Dennis Ayers's blog

Our asshat nominees this time out included a Newsweek reporter, a major league football team, a conservative radio show host, and that gaggle of Catholic bishops who issued a pastoral letter which among other things claimed that gay marriage "harms the intrinsic dignity of every human person and the common good of society." Oh yeah, also the D.C. Catholic Diocese threatened to discontinue church-sponsored charities for the homeless if gay marriage was passed in D.C.

What a swell bunch of guys, and needless to say they won this week's asshat contest.

In the immortal words of Marlene Dietrich: "Darling, love the hat but your handbag's on fire."

[*Correction - as Smartypants points out in the comments - the quote above is from Tallulah Bankhead and the exact wording seems to be, "Darling, I love your gown but your purse is on fire."]

Results after the break.

Kyle and Brian offer up a review of the movie Precious from gay director/producer Lee Daniels. Their take? It's one of the best movies of the last decade — and Mariah Carey's mustache deserves an Oscar.

Check it out after the break.

Every week we pick the gays who we think have made the biggest splash in television (or pop culture in general) and leave it to you, the keepers of the flame, to decide who will be crowned Gay of the Week. We'll announce the winner on Friday, and that champ will reign until a new set of challengers are introduced the following week to try to steal his title.

Last week you crowned everyone's favorite soap opera couple,"Kish" as gay(s) of the week. This week Oliver and Kyle were on the backburner, so four new challengers take to the arena.

Check them out after the break, and vote for your favorite!

Join Dennis and roommate Tony Tripoli for a hilarious yet truly educational adventure aboard Hollywood's first gay Hollywood tour bus. The bus isn't topless, but some of the tour guides might be as they helpfully reenact various watershed moments in gay Hollywood history!

Check it out after the break.

We've come a long way from Polari. Gay lingo is much more in the main stream, but that doesn't mean we gays don't need the occasional refresher course. This week, Daniel chats with James Adomian about the way we label ourselves. It's time to clarify some common gay terminology both past and present.

Check it out after the break!

According to People Magazine, Johnny Depp is The Sexiest Man Alive in 2009. You won't get any argument from me, I've been a fan of the guy since 21 Jump Street. But honestly, the photo they used for the cover does the man no favors.

It could be because Depp, reclusive, living in France, and flush from Pirates of the Caribbean booty, doesn't often sit for photo shoots. So perhaps that's the best recent photo they could find.

(If you're interested, Depp was #29 on our 2009 AfterElton.com Hot 100 and #8 on our 2009 Hot Men Over 40 list.)

People had a lot better luck with photos of some of their less famous and maybe hungrier contenders. For instance, they got Gilles Marini to pose for this shot ...

.. and People.com even offers up a video of Marini's Vegas inspired photo session. Same thing with Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison and Mark Salling of Glee...

Tim and Ryan attend this year's Stonewall Awards, as nominees no less. Before the ceremony the boys get a chance to chat up several folks, including Entertainer of the Year nominee Russell Tovey!

Tovey offers a status report on the second season of Being Human, what he looks for in playing a gay part, and why he thinks he might have been nominated for gay entertainer of the year.

That, plus the usual roundup of U.K. gay news and culture.

Check it out after the break!

Our asshat nominees this time out included Washington DC's other newspaper. a perky conservative wingnut, the Governor of our tiniest state, and a marine reservist weilding a tire iron.

They're all deserving, but the asshat crown goes the guy with the veto pen.

Results after the break.

Ramin Setoodeh

Newsweek's November 29th print edition has an article called "Kings of Queens" written by entertainment and culture reporter Ramin Setoodeh. The guy is probably best known for a January, 2008 interview with Clay Aiken where the prickly, pre-coming out singer sort of went off on him.

That Aiken interview was amusing, but Setoodeh's latest piece? Not so much. In summary, he posits that highly effeminate TV characters and reality show personalities such as Glee's Kurt or Project Runway's Christian Siriano might be hurting public acceptance of gays. As evidence, he points to the recent gay marriage losses in California and Maine.

I won't bother trying to poke holes in the Newsweek article's twisted logic — that terrain was ably covered by editor Michael Jensen's response on Friday and by the many thoughtful AfterElton.com reader comments it generated.

My interest in the Newsweek article is trying to figure out what sort of fevered mind would produce it. So I did a little research on Setoodeh and discovered what seems to be a running theme in his work: Effeminate gay guys need to butch it up.

Back in July 2008 Setoodeh got the byline for Newsweek's cover story about the death of Lawrence King, "Young, Gay and Murdered." You might think it strange that a young reporter who had previously only done celebrity interviews and movie reviews would be given such a serious assignment. Did he ask for it? Did the Newsweek editors think he would have a feel for the material?

Only they know for sure.

Join Dennis Hensley at the Hollywood premier of Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat where he interviews cast members including Daniel Skelton, Chris Salvatore, Michael E. R. Walker, Leslie Jordan and JDMA alum John Stallings about their work on the film.

Check it out after the break!