Josh and I recently made the trek out to author Augusten Burroughs's home in Amherst, Massachusetts, to talk with him about his new, darker memoir, A Wolf at the Table, and about his hilarious project coming up that we kind of can't wait to get our hands on.
The best 5 seconds in American cinema.
//Josh K.
...because in the third and last book of the series, The Amber Spyglass, which I just started reading, two anti-establishment fallen angels named Balthamos and Baruch aide in the quest to de-throne The Authority (a.k.a. God) and also just happen to be [cue drumroll] ...
GAY and IN LOVE:
"Baruch sat down beside his companion, and Will stirred the fire, so that a cloud of smoke drifted past the two of them. It had the effect of outlining their bodies so that he could see them both clearly for the first time. Balthamos was slender; his narrow wings were folded elegantly behind his shoulders, and his face bore an expression that mingled haughty disdain with a tender, ardent sympathy, as if he would love all things if only his nature could let him forget their defects. But he saw no defects in Baruch, that was clear. Baruch seemed younger, as Balthamos had said he was, and was more powerfully built, his wings snow-white and massive. He had a simpler nature; he looked up to Balthamos as to the fount of all knowledge and joy. Will found himself intrigued and moved by their love for each other."
Not bad for a kids book. Unfortunately, if the next two movies are as watered down as the first, this plotline will be conveniently glossed over.
//Josh K.
Seeing Madonna last night at Roseland was pretty crazy. Getting to see Justin Timberlake? That was just an added bonus.
Madonna was very high-energy, she sang live, and she looked amazing. (Those arms! That heaving bosom! Um, just generally her!) If she had been iffy or disappointing, I'd tell you. But, honestly, she absolutely earned my respect.
The craziest thing was being so close -- about twenty feet away -- from one of pop culture's biggest icons. Whatever people say about Madonna, like her or not, the woman can put on a damn show.
Check out my full Madonna at Roseland report on Towleroad.
I'm about to admit something deeply embarrassing and kind of horrifying, so bear with me, okay? Okay . . . Here goes . . . Okay, so Jesse McCartney (a former Disney teen heart throb) has a new song called "Leavin'" and I'm kind of loving it. [pause] I know! I deserve all that scorn and animosity you just felt. But I swear, try the song out, and see if doesn't totally appeal to your trash pop instincts. It's kind of fun. But these are things one doesn't usually admit in public.
There are three movies that are getting great reviews that I want to see this weekend, and I don't know how I'm going to decide what to see. (In the end, Josh K. will probably be the tie breaker. You know how it is.)
First is a documentary called Young At Heart about a choir of senior citizens that sing rock, punk, and indie covers. The preview had me at hello. Honestly, I can only hope this is what I'm like when I'm in my 70s and 80s.
Second is the Robert Downey Jr. action film Iron Man, which is getting shockingly good reviews. Robert Downey Jr. apparently has nine lives in Hollywood, and he must be doing something right with this one.
And last, but not least, Son of Rambow, the British comedy about . . . well, you'll have to see the preview to understand the cockamamie, but brilliant, premise of the film.
Can't wait!
Oh yes, I most definitely am.
So, those guys above? They're a real gay couple.
That's really their house.
They're really married.
They tied the knot in their mid-twenties and have been together almost a decade.
So. Not. Fair.
[Read the New York Times Magazine cover story "Young Gay Rites" here]
Left to Right: Matt, Brad, Josh H., Josh S., and David at Manchattan Studios.
This week I was a guest on the irreverent, oft-naughty, popular podcast Manchattan. The boys peppered me with questions and I let slip a few things about interviewing Mario Lopez and the cast of Sex and the City, and even revealed who Josh and I interviewed over the weekend (oops!). Then we spilled about dating in Manhattan. All, of course, while drinking summerish liquor concoctions. Those Manchattan boys wouldn't have it any other way.
Click here to listen to the Manchattan podcast episode "Just Joshin'".
This weekend Josh and I saw the new comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In the tradition of Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, it's a comedy anchored around a bumbling-but-lovable straight guy and his good-lookin' girls that he can't quite seem to do right by (at least not right away). Sarah Marshall has plenty of laughs, and even some full frontal male nudity (ooooh, run to the theaters!), but it also has what the other aforementioned films have: heart. It's a good combo, and it works here.
Final Verdict | B/B+ | You don't have to see it in theaters (it'd be fine on DVD), but if you do see it in the theaters, you won't be disappointed.
But of course, this weekend we highly recommend you go see Baby Mama.
Ready for some hot, unsubstantiated, but well-sourced Gossip Girl gossip?
A friend of mine (who works at a magazine in the same building as I do) has a friend who works on the show. (This is exactly how rumors get started--this tetchy friend-of-a-friend stuff. But I digress.)
I'm told, through this source who works on the show, that there isn't one, but two gays about to come out on Gossip Girl.
We already know that Serena's former nut-house brother is going to come busting out of the rainbow closet next week. (Yawn.) But who could this extra gay be? Alas, my source wouldn't give it up, no matter how many favors I promised. (And I made some creative offers, folks.)
In the original teen book series Dan (Penn Badgley) swung both ways. Maybe they'll reveal that Dan formerly dug a dude? Or maybe they'll let him have a man crush? Or maybe Chucky Chuck has a lil secret?
We'll find out soon, kiddos.
xoxo!
P.S. If you're a fan of the show, or not, you've still got to read New York magazine's Gossip Girl cover story. Hilarious, and kinda spot on.
Josh and I recently interviewed Mario Lopez for Towleroad TV as he prepared to make his debut in A Chorus Line on Broadway as Zach, the show-within-a-show's director. Mario talked about his Broadway debut, his new fitness book (try not to drop your jaw when you see the cover), A.C. Slater, and his supportive gay fans. The bonus? We got to stay during a rehearsal and catch some of his moves from the show. Check it out.
Josh and I are just about to head out the door for a little road trip. It's going to be great to get out of the city for the day and breathe and hang out where it's greener and quieter.
The bonus to our little road trip is that it involves stopping at a well-known person's house in the afternoon to shoot a Towleroad TV interview before we head back to the city.
Who might this person might be? A few clues:
This morning we were so excited when we were flipping through the New York Times 
and saw our amigo Kevin Sessums's book Mississippi Sissy featured in the Book Review's Paperback Row. It's kind of crazy because every time we go into a bookstore now we see Kevin's smiling face looking up at us from the front-of-store book tables. From the NYT:
"Growing up in small-town Mississippi in the 1960s and ’70s, Sessums always felt different, he says in this memoir. But coming to terms with his homosexuality was only one challenge he faced: both his parents died by the time he was 9, and 10 years later he discovered the body of his mentor, who had been brutally murdered."
On The iPod
Mariah Carey | "Side Effects" | E=mc2
I have to say that "Touch My Body" wasn't really for me. When I heard it as the first single I was a little worried about E=mc2. But as soon as I heard "Side Effects" it's been only love for Mimi. Try it once and you'll want it again.
Marie Digby | Unfold
It's been a while since I downloaded a full album and actually enjoyed each track. Marie hit my radar last year with her YouTube acoustic version of "Umbrella" (6 million hits and counting) and now with self-written songs like "Paint Me In Your Sunshine" and "Better Off Alone" I'm hooked. She's pop-ish, but not painfully so.
David Cook | "Always Be My Baby" | American Idol Studio Version
Oh my god, I'm so ashamed. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally listening to this song on my walk to work. They turned it into a full four-minute song and, um, it's really kind of good. It's ready to be dropped into a movie or TV show stat. This kid is going to sell some albums.
Now On Our Bookshelves
No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July (paperback May 6)
"July's single emotional register is familiar from her film Me and You and Everyone We Know, but it's a capacious one: wry, wistful, vulnerable, tough and tender, it fully accommodates moments of bleak human reversals. These stories are as immediate and distressing as confessionals." --Publishers Weekly
Mothers and Sons by Colm Toibin
"Nine stories explore what happens when mothers and sons confront one another as adults. Wistful, touching and complex." --Publishers Weekly
