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Adapting a worldwide phenomenon like Fifty Shades of Grey into a film can be a huge risk. There are millions of fans to appease, an author’s own vision to consider, and a taboo subject to navigate for the masses. But for director Sam Taylor-Johnson, all of those risks motivated her. “I knew it was going to be an enormous challenge,” Taylor-Johnson told The Daily Beast. It’s only her second feature film—her first being 2008’s Nowhere Boy, which chronicled the early life of John Lennon—and the subject was relatively unfamiliar territory for her. “But that’s partly why I did it.”

LOS ANGELES – Much of the audience attending the Grammy Awards on Sunday donned light-up devil horns for the opening performance of the annual event—a presentation of the AC/DC hit “Highway to Hell.” “Party time/My friends are gonna be there too/I’m on the highway to Hell,” the Australian rock band blared out as flames blazed on the jumbotron behind them, along with pyrotechnic effects. “Hey Satan/Payin’ my dues … I’m on the highway to Hell/Don’t stop me.” The group had been introduced by rapper LL Cool J, as the audience stood to their feet. “To kick off the 52 second...

Same-sex marriages went forward Monday in Alabama, for the most part, notwithstanding an effort by the Chief Justice of the state’s Supreme Court to prevent probate judges from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples: BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Amid conflicting signals from federal courts and the chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, some Alabama counties began granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday in a legal showdown with echoes of the battles over desegregation in the 1960s. In major county seats like Birmingham, Montgomery and Huntsville, gay couples lined up outside courthouses as they opened, and emerged smiling, licenses in...

Teenagers at a California high school were publicly shamed for disagreeing with speakers allowed to push an LGBT agenda during an English class, according to several upset parents. The Queer Straight Alliance at Acalanes High School, in Lafayette, lectured students in several ninth-grade English classes on Jan. 29 about LGBT issues, according to Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing the parents. During the class, the students, ages 14 and 15, were instructed to stand in a circle. Then, they were grilled about their personal beliefs and their parents’ beliefs on homosexuality, PJI alleges.“The QSA...

Fans of Fifty Shades Of Grey, you've been warned: leave those whips and riding crops at home on your way to the movies next week. AMC, Regal Entertainment and Cinemark have banned movie goers from bringing naughty props to the cinema in anticipation of the hotly awaited world premiere of Fifty Shades Of Grey. The film adaptation of EL James' steamy best-selling erotic romance starring Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele hits the big screen on Valentine’s Day, February 14.

<p>Matthew Aune and Derek Jones were...strolling through Main Street Plaza just east of the Salt Lake Temple, the holiest site in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.</p> <p>Aune bussed his partner on the cheek. Church security guards appeared. The twentysomething men said they were cuffed and forced to the ground. The church's official statement said the couple had been "engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language" on private church property, an account the two men vigorously contested.</p>

Patrick Healy at The New York Times quipped “Jim Parsons is God – and not just to fans of his character, Sheldon Cooper” on the CBS comedy hit The Big Bang Theory. “No, Mr. Parsons is actually going to play the Almighty on Broadway beginning May 5 in the new comedy An Act of God by David Javerbaum, a former head writer and executive producer of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, the play’s producer announced on Thursday. The 90-minute production is based on Mr. Javerbaum’s 2011 book The Last Testament: A Memoir By God, a swirl of satirical riffs...

Why shouldn't this man be (or have been) allowed to marry his dolphin sweetheart? After all, it's only "love" that matters in holy matrimony, not building a family and a safe environment in which to raise kids. It's all to do with "feelings" these days, little else is important, and obviously we are here talking about the feelings of adults. (The feelings of children of anomalous families carry little weight.) Love in particular, however defined. For some people, like paedophile Oscar Wilde who was paying to have sex with working-class rent boys, the definition of love is lust. A...

Have you ever run across couples who want to tell you “we’re pregnant”? It’s part of the gender neutrality, everyone is the same, there is no difference between men and women, nonsense.

SAN FRANCISCO - A movie is heating things up in hotel rooms. The film 50 Shades of Grey releases on February 13th and companies are capitalizing on the buzz around it. Kensington Park Hotel, and others owned by Personality Hotels, is now offering a “50 Shades of Women” package. For $150 extra during your stay you get a little black box full of items to jump start the night like a paddle, soft hand restraints, and other unmentionables. “Have a fantasy and memory to live by. Better than the book,” said Personality Hotels President and CEO Yvonne Detert.

Fifty Shades of Grey is set to feature more sex on screen than the 100 raunchiest films released in 2014 put together, making it the most erotic mainstream movie in a decade. The film, which premieres on Valentine's Day features a dozen sex scenes, which make up 20 minutes of its total 100-minute running time. This follows an interview with actor Jamie Dornan, who plays main man Christian Grey, where he says he 'does not believe it is pornographic or even erotic.'

Americans support women in the pulpit and in senior leadership positions within the church. But they are more hesitant when it comes to supporting openly gay and lesbian religious leaders. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of American Adults favor women in the pulpit, while just 16% are opposed. Twenty-five percent (25%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Even more (74%) support women in leadership positions in their respective faiths. Just nine percent (9%) are opposed, with 17% undecided. Just 43% of Americans favor openly gay and lesbian individuals in the pulpit. Thirty-eight...

The co-founder and former guitarist of the popular world-famous Christian rock band the Newsboys has officially renounced his Christian faith and is calling members of the current version of the band hypocrites. George Perdikis, who founded the chart-topping Christian band in 1985 with his friend Peter Furler, wrote an op-ed on Wednesday published by the website Patheos explaining how he transformed from a guitarist in one of the most popular Christian rock bands of all-time to a cosmology-enthused atheist. "I always felt uncomfortable with the strict rules imposed by Christianity. All I wanted to do was play rock and roll,"...

These companies pulled out of the St. Patrick's day parade because gay advocacy groups were not allowed to march under their own banner. Here is a list of all the brands involved: Beer: GUINESS, SAM ADAMS, Tusker, Smithwick’s, Red Stripe, Harp Lager, Kilkenny, Kaliber, Windhoek, HEINEKEN, Amstel, Buckler, Beamish & Crawford, Murphy’s, Tui Scotch whisky: Johnnie Walker, Buchanan’s, Cardhu, Justerini & Brooks (J&B), Bell’s, Black & White, White Horse, Logan, Caol Ila, Vat 69, Oban, Talisker, Lagavulin, Glen Ord, Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Cragganmore, Clynelish, Singleton, Haig, Royal Lochnagar, Glen Elgin, Knockando, The Dimple Pinch Vodka: Smirnoff, Cîroc, Silent Sam, Popov, Ketel...

‘American Sniper’ gives hope that the America we know will win out in the end. “As much as the left would like you to believe it, Chris Kyle was not a bloodthirsty warmonger; he was a noble warrior who fought to defend his fellow troops, watched over the lives of his brothers, and advanced the cause of (eventual) peace. This is where the true success of ‘American Sniper’ comes to light.” – Pete Hyseth, CEO of Concerned Veterans of America and an Iraq combat veteran With the record-shattering success of the Clint Eastwood-directed movie ‘American Sniper’, we are all experiencing...

Gov. Tom Wolf stood with a small group of lawmakers Wednesday morning to rally new efforts behind bills that would extend basic anti-discrimination protections statewide on the basis of sexual orientation. For Pennsylvania, a state where in most municipalities a person can still be fired from his job or denied housing because of his or her sexual orientation, Wolf said the extended anti-discrimination bills fit the state's heritage perfectly. "Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn on the basis of tolerance. On the basis of religious freedom," Wolf noted. U.S. District Judge John Jones gave the LGBT movement a push with...

In the Gospel of John, we read a story where a group of Jewish Torah teachers and Pharisees (members of a legalistic sect of Judaism) bring to Jesus a woman whom they caught in adultery, asking Him what punishment He thinks the woman deserves. Masterfully — as He always did — Jesus answers the scholars with a simple, yet profound statement: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7, NIV).Recently, Newsweek featured a cover article on the Bible in which author Kurt Eichenwald — not a Biblical scholar...

Army commanders Order Removal Of 'God and Country' Recruiting Sign January 18, 2015 An Army recruiting station has been ordered by higher ups to shelve a sidewalk sandwich board with the wording "On a mission for both God and country.” The order went out Friday to a recruiting station in Phoenix that had been displaying the outdoor sign since at least October. The sign board also shows an image of a Special Forces patch and Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces tabs. An inquiry from Army Times to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command prompted the sandwich board’s immediate removal.

Teenager Who Has Been Dating Her Father For Two Years Reveals The Pair Are Planning To Get Married - And Have Children An 18-year-old girl is revealing in a new interview that she has been dating her father for two years The pair were estranged for 12 years, but met up again when she was 16, having sex the week they were reunited They were soon dating and are now planning their wedding After their wedding they plan on moving to New Jersey and having children, were adult incest is legal By CHRIS SPARGO 16 January 2015 A young girl...

When the Golden Globe awards telecast was over, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation proclaimed, "It was a great night for LGBT-inclusive television." They could have added: "We run the joint." Gay actor Matt Bomer thanked his "husband" and his surrogate sons when he won an award for HBO's Reagan-bashing AIDS drama "The Normal Heart." But the bigger celebration came with a best actor award to Jeffrey Tambor, who plays Mort, a 70-year-old father of three who decides he's a woman named Maura in a show called "Transparent," or literally, "Trans Parent," since his three adult children have to...