaint about my writing over the years. But what the heck: The headline has already given away the story, and, anyway, what happened that day seven years ago is central to why I am writing today.)
My mother and I had already had the gay talk, during which she had told me that nothing had changed, that she loved me, asked if I was seeing anybody, and so on. What she didn’t like was the idea of me coming out publicly; she was of the opinion that it was really nobody’s business, and she worried that prejudice might disrupt my career.
But like an NFL referee, she had overturned the original call. “Do it,” she said. I thanked her. She smiled. And then I made the biggest mistake of my life: With a vacation lined up for the first week of December, I told her I’d get to it when I returned to Boston — just before Christmas.
The vacation came and went. The day after I returned to Boston, I received a call from the Lifeline people telling me my mother was being rushed to Mount Auburn Hospital, where she had undergone radiation therapy during the summer. The family gathered at her side. The next morning, she suffered a heart attack. She died a few days later.
There was a funeral at Doherty’s, and then a very soulful, reflective Christmas. And then a Super Bowl, and then spring training. The story didn’t get done. Whenever I revisited the idea of coming out, I’d foolishly dwell on how it was to have been a big family event, my mother pulling everyone together. When that was lost, I guess I lost my way.
Now I’m not going to suggest that these past seven years have been filled with sadness and dread, for the reality is that I’m a pretty happy guy — great family, great friends and a job I truly enjoy, even if, OK, I probably talk too much about the ’67 Red Sox [team stats], the “Godfather” movies (“I” and “II,” but never “III”) and postseason pitching rotations.
But I’ve put this off long enough. I haven’t been fair to my family, my friends or my co-workers. And I certainly haven’t been fair to myself: For too many years I’ve been on the sidelines of Boston’s gay community but not in the game — figuratively and literally, as I feel I would have had a pretty good career in the (gay) Beantown Softball League.
Over the past couple of months I have discussed the coming-out process with my family and a few friends, and have had sit-downs with Herald editor-in-chief Joe Sciacca and sports editor Hank Hryniewicz, as well as with WEEI’s Glenn Ordway. They’ve been great, as have my friends and family.
But during this same period, I have read sobering stories about people who came undone, killing themselves after being outed. These tragic events helped guide me to the belief that if more people are able to be honest about who they are, ultimately fewer people will feel such devastating pressure.
It’s my hope that from now on I’ll be more involved. I’m not really sure what I mean by being “involved,” but this is a start: I’m gay.
from The Boston Herald / Steve Buckley

Justice Carlos R. Moreno

The unexpected decision by Justice Carlos R. Moreno to retire from the California Supreme Court has created an early opportunity for Gov. Jerry Brown to put his stamp on the state’s highest court.
Moreno, 62, the only Latino and Democrat on the court, said Brown’s election cemented his decision to leave for work as either a private judge or for a private law firm. The retirement this month of Chief Justice Ronald M. George and the transition in the governor’s office had prodded him to “try something new while I am still young enough and vigorous enough,” Moreno said in an interview.
“I saw transition in the air,” said Moreno, who was appointed to the top court by former Gov. Gray Davis in 2001.
Brown’s selection of Moreno’s successor will be closely watched. His office said Brown received Moreno’s resignation Thursday and thanked him for his service.
“The governor intends to fill Justice Moreno’s seat with a candidate who is equally knowledgeable, thoughtful and judicious,” a Brown spokesman said.
Brown infuriated conservatives in 1977 by naming Rose Bird, a friend and member of his cabinet, as chief justice. Bird had never been a judge, and she voted to overturn every death sentence she reviewed. In 1986, voters rejected her in a retention election, defeating two other Brown appointees on the state high court at the same time.
During his campaign last year, Brown said he would make judicial appointments differently this time around. He said he was trying to make a point with his early judicial selections. Bird was the first woman to serve on the state’s highest court. It is now headed by a Filipina American, and four of its seven jurists are women.
Among the candidates Brown is expected to consider is Court of Appeal Justice Martin Jenkins, a former federal trial judge and prosecutor who is considered politically moderate. Jenkins, placed on the state appeals court by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would be the only African American on the court, although others have served in the past.
Another potential successor is appeals court Justice Maria Rivera, a Davis appointee who is considered liberal on issues of discrimination. Other names mentioned Thursday were Arturo Gonzalez, a successful litigator who has been active in the San Francisco bar association, and Thomas Saenz, who heads the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Neither Gonzalez nor Saenz has judicial experience.
Legal analysts said Brown also might consider Court of Appeal justices he appointed many years ago, including Arthur Gilbert and J. Anthony Kline, who have decades of experience.
Although Moreno was the court’s only Democrat, he blended in easily during his first years on the court, most of whose justices are moderately conservative. He described himself as a “moderate-to-liberal centrist” and said that he did not favor big leaps in the law. During one 15-month period examined by Santa Clara law professor Gerald Uelmen, Moreno agreed with the conservatives as often as with the more liberal members.
Uelmen said Wednesday that Moreno was just slightly left of George, considered the swing vote between liberals and conservatives. One of Moreno’s greatest opinions, Uelmen said, was one that permitted demonstrators to protest at a private shopping mall, “preserving free speech under the California Constitution.”
“I think he is leaving with an excellent reputation as a very thoughtful and very fair judge,” Uelmen said.
Moreno’s profile grew during the last two years as he staked out more liberal positions and filed solo dissents. He was the only justice on the court to vote to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage. He said in his 2009 dissent that the initiative was a threat to all minorities.
At the time the court was examining the measure, President Obama was considering Moreno for the U.S. Supreme Court. Moreno’s dissent could have doomed any chance he had. Obama chose Justice Sonia Sotomayor instead.
Moreno also wrote a ruling that recognized the parental rights of a non-biological mother in a lesbian relationship and another that barred businesses from treating domestic partners differently than married couples.
J. Clark Kelso, a professor at the McGeorge School of Law, said Moreno embraced civil rights for gay couples long before the marriage case surfaced, sided with consumers and voted with prosecutors on criminal cases as a “law and order” justice.
“There were quite a few cases where he was writing opinions to make sure that consumers weren’t put in an unfair position,” Kelso said. “You see a justice who was concerned about the rights of individual people.”
Moreno’s announcement surprised court analysts, who assumed he was leaving for family or financial reasons.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who succeeded George this week, said she had expected Moreno to serve at least another decade.
She lauded him for his work on the Judicial Council, the courts’ policymaking body, on behalf of foster children and said he had improved practices in juvenile cases.
Moreno acknowledged that “money was definitely a consideration” in resigning. More years of service would not have added to his retirement benefit, and he and his wife care for her aged mother and her disabled brother, he said.
The couple adopted a niece, 15, who is severely autistic, in 2009 and also have two grown children. Associate justices of the top court earn $218,237 annually, less than Moreno could earn in the private sector. Moreno lives in Los Angeles and has commuted to the San Francisco-based court.
The son of Mexican immigrants, Moreno grew up near Dodger Stadium and was the first in his family to attend college. He graduated from Princeton University and Stanford Law School.
He began his legal career as deputy city attorney in Los Angeles and then worked for a private firm doing commercial litigation.
Former Gov. George Deukmejian appointed him to the Municipal Court in 1986, former Gov. Pete Wilson elevated him to the Superior Court in 1993 and former President Clinton nominated him as a federal trial judge in 1998.
from The Los Angeles Times

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has created a petition in an effort to convince CNN to stop inviting what the organization deems “anti-gay” guests onto the network. In fact, GLAAD aims to fight against CNN’s inclusion of the “anti-gay industry” as a whole when it covers issues and debates relevant to gay and civil rights issues.
According To GLAAD:
For years, CNN has insisted on including the voices of the anti-gay industry whenever a topic that involves the LGBT community has come up. It’s time to speak up and tell CNN that this is unacceptable.
As an example, GLAAD cites the instance when John King USA ran a segment on on the then-pending repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” featuring Peter Sprigg from Family Research Council, whose only qualification, as far as GLAAD could see, was that he feels homosexuality should be outlawed.
As GLAAD views it, these guests are brought on due to CNN’s desire to provide a balanced discussion on gay-related issues, only “the network doesn’t book these people because they provide any actual expertise or experience on issues that impact LGBT people; their only qualification is that they are anti-gay.”
As to what would make someone qualified to present counterpoints in discussion concerning the gay community, CNN lists “educators, scholars, consultants, psychologists, military historians, medical professionals.”

The full petition, via GLAAD’s website:

Dear CNN: use experts, not the anti-gay industry.
Dear CNN:
With the new year upon us, I am asking you to make a resolution to keep anti-gay groups off of your airwaves.
When a story impacts the LGBT community, think about how you would treat the story if it impacted any other group of people. If you were running a story about education, would you seek out the opinion of someone who hates teachers? If you were running a story about agriculture, would you invite a guest who believes farming is a sin? Of course not, yet the anti-gay point of view is one you seek out regularly.
These groups, whose only qualification is their animosity towards LGBT equality, bring absolutely nothing of value to your airwaves – and by inviting them on, you’re only lending them your credibility and elevating their messages. If you are seeking a second opinion on issues of LGBT rights, I ask you to stay away from members of the anti-gay industry, and instead consult actual experts. No matter what the exact topic, you should always be able to find a professional who can offer something beyond animus. Educators, scholars, consultants, psychologists, military historians, medical professionals – no matter what field your story is related to, you can always find an actual expert who can bring something of real value to these conversations.
In this New Year, I am asking you to please stop giving these anti-gay activists a platform for their false and dangerous messages, and instead give your audience the information they need.
Sincerely,
[Your name]

from Mediaite

Ted Haggard & Family

Ted Haggard is coming to TLC.
The controversial Christian evangelical is getting his own reality project on the cable network. Ted Haggard: Scandalous will air as a one-hour special on the network.
Haggard was the head of the National Association of Evangelicals, leading 30 million followers across 45,000 churches, when he was caught having an affair with a male prostitute. He also admitted he had been using crystal meth.
The revelations generated worldwide headlines and forced Haggard to to leave the NAE. Haggard, his wife, and five children have since been trying to rebuild their family. The pastor speaks out about the TLC special after the jump…
“My family and I endured the darkest hours imaginable in the public spotlight, and have spent the last four years fighting and struggling to rebuild our lives, our faith and our family,” says Haggard in a statement. “Showing the world the new chapter of our lives will hopefully inspire others to find their own path to overcome their struggles and embrace the power of acceptance. The church is open to all, even those who have committed the darkest sins.”
The special, produced by RelativityReal and debuting Jan. 16, follows Haggard as he announces his new ministry in Colorado Springs, Colo. — the same town he left after the scandal.
Naturally, if the special performs well, TLC might expand the concept into a full series (just like, and yet entirely unlike, Extreme Couponing).
from Entertainment Weekly

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