Boy Culture Links: Liza Feinstein Shades Gaga, 'VanderBuns,' NYU Langone Caves to Anti-Trans Pressure, Evan Lobel Collection Up for Grabs + MORE
FEBRUARY 21, 2026
WIRED: “Inside the Gay Tech Mafia.” (Not literally.)
BEHIND THE BLINDS: Didn’t even realize there was an Arnaud cover of Behind the Blinds, yet here it is.
VIDEO STORE•AGE: I’m confident you haven’t heard of this yet, but if you have, tell me: Video Store•Age is a new company that is selling boutique-interest films on USB:
“Video Store•Age is an unconventional film distribution company. We’re using an innovative approach to a tried + true distribution model to get cool movies into curious hands. Literally. Our goal is to feed the growing appetite for a modern iteration of physical media movement for movies. Blending analog spirit // print media nostalgia / tangible cultural tokens w/ digital utility, we’ve built these patent pending encrypted USBs for anyone who likes what they’re reading right now! And we’re putting rad movies on them. Owning one of these is the new (& only!) way to have a tangible, platform-free, personal movie library using contemporary technology. Basically, these are like DVDs conjugated in the present tense! Plus, every purchase benefits filmmakers directly.”
SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: NYU Langone has stopped its gender-affirming care in order to avoid repercussions from Trump. They stopped cold, leaving all their patients in the lurch. (The comments on this Facebook post fixate on kids losing body parts — not happening — and on pointing out that the doctor commenting is a Jew.)
PRISM: “In Order to Be Happy, I Had to Get Cringe.”
BILLBOARD: Mmmkay, this is weird. Billboard summarizes a story in Liza Minnelli’s new memoir Kids, Wait Till You Hear This to portray Lady Gaga flatteringly … and yet, the story is clearly written to criticize Gaga. As more honestly reported by People, Minnelli directly blames Gaga for her messy appearance on the Oscars:
“I was inexplicably ordered — not even asked — to sit in a wheelchair or not appear at all. I was told it was because of my age, and for safety reasons, because I might slip out of the director’s chair, which was bullshit. ‘I will not be treated this way,’ I said. My co-presenter insisted she would not go on stage with me unless I was in a wheelchair.
“I was heartbroken.
“I was much lower down than I would have been in the director’s chair. Now I couldn’t easily read the teleprompter above me. How would you feel if you were wheeled out, against your will, to perform in front of a live audience, and unable to see clearly? So when I stumbled over a few words, Gaga, who was at my side, didn’t miss a beat to play the kindhearted hero for all the world to see. ‘I got you,’ she said, leaning down over me.”
There is no other way to read that than as Liza (albeit “as told to Michael Feinstein,” whose control over her at present is the subject of debate among fans) calling out Gaga. Billboard pretends she was complimenting her! Weird. (Variety also deliberately excised the part about Gaga being the one who insisted.)
But weirder still … is this just Feinstein’s take? The book is supposedly based on 10 years of her stories to him. Was he taping her or jotting down notes, or is he just writing it all in her voice from scratch? Honey, I bought it and will read it for myself, but this is reading more like “Feinstein as told to Liza as told to Feinstein.”
THE ANKLER: Marc Shaiman, composer extraordinaire, also has a memoir — Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner. These are by Shaiman as told to … Shaiman! And now us! In this interview, he recalls being dumped from a horrid Mike Myers movie (it was not like buttah), orchestrating the finale of The First Wives Club and numerous Academy snubs. This book sounds more my speed!
BONHAMS: Coming March 4 to Bonhams is a sale of the Evan Lobel Collection. Lobel is great guy and recently former NYC resident (he’s relocated to Florida) who is downsizing. But not like when you downsize and take clothes to Goodwill; he’s selling his Warhols and high-end furniture. It’s an amazing catalogue.
DAILY BEAST: Trump’s Supreme Court tariffs smackdown is described as “the most significant loss in modern history” at the Court.
EXTRATV: Best sentence I’ve read all week:
“Now, she runs her own reusable bib business and posts political pole-dancing videos on Instagram.”
INTELLIGENCER: How Will Lewis expertly destroyed The Washington Post.
MR. MAN: Via Mr. Man, a look — a lingering look — at Jason Cohen’s foray into nudity as part of his burgeoning OnlyFans empire:
“If you Google any of the new cast featured on season twelve of Vanderpump Rules, you will find yourself waist-deep in a rabbit hole that you may never escape. A quick brush-up on Chris Hahn and Jason Cohen’s latest will have you well-versed in the cousin OnlyFans account rocking the Vanderpump Rules world.
“Yes, Chris and Cohen are cousins on the current season of Vanderpump Rules, and yes, they give each other oil massages on OnlyFam. I mean OnlyFans … We’re checking in with the cuddly cousins because they both get naked on the most recent season of Vanderpump Rules. For those not in the know, after Season 11 of Vanderpump wrapped, Bravo announced an all-new cast, and die-hard fans are taking their time to embrace the new stars. This might speed things up.
“During a sexy photo shoot, Hahn and Cohen both drop trou to reveal their asses while flanking Venus Binkley. The one with the double-wide dumper is Hahn, and while all of the cast are aspiring stars, we think this one has real star quality. We can’t put our finger in it. But there’s something there.
“Enjoy this nude Vanderpump Rules moment as well as Shayne Davis’s pair of nude scenes from episodes eight and nine … Apparently, there are no rules!”
Liza has been known to 'elaborate' her stories; occasionally even making them up. I wonder if Gaga will step up and tell the truth?
I loved reading your comments about Gaga and Liza at the Oscars, and I suddenly envisioned a musical version of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane with Gaga as Jane, Liza as Blanche and Michael Feinstein in the Victor Buono part.