Almost 25% there...

Gov. Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota) officially signs marriage equality into law.

"Americans angry about Benghazi can't find it on a map."

This is final word on Benghazi: The definitive timeline.

Even the GOP knows Obama wasn't behind IRS scandal.

Tranna Wintour: What I've learned from divas.

Angelina's kids were supportive during her surgeries.

57 cans of whipped cream later....

Grooviest tights ever!

The racist reality of celebrity porn scams.

Is Beyoncé sick and tired, or with child?

Meet Ryan Fogle, our worst spy ever.

Jonathan Groff's gay-themed series picked up by HBO.

Holy roller claims to have Jesus Christ's endorsement.

Get ready for The Goldbergs (different ones from these):

Sandra Bernhard has some objective and interesting comments on Madonna's rise in the '80s in this extended clip from the (spotty, IMHO) series The '80s: The Decade That Made Us on National Geographic.

Blue movie

Callum Blue's best "part" ever.

13-year-old boy stopped, frisked and emasculated.

Gloria Gaynor vs. cancer.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is "evolving" on marriage.

Are gays really too powerful to protect?

Prominent teabagger plays the NAMBLA card.

Reporter planned to murder this rapist.

SNARKS & PROCREATION: Marriage not only for spawning.

Who was early, who was late on marriage equality.

Denny Fouts: The best-kept boy in the world.

Mitt Romney happy to be "normal."

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES: Amanda Bynes imparts wisdom. 

Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin phone the Ryan Gosling Help Line.

Sandra Bernhard dishes on Madonna and trashes Anderson Cooper.

Michelle Visage is "just sayin'" Madonna didn't invent vogueing.

Madonna's latest Instagram = Joan Crawford by Hurrell. LOVES.

Vintage Madonna

The incomparable, incorrigible Sandra Bernhard is performing her show I Love Being Me, Don't  You? on Friday, March 8, at 8PM at The Baruch Performing Arts Center as part of Solo in the City: Jewish Women, Jewish Stars.

Enter to win a pair of tickets by commenting this blog with your favorite Sandra Bernhard quote, project or character.

One week from tonight, at 5PM ET, I'll choose one area winner (no travel or lodging is provided) to win not only a pair of free tickets to the show, but also a pair of free tickets to an exclusive, VIP after-party.

Good luck, and if you're not feeling lucky, then at least feel free to buy your tickets here.

There was a doctor in the house

Last night, I joined my autograph-hound friend, lovable mailman Rich, at an obscenely crowded reading/signing for the book Lights, Camera...Travel! (Lonely Planet) edited by Andrew McCarthy and Don George. Along with the editors (including Mr. Doe Eyes himself!), contributors scheduled to appear included Alec Baldwin (who's lost weight and looks terrific...mayoral run?), Paulina Porizkova, Anthony Edwards, Bob Balaban and Sandra Bernhard. Not bad!

Paulina was a model author

I showed up after Rich, who'd kindly somehow saved me a spot on a long bench. There were only a few rows of seating in McNally Jackson's lower level, and as the place filled up, I came to appreciate that bench. It was a mob scene, and the signing afterward promised to be a clusterfuck.

Love is...stalking Sandra!

I overheard some guys razzing a girl who claimed to be a movie and TV blogger who made the mistake of confessing to them that she'd never seen Star Wars or Star Trek. "And you wonder why nobody visits your blog???" the guy chortled. Star Wars is mentioned a lot in situations where people are gathered to get the autographs of famous people.

Jesus, this looked like The Last Supper or something!

The first bummer was finding out McCarthy had taken a last-minute trip to New Zealand so wouldn't be there.

The reading started and was shockingly long. I had figured they'd each say something brief and get to signing, but as it turns out, the lion's share of the people who'd come just wanted to hear them read and gawk at them, not actually buy a book, so it was lucky that each contributor read a healthy hunk of his or her piece.

Participating in a recent forum on how to effectively market at-home HIV testing, I got a $200 gift card. Not wanting to spend it on a hustler, I instead gave $150 of that to The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead's Planned Parenthood, I Am Here for You fundraiser that happened here in NYC last night—and it was not only a good investment but also a good investment.

Joan Walsh & Lizz Winstead

I showed up at 6:30PM at the Gramercy for the VIP reception to find a handful of non-famous women spiked with the evening's famous females—Winstead, Salon editor Joan Walsh, Sandra Bernhard and Lisa Lampanelli. I was the only dude for the longest time in a room filled with women and several womyn.

Adding Sandra Bernhard to the mix

Lisa Lampanelli (L) and Judy Blume (R) join a mom and her baby, Rosie

My new friends with the A-list

All together now!

Talking to a few attendees about the art of the photo op, I figured out we were supposed to meet and greet the stars on our own—there was no formal line happening. This makes it a bit awkward because you don't really want to shoehorn yourself between Winstead and Bernhard when they're engrossed in a conversation about their bodies/their selves. Especially when you're announcing that you blog at something called Boy Culture.

Oh, Fudge! Fawning over Judy Blume

Ms. messaging

But it was totally fine and the women were absolutely gracious and eager to pose for photos and chat. Winstead is the ultimate feminist to me—unswerving on principle, unbothered by political correctness, utterly hilarious. She was in boots and a dress that looked macramaed from a distance. She reminds me of Laurie Metcalf and Barrie Longfellow.

Sandra Bernhard joins The Trailblazer Campaign, telling us that she's always had confidence in who she is (tell me something I didn't know, lady!). "Stand firm and always feel confident—there's no reason to have to defend yourself or feel ashamed or embarrassed by who you are."

Full video after the jump...

As of midnight tonight, it will be exactly five years since my first post. It's hard to imagine it's been that long, and a lot's changed—the tone and subject matter are different, how often I post, my limits (no nudity in a couple of years due to ad constraints). I've devoted a crazy amount of time and money and energy to this blog for a very small financial return (you couldn't guess low enough), but it's always rewarding to have this forum with which to express myself, keep my writing ability fluid, perhaps influence a couple of people here and there, share obsessions with strangers (in both senses of the word) and learn new things.

Take That's Howard...can you believe this happened onstage at a pop concert?

Here are some of the posts that were most important to Boy Culture's history. For the uninitiated, some of the oldest ones refer to Boy Culture, the movie made of my novel; I started the blog at the time Boy Culture was being filmed as a way to keep people informed of the progress...and it all snowballed from there.

Subtle

Some of these posts are milestones when it comes to the hits they provided but most are filled with original writing and/or photography and video and are just the posts of which I'm proudest. I hope you'll take some time to click on them and send their links around to others—and some time is what you'll need...

MY ART

Boy-crazy

FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novella, novel and movie Boy Culture; might be my ultimate post.

From '07, one of my faves. Old iPhones were better because they were worse.

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

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)

TriBeCa is for Boy lovers...

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.

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

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.

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.

I had the Fever for Jon-Erik Hexum

AN OBSESSION IS BORN (2009): One of my best posts about my obsession with...obsession.

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.

I was given the red-carpet treatment

HAVEN'T WE MET? (2010): Celebrating my time with someone I've only met once—Madonna.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Glikas 

VIDEOS APPEAR AT THE END!

I had so much fun attending the event for Belinda Carlisle's Lips Unsealed at Barnes & Noble's 86th Street and Lexington location last night! Part of the fun factor was the Q&A format headed up by the hilarious Sandra Bernhard, part of it was Carlisle's eventual willingness to indulge her (certifiable) fans and part of it was seeing so many familiar faces in such a familiar "fandemonium" setting.

I'm a fan of fandom, devoted to the devoted, and the "café Carlisle" served up a simmering brew of idolizers, from diehard Go-Go's followers to Belinda maniacs (instead of Deadheads, maybe Redheads?) to quite a few people who seemed like they'd have attended whether it was Belinda Carlisle or FILL IN THE BLANK making a personal appearance.

I found out about the event from Carlisle's book publicist Penny, then stumbled across info suggesting that only those attendees with wristbands would be guaranteed entry...and wristbands were going on sale at 9 a.m. day-of. Deciding to go all-in, I showed up at 8, finding myself fifth in line behind four people whom I know are bigger fans than I. (And who were not the lunatics who showed up in alarming numbers later.)

'Don't even get me started on my Belinda Carlisle obsession...' 

I chatted with a cute guy about how all fans like to think we're as fanatical as socially acceptable without being "too much," and then met this very funny guy from Vermont named Tom (pictured) who I think straddles that gray zone perfectly—he's a fan with flawless credentials (he met the band in 1984 and again in 1994 and knows enough to reference House of Schock and urine popsicles) and yet would never, for example, get in a fist fight over who got to an event first (more on that later).

GLAAD's Rich Ferraro has consistently invited me to his organization's events and I've consistently declined; I officially cover so many events for my dayjob and unofficially cover so many events on my blog for fun that my thought has been I don't really need to hyperextend myself by marrying the two and officially covering an event for my blog.

Gays & thespians: Honoree Nixon with Prayers for Bobby's Weaver

But The 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards were honoring Cynthia Nixon and Joy Behar (two of my favorite redheads—the red carpet was truly red/orange...it was a Night of 1,000 Gingers) so I made it my first red carpet, quickly discovering that doing an event with no boss to please and nothing to lose and yet having orchestrated access to the main attractions can wind up being the best of both worlds—officially fun.

From where I stood 

I arrived around 3PM for press check-in. There was a crush of people and the nice lady at the desk wasn't; I asked where to go and she said up the escalator, which isn't really that descriptive considering I was in the Marriott Marquis in Times Square (a place I was at on 9/10/01, and where I discussed going to the World Trade Center the following day to get TKTS tickets for a show...something that never panned out, obviously). I went up, as commanded, but couldn't figure out where to go next. I was pointed in many directions, finally landing on the third floor. (You'll see from the photos that I was much even more disheveled and droopy than usual.)

All my B-roll footage:

Here, I found my spot on the line—right toward the end. Red carpets are like the social caste system made manifest, or like a literal food chain. On the latter, I would be the seeds the birds poop out to keep the plants growing. To make it less metaphorical, I was two slots behind something called Autostraddle.com, which I refuse to look up because it sounds like one of those mechanical dildo sites. (I broke down and looked it up—it's a kinda great lesbian site with lots of traffic.)

But it turns out my spot wasn't so bad (considering I'm just some guy with a blog) because most of the stars were rather available and those who weren't were stopping to my left to do stuff with GLAAD. At first, I was right next to Ben Harvey and Dave Rubin of Ben & Dave's Six Pack (pictured, image from Metrosource). They were also covering for Queerty, though I wondered if they might not get less frozen reactions if they left the Queerty part out (I still link to Queerty, but I think it's fair to describe it as somewhat caustic). They were cute and as nice as can be; I point this out because the act of having a six-pack makes people gushingly nice, but the act of having six-pack abs usually does the opposite. They were professional and hot, the types of guys you wouldn't hate being stuck on a crowded elevator with, so I hoped they'd help attract stars, Suddenly Last Summer-style.

Samara puts the Reichen Lehmkuhls on the spot