Ask the Flying Monkey! (May 14, 2009)

What else can I tell you? Ulliel is an athlete, and a big star (and sex symbol) in France. Oh, and that scar on his cheek? He got it when he was six years old and tried to ride a dog like a horse; the dog scratched him.

“Many people talk about this scar and a few directors before were seduced, if I can say so, by this scar,” Ulliel has said. “Well, I’m going to phone the surgeon and thank him for it.”

As for photos, will these do?

Q: Have you read Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (which has a major gay character)? Do you know what Mr. Chbosky is up to these [days]? – Steven, Pennsylvania

A: Interestingly, Chbosky and the Flying Monkey have something in common: both our novels, Wallflower and Geography Club, which I wrote, are frequently challenged as unfit for public and school libraries by angry right-wing activists, and the two books are currently being challenged together in West Bend, Wisconsin. The activists, who claim both our books are “pornographic,” have even managed to get the four members tossed off the local library board when they refused to ban our books.

Alas, that’s about all Chbosky and I have in common.

Since publishing 1999’s Wallflower, which has since sold an astounding 700,000 copies, Chbosky co-created and wrote for the television show Jericho. He also wrote the screenplay for Rent, and has a teleplay, Daniel Isn’t Talking, in development for Fox.

Oh, I guess there is one more thing he and I have in common: we’ve both written screenplays for film adaptations of our novels that will hopefully get made very soon.

Stephen Chbosky

Q: What have The Hidden Cameras been up to? Any word on a new album? -- Alli, Boston

A: As I’m sure you know, Alli, the gay indie band The Hidden Cameras are, like the Pretenders and Wings, whatever musicians their talented front man – in this case, Joel Gibb – chooses to play with.

Joel Gibb (left) and The Hidden Cameras

But The Hidden Cameras are a little different than Chrissie Hynde and Paul McCartney in one sense: The Hidden Cameras sing about gay themes – sometimes explicitly and sexually. "I drank the wine that came from inside/The heart of his meat and the splurge of his sweet,” says one song.

Next page! Gibb goes Bavarian choir crowd surfing.