AfterElton Briefs: Ewan McGregor Greases Up, Naked Gladiators, Adam Lambert Makes The Awful Truth and more

Unlike Sir Elton, he wears grease well.

Following this assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear. Yes, we're serious.

• Above you can see Ewan McGregor on the cover of Out, and I'd just like to state: This man is now my hero. He has become the first member of Hollywood to call horsepuckey on how all these gay-themed movies are presented.

There was quite a lot of talk at Sundance that, ‘Well, it’s not a gay movie. It’s a film about guys who happen to be gay.’ And I was thinking, it’s nothing but a gay movie. It’s about a gay couple, about a man’s sexuality, and he comes out. It’s not the point of the film, but let’s not pretend it’s not a gay film.

• Will & Grace creators David Kohan and the out Matt Mutchnick have cast Laurie Metcalf as the matriarch in their new pilot Strange Brew. It's being called a comedy where she's newly sober, working in a family brewery, and trying to quit swearing, but that sounds like the seventh circle of hell to me. This probably doesn't bode well for their gay buddy comedy.

• The CW released some early renewals today, and there are some gay characters on Gossip Girl and America's Next Top Model. There's great writing and beefcake on Supernatural, plus the occasional nod to their gay fans. I'm trying to find something nice to say about 90210. Um, the guys are hot? Help me out.

• Lady GaGa keeps releasing stills from her new video for "Telephone", even as we stare dumbfounded at the semi-official for "Teeth." It purportedly begins right where she and Beyonce left off. I reminds me of a twisted view of a Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie.

Does her hair color occur in nature?

• OutSports.com has a pair of great stories about Oneonta State University lacrosse captain Andrew McIntosh coming out. While the process was painful, the result has been wonderful.

• Speaking of college athletes coming out, we have Brian Burke making wonderful, emotional remarks aboout his son Brendan, who died in a car accident shortly after coming out to a supportive hockey team.

• A group is trying to gather a million virtual signatures on a petition to the State Department to take a more active role in the kill-the-gays legislation in Uganda. You can add your voice here.

• Also in politics, all the big names in GLBT blogging have banded together in a "blog swarm" today, demanding HRC and President Obama do something, anything about gay rights. AmericaBLOG, Pam's House Blend, the Gist, DailyKos, Towelroad, Joe.My.God, and Dan Savage are all calling for action together. It's not our beat, exactly, but I'm going to encourage you to read it and answer their call.

• Granted, Ted Casablancas is a gay blogger and somewhat biased on the subject, but I'm loving the fact that he's reporting on Adam Lambert and Dustin Lance Black just the same way he would Lindsay Lohan.

• Speaking of Adam Lambert, he did live performances of five songs including for AOL Sessions. "Whataya Want From Me", "If I Had You", "Fever", "Strut", and "Soaked". I had a hard time choosing one to share, because the last three are my favorites from the album. But I chose "Fever" in the end, because he looked like he had a lot of fun with the performance.

• Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman discuss how they intend to make the Oscars actually watchable this year, and how you should be able to time the ceremony with a watch and not a calendar for a change. I remain skeptical.

• Our friends over at TheTorchOnline.com take a closer look at the nudity on Spartacus: Blood and Sand to tell us what's real, and what may have been enhanced.

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