The past couple of weekends have been nothing short of a disaster for the UK box office, which recorded its worst results in more than five years last time out. Well, it's managed to repeat that feat again this week as the top ten drops another 25% overall to paint a rather bleak picture, much like the England World Cup 'run' that has so badly damaged its takings.

Topping the chart with just over £1.5m is the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Get Him to the Greek featuring comedian Russell Brand, which benefits from Wednesday and Thursday previews of £495k meaning that it just manages to break seven figures for the three-day weekend. Nevertheless it knocks last week's number one (lowly-rated rom-com Killers) and two (Sex and the City 2) down one place apiece with Disney's live-action video game adaptation Prince of Persia holding firm in fourth for the third consecutive week.

Only one other newcomer manages to make an impact in the chart with horror flick The Collector debuting in 7th place with £109k. Meanwhile Shrek Forever After enjoyed a run of preview screenings, although those figures will be added to the 3D CG-animation's opening haul when it gets an official release this coming Friday. It did however impact heavily on StreetDance 3D, taking over the majority of available screens and knocking the Brit effort down into fifth with a decent six-week haul north of £11m.

Much like Prince of Persia ensemble comedy Death at a Funeral is unchanged for the third time as it holds onto sixth, while at the foot of the chart Letters to Juliet and Wild Target both fall three spots to eighth and tenth respectively. Finally sandwiched between them is Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, which limps beyond the £15m mark after seven weeks on screens.

Number one this time last year: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Jonathan Agassi has decided to withdraw from participating in the upcoming Madrid Gay Pride events due to his outrage with the organizers’ decision to ban an Israeli delegation from its upcoming Pride March.

Originally scheduled to perform with one of Europe’s biggest club producers, SuperMartXé, on July 2, 2010, Agassi joins LGBT Israeli performers such as Dana International in removing themselves from the festivities. All have been in reaction to recent events surrounding the Spanish Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transexuals, and Bisexual’s declaration to exclude a group of gay Tel Aviv residents from marching in the Madrid parade.

“It’s terrible that the organizers made such an awful decision, especially since Israel is so supportive of gay rights, but I’m proud of my choice,” stated Agassi. “Madrid was supposed to be my first pride event outside of Israel and I was so excited about it! But I have no regrets, and I will never forget where I came from. Israel is and will always be my home, and I will forever support and stand up for my country!”

Surrounded by the hostility and intolerance of the Middle East, Israel is the sole beacon of freedom. In every neighboring country homosexuality is illegal, punishable by imprisonment and/or the death penalty. Presently Israel remains the only country in the Middle East to provide legal protection for gays. Many LGBT individuals have relocated to Israel, often fleeing cruel aggression that includes physical abuse, exile, or death. This nation’s perseverance and fight for civil rights has clearly been violated in Madrid’s decision of exclusion.

“I am proud that Jonathan, who was so excited to go to the biggest gay Pride in Europe, made a right decision,” stated Lucas Entertainment CEO and President Michael Lucas. “Spanish hypocrites failed to realize that he is not just a porn star but a man with principles. Jonathan and my crew filmed two movies in Spain just two months ago — I don’t think we will return.” Lucas has previously written about the topic in his column for The Advocate. It is available here: http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Commentary/Michael_Lucas_on_Madrids_Bad_Pride/

In the past year, Agassi has rocketed to adult stardom. Making his debut in Michael Lucas’ Men of Israel, Agassi has proved his versatility and sexual veracity in such Lucas Entertainment titles as Inside Israel, Paris Playboys, Spanish Seductions and most recently, Missing. More information, including a complete biography, can be found at the model’s official website, JonathanAgassi.com

Australian singer Kylie Minogue will perform next week at Madrid's giant, weeklong gay pride celebration, Spanish news agency EFE reported.

Minogue is expected to perform for the first time her new single All the Lovers from her new album Aphrodite during the Saturday, July 3 concert.

The 42-year-old singer will take to the stage at the Plaza de Espana after Madrid's gay pride parade, one of Europe's largest.

“I am really very touched,” Minogue told gay glossy Shangay in a cover interview. “For a long time now I have had a special relationship with the gay public and I am pleased that they are counting on me to celebrate such a special occasion.”

Last week, Minogue gave the Jean Paul Gaultier halter top dress off her back to benefit AIDS charity the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). The feathered back dress fetched $24,770 during an auction held in the legendary Chez Maxim's restaurant and club in central Paris.

Minogue's 32-year-old boyfriend Andres Velencoso is a Spanish model.

Madrid's gay pride draws hundreds of thousands of revelers from throughout the world. This year's celebration carries the “For Trans Equality” theme.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against a gay couple seeking to marry in Austria, the AP reported.

In a ruling handed down Thursday, the seven-judge panel ruled unanimously that countries are not obliged to allow gay marriage.

Horst Michael Schalk and Johann Franz Kopf challenged Austria's gay marriage ban, but the Strasbourg-based court rejected the couple's claim that their rights had been violated.

A new law dubbed “marriage light” by the media took effect on January 1. The law, which grants gay and lesbian couples many of the benefits and obligations of marriage, including pension rights and alimony payments in the event of a split, has been criticized by activists because the law forbids gay couples from adoption or artificial insemination.

The panel said there was “an emerging European consensus towards legal recognition of same-sex couples,” but refused to rule against nations that had not granted such rights.

It was the second setback in as many weeks for the gay marriage movement in liberal Europe.

A Berlin court has ruled that a gay couple's Canadian marriage will be recognized as a registered partnership in Germany. The union gives gay and lesbian couples most of the rights of marriage except joint adoption and full tax benefits.

Seven European countries – Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Portugal and most recently Iceland – have legalized gay marriage. Other countries, including Germany, Great Britain and France, recognized gay couples with alternative unions, such as registered partnerships.

San Francisco's 40th annual pride celebrations were marred late on Saturday night by a shooting incident in the Castro district which left a 19-year old man dead. Two other people, a man and a woman, were also hit by gunfire but are expected to make a full recovery.

The incident took place at around 11.30pm in the Castro district, a neighbourhood which has been heavily populated with gay men and lesbians since the 1960s. The streets were thronging with partygoers celebrating 'Pink Saturday' when an unidentified man pulled out a gun and began firing.

Witnesses described a scene of chaos, in which police officers rushed into the crowd, who in response to the sound of gunfire, began to throw bottles and other objects.

One partygoer from Los Angeles told MIRRORBALLS, "I saw a massive wave of cops with their guns drawn coming to our area . . . then people started screaming and running away so I went back to the ground thinking 'Oh my God, this is real.'"

Police don't believe the violence was tied to pride events but was instead the result of an earlier dispute; the dead man, Stephen Powell, 19, is reportedly the intended victim of the attack.

The gunman was arrested at the scene and his weapon taken for evidence. 

Iceland Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir was among the first gay couples to marry Sunday as the country's new gay marriage law came into force, the Iceland broadcaster RUV reported.

The gay marriage bill, introduced on March 23, was approved by 49 out of 63 members of the Althingi parliament on June 12. The remainder abstained, making the vote unanimous.

The legislation is groundbreaking in that it does not alter marriage to a gender-neutral institution, but instead includes “man and man” and “woman and woman” among the definitions of marriage.

Marriage replaces Iceland's system of registered partnerships for gay and lesbian couples first enacted in 1996.

Sigurdardottir, 68, entered into a registered partnership with writer-playwright Jonina Leosdottir in 2002. The pair applied to have their partnership converted to a marriage on Sunday, the first day the legislation took effect.

The law grants gay and lesbian couples all the benefits and obligations of marriage, including adoption.

Opposition to the bill was muted in the only nation headed by an openly lesbian prime minister.

“The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic,” Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland, told Reuters. “It [gay marriage] has not been a big issue in national politics – it's not been controversial.”

Sigurdardottir took over the reins of Iceland's government last year when voters overwhelmingly rejected the conservative Independent Party as the tiny island nation (pop. 320,000) faced a financial meltdown.

Sigurdardottir has two adult sons from a previous marriage.

Iceland joins six European countries – Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Sweden and most recently Portugal – in legalizing gay marriage.

Singer and gay icon Taylor Dayne will perform a new song to benefit Gay Games 2010 during the games' opening ceremony next month in Germany, the Federation of Gay Games announced today.

Facing a Miracle was selected by a team of jurors in search of an anthem for this year's games.

Dayne will publicly perform the song for the first time on July 31 as the sports and cultural festival gets underway.

“My gay audience and followers are the most loyal and the most fun to perform for,” Dayne, a strong gay rights ally, said.

Guido Westerwelle, Germany's 47-year-old openly gay foreign minister, will preside over the games' opening ceremony at RheinEnergie Stadium. Westerwelle and his 42-year-old partner, event manager Michael Mronz, have been crowned the nation's new “power couple” by the media.

The road to Gay Games 2010 officially kicked off in February in San Francisco with the start of the International Rainbow Memorial Run. In the run's first leg, New York activist Brent Nicholson Earle carried a rainbow flag on a symbolic run from the AIDS Memorial Grove located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to Kezar Stadium, home of the first Gay Games in 1982.

The flag will travel around the globe before reaching its final destination to lead the parade of athletes during the Gay Games VIII's opening ceremonies.

Gay Games returns to the United States in 2014, when Cleveland will host the Olympic-style sporting event.

Sale proceeds from Facing a Miracle on iTunes will benefit Gay Games 2010.

On the Net: Gay Games 2010 is at www.games-cologne.com.

Both Mr. Gay Europe 2009 Sergio Lara and Mr. Gay World 2010 Charl van den Berg visited Berlin during Christopher Street Day celebration. The two titleholders are rarely in the same city at the same time, and this special occasion called for a special photo session.

Since the guys already were staying at the fashionable, stylish and well renowned Kempinski Adlon Hotel, there was no need to go somewhere else to look for a nice location.

The Presidential Suite, which previously has housed prominent guests like President Obama, Queen Elisabeth II, Madonna and the late Michael Jackson, with stylish furniture and a balcony with a view to the Brandenburger gate, was a perfect backdrop for the photo session.

More photos will be in the July 2010 edition of MIRRORBALLS

Photo by Bernhard Moosbauer, shot on location in the presidential suite of Hotel Adlon, Berlin, fashion by Patrick Hellmann.