Josh & Josh are Rich and Famous

Guess What I'm Doing Tonight . . .

Oh yes, I most definitely am.

Hot Young Married Gay Guys In New York Times Magazine

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]

Josh H. on Manchattan, Sarah Marshall, and A Gossip Girl (Possible) Exclusive

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 & Josh Interview Mario Lopez

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.

J&J Interview Road Trip; Plus, Kevin Sessums, On The iPod and New Books

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

David Cook Deserves To Be The Next American Idol

Who knew that on American Idol's Mariah Carey night that the rocker boy would shine the brightest?

I think it's pretty clear that David Cook, even if he doesn't end up walking away with the Idol title (and in some cases it really is good to not be the Idol--hello, Chris Daughtry) will be the biggest star from season seven.

David Archuleta, can we talk about those leather pants? Your vocal was the second best of the night, but . . . the leather pants? Really?

Tonight I realized what it is about Carly Smithson: Remember when the evil sea witch Ursula transforms herself to an Ariel look-alike at the end of The Little Mermaid? Carly looks like that evil Ariel incarnate. I still kinda like her, but I had that Carly breakthrough tonight. Deep, right? And not even a little bit fey. No, no.

Syesha, honey, all those runs in that song almost gave me the runs. And not in the good way.

Kristy, girl, I've never been a fan, but I have to admit that you actually sounded pretty good tonight. In my dreams you'd be the one voted off this week, but I think there are enough NASCAR, middle-America, country-loving fans to keep you in at least one more week.

Oh Brooke. If I could pick anybody from this season to be friends with, it'd be you. And, you know, it was nice to see proof tonight that you have a ninth note in your eight-note range. (Snap!) But honestly, seriously, I do love you.

Meet Henry

A couple weeks ago I bought an iPod Touch and, um, let me tell you: These little guys are addictive. It might be time to just fess up and say that I'm powerless over my attachment to my Touch. I don't go anywhere without it now.

(I would have bought the iPhone, but my phone contract doesn't end for a couple years, and I wasn't all about paying the massive fees to leave my current contract just to get the iPhone. The iPod Touch does all the same things as the iPhone with the exception of act as a telephone.)

I've become so irrationally attached to my Touch that--dare I admit it?--I named it. I know, I know. I swear I couldn't help it.

But with Henry now I can check my e-mail almost anywhere (this city has WiFi access galore), I can write posts on the go (like that time I saw Tina Fey filming "30 Rock" at the airport) or save them for later, I can listen to all of my music, watch free video podcasts (on the subway in the mornings I'm now hooked on watching the news), watch downloaded TV shows (travel shows have been a big hit lately), and even rent movies. It's kind of crazy.

Check in with me in a couple months. If my attachment doesn't ease up I may just need a support group.

On my iPod Touch

926 songs (everything from Chris Garneau to Amy Winehouse, Sia to Dixie Chicks, Feist to Alicia Keys, Regina Spektor to Amos Lee, Iron & Wine to Rihanna)

5 TV shows (Frontline, Big Gay Sketch Show, This American Life, TransAmerican Love Story, and Passport to Europe)

1 movie rental (Across The Universe)

289 pictures (from Paris to the Adirondacks, from family to friends, baby pics to college pics and beyond)

4 (free!) video podcasts (NBC Nightly News, Nightline Story of the Day, Anderson Cooper 360, and The Ellen Degeneres Show in a Minute)

4 podcasts (NPR's Fresh Air, This American Life , and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me;  plus, The Economist)

Josh & Josh Weekend

On Saturday Josh K. and I visited our friend, David, who works at the Guggenheim Museum, and checked out their visually stunning Cai Guo-Qiang exhibit. (Check out the museum on Friday night for $4 admission instead of $20. Cai Guo-Qiang's stuff is there through May 28.) Afterward Josh and I walked down the cobbled sidewalk of Fifth Avenue and then meandered through Central Park on the first 70-degree day of spring.

Today we met for a late brunch in Hell's Kitchen at our regular greasy spoon diner and then headed to Joshie's to edit the Mario Lopez interview. I still kind of can't believe that we met Slater, you know? (Did I mention that he touched my arm? Oh yes. Yes, he did.) (And can we talk about how sad it is that I'm excited about that?)

Tonight it's all glamor and endless laughs as Josh and I finally settle down and do our taxes. It's less then 48 hours before they're due and we've still got some math to figure out. Good times! Say a prayer, kids, 'cause we just might need 'em.

Get on the Poo Train; Plus, Our Mario Lopez Interview

So this morning on my way to work I got all excited when the train pulled up and my subway car was relatively empty. That never seems to happen at my stop during rush hour, so I excitedly popped onto the train and made my way toward an open seat, visions of sitting down and reading my book filling my naive little head.

But then, of course, the realization: I had neglected the prime rule of New York City public transportation.

The rule? If there are a bunch of seats open on your train or your bus during rush hour, there's a reason. And it's not going to be pretty.

Once the doors slammed shut behind me I noticed that everybody had the collars of their jackets or sweaters pulled up over their face, each looking pained, and sitting in abject silence as the train rumbled to a start.

And then I saw it: Human feces were smeared all around several of the seats. A gathering of brave passengers -- three dozen or so -- huddled in the center of the subway car to try and maximize the distance from the poo on one side of the train and a sleeping, not-so-fresh-smelling homeless man on the other side.

The ride between the two stops had never, ever seemed so long. Ever.

At the next stop, my sleeve over my nose and mouth, I leaped out of the train car and into the one behind me.

Needless to say, I've learned my lesson. Again. In this city if it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true.

But, in decidedly non-poopy news, guess who we're interviewing tomorrow for Towleroad TV . . .

Turbulence, Adele, Jodie, and Boyfriends

After my Tina Fey sighting on Friday night I got on a plane headed for Minneapolis. I stocked up on trashy gossip magazines and rented a movie to stick on my iPod and settled in for the two-and-a-half hour trip.

Somewhere in the middle of the flight we hit several waves of heavy of turbulence. I'm not usually fazed by turbulence, but even I had to admit it was a pretty rocky ride for a while. I paused my movie to listen to an announcement on the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a male flight attendant said, "we're experiencing a bit of turbulence, as we expected, so we'd like to ask you to stay in your seats and -- "

And then the flight attendant let out a loud, punchy, scared-sounding gasp as the plane jabbed up and then back down, delivering the same kind of tummy jump that driving over train tracks at full speed can deliver.

There was some nervous tittering laughter after the flight attendant corrected himself and kept speaking, but I'm sure there were some people white-knuckling it for the rest of the flight after that. I mean, it's like hearing your surgeon say "Oops" when he's doing a procedure on you. Not good.

At long last British songstress Adele's album 19 is out in the United States. I've been addicted to "Hometown Glory" and "Best for Last" for weeks now, and I'm glad to now have "Daydreamer" and "First Love" to add to the list. Check her out. She's worth a listen.

On the flight back from Minneapolis I watched Jodie Foster vigilante thriller The Brave One on my iPod. Can I just mention what a horrible decision that was? First of all, it wasn't that great of a movie, but second of all, after returning to New York from the relative lush peace and quiet of Minneapolis's suburbs, a movie set in New York about brutal muggings and murders in Central Park, bodegas, parking ramps, and apartment towers just wasn't a brilliant idea.

When we finally landed at 12:15 a.m. I decided to skip the subway and I opted for a cab instead. I was fifty dollars poorer, but I was saved from visions of being bludgeoned to death as I returned to my lovely city.

So anyway, thanks Jodie.

I watched Rendition on the way to Minneapolis (great, the guy gets kidnapped at an airport), so I'm thinking next time there will be no movies involving airports or New York City.

Before

After

So, it's official. I've been boyfriended.

--Josh H.