Free Republic

Schools will be encouraged to hold lessons exploring the achievements of gay men and women throughout history as part of the first gay history month. The project, to be held in February, will highlight the hidden history of household names who would probably today identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, such as William Shakespeare, who was rumoured to be bisexual, and Florence Nightingale, who few people know was a lesbian. Other events covered during the month will include talks on the early years of gays and lesbians in British television and discussions of the history of the British LGBT...

Hollywood News]: New York, Jan 8 : Oliver Stone is deeply disappointed with the lukewarm response given to his epic film, 'Alexander The Great', courtsey the new fundamentalist morality in the United States. Oliver will, therefore, change the offending homosexual scenes before the movie is released on DVD. "There's a raging fundamentalism in morality in the U.S.," The New York Post quoted Oliver as saying. "The bond between men can be suggested in different ways. From day one, audiences didn't show up. They didn't even read the reviews in the South because the media was using the words, 'Alex the...

Oliver Stone laments 'Alexander the gay' Director admits: 'There was clear resistance to his homosexuality' © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Hollywood director Oliver Stone is lamenting the poor box-office performance of his latest film "Alexander," citing the homosexuality of the lead character as one of the detrimental factors. Colin Farrell, right, stars as Alexander the Great, with Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer as his parents. (Courtesy Warner Bros.) "I still think it's a beautiful movie, but Alexander deserves better than I gave him," Stone said, according to the London Telegraph. "There was clear resistance to his homosexuality. It became the headline to...

Alexander the Not So GreatBy Hugh Davies (Filed: 31/12/2004) The Hollywood film director Oliver Stone said yesterday that the flop in America of his £83 million production about Alexander the Great was 'dismaying', confessing that more people watched it on the opening weekend in Croatia 'than in the entire' Deep South. Mr Stone said: "I still think it's a beautiful movie, but Alexander deserves better than I gave him. There was clear resistance to his homosexuality. It became the headline to the movie. Oliver Stone talks to lead actor Colin Farrell on set "They called him Alexander the gay. That's...

Item: Entertainment Weekly’s lavish cover story for November 19 claims that Oliver Stone’s new movie, Alexander, about Alexander the Great, is “an honest, fairly explicit treatment of Alexander’s famous bisexuality.” “It wasn’t like Stone had taken historical liberties,” the article continues. “His rendering of Alexander’s life is … more or less in the mainstream of scholarly research. By most accounts Alexander did like men, women, and eunuchs — his best friend Hephaistion was his longtime lover.” Item: A New York Times article for November 20 entitled, “Breaking Ground With a Gay Movie Hero,” says of Stone’s film: “Historians of antiquity...

Alexander the Great, so we are told, held sway over most of the known world by the time he was 30. Which is more than can be said of Oliver Stone's movie version. Far from winning hearts and conquering minds, the reaction in Greece when the picture was first released was one of spume-flecked fury. The hissing noise, emanating from the country where they have long laid claim to the old Macedonian imperialist, was that of steam emerging from starched collars. Before they had even seen the picture, 25 of Athens's top lawyers became exercised about rumours that the greatest...

“Few modern historians accept Alexander’s greatness upon his military abilities alone, and none, certainly, upon the pomp which he acquired as Lord of Lords of the Persians and as Pharaoh, the god-king of Egypt. More noteworthy to them—as it was to may of his contemporaries—is Alexander’s surprising cosmopolitanism. By his colonization, Alexander spread the Greek language, Greek social institutions, and Greek culture from Athens to India. He seems to have envisioned a new culture rooted in Hellenism but united with the ancient civilizations of the Near east and any other area which might be added to the empire of the...

Aristotle’s dictum still stands: “He who asserts must also prove.”  When you make a claim, the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate that claim.  Let’s ask some clear, practical questions in light of Oliver Stone’s Alexander:  Did Alexander ever kiss a man on the mouth?  No evidence.  Did he ever play a passive or active role in same sex sexual unions?  No evidence.  Did he have sex of any kind with the eunuch Bagoas?  No evidence. Did he ever play footsie with men or boys at a sports bar? No evidence.  Did he have sex with Hephaestion or...

Not content to direct a merely mediocre historical epic, filmmaker Oliver Stone marshals all of his talent as a provocateur to direct a colossally bad one in "Alexander," starring Irishman Colin Farrell as the legendary Macedonian warlord. It's a shame, too, because mediocrity is so tantalizingly within the director's reach. Beginning with Alexander's childhood around 350 B.C., Stone drafts a standard character arc involving Alexander's accomplished but ineffectual father, King Philip (Val Kilmer); his domineering, snake-charming mother, Olympias (Angelina Jolie, butchering vowels like Natasha from "Rocky and Bullwinkle"); and his precocious success as a field commander after rising to power...

LOS ANGELES -- Although he lived 2,300 years ago, Alexander the Great may have something to say about current American politics. If Bush manages to transform Iraq and Afghanistan into secure...... Stone says the U.S. president may earn the legacy of the ancient hero of "Alexander." "It's a grand scheme," Stone said. "If he pulled it off ... in 20 years, maybe he would be considered `Bush the Great.'"

Article published: Nov 21, 2004 Oliver Stone's world-weary philosophy BY ROGER EBERT / Nov 21, 2004 Oliver Stone seems at the end of his rope, but then he always seems at the end of his rope. Here is a man who needs sleep. He has flown in from Paris, he's jet-lagged, he's talking in that rapid-fire way we use when we're so tired we don't have the strength to talk slowly. He is talking about "Alexander" (opening Wednesday), his 173-minute epic about "the most amazing life in history," and he describes him: "Already, at 26, he had the political leadership...

Oliver Stone and the studio releasing his $150 million historical epic "Alexander" should beware of Greeks bearing writs — over the film's depiction of Alexander the Great as Alexander the Fabulous. The controversial director and Warner Bros. were yesterday threatened with a lawsuit by a group of Greek lawyers who are incensed that the new movie "Alexander" portrays the hero as bisexual. The group of 25 Athens-based lawyers said they sent a letter to Warner Bros. demanding that it label "Alexander" ... as a work of fiction.... "We are not saying that were are against gays, but we are saying...

ATHENS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A group of Greek lawyers are threatening to sue Warner Bros film studios and Oliver Stone, director of the widely anticipated film "Alexander," for suggesting Alexander the Great was bisexual. The lawyers have already sent an extrajudicial note to the studio and director demanding they include a reference in the title credits saying his movie is a fictional tale and not based on official documents of the life of the Macedonian ruler. "We are not saying that we are against gays but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the...

RPT-Outraged Greeks say Alexander was not bisexual ATHENS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A group of Greek lawyers are threatening to sue Warner Bros film studios and Oliver Stone, director of the widely anticipated film "Alexander," for suggesting Alexander the Great was bisexual. The lawyers have already sent an extrajudicial note to the studio and director demanding they include a reference in the title credits saying his movie is a fictional tale and not based on official documents of the life of the Macedonian ruler. "We are not saying that we are against gays but we are saying that the production...

ATHENS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A group of Greek lawyers are threatening to sue Warner Bros film studios and Oliver Stone, director of the widely anticipated film "Alexander," for suggesting Alexander the Great was bisexual. The lawyers have already sent an extrajudicial note to the studio and director demanding they include a reference in the title credits saying his movie is a fictional tale and not based on official documents of the life of the Macedonian ruler. "We are not saying that we are against gays but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the...

"Alexander lived in a more honest time," Stone told Playboy magazine. As you do. "We go into his bisexuality. It may offend some people, but sexuality in those days was a different thing. Pre-Christian morality. Young boys were with boys when they wanted to be."But Stone said he had no interest in showing gay sex scenes. "You only need five words. Alexander says, 'Stay with me tonight, Hephaistion,' and you get it. If you don't get it, f*** you, it's your problem."

Alexander the Great's Death Debated Aug. 2, 2004 — What killed ancient world conqueror Alexander the Great is still a mystery, pitting scientists who favor West Nile virus against those who lean toward a death from typhoid. History says that Alexander, king of Macedonia, died at 32 in 323 B.C. after several days of fever in Babylon. However, the cause of the fever was always unclear.Alexander In The Fog Several hypotheses have been advanced: poisoning, malaria, or cirrhosis of the liver caused by Alexander's penchant for drink, as well as typhoid or west Nile virus. “ The dispute resurfaced in...

Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the site of the Library of Alexandria, often described as the world's first major seat of learning. A Polish-Egyptian team has excavated parts of the Bruchion region of the Mediterranean city and discovered what look like lecture halls or auditoria. Two thousand years ago, the library housed works by the greatest thinkers and writers of the ancient world. Works by Plato and Socrates and many others were later destroyed in a fire. Oldest University Announcing their discovery at a conference being held at the University of California, Zahi Hawass, president of Egypt's...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ANCIENT WARFAREPart III: Ancient Greek Military:  Conclusion: Alexander The Great   Consolidation of the empire The empire was weakened by years of absence and rumors of his death, and it had not functioned altogether efficiently.  On Alexander's reappearance, many incompetents and scoundrels in high office had to be replaced by better men. In Carmania, in Persis, complaints from the provinces continued to reach him,...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ANCIENT WARFAREPart III: Ancient Greek Military:  Continuation: Alexander The Great   Conquest of Syria, Phoenicia and Egypt332BC With the intention to isolate the Persian fleet from its maritime bases and so to destroy it as an effective fighting force, from Issus Alexander marched south into Syria and Phoenicia. The Phoenician cities Marathus and Aradus came over to Alexander with no resistance. In reply to...