GOODBYE AND HELLO The past few months have been tough for most gay Americans. The horrible tragedy of November still lingers, giving most gay gatherings more than a tinge of anger and despair. We're talking, of course, about the November release of the movie Alexander, which its director, Oliver Stone, somehow managed to turn into a complete disaster despite the presence of Colin Farrell in a loin cloth, which is really quite an accomplishment when you think about it.

An even brighter side to the world today is the debut of this website, AfterElton.com, which promises to do for gay men and what AfterEllen.com has been doing for lesbians for almost three years--namely provide us with a comprehensive, accurate, and fair take on gay men in popular entertainment. We're thrilled that our monthly column, The Big Gay Picture, will be a part of it.

Why are we here? Mostly, it's because we know the landlord, Sarah Warn, the founder and editor of AfterEllen.com, and now AfterElton.com. In fact, we're the ones who suggested the name for this site, since it seems to us that Elton John's coming out as bisexual in Rolling Stone in 1976 was, in its way, as much a landmark in gay popular culture as was the event after which AfterEllen.com is named—Ellen Degeneres' coming out as lesbian in 1997.

Elton John's coming out was a huge deal at the time (and, many speculate, contributed greatly to his declining record sales in the late 1970s). Now, it's true, after John came out, he would go on to shock the world again by marrying his female engineer Renate Blauel (who was not his duet partner on Don't Go Breaking My Heart, as many mistakenly believe), then divorce her four years later,only to come out again in the late 1980s as fully "gay. "Then again, after Ellen DeGeneres and then-girlfriend Anne Heche came out, they didn't exactly ride off together into the sunset, did they? In any event, Elton John's coming out changed the world of gay popular culture. A lot. Plus, "AfterElton.com" seemed especially catchy when paired with the pre-existing "AfterEllen.com."

So what's the point of this column? Exactly as the name implies. We're here to see the Big Picture--to give context, spot trends, and provide analysis. In short, if this was Newsweek Magazine, we'd be the Anna Quindlan column at the very back. (We would not be the alternating George Will column, because, frankly, we think George Will is a horse's ass. Insert obligatory bow tie joke here.)

Our sole qualification? We love popular gay entertainment. We flock to see Rupert Everett and Julianne Moore in movie theaters; we drool over Bobby Cannavale on Will and Grace; we groove to Norah Jones and, yes, Cher; we eagerly await the latest novel from Michael Thomas Ford; and, perhaps counter-intuitively, we want to marry Jennifer Garner on Alias.

As you might ascertain from our nickname, we're also very cheap, so we're desperately hoping that publicity types send us lots of free books, CDS, and DVDs to, er, review. So say goodbye to the old nasty year that gave us Alexander and, oh yes, the "reelection" of an incompetent, mendacious, torture-approving, gay-bigot-pandering fascist. And say hello to a dazzling new year, a fascinating new website, and a fresh new monthly column that will help you make complete sense of it all.

Two Cheap Bastards are Brent Hartinger and Michael Jensen, partners since 1992. Brent is the author of the gay teen novel, Geography Club, and its sequel, The Order of the Poison Oak (brenthartinger.com). Michael Jensen is the author of the gay historical novels Frontiers and Firelands (michaeljensen.com).