An easy way to enter to get a personal phone call from Sarah Jessica Parker on the day Sex and the City 2 opens...is right here. 

Remember how the Sex and the City 2 panel ignored my question about Ramin Setoodeh's Newsweek article? Turns out Cynthia Nixon had a great answer—she had apparently already given it to MTV the day before, and it was released today.

I know that all the beefcake hype about Sex and the City 2 involves the admittedly delicious Noah Mills, but can we talk about Max Ryan? Without divulging too much, he's also a Samantha love interest, and the unveiling of his ass is not only a highpoint of the film but a highpoint in the history of cinema. 

He's hot (though looks older than early forties, which he is)...keep reading for tons more shots of the guy, many from MrMaxRyan.com...

I wanted to see Sex and the City 2 (I really kinda liked the first one), but I had to be forced to see a preview on Friday night at the Time Warner Center because I'd been saving it for my partner and my mom, who's visiting soon. But I couldn't say no because I was required to see it before attending a surprisingly intimate press conference with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Chris Noth and writer/director Michael Patrick King today in the shoe department of Bergdorf Goodman—and I mean, there's saving movies and then there's saving movies.

I'm sworn to secrecy on the film itself until it releases, but the presser is fair game.

I arrived early, only to have trouble figuring out which entrance to use—who knew Bergdorf's doesn't open till noon on Sunday? Once inside, I cursed my luck—trapped in the third row behind the tallest-ever woman, a striking Francophone who felt the need to pile it on by piling her hair on top of her already Everest-status head:

I was seated with a nice writer from SheKnows.com and an older woman who appeared to be someone's mom (but don't sniff—she wound up getting to ask one of the only questions and she told me I'm cute and that Noth could be my grandfather), with my pal Kenneth of Kenneth In the 212 a couple rows behind us.

They were late (shocker!) but not too, with Sarah Jessica Parker cutely calling out that they weren't all there yet, causing the hostess to stall a bit longer. Finally, they emerged, all looking gorgeous (Parker especially exquisite) in defiance of the "no photos, please" request that had preceded them.

The most exciting part—aside from when the eager security guard shut me down for using my Flip Video (I obliged by flipping it backwards so I could at least get sound)—was that I managed to get the second question of the day. Determined to ask something interesting, I asked the panel why they thought the series and films appeal so strongly to gay men, and then asked if any would like to comment on the anti-gay Newsweek article.

Via Joe.My.God.: I am happy for Debbie Harry to get some cash, and I don't mind Alicia Keys in general, but I'm not sure about this newfangled "Rapture" remake that sounds part Sex and the City 2 (which it's for), part "Love to Love You Baby" and no part Alicia Keys. I don't like the annoying call-outs throughout, either. The rap is embarrassing. On the other hand, it sounds perfect in that I can envision a bunch of annoying LuAnn Dessepses spilling expensive drinks as they badly dance to it in someone's penthouse.

The above lean machine is from "Shape of the Future" by Josh Olins in VMan (summer 2010). Below, the same issue offers a co-star of Ellen von Unwerth's "Shrek of a Guy," an otherwise abhorrent spread featuring animated characters from the movie:

Finally, VMan introduces me to Allan Hyde from True Blood:

An image that made Ryan Phillipe's Men's Health cover story so enjoyable, as seen in Life & Style (May 3, 2010):

More after the jump...

I can't believe I didn't know until now that adorable Sex and the City star David Eigenberg went full monty in the play Take Me Out...I saw that play, and now must try to figure out if he was in it. (Since I have no memory of it being him, it would be a rather cold thrill. But still.)

Life & Style (April 12, 2010) shows off the hunks of Sex and the City 2, including Max Ryan, Dhafer L'Abidine, Jason Lewis and Noah Mills (above). Below, a great shot of Aiden Turner from the same issue: 

More after the jump...

Italian Vanity Fair (31 Marzo 2010) pours fire on gasoline with a spread on model (and Sex and the City 2 actor) Noah Mills. The shots will make you wish you'd washed up on shore...more after the jump...

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