December 2007 Archives

...to meet right here next year. I'll keep on writing, and you keep on reading...

"No one ever told me when I was growing up that make-up and skirts were just for girls. If you're confident and you own it, [the other kids] are fine with it...I've always supported the lifestyle that I will do what I please and deal with it."
- Dominic Monaghan

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"I feel sorry for him. I think it's really sad. What a tragic character. He's tragic. People like Ted Haggart [sic] - that's tragic. Or Mark Foley. These are living tragedies. They're people who want to be part of a society that does not want them, and so they're willing to be secretive about their sexuality and hide who they are, and really who they are is not bad, it's not criminal at all. But it drives them to sort of criminalizing acts. It's really sad."
- Margaret Cho on disgraced Senator Larry Craig.

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"...In all the years that I was on the show, I had a very strong gay following and I always cherished that, you know? That they didn't think that because of my faith that I was some sort of intolerant, condemning, self-righteous person. I never got that from them. I got a lot of criticism from the faith world, believe me, for the choices I made through the years. I think people are sometimes afraid of somebody who's different from themselves simply because they don't know it. I think anybody that can only stay in their own pew, people who think and act and believe every way exactly the same, I mean...you want to talk about living a boring life. So I've always sensed tremendous support from the gay community and I'm very, very grateful for it..."
- Kathie Lee Grifford about her gay fans from the "Regis" days...

"People from all walks of life are embracing Luke and Noah and want them to be happy. That is pretty awesome. Also, my personal belief is that the hugely positive reaction says a lot about what we stand for as a country. We need to accept each other and embrace differences of all kinds."
- actor Van Hansis (Luke) to fans supportive of the gay love story on "As the World Turns."

"Everyone's gotta have a voice, to be able to speak out. Left supresses right, right supresses left, and what's left and what's right? You know? It's America. You gotta be able to speak out. That's why people came here from all over the world: to have a fair shake. Not more than somebody else - the same."
- Cyndi Lauper

"It's difficult to stand up for gay people. When white people stand up for black people, it's perceived as doing something good. But when straight people stand up for gay people, they're perceived as gay.
- Out former NBA player John Amaechi

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"I have never felt compelled to share with you my bathroom habits or share with you my bedroom habits,' he says. 'Everyone has a right to privacy, so I have never felt--even though I am famous--that I had to share that with anybody."
- John Travolta, when asked about speculation surrounding his sexuality

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"Elisabeth [Hasselbeck] needs a lobotomy! How can she defend the Bush administration? Being pregnant doesn't [screw] with your head that much."
- Sharon Osbourne on "The View" co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck

"I was raised by drag queens, practically ... my mother died when I was four-years-old, so I was effectively raised by a bunch of different people. A lot of those people were friends of my sister, Kathleen, who had all these gay friends. She would baby-sit me everyday, and she would take me over to her friend's houses with all kinds of things going on: tucking, and eyebrow drawing, waxing, all sorts of things. I was literally raised by gay men."
- "Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo

" Me, I don't want any children, I don't want responsibility. I am gay, I smoke weed and I do exactly what I want in my life because of my talent. I represent an ideal which others have had to let go and they blame me for that. Especially men."
-- George Michael

Before I even get started, let's just get it out of the way: this photo of David Beckham is not just the beefcake shot of the year, it might be the shot of the decade.
OK, let's proceed...

I was at a really swell dinner party the other night and as we were all having wine in the living room after a terrific meal, the subject got to my blog and the beefcake photos I sometimes like to run. Someone mentioned how cool it is that beautiful men are all over the pages of magazines and on the Internet nowadays - you don't have to have a subscription to International Male to get an eyeful. If you don't know what International Male is, I think I might hate you.
Anyway, here are some of my favorite shots of beautiful men in 2007 starting with Christopher Gorham (above) in a brief but very memorable fantasy scene from "Ugly Betty." And then there is the Silver Fox, Anderson Cooper of CNN. I just love that Anderson is showing off his guns more when he';s out in the field and even out and about like in this photo. Is there a sexier combination than a man with looks AND brains?

I just love Mario Lopez's credo: If you've got a great caboose, show it off on Halloween!

Some people say they are a bit tired of seeing photos of Matthew McConaughey running around without a shirt on. I am not one of those people.

This is Justin Chambers, host of "Human Weapon" on The History Channel. Whatta dreamboat.
At 30, Carlos Moya is one of the oldest players on the men's tennis tour. And yet he's playing some of his best matches in years and is still ranked in the top 20. He was once ranked number won in the world and won the French Open in 1998. If you ever go to the Pacific Life Open tournament just outside Palm Springs in March, you can usually see the Spanish hearthrob on the practice courts, shirtless. It's more fun than any match you will see there!

For the too-brief time they were on "Big Brother" this summer, Mike and Nick sure made the show more watchable! Where are they now I wonder?

Football's Brady Quinn is way too young for me...but I'm gonna drool all over him anyway!

Don't ya just love it when pro football's top quarterback embraces his beefcake status? Here is Tom Brady looking beautiful...But even Tom can't hold a candle to the sexiest athlete alive. Here are a few more poses from Mr. Beckham!

It's nice to see Cher and her daughter, Chastity Bono, out and about. We haven't seen or heard much from Cher since she wrapped up her farewell concert tour. Here's hoping the Vegas thing really does happen or that Cher makes another movie - even a small role - in something. As fior Chastity, I'm not sure what she's up to these days but I wish her health and happiness...

Actor-director Jason Gould!
The son of Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould, stepson of James Brolin and stepbrother of Josh Brolin turned 41 years old on Saturday...

So far, the Greg's List postings on my favorite Movies, Television Shows and Events of 2007 have been limited to five. I found that to be impossible so I settled on more than a dozen!!! As I sifted through the months, I was reminded again of how fortunate I am to be able to talk to so many people whose work and abilities I appreciate and admire, who I am a big fan of, or who just make me laugh!
Here are the links to some of my favorite interviews of the past year...

Exclusive: An In-Depth look at being out in Hollywood...

Jodie Foster thanks "my beautiful Cydney" at women's power breakfast...

The Kathy Griffin Interview...

Sitting Down With John Amaechi

Face-to-Face with Anika Noni Rose...

The Tuc Watkins Interview...

My Chat With Joan Rivers and The Joan Rivers Interview: "Edie Falco can drop dead!"

Greg chats up the guys from "Nip/Tuck"

Face-to-Face with Andy Baldwin...

Catching Up With Cheryl Ladd...

The man behind "For the Bible Tells Me So"

Maksim Chmerkovskiy of "Dancing With the Stars" appreciates gay fans...

Marc Cherry and Shawn Pyfrom talk about Andrew Van de Kamp...

My chat with Eric Winter of "Brothers & Sisters"...

Chatting up Matthew Rhys at Outfest....

Eric Dane of "Grey's Anatomy" is nicknamed Dr. McSteamy on the show for a reason! The guy is hot! This is a shot from his recent Flaunt magazine shoot.
Enjoy!

The first time I ever watched Wimbledon was in 1980 - the year best known for the epic five-set duel between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe won by Borg - barely. But the day before that match, Evonne Goolagong beat Chris Evert for the women's title in straight sets and became one of the only players to win a grand slam tournament after giving birth.
While Chrissie spent years ranked number one in the world - finishing the year with the top ranking seven different times from the mid-70s through early 80s, Evonne never did become the top player - or so we thought.

The WTA tour announced this week that Evonne actually did reach number one for a two week period in 1976 but when some tournament records were transferred to a computer, all of Goolagong's points were not entered and she never received the top ranking. That was a stretch in which she was in the middle of winning six tournaments, including the Australian Open and the season-ending Virginia Slims Championship.
Goolagong had a gorgeous all-court game with one of the most beautiful backhands. She won seven grand slams including two Wimbledons, a French Open and four Australian Opens. She was a runner-up at the U.S. Open four straight years. But when she lost, you never got the feeling that she was gonna be in a bad mood for a week. She just seemed like such a happy person. And to win those big titles, she had to beat the likes of Evert, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Margaret Court.The WTA has amended its records, making Goolagong the 16th No. 1 player since the introduction of tour computer rankings in 1975 and two weeks ago, the 56-year-old received a trophy from the WTA that is now displayed in her oceanside home.
"I'm very proud of the achievement," Goolagong told The Associated Press. "I was on a roll for that stretch in 1976. It was a great surprise to hear after all these years."
While 16 players have reached number one over the past 32 years, it's only in the past decade that the ranking has been held by so many different players. Prior to the Justin Henin/Amelie Mauresmo/Serena Williams/Maria Sharapova/Venus Williams/Lindsay Davenport/Kim Clisters/Jennifer Capriati/Martina Hingis era, it was next to impossible to break the stranglehold that legends Evert, Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles had on the ranking from 1975 to 1997.
That makes Goolagong's achievement - even 31 years late - even more impressive.

The coolest part of my job is getting to go to all kinds of events that I'd never otherwise be invited to like the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys, the Golden Globes and on and on. It was not easy to narrow down my favorites but I gave it a shot. Here is a recap my top five favorite events of 2007. The selections are based soley on how good a time I had.

The Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon: One really cool thing about the Oscar nominees luncheon is that there is no pecking order when it comes to seating. Nominees are spread out throughout the Beverly Hilton Hotel ballroom which means there is no single table dedicated to "The Departed" or "Babel" etc.
So this is why I found myself sitting right NEXT to Jennifer Hudson at lunch. You know, "Can you pass the butter?" close.Then the table right next to us fills up and i realize I am sitting back-to-back with Leonardo DiCaprio...Even though I have covered the industry for going on eight years, I realize that this is a really singular experience for me and I try and take it all in. But I'm also hungry so I'm not so overcome with awe that I don't dig into an appetizer platter ...;

The 2007 GLAAD Awards: Neil Patrick Harris seemed very at ease as he did interviews on the red carpet. When he got to me he said: "It's enjoyable. This is my first GLAAD Awards and everybody's really nice and it's representing good positivity so I'm all for that."I asked him if being out publicly has changed his life much. "Oh, not at all. But I was never really skulking around so it's all kind of interesting." I met Matthew Rhys (Don't we look cute together? Take THAT Scotty!). When he started talking to me, I had to stop and laugh. I said, "I've never heard you talk with the accent! I've never heard your real voice." The Welsh actor, who does a superb American accent as Kevin, cracked up. Mathew walked the red carpet with co-stars Ron Rifkin and Patricia Wettig and the three of them were having a ball. That must be a fun set. Then a serious question for Mr. Rhys: who is a better kisser? Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) or Chad (Jason Lewis)?
"It's like choosing between a Porche and a Mercedes. But Jason Lewis has very soft lips."
Also gabbed with Loni Anderson about "So NoTORIous," Dave Annable and Jason Lewis about "Brothers & Sisters," Garry Marshall about "Beaches" Darryl Stephens and the cast of "Boy Culture" and John Amaechi and Dave Koz about being out and proud. To read all about my red carpet encounters on that night, click HERE.

The Advocate 40th Anniversary Party:I was invited to anniversary gala for The Advocate as a guest and wanted to enjoy the evening just meeting people and hanging out. But at the last minute, I stick my tape recorder in my pocket (just in case) and I dash out the door. When I got to the party at Republic near West Hollywood, I saw a red carpet and headed straight to it instead of the guest check-in table. I had stars to interview! Had not reserved a space on the red carpet but just crashed it. Just sorta got right in there and stuck my recorder in Nikki Blonsky's face! Got all kinds of great interviews that night including chats with TR Knight, Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. Click HERE for the full recap!

LA Gay & Lesbian Gala: Jenifer Lewis got three standing ovations, Lorri Jean inspired everyone, Alec Mapa had more costume changes than Diana Ross, Shirley MacLaine was in a playful mood, and Linda Ronstadt performed a lovely version of "Time After Time" with the Gay Men's Chorus without telling the audience how sick she was.It was the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Gala and Auction at the Century Plaza Hotel. It was my first time at this event. I've attended many center events over the years that night was the first time I really got it. I got how good this organization is, how important it is and how much it means to so many people. To read a more extended version from that evening, click HERE.

Outfest 2007: Why does the Los Angeles LBGT Film Festival mean so much to me? It is such a pleasure to be able to see people like me up there on the screen in so many different genres and in well-written, well-acted quality films of substance. I was sititng with a twentysomething friend at one of the screenings this summer who was feeling sort of over everything.
And I said to him: "You know why I'm not over everything? Because I remember what it was like to live in the closet, to not have many gay movies to see and many of those out there were about painful subjects like AIDS and living in the closet. There were so few stories with hope and that really shapes you when you're a teen and in your 20s. You wonder, "How can I ever have a happy life?"
But Outfest is about more than seeing terrifc movies (I took in about 30 this year between screenings and screeners) and meeting stars and directors and writers. It's about having fun with friends and making all kinds of new acquaintances. I've gotten so many nice e-mails in recent days from people saying: "What are we going to do now that Outfest is over?" Mainly, it's just the whole experience of being with thousands of people for nearly two weeks and having so many shared experiences - kind of like an alternative universe of gay people.

Every few months, I run edited versions of some of the emails I've received. I usually edit out last names. If you send me an email and don't want it published, be sure to indicate that!

READERS ON JODIE FOSTER COVERAGE

Greg,
I was just checking out CNN online and they had teaser link on their homepage which said something like...Jodie Foster acknowledges gay lover. It was a video, here is the link http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2007/12/13/intv.jodie.foster.king.cnn
but they didn't acknowledge you or credit you w/reporting it. Whats up w/that? I know you had already blogged about other blogs not giving you credit and that you didn't really care but I thought CNN, the most credible source for news or so they say, surely would mention you. Sadly, not the case. Anyway, keep up the good work man. Always enjoy your blog and I thought your interview w/PR Week was outstanding! Keep talking talking talking. All the best and have a great holiday!
- Mark
PS Did you read Kenneth in the 212 entry about his Dad? One of the most beautiful, heart breaking, and personal entries ever read on a blog. Thanks for turning me on to him too.

Greg writes: I DID read that entry by my friend Kenneth Walsh and was so deeply moved. I'm always happy to send folks over to his blog. Here is a link to Savage Love, his moving post about his relationship with his father.

Greg,

Your story about Jodie Foster's acknowledgment of her partner was great. You reported on what happened without "outing" her -- because they were her own words, and they were indeed newsworthy.

Most interesting is this: An AP story available via Google (linked below) doesn't mention her acknowledgment of her partner. But links are provided on the same Web page for "Related news" and "Full coverage" -- which contain stories carrying the news of her acknowledgment! So the huge mainstream news organization doesn't mention it, and it takes a Google News search of smaller blogs and media outlets to read about it. How typical. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYxu9ROqT-SPwNYpWqEByK94y13wD8TBEFA80
- Eric

Hey Greg-
Just read your item re: the Advocate's coverage of Jodie Foster's "coming out" - I have to tell you, it has been fascinating to watch all the media coverage emanating from your story. I've had several discussions about it with friends and actually think this would make for a great NLGJA forum. I suspect that she in no way intended to "come out" at the event and that she didn't expect anybody to report on her public remarks thanking a woman who would be identified as her partner (even with the language she used). All too often, reporters play a supporting role in helping celebs stay in the closet, to the extent that they withhold relevant news and information about them. Thankfully, you did not!

What's so interesting to watch is how the media, as they so often do, distort the story so much that many people believe Jodie came on stage somewhere and said "Hey, y'all I'm a dyke!" It's just another example of the sorry state of journalism today. And, of course, I'm surprised and disappointed that The Advocate, along with so many other publications, would mis-report the story and fail to credit yo.

Jim

Hi Greg,

We covered your great Jodie piece last night and its currently running on both sites. My angle was that I wanted to ask our readers if they thought Jodie's words "outed" her. I credited you throughout. Great job.
Jodie:
http://www.gay.com/entertainment/news/?sernum=6155&navpath=/channels/entertainment/
http://www.planetout.com/entertainment/news/?sernum=6155&navpath=/entertainment/

-Jenny Stewart
Manager, Entertainment Programming
PlanetOut.com and Gay.com

PROUD OF TR KNIGHT
Greg,
Thank you for the coverage you've done on TR Knight since his coming out. I'm pleased he has chosen to bring due attention to worthy LGBT causes and he has not turned his back on his community. Most of all I'm a huge Grey's Anatomy fan and have loved his character since the beginning but the dignified and gracious way he came out, which contrasted with the ugliness of the incident, made me love him more. I wish the mainstream news media would report on him apart from the incident but I'm more than happy to check your blog daily.

Sincerely,
Gwen

Greg writes: I think T.R. is da bomb!

LIKES THE BLOGS' POSITIVE TONE
Greg,
I just wanted to send you a note on how enjoyable both "Out In Hollywood" and "Hollywood Joe" are. They are a lot of fun to read and this is the gossip I like, positive thoughts, interviews and responses. I know that we all get up on the bad side of the bed and there are a few of the celebrities that always seem to do that, whether it is their attitude or what comes out of their month and you even try to make them look good.

What is really interesting is that the celebrities actually like you and that gives you more complete information as they stop to spend time with you. That means a lot to us readers. Keep up the great job. I have delisted TMZ and Preze from my computer. You are the only one. I go to when I need a celebrity fix.

Thanks, Allen

Greg writes: Allen, you sure know how to make a guy feel appreciated. Thanks.

CHILDHOOD CRUSHES
Hi Greg,
OMG! I thought Kent McCord was only my first crush but as I can see he had an impact on many of us young guy guys growing up. He is such a hunk after all these years--All I can say is that you and I have great tastes. Also, I remember seeing Tom Jones in a speedo in my mom's Rona Barrett's Hollywood magazines and I knew then, at the age of 7, that I was attracted to boys. Keep up the great work on your site.
Joe

HE WANTS MORE RYAN BARRY

Greg,
Man, you can post ALL the pictures you want of Ryan Barry! He could be the hottest man on the freakin'
PLANET! You GO, Reichen! DAMN!

- Andrew

Greg writes: Your wish is my command!

Penn Badgley is already the best reason to watch "Gossip Girl" with his sweet and funny performance each week. But as we can see from this recent photo shoot (the smooch is from the OhLaLablog), he is pretty darn sexy too!

On Wednesday, I shared my top five television shows of 2007 and today, I'm doing movies. This is so fun! I feel like Ebert and Roeper. Does anyone else think Richard Roeper is cute? I have a bit of a crush. Anywho, I begin with my favorite movie of 2007: Waitress. I saw it at the Camelot Theatre in Palm Springs and after it was over, had a serious hankering for soime pie. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, go rent or buy the DVD immediately and prepare to hit the Marie Calenders or Bakers Square after that.

Keri Russell left "Felicity" behind for good in this movie about a pie-baking waitress stuck in a bad marriage. She deserves the award nominations she is getting and she is supported by a wonderful cast that includes Andy Griffith with whom she shares some beautiful scenes. Nathan Fillion (now of "Desperate Housewives") plays her doctor (and more), Cheryl Hines is terrific fun as a fellow waitress and most bittersweet is the performance of Adrienne Shelly who not only plays one of the leads, but also wrote and directed the indie film. Adrienne was murdered in NYC before the film was unveiled in Sundance. She leaves behind a beautiful film.

Eastern Promises: Saw this at the $3 Regency Theatre on Fairfax, a few blocks from home. What I remember the most was that after it was over, I didn't want to get up and leave right away. I wanted to spend more time with the characters played by Vitto Mortenson and Naomi Watts. Their performances were first-rate and I am relieved to see that Vitto got SAG and Golden Globe nods after he was criminally ignored for "A History of Violence."

Enchanted: What can I say? I was completely enchanted by this Disney flick. Saw about 20 minutes of it last summer on the Disney lot and could tell that it was something really special. And boy, it sure is. Let's face it, Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden are about the most handsome men in Hollywood and to have them in the same movie is a real treat. Susan Sarandon is always top-notch and is again here as the wicked stepmother. But this film belongs to Amy Adams who deserves an Oscar nomination but probably won't get one because comedies and musicals are almost always passed over. She was perfect as a fairy tale princess who finds herself out of her animated world and in the middle of a live-action Manhattan.

Hairspray: What a blast. A great, old-fashioned musical with terrifically talented people starting with that exciting new discovery, Nikki Blonsky. The scene with her singing on the garbage truck on her way to school is one of my favorites. Zac Efron is just too young and too cute for me to even think about but James Marsden is not! Both are in this movie. And how great was Michelle Pfeiffer as the hateful, racist stage mom? Queen Latifah shines again in this movie after getting an Oscar nod for "Chicago" and I would listen to her version "I Know Where I've Been" anytime - second only to Jenifer Lewis' live version of the song. Christopher Walken is a hoot in this film as the man married to John Travolta! Well, married to Travolta's female characters of Edna Turnblau. I'm surprised that Travolta got ridiculed by some people because I thought he was absolutely terrific and really pulled it off. Kudos to all!

And finally, For the Bible Tells Me So, a brilliant movie that I really think can change hearts and minds. It was screened at Outfest and is on the Oscar short list for best documentary. The film poses these questions: Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?

Filmmaker Daniel G. Karslake has created something so remarkable that I can see so many in the LGBT community sending a copy to their families. It will give parents who are not accepting of their children [and attribute it to religious beliefs] much to think about and it also educates us. This well-researched film examines what, if anything, the Bible actually says about homosexuality as we know it today.It also intelligently explores the way religious conservatives have systematically misled the public in regards to biblical references of homosexuality and how this campaign continues to stigmatize the gay community.

The heavy price of that is shown through the lives of five Christian families with a gay son or daughter who are profiled in the film. They include Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first-ever openly gay man to be elected a Bishop of the Episcopalian Church and the daughter of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt. Karslake wanted to profile her and Mary Cheney but said: "Believe it or not, I ran into a brick wall with the Cheneys."

...the fabulous Wilson Cruz! The actor who got his start as a teenager on "My So-Called Life" is now 34 years old and better than ever. Whether it's on stage ("Rent") or television ("Noah's Arc") or on the big screen ("Coffee Date" and the upcoming "He's Just Not That Into You"), Wilson is always first-rate and he's accomplished it all as an out gay man from the very beginning.

Happy birthday to a great guy!

Diana Ross really was the shining star of last night's Kennedy Center Honors telecast where she was radiant and livened up the stuffy box that also included President Bush who looked absolutely bored. He should've given his seat to one of Diana's kids since only one of them, daughter Chudney, was able to join her in the honoree box up above with her other four kids down in the front row by the stage.

In addition to the singers children including actress Tracey Ellis Ross ("Girlfriends") and actor Evan Ross, Smokey Robinson was on hand to pay tribute to his childhood friend. Smokey narrated a pretty good film of her life and career with plenty of footage from the Supremes days with the ladies described as "big as the Beatles but with a better wardrobe." The group had TWELVE number one hits. Amazing. Diana went on to have SIX number ones as a solo performer but remember, some of her best solo stuff like "I'm Coming Out," "Reach Out and Touch," "It's My Turn," "The Boss" and "Chain Reaction" never reached the top spot but are classics.

Singing some of the solo hits and those as part of the Supremes was a pretty heady line-up of Jordin Sparks ("Someday We'll Be Together"), Vanessa Williams ("Touch Me In the Morning"), Ciara ("I'm Coming Out" and "Upside Down") and Yolanda Adams ("Reach Out and Touch"). All were solid with Williams faring best but it was all made so clear: there is only one Diana Ross. You wanted her to climb down from the box and start singing the songs herself!

Really, nobody does them better...

The current issue of GQ magazine not only features the handsome Josh Brolin on the cover, but inside there is a fashion spread featuring Out In Hollywood fave James Marsden. I've picked out my favorites and am posting the short story that goes along with the pics...

With bone structure like this, James Marsden is the kind of actor you expect to get the girl. But he doesn’t. Ever. As Cyclops in X-Men, he was overshadowed by Wolverine. In The Notebook, Rachel McAdams chose Ryan Gosling. In Superman Returns, he’s engaged to Lois Lane, and yet she still had a kid with Superman! But in this month’s 27 Dresses, Marsden plays opposite Knocked Up’s Katherine Heigl, and (spoiler alert) he finally comes out on top.

Marsden expects to remain the prettiest character actor in the room, despite getting the girl in Dresses. And that’s just fine by him. “I’ve been up-and-coming for fifteen years now,” he says. “And to tell you the truth, it’s the perfect place to be.” It certainly makes fatherhood easier (he’s married with two kids). “I can still walk into the grocery store and most people don’t even blink an eye. If I can manage to still be up-and-coming when I’m 80 years old, then I’ll know I’ve had the ultimate career.”

Hugh makes even a simple errand like running out to grab a coupla cups of coffee seem incredibly sexy. I'll have some cream and sugar with mine Mr. Jackman, thankyouverymuch...

I think this photo of David Beckham is beginning to rival the one of Daniel Craig emerging from the ocean in that skimpy swimsuit as the most posted picture on this site. Just any old excuse to post it again. This time, there's a pretty cool quote to gto along with it from Mr. Beckham himself who doesn't mind at all that the gays love him.

The 32-year-old soccer stud told BBC Radio 2's Lines of Enquiry: "I'm very honoured to have the tag of gay icon...Maybe it's things like (the fact) I like to look after myself, I like to look smart and presentable most of the time."

We like it too!

...is hitting the ball over the net, NOT singing Christmas carols! Some of the top tennis pros attempt to sing "Jingle Bells" in this video and the only ones to ace the song are Bob and Mike Bryan, the American duo who recently clinched the Davis Cup title for the U.S.

Enjoy!

Actress and author ("Fried Green Tomatoes") Fannie Flagg wrote a wonderful tribute to Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly that appears in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly. Brett and Charles did many things in their careers but their appearances on "Match Game" throughout the 70s were so delicious and it is how so many of us remember them best.

Here is Fannie's tribute to this hilarious pair who both died in 2007:

Besides being hilarious, Brett and Charles were two of the smartest people I have ever known. On "Match Game," they got such a big kick out of each other! They razzed one another and everybody else on the panel mercilessly, and they were particularly relentless on the people they really liked. It was never mean or hurtful, and they loved it when you razzed them back.

One of the happiest times in my life was in 1980 when I was doing "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway, and Charles, Brett and I were staying at the Wyndham Hotel at the same time. Every day at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon they would come to my room for cocktails. Many is the time I would come home from after the show and they would still be sitting there having a good time. The only thing that changed was the position of Charles' toupee.

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I found this lengthy tribute to Miss Somers on YouTube. There's a scene from an old movie she was in that seems out of place but the rest of it is just great, including a late-in-life interview with the woman herself who was 83 when she died on Sept. 15.

Last year, I counted down to the new year with the Outie Awards with categories like Star of the Year etc. Instead of making it an annual thing, am gonna treat (or torture!) you with lists of my favorite things in 2007 (I feel like Oprah).

Today is television, the well-written shows that I loved in 2007, shows that were just a treat to sit down and watch. I may do reality shows on another day but want to make clear that scripted shows with actors and plot still beat out people singing or dancing or modeling or losing weight any day!

1. Ugly Betty: Still the best. Each episode is like a delicious morsel with such first-rate acting and writing and really, the best ensemble on TV. Somehow, most members of this huge cast manage to have nice scenes and moments. Betty (America Ferrera) remains the solid anchor and her and Henry (Christopher Gorham) are delicious together. Vanessa Williams is a hoot, pure gold. Michael Urie is not only a gay man this season but a gay man with a boyfriend! If the writers strike continues, we will have an abbreviated season for this and most of the rest of my faves. But so far, so great.

2. Desperate Housewives: The strike has really stuck a dagger in this show's best season since the first year. So many fabulous tweaks, storylines and moments. Best is, of course, the addition of Dana Delaney as a formidable new neighbor with a mysterious past. Delaney is so damned good. Marcia Cross as Bree seems to be rejuvenated as an actress after giving birth to twins because she has this added sparkle and is just perfect in every scene. Loved Polly Bergen as Lynette's (Felicity Huffman) mother and the addition of the gay couple played by Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm. This new blood made up for some of the more tired storylines and characters on the show. Gaby and Carlos? Who cares? Edie? They gotta give her something to do, something to be. Andrew Van de Kamp? Give the gay kid a storyline! Maybe some of this is to be addressed in the remaining episodes or perhaps next year when this strike is settled and what is left of network television tries to get its mojo back.

3. Brothers & Sisters: Of course I'm still into Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) and whatever is going on with his love life. I'm losing patience with Saul (Ron Rifkin) as he tries to deal with his sexuality in his 60s but am also aware that for men of that generation, this excrutiating journey is legitimate. I find Rob Lowe beautiful to look at and like his scenes with Calista Flockhart. But the best reasons, I think, to watch this show is for the performances of Rachel Griffiths, Patricia Wettig and especially Sally Field. Sally, who deservedly won an Emmy this fall for her portrayal of Nora Walker, is just a revelation week after week. In so many things she says and does, she reminds me of my own mom who also raised a big brood (six) and remains aggressively involved in their lives. I know that Sally was Norma Rae, Sybil, the mom in "Steel Magnolias" and on and on. But on this show. I think she is giving the performance of a lifetime.

4. Dexter: Thankfully, this drama was not impacted by the strike and got through its second season unabbreviated. What a season it was! I thought they would never top season one but they did and along the way, the main characters grew more interesting and complex. Michael C. Hall gives an Emmy worthy performance as the title character (the fact that he was not nominated for season one was a blow to Emmy's credibility) and does the impossible: he exceeds his excellent work as David on "Six Feet Under." He's so good that we root for his survival even though he is a serial killer. The supporting cast of Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King and a several-episodes-long guest stint from Keith Carradine made it all the better. Can not wait for season three.

5. Gossip Girl: What a wonderful guilty pleasure this show has turned out to be. It wasn't on my radar when it debuted but after I caught a repeat on a Sunday afternoon, I managed to get ahold of some preview DVDs of the first few episodes that I'd missed. It reminds me of the first few seasons of "The OC" with interesting and attractive kids but even better, interesting and attractive parents.

Upcoming lists:

Thursday: Movies
Friday: Events
Sunday: Interviews
Monday: People

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday. I figured a hunky Santa could only add to the enjoyment.

I've been in The OC for a few days enjoying the family which included the traditional tamales, hot chocolate and Christmas carols last night and watching my nieces and nephews tear into some presents with reckless abandon. It's always hilarious and wonderful - those faces and smiles. Today is more presents, a turkey dinner coming up in a few minutes then tomorrow morning back to the gym!!!

Bye for now...

The OhLaLa blog posted this terrific photo collage and video of Luke and Noah trying to kiss time and time again on "As the World Turns." I hope the producers and the network sees this and realize just how they are undermining what has been a wonderful storyline with two such fine actors by not allowing them to behave as young lovers - male or female - behave.

Kenneth Walsh (aka Kennethinthe212) is one of my favorite bloggers because he's wicked funny and smart but also because we share a lot of the same favorite people from tennis players to singers etc. One of those people is the great Darlene Love who Kenny pays tribute to so beautifully on his site today. Here is a link.
And here is Darlene on Letterman last year - a holiday tradition interrupted this year by the writers strike:

...in "Battlestar Galactica 1980."

This show starred Kent along with Lorne Greene and Barry Van Dyke and it just went on sale on DVD this week! I'm not a real sci-fi dude but I'd watch Kent in anything. Why? Because he was my first crush. You can read all about him in an earlier post: Catching Up With a Childhood Crush

Wanted to share a few paragraphs from the well-written cover story on Lance Bass that is in the year-end issue of The Advocate:

...Just a few months after the desolution of 'N Sync, Bass met Reichen Lehmkuhl. Best known for winning the CBS reality show The Amazing Race, Lehmkuhl was working in real estate and was introduced to Bass when the entertainer was planning to sell his Los Angeles house. The two eventually started dating, and sightings of them together began to pop up on gossip blogs. This was a turning point for Bass, since Lehmkuhl is openly gay.

However, Bass admits that gays' treatment of Lehmkuhl made him wary of what his own reception might be like: "I saw that half the people hated Reichen's guts - they didn't just dislike him, they hated him - and the other half just loved him. I never could understand that."

Chace Crawford of "Gossip Girl" shows us that he is just as good at modeling as he is at acting. Well, he's probably even better at the modeling. My point is, and I'm not sure I have one, is that he's hot! hot! hot!

It's times like these that ya really miss Rosie O'Donnell on "The View" or wish those MSNBC boneheads had not passed on doing a show with Rosie. I mean, c'mon, Britney's 16 year old sister pregnant?
Here is a recent post from Rosie's blog:

Q. AS a celeb & mom what do U think Nick should do about Zoey 101? UR kids dont watch tv, but will they hear about this?

A. here is how it went

mama u know the lady with the umbrella
and no hair
here sister is a teenager and she is having twin babies

hmmmmmmm

I spent some time this week writing about Jamie Lynn for my Daily News Page 2 column and have an expanded version of my piece on the Hollywood Joe blog. Click HERE to check that out. Unlike Rosie, I don't write in some kinda weird poetry. I figure, why not just write complete sentences?

OK, I don't get it at all but hey, i'll take Luke and Noah doing their version my the great film "Maurice" anytime. Remember it? Hugh Grant was in it, he was the repressed gay who got married to a woman, much to the heartbreak of his male college love.

So Luke and Noah are in some kind of time dream, back in time and Noah comes to spoend Christmas with Luke's wealthy family. He hugs him hello and says: "I have news. I have to be engaged...to the daughter of a family friend. I'm being pressured by my family."

Luke: "I am happy for you.
Noah: After all we;ve been through, how close we were at school.
Luke: Youth and loneliness leads to all kinds of foolish things and then you grow up, as you have."

The point of all this, I do not know. Here is the clip. Maybe you can figure it out:

I have never watched "Torchwood" but am interested in checking out season 2 when it debuts on BBC America on Jan. 26. John Barrowman has gotta be worth checking out!

Popnography has posted a preview from BBC America which states that Captain Jack (Barrowman) returns to battle rogue Time Agent Captain John Hart (James Marsters). Hart disrupts Captain Jack’s homecoming and his whole team, the city and world "are suddenly in grave danger. From the moment these two Time Agents come face-to-face, it’s apparent they have a history."

Kiefer Sutherland.

Poor guy, has to spend his 41st birthday in the slammer. I do not approve of drinking and driving but I like the guy, what can I say? He's talented, good looking and has a terrific voice. When I first met him a few years back at an awards show, he was surprised at how I went on and on about his voice. He had done a presentation and I was absolutely smitten. It's no surprise that it was his voice chosen for the terrific Colin Farrell flick "Phone Booth." In it, we only hear the voice...

I just read a piece on Advocate.com about Jodie Foster's speech at the Women In Entertainment breakfast where she thanked her partner Cydney publicly for the first time.
I feel compelled to remind the writer that I broke the story in the LA Daily News in print and on Out In Hollywood online and it was immediately picked up from there from such widely-read sites as AfterEllen.com, Queerty.com, Towleroad, Defamer, Popnography.com, Variety.com, Gay.com, AfterElton.com etc.

In his piece, Advocate writer Christopher Lisotta does not acknowledge where the story originated or, more importantly, the presence of an openly gay reporter for a mainstream paper who was the only journalist in the room to go with the story.

Don't you think this is a big oversight for a story in the premiere LGBT publication?

Lisotta writes in part: Foster's December 4 comments set off a rash of media coverage, with publications from South Africa to New Zealand reporting the words, but with widely varying interpretations of what they meant. The U.K.-based website Fametastic saw the statement as a sign that Foster “may be set to publicly confirm her relationship.” Other publications went further, with The Philadelphia Daily News declaring on December 15 that Foster “has officially announced she's gay.” The British tabloid Daily Mail reported on December 12 that Foster “has finally come out as a lesbian.”

I would not have any issue with the piece had it included how the story was originally broken and the tone in which it was written. Here are a few key paragraphs from my piece:

Toward the end of her remarks, Jodie thanked those nearest and dearest to her. Among them was "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss." Since she has always been so intensely private, I was surpised at the public acknowledgement of who I presume is Cydney Bernard, the woman who is widely reported to be her partner."

I do believe that these are the two paragraohs that led to the "global headlines" Lisotta writes about.

With "Ugly Betty" on strike-incuded hiatus along with the rest of all our favorite shows, Michael Urie is keeping busy as host of "Miss America Reality Check" which debuts on Jan. 4, 2008 and will air on Friday nights through Jan. 26 on TLC.
This clip shows that Michael is bringing a lot of Marc St. Clair to the gig which means it will be fun!

Well, whaddaya know, it's another picture of DNA cover boy Ryan Barry. This shot apparently didn't make the magazine but it did make the cut on Out In Hollywood!

Enjoy!

I say let Andrew Van de Kamp choose his own dates! The next episode of "Desperate Housewives" does not air until Jan. 6 (its last original episode of the season unless the strike is resolved) and it will be a post-tornado one.

Bree's home was demolished in the Wisteria Lane tornado and she's trying to get a gay contractor who is much in-demand to move her house to the head of the line. So what does she do? She uses her cute gay son Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom) as bait!

I don't know how things go but the contractor (played by J.C. Mackenzie) seems a bit too old for Andrew. However, he is not too old for me!

Don't get me started on the kiss just yet. I want to first write about my favorite part of today's "As the World Turns" scenes of Luke and Noah proclaiming their love for each other. Noah is unable to express his feeling verbally so he writes them down for Luke: 'Being with you has made me happier than I've ever been."

Luke: You mean that?
Noah: Every word.
Luke: so you can write it but you can't say it.
Noah: You have to know how i feel about you.

Luke then puts it on the line and this is where I got the water works: "I love you Noah...I'm so in love with you."

Noah: Same here.

Then comes a kiss that we don't quite see! The clip below is from AfterElton.com which cleverly edits in footage from an earlier kiss and it works out just great and shows how lame the show (or the network) is being by not allowing us to see another male lip-lock. If ever there was a scene that called for us to see a kiss, this was it. So why pan away to the mistletoe when it happened?

That, is chicken sh*t!

Postscript: AfterElton editors contacted ATWT publicists to complain about this shamedful douvle standard and got the following reply:

We contacted the show today about this and As the World Turns' publicist responded with the following statement:

"As The World Turns fully supports the Luke and Noah storyline. We have exciting story planned for the couple that will begin airing early next year. As soap opera fans know, there is an ebb and flow to storylines. While Luke and Noah may currently be in a lull, they won’t be for long."

Action speaks louder than words. The show has done so many things right in regards to this, so don't blow it by giving these characters short shrift when it comes to physical affection. Watch epidoes of "Brothers & Sisters" for guidance or simply watch earlier episodes of your own show!

Well, maybe you already know him from "Janice Dickerson Modeling Agency." I've never heard of him, never seen the dude. But when I saw his pics on Queerty.com earlier today, I was just dumbstruck by his beauty. Here are a few more shots:

Sorry for the lack of fresh posts today. First, I was on SAG Award duty then we had our office potluck then I had to drive over to the plastic surgeon to get some lipo because I ate too much. But now, I'm back, and all yours...

So, I'm feeling really happy because my pal and co-worker Sue told me at the potluck that she checked out "Gossip Girl" last night after I talked it up to her and she loved it! That girl Sue has great taste. So, JustJared.com has more pics of the cute guys from "Gossip Girl" from their appearance this week on TRL. Chace Crawford (below) was not in last night's episode but Penn Bradley was and was his usual funny, cute and charming self.

Yaaaaawwwwwn!
It was still dark out when I drove over to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood Thursday morning to cover the 6 a.m. announcement of the nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. I'm really excited that the cast of "Hairspray" was nominated although no one got individual nods.

Just before Terrence Howard and Jeanne Tripplehorn went on live television to read off the nominees in television and movies, JoBeth Williams, who I have loved since "The Big Chill" and more recently in "Dexter," dashed from backstage to the vacant seat next to me so that made the morning even more cool.

When Michael C. Hall's name was announced as one of the nominees for male lead in a drama series, JoBeth was delighted - especially since Michael was shockingly overlooked at this year's Emmys for his stellar performance as a serial killer who only targets bad guys on the popular Showtime series.
"I love working with Michael, he's so scary as an actor because he's so good." JoBeth said. "He's a really nice guy off camera but on camera, he's scary. [The nomination] is well deserved."

Gabbed with Terrence after about his upcoming stint in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway and boy, he looks pretty damned handsome at 6 a.m. I'll post my chat with him a little later. Here's my SAG story as it will appear in tomorrow's LA Daily News:

The drama "Into the Wild" boosted its Academy Award prospects Thursday by earning a leading four Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations including a nod for outstanding performance by a cast.
Emile Hirsch was nominated for outstanding lead actor for his performance in the Sean Penn-directed film while Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener received supporting nods.

The film's nine main actors will compete for SAG's equivalent of a best picture award against the casts of the western "3:10 To Yuma," the drama "American Gangster," the musical "Hairspray," and the drama "No Country for Old Men."

The SAG nominations are determined by panels of more than 2,000 actors who are randomly selected by the guild for the movie and television categories for awards to be handed out Jan. 27.

"They're all great performance," SAG President Alan Rosenberg said at the early morning nominations announcement at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. "I'm proud to be part of the celebration."
Rosenberg said the union has reached an interim agreement with the striking Writers Guild of America so the awards show will not be impacted by a lack of writers.

"I know there will be a lot of talk about the strike at the awards show, on the red carpet and I'm sure during the ceremony. But I don't think it puts a shadow over it at all. I think it's a chance to celebrate great acting, great writing, and great performances."

"Old Men" received three nominations in all including supporting actor nods for Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones. The legal thriller "Michael Clayton" also achieved a hat trick but all its nominations were in individual acting categories: George Clooney (lead male actor), Tilda Swinton (supporting female actor)and Tom Wilkinson (supporting male actor).

Clooney faces off against Hirsch, Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood"), Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl"), and Viggo Mortenson ("Eastern Promises").

Denzel Washington was the most surprising omission for "American Gangster" while Gosling's nod makes it two years in a row since he was nominated in the category last year for "Half Nelson."

The supporting male actor category of Holbrook, Bardem, Jones and Wilkinson also includes Casey Affleck for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

In all, 22 performers received two nominations but Cate Blanchett was the only person to receive two individual nods. The others had at least one nomination for being part of a movie or television ensemble.
Blanchett was nominated in the female lead category for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and is competing for supporting actress for her performance as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There." The actress was nominated last year for "Notes on a Scandal."

Blanchett and all of her competition for the female lead prize were also nominated for Golden Globe Awards last week. They are Julie Christie ("Away From Her"), Marion Cotillard ("La Vie En Rose"), Angelina Jolie ("A Mighty Heart") and Ellen Page ("Juno").

Early awards season favorite Amy Ryan got a SAG nod for supporting female actor for her performance in "Gone Baby Gone." In addition to Blanchett, Ryan's competition includes Ruby Dee ("American Gangster"), Catherine Keener ("Into the Wild") and Swinton.

In the television categories, "30 Rock," "The Sopranos" and "Ugly Betty" led with three nominations each.
In addition to outstanding comedy ensemble, Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey were each nominated in the individual comedy acting categories.

"I'm grateful to be nominated and I hope the strike ends soon so we can get back to work," Baldwin said in a statement.

The cast of "Rock" squares off against the casts of "Betty," "The Office," "Desperate Housewives," and "Entourage."

As expected, last year's SAG winner America Ferrera was again nominated for "Betty" but less expected in the female comedy acting category was the nod for Vanessa Williams. They will compete with Fey, Christina Applegate ("Samantha Who?") and Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds").

Baldwin's category of male comedy actor also includes Steve Carell ("The Office"), Ricky Gervais ("Extras"), Jeremy Piven ("Entourage") and Tony Shalhoub ("Monk").

The casts of "Boston Legal," "The Closer," "Grey's Anatomy," "Mad Men" and "The Sopranos" are competing for outstanding drama series ensemble with a few performers from those singled out.
James Gandolfini got a nod for "The Sopranos" along with Michael C. Hall ("Dexter"), Joe Hamm ("Mad Men"), Hugh Laurie ("House") and current Emmy winner James Spader ("Boston Legal").

The female actor in a drama series is filled with heavy hitters led by current Emmy winner Sally Field for "Brothers & Sisters," Glenn Close ("Damages,") Edie Falco ("The Sopranos") Holly Hunter ("Saving Grace") Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer.").

Kennethinthe212 has a good eye for hunky men!

He has posted the Feb. 2008 Men's Fitness cover with actor Mike Vogel on it as well as several other pics of the actor that you can access by clicking HERE. Kenneth wrote that he had never heard of Mike before and neither had I. But he has actually been in quite a few movies including the mega-flop "Poseidon," a role in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the skateboard flick "Grind" with Adam Brody

Someone actually put together a Mike Vogel tribute video which I found on YouTube with a nice music track and scenes from several of his movies...

Enjoy!

Brad Pitt talked with Charlie Rose this week about his "Make It Right Project" which is working to help the people of New Orleans whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
"I wish this had been taken care of on a federal level, a state level, even a state level," Brad told Charlie. "But if this [is] the case where we go do it at the federal level, so be it."
Of the nation's leaders and their handling of Katrina and its continued aftermath, Brad said: "They've certainly taken their eye off the ball...There's a portion of our society [poor and minority] that is being undervalued."

Here is a clip of their conversation:

Charlie, who is kind of annoying in this second clip as he talks over Brad too much, asks about the four Pitt-Angelina Jolie children, three of whom they adopted. Brad said he and Angelina cannot adopt jointly because they are not married, a policy which he said is in part "a firewall against homosexuals which, you know, I don't agree with."

As if I wasn't already excited enough about a new episode of "Gossip Girl" airing tonight (yes, I need to be sent to a clinic), just read on AfterElton.com that this is the episode where we get to meet Blair's gay dad! I'm not sure which man in the photo below is her daddy but I'm guessing the dude on the left. AE.com writes that the dad surprises the family by making his boyfriend a part of the celebration. Blair being Blair schemes to prevent this from happening.

I. Can't. Wait.

Here is a slip fro the most recent episode:

Good grief, I watch the "Survivor" finale and not a single other episode all season and now I'm all into it. I even wrote an item on the lunch lady with a mullet on my Hollywood Joe blog. Anywho, winner Todd Herzog talked to AfterElton.com this week about his victory.

Here are a few choice excerpts:

AE: As most folks know, Richard Hatch won that first Survivor. Did his being an out gay man impact your fifteen-year-old self at all?
TH: Richard Hatch, I honestly thought, was a dirt bag. It kind of bothered me that he was so cocky. The thing I find so funny is that they are comparing me a lot to him. I'm the "young" Richard Hatch. But the fact that he was out, I remember thinking — I was so young at the time — but when he was on there, I thought, "That's weird. He's like old and gay." I thought only twenty-somethings were allowed to be gay. [laughs]

AE: Survivor has a history of gay-inclusiveness going back to Hatch. As a gay man, did you feel any pressure to represent the gay community?
TH: I absolutely did. It was my goal to show that we can be represented in all lights. You see gay men on TV now ranging from clichéd ways to very different ways, and I wanted to say, "Look, I am who I am and I'm proud of it." I especially wanted young guys to know it's okay to be who you are.

AE: Was coming out a strategic decision? Everything you did seemed calculated to win. It’s not hard to imagine someone like Jean-Robert having a problem with gay people.
TH: Jean-Robert was really, really, really homophobic. But I knew that by letting the girls know [I’m gay] they could feel comfortable around me and that I could make a tighter alliance with them. With Amanda, Courtney, Peih-Gee, and Denise being in the finals with me, I knew I needed to take the girls because the girls feel more comfortable around the gay guy.

AE: So Jean-Robert was homophobic? I kind of got that impression.
TH: He was extremely homophobic. He had a lot of opinions on it, saying, "It's wrong. It's a choice," things like that. But I think getting to know me really changed his mind quite a bit, because he told me that out of a lot of gay guys he's met, I surprised him. He'd always thought that the gay culture was to sleep around and drink and party and do drugs, and he was shocked that that's just not me.

To read the complete article, go to AfterElton.com.

Outsports.com talked to Martina Navratilova about a wide range of things in an extensive interview. Since I had my own chat with Martina (pictured above at the 2006 U.S. Open with Andy Roddick and Roger Federer) a few weeks back, I am only going to excerpt the part where she talks why there has never been an openly gay male pro tennis player.

"I have no idea. I don’t personally know any who are gay, because none have come out to me," she says.
"Honest to God. I have suspicions, but I don’t know of one who’s definitely gay. I read that letter to Tennis magazine [in 1994] from an anonymous male player who said “thank you because we’re not all as brave as you are,” but I don’t know who they are. But I don’t know why. It can’t be because they’re all worried about endorsements, because most of them don’t get any anyway. And now, perhaps they’d get one because they are gay. It’s funny. I understand it in team sports because it can become a negative if the coach or the front office is homophobic and you might not get to play; let alone that your opponents might come after you. But in tennis, nobody can stop you from playing because of your sexuality or if someone doesn’t like you. If your ranking is good enough, you get to play. It’s very simple. So I don’t know why none have come out.

Outsports: It’s fascinating that none of them have approached you.
Martina: There were women I didn’t know were gay that I found out after. I would get a vibe from some players when I was playing. The ones who were very certain of their sexuality, one way or the other, were more friendly. And the ones who were less certain or were homophobic were not so nice. Or they were afraid that people would think they were gay because they were my friends. It’s kind of funny. Pam Shriver wrote a book about her life, where she was proclaiming her heterosexuality, and she is straight, because everybody thought that because she played doubles with me she must be gay. There was a Russian player who wanted to play with me but her father wouldn’t let her play with me because I’m gay. And at the time she was a nobody. He liked me, he’d say hello to me, but he would not let her play. It’s bizarre, I could have been a help to her. Now she’s off the tour because of injuries. But that’s unusual. I didn’t encounter much homophobia like that. But it is bizarre that players would be in the closet so much that I don’t even know who the guys are.

Outsports: How much money in endorsement deals do you think you lost over the course of your career because you were out?
Martina: Oh gosh. I don’t know. Maybe $10 million? A lot.

I covered this topic extensively in an article I wrote about a year ago called Men's Tennis: Where the Gay Boys Aren't I interviewed Martina, Billie Jean King, Billy Bean and others for the piece.

Give it a read!

...and I gotta write a story on Jamie Lynn Spears being pregnant at 16. (noooooooooooooooooo!!!) I need some serious cheering up. How 'bout a few shots of a shirtless Mario Lopez from his recent TV movie "Christmas In Handcuffs." That title is just so suggestive. I have yet to watch my DVD of it but the stills sure are nice!

...Jake Gyllenhaal!!!

The Oscar-nominated star of "Brokeback Mountain" turned 27 today! Why do we love him? So many reasons. He's impossibly cute for starters. Then there is that talent that we have seen in film after film after film from "Donnie Darko" to "Brokeback" to "Jarhead" to this year's terrific but overlooked film "Zodiac." Jake never comes off as a jerk in interviews and handles his stardom (and all the pesky photographers) with grace.

Most of all, he just seems happy.

This, I gotta see.

Ewan McGregor will star opposite Jim Carrey in "I Love You Phillip Morris," the fact-based tale about Steven Russell (Carrey), a married father who ends up in prison and falls in love with his cellmate, Phillip Morris (McGregor).

According to Daily Variety, Russell's love for Morris led to his escaping from prison four times including faking his own death from AIDS and signing his own death certificate. While Morris was eventually released from prison, Russell's escape attempts got him an extended sentence of 144 years. Production on the film is expected to begin this spring.

I don't get political on this blog nearly as much as I'd like to and the main reason is, there are people out there who can do a much better job at that than I can. One of the absolute best in the business is my friend Karen OCamb, one of the smartest, hardest-working journalists around. She can be awfully tough on interview subjects, but she is such a nice person to know.

GayWired Media announced on Tuesday that they are launching a new, exclusive column by Karen that examines the policies and issues affecting the LGBT community leading up to Super Tuesday 2008, when an upward of 20 states’ voters will head to the polls to cast a ballot for their party’s presidential candidate.

Said Paul Colichman, CEO of GayWired Media: “We are thrilled to gain the expertise of Karen Ocamb to deliver her own brand of political coverage focusing on priorities important to the LGBT community. Karen is sure to bring a voice to GayWired Media that is both original and thoughtful in its analysis of the 2008 primary season.”

Karen began her career at CBS News in New York clerking for Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer during Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War. Post-CBS, she went on to produce and contribute to numerous mainstream and LGBT media outlets, including The Los Angeles Times, The Advocate, TV Guide Online and Sirius Satellite Radio, before joining GayWired.com in 2000, when she covered the Millennium March on Washington, the Democratic and Republican conventions and the 13th International AIDS Conference in South Africa.

In 2004, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association/Los Angeles honored Karen for her body of work. That same year she was named Woman of the Year by Christopher Street West, organizers of Los Angeles’ annual LGBT Pride Event.

Starting today, visit 247gay.com and GayWired.com each Tuesday for Karen Ocamb’s column.

It was great to talk to film, television and stage producers Craig Zaden and Neil Meron last week after they found out that their "Hairspray" film had been nominated for a best picture Golden Globe Award and stars Nikki Blonsky and John Travolta also got nods.

John waited 30 years after 'Grease' and he took 14 months to give us an answer, he kept us waiting," said Craig. "At first, we thought he was scared about putting on the dress. But he wanted to be sure about how to do the paret before he accepted it. Once he decided he could, he said 'Yes.' We've never seen any actor work as hard as he did in this role. Itls such an unbelievably joyous victory.

Added Neil: "Craig and I were more concerned that John be acknowledged than we were for ourselves. We wanted it so badly for him."

The producing pair, openly gay since the start of their careers, are just as effusive about Blonsky who was a teenaged unknown when she landed the role of Tracy Turnblad: "Nikki is like an old soul that has just emerged," said Neil. "She's really kind of a role model for all these young actors in terms of poisie and professionalism. This is a girl with no experience and come on the scene with such a depth of feeling and talent. It's kind of inspriring for us watching it. She deserves all of the success.”

These men deserve much credit for the revival of the Hollywood musical with the long-awaited big-screen version of "Chicago," a box ofice smash that became the first musical in 34 years to win the Academy Award for best picture."

"It's thrilling because a couple, of years ago, we were part of the force that brought the musical back," Craig said. "Before 'Chicago,' the category was all comedies, no musicals. Then there was 'Dreamgirls,' and 'Hairspray' and 'Sweeney Todd.' This is all the result of 'Chicago.'"

Added Neil: "You think about what do you want to do and what will challenge you. When we saw the musical in previews we thought, 'This could be the next one for us.' It was a musical genre film yet it was tonally different and a challenge in its own right. The challenge was how do you translate it to the big screen."

They first cut their teeth on musical for the small screen. If you haven't seen their production of "Gypsy" starring Bette Midler, get the DVD immediately. This three-hour 1993 television production was epic, a ratings smash and won Midler the Golden Globe. But they were just warming up. Next came the television productions of "Cinderella" starring Whitney Houston and Brandy, "Annie" starring Bernadette Peters and Alan Cumming, "Double Platinum" starring Diana Ross and Brandy, and "The Music Man" starring Matthew Broderick.

They have produced a version of Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" with the original Broadway cast including Tony winner Plylicia Rashad and Sean Combs. Neil told me that "Raisin" is the first television movie to be accepted into the Sundance Film Festival where it will premiere next month. It will make its television debut on Feb. 25, the night after the Academy Awards.

I met these men about 4 or 5 years ago at a really cool event at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center where a few episodes of the late, great ABC sitcom "It's All Relative" was screened and we got to have a Q&A with the cast and producers Craig and Neil. Billy Bean, the first former pro baseball player to ever come out of the closet, hosted the evening which I reminded them of when we chatted. They said plans to turn Bean's life into a television movie are still in the works but have been further delayed because of the writers strike.

First he wins that underwear contest and now Ryan Barry is the lastest cover model for DNA Magazine. All that, and having a boyfriend as cute as Reichen Lemkuhl. Life must be pretty good when you are this beautiful...

I'm not sure if Ed Westwick doesn't really send me because his character on the CW's "Gossip Girl" is so loathsome or what. At any rate, I'm crazy about Penn Badley (center) who is the heart of the show as he mixes humor with sexiness. Then there's our pretty boy Chace Crawford who has a bit of a beard that I'm not crazy about but hey, I'd still buy him a drink anytime, anywhere.

This trio was on TRL yesterday...

This makes me want to weep.

Harry Connick Jr., one of THE sexiest men to have ever walked the Earth, said recently that ge certain he has gay tendencies because he has spent his life surrounded by women including wife Jill Goodacre and their three daughters.

"I have so many women in my life, I wouldn't know what to do with a guy. In fact I'm probably gay and I don't even know it! My life is chick power. My manager is a woman, who has been with me since I'm 18, and my wife is a strong and intelligent woman. I have three daughters. My dogs are all females.Even my sister Suzanna... she just got a double medical degree; she's now a psychiatrist and an internal medicine doctor and she speaks about 10 languages. She's so impressive. I'm surrounded by strong, intelligent women."

Gee, the more he talks, the less gay he gets. Didn't all that time on "Will & Grace" teach Harry anything about gay men?

Oh well, love him anyway. My favorite Connick Jr. movie is "Hope Floats" opposite Sandra Bullock - he was so, so appealing in that flick.

I was on the guest list for Sunday afternoon's GLASS Youth and Family Services event 'Home for the Holidays,' honoring the memory of Matthew Shepard.

But I was in Yorba Linda helping my favorite six year old (my nephew) celebrate his birthday. I gave him a Spider-Man guitar along with the movie and my sister told me that he slept with the guitar last night. That face when he opened the presents! There's nowhere else I would have rather been.

Still, the GLASS event would have been lovely as it drew some of my favorite famous gay stars like T.R. Knight (love the short haircut!) who did attend the event at the GLASS Foster Youth Group Home in Los Angeles. It houses up to 17 homeless LGBT youth and also provides a drop-in center for homeless kids to use the computer, get a meal, take GED courses and find counseling.

Here are a few pics of the famous and fabulous attendees:

The ever-so-talented Wilson Cruz, star of television ,stage and screen...

The force of nature that is Alec Mapa, America's gaysian sweetheart...

Peter Paige, a triumph on the LA stage in "History Boys."

When I saw Rupert Everett in "Another Country" in the mid-80s, I thought there was not a better looking man alive. Lost track of him until he resurfaced in 1997 as Julia Roberts' gay pal in "My Best Friend's Wedding" in which he was truly funny, charming and sexy.

Now, 10 years later, he's just a bitter bitch, dissing other famous folks who all have one thing in common: they are ALL more successful than him. He would tell you that if he were not gay, he would be as big a star as Hugh Grant. I doubt it. Hugh may throw a can of beans at a paparazzi or pay for the services of an occasional prostitute, but he doesn't go around talking trash like Rupert.

In an interview with the UK Independent, he disses Oscar winners Al Pacino, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Robert DeNiro and George Clooney, among others.

"[George] Clooney thinks that, provided he does films which are politically committed, he's allowed to do Ocean's 11, 12, and 13", he says. "But the Ocean's movies are a cancer to world culture. They're destroying us."
He goes on to say the Clooney is "not the brightest spark on the boulevard. He'll be president one day. Mark my words, if he's straight, he'll be president."

And then there is this: "De Niro, Redford, Keaton, Allen, Pacino ... They're all just tragic parodies of themselves. Al Pacino looks like a mad old freak now. I say give it a rest, or go and do some serious stuff...
The other day I saw a film called Because I Said So with Diane Keaton, and I thought, 'here's one of the women we loved most in 1970s cinema, debasing and humiliating herself in this load of trash'. "Why? Because we're sheep, we just follow the herd ... It's just part of the huge amount of product that's put out now that's really bad. And it's our fault. We're all responsible for how the culture is. You can't draw a distinction between the celebrity nonsense on television and the film industry."

Has he SEEN himself in "The Next Best Thing"?

For the record, Pacino won the Emmy not too many years ago for "Angels in America," Keaton was sublime and Oscar nominated for "Something's Gotta Give." I can't think of any recent Rupert Everett roles worth remembering.

No, those are not my lips on these pictures! Those are the art work of the OhLaLa blog which posted this series of shots from the David Beckham photo shoot for the new Emporio Armani underwear campaign that is causing such a sensation.

The photo above has led to speculation about the bulge. Is it all him? Wife Victoria Beckham decided just to tackle the question head on and said in an interview I saw somewhere: "I'm proud I still have a really good sex life with David. He is very much in proportion. He does have a huge one, though. He does. You can see it in the advert. It is all his. It is like a tractor exhaust pipe!"

Lucky bitch.

Giorgio Armani had this to say about his star model: "I design with the body of a classical athlete in my head. David recalls the classical ideal - he brings to mind the beautiful Michelangelo statue in Florence. David is one of the very few iconic sports people who is as well known for his style off the field as he is for his talent on the field. For me, David represents a notion of modern masculinity: strong, fit, healthy, but also sensitive and considerate."

I first became smitten with Kyle Chandler when he starred in the show "Early Edition" which a cute guy got me hooked on many years ago. Since then, he's kept busy and was nominated for an Emmy for a guest stint on "Grey's Anatomy." Now he's the high school football coach on NBC's "Friday Night Lights" and The Advocate has selected him for its "Big Gay Following."

Here are some excerpts:

Are you surprised to find out that you have a big gay following?
Well, I hadn’t thought about it, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t. I didn’t do anything to y’all! [Laughs] Actually, I told a friend of mine that I was doing this interview, and he said, “What gay people follow you?”

We tend to follow handsome men. Do you work hard to look good?
Not as hard as I should. I’m 42 now, and I find myself slowing down a little bit. Doing the show and flying back and forth from Austin to Los Angeles takes it out of you. And I’ve got a wife and a couple kids, so I have to deal out all my attention and time there. When the show shuts down, that’s when you get to reinvent yourself, recuperate, get back in shape, and get ready to do it all over again.

Did you know any gay people growing up?
The first friends I had that were openly gay had to be in college. My second year of college, a good friend and I were walking around late at night, and we bummed a cigarette from some guys up across the street from the Waffle House at Five Points in Athens, Ga. We started talking, laughing, jabbing back in forth -- just one of those encounters at 3 o’ clock in the morning with strangers. By the time we’d finished, we’d probably smoked about 10 cigarettes together. I found out they were in the theater department, and one guy, Tyre Patterson—who ended up being a dear friend of mine for many years -- said, “Hey, you oughta go audition for this play down at the Cellar Theatre.” I did, and it was that audition that got me the lead as one of the brothers in The Comedy of Errors, and it was the applause when we did that that kept me in the theater. But it was also all the crazy, weird, bizarre people. I don’t consider myself to be normal, but actors are fun, strange, gypsy people, and I fit right in completely. That’s how I got to meet the gay culture to begin with. But it was never an issue -- at the University of Georgia, at least. It was a different lifestyle, for sure, but good people all around. Of course, Tyre and the other fellas that were there that first day, and so many others of them, they’re not alive anymore.

...the lovely and talented Sarah Paulson turned 33 today.

Why do we love her?

This lesbian actress quietly shattered stereotypes by playing a Christian conservative characer on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." She is in a relationship with Two-time Tony winner Cherry Jones and if you didn't know about it, you found out while watching the Tonys a few years back. After Cherry won for "Doubt," she gave Sarah and big kiss on the lips right there in the front row.

It was a beautiful thing.

Sarah appeared in an episode of "Desperate Housewives" last month as Felicity Huffman's sister. My favorite Sarah Paulson role was in "Down With Love" which I thought she stole from star Renee Zellweger.

Jack Mackenroth, who we saw depart "Project Runway" last week due to illness, is feeling fine now. He did an interview with AfterElton.com talking about the season, his boyfriend etc. I was most interested in his cameo in "Sex and the City: The Movie" so I've excerpted that part of the interview for you:

Q. Why did you have to have your tattoos covered?
JM: Oh my God. I had to kiss my on-screen boyfriend and he was supposed to be dressed kind of conservative so I had to look kind of conservative.

AE: You have a kiss in the movie?
JM: Oh, yeah. Full on. My boyfriend was played by a straight guy. John Frey. He actually looked kind of nervous about the kiss because it was no pat on the back. It was a romantic, full-on kiss. We had to do twelve takes. He was a nice guy, and after five takes he was fine. His girlfriend was on the set and she laughed and clapped after each one.

AE: What was the context of the kiss?
JM: The scenario was that four of them [Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis, and Cynthia Nixon] are walking down the street and I come around corner and pass in front of them. Kim Cattrall checks out my ass or something, but I'm not looking at them. As Kim goes past, I go into my boyfriend's arms and we kiss. Kim makes a comment, something like "That explains it."

So give us the scoop on Sarah Jessica Parker.
JM: She's exactly as she seems on TV. I'd heard before that she's amazing, super nice, and genuine. I know critiquing people was really painful for her. I worked for a design company before that did some work for her. She called personally to thank us herself.

OK, true confession time: I haven't watched a single episode of "Survivor" since that hot gray-haired fireman won several years back (and you all know how I feel about season 2's Colby Donaldson). But last night I watched the season finale of "Survivor: China" because, well, "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers & Sisters" aired reruns.

So this cutie Todd Herzog, just 22, wins the whole thing...and he's gay!!! And he's not gross Richard Hatch!!! I think he handled the jury (the last seven contestants booted from the game were the jury) questions just perfect by saying that all the lies and backstabbing were for the game but his relationships were real.

Ha!

"I know that I played a game where I had to lie and I had to backstab and I had to hurt people that I cared about," he told the jury in a final plea for the $1 million in the final episode. "The main thing I can ask tonight is that you are able to see the difference between my strategic game and the relations I actually built with you."

He's a former Southwest Airlines flight attendant, restaurant waiter and is considered one of the craftiest players to ever star in the show.

But Todd is not the reason I kinda regret not catching a few episodes of the show. Did any of you see James Clement the grave digger??? He describes himself as athletically gifted, socially adaptive and physically attractive. He's 30 and lives in Lafayette, Louisiana with his pit bull, Brently.

Not only does he have an adonis body, but he's insanely handsome and seems really sweet. I am smitten. He finished fourth I believe and was a little too trusting of his alliance. But viewers loved hom and he won $100,000 after being voted the most popular survivor. I'd like to add the title of hunkiest survivor but sorry James, I can't off you any prize money...

I dunno, I kinda miss the days when Andrew van de Kamp was a holy homosexual terror on "Desperate Housewives," running over Carlos' mother, sleeping with his mother's boyfriend and kissing that cute boy in the pool.

The last few seasons, Andrew has become, well, kinda boring. And kinda marginalized. I'm not sure why since the actor who portrays him, Shawn Pyfrom, is absolutely terrific in the role and deserves more to do. Seriously, Andrew is far more inreresting than Edie Brit! You know it;s true.

Shawn gave an interview to Starpulse which I founded excerpted on Towleroad.com. Here is part of it:

On his relationship with his on-screen mother, played by Marcia Cross: ""It is always interesting to watch Andrew and Bree go at each other's throats. She believes something so different and he does everything to make sure to cause her stress. It seems like they are already on [the path of acceptance]. Andrew and Bree have resolved their issues, as when he apologized for the way he used to act. He is beginning to mature now and has forgiven his mother for leaving him on the side of the road...[That was wicked] but it was so awesome to shoot."

On how Andrew is changing: "...I think he is now on a path towards becoming an adult. I think it's necessary because the character is 20 now. Andrew still has his manipulating ways, he just approaches it more maturely...The good thing about Andrew is that in Season 1 and 2 as a gay character, he was very strong and confident as to who he was. I think that could be encouraging for other young homosexuals to become more confident and comfortable with who they are. A lot of times gay characters can be portrayed as the flamboyant and weak stereotype. Andrew is sociopathic and narcissistic and doesn't get along with his mother, and he is also gay. Your sexual preferences doesn't define you as a person. I'm heterosexual but that doesn't define me as a person. No one would say, 'Oh, he likes to have sex with girls,' so why should it be the other way around?"

On the possibility of being stereotyped as an actor by playing a gay character: "I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried, but honestly I think we are at a point now with television and movies where people can watch something and not stereotype the actor playing that character. I think if I had played a gay character 10 years ago then I would probably have something to worry about. I think people are a little bit more open-minded now. I think that the only time people stereotype is when the actor acts out in public. They go around parading things out to the media and then that is all people see when they are watching them on the screen. That's one reason that I don't do that. "

...how many of these new Beckham underwear ads we can take! I mean, I knew the guy was attractive but these damned ads just take him up to a whole new level of beefcake.

The NY Daily News reports that even without a script, the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" generated plenty of drama Wednesday when they showed up to support picketing writers outside the Paramount Studios lot.
Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight were posing for pictures and giving interviews when former cast member Isaiah Washington showed up.

Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, was fired from the show in June amid tension that began when he used a gay slur to refer to Knight and used the word again during a Golden Globes appearance. He apologized, met with gay leaders and checked into gayhab in an attempt to save his job. When he was dropped from the show anyway, he went on an interview tour during which he cast Knight as some kind of manipulator who had orchestrated the whole thing.

I didn't really buy it and have stated before that Washington ended up looking very bad in interviews with Larry King and some newspapers. He was cast for five episodes of NBC's "The Bionic Woman" which was so controversial that an ABC exec ripped on NBC for claiming to not be aware of the problems that led to Washington's firing from "Grey's."

It's a mute point anyway. Washington's character was killed off "Bionic" after the fifth episode and the show has struggled in the ratings after a promising debut.

Ironically, Washington was present for the strike rally on "Diversity Day" in which writers and actors who are gay or a minority were specifically asked to appear on the picket line. "Grey's" creator and writer Shonda Rhimes, who fired Washington, was among those picketing at Paramount.

Asked if Washington was with the Grey's group, Heigl, who had previously publicly criticized Washington told The Daily News, "He's not with me."

But Washington, in typical fashion, denied there were problems with his former co-workers: "They're former castmates. I've been in over 25 movies, I have lots of former castmates." Washington later posed for a picture with Justin Chambers, who plays Alex Karev.

Photo collage credit: Pop Surgar

So maybe the LA Galaxy didn't get its money's worth out of David Beckham on the field this year, but Emporio Armani underwear sure as heck is! The black and white photo of the soccer stud has surfaced everywhere online and got people buzzing, panting, and buying!

I just read on Towleroad.com that Selfridges, the UK chain of department stores, is reporting a 50% increase in sales of similar tighty-whities since the release of the Beckham photo.

According to the Manchester Evening News, "They are currently outselling boxer shorts by two to one. Demand for the entire Emporio Armani underwear range was also up 30 per cent. Director of menswear David Walker-Smith said: 'David Beckham is a global style icon, appealing equally to men and women. Where he goes, fashion is bound to follow, so briefs are the big story for underwear.'"

Oh, Meryl Mia! Can summer 2008 come soon enough? This looks good!

More of the terrific Kathy Griffin. Don't worry, this isn't some long miniseries. Just part 2 of 2. If you missed part 1, click HERE and give it a read then proceed...

Greg: For some reason, I like your [on-air] relationship with Larry King.
Kathy: I don't know why he likes me but he just woke up one day and had me on the show and I'm so grateful and he's just a pistol. And what's so cool about him is that show is where it's all happening. I always say 'Larry King Live' and 'The View' are where it's all going down and yet these are shows that have maybe a little older demographic and yet the craziest stuff happens on those shows. I love it.

Greg: You went on "The View" like right after the big Elisabeth-Rosie fight. Barbara Walters was trying to be all proper and you kept saying, 'Can we talk about the fight now?'
Kathy: Well of course! Who doesn't want to talk about something like that? My gosh, it was on every news channel and everyone was talking about it. It was the number one video on You Tube. \

Greg: Did you pick sides?
Kathy: Yeah, I would be team Rosie. I love her. I think she's a hero and I think she's smart and provocative and evocative and does her own thing. Honestly, I think there's nobody like her. I think she's really great.

Greg: Did you ever get into it with Elisabeth [Hasselbeck]?
Kathy: Oh, I get along fine with Elisabeth but I just have a lot more in common with Rosie.

Greg: Did you want that co-host gig?
Kathy: I don't think that show would be appropriate me. But I enjoy doing that show very, very much. I get a huge kick out of Barbara. But you know, I would probably be getting into trouble a lot. I don't think I could censor myself that much.

Greg: And you have a new boyfriend.
Kathy: Yes.

Greg: And what's his name? I know he founded something big.
Kathy: (Laughs). Steve Wozniak. He founded a little company called Apple.

Greg. Well how's that going?
Kathy: I just adore him. He's brilliant and he is truly an altruist, just travels the country and the world helping people and giving out computers to underprivledged kids, he's just constantly doing good. He's totally the opposite of me. He is good and I am evil. He's the angel on your shoulder and I'm the devil.

Greg: Is he changing you at all?
Kathy: No. He's trying to make me good and he can't do it. I'm going to stay evil and negative. And he's good and positive.

Greg: What are your plans for New Year's Eve?
Kathy: I'm actually going to be on CNN with Anderson Cooper so I'll be right there in the middle of Times Square. I'll be right there, freezing my butt off.

Greg: What do you think of Anderson?
Kathy: I adore him, of course. This is a guy, comes from money, comes from status and yet takes the camcorder, goes to Rwanda and just does the story. He goes to those hot-bed places i don't know how he does it. I've actually known him for awhile and he's a good guy - a very, very smart guy.

Kathy and I wrap up our chat and go on to mingle with others. A few minutes later she comes back and has to tell me something. I turn on my tape recorder: "It's Kathy Griffin again," she says into the recorder. "I'm doing two nights at the Kodak Theatre [in Hollywood] January 10 and 11. Come see me live because that's where the fur really flies."

I am so there.

Dammit.

Last year, I woke up before dawn and covered the Golden Globe Award nomination announcements in person at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. You have to be there and set to go by 5 a.m. which means a 4 a.m. wake-up call. This year, i decided to blow it off and just get into the office at 7 a.m. and start taking reaction calls.

I'm watching the announcement from home (at 5:30 a.m) and there is Mr. Handsome himself, Ryan Reynolds, reading off some of the nominees.

He woulda been worth waking up for!

There are an awful lot of happy people in Hollywood today. No, the writers strike is not over, but the Golden Globe Award nominations were announced very early this morning. I've chatted with all kinds of people so far today but it got kind of crazy at one point: "I'm sorry, I can't talk to John Travolta just yet because Tom Wilkinson is calling from London."

Hey, that's showbiz.

Thankfully, I got to talk to them both - among many others. Here is some of what they had to say about their Golden Globe nods:

John Travolta was nominated for best supporting actor in a movie. He is a previous Golden Globe winner for "Get Shorty" and happy to be back in contention for his performance as Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray." He was very upbeat when we chatted just a week after meeting last week at the Women In Entertainment breakfast: "I feel relief because there were so many people who wanted good things for this movie," he said. "I didn't want to let anybody down. Going out on a limb and giving up my male ego to portray this paid off. You don't know if it will when you are doing it."

John had not done a musical since "Grease" which was released the same year that he received his first Oscar nomination for :Saturday Night Fever." He was Oscar nominated again in 1995 for "Pulp Fiction."
"As I get older, I get more appreciative of this," he said of the award nominations. "I realize they are far and few between. As the years go by, the competition gets harder and your abilities are tested further and you feel very lucky to be in the running."

Tom Wilkinson, nominated for best supporting actor for his performance in "Michael Clayton," called from London where he was preparing to celebrate by going out for a sushi dinner with his family.
"It's a wonderful bonus, I feel thrilled to death. It's not something that happens very week so it's sort of like it's happening for the first time."
This is the third Globe nod for the actor who was previously nominated for "Normal" and was Oscar-nominated for "In the Bedroom."
"What's not to like? You come over and everybody is really nice to you, nice sleak cars are waiting to pick you up and cater to your every whim and everyone is very charming. You get to meet some very intersting people and then at a certain point, you get to go home and forget about it."

Marion Cotillard, nominated for best actress in a movie (musical or comedy) her performance in "La Vie En Rose," called from Paris and was still processing her good fortune: "I couldn't have imagined one year ago that I would be talking to you right now about a Golden Globe nomination. It is crazy for me, it is not something you can imagine when you are a French actress in a French movie. Deeply, deeply, I don't care about awards. But I'm starting to have sparkles in my heart. So I asked myself, 'Well, you do like that. Be honest.' Really, I enjoy it, i have to confess that I enjoy it. For me, it means that people who saw the movie liked it."

Amy Ryan was the first call this morning and her best supporting actress nomination for "Gone Baby Gone."

"Oh my God it;s so crazy,' she said. "I just want to sit back and appreciate it and not take it for granted."
She is clearly the front runner after picking up honors from the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The New York Film Critics Circle, San Francisco Film Critics Circle, The Boston Society of Film Critics and The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association.

Ryan is currently filming "The Changeling" directed by Clint Eastwood who knows a thing or two about awards season: "He has actually been quite helpful telling me, 'It's actually a really nice night. You'll enjoy it."

I was really excited to talk to David Duchovny who was nominated for "Californication." By coincidence, I just finished watching the last two episodes of his show last night on DVD. I got hooked and watched all 12 over the course of three days.

"Is that out on DVD?" he asked, sounding a bit puzzled.
Nope. Just got a set from the studio.
"Well good, then you've seen them all."

David won a Globe several years ago for "X Files" and is happy to be back in the running: "It's different for me because it's in comedy and it's nice to be recognized in a different vein. But what's best and most satisfying is the show getting nominated, I'm so happy that the show gets a nod. It's really about the writing for any actor getting nominated for any award. We interpret. When they give an actor an award, they are really giving it to the writer."
David called the Globes "the most fun because they serve alcohol."
And yeah, he'd love to get a matching trophy to go along with the "X Files" Globe: "If I'm gonna go, I want to win!"

Didn't get to talk to all the nominees, of course, but they were nice enough to provide prepared statements. Here are some of them:

Jodie Foster, nominated for best actress-drama for The Brave One: "The nomination is so exciting and surprising at the same time. Never saw it coming... It's strange to continue to feel a character in your blood long after it wraps. I am so proud of The Brave One, of where Neil Jordan took the character of Erica Bain. The experience of playing her has moved me deeper than anything I can remember. I can't wait to have some rubber chicken and listen to the unscripted banter with all of those fine actresses."

Denzel Washington, nominated for best actor-drama for American Gangster: "It is an amazing honor to be recognized for one's work. In addition to the "American Gangster" nominations, including Ridley Scott for Best Director, I am so proud that all the kids who star in "The Great Debaters" will be able to share with me in this Best Picture nomination."

Hugh Laurie, nominated for best actor in a television drama for House:"I'm extremely honored to be included in such company. But now, especially now, I have to emphasize how much I owe to David Shore and all the writers on House. Without them, I wouldn't even know how to finish this sentence without....you know..."

Nikki Blonsky, nominated for best actress- musical or comedy for Hairspray: "Thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this wonderful honor. I'm so proud to have been a part of Hairspray and given the opportunity to play the strong, confident Tracy Turnblad. The entire experience, working with the divine Queen Latifah, legendary John Travolta, Neil Meron, Craig Zadan and Adam Shankman has been a dream come true!"

Javier Bardem, nominated for best actor in a movie-drama for No Country for Old Men: "Working with the Coens has always been a dream of mine, and to be recognized for my work in one of their films is truly an honor. Muchas gracias to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association!"

When Lance Bass came out in summer of 2006, he chose to tell his story to "People" magazine which ran it on the cover with the headline: "Yes, I'm Gay."

These types of covers used to be the exclusive domain of "The Advocate" and maybe Lance regrets going mainstream because his interview was not well received by gays. In it, he called himself and his friends "Straight Acting Gays" and said he had no interest in becoming an activist.

The Advocate interview, which is on newsstands Dec. 18, shows a man who has matured a great deal since that People cover and chalks up some of his comments made then to naivete and is well-aware of the backlash it caused.

Towleroad.com posted some excerpts today and here is some of it:

"You know, every community is hard to please. Our community is very fickle. It’s a touchy community because it’s the last civil rights movement we have left here in America. So when someone new like myself comes along and says off-the-mark things, yeah, I can see how people would get pissed...When most people come out, they deal with it out of the public eye, and they start getting educated about it. Me, I had 24 hours to say what I had to say on a subject that I had no clue about... It was a very normal phrase among my circle of friends—and they’d always say, 'You’re such a SAG'—a straight-acting gay. So I reveal that to People magazine, and it looks like I created this phrase and [that] I’m trying to start this movement that you should be straight-acting if you’re gay. It’s just dumb!...I knew last year that when I came out, if I said, 'OK, I’m going to lead every parade and I’m going to speak at every engagement,' half of the community would say, 'Screw you! Who are you to come out and start speaking for every-one?' That’s why I held back and was like, OK, I said my piece now; I’m just gonna lay back and get way more educated about myself, about the community, and not pretend I know what I’m talking about.'"

By the way, Lance looks really cute on the Advocate cover. A lot of his photos are not flattering so I was surprised when I met him at an event last year, at just how good looking he is in person. The Advocate cover captures that.

When I talked to Ryan Barry a few weeks ago at the Ribbon of Hope Celebration that he attended with boyfriend Reichen Lemkuhl, he was too shy to mention that he was a finalist in the nationwide search for the next A/X underwear model.

But Reichen wasn't.

At that time, there were three finalists and I asked Ryan, "Do you wanna win?" He kinda shrugged shoulders and said something like, "It'd be cool." Reichen then piped in: "He wants to WIN! Of course you want to win."

And, he has. Andy Towle reports on Towleroad that Ryan was announced as winner last night at an intimate dinner hosted by Armani Exchange and GQ. Andy writes: "While I served on a consulting panel of judges (which, let me tell you, was a grueling task!), the most influence over the decision was exerted by the results of a public internet polling process."

Last night, at an intimate dinner hosted by Armani Exchange and GQ, Ryan Barry was announced as the winner of Last night, at an intimate dinner hosted by Armani Exchange and GQ, Ryan Barry was announced as the winner of the nationwide search for the next A/X underwear model. While I served on a consulting panel of judges (which, let me tell you, was a grueling task!), the most influence over the decision was exerted by the results of a public internet polling process.

. While I served on a consulting panel of judges (which, let me tell you, was a grueling task!), the most influence over the decision was exerted by the results of a public internet polling process.

In case you weren't watching last night, Jack Mackenroth withdrew from the "Project Runway" competition after developing a potentially dangerous staph infection. Here is part of an exit interview he did with TVGuide.com.

TVGuide.com: First, let me say how bummed I am about your leaving the show.
Jack Mackenroth: Not as bummed as me! [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Can you walk me through the sequence of events? What happened?
Jack: Basically, it seems like a week but it’s only a day, tops. The day before, I had this bump in my nose and I thought, "This is weird." The next morning, I woke up, and my lip was really puffy. The progression was so rapid that I thought, "I know what this is." Twice before, long ago, I had a very antibiotic-resistant form of a staph infection. It’s not an HIV-related thing. [Mackenroth is HIV-positive.] Anyone can get it. And it’s not the horror story you hear, like the flesh-eating bacteria, but it’s very serious. I went immediately to the production staff and said, "I think I have a staph infection in my face and I need to seek medical attention." They got on it, and I had medical treatment, but it wasn’t working fast enough.

TVGuide.com: We saw you and Tim Gunn leave the workroom and then return. What did you talk about off camera?
Jack: We were in the middle of the challenge, and I started to get a fever. I could feel it. So when Tim came up to me to review my outfit, I said, "I need to really speak to you." At this point, I knew I had to make a decision. It wasn’t safe for me to be there. It wasn’t safe for the other contestants. So we left the workroom and we sat down and I was crying. It still makes me very emotional. I said to him, "Obviously there’s something going on, and I’m pretty sure what it is, and for my own health and the health of everyone else involved, I think I need to withdraw."

TVGuide.com: Was your decision influenced by the producers?
Jack: No. It was a personal decision. I’m sure, at some point, if I hadn’t said something, the producers would have been responsible. They have everyone’s welfare in mind, and there are insurance issues and all that. But I wanted to do it on my terms and I think they let me do that.

TVGuide.com: Were you touched by the other designers’ reactions?
Jack: All of the emotion you see on television is really real. In person, it was awful and beautiful at the same time.

TVGuide.com: When you left the show, did you go straight to the hospital?
Jack: I didn’t even pack my stuff. I literally went to the emergency room from there. I was in the hospital for five days.

TVGuide.com: How is your health now?
Jack: Oh, amazing — this was June, so we’re talking months ago. I’m in perfect health.

This is scary.

The great Liza Minnelli collapsed on stage during a performance in Sweden and was rushed back to the United States for medical treatment. Liza was performing in a Christmas show Wednesday in Goteborg but collapsed as she walked off stage after finishing her fourth song.

"As she walked down the steps, she passed out. She was taken immediately to her hotel where a doctor was waiting," said Zlakto Nedanovski, a spokesman for the concert's organizers told The Associated Press.
"She had felt a bit dizzy before she got up on stage," but decided to proceed with the show anyway."

Hopefully it's just the flu.

Liza was taken back to her hotel by her manager and examined by a doctor who consulted with her NYC physician and she later flew home.

Liza, winner of the Oscar, an Emmy and two Tonys, was performing alongside several Swedish artists in a show called "A Classic Christmas Night." It was the fourth and final show in a series of four concerts in Sweden.

Kathy Griffin arrived at the Chateau Marmont the other day in a good mood "because the lunch is free." She was one of the celeb guests at a More Magazine-Women in Film luncheon and was there a bit early - flanked by her two assistants.

As we stood in the lobby, I asked if she was in the mood for a little on-the-record chat. She said, "Sure! Let's go find a place to sit." We briefly considered sharing the piano bench in the lounge but settled on a couple of chairs at a little table instead. She told me that she has just signed on for season four of "My Life on the D-List" and "we start filming New Year's Eve and will be back on the air in June. This year, we're doing 10 episodes instead of six. We have a lot of stuff planned for the season. It is going to be action packed."

Here is the first part of our conversation:

Greg: Are they filming right now? Am I going to be on it?
Kathy: [laughs] Not yet. But otherwise believe me, you'd be on it. If you've even slightly ever met me, you're on the show."
Greg: People are saying that you're A-list now.
Kathy: (laughs) I know I'm still D-list. Like for this event, they told me I could only bring one person. You know Annette Benning could bring 10 people if she wanted to. So, I'm reminded on a daily basis of how D-list I still am.
Greg: It must be very humbling.
Kathy: Yeah.
Greg: I remember when you started your show and you were at events trying to get phone numbers from stars for your charity? Is it still that hard for you?
Kathy: Yes. It's that hard. In fact, most celebrities won't give me their home number. And they shouldn't, I don't blame them. I'm actually trying not to beg, borrow and steal so much. I'm not even having my Toys for Tots party this year because I can't take it anymore, the begging the celebrities to come. This is how D-list I am. For the last two years, "Entertainment Tonight" covered my Toys for Tots Annual Christmas Gala and not aired it, because there weren't enough celebrities. So that's D-list. They come to your house, wear the mic pack and they're like, 'Yeah, we're not even gonna air this.' And People magazine came
last year and took pictures then just went, 'No, we're not gonna put any of them in."
Greg: Not even on People.com?
Kathy: No. Not big enough stars.

Greg: Well, you did win an Emmy. Then you said "Suck it Jesus" and caused a big scandal.
Kathy: The only thing that makes you feel A-List, is being involved in some sort of a scandal which I've dreamed of my whole career. I've tried to be scandalous and now people finally noticed and it's been a fantastic thing. I was in Time, I was in Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly. And the best part is, all with pictures of me holding the Emmy. So whatever you think of anything I do, the point is, you saw a picture of me holding an Emmy.
Greg: When you lost the year before, you kinda caused a scene. This year, did you think about what you'd do if you won?
Kathy: Oh, I planned it. Of course. Because when I watch those shows, I always want to see who the person is who's going to get in trouble and say something. I thought, 'I could be that person.'

TOMORROW: Kathy talks about her new boyfriend, her plans for New Year's Eve and why she likes being on "Larry King Live" and "The View."

Mario Lopez's new movie on ABC Family, "Holiday In Handcuffs" has a kinky title and a strange plot: A struggling artist (Melissa Joan Hart) working as waitress kidnaps one of her customers (Lopez) to bring home and meet her parents at Christmas.

Well, it looks like "It's A Wonderful Life" is safe for another year as the number one Christmas classic. Still, any movie that finds an excuse to have a scene with Mario clad only in a towel earns points from me!

I love Luke's grandma. Really, I do. She just makes me want to start celebrating Christmas right now!

I had posted a clip yesterday that was actually just a preview of today's show which was so sweet. A few highlights: Grandma Snyder balked when Luke asked her if Noah could stay for the holidays. She is next seen telling Holden that she's not a homophobe, she just doesn't want them sleeping together. After all, they're just DATING.

She goes out to the porch to invite Noah for the holidays and to explain herself and her rules: "You're going to have to sleep on the couch in the parlor. Luke's room is going to be off limits at all times."

Heck, they're not even kissing so I dunno what grandma's worried about. They'd probably stay up all night talking and holding hands and smiling shyly at each other. But, that's a whole other issue - this ridiculous lack of physical affection between these two young dudes.

Anywho, grandma Snyder went on to say: "It's not because ypu're gay. I would be the same with any young suitor who came calling - especially one who is as handsome as you are."

Stop! Stop! You're making me cry!
I wish I was kidding...

Dammit. I worked from home today and had "The View" on the background but musta been on the phone when Queen Latifah was talking to the ladies about her new movie. According to Queerty, the girls were having a nice chat about Latifah's Merry Christmas necessities: "food, football, family and fun."
Sherri Shepard then adds: "A good man wouldn't help". She meant to say "A good man wouldn't hurt" but her flub was all the more awkward since it comes just a day or so after Latifah denied in an interview that she is marrying her female personal trainer.

Here is a clip of it. Maybe Sherri's wig is on a little too tight?

It's well known that Tom Cruise and Will Smith are tight.

This week has really proven that with Tom showing up to support Will at events on both coasts connected to Smith's new film "I Am Legend." Here Tom is pictured with Will and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith - Tom's co-star in "Collateral" - at the NYC premiere of "Legend." The day before, Tom was with the Smiths in Hollywood when Will's left his footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Tom, once the biggest box office star in the world, seems to be everywhere these days supporting his famous friends and grinning from ear-to-ear for the photo op.. Last week, he and Katie and Surie were at the Spice Girls concert in LA. What's next? Tom traveling to whatever foreign country David Beckham is visiting to get into the photos?

I guess as long as he doesn't start showing up at Starbucks in a pink wig, we don't have to worry about him...yet!

So, what do you do if you're a famous actor, are seen hanging out all over the place with an openly gay - and newly single - singer, and people start whispering that you're now a couple?

If you're Australian actor Tim Campbell, you just come,out!

Campbell, who starred in the "Home and Away" series Down Under, told The Advertiser that he is gay, but he is not dating former Australian Idol contestant Anthony Callea: "(Anthony and I) are mates - he's had his rough trot, I'm going through a rough trot and I'm really concerned for my (ex) partner. Part of me will probably always love him because 11 years is a lot to share with each other."

The two became friends after performing together in the musical "Rent."

Now that he's opened that big closet door, Campbell doesn't want his sexuality to cast a shadow over everything else: "There's nothing in the way of being ashamed about this (but) the label thing worries me a bit because I don't want my work to be affected, If every time I'm written about now it's as 'the gay actor' it would bore the hell out of me. ...Coming out at 20 changed me a bit, but at 32, I'm pretty comfortable with who I am and what I'm doing."

I don't know a thing about Tim but this video of him on the Australian version of "Dancing With the Stars" is a good introduction:

What does McDreamy see when he looks into a mirror?

“I always find it funny when people say I am handsome or I am perceived in that way. It makes me wonder whom they are talking to, it’s interesting. There are a lot of men out there considered as handsome men: George Clooney is good looking; he is the classical handsome movie star. I am just average looking. But it’s fun and it is certainly nice to have the attention. I was known for being geeky and awkward as a kid. This projection of being sexy or handsome is funny to me; I certainly don’t see myself that way.”

Well McDreamy, what can I say. You are sexy AND handsome. Deal with it.

It always seemed like Toby (Charlie David) and Kevin (Gregory Michael) were the heart and soul of "Dante's Cove," the true love match.

But I'm not so sure anymore. Toby has moved on with his high school friend Adam (Jon Fleming) who, frankly, is just a better match for Toby and seems to make him happy, I talked to Jon about this recently when I saw him at the Ribbon of Hope Awards.

Here is our conversation:

Greg: I've watched the whole season and I was so excited for what happens with you and Toby.
Jon: It was exciting. I'm very happy, I've been getting a lot of good feedback. A lot of people are happy about that.

Greg: As an actor, is it more fun to be acting out a storyline where you finally get the guy versus being all frustrated and having to sleep with Reichen [Lemkuhl's] character?
Jon: [laughs] I think this year Adam is more of a good guy. Last year, I was kind of troubled with the drug addiction and I was just kind of there trying to break up their relationship. But this season, my true feelings came out and I think the audience can see that I am very concerned for Toby. I stuck around for Toby and got a job instead of going back home with a trust fund.

Greg: It comes across like Toby loves him more than Kevin, like the relationship is easy, right?
Jon: Absolutely. There's no push and pull when it comes to Adam and Toby, there's no one who's really in charge and I think the fact that Adam and Toby started out as friends in high school makes it that much easier because we always had that common ground, we can joke and be buddies and just share different moments and eveything is out on the table. There are no secrets, we know everything about each other since high school so we're very comfortable with each other.

Greg: What do you think of Toby's blonde hair this year?
Jon: I liked it, it was a change.And Adam liked it. Adam likes blondes [laughs] And I'm happy he lost the scruff too.

Greg: Do we know anything yet about a fourth season?
Jon: I have not heard anything yet. I am up for it and excited about it. I think the show is doing better and better every season. The sky's the limit and hopefully we'll just keep doing more and more episodes and people will keep watching them and we'll keep making them.

She'd make a beautiful bride, but Queen Latifah is denying that she's gonna be one anytime soon.

Reports have been swirling around that the "Chicago" and "Hairpsray star was planning to marry Jeanette Jenkins, a woman she is often photographed with who is officially her personal trainer and unofficially, according to rampant rumors, her girlfriend.

The Queen was asked about all of this while in Chicago stumping for her latest movie "The Perfect Holiday."

"When you're famous these days, it's just part of the deal -- unfortunately," she said. "People will make up all sorts of things that are not true. ... There ain't gonna be no wedding."

Since Luke and Noah's relationship has been pretty unrealistically passion-free since we were treated to those first few kisses, it's ironic that his grandmother is fretting to Holden about being perceived as a homophobe because she doesn't want her grandson sleeping with his boyfriend under her roof.

"That's just not the way I was raised," she tells her son.

But it's not because she doesn't love and accept him: "I love Luke and whatever he is, I'm behind him 100 percent."

Here are today's scenes:

GuyTVBlog.com sure does and boy am I glad. Snagged these pictures from the blog of the hunkiest houseguest on last summer's "Big Brother." There is a winter edition debuting in February and while I vow not to become an addict, if there are any other Mikes on there, it just might happen.

Enjoy!

...the great star Rita Moreno, winner of the Oscar, Tony, Grammy and two Emmys. She turns 76 today.

Why do we love her? From "West Side Story," of course, the from "The Ritz" both on Broadway and on film, and from her wonderful work as the nun/shrink for all those seasons on "Oz." OK, I also loved on "The Electric Company."

It's not liike she's slowing down. Rita is currently playing the matriarch of the CBS drama "Cane" which I really like but has struggled in the ratings.

Woody Harrelson wouldn't be crazy about his new flick, "The Walker," which opened last Friday.

First of all, he gets to act with the fabulous Lauren Bacall, among others, he also gets to play a gay man, and lastly, he has a full head of hair in the flick!

Director Paul Schrader talked to HX Magazine about Woody's dislike of his performance as Carter Page III, a gay man who spends his life gossiping with, and accompanying around town powerful women in Washington D.C. Then there'sa a murder and potential scandal.

"His agent told me he doesn't like himself in it," Schrader said. "I think he wanted the character to be a little more fey than I did, a little more comically fluffy, and I didn't see the character that way."

Q. I'm not sure how I feel about the relationship between Carter and his boyfriend—maybe it was the chemistry, or the radical differences between them as characters that seemed off.
A. I think the relationship of Woody and Moritz is probably the weakest thing in the film. What I was more concerned with was the social world and that relationship with the Kristen Scott Thomas character, which is so full of sadness and yearning and loss. That interested me more than Carter and his boyfriend. So I guess, unlike Brokeback, where Ang Lee set out to make a film about a male romance... I made a film about this guy and his relationship to these dames. That was my main interest.

Q. What might we see on the DVD extras of The Walker? Any extra- hot tongue kissing action between Woody and Moritz?
A. No, I think that kiss [we shot] goes into the column of what we call a "one-er." [Laughs] I don't think Woody was particularly eager for a retake.

I love this Advocate interview with Jason Bateman who was the subject of the magazine's "Big Gay Following" feature. He has been on a real roll post "Arrested Development" with a standout comic performance in "The Kingdom" this fall and two new films currently out: "Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium" and "Juno." Here are some excerpts from his interview with writer Brandon Voss:

Q. When The Advocate last spoke to you in 2001 you were promoting your role as gay journalist Warren in the series Some of My Best Friends, which was then canceled after five episodes. What went wrong?

A. It wasn’t the show’s fault, and it certainly wasn’t my fault, Brandon. I kept thinking that perhaps it was on the wrong network and the wrong night. Those are legitimate excuses -- I don’t think they’re just things that help you get to sleep at night. There are certain networks that are better for liberal fare, and CBS, at least at the time, was not leading in that race as far as their audience and demographic. If it had been on NBC, on a more liberal night -- like a Thursday -- it probably would’ve had a better shot. Will & Grace was certainly having a good time there.

On gays in his life: "I know a few ...and they’re some of my best friends. Growing up in the entertainment industry, and also having a mother who was a flight attendant for 30 years, I’ve been surrounded by the best and the worst of the gay community. But I’ve always said that I’ve never met a dumb gay guy. You’ve got to be smart and insightful to know what’s going on with you and then live by it. It takes a lot of balls to walk proudly as a gay man, especially outside of the more liberal cities like Los Angeles and New York. So I’ve got a great deal of respect for the gay community. I think that it shows in my friend circle, and I’m really proud to be accepted by them.

Q. You respect our “balls,” but do you have any closeted peers?

A. Yes, but it’s become less and less. In this day and age, at least in this town, you’re not truly hip and popular until you’re out and in AA. So that’s encouraging a lot of those who were on the fence. One of my best friends and ex-roommates, a producer, finally came out a couple of years ago, and he’s never been happier. He’s stopped a lot of his abusive, self-destructive behavior because he’s been able to get this big weight off his shoulders.

Q. Have guys ever hit on you?

A. I don’t know if I’d be able to tell, only because I’m so flirtatious with gay men anyway. They usually have great senses of humor, so I just get my flirt on, and they’re probably not enjoying my humor as much as I’m enjoying theirs -- maybe all those laughs are just come-ons and I’m getting hit on the whole time. But I do enjoy my time around homosexual men, to the point where people have thought I’m gay for years. I had to get myself a wife just to prove otherwise.

Q. If you were gay, who’d be your type?

A. Oh, God, who am I gay for… Well, Will Arnett, the guy who played G.O.B. on Arrested Development. I’ve been trying to get in his pants since the pilot, and he’s just not giving it up. His wife, Amy Poehler, is safely on the East Coast, but if she ever wanders out here, I got something for her ass.

Q. Now that you’re 38, the industry thinks you’re sexy enough to play the husband of Jennifer Garner in Juno and of Charlize Theron in next year’s Hancock.

A. Yeah, that’s not bad. I’ll take that. But listen, it’s not without tireless work. I run like a Kenyan every morning, and I haven’t had a loaf of bread in my house since the late ’90s, OK? I do all of that and I still look like some fat-faced teenager.

Q. You must’ve been pretty comfortable with your body this past year to have done a nude locker room scene in The Ex and a scene wearing only ladies’ undergarments in Smokin’ Aces.

A. I was not happy about either one of those things. I was very fleshy for both. God, I wish we could do another take of those. Jesus, you should see me now. You could do laundry on my stomach!

For what it's worth, I really liked Jason in "The Hogan Family" when it was still called "Valerie." It starred Valerie Harper as his mother. She got fired in a contract dispute so they killed her off and temporarily changed the show to the strange title of "Valerie's Family" and hired Sandy Duncan as the aunt who moves in the help raise the brood.

Well, who doesn't love Debbie Reynolds?

Younger folks know her as Grace's mother Bobbi Adler on "Will & Grace" (just loved the 'I told you so' dance) and probably have no idea that this national treasure became a star way back in 1952 as one of the leads in "Singin' in the Rain."

She went on to become America's Sweetheart in "Tammy and the Bachelor," "The Tender Trap" and other films, married singer Eddie Fisher and had two kids (one of whom grew up to be Carrie Fisher) only to be left when they were toddlers as cad and absentee dad Eddie took up with a recently-widowed Elizabeth Taylor.

But Debbie Reynolds kept putting one foot in front of another, raising her kids and working in movies including an Oscar-nominated performance in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and "How the West Was Won." When movie roles dried up, she turned to television and the stage appearing the Broadway production of "Irene" before making a triumphant return to movies 10 years ago with a Golden Glober-nominated performance in "mother."

Anyway, here are some excerpts from Debbie's recent interview with "The Advocate"...

Q. You have had six wonderful decades and are considered the quintessential performer. What do you love most about performing?
A. I love the live-ness of it. The fact that people are sitting there and what you are feeling from them is the truth, and they love you or they don't like you at all -- you know the truth. I've been very lucky to have a good fan base for 60 years, and they still come and see me. They hold me up. They give me the courage to keep going on. They laugh. I laugh. I am happy when I am on the stage. It's my happiest time.

Q. Why do you think gay men in particular adore you?
A. Well, because I adore them, I understand their lifestyle and the situations that life has presented to them. I admire how well they handle it. I am for them. I am their "mother at large," let's say. I appreciate all the hardship they have had to go through just to convince somebody that they were wonderful ... and not to be put down because of a lifestyle. It's not like you picked it out of a hat, but it's all yours. It would be much better if people in the world understand and accept and love you for you.

Q. You listed your daughter's [Carrie Fisher] book The Best Awful on your favorites page on your website. How do you feel about her success?
A. I am very, very proud of her. She is extremely gifted and funny, and after all, she has manic-depressive bipolar [disorder]. So for her to be able to accomplish what she has, and is accomplishing, it's been a real battle for her. But she's bringing her one-woman show to San Francisco next year. Every gay boy in L.A. saw it. You'll love it. I know the gay boys will back her more than anybody else.

Debbie thinks the paparazzi are out of control these days, not allowing stars to have any kind of life.
"We just didn't have that many paparazzi," she said. "We had only 100 in the front yard, instead of 200. I had plenty of press. Like Brad and Jennifer and Angelina, we had me and Eddie and Elizabeth Taylor. And so that was a big scandal, but we tried to let them take pictures of us and give them statements, and we did the best we could with trying to include them. So, that's what you have to do. But when they run into your car…I mean, they are really after Britney for some reason more than anybody. I think they should get over themselves and leave her alone. It's too much. It's just embarrassing. And it's not her fault. I mean, it was, but now it isn't."

Go to Advocate.com to read the complete interview with Debbie Reynolds...

Ho hum, today just another day at the office.

Not!

I found myself having lunch at the Chateau Marmont’s sitting at the same table as Jean Smart, Kathy Griffin, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Sharon Lawrence and Sally Kellerman among others.

OK, it was a really long table but the funny thing was, I was the only man at this luncheon of 30-plus women held to celebrate the More [magazine] Women In Film contest for screenwriters over 40. Casey Affleck was eating lunch nearby and looked over as he walked out, wondering what the hoopla was all about.

I’ll write more about the event later this week. I want to first share with you my conversation with the sublime Jean Smart of the new ABC hit comedy “Samantha Who?”

She plays the mother of Christina Applegate’s title character who suffers from amnesia and is forced to find out who she really is.

“I’m having a blast,” Jean said. “I’m dying for this [writer’s] strike to end so I can get back to work. It’s kind of like a disgusting lovefest, we all fell in love with each other in the first week. I know actors always say the right thing, ‘Oh the writing’s wonderful and the cast is wonderful’ but it really is.”

I have been a big fan of hers since her days as Charlene on “Designing Women.” She went on to win two Emmys for “Frasier” and was nominated twice more for her role as First Lady Martha Logan on “24.”
So with the role of Regina on “Samantha,” Jean is adding to a collection of already memorable roles.

“When I read the pilot script and she’s videotaping herself so she can be on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” because of her sob story about her daughter. She makes her daughter open her eyes again when she comes out of the coma after eight days because she missed [the shot]! I said, ‘I have to play this person.’”

Regina also doesn’t bother to tell Samantha that they have not been speaking for the last two years.
“She’s starting all over again,” she says. “She’s been reading the mother’s manual and is trying to do it by the book and treats her daughter like she’s 12 years old.”

The last original episode of “Samantha” for 2007 airs next Monday night.

Oh. My. Gawd!

This is the first image of David Beckham in his new role as model for Emporio Armani underwear. Whatever he's selling, I'm buying!

Remember the scene in "Beaches" when Bette Midler's character is watching herself on a television interview and she's saying to the screen: "Don't say it Cee-Cee! Don't say it!" Well, that's how I kinda felt in reading this interview I did recently with PR Week. I'm used to asking the questions so as I read my answers, all I could think of was how my syntax was off and my sentences disorganized. I've come to the conclusion that I write better than I talk!

Anywho, here it is:

By Randi Schmelzer

He's covered business at the Los Angeles Times, the film industry for The Hollywood Reporter -- and since 2001, he's focused on both. As entertainment reporter at the LA Daily News, Greg Hernandez covers box-office trends and DVD release parties, profiles celebrities, and live-blogs awards shows. Hernandez also authors two daily blogs, Out in Hollywood and Hollywood Joe.

PRWeek: What are your feelings about the current state of the entertainment industry?

Greg Hernandez: As far as the industry goes, I think this is as an exciting a time as it's ever been. There are just so many new things going on, you know, creativity [is] flowing. And the public appetite for entertainment is endless.

PRWeek: You've seen the newspaper industry change a lot, too, over the course of your career. What are your thoughts about that?

Hernandez: I think [the LA Daily News] has been very innovative, especially online. We have 40-plus blogs, we have all kinds of interactive kinds of things: photo galleries and videos. We're really trying to move with the times as well as continue to put out a good print product.

PRWeek: Tell us about your Out in Hollywood blog.

Hernandez: I started Out in Hollywood in the summer of 2006. Basically it's a queer-eye view of all things entertainment. And it has been so popular - it's the most popular [LA Daily News] blog that's not sports-related. That kind of surprised everyone.

PRWeek: Why do you think it's been so well received?

Hernandez: Because it's friendly, it's not shocking - it's just a focus on things of gay interest, whether it's gay character on a show or in a movie, or an actor, that kind of thing ... It has a big gay audience, but it also draws a lot of women, it also draws a lot of mainstream viewers.

PRWeek: Has it stirred up any controversy?

Hernandez: I've never gotten any negative response, believe it or not. I was expecting to and waiting to -- I started covering gay [entertainment business] issues in the paper 5-6 years ago, and I've always expected a big outrage factor. And we haven't had it. But I would welcome more controversy. It would just make me more determined to keep doing what I'm doing.

PRWeek: What do you think about the kind of mainstream exposure gay characters are getting these days, in movies and TV shows?

Hernandez: I think that TV's really forging the way on that, especially ABC. On Ugly Betty, they have several gay characters, they have a transsexual character. Desperate Housewives has a gay character and [recently] introduced a new gay couple. So those two shows have really led the way. And Brothers and Sisters probably has the best gay character in all of network TV: Kevin Walker played by Matthew Rhys. ABC is almost single-handedly helping America along.

Also a big deal are the performances of TR Knight on Grey's Anatomy and Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother - both are Emmy-nominated, they are gay in real life and they've come out - it helps. But there's still such a long way to go, in terms of just having it not matter at all.

Helen Mirren is a pretty remarkable woman.

She won an Oscar, Emmy and just about every other award on the planet this year and each time, she managed to be gracious and original and funny. So I love her all the more after reading what she told US Magazine when it comes to gay marriage: "I think gays absolutely should have the right. For the same reason Taylor and I got married - to be able to say, by law, 'This person is important to me.' I used to say, 'I have nothing against marriage, but to me it's like turnips. They're just not for me. And now I love being married. I love saying, 'I'm going to see my husband tonight.'"

I gotta add what she says about boobs jobs because it's hysterical: "I absolutely believe in it [surgery]. Why feel miserable if you can change something? But breast implants are weird to me. They seem a bit like hanging a pair of oranges around your neck."

... were at the GQ Man of the Year party last week. They include Justin Chambers and Eric Dane of "Grey's Anatomy" (above) as well as the very talented Ryan Gosling seen talking with the gorgeous Josh Brolin who is on a terrific career role these days. The picture below are Casey Affleck, star of "Gone Baby Gone" AND "The Assassination of Jesse James" with Ben Foster, so good in "3:10 To Yuma." I know it's none of my business but I do wish Ben would not smoke so much. He seems to be a real chain smoker and, well, cigarettes can kill.

I know that Kanye West was also one of the GQ Men of the Year which is well deserved but obviously more diversity is needed - especially when it comes to gay men.

We've got some terrific gay men who had great and very interesting years including John Amaechi, T.R. Knight, John Barrowman, Neil Patrick Harris just to name a few. Until then, I guess we'll have to stick with lists from gay publications but personally, this segregation is getting tired.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, West and James Bond hottie Daniel Craig are featured on three separate covers of GQ. Also making their list: Casey Affleck, Javier Bardem, Brad Bird, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Brolin, David Chang, David Chase, Simon Cowell, John Cusack, Roger Federer, Tom Hanks, Emile Hirsch, Ryan Howard, Lil Wayne, Josh Marshall, James McAvoy, Derek O'Dell, Ron Paul, Alex Rodriguez, Seth Rogen, Mark Ruffalo, Julian Schnabel, Jason Schwartzman, John Smeaton, Channing Tatum, John Varvatos and Shaun White.

Can you think of a better health and fitness ambassador for the American Association of Retired Persons than tennis legend Martina Navratilova?

I can't.

First of all, she's actually retired from the women's pro tour twice - the second time was just last year one month shy of her 50th birthday. Secondly. she defected from communist Czechoslovakia in
1975 and has been a proud - and outspoken - American citizen since 1981.

Martina called me the morning of the AARP announcement last week for a quick chat.
"I sort of represent longevity and the face of health and fitness," she said. "I'm in the middle of the baby boomer generation and AARP is going back to prevention of problems rather than fixing them with
drugs. The baby boomer generation is a big target for AARP, trying to prevent problems down the road. It's about making members as active and vital and healthy as possible. I've been living that lifestyle for a long time now."

When Martina retired from the women's tour in 1994, she did so shortly after reaching her 12th Wimbledon singles final at the age of 36. That was considered quite an accomplishment for someone of such advanced tennis age. So people thought she was a little nuts when six years later, she decided to rejoin the tour as a doubles player.

"So what if I didn't play as well as I did when I was 25," Martina said of her second tennis cereer. "I've never let the naysayers get in the way. I've sort of done my thing, obviously, and never let age define me. I sort of believe in doing what you love to do and really going after what your dreams are. Go after what you are passionate about."

She went on to win many more titles in her 40s, including mixed doubles crowns at Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. Her second retirement from tennis came in September 2006 - one month shy of her 50th birthday.

How did she celebrate? By winning the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Bob Bryan.

Martina's had a few knee surgeries since then and, well, there have been other life changes: "I've been going through menopause and put on a few pounds this year," she said. "I wasn't able to do as much
physical activity and I was traveling a lot. That's no way to stay healthy. I had to get rid of a few pounds, I got fed up with not feeling as well or moving as well."

So, like millions of other Americans - retired or not - she had to get back into shape.

"I started running again, for five minutes the first day and was too tired," she admitted. "Two days later I went 17 minutes. I worked up to an hour. The legs are starting to look better and I lost a few pounds. But my preference is doing organized sports - soccer, softball, basketball. Get me on a treadmill and it's like torture.
Don't do what's torturous for you do what you really enjoy and make sure you don't overdo it at first."

To read the first part of my interview with Martina, which deals with being an out athlete in a hostile environment, click HERE.

Donny Osmond!

I dunno, kinda hard to believe. He still looks terrific and is working as hard as ever. I like Donny for many reasons. First, he has preservered in showbiz even when it was tough for him to be taken seriously post the "Donny & Marie" show. So he took to the stage and did hundreds of performances of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and re-invented himself in the late 80s with his "Soldier of Love" album. Since then, he has continued to tour and to release new albums of various genres from 70s love songs to Broadway tunes. He even hosted a daytime talk show for a few years with Marie as well as a few game shows. But one thing I most admire him for is how candid he was in his memoirs about his crippling panic attacks that threatened to derail his career on stage. He helped a lot of people by going public and sharing the story of his recovery.

I met Donny a few years ago at a DVD Conference in Marina del Rey and he could not have been nicer. I wanted to do an interview with him after an awards ceremony and he jokingly played hard to get: "Daily News? No way." I mentioned that my big sister had bought "One Bad Apple" in the 70s. He shook his head no. Then I mentioned how much I liked "Soldier of Love" and he warmed up a bit. I finally hit paydirt after telling him what a great job he was doing hosting the "Pyramid" game show! Hey, sometimes ya gotta pull out the big guns.

Donny was in the process of putting together the "Donny & Marie" DVD sets and was absolutely involved in every stage of production and told me which skits he was going to include and he seemed as excited as a kid.

I guess in some ways, Donny will always be young at heart.

Happy Birthday!

Alexis Arquette swept onto the red carpet of the Ribbon of Hope Celebration last weekend and stopped for a gab. Of course, I just had to come out and ask if her sister, Rosanna is dating Paul McCartney as has been reported.

She's very, very, very close friends with Paul, they're good friends," Alexis said. "I know a lot but I'm not saying (expletive). They don't need the pressure. It's so high school, actually junior high school, for people to be going (in Valley girl voice), `Are you guys going out yet?"'

Alexis was the subject of the documentary "Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother" which screened at Outfest last summer and says she's now working on a book proposal: "A lot of it's on being a transgendered actor in Los Angeles and also being a sibling of [several] stars and a lot of it's just kind of views on society and morality. They're describing me as the anti ...I'm blanking on her name...Who's the blonde conservative writer we all hate?"

"That would be Ann Coulter," I say.

Alexis: "Yes! I'm the anti-Ann Coulter!"

And finally, i mentioned to Alexis that I had interviewed Tuc Watkins recently and when I asked for his thoughts on her, he said that whenever he thinks of her, he smiles. The two played a couple in the gay indie classic "I Think I Do" back in 1999 and also shared many delicious scenes in the awesome Showtime series "Beggars and Choosers." Tuc was a gay TV exec and Alexis played a tempermental transgender actress.

"Oh, I love me some Tuc Watkins," she told me. "I've worked with him several times and it's always good when somebody looks that good and has a brain on him, you know?"

...Yes, the brain seems very nice...and so does that body! The photo is of a pre-transgendered Alexis and Tuc in "I Think I Do" which is on DVD. My favorite line is when Tuc, playing a self-absorbed soap actor, is sticken when Alexis wants to break up and says: "But I told you my REAL age!"

This is chilling, especially for those of us who often attend events in Hollywood. Actor David Blue, who we've recently gotten to know as Cliff on "Ugly Betty" - a photographer who is dating Michael Urie's character of Marc. St. James - was mugged at gunpoint in the heart of Hollywood after leaving a wrap party for season 2 of "Ugly Betty."

Here is his blog entry about the scary incident:

"Sorry to be a downer
,
I went to a wonderful wrap party for season 2 of UGLY BETTY tonight. It was a blast, full of cast, crew, producers, writers, etc. I had a lot of fun with America, Michael and a bunch of other nice people. In fact, even after working on the show for so long, I had somehow never gotten pictures of myself with any of the people I've worked with. So, tonight I took a lot of pictures and had a great time.

Then, walking back to my friends' car, about a block away from the party, two men jumped out of their car and held a gun to my face and stole my wallet and my friends' purse/camera/phone. They drove away and I've spent the past 2 hours talking with the police and my credit card companies.

There's a sad part of me that is just happy that I got away alive and that my friend wasn't hurt. There's another sad part of me that is happy they got me and not America Ferrera, Michael Urie, Judith Light or anybody else at the party with WAY more money than myself.

There's another sad part of me that is so angry that I just want to see these people put behind bars as soon as possible. You see, though I've been lucky to recur on two different shows, I'm still far from financially stable. I don't have any money for these people to steal. Hopefully, I was able to catch my credit cards before they got anything. [In fact, all my companies say they tried to spend some money on ALL of them in the past 20 minutes at a single gas station but were denied because I cancelled them so fast.] But now I have no money for food, supplies or anything for a week. It's sad how quickly your life can be affected... and even more sad how angry a few people's SAD choices can affect people's lives so morosely.

It bothers me that this was Hollywood. I've lived in New York, Astoria, Queens, Florida, Kentucky, Virginia, Texas, all over... and this crap happened in the heart of Hollywood near a MAJOR intersection. I'm just glad we were smart enough to hand over our money so quickly. Because I can tell you, even with a gun in my face, my first reaction was to nail this guy in the face with as many punches as I could muster... but instead I looked at my female friend and realized it'd be better to hand over my wallet and call the police.

Be careful kids. And let's hope these guys get caught before they do too much damage. The police told us that this has happened a few times in the past few weeks. And on top of that, as we were in their car, we heard a radio call saying another mugging happened with the same description...about 30 minutes after ours.

_david"

Got a note this Bruce Dent who read my Ugly Betty Recap with great interest:

"Someone" recorded the whole thing with a cell?????? HEY!!! THAT SOMEONE HAS A NAME!!!! "FAN #2"!!!!! Hey there. So, a friend sent me this site and so, I thought I'd write to let you know that Betty White is possibly one of the sweetest women alive, let alone an amazing trooper, and a great natural comic. We worked until 3 in the morning and she showed no sign of fatigue. It was a lesson in how to live, no matter what your age. Just thought you'd like to know Bruce (FAN #2!!!!!!!)

I'm not sure if fan #2 is on the right or left from Betty but congrats on a terrific scene!

The movie version of the smash Broadway show "Rent" may not have made "Dreamgirls" or "Hairspray" level box office grosses, but it did something even better in my opinion: it cast much of the original cast from the stage production including the amazingly talented Anthony Rapp who I met last week at the Ribbon of Hope Celebration.

"I call it like a showbiz miracle. Like, it never happens," Anthony said. "Occassionally maybe one person from an original cast. But six of us? It was amazing. A gift."

The 36-year-old actor returned to Broadway for a several months this summer and fall to reprise his signature role of Mark Cohen in the still-running show that remains a huge part of his life and career.

"I wrote a book that came out last year and I'm working on a one-man show adaptation of it called "Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical 'Rent,'" Mark said. "It's about being in the show, my mom passed away while I was in the show and [playwright] Jonathan Larson who wrote the show passed away so it's about the amazing fulfillment of being a part of that experience at the same time as these really difficult thing happened. The complicated colliding of all that."

Although "Rent" provided Anthony with a break-out part, he has been working professionally since the age of nine. He played Charlie Brown in the Broadway revival of "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown" and other theater credits include the original Broadway production of "Six Degrees of Separation" (he also appeared in the film version), "An American Family" as well as productions of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and "Little Shop of Horrors."

He's also worked steadily in other mediums. On television, Anthony had a recurring role on NBC's "Kidnapped," and guested on such series as "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "The X Files." In addition to "Rent" and "Six Degrees," movie credits include "Winter Passing," "Open House," "A Beautiful Mind," "Road Trip," "School Ties," "Dazed and Confused" "Adventures In Babysitting" and "Twister."

But "Rent" still draws him and Anthony embraced being something of a spokesman for the musical which has been running on Broadway for more than a decade. Inspired by and partially based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème, "Rent" is about impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Alphabet City in the thriving days of the Bohemian East Village, under the shadow of AIDS.

That shadow still exists, even after all these years.

"I got to go to South Africa this year to work on a production of "Rent" there, I directed it, and the AIDS and HIV world there is so different there than it is here," Anthony said. "I'm seeing both sides of things. There, they have so little access to many of these drugs that are helping so many people here. At the same time, here, the drugs aren't always helping everyone in the same way. So, we've made enormous strides, but it certainly is not over...The flip side of the [drug] cocktails is that people are probably taking bigger risks than they used to because they think you take the cocktails and everything's fine. My musical director in South Africa is HIV positive and he's very healthy but it's a big deal in his life. He has to take those cocktails, it's not a small thing."

"I've been in the business since I was a kid in the early 80s and I witnessed colleagues of mine even then succumbing to AIDS. We didn't even know what it was. My mom was a nurse and she worked in the prison system so we was a part of that front line. So, it's been a part of my world and awareness for a very long time."

If anyone is wondering why writers are so important to what we watch on television, you need look no further than last night's classic episode of "Ugly Betty." There were so many delicious lines from start to finish that I could barely scribble them all down - plus I was laughing at the same time.The episode, "Bananas for Betty," will be the last we will see in 2007. Three more episodes have been shot so we will see them sometime next year and unless the strike is resolved soon and everyone goes back to work, that will be it for the sophomore season of this inspired show.

I gotta start with the Betty White storyline. The Golden Girl played herself and she was shoved to the ground by Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) while trying to get a cab on a rainy night. "I'm Wilhelmina Slater and I don't get wet!" she says as she flings some money at Betty and the cab takes off.

Someone recorded the whole thing with a cellphone and it ends up all over the news. Wilhelmina: "Obviously I didn't know it was Betty White - I thought it was just some old lady in the rain!" she tells Marc who has been trying to rehab her tattered public image. Earlier that day he had her doing a series of good deeds ("Trust me lady, I can make you into Mother Teresa - with better boobs."

Cut to Betty White in the hospital talking to TV reporter Suzuki St. Pierre (Alec Mapa): "I stopped to sign a few autographs and almost bled out on the sidewalk." Betty says she loves her fans "except for the sickos who keep writing lesbian fiction about me and Bea Arthur!"
Before the cameras roll, Betty White checks her make-up and complains: "Oh terrific, I'm going on TV with whore eyes!"

Betty White calls Wilhemina saying she forgives her. Wilhelmina wants her to do it on camera to restore her public image. So she shows up to the hospital ready to make nice. Betty turns on her: "I'm sorry honey, this feud is huge and I'm gonna milk it till it's dry!"

But she's a TV legend, she doesn't need the publicity. Betty cracks: "Are you kidding? The 'Golden Girls' money went right into the nickel slots!"

There were two other storylines going on including Daniel (Eric Mabius) and Alexis (Rebecca Romijn) battling for control of the magazine. It ended up in a silly paint ball fight but intially, they are fighting over their late father's desk chair and Daniel says to his transexual sister: "Why are you so strong? Did they give you super strength when they installed your vagina?"

OK, before I get into the Harry and Betty on a date stuff, one more line. It was one from the English dress designer (name escapes me right now) who said to Betty Suarez when they were talking about the movie "27 Dresses" which stars Katherine Heigl and James Marsden (in some not-so-subtle movie product placement):
"I love James Marsden. I want to bake him naked and eat him for dessert!"

Get in line honey!

And finally, Betty (America Fererra) and Henry (Christopher Gorham). Love them! Already posted video of their date scene that has Betty trying to eat an ice cream sundae off of Henry's stomach. It's a disaster: "My belly button's frozen!" Henry says before the ice cream gets all over Betty's glasses.

Later, Henry tries to fix the sink in Hilda's new salon and ends up drenched forcing him - lucky for us - to wear a way too-tight T-shirt belonging to Justin. "Can I really rock this look?" Henry asks Justin of the midriff baring look. Anyway, the sandwich guy (Freddy Rodriguez) who has the hots for Betty asks Hilda out and they end up at a dance club with Henry and Betty. Henry ends up catching on fire (really) and it looks to be a disaster until he returns, wearing a wife-beater T-shirts, and proceeds to dance like he was John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever."

It was, hot!

If "Dante's Cove" star Charlie David were merely one of the most handsome men on television, you'd want to hate him for being so beautiful. But because he is so smart, so multi-talented and so wonderful to talk to, he is a cut above the usual beefcake we love to admire from afar.

I've interviewed Charlie several times now and caught up with him again last weekend at the Ribbon of Hope Celebration. This season on "Dante's," Charlie had blonde highlights but they now gone. I wondered about the whole hair thing because, you know, a serious journalist needs to know these things.

"It was a travesty really," a laughing Charlie said of his blonde do. "It was one of those things where I thought with the relationship with Kevin (Gregory Michael) over, sometimes when you come out of a relationship, you decide to re-invent yourself with a little bit of a new look. So that's what I figured Toby was doing. Flush out the old, bring in the new because, of course, Toby's with Adam (Jon Fleming) this season. But I'm glad it's grown out and is back to the natural."

I had to know, do blondes have more fun? Said Charlie: "Maybe this season! (laughs)."

While "Dante's Cove" has made many of us fans of Charlie, it's not his only regular gig. He has for several years now hosted the gay and lesbian travel show called "Bump!" which this fall was added to the here! Network which also airs the gay soap.

"I just got back from South America," Charlie said. "I did Argentina and Brazil so I'm pretty lucky. Every month or so I go to a few different countires and knock off 3-4 episodes. It's absolutely wonderful. It's really fun and now the show is getting more distribution and I think we're the world's number one watched gay and lesbian travel show. Now it's available on here! and on webisides and mobisodes. You can get it everywhere."

In addition to the television work, Charlie has appeared in several indie films ("A Four Letter Word," "Kiss the Bride") but his next one is especially close to his heart: it's called "Mulligans" and not only does he star, but he wrote the script and is a producer. He plays a young man who begins an affair with his best friend's FATHER!

I'm sure the script is terrific but Charlie, are there hot love scenes?

"Of course there's some hot love scenes! ["Dante's Cove" co-star] Thea Gill is absolutely brilliant in the movie. Brilliant. Brilliant. She was over for dinner the other night and we watched a few scenes together. So, we're poretty excited about it."

The film is currently in post-production with things like color correction, sound and soundtrack being worked on with the goal of being ready for the film festival curcuit this spring: "So keep your eyes peeled," Charlie advises.

Charlie is busy, but not too busy for love. He's been "very happily together with a great guy" for the last year-and-a-half.

But no names!!

If only Hollywood could follow suit and settle the damned strike in a fair way. If they do, I hope we will see this kind of upbeat song and dance number that some of Broadway's biggest stars performed last week including the great Bernadette Peters, a two-time Tony winner who can belt out a helluva number. Also in this video is, among others, Cheyenne Jackson, the openly gay star of "Xanadu" (he's in the jean cutoffs).

Enjoy!

I'm hearing some "Sex and the City" movie backlash, people saying it ain't all that etc. I reserve my judgement until I SEE the thing. Somehow, I think I'll love it just because the main thing is, I simply want to spend more time with these wonderful characters again.

I want to catch up with my old friends Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and most of all, Miranda...

Here is the new trailer for the May 2008 release:

Buddies Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson are in of all places, Peru! And they're in their underwear! They are apparently staying in cheap hotels and visiting an orphanage. These photos, taken from video shot by a local TV program, show the two talented cuties bathing in a local irrigation ditch!

I really love how candid and honest Project Runway's Jack Mackenroth is being about his HIV status which was revealed to viewers of the show last week. He had made a blog post about his status and wanted to clear things up about his sex life and his new boyfriend's negative status. The boyfriend, by the way, is Dale Levitski of 'Top Chef."

Some people might consider this too much information but I do not. It's amazing how ignorant people remain about HIV/AIDS after all this time. If I have one more straight friend tell me to "be careful" when I'm going out on a date, I'm gonna have to drop kick them. I think they're all trained by now after my lectures but old habits die hard.

Anywho, here is what Jack has to say on his blog: "I guess there are a lot of rumblings in the blogosphere about me and Dale and some concerns about our different HIV status. First I think its interesting that people just assume he is HIV negative–which he is. Just an observation.

Anyway–I feel the need to address the issue since I am so open about my status. First of all safer sex is VERY easy to practice and doesn’t detract from the experience in any way. Beyond that if you are educated about HIV then you know that there are a myriad of things that two people of different HIV status can do sexually with no risk. I’m not going to delve into our sexual proclivities but all is good on the Jack/Dale front. Furthermore my viral load is undetectable which means that when they do a blood test they are unable to find any virus in my blood. That low level of HIV is due to the medication I take and regularly monitoring my status. This combined with safer sex practices allows two people with different HIV status to have a full, healthy relationship.

I would also like to add that in the past I had 2 boyfriends for two years each and both of them were and are still HIV negative. Thanks!"

Since the publication Wednesday of my Daily News column on Jodie Foster publicly acknowledging the woman who has long presumed to be her life partner, the story has spread like wildfire across the blogosphere. Some sites like AfterEllen.com, Popnography, Queerty and Towleroad.com have credited my piece and others have not. There's a part of me that wants credit for being the only journalist in the room to pick up on the significance of that part of her speech and to report on it. But then I think about what she did and how she did it, and all the credit goes to Jodie Foster for doing it her way.

I am against the outing of celebrities and would not intentionally do so. I think they should do it in their own time - always. I know from personal experience that it's a lot harder and complicated to live in the closet than out of it. But I had no problem writing the column because as a journalist, I wrote about what I saw and heard at the Women In Entertainment Breakfast where Jodie was being honored.,

She seemed so relaxed the entire morning, cheerfully doing interviews on the red carpet leading to the front steps of the Beverly Hills Hotel. I even chatted with her for a few minutes. Once inside, I was only two tables away and saw how Jodie got up from her seat and greeted her late-arriving mother and led her to her seat.
I was enjoying my scrambled eggs, looking around to see who was where, and thinking about how cool it was to be at the same table as Tilda Swinton and sitting right next to Natalie Zea of ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money."

We saw a film reel of Jodie's best work from early TV spots as a child to the Oscar nomination as a teenager in "Taxi Driver" to the Academy Award winning performances in "The Accused" and "The Silence of the Lambs" plus the big commercial hits like "Maverick," "Contact," "Panic Room" and "Flightplan."

Jodie began her speech and it was really good, a cut above the usual as she thanked her mother and the team of people who have been around her for as long as 30 years in some cases. Then she thanked "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss."

I did not know who Cydney was, honestly, and had to check various sources once I got back to the office to confirm that it was Jodie's longtime partner.

So I wrote up my column and was ready to turn it in then suddenly wondered, "Should I call Jodie's people and ask, 'Did she really mean to come out?' So I asked my editor, Ron Kaye, to read it. Ron shrugged his shoulders and wondered what the big deal was.

"You've written it like as if it was the most normal thing in the world to thank the person you love on an occasion like that," Ron said. "And, it is."

I think last night's episode of "Gossip Girl" on the CW was one of the best yet for this new and addicting show. It reminds me of the first season of "The OC" where you are just getting to know the characters and begin to realize that you'd like them to be in you TiVo life for a long time to come.

While the entire cast is terrific, today I'm just focusing on the handsome Chace Crawford who proved in last night's show that he's a very good actor - not just a pretty face. I've never watched a single episode of "The Hills" but I'm quite sure it doesn't hold a candle to this guilty pleasure.

Here is a clip from Chase's recent appearance on LA's KTLA Morning Show:

I can still remember the title song: Go Speed Racer, go Speed Racer, go Speed Racer goooooooooo!!!!!" This was an old cartoon that I didn't even know was being made into a movie much less feature Matthew Fox as the villianous Racer X.

But the OhLaLa blog keeps me rather well informed on what the gorgeous men in Hollywood are doing and note that in the cartoon, the Racer X suit was white but for the film, it has been made black.

Whatever.

Matthew Fox looks great in any shade!

Here is a clip from an interview foxy Fox did with dreamy Kevin Frazier of "Entertainment Tonight":

Sorry for the lack of posts so far today, I've had to finish a few columns, I will be posting like a madman shortly. In the meantime, I wanted to share this posting I spotted on Towleroad.com this morning which points out how unprecedented it is for a mainstream "magazine" like US Weekly to non-chalantly feature a gay couple on its pages.
It's as it should be...

This hilarious spoof aired last night as part of a tribute to Julia Roberts featuring her pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Take a look:

George and Izzie's relationship may be going through a strange period on "Grey's Anatomy," but T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl remain thick as thieves off screen.

T.R. told an US Weekly reporter that he will be a "bridesman" when Katherine marries singer Josh Kelley on Dec. 23.

"I'm standing up there and all," Knight told Us at an L.A. benefit for the Trevor Project on December 2. "So I have to go and get the tux. And I am still deciding on a gift!"

That is so cool. And so just right.

John Travolta has been a star for more than 30 years. He's endured his share of snarky remarks over everything from his choice or roles to his hair, to his personal life to his habit of kissing men on the lips in public.

Heck, I'm sure I've made a snarky remark or two myself. But when he walked up to me yesterday morning on a red carpet leading up to the front door of the Beverly Hills Hotel, those eyes were so blue, so unbelievably blue. I was taken aback but gathered myself to conduct a little interview that will run tomorrow in my Daily News column. Here is an early look for "Out In Hollywood" readers:

By Greg Hernandez

You remember the strut the character of Tony Manero had while walking down the street in the opening scene of "Saturday Night Fever," right?

Well, John Travolta, nominated for an Oscar for his performance as the disco-dancing Manero, has good reason to be strutting again these days after the 2007 box office successes "Hairspray" and "Wild Hogs."

"Isn't it exciting?," John said when we chatted Tuesday morning at the Women In Entertainment Power 100 Breakfast. "It's probably my biggest year since 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Grease' as far as films being successful in such a close-together time period."

John, now 53, was in his early 20s when he transitioned from TV star ("Welcome Back Kotter") to movie superstar with the one-two punch of "Fever" and "Grease."

He's had his ups ("Urban Cowboy," "Pulp Fiction," "Get Shorty," "Face/Off" and "Phenomenon") and plenty of downs ("Battlefield Earth," "Moment By Moment," "Perfect," "Staying Alive" and "Two of a Kind"), but his philosophy has always been to keep working.

Since John made a major comeback with his Oscar-nominated role in "Pulp," he has made 24 movies where he has been a leading man, part of an ensemble or in a supporting role.

"It's because I don't direct or produce," he said of his prolific acting resume. "I just act and I think you can make ypourself more available if you're just a hired actor. If you produce and direct, you really can only do one project a year. But if you just act, you can do two."

John was the biggest male star at an early-morning breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel to honor 100 powerful female movers-and-shakers: "It is hard to get me up but when 100 women invite you to be here, and you're the only man, you arrive with bells on your toes," he said.

He was there to introduce keynote speaker Queen Latifah, his "Hairspray" co-star. Also joining him was Nikki Blonsky who played his daughter in the hit musical which had John playing Edna Turnblad, a heavyset woman who in the movie's finale, dances up a storm (in a fat suit!).

John's performance was largely praised and "Hairspray took in just under $120 million domestically.
"I was very careful about every decision regarding 'Hairspray' and I was hoping this would be the result because I had waited 30 years to do a musical."

Hollywood's trade papers today announced three cast additions to the Gius Van Sant-directed biopic, "Milk," a San Francisco city supervisor and the country's first openly gay elected official who was assasinated in 1978.

Josh Brolin (above) is in final negotiatons to play Dan White, the rival supervisor who killed Milk along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. Brolin is on the roll of his career with standout performances in "American Gangster" and "No Country for Old Men." I've been a big fan of his ever since he played a bisexual with an armpit fetish in the 1996 comedy gem "Flirting With Disaster."

Sean Penn had already been announced as being cast as Milk and James Franco ("Spider-Man") is in final negotiations to play Scott Smith, Milk's lover and campaign manager. Emile Hirsch, the young actor who made such a strong impression in the Penn-directed drama "Into the Wild," will play gay rights activist Cleve Jones, an intern and close ally of Milk's. Jones went on to found the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Some of the film will be shot in San Francisco as well as in London.

I hate to miss a good party. And last night, I nearly did.

Was invited to Showtime's holiday party which began at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. I had to get up really early to cover the Women In Entertainment breakfast so was dragging around the office. One of my work buddies said: "Why don't you go home and take a nap before the party?"

Great idea. I went home, hopped onto the sofa and started reading my copy of Variety. Next thing I know, it's dark outside and nearly 9 p.m. Yikes! I threw myself together and dashed out the door. Good thing the party was in Hancock Park, just a five minute drive from Park LaBrea.

Sorta forgot I hadn't eaten dinner until I walked in and spotted this terrific buffet. One of the Showtime publicist mentioned that the celebrities were out back then realized my first priority was food! I chowed down and talked to Andrew Wallenstein who is deputy editor of The Hollywood Reporter where I worked for about a year a long time ago. Michael C. Hall ("Dexter") walked by and I wanted to say hello but had a mouthful of turkey in it.

Then, decided to go out and mingle. Spotted Showtime's head exec Bob Greenblatt and told him what a nice house he has. He said: "It's actually not my house. We rented it for the party. I don't even think anyone lives here."

Heck, I'd live there.

I got out to the patio and there I see the tall drink of water that is David Duchovny who looks even more handsome in person. I did a little interview with him a few months back at an Outfest event but for some reason, he looked even more gorgeous last night. Also there were Kevin Nealon, Ethan Embry and Sunny Mabrey.

Buit my late arrival meant that I had missed Matthew Modine, Swoosie Kurtz, Justin Kirk and worst of all, Tracey Ullman. I'e never met Tracey Ullman and think she is a ridiculously talented woman.

Still, it was nice to get out of the house, have a nice meal, some good conversation, and call it a night.

I just posted a picture of Mario Lopez yesterday from his vacation in Mexico. Is today too soon to post another?

I didn't think so!

Enjoy!!!

Sherri Shepherd is a very funny woman and I love watching her on "The View" because she brings a nice energy to the show. But she's not exactly the most evolved person in the world, at least compared to her fellow panelists. This clip shows a conversation about little boys dressing up in girls clothes etc. and what would happen if Sherri's son wanted to wear a dress:

"I'm his mother. He will not be wearing a dress," she said emphatically adding that if that's what he wants to do, he can do it after he's 18 and out of the house. Barbara Walters asked what if her son was gay? Would she wait for him to be 18?

She replied: "I love my son and I would accept my son but there would be certaoin behavior that would not be going on in my house."

Kinda funny. Kids, gay or straight, are gonna find a way to have sex if they want to. And sometimes, Sherri, it's gonna happen right there in your house.

...and he's not wearing a shirt, of course. Would we care otherwise? CBS has announced a winter edition of "Big Brother" since they will be out of original scripted programming due to the strike. I'm gonna try not to get lured in but, these things do happen...

...it's the glorious Margaret Cho! What a smart, gorgeous, funny, funny, funny woman. She makes me laugh in that gonna pee your pants or hyperventilate way. When she does her mother, I have convulsions. All of her concert DVDs are well worth owning and I even own the DVD set of her series "All American Girl" which casts BD Wong as her brother!

Happy birthday to this delicious artist...

I've started contributing to this fun new weekly feature for our newspaper chain called "Whatever Happened To..." which catches up with famous people from days gone by and updating people on their lives. The first week was Jane Withers (remember Josephine from the Comet cleanser commercials?) and last week was Ann Rutherford who played Scarlett O'Hara's sister in "Gone With the Wind."

This week's was especially fun because I wrote about Kent McCord who has no idea that he was my first crush. I'd watch reruns of "Adam 12" and just focus on his every move - but too young to realize why. But I soon figured it out! He was about as handsome a man as I had ever seen and even now, in his mid-60s, he is still stunning. Anyway, here is the story of what has happened to Kent McCord since his days on "Adam 12" ...

By Greg Hernandez

"Adam-12" may have ended its original run 32 years ago, but fans of the police drama have no trouble recognizing Kent McCord as the actor who portrayed Officer Jim Reed for seven seasons.

"I get that all the time, especially when I'm doing things that are related to police," said McCord, who was born Kent Franklin McWhirter on Sept. 26, 1942.

It's no surprise that the LA native's first acting gig was on "The Adventure of Ozzie and Harriet" since he was a buddy of Ricky Nelson, whom he met at USC. McCord appeared in about 50 episodes from 1962-66, and remembers one scene particularly well.

"I started on that show working background, standing in for Ricky. One day, they were doing a fraternity show where there was a party going on -- early-day 'Risky Business'-type thing -- while Ozzie and Harriet were away from the house. They came home early and I was standing at the door with at my date. Ozzie asked, 'Where's Rick?' and I said, 'Who's Rick?' Those were the first two words I ever said in pictures."

What followed were small parts in a trio of Elvis Presley films, as well as eight appearances as police rookie Reed on the Jack Webb drama "Dragnet 1967." A year later, Webb cast McCord to reprise his role opposite Martin Milner as veteran officer Pete Malloy in "Adam-12." The series ran on NBC from 1968-75, and its positive portrayal of crime-fighting work was credited with boosting recruitment in the Los Angeles Police Department.

"I kind of got spoiled when I got into the business doing 'Ozzie and Harriet,"' McCord said. "That was a real-life family and the (plots) were always based on things that were real -- real things happening to real people. Then I was fortunate enough to do 'Adam-12' which was based on fact. I've always been partial to doing that kind of programming, something that has a beginning, middle and an end, and can entertain as well as educate."

McCord may have never had another series as successful as "Adam-12" but he has kept working. He was one of the leads in the ABC sci-fi series "Galactica 1980," had a recurring role on "seaQuest DSV" in the mid-'90s. His semi-regular role of Jack Crichton on "Farscape," a sci-fi TV cult hit that ran from 1999-2003, gained him lots of younger fans. There's also been plenty of voiceover work, scores of television guest spots and some movies ("Airplane II-The Sequel," "Predator II," and "Megiddo-The Omega Code 2").

In recent years, however, McCord's most notable role has been as a leader in the Screen Actors Guild. He was elected to its National Board of Directors in 1972, as treasurer in 2001 and is currently first national vice president.

He has juggled acting and union work with a home life with his wife of 45 years, Cynthia -- his sweetheart at Baldwin High School -- and their children, Kristen, Megan and Michael.

The still-handsome actor knows he'll never have another role as iconic as the one he played for 175 episodes of "Adam-12," but he's still itching to act.

"Make-believe is a wonderful way to make a living," he said."When you get into my age range -- and for women it happens quite younger -- you are being excluded from this American scene if you watch the programming that is going on. But there are people who revel in the fact that mature people can have interesting lives."

Here is a lengthy clip from the very first episode of "Adam 12":

Here is a clip from Kent's "Galactica 1980" series:

And here is a recent interview with Kent in his capacity as 1st VP of the Screen Actors Guild (Hollywood division). The video is a little dimly lit but it gives you a good idea of Kent today:

Jodie Foster gave a really moving and surprisingly candid speech when she received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the 16th annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast on Tuesday.

Toward the end of her remarks, Jodie thanked those nearest and dearest to her. Among them was "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss."

Since she has always been so intensely private, I was surprised at the public acknowledgement of who I presume is Cydney Bernard, the woman who is widely reported to be her life partner.

Lansing, who presented Jodie with the award before a crowd that included Queen Latifah and John Travolta, said of the actress-director: "Jodie Foster leads her life with dignity - she's her own person, she doesn't follow the herd. She's an original."

The two-time Oscar winner was funny and heart-warming during the speech, which brought some in attendance at the Beverly Hills Hotel to tears: "I feel fragile...unsure, struggling to figure it all out, trying to get there even though I'm not sure where there is," she said. "I've been working in this business for 42 years and there's no way you can do that and not be as nutty as a fruitcake."

Jodie and I had a light-hearted chat prior to the breakfast. I told her that just about everyone was either gushing about her or wanted to meet her.

"Really?" she said, smiling. "I think it's a lie. I think they're just saying that because I'm here."

I wondered if she ever gets tired of being feted since she's got a boatload of awards aleady.

"Well yeah, I get tired of getting dressed up," she admitted. "If I could get feted in my pajamas, I'd be there, I'd be like at the opening of a doorknob."

Is Jodie, who turned 45 last month, going to do more movies since she seems to do, at most, one a year? "One movie a year is really way too much even honestly. I did two movies in a year...and it almost set me over the edge."

She had a rare box office misfire this fall with "The Brave One" which opened at number one but went on to gross just under $37 million domestically. She's unfazed: "You make movies for the right reasons, hopefully, and that's a movie that I'm probably more proud of than anything I've done in many, many, many years. Some movies aren't for everybody."

Jodie, the mother of two children, told me that she has learned to juggle professional commitments with family.

"The one way that I've been able to make sense of it is to say that my job is something I do from 9 in the morning to 6 at night or whatever it is and my life starts after that," she said. "I've been able to compartmentalize and keep them separate. There are different parts to what I do for a living and part of what I do for a living is doing things like this [breakfast], part of it is being on a movie set at 4 in the morning, freezing cold and with a gun in my hand. Part of it is the thinking stuff. But when I get home, it's a different world."

Gee, are the "Ugly Betty" writers looking for ways to get Christopher Gorham out of his shirt??? I certainly hope so. In Thursday's episode, his character of Henry and girlfriend Betty (America Fererra) get a little wild and she makes an ice cream sundae on his stomach then attempts to eat it off of him. The results are hilarious.

Here is a clip:

When Martina Navratilova rang me up before lunch today, it was to talk about her new role as an ambassador for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and I will post her comments about that tomorrow on this site and in my LA Daily News print column later this week.

First, I want to share the part of our conversation that focused on her coming out a lesbian in the late 70s and what she went through as she battled America's sweetheart Chris Evert on tennis courts around the world for the sports biggest titles. While news of a female athlete coming out would barely raise an eyebrow these days, back then, it was a very big deal and Martina displayed enormous courage in doing so.

"I don't know one person who's come out who wants to go back in," Martina said. "It was rough back then. It was rough when I walked on court, people would be clapping when Chris [Evert] or Steffi [Graf] were announced. I'd come out and some people wouldn't clap. Imagine if they didn't clap for Roger Federer if he was gay. He's the best tennis player in the world. So that hurt. To me, my sexuality should be irrelevant, it's not anything to be ashamed of. I was upset that people would think it was a negative and judge me just on that."

While Evert ruled the game for the second half of the 70s, Martina supplanted her from the top in 1982. They continued to battle for dominance but for a good three years, Martina basically owned Chris at one point beating her 13 times in a row. As Evert began to have some wins again - most notably in the 1985 and 1986 French Open finals against Martina - and Steffi Graf took over the top ranking in 1987, the public saw past Martina's dominance and began to recognize her for who she was.

BTW: Martina and Chris both ended up winning 18 Grand Slam titles but Navratilova had a slight edge in their 80-match rivalry which ended in 1988 at 43-37.

I mentioned to Martina that I thought a real breakthrough for her with the public was after the 1991 U.S. Open final which she lost to Monica Seles. The crowd just wouldn't stop clapping, finally bringing Martina to tears. It was a wonderful moment for me as a tennis fan watching on TV at home and I loved how she was being showered with affection for being a champion but for also being an honest and brave human being.

"They got me," she says. "First they liked me, then I was the big brute beating our Chrissie. Then in 1991, they just respected me and they got me. They realized I was real and said what I thought and tried to do it in the best way possible."

I commented to Martina (pictured after one of her nine Wimbledon singles wins) that she has had an enormous impact on untold numbers of gay and lesbian people who felt they would never be embraced if they did not remain in the closet or be able to make their dreams come true as an openly gay person.

I am one of them.

She seems to understand this and I'm so glad: "Probably my biggest accomplishment is changing those people on the fence. The thing I'm happiest about is the kids that didn't feel alone, who wrote me letters and said I helped give them the strength to be who they are."

So why isn't Greg posting?

Well, it's been quite a busy and heady morning starting with the Women In Hollywood event at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I got a quick one-on-one with Jodie Foster followed by a quickie with John Travolta - a quick interview. Great event but had to dash to the valet so I could get back to the newsroom to take a call from Martina Navratoliva who called to talk about her new role with AARP. Martina is awesome!

Interviews to come...

Well, since Matthew McConaughey has insisted on wearing a shirt lately, at least we still got Mario Lopez showing off his six pack!!!

Reichen Lemkuhl may have his share of detractors. but I'm not one of them, In fact, when I saw him at Saturday night's Ribbon of Hope Celebration (he was with boyfriend Ryan Barry and presented with lovely Thea Gill) I noticed his new look and said: "I like you hair that way!"

Reichen: "You do? I'm just letting it go for awhile. Thank you! I needed that compliment."

Greg: So, we're about halfway through the season of "Dante's Cove." Are you getting any feedback about the show?

Reichen: "Everything we've heard has been positive, that it's been a great improvement. People are like, 'Wow! Reichen can really act!' which is really nice to hear. It's tough to be judged sometimes, coming from reality and going into something scripted. But I loved it so much. I put my heart into it and I hope it pleases everyone."

Greg: I've watched the whole season. Your [sex] scene with Jon Fleming was really sexy.
Reichen: It was different for me to do that. I've done nudity like showing my butt before to do a simulated sex scene, it was a challenge. But they treated it so well, the directors handled it with such professionalism, it took a very long time to shoot. It looks like a really hot situation, but it's just not that way when you shoot it. It was so choreographed. There were people around and so many lights and you're pretty much always covered up."

Greg: What is coming up for you next?

Reichen: I have my jewelry line out, Fly Naked, and I'm giving 10 percent of the gross proceeds to Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN.org). It's going really well. It was picked up by Fred Segal in October and picked up by Amazon.com jewelry in November. I helped create it.

Greg: What's next? Reichen cologne or calendars?

Reichen: [Cologne] would be cool. I've already dine the calendar thing.

Greg: What about on the acting front?

Reichen: I'm still going out on auditions. I have a comic book series coming up about me and my grandmother who was a pilot in WWII.

Greg: Did you write it?

Reichen: No, I'm working with someone on the creation of the story so I'm a half-creator.
Greg: So you're always looking for new and fun things to do.

Reichen: I live my life project to project which is kind of the way you have to do it. Right now we're working on the screenplay of my book ("Here's What We'll Say") to turn it into a film.

Greg: Who's gonna star in it? You?

Reichen: No, I'm much too old now but I'd like to narrate the film.

What a sick and twisted pair.

The former New Jersey first couple ended up in court last week over, of all things, their 6-year old daughter Jacqueline’s upcoming birthday party. The one-time gay gov Jim McGreevey, who married the former Dina Matos as a beard to help his political career, wants to have a big birthday party for the little girl. But Jim and his lover had her over Thanksgiving so Dina put her foot down and refused to allow her ex-hubby an extra day for the big circus bash.

So, the McGreevey circus ended up in court. and Judge Karen Cassidy called this birthday battle “about the saddest thing she’d ever seen.” The judge also ripped into Jimbo and Dina for letting their immaturity get in the way of their daughter's happiness.

Added the judge: "The hatred that these two have for each other overrides everything, including their child…It’s just so out of control. This poor kid… I feel like I’m the only one protecting her.

Ex-Governor McGreepy was displeased with the judge's remarks: “I’d like to think I don’t hate anyone. Sometimes, yes, I feel frustrated, challenged…” Then there's Dina who still insists that all she wants is what's best for the kid: “I’ve always tried to protect my daughter and keep her out of the media.”

Pu-leeeeze. She the biggest weapon ya got Dina. Put your kid before your vindictiveness.

When I chatted with funny Bruce Vilanch Saturday night, I wondered what he's been doing with himself since the writers strike began.

"I've been shouting quips out the window," he joked. "{There's no movie or television work, it's hard for everybody and you have to turn to your back-ups, your alternative modes.

Lucky for Bruce, the strike does not apply to stage shows so he's been able to work on material for his pal Bette Midler's upcoming show in Las Vegas which bows Feb. 20 at "Caesar's bathhouse.," Bruce said before quickly correcting himself: "Caesar's Palace, pardon me"

"I am writing her material, it's very exciting."

I remind him that it was Bette's birthday!

"It certainly is," he said. "I did call her and I wished the machine happy birthday."

Note: This is an updated post. Greg Plitt's publicist asked me to "correct" a few things. I stand by the original post but didn't want to be completely uncooperative. Apparently Greg was not supposed to talk about the new season of "Workout" so I have deleted a few sentences that gave away some plot points. I refused, however, to take down the entire post as was requested. I wish Greg well.

Greg Plitt is so stunningly beautiful that you figure he's gotta be a dolt with nothing upstairs. You know, just a real musclehead. Well, he's got muscles and he's got looks (can you believe these pictures?) but he's also got some things to say. We chatted a few weeks back at the Diversity Awards where Jackie Warner of "Workout" was honored as the out star of a reality show. Greg, [28], is one of the trainers on the next season of the show which debuts with its third season in March.

I wanted Greg to tell me a little about himself and he gave me a very concise little bio: "I've done about [50] fitness covers and that's my background, sports and fitness, and I was a West Point graduate, an Army ranger, I served overseas. So, a casting friend of mine saw an opening on the show and brought me over there and it's working out well. I've got a good story, an inspirational story about being in the war, coming from a military background and promoting fitness and a healthy lifestyle. I've been able to bring that to the table."

So, what's in store next season for fans of "Workout"?
"We just came back from a weekend trip, up near [deleted] and it's gonna be juicy this year, there's a lot of drama....[deleted sentence] ...It's unfolded into a lot more drama than I think we all expected."

Since the show will bring him at least 15 minutes of fame, how does Greg feel about becoming a celeb?
"Whatever comes from that, bring it on," he says. "I'm excited about it. I think reality shows were cool. My whole premise of being on the show is that it portrays fitness in a positive light, not the vanity of it where you're working out to look good in the mirror. But where you're working out as a lifestyle to be healthy."

I tell Greg that he is going to have a lot of gay fans because we are very shallow and he is so good looking.

He smiles.

Then I tell him he could be dumb as a doornail and we'd still love him because we're an awfully shallow bunch.

He stops laughing and reminds me that he is a West Point graduate.

Oh, yeah. Sorry. OK, what does he have to say to all his future gay fans I wondered. Here it is: "I'm a friend to everybody. Sex, gender, whatever your preference is, it's not about that. It's about the character of the person. That comes in every flavor. Everyone has something to give everybody and far too often people have tunnel vision and turn off their peripheral vision and miss out on learning and meeting people. I welcome everybody and try to learn from everybody. Maybe sometimes I learn from their mistakes and learn what not to do."

I'm sold. I'm easy.

Greg came to the event with the outrageous Sally Kirkland, the Oscar-nominated actress who is quite skilled but has gotten more attention in the past decade or so for her wacky fashion choices on any red carpet that will have her. She will appear on at least one episode of the show.

"I've been training Sally and she's been training me too. She's been giving me a lot of yoga instruction and bending me in places I didn't think I could bend."

Lucky bitch.

Greg wants to be an actor and says, "I was in a couple of movies. I was in 'The Good Shepherd" with DeNiro, also did about 21 episodes on HGTV's "Design to Sell" (he's a carpenter on that show). We go in there, we tear up houses."

Actor/trainer/carpenter/scholar. Is there nothing this dude can't do?:

When I ran into Tracee Ellis Ross last month at an event, I brought up her mom being selected as one of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honorees. Tracee lit up and said: "Is that great or what? I will be there with bells on."

Diana Ross got the royal treatment over the weekend in Washington D.C along with Brian Wilson, Martin Scorsese, Steve Martin and pianist Leon Fleisher. There was a White House reception for the honorees then a gala program at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where the group was given the big fuss they so deserve.

Aretha Franklin, a 1994 Kennedy Center Honors recipient, said that as a teenager attending a variety show at Harlem's Apollo Theater, she was intrigued by the lead singer of a group called the Supremes.
"There was something about the girl singer in the middle," she said. "Needless to say, that young lady was Diana Ross."
During the musical tribute that followed Aretha's remarks, Ciara sang ‘‘I’m Coming Out,’’ Yolanda Adams sang ‘‘Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)’’ and Vanessa Williams sang ‘‘Touch Me in the Morning.’’

Recipients are cited for their excellence in the performing arts — dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures or television — and selected by the center’s board of trustees. The two-hour event will air Dec. 26 on CBS.

Meanwhile, I just found this clip of Diana singing "It's My Turn" earlier this year when sahe was featured on "Inside the Actors Studio." She's only made five movies, but she is a terrific actress - Oscar nominated for "Lady Sings the Blues" and Golden Globe nominated for "Out of Darkness."

And one more: this is The Ultimate Supreme Fan Tribute with the Diana hit "Remember Me" used effectively as a background. So many photos and rare footage, including a snippet the disastrous Supremes reunion in 1983:

Gee, this is a big surprise.

The Idaho Statesman has a big package, complete with audio links, detailing claims from several men who poke some holes in Sen. Larry Craig's pathetic "I've never been gay" claims. The four gay men say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention. The paper reports that they are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay, I never have been gay."

David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex. Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005. Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene. Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the early 1980s.

A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, told the paper he was in a men's restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. The man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho.

Craig has been denying he was gay since 1982 when CBS broke news of a scandal alleging gay sex between congressmen and underage pages. Craig married a year later and adopted the three children of his wife, Suzanne. In 1990, the Idaho Statesman asked Craig about an allegation that he was gay made by an opponent in his first Senate race. "Why don't you ask my wife?" Craig replied.

This is all so sad and pathetic. There's nothing wrong with being gay but there is a lot wrong with deception and lying. This will not be the end of it. There will be more, I predict, and Craig will be further humiliated.

You can go the Statesman's online site to see the coverage, including audio links.

I haven't had a chance yet to weigh in on the while Larry Craig story and all the other guys coming out of the wood work to say that they had relations with the "never been gay" senator. I'll post on that in a bit. But in the meantime, here is a clip from Kathy Griffin's latest special in which she makes fun of many things, including the closet case senator's little episode on that airport bathroom:

I can't think of a more perfect place to be on World AIDS Day that at the Ribbon of Hope Celebration. I sat through the ceremony at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences theater Saturday night and was blown away at some of the programs that were honored like the movies "3 Needles," "Life Support" and "Girl, Positive" as well as the programs "Ashley Judd & Youth AIDS" (that one is a real eye-opener) and BET's "106 & Park:World AIDS Day Special."

Also honored were here! Networks for their "Here! Focus on HIV/AIDS" program and a well-deserved special achievement award was presented to PBS' "In the Life" by Judith Light who was honored at the event last year for her decades of work for HIV/AIDS.

The Emmy-winning actress, now one of the stars of "Ugly Betty," was one of the first celebrities, way back in the early 80s, to step-up and help to raise money and awareness.

She's never stepped down.

"I've been part of the really dark days," Judith said when we talked before the event. "How it feels now is it feels mildly better but it's not enough. I know that people are working really hard to make it be different and that's what we have to keep doing and that's why this is an important program for people to see so we do see that it's out there and it's not over."

Here! founder and CEO Paul Colichman who produced "Gods & Monsters" among other films, not only accepted an award for the network's special, but who also for the second year running will broadcast the ceremony (the date TBA)..

"It's an opportunity for everyone to realize what the face of AIDS is in 2008," Paul said. "The face has changed but it is probably more important than ever that people realize all of us have to play our art whether it's a dollar that you give, or an hour of time that you give, all of us together each doing our small part creates a mighty army of warriors."

I talked to tons of celebrity presenters at the event including Anthony Rapp, Jasmine Guy, Andrea Bowen, Bruce Villanch, Alexis Arquette, and the "Dante's Cove" trio of Charlie David, Jon Fleming,Reichen Lemkuhl and will be sharing some of the interviews throughout the week. I gotta say, there were lotsa beautiful people there but perhaps no one looked more lovely than Thea Gill of "Dante's Cove" and "Queer as Folk." I missed her on the red carpet but when she walked out to present with Reichen, she was old-Hollywood glamour and just glided across the stage to the podium with the train of her dress floating behind her.
I loved it!

Gabbed with Jack Coleman, who is now on NBC's "Heroes" but who we all know and love from his days as Steven Carrington on "Dynasty.," He had some thoughtful things to say about the HIV/AIDS crisis as we managed to do an interview despite a bossy fire marshall who insisted we were in some kind of forbidden area away from the red carpet.

Get a life dude!

Anyway, here is what Jack had to say: "It gets off the front page for awhile and people forget about it," Coleman said. "People think it's a disease that's been conquered and that's very far from the truth. In this country alone, there's 300,000 undiagnosed cases so it's scary and it's still out there and people really do have to be aware of it."

I always get such a lump in my throat whenever they do a scroll with many of the names of people who have died from AIDS over the last 25 years or more. It's is a potent reminder of the human toll this disease has taken and still takes. This year, Adam Pascal of "Rent" performed his original song "I'm With You" as those names were shown and I wanted to bawl.

Despite the serious nature of the topic, the event had its lighter moments. Alexis Arquette walked out and said to Julie Newmar sitting in the audience: "Hi gorgeous! I want to BE you!"

Bruce Vilanch can adlib better than just about anyone in town and is the first to poke fun at his less-than-svelt physique. He walked out and said: "Well, I used to be a writer. Now I'm a striking writer...and a stripper."

Bruce said that because he's currently on strike, he has to use old award show material alread written so he welcomed everyone to the 1948 Emmys where "we're honoring Kukla, Fran and Ollie and our newcomer of the year is Barbara Walters who we think has a bright future despite that terrible speech impediment."

But the real laughs came when Bruce, trying to introduce a clip from Ashley Judd's special, tripped up on the words "brothels of Guatamala City." He kept saying: "Guatamala Silly." When he FINALLY got it right, the audience applauded and Bruce said: "Thank you Guatamala citizens."

It was far from a typical "Brothers & Sisters" episode what with Robert (Rob Lowe) and Kitty (Calista Flockhart) getting married amid political turmoil for the senator. Then there's the whole Lena-Justin-Tommy love triangle and Holly (Patricia Wettig) getting a visit from a mysterious stranger from her past played by the show's director, Ken Olin, who happens to be Wettig's real-life hubby. I'm thinking he might be Rebecca's real father? Could be. Just a feeling.

OK, so let's get to the gay stuff.

Holly had a talk with Saul (Ron Rifkin) who I've already lost patience with. I don't care if he is/was/will be gay. It's all playing out in kind of an annoying way - at least to me. And yet, I know there are a lot of screwed up gay people out there who don't come to terms with it until they are practically ready for social security. Holly seems to sense Saul's gayness. At the reception, she said to him: "When we were together, I knew you weren't that interested in me...you can't help who you love Saul."

And finally, Scotty and Kevin.

Kevin (Matthew Rhys) really is acting like a jackass right now, wanting Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) back and yet going on and on about Jason. Kevin, at the wedding of Jason's brother, got the cold shoulder from the MacAllister family and stern words from Robert: My brother's halfway around the world...he's all alone and you dump him?"

Later, Kevin grouses to Scotty, of all people: "I'm done justifying this break-up." Scotty, his "date" to wedding, has had it: "Done. Stop. I'm not here as a friend willing to let you go on and on about your ex-boyfriend." Scotty takes a walk and a forelorn Kevin says to his brothers: "Well, I've chased another man away."

Later, at home, they have a heart-to-heart and Kevin states the obvious: "I was the worst date tonight."
Scotty: "You're not over him Kev, at least that's what it feels like."
Kevin stumbles through saying he's mostly over him and adds: "Scotty, I want to be with you."
Scotty: "Me too. But sometimes, just because you want something doesn't mean it's possible."

Uh oh. We know Eric Winter is returning as Jason so what does this all mean? Does Jason fight to win Kevin back?: Will Scotty graciously step aside? Who does Kevin really love?" I have no clue since there were no previews of the next episode.

Stay tuned.

Because the doubles team of Mike and Bob Bryan won their match against Russia in Portland, Oregon on Saturday which gave the United States its first Davis Cup title since 1995! Andy Roddick and James Blake had already won their matches on Friday. The team is captained by Patrick McEnroe who played on three different Davis Cup teams but never won the title as a player.

This is a great feat, just so great. It gives the US its 32nd championship in a team competition that is 107 years old. It had been the longest title drought for the US in history. In the first half of the 1900s, we had twice had an 11 year losing streak.

Best part, next to winning of course, is watching all these cute guys hug each other!

Congratulations to team USA for not only winning, but for having two singles players with movie star looks with a loyalty to Davis Cup that many American stars have not consistently had in the past.

What a great day for tennis fans...

You Bette!

It's the Divine Miss M who we love, love, love!!! She is the "Wind Beneath My Wings." OK, I was gonna try and be clever and work "From A Distance" and "The Rose" into a sentence then realized how ridiculous that would be!

I've seen her in concert twice (so fun!) but most of my Bette memories are from her movies. She's not making as many as she used to but as long as I have the DVDs of her in "Beaches," "For the Boys," "First Wives Club" and "Gypsy," I'm good. I do find it rather bizarre that I have never seen "The Rose" and yet, I have watched "Hocus Pocus" I dunno how many times.

What are your favorite Bette Midler memories?

I can hardly stand it! If you are not a tennis fan, then enjoy the pictures of these two handsome chaps in action. They are America's top two singles players Andy Roddick and James Blake. And on Friday in Portland, Oregon, they beat their Russian opponents in their respective singles matches to put the U.S. up 2-0 in the best of five matches competition. Tomorrow, brothers Bob and Mike Ryan, who have been virtually unbeatable in this competition in recent years, can clinch victory for the first time since 1995.