Good morning and happy Friday!

Sorry for not posting a morning column of tidbits each day this week but my workload has intensified in the new year so my posting times might be a bit unpredictable some days.

But I had to find the time to write about Sharon Stone’s latest insert-foot-in-mouth incident.

In an interview with Tatler magazine, the glamorous Basic Instinct and Casino star made a remark about the appearance of Meryl Streep who, at 60, is still getting choice roles and is currently at her box office peak with such hit films as It’s Complicated, Julie & Julia, Mamma Mia and The Devil Wears Prada.

“I think that’s why Meryl Streep is working so much, because she looks like a woman we can all relate to,” Stone tells Tatler.

“I look at her and I think, ‘I’m chasing my kids, I’ve moved my parents in with me, I’m coping with food spills – that looks like me in real life’.

“Meryl looks like an unmade bed, and that’s what I look like. To me, that looks true.”

Ouch!

Her comments have raised some eyebrows but the reaction is nothing compared to the backlash Stone got for saying during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival that the devastating 2008 Earthquake in China which killed tens of thousands of people might have been some kind of “karma”  for the Communist nation’s treatment of Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

Stone, who I respect and appreciate greatly for her work on behalf of AIDS research, has had some bad career karma as of late with a string of her movies going straight to DVD. But she has just been signed for a juicy story arc on Law & Order SVU. The last time she did a recurring TV role – on ABC’s The Practice – she won an Emmy.

GORHAM’S BACK: Last night, I sent Christopher Gorham a message on Twitter thanking him for retweeting one of my updates. I didn’t know then that a new series on USA Network starring Chris has just been given the green light!

Good morning everyone.

Let me start off by saying that I’ll never be able to watch an episode of that old UPN sitcom The Parkers again after seeing its star, Mo’Nique in the film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire yesterday at the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood.

Mo’Nique is astonishingly evil as Mary, the abusive mother of the title character Claireece “Precious” Jones played by Gabourey Sidibe. Precious grew up being raped by her father and is pregnant for the second time with his child. Mary sees her daughter more as rival than victim and subjects her to constant physical, mental and sexual abuse.

You really root for Precious as she tries to find the strength to make something of her life despite the unrelenting ugliness of her situation. Sidibe just breaks your heart in the role and you want to reach into the movie screen and give her a hug.

Fortunately, the character has a few guardian angels who are there when she needs them the most: a compassionate teacher (Paula Patton) at the alternative school (the teacher happens to be a lesbian) she has begun attending and a social worker played by Mariah Carey. Yep, Mariah Carey and she is damned good in this movie.

Out director Lee Daniels has done a superlative job here and Sidibe is sensational. But you won’t be able to get Mo’Nique’s performance out of your mind.

ROSIE’S NEW LOVE: Rosie O’Donnell has had to censor herself about her personal life on her daily Sirius radio show because she had a lot going on in her personal life that the public was not aware of.

STILL THE BEST: Even if Roger Federer never won another professional tennis match, he would be considered the greatest male player in the history of his sport.

But at just 28 years old, Federer said this week that he wants to continue to rule his sport for some time to come and build on his stellar resume that includes six Wimbledon crowns, five US Open titles and the 2009 French Open championship.

In a few weeks, he will be competing for tennis’s first “grand slam” tournament of the year: the Australian Open. Federer is a three-time champion but has not won Down Under since 2007. Last year, he suffered a heart-breaking five-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the final. Nadal was the man finally able to overtake Federer in the rankings in summer of 2008 after a more than four-year reign. But Roger returned to the top last summer.

“I would like to stay No. 1 for an obvious reason—getting to No. 1 from No. 2 was very hard work,” Federer said Monday in Qatar where he is scheduled to play his first match of the season today. “Nadal played so well to stay No. 1. Now, I want to stay No. 1 for as long as possible. I am sure if I stay healthy, I can win tournaments and stay No. 1.”

“I am healthy now,” he added. “I know I can win many more tournaments than I did last year.”

Today begins a very busy chapter in my life as I begin contributing regularly to HollywoodNews.com as well as doing stories for Fancast.com. But Greg In Hollywood will not fall through the cracks! No way!

All that activity as I am STILL recovering from New Year’s Eve. I went to the big splashy party at Here Lounge in West Hollywood where they had this winter wonderland theme that maybe went to far. At midnight, snow began to fall and kept falling. It was cute at first then we got annoyed. Then we dashed out of the back bar and outside where, thankfully, there was no fake snow.

About 30 seconds before midnight, I managed to grab a few flutes of champagne for me and my friend Art and as we all started cheering during the countdown, Art swung his hand and it hit my glass and sent a big splash of champagne into my left eye!

Here’s the funniest part: I’m doubled over because my eye completely stings and as I look up, I expect Art to be looking over me with concern. Nope. He’s oblivious that this has even happened and is dancing and swigging champagne. It  was my oddest start to a new year – perhaps ever!

But it was a really fun night! Beyond that, my lips are sealed. What happens at Here Lounge on New Year’s Eve STAYS at Here Lounge!

Anyway, a few items to get us going in 2010 as everyone hits the ground running:

ELLEN’S FIRST PET: Have you ever stayed up late at night wondering what kind of a pet Ellen DeGeneres had as a kid? Well, neither have I! But someone write into Parade this week and asked and Ellen was kind enough to provide this answer:

“My first pet was a stray cat that I brought home when I was really young. I don’t remember how old I was – maybe 5,6? I named the cat ebbie, after Debbie Reynolds, because that cat had a mouth on her.”

Well, now we know. And so does Debbie Reynolds!

By the way, Parade notes that Ellen is the co-owner of a pet care company called Halo.

With her own talk show, being the new judge on American Idol and being married to Portia de Rossi, doesn’t this blond dynamo already have enough to do?

ONE STEP AT A TIME: One of my favorite stars these days is Nicholas Rodriguez, a Broadway star who has become a popular television performer thanks to his role of Nick on ABC’s One Life to Live.

Yeah, Nick wants to come between our favorite couple Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis but he’s so adorable that you don’t hate him for it! I love that the storyline is not only a breakthrough for how gay relationships can be depicted on television but also that two of the actors are gay in real life: Rodriguez and Scott Evans (Oliver).

Nicholas is also playing a gay role in the new web series Then We Got Help.

AfterElton.com asked him and other out stars what their New Year’s resolutions are and here’s what Nicholas had to say:

“I have been honored to participate in so many GLBT charities over the past few months, and I really want to step up my service in the coming year! We have come a long way, but there is a long road still ahead of us. I am so inspired by the younger generation who need our guidance, love and support. … On a personal note, I resolve to start training for my first marathon! This year I ran my first race in Central Park for God’s Love We Deliver, and am hooked! The energy of running with complete strangers and pushing each other toward a common goal was exhilarating! I want to push myself even further in 2010!”

You go Nicholas!

Well, here it is, the final post of 2009 for Greg In Hollywood.

The photo you see is me a year ago celebrating the arrival of the new year in West Hollywood. I thought I had a pretty good idea what was in store for me.

Turns out I had no idea.

Seven weeks later, I was laid off from a job I absolutely loved  and a week after that, I started this site with the help of some really wonderful friends named Danny Sullivan, Lorna Harris, Kate Cohen and Val Cohen. I didn’t have time to reflect, to dwell, or to mourn.

Life went on.

Then in June one of my best friends, Walter Lee Carpenter died unexpectedly and I can tell you, losing my job was a blip compared to the loss of Walt.

So I begin 2010 in a far different place than a year earlier but, thankfully, some things are the same: the loyalty of friends who have never doubted my ability to succeed and the love of family that is always there, no matter what.

Working for myself with a far more flexible schedule allowed me in 2009 to not always be on my way someplace or on my way home from somewhere. I was able to enjoy so many precious moments with the people I love and that means everything to me.

And then there are the readers of this blog. You have no idea. Thousands of you continue to pop in each day and your kind notes via Facebook, Twitter, Email and on the site itself always make my day. I pledge to continue doing what I do as long as you’ll have me!

I begin 2010 with a couple of terrific new gigs in addition to Greg In Hollywood: I’m a contributing writer covering television to Fancast.com beginning immediately and will be writing about the entertainment industry for the exciting new site HollywoodNews.com. This blog will remain LGBT focused while the others are more mainstream entertainment oriented.

This allows me to do all the things that I love and I’m very excited about all of it.

I want to wish each and every one of you are very Happy New Year!

CAN SHE TALK? It just hasn’t seemed right that for the past two years, awards seasons have come and gone without the woman who was the red carpet queen for more than a decade.

And finally, I got the most wonderful Christmas gift from my second family, the Sullivans of Newport Beach. Here is my godson Declan and his daddy Danny wearing the Greg In Hollywood merchandise they ordered for me. Not pictured are mom Lorna and my other godson, Rhys.

Good afternoon!

My schedule is a little wacky right now so I’m posting when I can. But I am posting and will be through the holidays. Starting after Christmas will be the annual Greg’s List feature naming my top stories, movies, out stars,TV shows etc. for the year (I’m staying way from the decade in review stuff!).

I found these pics of a shirtless Maksim Chmerkovskiy of Dancing With the Stars fame and had to run them. He’s a real dreamboat and completely charming. I’ve interviewed him a few times and he is very appreciative of his gay fans – like Lance Bass!

Maksim is performing on Broadway in Burn the Floor, an electrifying Latin and Ballroom dance spectacular which opened this summer at Broadway’s intimate Longacre Theatre. Lance and his great friend Joey Fatone caught a performance recently and got to hang out with a shirtless Maksim.

The show has been extended through February 24 2010 before embarking on Australian, Asian and U.S. tours.

CRUISIN’ FOR A SUING: Usually it’s Tom Cruise who is doing the suing so this is a real switch.

According to the American Lawyer’s blog, Cruise and his longtime attorney Bert Fields sued Michael Davis Sapir, the editor of Bold Magazine, in 2001 for defamation after Bold advertised a $500,000 reward for anyone who could provide evidence that Cruise is gay. Bold followed the ad up with a press release saying someone had leaked the magazine a videotape proving it,

Now it is Sapir who is suing Cruise and Fields for $5 million.

Why?

Because he alleges that Fields and Cruise hired convicted wiretapper Anthony Pellicano to wiretap conversations between Sapir and his attorney and that the information the Cruise team gleaned from those conversations gave them a strategic edge that led Sapir to enter into an unfavorable settlement.

Under the terms of that settlement, Sapir stipulated that Cruise did not appear on the leaked tape and that Cruise “is not, and has never been, homosexual and has never had a homosexual affair.”

Pellicano is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence on charges of unlawful wiretapping linked to the divorce case of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.

We’ll see if this suit goes anywhere!

Good morning!

How is that holiday shopping coming along? I’ve managed to get all the gifts but now comes my least-favorite part: wrapping them. I tried the gift bags a few years ago but they just aren’t the same as a wrapped gift that has to be torn open. So, guess what I’ll be doing tonight!

One present that won’t be under anyone’s tree because it’s not on sale until Dec. 29 is a must-have DVD: Glee, Vol. 1: Road to Sectionals.

I’ve missed several episodes of this new hit show and look forward to settling in for a nice marathon of episodes.

I don’t love that the show is on hiatus until April when begins a run of nine new episodes but this DVD will certainly help to fill the void!

It’s also seems like a mighty smart marketing move by 20th Century Fox which is releasing the DVD just a few weeks after the first half of the season ended.

Sales could spike if the series wins any Golden Globe Awards next month with the series itself up for best comedy and stars Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele and Jane Lynch up for individual acting awards. The entire cast is also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding comedy ensemble.

Happy Friday everyone!

You know, I think it’s really great that Robert Downey Jr. has put his drug problems behind him but it was not so great to hear him use the word “homos” on The Late Show with David Letterman last night while promoting his new Sherlock Holmes movies.

Letterman suggested that perhaps Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were “closer than out solving crimes.”

“That they were homos?” Downey Jr. said, drawing a big laugh from the audience.

That’s bad enough. Bandleader Paul Schaffer inexplicably decides to get in on the “fun” and asks: “What are they, complete screamers? Is that what you’re saying?”

At this point, Letterman’s hand is on his forehead and he’s saying “Oh my God.”

Watch for yourself and expect some statements from GLAAD soonn

TALKING INNER GAYNESS: The lovely and talented Sarah Jessica Parker has a new movie out today, a comedy called Did You Hear About the Morgans? also starring Hugh Grant.

Love SJP, love Hugh Grant, so I am basically required to see it.

The Emmy Award winning actress talked to writer Kevin Sessums for The Daily Beast about how she and hubby Matthew Broderick had twins through a surrogate which Sessums said “has become a kind of status symbol for a lot of affluent gays who long for families of their own.”

He then asked SJP: “Was going the surrogate route a way for you and Matthew to channel your own inner affluent gay men?

Replied Sarah Jessica: “God, that’s so true… and so funny. No, no, no … Matthew and I were looking at a variety of ways to expand our family. So it’s not that simple, channeling our inner gayness. And I wouldn’t say that we are done either. We will keep exploring different ways to have a family I think.”

Since I am beyond disgusted with Sen. Joe Lieberman and his actions regarding health care reform, I thought I’d add Sarah Jessica’s remarks on President Barack Obama and on Lieberman:

“I refuse to lose hope in Obama, although health care is the biggest concern for me. I will be so blue if I lose hope in this man. I’m not a Pollyanna but I can’t abandon Obama at this early stage. The thing that I was hoping for was transparency in the health-care debate because that’s the promise he made to me personally. That has disappointed me. And as for Joe Lieberman’s role in the health-care process … well, I just don’t understand it. James Wilkie is more mature than Joe Lieberman is. Lieberman has behaved like a petulant child.”

AND FINALLY …

There’s a hot new clip out from A Single Man, the Tom Ford-directed film about a gay man that the studio and even the director has indicated is not a gay film. This scene with Colin Firth’s character flirting with an oh-so-sexy male prostitute with hall of fame lips (Jon Kortajarena, pictured left) exposes this film for what it is: A movie about a gay man.

Enjoy!

There’s been so much hype over Adam Lambert even before last month’s American Music Awards performance and all the controversy that has followed. But the bottom line is this: his new album is really good and I love the single What Do You Want From Me?

I can’t stop singing it!

Last night, Adam performed the catchy tune during the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance and he didn’t kiss anyone or simulate oral sex so maybe we can all relax now – especially ABC!

Here is video of the performance:

MEREDITH MEMOIR: This certainly sounds more interesting than another Valerie Bertinelli “Look how thin I am now” book.

Our new favorite lesbian, Meredith Baxter, is indeed writing that memoir that was mentioned as a possibility a few weeks back when the Family Ties mom made headlines by coming out at the age of 62.

The Broadway Books imprint of Crown Publishing Group announced this week that it has acquired a yet-to-be-written yet-to-titled book by Miss Baxter, who the publisher said “will present a fully realized portrait of her life as an actress, mother of five children and grandmother, and will candidly discuss her fight with breast cancer, her 19 years of sobriety, entrepreneurship and her decision to come out.”

Looking forward to this one!

LIFE IS A CABARET: I try never to miss any of the terrific cabaret shows at The Magic Castle but was unable to attend Monday’s event which I’m told was superb.

Cabaret at the Castle presented an amazing musical line-up of first-class talent in HOLIDAY MAGIC: A Cabaret Benefiting Toys For Tots featuring Nita Whitaker, Alli Mauzey, Julie Garnye, Ty Taylor, and Jason Graae, with audiences attending the late show receiving an unscheduled additional surprise of performances by Alan Cumming and Ricki Lake.

This one-of-a-kind cabaret was produced by Julie Garnye and Matt Patton, under the direction of Scott Nevins and hosted by funnywoman Shawn Pelofsky with world-class magic by Tony Clark.

It was a gift-giving benefit supporting the efforts of Toys For Tots.  Hundreds of new unwrapped toys were collected and were gladly received by members of the U.S. Marines in attendance who are pictured below with Cumming and Lake.

Well, these are bleak times for As the World Turns fans. The show has been canceled by CBS and will end its long run in September.

If this had been two years ago, I would have been quite upset because I would have so missed Oakdale’s young gay couple Luke  Snyder and Noah Mayer.

But as loyal fans are well aware, the writing has been dismal for daytime’s first gay super-couple for quite some time now and so interest has dwindled. Plus One Life to Live debuted Kyle and Fish earlier this year and ATWT’s gay storyline seemed even more hapless.

But that is not a reflection on the wonderful actors who have played these roles. Three-time Emmy nominee Van Hansis has been wonderful as Luke and tried to find truth in whatever nonsense has been thrown his way. He has had a wonderful chemistry and shared many sweet kisses with co-star Jake Silbermann who has had some nice moments – especially lately – as Noah.

Jake reached out to fans via his Facebook page after the cancellation was announced: “It’s been a wonderful ride and I am sorry that the storyline will not be around for you wonderful die hard fans. I promise to work my hardest to be a part of new, and hopefully, as emotionally rewarding stories in the future. Let’s enjoy the rest of the ride!”

I’m a few days late on watching Saturday Night Live (thank God for Hulu!) and thought New Moon hunk Taylor Lautner was adorable in his opening monologue. He’s just 17 and told the audience: “I  remember when SNL started, I was negative 18 at the time.”

He also acknowledges that he does take his shirt off an awful lot in New Moon. So much sio that even shirtless king Matthew McConaughey said it was too much.

We get to see Taylor do some impressive stunts as he reinacts the VMA incident where his friend Taylor Swift had her speech interrupted by Kanye West. I did not realize Lautner was standing on the stage, off to the side, at the time. He did nothing then but shows us what he’d do if given the chance.

Below is a skit that has him playing a blond high school student performing in the high school musical and being heckled by the audience. It doesn’t work and Taylor’s character keeps saying he’s gay but he doesn’t mean it in that way. Gee, how funny. But it’s worth a look to see him as a blond and to see him dance. Nice moves!

When I first read that Beau Bridges was portraying a transgender woman on an episode of TNT’s The Closer this week, my first thought was: “I wonder what they did with his eyebrows?’

Beau doesn’t talk about eyebrows but he does talk shoes and clothes in an interview with UInterview. He also has some lovely and supportive things to say about those who go through real-life transition.

Q: You play a detective who has had a sex change. How did you prepared for the role?
A: I had a part in a play called Looking for Normal by Jane Anderson a number of years ago in which I played a man who was contemplating a sex change. In preparation for the role, I did a lot of research on the subject and meeting people who had gone down that road. I have a profound respect for people who have had the courage to take that journey. It’s not an easy one in today’s world. This Closer episode offered me a chance to step into those shoes once again and honor those folks who have taken that path.

Q: Did you have a scene that was the most challenging for you?
A: At the end of the show when I’m leaving from the train station, I have to walk away from G.W. [Bailey, who plays Det. Provenza], I had to walk on this cold tile floor in these high heels. I had chosen very modest pumps to wear through most of filming because I didn’t want to screw my back up, but in that particular scene they wanted me to wear spiked heels. I had to do the scene 10 times. It was just brutal. It was terrifying. After every time I had to do the take, I had to take my shoes off. I am never again going to complain to my wife when we are late trying to get somewhere, and she’s got those heels on.

Q: What’s the challenge of wearing woman’s clothes?
A: The clothes themselves were fine – I really love woman’s clothes. I buy all my wife’s clothes. I’m bored by men’s clothes. I hate to shop for myself. That part of it was really fun – they have a great creative team behind the scenes. I just handed myself over to them and they did me. I have pretty long hair to begin with, so I didn’t have to wear a wig. They just put extensions in my hair. To see yourself at the end of it, that was a big part of the creative process.

Only in California.

In a state that passed the anti-gay marriage measure Proposition 8 last year, an openly gay man has been selected as Speaker of the Assembly for the first time.

That man is John Perez, a Democrat from Los Angeles who said in a statement: “It is a humbling privilege. I will work every day to justify that faith and to earn the enormous honor of having been drafted as Speaker.”

Perez gets the job during his first year in the Assembly! To learn more about him and the reaction from other political leaders, read my pal Karen Ocamb’s piece posted on her blog LGBT POV.

COMING SOON: The second Sex and the City movie doesn’t come out until the spring but the build up has already begun with the release this week of a teaser poster featuring star Sarah Jessica Parker.

I can’t wait to spend time with Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte again and I hope this movie is such a smash that they will have to immediately begin production on a third.

We don’t know much about the plot of the second film but there will be some celebrity cameos and the photo of this fab foursome is a still from the flick. Sing out girls! Pictured L-R are Cynthia Nixon, SJP, Kim Cattrall and Kristen Davis.

Not that I’m having one! My allergies decided to flair up so I’m sneezing waiting for my meds to take effect. Could not get WiFi at home so I’m at Java Detour sitting far away from everyone trying not to sneeze too much.

It reminds me of an old episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show when Mary has a really bad day – including a weird “hair bump.” Since I have so little hair, I know that won’t happen to me!

But enough about me. How about that Joy Behar?

The best thing about The View has been flourishing with her own nightly show on HLN and this week, had record ratings with just under 1 million viewers on Tuesday when she hosted Roseanne Barr. A day earlier, Joy averaged a then-record 824,000 viewers when her guests were Levi Johnston and Andrew Sullivan.

This is well-deserved for this smart, opinionated and very funny lady. I rarely watch The View anymore except for clips online but caught it on Monday. Barbara Walters seemed to chide Joy for mentioning her night time show one too many times and Joy retorted by mentioning the endless mentions of Barbara’s memoir a few years back.

Touche!

MAD FOR MADDOW: Another red-hot and very relevant cable news personality, Rachel Maddow, showed her lighter side this week during a guest appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show on NBC.

Rachel has been focusing on such topics as the war in Afghanistan and about frightening anti-gay bills in Uganda. That doesn’t leave her much time to discuss the scandals of Tiger Woods.

“Tiger Woods never said, ‘Buy Nike, I’m faithful to my wife,’” she said. “He never made claims to be the superior moral being. So I have a hard time thinking we should cover it.”

But Rachel, who is a lesbian,  joked to Jimmy that even she had slept with Tiger: “I think it’s going to hurt his reputation when everybody finds out about me.”

My favorite line though is when Rachel said the lack of an index in Sarah Palin’s book is “an insult to reading people everywhere.”

She has not read it.

GOOD EVENING AMERICA: Good Morning America news anchor Chris Cuomo confirmed this morning that tomorrow (Friday) will be his final day as a regular on the popular show.

Lots of items to post today so stay tuned and my apologies for the late start. It’s my dad’s birthday today so I was occupied with that – great guy who turns 79 today!

Last night headed over to The Abbey because if you read yesterday’s post about Mary Wilson, you know that I was beside myself with excitement at the prospect of meeting the original member od the Supremes face-to-face.

I walked in and there was a crowd around this glamorous woman impeccably dressed in black. It was the woman who has made Diana Ross‘ life a living hell for the past 25 years!

I’m sure Diana would never admit this publicly but after an uninterrupted string of success from the early 70s through the mid-80s, Diana’s recording career was never the same after Mary published her 1986 memoir Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme.

Diana came off as a real villain in that book, someone who could not bare to share even a small ray of the spotlight with either Mary of Florence Ballard (and later Cindy Birdsong). Then 10 years ago, it seemed that Diana was ready to bury the hatchet – at least professionally – when she agreed to reunite with Mary and Cindy for a concert tour. But the whole thing fell apart over money and when Diana tried to tour with two other Supremes from 70s incarnations of the group, it was so disastrous that the tour was cut short.

It would have been their first joint appearance since the disastrous 1983 Motown special when Ross reportedly pushed Wilson while they were on stage. That, of course, did not make the final telecast!

But none of that was mentioned last night, of course. Mary was the star attraction at a book party for her great friend Mark Bego celebrating the release of his new book Elton John: The Bitch is Back. Mark told me that he and Mary go way back and she certainly added some razzle dazzle to the festivities.

(That’s Bego and Mary pictured with Abbey founder and president David Cooley).

I chatted with Mary briefly and mentioned the interview we did via telephone last January. “Can you send it to me? I want to see how it turned out!”

We posed for a few pics but I can’t post them yet because they were taken with one of those disposable cameras. The battery of my camera had not been recharged so I had to grab a throwaway because The Abbey is a little too dark to take a cell phone pic well and I did not want to take any chances!

Anyway, it was an absolute thrill to meet this Motown legend.

PREJEAN UPDATE: We go from the famous to the infamous.

I can’t think of a more ridiculous way to begin the new year than to do it with former Miss California Carrie Prejean who has made a giant jackass of herself more times this year than Lindsay Lohan - well, almost.

It seems that despite the nude photos, breast implants, numerous sex tapes and telling countless lies, Carrie is still trying to market herself as a good girl.

Sorry, I just had a laughing fit. Okay, let’s continue.

According to an item I’ve just seen on Towleroad, Carrie has backed out of an appearance at a Connecticut nightclub on New Years Eve because being in a nightclub setting at midnight is just not at all proper.

“As you can understand, this is in direct conflict with who she is,” her mother told nightclub owners who were going to pay $15,000. “Her reputation as a Christian is more important than any public appearance attention or monetary compensation. If in the future, you have an opportunity for her to speak to young adults, or physically challenged athletes, she would love it.”

You just can’t make this stuff up!

I’m hoping someone will slip a DVD of Julie & Julia into my Christmas stocking (I’ve dropped hints to family!) otherwise I would go right out buy one myself!

Love, love, love this movie! It tells Julia Child’s story of her start in the cooking profession and is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell’s 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child’s first book. The fact that Julia Child is played by the glorious Meryl Streep has everything to do with why this movie is such a joy to watch. I remember leaving the theater feeling so inspired, in love with life – and with food!

Here’s an excerpt of the rave review I gave this Nora Ephron-directed movie:

Streep’s performance as Julia Child is joyous and goes well beyond being an impersonation. She captures the woman’s lust for life (and for her husband, played by Stanley Tucci), her wonderful humor and indomitable spirit and, on a few rare occasions, her pain.

This goes right to the top of Streep’s best performances and I enjoyed every minute she was on screen from Julia’s life in Paris starting in the late 40s through to her landmark cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking being published in the early 60s.

(It is also great to see the great Jane Lynch in her scenes as Julia’s sister who comes to Paris for a visit and ends up finding love. She and Streep have some wonderfully fun scenes together.)

In the film’s present day story, Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, a woman on the verge of 30 looking for meaning in her life. She aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child’s cookbook and decides to blog about it. The stories were interwoven nicely as both women find themselves through cooking.

Adams is wonderful, as usual, and has terrific chemistry with on-screen husband played by an adorable Chris Messina. As a blogger myself, I related a lot to the Julie scenes in the film which capture the life of a blogger quite well – the solitary nature most times, the odd hours, the obsession with blog traffic and this often stern reminder from friends or family: “Do not put that in your blog!”

CHRIS GOES TO NIGHT SHIFT: I was hoping ABC would think about how well it worked out when NBC promoted Matt Lauer from news anchor on The Today Show to co-anchor when Bryant Gumbel departed and follow suit by replacing Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America with Chris Cuomo.

It takes a certain mix of serious and playfulness and familiarity for a morning anchor to click with viewers and Chris has that in spades. But it appears incoming ABC World News Tonight anchor Sawyer will be replaced on GMA after her stellar 10-year stint there by George Stephanopoulos.

Cuomo is expected to be leaving GMA as a result and be replaced as news anchor by JuJu Chang, according to the Los Angeles Times. But he will not be leaving the network if ABC has its way. Chris would become co-anchor of ABC’s 20-20 with Elizabeth Vargas, another former GMA newsreader passed over as co-anchor in the late 90s who, for a time, was co-anchor of World News Tonight.

Chris has also been offered expanded reporting duties which could position him for all kinds of high-profile gigs down the road. He’s still a really young guy, very bright and charming, and a terrific interviewer. I could see him as White House correspondent or GMA or evening news anchor someday.

This is all still being negotiated, The Times reports. No doubt there are other networks interested in Cuomo, He would be a lifesaver for CBS’s The Early Show which needs a shot in the arm – and in the ratings!

As for Stephanopolous, he will bring some serious news chops to GMA and is certainly not a bad choice provided he can also have some fun when the situation calls for it. No doubt he will land some really good political interviews for the program’s more hard news-oriented first hour.

AND FINALLY: I want to give a shout-out to a really cool gay-owned bar across the street from my home in Park LaBrea.

It’s called Sheddy’s Public Parlour,  a chilled out spot by the Grove on Fairfax next to the WGA-West.

Sheddy’s is  a classy neighborhood joint that is friendly and genuine but a little out of the ordinary for the LA scene. On Tuesday nights from 8pm-Close: $1 from every drink sold is donated by Sheddy’s to “Love Honor Cherish” a grass-roots organization dedicated to restoring Marriage Equality in California.

And from 5-8pm there is Happy Hour with sexy bartender Josh Reidel. Each $2 donation Love Honor Cherish gets you a free shot! There are more than 100 bottled beers and many fine wines but I can’t get enough of the unique and very delicious beers on tap. Yum!

Then there is the adorable owner, Jim Sheddy, who is friendly and smart and has the most wonderful smile and dancing eyebrows. (That’s Jim pictured above (left) and Josh on the right)

This cool place is located at 361 S. Fairfax. Street parking and parking in the back. (323) 651-1442. Tell them you heard about the place from Greg In Hollywood!

I was just over at EW.com scanning the headlines and Michael Ausiello reports that closeted villain Alby (Matt Ross) on HBO’s Big Love will be getting a boyfriend when the series begins its fourth season.

Co-creator/executive producer Will Scheffe says Alby becomes involved with Dale played by Benjamin Koldyke: They stumble into a relationship, and this guy is [just like Alby] struggling with his urges. He’s been going to [reparative therapy] for several years… unsuccessfully. Alby is going as well. … “There’s a provocative nature to what we’re doing. It’s more than just the Mormon culture. We’re highlighting certain aspects of the church’s relationship with its gay members that I think, as the story unfolds, is going to cause no [small] amount of controversy.”

PENALTY STRIP: What is this world coming to when a hunky soccer player like Christian Renaldo can’t celebrate after scoring a goal by ripping off his shirt and showing us his phenomenal body?

The Real Madrid star, who was a Greg In Hollywood Morning Man last month, was penalized by referees for his striptease which occurred during a game against the team Almeria. Real Madrid managed to win 4-2, according to Towleroad.com.

Said Christian in a post-game interview: “I’m human and I made a mistake. I have my flaws too, but I am a professional who doesn’t like to miss or lose.”

I wish more players would make these kinds of mistakes!

And finally, Playgirl has released another shot of Levi Johnston.

At this point, I’m not sure we really care that much because everyone seems to be a bit underwelmed by the photos of the father of Sarah Palin’s grandson.

Maybe he’s not showing us everything becauase he doesn’t want us to be even further disappointed?

Thankl God it’s Friday!

Dustin Lance Black was among those honored this week at the PEN Center USA Literary Awards in Beverly Hills. In his acceptance speech, the Oscar winning screenwriter of Milk told the crowd about how he recently was invited by the English department of a Michigan college to speak there then uninvited by an unfriendly administrator.

According to the Los Angeles Times, when Lance received word that he receiving the PEN award, it inspired him to rent a theater near that college and screen Milk and to discuss LGBT equal rights.

He also mentioned that he’d seen anti-gay graffiti elsewhere in his travels — “You A Fag” it read. “Well you’re right,” he said, “but at least you could have given me a verb.”

Pictured below is Lance with Walter Mirisch, fellow PEN honoree Elmore Leonard and Milk producer Bruce Cohen.

BAXTER BOOK: Meredith Baxter is my new hero! Man, those interviews she gave this week were, in my opinion, a big boost to the LGBT equal rights movement.

Adam Lambert may be banned, for now, from performing live on ABC, but he will appear on the network next week when he’s interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual Ten Most Fascinating People special airing Dec. 9.

For a lady pushing 80, Miss Walters certainly stays current as we see mornings on The View. She also interviews Lady Gaga, Kate Gosselin, Tyler Perry and Brett Favre. There is a profile on the late Michael Jackson’s kids as well as interviews with two people I do not find at all fascinating: Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.

Okay, back to Adam: Judging from the huge pre-sale numbers on Amazon.com for his new album For Your Entertainment, I expected the American Idol star to debut at number one this week on the Billboard sales chart. But Adam was relegated to number three.

Who was number one? Another wildly famous talent show runner-up: Susan Boyle. Her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream is tops in the US and the UK.

The British talent contestant-turned-singing sensation sold just over 700,000 copies of her debut album. Her record label, Columbia Records, says that not only gives her the best first week sales of 2009, but also the best-selling album debut by a woman in the Billboard SoundScan era.

WHO WORE IT BETTER? Both the legendary Carol Channing and reality TV star Paris Hilton worked the red carpet over the weekend in a shiny silver body-fitting top and a black bottom. So the natural question is:  Who wore it better?

My vote goes to Miss Channing, still going strong at 88 years young. She still knows how to work it!

CRUSHING NEWS: I did an item about the “man crushes” of male celebrities and it got me thinking about who my “girl crushes” are. Well, one of them is certainly the lovely Amelie Mauresmo, the French tennis star who won Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006 and during much of her career, has been very open about being a lesbian.

Amelie is scheduled to hold a press conference later today to announce her future tennis plans. It seems all but certain that those plans are to retire. She’s accomplished so much, including reaching the number one ranking in 2005 and 2006, but has not played as well in recent years.

I think she has such a nice way about her and a beautiful game to watch – very aggressive but also graceful. She was graceful off the court too when back in 1999, when she was just a teenager, she reached the final of the Australian Open and had to put up with questions about her sexuality and with her finals opponent Martina Hingis saying the muscular Amelie was like “half a man.”

She’s a classy lady and I hope she enjoys life after tennis. I’ll post news from her press conference when it becomes available.

Good morning!

I’m dragging a bit today because a friend and I decided to go out last night and hit some clubs in West Hollywood. So many people out! We ran into Wilson Cruz and his boyfriend at Here Lounge as well as two of the stars of Eating Out 3 Chris Salvatore and Daniel Skelton and also chatted up former CNN anchor Thomas Roberts.

Before heading out to West Hollywood, we headed over to The Grove to see a movie. Wanted to see Precious but it was sold out so settled for our second choice The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

It was okay, perhaps a tad too long. But there was no denying that Taylor Lautner steals the show with that new body! The first time he rips his shirt off it’s a revelation then he spends the rest of the flick basically shirtless. Trust me, we were not complaining!

New Moon remained at the top of the box office heap during what was a record Thanksgiving weekend. It grossed an estimated $42.5 million over the weekend and has earned $230 million domestically in just two weeks.

The Sandra Bullock flick The Blind Side is shaping up to be a huge hit s well with a weekend gross of $40 million and more than $100 million in two weeks.

Gotta check that one out too – as well as Precious.

STILL IN THE RACE: Gay brothers Sam and Dan MacMillen have made it to the final three on The Amazing Race but not before having to perform a series of bizarre tasks in Prague on Sunday night’s show.

They and the other teams were forced to build golems, enter frigidly cold rooms and deliver beer, drink absinthe and answer ringing telephones. They performed all of this while avoiding soccer hooligans and drunken tourists!

The brothers also did some backstabbing after Dan agreed to join forces with one of the Harlem Globetrotters to solve a Kafka-esque puzzle. But when he figured it out on his own, all he divulged to his rival was that the answer started with “F.”  The Globetrotter team was eliminated and he brother finished the leg in second place.

The brothers now are in the finals and compete with two other teams for first prize of $1 million! The McMillen brothers will be in New York for the broadcast of next Sunday’s finale, which will put the final three teams through their paces in Las Vegas.

CLAY’S DAY: Now that Adam Lambert has taken over the world, Clay Aiken is no longer the most famous American Idol runner up in thw world. He’s not even the most famous gay runner up!

But let’s give Clay his due because today is his 31st brithday: he parlayed his success on Idol (whatever happened to season 2 winner Ruben Stoddard anyway?) into a hugely successful recording career and has also starred on Broadway. He has an extremely loyal fan base and recently became a father.

My hope for Clay as he turns another year older is that he becomes a more gracious person. It was a big step when he finally came out and confirmed what everyone had known – that he is gay. But he’s often a bitchy gay and he went out of his way to write some rude things about Lambert earlier this year and suffered a lot of backlash for it.

Clay, who is working on a new album for next year, tried to apologize – I think! – and just came off sounding worse.

Last night, my pal Eddie and I went and saw Kathy Griffin at the Universal Amptheatre (sorry, never will be the Gibson to me!) and that girl was on fire!

Laughed so damned hard. You know how you laugh so much that you kinda have to reign yourself in and start to pace yourself. It was a two-hour show and if I had kept laughing as hard as I was the first 45 minutes I woulda passed out!

First of all, there were more gays in the lobby alone than a Saturday night at Micky’s or The Abbey in West Hollywood so Kathy was playing to an audience that adores her.

I didn’t take notes because I wanted to just focus on the show so I don’t have too many exact quotes as Kathy went off on Oprah Winfrey (“The best Oprah is when she’s big fat Oprah … Oprah is so big now that her tits take up most of the screen.“), Sharon Stone (“She’s batshit crazy!), Whitney Houston (“I’m not saying she’s back on the pipe, just the half-pipe”) and her new favorite target, Miley Cyrus!

Kathy just loves Adam Lambert and says he makes Clay Aiken look butch. She also does not spare her Bravo network co-stars on the Real Housewives franchise. Since I’d only seen the first season with the Orange County women I was not too familiar with the other women Kathy trashes but it’s still pretty hilarious.

I met Gretchen and Slade from the Orange County cast and Kathy said Slade is such a skank that just talking about him gave her crabs!

Wonderfully, Kathy talked loads about her 89-year-old mother Maggie who we love: “Jesus Christ Kathleen! Goddamit, son of a bitch.”

I’d like to thank Kathy for barely mentioning Levi Johnston. I think she realized that material got old real quick!  The Oprah stuff was inspired and the Sharon Stone portion was bust a gut funny. Kathy is pals with Suzanne Somers who invited her to this private dinner party and at her table were Don Rickles, Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman and Miss Stone.

Anyone who has ever interviewed Miss Stone or heard her speak at some kind of benefit knows she takes herself very seriously. Kathy tells the story of Sharon talking about some writing she’s doing and the star of Basic Instinct says that she realizes she is capable of killing, “but every day, I choose not to.”

Loved, love, LOVED the show!

Some of the news tidbits that Kathy shared: She will be on E! channel’s Chelsea Lately show on Monday! She has also been signed to co-host the New Year’s Eve show from NYC’s Times Square, once again, with cutie pie Anderson Cooper despite the faux paus last year.

Thinking she was at a commercial, Kathy yelled down to some guys who interrupted her: “I don’t knock the dicks out of your mouth when you’re working!” She claims that CNN has made agree to forfeit her paycheck if she does anything similarly innapropriate this year. Kathy says she’s bringing her checkbook just in case she slips.

Kathy will also play a lesbian activist on an episode of Law & Order SVU (her mother insists on calling it Law & Order SUV) and said she has a big kiss with Mariska Hargitay! We’ll have to see if that really comes to pass.

Thank you Kathy for being so great and for giving us such an energetic performance. It really felt like we were sitting there dishing with a friend.

Good morning!

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was superb and I’m looking forward to having some leftovers for lunch!

I’m still with family in OC but heading back to LA this afternoon to see Kathy Griffin tonight at the Universal Ampitheatre.

I. Can’t. Wait!

So I wrote on Wednesday about Adam Lambert’s non-controversial appearance on CBS Early Show. It’s caused some controversy that has nothing to do with Adam himself: CBS blurred the image of Adam kissing a band member when they replayed the clip of his American Music Awards performance.

But the program did show Madonna and Britney Spears sharing a kiss from their famous lip-lock from several years back.

So why the double standard?

EW.com quotes a spokesman for The Early Show as explaining: “We gave this some real thought. The Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times including many times on morning television. The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated, and for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences.”

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios was quick to blast CBS: “‘The Early Show’s’ decision this morning to blur Adam Lambert’s kiss from the American Music Awards reinforces an unfortunate double standard that is applied to openly gay performers.”

I think CBS looks really bad for blurring the Lambert kiss and showing the girl kiss. The oral sex simulation is Adam’s performance was probably blur-worthy but certainly not the kiss!

While Adam has not commented on CBS’s blurring of his kiss but he did talk to Entertainment Tonight about ABC canceling his scheduled appearance on Good Morning America which is why he ended on The Early Show in the first place: “ABC did what they needed to do,” he told ET. “I respect their decision. They probably have a lot of politics going on behind the scenes that I don’t know about. I just want to do a concert and sing. I’m glad that we got to give a show to the fans who came out. A lot of them traveled to New York so I’m glad that they got a show. That’s what matters.”Meanwhile, “Early Show” reporter Maggie Rodriguez said she found Lambert to be very mature and didn’t understand why he wouldn’t be invited to explain his side of the story.

“I think it was a no-brainer to have him on to answer to his critics, which he did in a very forthcoming way this morning,” she told ET. “He was unapologetic, but at the same time admitted that he got carried away and that he’s learned from the experience, which I thought was very mature.”

Another note on GMA: While they were afraid Adam might be inappropriate on their show, they see fit to air an interview with the R&B singer Chris Brown who in June pleaded guilty to assaulting the singer Rihanna.

Adam also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday night singing Whataya Want From Me? As far as I know, it was without incident: