Jackie Oh!

September 30, 2006

Last weekend, I had the pleasure to chat up author Jackie Collins in front of an audience of gays and gay adjacents at the annual West Hollywood Book Fair. She could not have been more gracious and down to earth. By the end of it, I really wanted to ask, “How have you managed to sell 400 million books, live in LA most of your life and not become a huge, entitled Hollywood asshole?” but I refrained. So cool. She even sent a thank you note the next day.

My favorite only-in-Hollywood anecdote that she shared was about the recently deceased mega-producer Aaron Spelling. Ms. Collins worked with him on the Hollywood Wives miniseries and told a story about going into his office to discuss the project. A few minutes in...

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Confessions On a Xana-Dancer: Part One

September 29, 2006

A year ago this month -- for my birthday, natch -- a gaggle of friends attended a sing-along screening of the 80’s camp classic Xanadu at the Alex Theater in Glendale. Why? because I, like many of you, just can’t get enough of that shitty, sweet movie.

Halfway in, during the toe-tapping 40’s-meet-the-80’s number ‘Dancin,’ a troupe of live costumed dancers appeared from nowhere and did the choreography from the movie -- move for move -- in front of the screen. Understand that no one in the audience was expecting this, and so we all went apeshit. I thought my head was going to explode from pure joy. You really do have to believe in magic.

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McGreevey Loves Brokeback Mountain

September 26, 2006

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey has a new book out, The Confession. He’s everywhere, doing the big media push.

I just read the piece in GQ where the writer, Jeanne Marie Laskas, clearly wasn’t buying what he was selling. Somewhere between being damned to hell by Elizabeth Hassleback on The View and his verbal three-way with Hannity and Combs, McGreevey found time to be interviewed for Twist, the nationally syndicated weekly gay radio show I co-host with Melissa Carter and Will Wikle. www.radiowithatwist.com

I received the book the day before the interview and started in. I’m about halfway through now and I’m finding it to be a well-written, seemingly honest and cautionary tale about the perils of a life in the closet. I think it’s going to be a good thing for gay people because it really describes the societal forces that cause people to live lies and the toll it takes on everyone involved.

Even Oprah seemed to get it, sort of.

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Me & Project Runway

September 21, 2006

Speaking of "Project Runway," thanks to my friends here at OUTzone, I was able
to score a ticket to last week’s final-four fashion show in Bryant Park. I flew out for it—my LA Runway junkie friends would never forgive me if I didn’t—and it was all I dreamed it would be and more. I’ll detail the whole
fashion-forward experience in a future blog. In the meantime, here’s a pic of my friend and OUTzone editor Aaron Krach in the Bravo offices posing with some giant Runway pins. I would have posed with Laura’s pin but it had to go to the bathroom to throw up. Morning sickness.

Summer Better Than Others

September 19, 2006

Stores are stocked with school supplies. Kate, Meredith and Rosie are all hoping we appreciate their points of view and styling choices. And the networks are serving up new crime shows I’ll never watch with titles like “Standoff,” “Justice,” “Vanished,” “Kidnapped” and “The Unit.” (I believe the latter is about a hotheaded penis who doesn’t like to play by the rules.) Yes, the fall is upon us and the summer of ’06 is but a memory. Let’s look back at some highlights -- and lowlights.

NELLY FURTADO’S "PROMISCUOUS" -- You’re darn right, she is. I thought Nellie was over but she pulled a Sandy from Grease, went slutty and came out on top. This song is her version of ONJ putting out the cigarette with her shoe and saying, "Tell me about it, stud."

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA -- During one scene involving fancy outfits, Meryl Streep gives Anne Hathaway a look that’s so withering that I felt I’d been fired in the audience. It was like acting squared.

LANCE BASS -- I’d like to take this opportunity to the former ‘N Syncer to the community of out gay guys trying to make their way in show biz. The water’s fine, Lance. It’s just not very lucrative.

ANOTHER GAY MOVIE -- Not all the gags worked, but this gay-gross out comedy has balls. Unfortunately, the ones you see on screen belong to “Survivor” jailbird Richard Hatch.

QUINCINEARA -- So sweet, smart and subtly powerful: It really got me in the mood to do some gentrifying.

POSEIDEN -- I thought this movie was going to be a big hit and proclaimed so much on the radio show I co-host, Twist. Was I high? Waitress, can I have some whipped cream with my humble pie.

X-MEN 3 / SUPERMAN RETURNS -- I had a better time at the former than the latter and if that means I’m banned from Comic-Con for life, so be it.

AMERICA’S GOT TALENT -- If I’m going to watch people do weird tricks on TV, I want there to be a gong on hand. And you, Brandy, are no Jaye P. Morgan.

MADONNA’S "CONFESSIONS" TOUR -- Her stamina and physicality were mind-boggling. I kept waiting for the auto-cunnilingus version of "Cherish." Still, I wanted more patter. Would it kill her to take a page from the Sweeney Sisters playbook and say things like, "Are there any lovers in the house?"

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It's All in the Cards

September 13, 2006

At the always-delightful weekly house party where I watch Project Runway, there was a moment last week, in the “Return from Paris” episode, that my fellow junkies and I had to watch over and over again. It was when host Heidi Klum read aloud from guest judge Catherine Malandrino’s scorecard for Vincent’s woeful "couture" dress: “No…no, no, no.”

That moment was pure joy and made me wonder what other words of wisdom and profundity must exist on those judges’ scorecards. What else could we learn from and about Heidi, Michael and Nina if we could just get our hands on those fashion-forward Re-Entry Red Astrobright cards?

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Where Credit is Due...

September 07, 2006

When it comes to movies, the end of summer is usually thought of as a dumping ground -- the time of year studios unload the crap that’s been taking up space on their shelves for ages like Material Girls. If that’s the case, then why have I been having such a good time at the movies lately? Maybe it’s a combination of high air conditioning and low expectations.

I knew I was going to like Step Up before I even bought a ticket because the plot was like nothing I had ever seen before. A street thug who dabbles in hip-hop dancing meets a snooty ballerina girl and after a series of montages ripe with sexual tension and petty bickering, the pair manage to meld their disparate dancing styles and come together for a triumphant final number. It’s such a compelling story that I’m amazed no one’s ever thought to tell it before.

As Tyler, the male lead, Channing Tatum, is charming, a good dancer and seems to know what kind of movie he’s in. The chick, Nora, played Jenna Dewan, seems more like a Pussycat Doll than a ballerina but she looks and acts a bit like Denise Richards -- which is a definite plus as the former Mrs. Sheen is one of the best good-bad actresses we’ve got. Nora has problems at home which I think stem from the awful colors her disapproving widow of a mother chose for the interior of their house. Every time Nora had a scene at home, the walls would be some depressing color like burgundy or hunter green. I know the mom’s in mourning but geez, get a gay guy in there to brighten it up a bit. We could send Oprah’s own Nate Berkus, the king of the V-necked T, but he’s got his hands full on Angel Lane.

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