Jerry Penacoli had a convivial chat with Madonna backstage at the Billboard Music Awards for Extra in which she reacted to Elton John's claim that they'd made up and spoke at length about parenting...

What Ryan Lochte will do...

Preview of What Would Ryan Lochte Do? for Sunday, 10PM on E!

CREAM OF THE CROP: An LGBT series watchlist not to be missed.

Marlon Texeira continues to be sex on legs.

Bradley Manning not SF Pride grand marshal after all.

Will New York ban gay-conversion therapy?

GULP!: 95-year-old woman: "I was Hitler's food-taster."

Lola goes green.

Marina Diamandis on Madonna: "She's a really diverse artist."

The final days of Bleecker Bob's.

L.A.'s Gibson Amphitheatre's a goner, too.

Gay-wedding flash mob.

Celine Dion's son walks a mile an inch in her heels.

Chelsea Handler as a teenager.

It's Jerry Seinfeld's birthday on Monday.

Hot One Life to Live star Tuc Watkins on being a gay dad.

Tuc yeah!

Imagine having Madonna as a potential mother-in-law?

Madonna's buena daughter Lola is dating adorable Timothee Chalamet.

Cindy McCain playing gay Prop 8 plaintiff in AZ production of 8.

BIG IN 'NAM: My Best Gay Friends charms the Hanoi hoi-polloi.

The Knife are back, as sharp as ever.

The accidental gay first date.

Roger Ebert's greatest accomplishment?

Magic Johnson supports gay son in interview.

Patti Davis claims her scummy dad would be pro-equality.

Can bad movie sequels diminish the originals?

Major lava flow = mass extinction.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) comes out for marriage equality.

Madonna tours Malawi hospital.

Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Arizona) is anti-equality. His gay son: "Okay!"

91% of America supports background checks for guns.

Like me or friend me on Facebook, but don't send me messages like this:

Beasts of the Southern Wild, one of 2012's best

The year 2012 in black cinema + in memoriam.

GO WITH THE FLOW: Mexico OK with gay blood?

Thom Bierdz is a sexy show-off (Work Unfriendly).

New faces, young bodies = camerabait.

Righties pushing gun control—on David Gregory.

Consuelos & Stamos to The New Normal.

JET's 1st gay married couple hits TV.

New Jersey: The state of marriage equality.

Newsweek's #lastprintissue.

Kenya's 1st gay candidate quits, explains.

UK gays defecting to Tories over marriage.

Catholic overlords still very anti-gay.

Addressing "the gay tax." 

Bandsies vs. anti-gay bullying.

All Mariah wants for Christmas is taste.

Jessica Simpson is knocked up—the sequel.

Madonna's very Gaga Christmas:

We've got his back, he's got ours

While Obama deals with Sandy, Romney capitalizes.

Romney offers single campaign bus for Sandy aid. 47%? On their own.

Jersey Shore takes a pounding. (Not Snooki.)

Atlantic City knows when to fold 'em.

Joe Simpson cancels on a cutie.

Lady Gaga snaps at Calvin Harris, (he dissed her) repurposes stage in Mexico.

"Strict" mom Madonna buys her 16-year-old an apartment.

Madonna attends Skrillex concert in NOLA.

Kylie offers an Abbey Road Sessions Bundle.

Obama: "War" within GOP if he wins.

Romney lies his ass off in Ohio Jeep ad.

Levi Johnston marries (another) baby mama.

Amy Winehouse: The play!

Crazy teabagger Bachmann might hold her seat.

Crazy teabagger West might lose his seat.

Crazy teabagger Walsh is gonna lose his seat.

The Tea Party's (almost) overrrr...

A Q&A with Madonna in People (May 14, 2012) reveals some things you may not have known about her, such as her assertion that she is "shy." WTF? Or that her favorite food is French fries. Is this 1985? I want to see a picture of Madonna '12 eating fries!

Now that Madonna's 15-year-old daughter has been caught smoking, what can Mama really say other than, "Got a light?" Your grandma died of cancer, kid—you've been warned.

** All images in this post copyrighted. Do not remove and post anywhere without permission. **

Madonna gets teary thanking her late mom

I was invited to cover the red carpet for Madonna's W.E. premiere at the Ziegfeld earlier tonight. Then I was uninvited. (Space.) Then I was re-invited. I wound up getting to go, and it was a blast of epic proportions. There was a very light turn-out of fans in the cold rain, but the press was packed into a long tent leading into the theater. I was placed two slots from the bitter end, which turned out to be a nice position because anyone who did the red carpet had to pass us to get inside.

I've had front row before but A-1...I'd be riding her dress train!

I made friends with a woman covering for Pink Is the New Blog, but she was whisked away ("first, they came for...") to a spot in the lobby so I wound up bonding with Matt from Hard Candy Music. As I told him, we were probably the lowest men on the totem pole so as such would be lucky to sniff Madonna's stardust as she breezed by. Which meant anything else would be a cause for joyous celebration. We also chit-chatted with a sexy, dark-haired (they have those there?) Swede named Pablo (they have those there, too?) who shoots for Vogue. He was much nicer than you'd expect for a Vogue shooter, and him saying, "One shot for Vogue?" had the effect of a brick wall, stopping nearly every celeb who breezed by. (Patti Smith was not impressed, but I was fucking impressed that Patti Smith walked past me, let alone that she was attending a movie by Madonna.)

The carpet got off to a slow start, but the tip sheet was insane! Check out all the names: 

Some of these people didn't do press or didn't show

The first star on the carpet seemed to be one of the film's two male leads, dreamy James D'Arcy, who looks even better with a shaved head that he does with his foppish blond Edward 'do.

Julia Stiles is miles of smiles—for Vogue

Ewan told this reporter the answer to her question was HIS business

Andrew McCarthy was born to run

Patti Smith— love to know her opinion of her fellow Downtown doyenne

It's Diane von Furstenberg, y'all!

"Mine is even younger than yours, dahhhling!" With Calvin Klein!

 Guy Oseary said "too stressed!" when I asked if I could quiz him

Spartacus sexpot Lucy Lawless with Liam McIntyre; she unceremoniously plopped her coat on the carpet to pose. She was fab!

Big, unaffiliated stars slipped past most of the press, namely Ewan McGregor (who was at one point attached to do this film), Julia Stiles (who was having absolutely none of any press except for a shot for Vogue), Andrew McCarthy (who gamely answered my question about a fantasy Madonna collaboration: "A duet, of course!"), a stunning Lucy Lawless with equally stunning Liam McIntyre (she gave me a great answer, he sort of avoided making eye contact rather than give us a "no") and then still others who I only saw fleetingingly like Diane von Furstenberg, Guy Oseary (Madonna's manager said he was too stressed to answer my question), Donna Karan, Calvin Klein (big kiss for and from Madonna and some conspiratorial chatting amongst them, perhaps about hot young guys!), Lady Bunny (I was impressed, too), Zac Posen, Ivanka Trump (pretty, actually) Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez (hotness) and several people even I didn't recognize. (Not Z-listers, more like fashion A-listers.)

Click to enlarge

In People (January 23, 2012), Madonna grants an interview entirely about her movie W.E. In discussing royalty, she says of Prince Charles:

"I had dinner with Prince Charles once. He stole lettuce off my plate. [Laughs] He was quite fun."

She also reveals that Lola is pretty mature for 15 because "her mother's been divorced twice, so..."

Prove it!

As of midnight last night, it was exactly six years since my first post. It's been a tough thing to keep up with a dayjob and outside activities, and just when I think I might walk away, a valuable connection or interesting opportunity or a kind word comes my way. Thank you all for reading me.

Of whom are you more jealous?

Here are my favorite 100+ posts out of nearly 11,000. Please take some time to read (or re-read!) a couple and tweet or Facebook any you like.

xoxo Matt

The pocket pool championships were intense this year

BOY CULTURE

Boy-crazy

FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novell and novel Boy Culture as well as the movie version; might be my ultimate post.

Jonathon Trent & Derek Magyar make an Allan Brocka sandwich

BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.

I was left "Reeling" by the experience

FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.

No one would've mistaken me for Taylor Lautner

RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.

 

MY ART

 

Construction worker (shot this week) vs. James Dean

GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.

i-i-i (phone)

Not totally built

Unaltered iPhone image that still blows me away

"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.

Let's call it a draw

DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.

The shirtless one

LOST ANGELES (2009): My favorite photographic travelogue of L.A.

Even then, New Yorkers feared 9/11 was the beginning of the end

ART IMITATES LIFE (2006): My 9/11 and my distaste for grief tourism.

ME

Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life

BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.

Signed, sealed (eventually) delivered

LOST BOY FOUND (2011): There is a book in here somewhere.

Be Italian

CIAO HOUNDS: OUR TRIP TO ITALY (2011): Finally got José to Europe.

Death becomes here

ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.

Life is short...and meaningful

PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.

Lots more...