My New Nick Carter Interview On Advocate.com

Nick Carter embraced his gay fans before it was trendy -- at 17, he posed for the cover of a gay teen mag, unheard of at the time. Now, with a new Backstreet album in stores, Nick is sober, happy, and, most important, back.

I had a chance to talk with Nick about the new Backstreet Boys album, working with (Gaga producer) RedOne, his ventures into filmmaking and Broadway, his little brother turn on Aaron's Dancing with the Stars and, of course, gay stuff ("...it’s not a big deal to me. It may have been a big deal back in the day when I was young, but, you know, whatever. It’s part of our culture now and that’s what’s great about it. People accept it now. I love it.)

Check out the interview here.

New Tiesto + Nelly Furtado: Who Wants to be Alone?

Tiesto is back in full form with his new album, Kaleidoscope. Here's a great new track from the album: "Who Wants to be Alone" featuring Nelly Furtado.



And just for fun, here's another! "Here on Earth" feat. the Carey Brothers.



The album also features Tegan and Sara, Kianna, Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal, Priscilla Ahn, Sneaky Sound System and many other great collaborations.

New Gaga Song! Alejandro (Don't Call My Name)

Aside from "Brown Eyes" (which was actually good live), Gaga seems to have the rare talent for not writing a bad song...so far!

Can't wait for The Fame Monster.

Finally! Interviewer Makes Megan Fox Put Bag Over Her Head

My Kathy Griffin Interview: She Gets Serious About Matthew Shepard

I had an amazing opportunity to interview the hilarious Kathy Griffin for Advocate.com.

As expected, Kathy was funny and sharp from hello (she accused me of pretending to be doing the interview just to get her on the phone, which threw me off for a sec!).

But to my surprise, she was also remarkably serious and sincere for the first half of the interview, during which she talked at length about gay marriage rights and Matthew Shepard.

I hope you'll read the interview at Advocate.com and appreciate Kathy's important advocacy work for equality.

And speaking of Matthew Shepard, his mother Judy Shepard's new book came out a couple of days ago. It's amazing. There are no words. But if you want to read a review before ordering the book, read what Entertainment Weekly had to say about it. (Hint: EW gave it a solid A.)



PS: I interviewed Kathy only a few days after the "Norma Gay" episode of My Life on the D List aired. If you didn't catch, it, watch the clips below. It's hands-down the best episode of My Life on the D List.

New Madonna Video: Cause For 'Celebration'?

Madonna's new video is surprisingly unexceptional. As Madonna evolved in the '80s-'90s from straightforward dance music (complemented by straightforward, low-budget music videos), she used her platform to introduce music videos that challenged the world to accept a black Jesus ("Like a Prayer"), a flamboyant inner-city dance culture ("Vogue"), right-to-life decisions ("Papa Don't Preach").

The came the Music album, which paved the way for Madonna's new era of writing music about, well, music and writhing in her videos without much else going on.

Not a lot is going on in "Celebration." It's virtually the same as "Hung Up"--Madonna showing she's still nimble at age 50--but, fortunately for us, with a much easier-to-look-at outfit. This time Madonna's pelvis is not the fulcrum at the center of this video. But what is is equally disturbing...and interesting. The center of this video is none other than Jesus himself!

We mean Jesus Luz, of course, Madonna's controversial plaything. Midway through the "Celebration" video, after a couple of minutes of Madonna et al. twisting to the beat, comes Jesus in his lead debut as a DJ. After a couple minutes of making lascivious faces (which would be absolutely disgusting on a man of a certain age) and sexually suggestive movements, Madonna cozies up to the "DJ" and removes his clothes, piece by piece. Like us, Jesus looks vaguely disgusted.

Artistically, "Celebration" may be somewhat of a low for Madonna. Besides looking fresh as a genetically modified daisy in an Andy Warhol wig, Madonna is giving us more message than art. What's the message? It's an interesting one.

Madonna always has been defiant--so much so that this entire statement is a waste of words. But this defiance is a bit less obvious, more subversive. Madonna always has pushed the limit as a feminist working under the guise of a totally independent mind. Let's be honest: Madonna is downright creepy in "Celebration." If she were a fifty-year-old man making faces at a 20-something hottie, and then slowly removing her clothes while she makes uncomfortable faces, there would be a riot. Sure, rock stars are different, but even Steven Tyler has known since the '80s that to keep his fans liking him, he needs to feature hotties in vignettes within his video, not getting nasty with him. That would be nasty.

It's pretty nasty when Madonna does it, too--even if you are a fan of her brand-new face (which we are!). But here Madonna takes feminism to its next level. In "Celebration," Madonna is not on an equal playing field with her male rock-n-roll counterparts: She is above them. There is no such thing as a FILF, only a MILF, and Madonna's creepily meta-video shows who's boss. Madonna is a predator, and her fans would accept nothing less.

As for the song, she phoned it in.

Madonna's New 'Celebration' Video Debut

Madonna's new "Celebration" video is about to debut, and boy is her team making a big deal of it! The video will "have its exclusive world premiere on the iTunes store" free beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1, and then will be available for sale on iTunes (and no doubt all over YouTube free).

The "Celebration" video is directed by Jonas Akerlund, who directed the “Ray of Light” video. "Celebration" was filmed recently in Milan, Italy and features dancers from Madonna's “Sticky & Sweet” Tour. The video also includes cameo appearances by Madonna’s daughter, Lola Leon and her favorite Jesus (Luz), with whom we all know she has done quite unholy things.

Here's the much-hyped non-preview of the video:



Hey, as long as she's not wearing a unitard and thrusting her fault lines in our face, we're happy!

Taylor Lautner Teen-Vogues!

Hmm...looks like one of my sister's Teen Beat magazines from the 1980s, but it's actually the cover of the October issue of Teen Vogue, out on newsstands September 8.

Teen Vogue's new issue is all about young Hollywood, and hottie-of-the-moment Taylor Lautner is basking in his fifteen minutes of awooooooooooooo! He tells the junior issue of Vogue (which apparently is more into tapping teen girls' hormones with hot boys instead of hunchbacked anorexic models like its big sister) all about his role as a freakishly smooth-chested werewolf.

From the magazine:

“I think the fans would love anybody who played Jacob,” he says. “I’m just lucky to be the one who got the chance.”

It was his Hollywood-based karate coach who suggested Taylor give show business a chance. At first he admits he was not interested, but after a few auditions he was sold. “Taking on roles that were the opposite of what I could be in real life? That’s still my favorite thing.”

Tabloid attention and spurious rumors are the norm for the Twilight cast right now—and although Taylor is quite new to the attention, he seems capable of taking it all in stride. When asked about his alleged romance with Disney star Selena Gomez, he answers, “She’s a great girl.” Asked whether Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are indeed tangled in a torrid love triangle, he just laughs. “It’s crazy. But the fans help. They’re a big art of the motivation.”

Teen Vogue continues its annual Young Hollywood profile with seventeen talented up-and-comers poised to be the next big shots of the silver screen. Young stars like Lucas Till from the Hannah Montana movie, Miranda Cosgrove from Nickelodeon’s iCarly, and 20-year-old Rory Culkin, making his way out from under his brother’s shadows, shine in Teen Vogue’s tribute to Young Hollywood photographed by the renowned Bruce Weber.

Weber is the photographer who single-lensedly transformed Abercrombie & Fitch from your great uncle's favorite outdoor store to a softcore porn-peddling teen status symbol of such street cred that it continuously felt empowered to discriminate against: black people, Asian people, gay people, one-armed people...the list is sure to go on as the years go by!

Annnnnnnyyyyyyywayyyyyy here's your first look at your new favorite Twilight hottie in Teen Vogue:

For more, including a Tay-Tay slideshow, a quiz ("How well do you know our cover boy?"), OMG!!! A FREE TAYLOR POSTER!!!! and OMFG!!!!! A CHANCE TO WIN A TRIP TO THE NEW MOON PREMIERE!!!!!!!!!!, go to Teen Vogue.

LeToya's Lady Love

I'm diggin' LeToya Luckett's new album Lady Love, and I'm loving her attitude!



Watch her video "She Ain't Got" and then read her new interview in the Advocate, in which she talks about her thoughts on gay marriage, Chris Brown (who wrote "She Ain't Got"), Destiny's Child (she was one of the original members and is a childhood (former) friend of Beyonce's), and the Latex Ball--whatever that is!

Swing batter, batter, batter, swing!

Listen To New Lady GaGa + Michael Bolton Duet!

For real: Lady GaGa wrote this new single for Michael Bolton's new album, and she sings the backup vocals.

The music is all GaGa, but the ballad is totally fitting for Michael Bolton. Totally conventional. But good!

Trouble With 'Wonderland'

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland certainly *looks* like it's going to be his trademark combination of surral goth gorgeousness--but one thing troubles me.

I've always read (or watched) Alice as a child's point of view of the world: it doesn't make any sense. Adults run around like crazy people worrying about being on time, they have funny dress-up parties just to sit around and have inane conversation that no one relates to, and kids have to live in this crazy place, sometimes feeling enormously important and big, sometimes feeling unbelievably small, and sometimes worrying about having their heads cut off for breaking an arbitrary rule they don't understand.

So what's my problem? The Alice trailer is all about the Mad Hatter--or, rather, about Johnny Depp.

Yes, everyone loves Johnny Depp. He's got the reputation of being a real-life Mad Hatter, especially when he is paired up with Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, who also is in this movie.

But the trailer is narrated by Johnny Depp. If we consider the trailer a little movie of its own, then the climax is when Depp's voiceover says, "...some say to survive it, you have to be as mad as a hatter. Which, luckily, I am."

It's not about YOU, Hatter! It's about Alice! It's about the little girl in the crazy nonsensical adult world! SHE should be narrating because it's HER story.

Sigh.

I don't want to take all the fun out of this movie, but it'll be sad to me if it's the Hatter's story instead of Alice's. That would just strip away the brilliance of the story, making this version pretty much just a fun acid trip with fancy costumes. Oh, and Johnny Depp, of course.

Live From The Studio!

Watch live video from whatuppyo's channel on Justin.tv

Sex With Ducks And Gay Marriage Are One And The Same

Laughing With...Regina Spektor

Regina's new album, Far, is soo going to rock!

Here's her first single, "Laughing With..."

Laughing With


Gorgeousness!

"I like to top!" ...Guess Who Said It?

Melissa Etheridge On Prop 8

“How do I explain this to my children? Well, you know Ellen? She is married but Mommy and I are not. That is liberty and justice for all? I am hopeful as I see more and more states turn to the inevitable future of equality, California will get there. Change takes time.”

-Melissa Etheridge

Drew Barrymore On Prop 8

She speaks for herself:

George Clooney On Prop 8

“This just should invigorate people to get it back on the ballot in 2010 and 2012 and every two years until all people are allowed a basic civil right."

-George Clooney

Tori Amos On Prop 8

"(I was) extremely disappointed. Well, we go back to this concept of emancipation. The idea of 'We will overcome' from the great Dr. Martin Luther King, was made flesh as Obama was put into the office and yet at the same time another group of people were subjugated by some of those voters.

"A lot of people were saying, 'Well you have to understand that a lot of the voters are Democratic and Christians, the ones that had an issue with rights for the gay community'. And I would say how, in any way, is that the Christian path?"

-Tori Amos to Attitude magazine

Margaret Cho On Prop 8

"I am outraged and disgusted, but this is only a momentary setback. We will soon win back this right and the victory will be even more thrilling because we had to fight so hard to get it."

-Margaret Cho reacts to the California supreme court's decision to uphold Prop. 8