Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (June 29, 2007)

So Friday is finally here and with it another edition of BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER!, in which your beloved gay pop culture cruise director Michael Jensen promenades you through what was best, gayest, and most noteworthy this week.

Except this isn’t your typical BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER!

And I …

... am not ...

... Michael Jensen.

(cue dramatic prairie dog)

That’s right, folks. Michael’s been out for the last few days and in a rare flourish of exceedingly bad judgment has handed the reins over to me, AfterElton.com’s associate editor and East Coast gadabout. So while this week’s BGWE will offer you the same colorful chef’s salad of gay pop what’s-what that you know and love, the dressing may taste a little different.

So let's get to it, shall we?

TROUBLING TREND OF THE WEEK: MAN CAVES
Yes, I just said "man caves", but don't get too excited. No, "man cave" is a term used to describe a room in the house where the man retreats from his wife, kids, etc. in order to be manly. Because, of course, one's manliness is defined by one's ability to drink beer and play foosball uninterrupted and not related to things like providing, participating in the raising of children or bettering of the home, that kind of thing. I'm all for having a "room of one's own" (t/y, Virginia Woolf) and all, but it doesn't have to be layered with all this posturing.

Anyway, in order to help these men achieve that goal, there's a show coming to the DIY Network called — you guessed it — Man Caves.

Man Caves is just like every other makeover show but without all the sissy crap. Switch out pillows for kegs, end tables for pizza boxes, and design for the aesthetic grace of a Bennigan's and you've pretty much got it. The commercials are pretty horrifying, as they seem more like a parody from a Larry the Cable Guy special than anything else, and play into this whole bizarre post-Spike-Network mentality that:

A) There's something wrong with femininity that needs to be conquered or escaped, whether it's your wife or — God forbid — inside you; and ...

B) Home design shows are simply too fruity for real men, and the only way for real men to address design is within the context of some chest-puffing fraternity hazing ritual involving powertools. NO CHICKS.

But the truly disturbing thing about Man Caves is that my favorite television carpenter, Jason Cameron of While (I Wished) You Were Out, is the handyman.

Remember back in the day when Jason and Evan Farmer used to take their shirts off for no reason and give each other at least three overlong glances per episode?

Well, those days look to be over. For more info on this troubling development, check out this pictorial, and note the fantastic phrasing of this question:

"What does your dream man cave look like?"

I'm sure I don't know ... but I would guess that Jason could help me find out.