Transgender Man Says He's Pregnant

Nauilus Entertainment
March 28, 2008

Figuring out that he was transgender and making the decision to take hormones to transition his body from female to male was difficult for Jace Martinez. But figuring out how to tell his 5-year-old daughter, he says, was "really a challenge."

So Jace, 23, decided to write a picture book, simply titled "My Mommy Is a Boy."

Written from his daughter Amaya's perspective, the self-published book, intended for an audience of one, explains Jace's feelings and his decision to change his name, wear men's clothes and begin taking testosterone to change the appearance of his body.

"Mommy told me in her heart she always felt like a boy and being a girl always made her sad," he writes in the book. "Mommy likes to wear boy's [sic] clothes and cut her hair really short," reads the text under a magic-marker drawing of a short-haired Jace in a barber's chair. "Sometimes kids ask if she is my Daddy."


Jace lives in Oregon, the home state of Thomas Beatie, a female-to-male transgender man who wrote an article this week in the gay-rights magazine The Advocate explaining his decision to become pregnant. Beatie said he decided to become pregnant after his wife became sick and infertile. He previously had his breasts removed and was taking hormones, but had retained his uterus and female sex organs.

The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates there are some one to three million transgender people living in America. How many of them are parents, however, is unknown.

Making Change: The Cost of Being TransgenderExplaining the birds and the bees is a challenge for any parent, but transgender individuals have the added difficulty of explaining not just the basics of human sexuality but the complexities as well.

Experts who counsel transgender parents say younger children, like Amaya, tend to adjust to the news of their parent's transition better than teenagers, and the best thing a parent can do is to be open and answer their child's questions.

"Amaya knows she was in my tummy. She is still pretty young and never asks about sex, but I know she will someday," Jace told Nautilus Entertainment "The book says I was unhappy being a girl. She knows that I have girl parts, but I'm taking a shot and it's making me like her dad."

Lohan Goes Crazy

Nautilus News
March 28, 2008
Actress joins Charles Manson flick.
Lindsay Lohan may have cleaned up her act, but she's saving a little bit of crazy for a big-screen turn as Nancy Pitman, a former member of Charles Manson's crew.

Nautilus News scoops that LiLo will star in Manson Girls, a film about -- you guessed it -- the female members of cult leader Charlie Manson's "family."

Her character, Pitman (a.k.a. Brenda), was not directly involved in the Manson Family killings, but she was one of Manson's most hardcore devotees. After the murders of Sharon Tate and her friends, Manson took Pitman to the scene where they planted false evidence.

Manson Girls producer Brad Wyman of Junction Films confirmed Lohan's casting. "Yes, I am doing it with Lindsay," he told Nautilus Entertainment News.

Lohan will next star opposite Jared Leto in Chapter 27, the story of another killer, John Lennon murderer Mark David Chapman.

Ranch Dressing:

Nautilus Entertainment
March 15,2008

Ranch Dressing: Michael Jackson miraculously saved Neverland from going to auction again. You know what last-second salvation reminds us of? Those old Superman serials where Supes would somehow plunge to his death...but in the next ep, he had somehow escaped just in the nick of time, lickety-split. I’m sick of these moolah deus ex machinas helping Jacko out in a pinch. They ain’t ever gonna be paid back, since M.J.’s all but broke. Then again, American Idol is doing a second week of Beatles songs—wonder if the money Fox plunked down for the rights helped Mikey out any?

“Horton Hears A Who!”

Nautilus Entertainment
March 15, 2008

Horton Hears A Who!”, has earned $45 million in ticket sales.
The Top 10 was closed by “Jumper”, which earned $2,135,000.

Twentieth Century Fox's G-rated "Horton Hears a Who!" opened to an estimated $45.1 million at the box office this weekend, the studio said today, the latest powerful performance by a movie aimed at family audiences.

The animated picture, produced for about $90 million, follows a string of G- or PG-rated hits since the fall including Walt Disney Co.'s "Enchanted" and "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" and Fox's partly animated musical-comedy "Alvin and the Chipmunks."

For years the G rating, in particular, has been seen as a stigma, a turnoff for teenagers and older moviegoers who snicker at wholesome fare. But "Horton," adapted from the classic Dr. Seuss book, attracted a fairly diverse crowd, estimated at 53% families and 47% non-families, including unaccompanied teens.

"This was a 'Who-mongous' opening," said Chris Aronson, Fox's senior vice president of domestic distribution. "We played to all 'Whos' from 2 to 92, and I'm not just being cute. It was an all-audience film."

The heavily marketed movie, whose voice cast includes Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, matched most industry expectations and easily topped the charts over Warner Bros.' prehistoric epic "10,000 BC," which slid 54% in its second weekend to $16.4 million.

Among the two major new action pictures hitting the market, Summit Entertainment's mixed martial-arts drama "Never Back Down" fared best, grossing $8.6 million to open at No. 3.

The apocalyptic thriller "Doomsday," from Universal's Rogue Pictures label, mustered $4.7 million to rank seventh for the weekend.

The PG-13-rated "Never Back Down" cost about $20 million to produce; the budget for the R-rated "Doomsday" was $19 million.

Industrywide revenue rose 8.5% from the same period in 2007, reversing a four-weekend slump, according to data tracker Media by Numbers.

Year to date, however, box-office revenue and attendance are little changed from 2007

Brit: Having a Mother of a Good Time

Nautilus Entertaintment
March 14,2008

Britney Spears has taken a shine to sitcom work.

Making her first public statement on just about anything in recent days, the Blackout artiste announced Thursday that her week of toiling as a guest star on CBS' How I Met Your Mother beats psych wards and courtrooms.

"Working at How I Met Your Mother has been so terrific. Everyone, including the cast, the crew and the producers, has been wonderful, and Abby is such a fun girl to play. I'm having a blast!"

Meanwhile, the show's set of has been harder to crack than Hyde this week.

With paparazzi lurking outside and helicopted buzzing overhead, people couldn't approach the soundstage without the proper security clearance, which came in the form of a color-coded wristband, according to Neil Patrick Harris, who plays the suit-wearing, skirt-chasing Barney.

Harris told E! Online's Watch with Kristin Wednesday even he was denied at one point, although he ultimately made it past the guards, considering he's the castmember with the Emmy nomination and all.

"I did eventually make it on set, because I just kept going through," the actor said. "But there were lots of 'Hey, hey—I need to see your wristband,' and I said, 'Lady, I'm actually on the show, so I don't have a wristband.'

"So, that's the kind of excitement there is on Stage 22 right now, mid Britney."

Spears arrived at the Fox Studios set in a chauffeured black Cadillac Escalade at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday with her usual two bodyguards in tow.

Shortly before noon, Spears' car was dispatched back to her Beverly Hills home to pick up mom Lynne Spears, who had just returned to the gated Summit community after spending the morning visiting with her grandkids at Kevin Federline's house.

Lynne was spotted outside her daughter's trailer several times once she arrived at the studio (she had the right wristband, apparently), but reporters were hard-pressed to get another glance of Spears after her initial dropoff.

Harris—who more or less agreed with "quite impressed" costar Alyson Hannigan that Spears was doing a "good job" in her bit role as Abby, a sweet-natured receptionist at a dermatologist's office (where Ted is finally going to get his "tramp stamp" removed)—said the only thing that concerned him about the pop star's very prominent presence was what the casting coup implied about the show's status.

"It wasn't like CBS or How I Met Your Mother is trying to get ratings and said, Who can we star-cast to get attention," Harris said. "We were literally just filming last week and told, 'You're not going to believe who just called and said they wanted to be on the show.'

"So, that's sort of how it all went down…My only reservation about her being on the show at all is it appears that we are desperate for ratings, and that's not the case. We're sort of in a good comedy groove. So, my only concern is one of appearance."

Asked how Barney would handle Spears if the two came face to face, Harris maintained his character's signature cockiness.

"He'd definitely trump Osama Lutfi," Harris concluded. "Barney would out-Adnan Adnan."

Hannigan, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for the scene-stealing Spears.

"I have been quite impressed by Britney’s performance," the erstwhile Buffy the Vampire Slayer witch told E! Online. "The character she is playing is very sweet and endearing, which seems to come naturally to her. Not to mention, she has good comedic timing, which helps, given we’re a sitcom.”

The onscreen dermatologist temporarily employing Spears as a receptionist is being played by Scrubs star Sarah Chalke, a last-minute replacement for Alicia Silverstone, who opted not to appear at the same time as Spears in order to avoid what she assumed would be a totally chaotic scenario.