Nikon has enlisted out media juggernaut Carson Kressley for a new web ad series called Look Good In Pictures:

"Look Good in Pictures is a unique new series starring style guru and television personality, Carson Kressley. Carson shares entertaining and helpful insights and will give real practical advice on how to embrace photogenic qualities in a variety of everyday situations such as vacations, holidays, nights out on the town and weddings."

The episode above is about creating the best holiday picture possible for you and your loved ones. One of the tips is "in a family portrait, there's no such thing as too close". (Obviously, they never spent a day in the Kmart Portrait Studio with my family.)

Check out lots more video tips over on the site ... unfortunately there's no how-to on Kressley's specialty, How to Look Good Naked ... in pictures!

Katherine Heigl and TR Knight shopping. Cute tee, T! 

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Jerri Blank and Chris Keller in a Nickelodeon movie about a gym teacher written and directed by Mr. Jellineck and featuring a cameo by Mango? Someone just peeked into my brain and printed it to tape.

• Here's a new interview with How to Look Good Naked "Fairy God Stylist" Carson Kressley in which he recounts a hilarious harrowing nudist-related prank on the Queer Eye set.

• Antonio Sabato, Jr. can't decide if he'd rather be gay or stupid. Too bad the decision was already made for him.

"Jooooiiiiin uussssssssss!"

• 20 Hot Male Bloggers! Hats off to local fave Chris Leavins (Cute With Chris), Andy Towle (Towleroad) and #1 snagger Rich Juzwiak (FourFour). In addition to Andy and Rich, there were a few other out gay fellas on the list. Wheee! Oh, and we'll be over here with the ugly folk, if you need us.

• If rumored Dancing With the Stars contestant Lance Bass is paired with another man, I think it's only fair that rumored contestant Dan Quayle is, too. (Yes, that Dan Quayle.)

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

Carson Kressley (Photo credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)

While things aren't yet where I would like them to be when it comes to gay visibility (I suspect there is at least one interview I'm not getting here at the Television Critics Association because we're a gay website), things are vastly improved from years past. What I found most encouraging was that this weekend's panels included three out gay men here to promote a wide array of projects. Best of all, their being out gay men wasn't even really of note to anyone, yet nor was it a topic everyone was afraid to bring up.

The always funny Carson Kressley was here to tout the second season of his surpise hit Lifetime hit How To Look Good Naked. Season 2 looks to be very much like Season 1, but I mean that in a good way. I genuinely like the show's emphasis on learning to look at yourself in a realistic, healthy way as opposed to trying to physically be something most of us can't be. (I spoke with one critic afterward who seemed disbelieving of the idea I actually identified with the women Carson helps until I explained I'd been pretty heavy myself until my early 20's.)

Carson was his usual funny self, getting off a series of one-liners. When he was asked if he was surprised to have this particular job, he replied:

You know, I wake up every day and think to myself, wow, I'm doing women. I never thought this was going to happen. I was a little surprised when we first talked to the producers about the show, and they were like, would you host this show "How to Look Good Naked"? And I was like, "That's easy. "A box of wine and a dimmer switch."

Carson also announced he's got a daily talk show in the works. Could we finally have our own Ellen or Rosie? While I suspect Carson would do well in this format, it's not quite the breakthrough I'd been hoping for in talk shows. Where is our David Letterman or Arsenio Hall?  

David Hyde Pierce

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)

Present for a much more somber reason was stage and television star David Hyde Pierce continuing his longtime Alzheimer's activism. PBS is presenting a rebroadcast of The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimers, followed by a thirty minute panel discussion hosted by Pierce covering the most recent developments in the treatments of Alzheimers. David and I chatted afterward about our experiences with Alzheimers (the disease runs on both sides of my partner's family having killed both his mother and grandmother), same-sex marriage, and what he has coming up next. More on that to follow.

Stan Zimmerman

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)

Last in the gay male department, out writer Stan Zimmerman (The Golden Girls, Roseanne, A Very Brady Sequel) has a new show on Lifetime called Rita Rocks starring MadTV alum Nicole Sullivan. During the panel, the show was described as being similar to Reba and the clip show definitly confirmed that with a slightly hipper edge thanks to Sullivan who truly shone on MadTV.

Of course, it wasn't all just gay men this weekend. In fact, it was quite a eclectic line-up including one of the last true movie stars, Shirley MacLaine.

Shirley MacLaine

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)

Ms. MacLaine (it just feels wrong to call her Shirley) is starring in Coco Chanel, a Lifetime movie about the French designer. For you MacLaine fans who will only be tuning into see her, I should say that she is only in about 20% of the movie, 10% at the start and 10% at the end. During the panel and afterward, MacLaine was funny, outspoken and normally jaded critics actually seemed a little in awe.

Afterward, a group of us were chatting with the screen legend who has very definite views on politics. Asked what she watches MacLaine named off a variety of programs before someone asked which news channels she watces. Said MacLaine, "I want to see what old Bill O'Reilly is up to because he's so full of shit. Gotta see what he's doing now. ... I like Bill Moyer. I very much like that society lady's son [Anderson Cooper]. I like him. I think he's honest."

So Anderson not only made the AfterElton.com Hot 100 top ten, but now he's got Shirley MacLaine's stamp of approval.

After the jump, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Kline, and Lee Tergesen!

In their continued quest to out-gay Bravo as the gayest non-gay network on the dial, Lifetime (Television for Women and the Men Who Drink Cosmos With Them) is moving forward on a daytime talk show hosted by none other than Alpha Reality Gay, Carson Kressley.

I caught Carson's recent stint as the emcee of the True Colors Tour, and I thought he was absolutely hilarious. Some of his patter was a bit blue for a daytime show on a network best known for propping up the career of Meredith Baxter-nee-Birney for the last 20 years, but I think he'll adapt just fine.

In flipside-of-the-coin news, Fox Reality has announced the final list of contestants for their upcoming Gimme My Reality Show! (where reality also-rans compete for their own gig), and Bobby Trendy is among the names. All I can hope is that previously-announced castmember Santino Rice eats him on a cracker.

Anyway, back to Carson: We actually dug the How To Look Good Naked show he did for Lifetime and I think he'd be a great talk show host ... at the very least, we hope he lasts longer in the driver's seat than the last out talk show host, Jm J. Bullock (who co-hosted with Tammy Faye). In the meantime, if you haven't read our candid interview with him, definitely check it out.

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• The theatrical trailer for gay director Tom Kalin's Savage Grace, which stars Julianne Moore as murdered Bakelite heiress Barbara Daly Baekeland, is now online. Looks pretty good, as does the shmancy new poster, above.

• Probably funnier than it should be: The Most Unintentionally Gay Rap Lyrics Ever. (Uh, some language NSFW, natch.)

• A new tell-all from former MTV exec Terrence Dean promises to blow the closet doors off the hip hop music industry.

• Gay glitterati of all stripes (including Carson Kressley, Heather Matarazzo and girlfriend Caroline Kennedy, Christine Vachon, and film exec Andrew Saffir) turned out last night at the premiere of Helen Hunt's directorial debut, Then She Found Me. Why? I have absolutely no idea.

• Another posthumous outing of a closeted and by all accounts fairly bittersweet Hollywood success story: Raymond Burr. I think it was pretty well-known already, but a new biography dots the i's and crosses the t's.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

If the words "Shoot her Wardell! Shoot her in the head!" mean something to you, I've got some very good news. First, the brand new (double-wide) trailer for Sordid Lives: The Series is up and running, and from the looks of things, the inspired insanity of the movie has transferred intact to the TV show. And second, LOGO (who owns this site, by the by) has announced that the soap will premiere on July 23rd.

Most of the original cast has returned, including Olivia Newton-John, Leslie Jordan, and Bonnie Bedelia. There are a couple of notable changes, though. Delta Burke was unable to reprise her role, so the character of Noleta is now being played by Caroline Rhea. Jason Dottley is now playing the character of Ty, the struggling gay actor, and in a genius casting decision, the character of the family matriach, Peggy (who was a corpse in the movie), is somehow alive and being played by Rue McClanahan. Guest stars in the first season include Margaret Cho, Carson Kressley, and Candis Cayne, which means this has the potential to rock a 10.0 on the gaymeter.

If you want to know more, visit LOGOonline for further details about the show.

 
Hey, they said it! (Kevin from Brothers & Sisters)

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• If born-again wingnut Stephen Baldwin were president, he'd make it clear that gay marriage is "not acceptable". If I were president, I'd make it clear that Bio-Dome was "not acceptable". Come on, wasn't this guy in Threesome, Last Exit to Brooklyn and The Usual Suspects, and isn't his brother Billy currently doing wonders for queer visibility on Dirty Sexy Money?

• Although the above pic of Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) in a dunce cap is the best of the bunch, there are other pics from the upcoming Brothers & Sisters episode over here. 

• We mentioned Tim Gunn's appearance on Ellen in today's Queerview, and here's a video of the sit-down part of the silver charmer's visit. He really is just the coolest.

T.R. Knight at the 27 Dresses Premiere

• T.R. Knight looked dashing as ever at the premiere of BFF Katherine Heigl's new movie, 27 Dresses. Meanwhile, when asked how complicated his duties were as Heigl's bridesman, he replied, "I just stayed out of the way ... I'm not allowed to get married so I have no advice!" Churrrrrch!

• Lifetime's Carson Kressley-hosted new makeover show How to Look Good Naked broke the ratings record for reality premieres with the net's key demographic, so keep an eye out for more shows where gay men parade naked women around for fun. Kinda like Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency on opposite day!

• We know Brit soap Skins had some impressive gay content in its first season, so it's a shame that the otherwise amazing promo for season two that's after the jump doesn't feature any guy-guy stuff. (Note: it does feature lots of shirtless fellas and some gorgeous art direction.)

Here's some great news: At long last, the in-development series based on Del Shores' fan-fave play and movie Sordid Lives is making its way to Logo in the summer fall of 2008. 

Official word is out that the series (currently filming in Louisiana) is screenbound and will star Bonnie Bedelia, Rue McClanahan, Olivia Newton-John, Caroline Rhea, and Beth Grant (OMG don't tell me that's the Sparkle Motion lady from Donnie Darko...). Out, Emmy-winning actor Leslie Jordan (pictured above) will reprise his film role as the institutionalized, Tammy-Wynette-channeling "Brother Boy", and Margaret Cho, Carson Kressley, Candis Cayne and Georgette Jones are also set to cameo amidst the 12-episode run.

The press release sums up the series thusly:

Sordid Lives’ twelve half-hour episodes are a humorous look at a dysfunctional family and the denizens of Winters, Texas, as well as an institutionalized brother (Jordan) who channels Tammy Wynette (Jones).  The series also chronicles the handsome young son of one of sisters (Bedelia) who is struggling with coming out to his Texas Republican Baptist family while pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles. 

Finally, some good news on the television front ... and even more, easily the most bizarre cast I've ever seen assembled for a television project (most of whom appeared in the 2000 film). This could either be brilliance or an absolute mess, but either way, we'll be watching ... and not just because Logo will make us. (Logo is the parent company of AfterElton.com.)