Went to the Quad tonight for the 7:15 show of BearCity, Doug Langway's bear rom com about a group of men looking for love, self-acceptance and the occasional cheap thrill, and was surprised how much of a good time I wound up having.

BEARCITY Cast & Creators @ The Quad NYC Premiere 10.22.10 from Matthew Rettenmund on Vimeo.

BearCity—co-written by Langway with film writer Lawrence Ferber—is sort of like a hairy, white Noah's Arc with some Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City thrown in. Tyler (first-time film actor Joe Conti) is a preppy thesp who's sick of acting like he isn't wildly attracted to bears. He meets furry partners Brent (Big Gay Sketch Show's Stephen Guarino) and Fred (Brian Keane) and is taken under their paws, finding himself introduced to 400-pound Michael (Gregory Gunter) and his cubby hubby BF Carlos (James Martinez) as well as the hottest bear in town, silver-haired and silver tongued Roger (CSI's Gerald McCullouch). Instant community!

Are they hirsute-able for each other?

Tyler falls hard for Roger, who seems to resist returning the favor to protect his rep among the muscle bears—as much as Tyler has felt expressing his attraction to bears to be a second coming out, Roger feels the same way about expressing his attraction to a non-bear.

The cast of BearCity recreates that True Blood cover of Rolling Stone for Next. That's honey they're covered in, you pervert.

I think we make a cute couple, but my boyfriend doesn't see it!

In addition to the commentary from my earlier blog, you'll find my video interview with Scott Evans after the jump. Evans—adorable even if he confessed he hates doing press (thanks for doing me anyway, Scott!)—breaks news that he's shooting a film called Dead Reckoning and comments on GLAAD...

Gerald helpfully put us at the bottom of a step for this flattering shot

I also got to speak with CSI's Gerald McCulloch, better known at the moment as one of the stars of BearCity (which I've yet to see—it'll have a theatrical release in NYC this fall). In his video interview, also after the jump, McCulloch talks about BearCity and its fans and says, when it comes to mentoring gay peers on being out professionally:

"Everyone's gotta make their own decisions. You know, I think an actor's job is to pretend to be different people, so who I am shouldn't influence my imagination's capacity to be different people. So I kind of always say something to that, you know, I'm not gonna tell people what to do, what not to do. But life's short, you've gotta be the master of your own ships."

Scott Herman is a straight ally and a gay sex object

Last night was GLAAD Manhattan (tons more photos at Guest of a Guest), an event held at 230 Fifth's swanky rooftop garden and bar that was hosted by Bethenny Frankel. Well, she hosted it in the sense that she showed up looking smashing, GLAADly did unguarded interviews with every outlet on the red carpet and then split without ever setting foot in the party.

Empire state of mind—José and I

It was a steamy affair—New York + humidity = everyone swimming in their underwear. To make matters worse, I'd walked over from Times Square in my jacket. There was a tropical theme but I don't look good in floral shirts, so I had to improvise, grabbing a Hawaiian T-shirt of mine that has since become one of José's pajama tops and wearing it under my jacket. Of course, half the people arrived in shorts and tank tops. Leave it to the guy who has worn long pants once all summer to be overdressed.

GLAAD: Just an idea, but try a slave auction next time...

Speaking of which, the first thing I spotted when I got off the elevator was a mass of barely-clad models showing off their swimsuits. Turns out they were auctioning off their worn Speedos. I got close enough to see that they were wearing something under the Speedos (so fetishists would think this auction failed the smell test), but I didn't have $90+ on me anyway. I have no doubt they found plenty of takers at varying price points.

What a drag!

The carpet was as small as the minds of the people GLAAD is up against, but quite chummy. The lesbian videographer next to me from Go nudged me out of her shot so gently it felt like I was being put to bed by Mother. There were some Z-list celebs to contend with—bless them, though—which is only difficult in that you feel like an asshole having to discreetly ask who they are. The only one I really had to roll my eyes at was a blonde bombshell who told me, when I asked why coming out to this event was important, that she loves parties.

Jujubee made perspiration look elegant

I was shocked when several of the evening's drag performers blew off the cute reporter next to me. Apparently, he was friends with them, so they weren't taking him seriously. Lookit, if you're a drag queen at an event, you better be willing to pose for photos until the flashes die out and answer every question asked of you.