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.

It’s unknown what name will be on the theater when the Oscars are awarded Feb. 26. Kodak said the termination is effective immediately and deferred questions on the theater’s name to the venue’s owners and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

CIM Group, the company that owns the theater, declined to comment on the decision or the future of the theater’s name. A representative for the academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to the theater’s name, its owners may have to make other tweaks.

The theater has a George Eastman Room, named after Kodak’s founder, which displays one of the nine Oscar statuettes that Kodak has been awarded through the years for its scientific and technical achievements and contributions to the industry, according to the theater’s website

Kodak, based in Rochester, N.Y., is a photography pioneer but has been battered by competition and has failed to keep up with the shift from film to digital technology. It has been in a roughly decade-long turnaround but filed for bankruptcy protection when it ran short on cash.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York handling the case also approved a $950 million debtor-in-possession financing for Kodak on Wednesday that allows it to operate normally during bankruptcy, while it tries to sell its collection of digital-imaging patents.

Kodak spokesman Christopher Veronda said the company will still have a presence at the awards show. He noted that seven of the nine films nominated for the Oscar for best picture were shot on Kodak film.

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Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

MARCH 17, 1969 – FEBRUARY 11, 2010

UPDATE: British fashion designer Alexander McQueen has been found dead after taking his own life. The 40-year-old committed suicide just days after the death of his mother, Joyce, last week. [Source]

Fashion designer Alexander McQueen has died, his publicist says. His office confirmed to the BBC that Mr McQueen, 40, was discovered at his London home this morning.

Paramedics called to the Mayfair property pronounced him dead at the scene. Police said his death was not being treated as suspicious.

A statement said his family were “devastated” at the “tragic news”, and added that they shared “a sense of shock and grief”.

A former British Designer of the Year winner, London-born Mr McQueen started his career as an apprentice in Savile Row, where he learned how to make jackets at Gieves and Hawkes.

[More from BBC]

Excerpt from Dallas Voice:  Bryan Dickenson went home from work this week to prepare for the arrival of his longtime partner, Bill Sugg, who was scheduled to be released from a rehabilitation facility on Saturday, Feb. 6.

Dickenson has been granted a discretionary leave of absence by his employer, Dallas-based AT&T Inc., so he can care for the ailing Sugg, who suffered a debilitating stroke in September.

AT&T’s decision came after an article in last week’s Dallas Voice drawing attention to the company’s initial refusal to grant Dickenson the same leave that a married, heterosexual employee would receive under the federal Family Medical Leave Act.

>> READ FULL STORY

Police arrested and charged Juan A. Martinez Matos Wednesday with charges of first-degree murder of a Gay Puerto Rican teenager, CNN reports.

Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado‘s body was found Friday on the side of the road in Puerto Rico dismembered and partially burned. Prosecutors are weighing whether to recommend that Martinez Matos be charged under the new federal hate crimes law.

Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, 19,  was found burned, decapitated and dismembered on Nov. 14 in Cayey, a city only a few miles away from his hometown in Caguas, PR. The teen is said to be well-known in the LGBT community. The investigating officer is being criticized for saying “people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen.” A call for another officer to replace him is underway. [365gay]

If you missed out on getting a ticket to The Circus starring Britney Spears at the beginning of the year, you’re in luck!

Britney Spears recently finished touring the UK and will bring The Circus back to North America.

Tickets go on sale June 19th.

More + Dates, after the jump.

I don’t know whether to be excited or if I rather gawk at the stupidity of the U.S. government. In a statement released Monday by the Press Secretary of The White House, President Barack Obama declared June 2009 as national LGBT month.

What exactly does that all entail?

Hell, fire, and brimstone! “All sinners are going to hell!” “Homosexuals are an abomination and will burn for it!” This was the message that the students at Stephen F. Austin State University woke up to. Poptrends editor Sean K. wandered across the man preaching his hate message Tuesday afternoon and didn’t really think much of it, that was until the man looked over his way and pointed out proclaiming “that homosexual is going to burn in hell!” Apparently, this was the message that the students at SFA were hearing all day.

An 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hung himself Monday after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay. This is at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying this year.

We do not like to post about sad stories, but this one just hit us at the heart. It’s a damn shame that in this day and age that people can be taunted and abused over the most little thing.

Last week was dreadfully bloody for gays in the other half of our hemisphere. Six innocent men were shot to death by their tribe members in two separate incident for being homosexual, according to CNN.

India, with a more positive light, announced that they will be hosting the Bangalore Queer Film Fest 2009. The festival will run from April 10 – 11, and will provide the community an avenue to discuss its domestic issues and engage in a public dialogue.