(POP NEWS) NEW SPIRIT; EVER AFTER; HACK; REHAB; FREE-DOM; EFFECT; GOSSIP; JOY; STILL GOLD; TYPECAST; DANCING; UN-TAYLORED

• NEW SPIRIT: Queen Elizabeth II to Sign Historic Pledge Against Discrimination Seen As Signal of Gay Rights Support AND Skips Another Service!

• EVER AFTER: Sweden's Fairytale Princess Lilian Dead at 97!

• DELAY: Why Bill Clinton Signed DOMA!

• HACK: Puerto Rican ATM Spits Out 'We Hate Fags' Receipt!

• TOO CLOSE: Gay Man Gets Called a 'Faggot' Outside His Home, Pursues the Perpetrator, Then Gets Assaulted!

• REHAB: A reformed Brett Ratner to be honored by GLAAD!

• FREE-DOM: Pistorius Fights Bail Restrictions!

• EFFECT: How Nora Ephron Died!

(SPRING HUNKS) James Franco in OZ, the Great and Powerful!

James Franco, 34,  is an American actor, filmmaker, teacher and author. His first prominent role was a lead part on the short-lived cult hit television program Freaks and Geeks; he later achieved recognition for playing the titular character in the TV biographical film James Dean (2001), for which he was awarded a Golden Globe Award. He portrayed Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. His notable films are Pineapple Express, Milk, 127 Hours, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination, Tristan & Isolde, Annapolis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with upcoming films, Oz the Great and Powerful, This Is the End and Lovelace. In 2009, he had a recurring role in the ABC soap opera General Hospital.

(SPOTTED) James Franco gets his Hollywood star!

Hooray for James Franco who received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier Thursday.

Congrats to Mr. Franco who marches to the beat of his own drummer and does it very well.

(POP NEWS) Brutal; Skinned; Don't Call; PDA; Magic; Oz'd; Come Out; Prowl; Too Much; Down Low; Queer; Chiseled!

• BRUTAL: Shocking Incident of Police Brutality Caught on Camera at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras!

• SKINNED: NYC's 'Rawhide' Gay Bar to Close!

• DON'T CALL ME: Carly Rae Jepsen Backs Out of Boy Scouts Jamboree Over Gay Ban!

• PDA: Gay Couple Kicked Out of California Mall for Kissing!

• MAGIC: Tokyo Disneyland Hosts Lesbian Wedding!

• OZ'D: Slain Gay Mississippi Mayoral Candidate Marco McMillian's Body Had Been Beaten, Burned; Suspect in Custody!

(POP NEWS) Russia DeGayed; Shock; Deleted; Harry Talks; Manti; Annoyed; Anderson Forgives; Milan; Franco; Stunt; Grief!

• NOT FREE: Russia Moves to Ban 'Homosexual Propaganda'!

• SHOCK: Gay Radio Host Marcel Juul Østergreen Beaten in Homophobic Assault in Copenhagen!

• DELETED: Author Insults Thai King, Editor Gets 10-Year Sentence!

• IRRESPONSIBLE: Prince Harry Talks Nude Pics!

• CONFESS: Manti Te'o Tells Katie Couric He Lied, Briefly!

• ANNOYED: Lip Reader Decodes Boehner Joke That Prompted Michelle Obama's Epic Eye Roll!

• FORGIVE: Anderson Cooper Has Something to Say About Beyonce's Lip-Sync! 

• MILAN: Shakira Welcomes Son, Names Him...!

• TRENDY: Karl Lagerfeld Sends Lesbian Brides Down the Runway!

(POP NEWS) Settled; Inspired; Stone Cold; Rehab; Advocate; Avenue-M; Bowie; Swift; Busy; Franco!

• SETTLED: Gay Troops to Get Full Discharge Pay, in Settlement of Case Against Defense Department!

• INSPIRED: Teen Awarded NPR's Top Storytelling Performance Prize for Powerful Tale About His Two Gay Moms!

• STONE COLD: James Holmes Sits Coldly in Sad Pretrial Hearing!

• NO REHAB: Winehouse Drank Herself to Death: 2nd Coroner!

• VISIBLE: 'The Advocate' Print Edition to Return to Newsstands After Two-Year Absence!

• AVENUE-M: It’s back to Broadway for Bette Midler!

• MOVE LIKE JAGGER: Bowie Turns 66, Releases 1st Song in 10 Years!

• NEW SONG ALREADY: Yet Another Breakup for Taylor Swift!

• LEZ-GO: Busy Phillips on lesbian rumors about her and Michelle Williams: “We don’t do it”!

• DETAILS: Dave Franco Reflects on F**king Himself!

(POP NEWS) Time; Blaming Hollywood; Trending in Seattle; Zuckerberg; Lilo; Runway; Bitch; Franco; Cox; Party Over!

• LEADER: Time Person of the Year is...!

• BLAME GAME: Is Hollywood to Blame for Newtown?

• TRENDING: Seattle's King County Announces More Than 1,000 Licenses Issued Since Marriage Equality Took Effect December 6!

• END OF YEAR: Zuckerberg Makes Biggest Charitable Donation Yet!

• TRU-MAN: Bodies of In Cold Blood Killers Exhumed in Old Case!

• SCARY: LiLo's Latest Woes Tied to ... Toilet Clogging!

• NEXT GEN: On RUNWAY, Kors to be replaced by..?

• TRUMPED: Miss USA Loser Must Pay $5M for Defaming Pageant!

(POP NEWS) This is IT: Marriage in France; Brit Empire; Hail Mary; Bell; No BUD; LiLo; Franco's Art!

• GO FOR IT: President Obama Gets Emotional at Final Campaign Rally!

• CHANGE: France OK With Gay Marriage ... Right?

• EMPIRE: Look Out, World: Brits Have Invaded 90% of Nations!

• HAIL MARY: $100K Stolen From Churches by ... Gambling Nun?

• RULES: Parents Kill Daughter for Looking at a Boy!

• VIXEN: Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard Expecting!

• NO PLACEMENT: Budweiser to Paramount: Take Our Beer Out of Flight!

• UGLY: LiLo's Lie Could Land Her in Jail!

• ART: James Franco Gets His Body Paint On!

(POP NEWS) Ambassador Killed; William; NBC; Homophobe; Paquin; KStew; Quinto; Urie Dish!

• BREAKING: US Ambassador to Libya Killed in Attack!

• GEN-R: William Wants 2 Kids With Kate!

• SNUB: NBC Picks Kardashians Over Moment of Silence!

• EXCUSED: Would-Be Juror: Don't Pick Me, I'm A Racist Homophobe!

• BI-KIDZ: Paquin, Moyer Have Twins!

• NEXT GIG: KStew's Next 'Beard Gig' is James Franco?

• FACTS: Surrogacy Expert Weighs in on 'The New Normal'!

• GLEE-FUL: Zachary Quinto On His Celebrity Boyfriend!

• DISH: Michael Urie on hunky TV boyfriend Brandon Routh!

(SOAP Q) Franco in Catfight Over His 'Petty' Writing!

Diva Alert: James Franco is in a bit of a tiff with a New York Observer writer over his series of columns on the Huffington Post. Writer Drew Grant took issue with the fact that Franco addressed New Orleans ghost tours in his column, rather than something more substantive like politics. Franco responded in yesterday’s column, where he first slammed the Observer for being “a newspaper owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law that is perhaps best known for publishing a sex column in the mid-1990s.”

He goes on to explain that he didn’t discuss politics—specifically President Obama’s stance on gay marriage—because there’s “enough talk about that already,” and “plus, who wants to hear an actor’s take on it anyway?” He chose his topic because it seemed interesting, he concludes, and the real question is why “the great journalists at the New York Observer” are, “instead of covering pressing world issues, … covering my writing, which they claim to consider petty.”

Click for his full column, which somehow segues into the topic of commencement speeches.

(SOAP Q) Franco Channels Kevin Federline!

James Franco isn't playing gay this time.
Writes Vulture: "Selena Gomez just tweeted a photo from the set of her new film, Spring Breakers, which Harmony Korine is directing. As you can see, her co-star James Franco has gone full Federline, with forearm tattoos, cornrows, a pinkie ring, and an unearned proximity to beautiful women."

(SOAP Q) Franco Joins Nick at Nite’s Upcoming Soap HOLLYWOOD HEIGHTS!

James Franco will be in a mutli-episode arc on Nick at Nite's upcoming primetime soap HOLLYWOOD HEIGHTS, the network announced on Wednesday. The show, formerly known as REACH FOR THE STARS, is based on a Mexican series about a shy girl who becomes a pop star after winning a songwriting competition. Along the way, she befriends a mega-rock-star — who is of course her celebrity crush.

HEIGHTS premieres in June and will air five nights a week, but it's not clear yet when Franco's arc starts or what Franco's role entails. Jill Farren Phelps is executive producer.

 

Via We Love Soaps.

(POP NEWS): LiLo's Last Chance; HRC's New Prez; Takei and Trump Talk Marriage; Archie Wins; Quinto, Lange Back; Franco's Pecs!

• Last Chances?' Turns Out Lindsay Lohan Has Had 10!

• CONFIRMED: Chad Griffin Named President of Human Rights Campaign!

• POW-WOW: George Takei and Donald Trump to Have Gay Marriage Lunch Summit in April in NYC!

• GOLDEN: 'Archie' Issue Featuring Gay Marriage Sells Out After Boycott Threat!

• BACK: Zachary Quinto, Jessica Lange Back as 'American Horror Story' Leads in Season 2!

• TEASE: James Franco Turns on the Headlights!

(SOAP Q ) Franco Sells Book 'Straight' to Amazon!

Jack-of-multiple-trades James Franco is about to peddle his latest endeavor on Amazon. The actor's first novel, Actors Anonymous, has been acquired by Amazon's new fiction editor and the tome will head directly to the company's online store. The work is supposed to be a barely-fictionalized version of Franco's own experiences, reports the New York Observer. Franco's first book of short stories, Palo Alto, won less-than-stellar reviews from Gawker, which is also less than thrilled about the upcoming book. FRANCO currently plays a Rapist on GH!

(SOAP Q) Franco was a Model Student at Yale!

Did James Franco really deserve that D he got in an NYU acting class—the one that may or may not have gotten his acting professor fired? R. John Williams doesn’t think so, and he should know: He’s Franco’s English adviser at Yale, and in a glowing Slate essay, he insists that Franco is actually a model student for whom “blowing off class” would be “highly uncharacteristic.” Franco kept all but one of his weekly “directed reading” meetings with Williams, and held them via video conference since he was filming a movie in Detroit at the same time.

Though Williams did reprimand Franco for the one meeting he missed, the professor admits that it was “interesting, even thrilling” to study film theory with an Oscar-nominated actor. For one weekly meeting, Williams flew out to Franco’s set, an experience he found “breathtaking.” And for all those who wonder how Franco manages to juggle acting and scholarly work, Williams reveals that actors actually have a lot of down time while filming movies, and says he is no longer surprised when Franco does extra work. “James Franco is becoming a scholar,” he concludes, “and I suggest we take him seriously."

(SOAP Q) NYU Prof Fired for Giving a 'D' to Franco!

Besides Hijacking GH, Franco seems to be taking over NYU too! Franco's stint as a student at NYU is the gift that keeps on giving. A professor who gave him a D in acting class say he got fired for doing so and is suing the university for his job back, reports the New York Post.

Jose Angel Santana says Franco skipped plenty of classes in most of his courses while at the school—and, specifically, didn't show up for 12 of Santana's 14 "Directing the Actor II" classes. But Santana says he was the only professor with the courage to give Franco a lousy grade. He says the school created a "Franco-friendly environment" to cash in on the actor's celeb status. “In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy,” he says. Neither the school nor Franco has commented on the lawsuit. Better look out, University of Houston, warns the Chronicle.

MARKED: Franco Carves Brad Renfro's Name into His Arm for Art!

The L.A. Times reports on an art installation produced for this year's Venice Biennale featuring contributions from James Franco, Douglas Gordon, Harmony Korine, Damon McCarthy, Paul McCarthy, Ed Ruscha and Aaron Young. The installation is based around James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause.


Franco, who had a hand in the other artists’ projects, also made work for this show in homage to the actor Brad Renfro, who died in 2008 at age 25 of a heroin overdose. He had Renfro’s name carved into his right arm with a switchblade, documenting the carving in photography and film. (The carving itself could be seen as one of the show’s more permanent artworks.)

Above, Franco and Renfro in a detail from a still from the 2002 film, Deuces Wild.

Next for Franco? A PhD!

Another day, another degree for James Franco—and this one will have you calling him Dr. James Franco someday. Yes, the renaissance man has been accepted to the University of Houston’s doctoral program in literature and creative writing and plans to enroll in September 2012, the Chronicle reports. Just 20 of roughly 400 applicants are admitted to the graduate program each year, the director says.

James Franco in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Trailer!

Franco Tweets His Painting, Will Teach Graduate Class at NYU!

FRANCO will be teaching a third-year course on directing at the Tisch School of the Arts, the NY Post reports:

"A maximum of 12 students in the intimate three-year program — with an annual tuition of $46,000 — will be able to register for the course on adapting poetry into short films.

“He’s here to teach because he really knows something about directing that he can share with our students,” said John Tintori, chair of the graduate film program. “He’s incredibly prolific, and that comes from a real work ethic — and that’s another thing to impart to our students.”

Franco recently tweeted a video of himself painting a self-portrait of himself as Rodin's "The Thinker".