Afternoon Meme: Farewell To Lynn and Helen, Getting Reacquainted with Lily, Build Your Own Superhero, plus Ke$ha, and Chely

Beyonce teases, is Adam still Idol's top screamer, are fake presidents better, a trinity of hotness, plus Calvin & Hobbes.

Spurf™ talks to producer David Marshall Grant about the one-year time jump on Brothers & Sisters, and it seems it’s all about Kitty getting to be single and Sarah with Luc, with nary a mention of how this affects Kevin and Scotty. If they jump forward a year, we’re going to miss the birth, and likely the move out of the loft.

In sad news, actress Lynn Redgrave has passed away at age 67. A prolific artist, she’s appeared in countless stage productions, and recently in such gay favorites as Gods & Monsters, Ugly Betty, and Desperate Housewives. Our condolences to her friends and family.

In other sad news, Helen Wagner, who played matriarch Nancy Hughes on As the World Turns has passed away at age 91. She holds the record for playing the same character the longest at 54 years, and was the first person to speak when the show premiered in 1956. Our condolences to her family on the loss of a great lady.

Continuing their fine journalism, BestWeekEver.tv comes up with the following headline concerning American Idiot on Broadway, which offends both gays and grammarians alike: “You Know That Green Day Song You Kinda Liked From Five Years Ago? Here It Is For $100 And Gay” And no, we don’t have any idea what they meant.

This Calvin & Hobbes archive is searchable by quote, allowing you to pull up your favorite strips based on what comes out of the little devil’s mouth.

U.S. Rep. Peter King wasted no time at all speculating wildly that the Times Square car bomb might be in response to South Park and the prophet Muhammad controversy.

Lily Tomlin very nearly became the first “Yep, I’m Gay” cover story for Time, way back in the mid 1970s, but turned it down. She also turned down a half million dollars to play her Laugh-In alter-ego Ernestine in an AT&T commercial back then.

Sir Elton John has been banned from performing in Egypt for his recent comments that his personal version of Jesus was a gay man.

Marvel lets you create your own superhero, mixing bodies, powers, and costumes, which you can then share with the world. So who’s your secret identity? Share in the comments!

Remember last week when everyone reported that the iPhone app Grindr had been used in the murder of a 54-year-old man by a 19-year-old? Not true. However, nobody but Gizmodo seems to care about correcting the record.

This story in the New York Times was ostensibly in honor of the meeting of Hollywood and Washington that occurs at the White House Correspondents Dinner. They asked power producers who had created iconic presidents how a fictional president would solve various problems. Aaron Sorkin took on gay rights.

None of this studying it for two years before reversing the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. A film president wouldn’t care about the political cost and would defy the critics.

“Movie and TV presidents can deliver wish fulfillment by being thoroughly unambiguous in public statements,” said Aaron Sorkin, creator of perhaps the most iconic, and unabashedly liberal, screen presidents in recent years in The American President and The West Wing. In his imagined script, Mr. Sorkin said, the president would declare categorically: “There is no way to prohibit same-sex marriage without saying that homosexual love is something less than heterosexual love. And it’s not. I don’t care how many people disagree with me.” 

NBC intends to spend its way out of the creative hole it’s dug over the last several years by ordering twenty pilots, including one from J.J. Abrams that is rumored to have cost $10 million for the pilot episode alone.

Senator Bob Casey plans to introduce a bill in Congress to address the growing problem of bullying amongst kids, and it will include specific protections for GLBT students above and beyond Senator Franken’s Student Non Discrimination Act.

Johnny Weir did an extensive interview with the Wall Street Journal, and claimed creative editing on Chelsea Handler’s part in that interview that caused all the fuss. He also talks about the book he’s writing and the show he’s trying to find backing for, which would have Sir Elton John performing at one end of the ice and Lady Gaga at the other, with him and acrobats in the middle. Good luck with that.

The Texas Attorney General continues to argue that a gay marriage passing through the Texas air dissolves by nature, so there’s no point in these gay divorce cases he keeps interfering in.

A new still has been released from Tron: Legacy. Is it still a still if it's all computer generated? In any case, somebody decided if there were to be light cycles, there needed to be light cars.

It really just look like twin light cycles.

Isn't he just precious?

A lifetime of bacon. If you can get past that face, which is pretty adorable.

Aww!

Well, if this isn't an interesting trinity - John Tartaglia, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Michael Urie.

The fact that there's video that this happened makes the world a better place.

Last night, The Simpsons opened with that Ke$ha song that once it's stuck in your head, won't leave. I caught only the last 10 seconds of the opening, and I was cursed. But if you watch it, they redid the entire opening animation at what must have been an outrageous cost. It's fairly clever.

The opening sequence to Beyonce's new video "Why Don't You Love Me" has hit the web. Interestingly, the song doesn't start in the opening, which some are calling a 1950's mechanic look, but reminds me of Rosie the Riveter as well.

MTV asks the question no one else was asking - which Idol screams better, Adam Lambert or Siobhan Magnus. Then they provide video evidence that it's closer than it seems.

I was in bed this morning watching Good Morning America when they had Rick Reilly on discussing his new book Sports From Hell that includes Ferret Legging, amongst others. It looks really funny. Also, there are some sick people out there.

Isabella Rossellini has a bizarre new series called Animal Attraction on Sundance. I don't know what else to say about it beyond that. You'll just have to watch.

I find it very odd that on Today, they had a guy demonstrate the Backtackular, designed to hide butt crack. All the advertising I've seen have featured women. And when I wear my super-low-rider jeans, I always just put on cute designer undies and feature the waistband.

Last night Conan O'Brien sat down for his first interview since becoming the wealthiest unemployed man in Hollywood. It's sort of funny as he tries to say what he wants and stay within the boundaries of his non-disparagement agreement.

And of course by now everyone on the planet knows that country music artist Chely Wright is the big coming out story in People. Good for her, and I hope she's happy. Welcome to the gayborhood!

I don't, however understand how she's claiming "There had never, ever been a country music artist who had acknowledged his or her homosexuality." I'd like to know why k.d. lang doesn't count.