NEW YORK (AP) — “I hate to hit a man below the belt, but you know I will,” says J.R. Ewing. “No hard feelings.”

No hard feelings at all, J.R. We’re just feeling thrilled to have you back.

And as he resumes his special grade of sweet-crude villainy, TNT’s resurrection of “Dallas” does the near-impossible. It reclaims the soapy and sinister charm that made this saga a hit for 14 seasons until relinquishing its hold on CBS’ Friday lineup in 1991. And it ushers in a new generation of at-odds characters to supplement such timeless personalities as J.R. (Larry Hagman), his former wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) and his ever-upright brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy), while folding in contemporary plot lines, notably the push by Bobby’s son Christopher to profit big from renewable energy — which, of course, is heresy to J.R. and his own son John Ross, whose veins flow with oil.

“Same-sex unions aren’t a recent invention. Until the 13th century, male-bonding ceremonies were common in churches across the Mediterranean. Apart from the couples’ gender, these events were almost indistinguishable from other marriages of the era. Twelfth-century liturgies for same-sex unions — also known as “spiritual brotherhoods” — included the recital of marriage prayers, the joining of hands at the altar, and a ceremonial kiss. Some historians believe these unions were merely a way to seal alliances and business deals. But Eric Berkowitz, author of Sex and Punishment, says it is “difficult to believe that these rituals did not contemplate erotic contact. In fact, it was the sex between the men involved that later caused same-sex unions to be banned.” That happened in 1306, when the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II declared such ceremonies, along with sorcery and incest, to be unchristian.”

Read the rest…

Every year a bunch of liberal web-dorks meet and discuss political equality at Netroots Nation, a convention/perpetual drink-up encouraging web users to challenge the authority of powerful jerks (that includes most Republicans; the MPAA and RCAA; globe-raping corporations; and any racist, sexist, classist, homophobes, generally speaking).

This year, we’re crashing the party in Providence, Rhode Island to teach folks a thing or two about media. Along the way, we’ll also provide you with perverse stories and bits o’ knowledge from some of the convention’s experts on sexual freedom, LGBT marriage, being black, occupying Wall Street, and of course, getting unforgivably drunk.

You can also catch our wisdom nuggets throughout the weekend at our Twitter page.

Stay tuned!

One big name that likely won’t be at this year’s Oscars: Kodak.

The Eastman Kodak Co. received court approval Wednesday to end its sponsorship deal with the Hollywood theater that is the venue for the Academy Awards.

Kodak signed a $74 million deal for naming rights to the theater in 2000. But the struggling photography company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month and wanted to end its contract for naming rights of the glamorous Los Angeles theater as it tries to improve its finances.

The company’s financial advisers said in court documents that the benefits of having the company’s name on the 3,300-seat erstwhile Kodak Theatre aren’t worth the contract’s cost.

Kodak confirmed Wednesday that a U.S. Bankruptcy judge approved its request to end the deal.

Wednesday the world lost a creative visionary, a leader, and a great businessman. Apple Inc. Co-founder Steve Jobs, 56, lost his battle to pancreatic cancer. He brought the world what they all craved for: easy to use technology with user friendly designs and a modern flair. That’s not only where it stops though. Steve Jobs leave behind an amazing legacy as a  huge supporter of the gay community.

In 2008, Apple Inc. was at the forefront fighting for Gay Rights making a donation of $100,000 to fight the anti-gay Proposition 8 that was heavily publicized and battled in California proposing the banning of gay marriage.

Apple was also an early adopter of LGBT-friendly hiring practices and scored a perfect 100 in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for offering their employees LGBT-protections, domestic partner benefits, and diversity training—also setting a strong example for other large corporations.

And most recently, as Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO back in August, he hand picked his successor, Tim Cook, as the most powerful gay businessman in the world to run the Apple empire.

For me personally, being able to witness the progression of the changing computer technology whether it be a Windows or Mac, not only saw Steve Jobs as that man in the ugly black turtle neck and blue jeans, but I saw a man that changed the world… quite literally.

Apple products were synonymous with gays. Owning an Apple product was like owning up to being a rebel, a leader in a trend, something the gay community as you know probably fight day and night for. No longer are we stuck inside this corporate square box. We’re able to live our life simplistically thanks to his technology.

Steve, you literally brought out the creative side and inspired millions in this world. You will forever live in our history book as the innovator of our century.

Steve Jobs | 1955-2011

UPDATE: At the request of our web host, the photos of Colton Haynes swapping tongue with another guy was removed to prevent our asses from being sued.

Actor Colton Haynes is back in the spotlight. This time he’s armed with an attorney. Back in 2006 photos of Colton Haynes kissing another guy for an issue of XY magazine made its circulation around the web.

The photographer of those photos, Sean Bentz sent an email out to hundreds of blogs requesting the images be removed, Popwired included. Of course we complied.

Little to say, Popwired knew something was up and we just learned today that Bentz and his lawyer were probably making their rounds to keep their client out of the gaydar because of Colton’s new show on MTV called ‘Teen Wolf’ which is debuting this weekend.

Flash mobs are sooo overrated, but when you throw in a half-naked male stripper wearing high heels, it becomes a totally different story! Check out the vid.

EDITOR’S NOTE – So I got an interesting email today from a company called Popwired Music Group. I did a little Google search on them, which not surprisingly, brought up nothing. Anyways, they alleged us of infringing on their IP and wants us to transfer the domain name over to avoid legal action. Um, excuse me?

The company claims to have represented Key$ha (labeled with RCA) and many others. Anyways you can see the email their “counsel” sent and my unprofessional response after the jump. Crazedhits.com sounds really desperate for visitors, considering that Quantcast.com rated their monthly visits to be only 3,000.

Should we give in or argue this out? Let’s see how this all plays out.

We all know that a lot of the media circus can be total douches, but did you ever imagine one that was so cocky? At a recent Russian press event a dildo took the sky, but not long before a correspondent took it down with one quick stroke.