New York News Blog

You've entertained me so heartily with your wit, your homilies, and your down-to-the-gut class, and as a treat, I'm giving you a week off!

Yes, I'm taking a vacation week, kids, so I can build up to the turkey club sandwich I'm planning for Thursday, and then I can have all day Friday to expel it from my cavities.

And I'll accomplish all that in between looking for three dollar Christmas gifts for my dearest pets and loved ones!

But don't fret. There WILL be a column on Wednesday and I'll be reminding you of that, as sure as my middle name is "Shakira."

Ciao!

Photo by David Shankbone

​There were so many deliciously squalid layers to the 2004 Jim McGreevey scandal, from the sexual harassment threats to the TGIF three-ways, and I think it was downright heroic of me to sum them all up for this flagrant, I mean fragrant, reminiscence on newsweek.com.

Photo by W Magazine

​Jesus Luz, the comely young Brazilian whom Madonna has taken under her wondrous wing, is going places. To the Maritime Hotel's Hiro ballroom, to be precise.

​I'll tell you some I feel deserve better reps.

*The Sound of Music Yes, I know the 1965 musical won Oscars and made shitloads of money, but some critics (and costar Christopher Plummer) look down on it as if it were nothing but hokey treacle. But the film works for me, from the second you see Julie Andrews spinning around the Alps, all the way through the way the kids foil the those horrid Nazis. Anyone who disagrees can shut their von Trapps!

​Let's recap: Out magazine blew the whistle on Adam Lambert's handlers for various demands they made so that he wouldn't come across "too gay" in the magazine.

Lambert fired back with remarks on ew.com saying the mag had crossed the line.

And now, here's Out's response to the response:

"We've no desire to prolong this discussion, but whether or not we crossed a line in throwing light on the conversations that preceded Adam's cover shoot and interview, we're glad to see such a robust and spirited debate. We admire Adam's achievements, which is why we honored him as Breakout Star of the Year, but using the editor's letter to discuss the old school tactics in the way he ismarketed and promoted was important for an annual issue that celebrates gay progress--the Out 100.

​Ever hear an old song and get instantly transported to a particular place in the cobwebs of your mind, whether it be your first bar or the
restaurant your boyfriend dumped you at between courses?

Lord knows any oldie at all plucks MY personal strings and immediately conjures up a place and time, since I've been through so darned many of them through the years.

​You've been reading here about the brutal murder of young Jorge Steven Lopez in Puerto Rico, which appears to have been committed by a 26-year-old father of four named Juan Martinez Matos.

And his rationale?

Well--as the attached piece on edge.com details--it seems Matos hit up Lopez for sex on a prosite-filled street and was disturbed to find Lopez was actually a man. So he decapitated, dismembered, burned, and discarded him. God, in The Crying Game, the guy only vomited!

​And there's a lot of them to out, honey!

Yes, churchouting.org sets out to expose the hypocrisy of Archdiocese of Washington priests who go along with the church's routine emotional assault on gays while living lives of quiet desperation that involve them having gay sex themselves. (Or even straight sex--the site wants to find ANY priest who's always on his knees for ANYTHING other than praying.)

​If indeed you are gay, that is. If you're not, then when did you know you were straight, bi, or bicurious?

Was it your reaction to your first Judy Garland song? Vin Diesel movie? Weekend in Palm Springs?

I'll tell you how I knew. As a 12-year-old, I felt vaguely sexual and kept looking at bathing suited people in travel brochures in order to find a target for my feelings.

I strenuously tried to find the women in the brochures attractive, but the only gal who seemed even mildly alluring to me was the one with a chest flatter than a carving board, a lady who looked pretty much like a dude, actually.

​Let me effortlessly answer that right away: To scam extra bucks!

Whenever I've checked out of a hotel, the bill usually reflects the fact that they have arbitrarily added extra charges, hoping you won't notice them or you won't get too alienated if you do.