Those of you who still watch commercials may have seen a series of boffo adverts for Net10 prepaid wireless. They're all pretty ingenious, but this one's our favorite. We like the lady villain and her tentacle like hair. One thing nags us, however: how can that evil shark control his claws simply by flapping his fins? Super villains can do amazing things, but can they make you use a prepaid service? See the entire collection over at Portfolio's Mixed Media.

In other super news, the United Nations enlisted Spider-Man and his pals to fight a horrific trio of baddies: poverty, disease and strife. We think this battle may take more than imaginary characters, but it's worth a shot!

Legendary and litigious music producer Danny Fields will appear on Michelangelo Signorile's Sirius radio show today at 4:30 to discuss his ridiculous lawsuit against Out magazine.

In case you don't recall, Fields claims the gay glossy tarnished his name by implying he used his punk rock powers to woo young boys.

As we and Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici pointed out, however, Fields once bragged about doing just that. In Please Kill Me: Uncensored Oral History of Punk, Fields recalls fun-loving days at Max's Kansas City:

You could have sex with all the bus boys… Anybody who walked into that room, you could fuck, because they all wanted to get into the back room. And you would say, "You'll have to fuck me and I'll let you sit at a good table."

Will Fields offer a logical explanation or continue his $100 million quest? Find out today at 4:30.

It's no secret the NY Post ain't the most gay-friendly paper. In addition to their illustrated send-ups (see above), the Rupert Murdoch owned paper frequently refers to gay folk as "flamboyant" or, most recently, "toe-tappers".

How can a New York-based paper perpetuate such stereotypes? We live in one of the greatest, gayest cities in the world. Surely there must be some reason behind their backward, archaic attitudes.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of this journalistic mystery, Portfolio's media maven Jeff Bercovici did a little digging.

And he doesn't like what he found.

CONTINUED »

New York Post just doesn't learn. After receiving repeated warnings, Rupert Murdoch's tab-rag again uses "toe-tapper" to describe a gay man. The not-so-clever Larry Craig reference first popped up with regard to Thomas Roberts' nudie pics.

Jeff Bercovici first brought the conflation to our attention, which prompted a response from the kids over at GLAAD.

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GLAAD answered Jeff Bercovici's call for action against the NY Post:

[GLAAD] today called on the New York Post to apologize for and disassociate itself from its use of an anti-gay slur in today's edition.

On Sept. 7, the Post ran an item repeating rumors and innuendo speculating about the owner of an explicit online profile. The item used the term "toe-tapper" as a description of gay men: "The photos on the site do not show the fellow's face, but the profile does feature pictures of a toe-tapper posing naked in various positions, including full frontal."

The New York Post's use of "toe-tapper" as a slur to disparage gay men is only the latest episode in the tabloid's long history of offensive content — including the defamatory anti-gay AIDS coverage in the 1980s that led to GLAAD's founding.
…
"Whatever nostalgia the Post has for the prejudices and stereotypes of the 1980s, it really needs to outgrow them — or a least stop acting them out in public," said GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano.

Word. Maybe NY Post needs to find a nice, private bathroom stall…

We hadn't noticed, but in today's Thomas Roberts item, the NY Post refers to him as a "toe-tapper". This, of course, would be a not-so-vague reference to lewd Larry Craig and his toilet cruising.

The paper's conflation of cruising and homosexuality perpetuates anti-gay stereotypes and straight man Jeff Bercovici ain't gonna take it:

It's far from the first time the Post has gone after gays: Page Six routinely refers to them as "swishy," and editorial cartoonist Sean Delonas includes a picture of a sheep in just about every cartoon about a gay subject — a not-so-veiled allusion to the canard linking homosexuality and bestiality. ([GLAAD] has complained about Delonas's spite, to little effect.)

Besides being vicious and utterly out of sync with the city it serves, the Post's little toe-tapping jab is also nonsensical: If the TV personality in question is seeking out sexual partners online, doesn't that suggest he doesn't need to resort to cruising bathrooms?

Good looking out, Mr. B - and, yes, the jab is nonsensical.

Bercovici's awaiting word a response from GLAAD. We'll keep you post-ed.