Morning Meme: "Iron Man 2" Soars, What's Paul Rudd Up To, Betty White Saves "SNL", While "Emmerdale" Gets Snubbed

Are we too easy on Modern Family, Is the male nudity in Joaquin Phoenix's mockumentary worth it, Thomas Dekker exlains Kaboom, and Betty gets Hot In Cleveland.

It was all Iron Man 2, all weekend. The film came in nearly dead on with studio projections, with $133.6 million for the opening, giving it the #3 all-time slot. Nightmare on Elm Street fell off a cliff, dropping 72% from the previous weekend. Personally, I saw Iron Man 2, and enjoyed it. The Tony Stark time is my favorite, I could even do without the fight sequences.

A host of National and state GLBT organizations are pledging support for “Lucien” in the George Rekers fallout, giving me hope that for once not only are we not going to eat our own, but maybe we’ll keep others from eating them as well.

I’m not familiar with author Ben Francisco’s work. He has a new book out called San Francisco Ghost Hunt, and it deals with a young man moving into his uncle’s home in San Francisco, which is haunted by the friendly ghosts of guys who died during the worst part of the AIDS epidemic. They try and steer him in the right direction as he begins an irresponsible lifestyle. Anyone ever read his work?

Judd Apatow let slip his next project is a comedy that will bring together Paul Rudd with writers David Wain and Ken Marino. This is of interest to us because one of the previous collaborations with these guys gave us the very gay-friendly Wet Hot American Summer.

Betty White and Saturday Night Live were a potent combination – it pulled in an 8.8 share. That’s hard to equate to viewers when dealing with late night, but guesses say about 12.2 million people, which is more than any of the primetime programming for the evening.

Speaking of Betty, Buzzfeed has a pictorial of the Official Betty White Aging Timeline. It tells a heck of a story of her career. Mildly NSFW – Betty did some topless modeling.

Sometime life imitates a bad Hollywood disaster movie (or possibly a farce, since we had a happy outcome). Lord and Lady Hollinsclough were sailing their yacht in the South Atlantic when they hit an iceberg. They were rescued by HMS Clyde as the ship went down, and are beginning the thousand mile voyage to the Falklands.

The British Soap Awards completely snubbed Aaron’s story on Emmerdale Saturday night, and nearly handed a sweep to EastEnders. Boo!

It’s a real shame since Danny Miller gave an interview about Aaron’s journey, and what’s coming up this week at the trial. It should go without saying that there are spoilers.

CNN iReports vary a great deal, but this coming out letter that Hank Morgan shared as he told the story of his discharge under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell  was really exceptional.

Speaking of DADT, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network continues their Stories from the Frontlines campaign. Today we hear from Tracey Cooper-Harris, a twelve-year veteran who suffered blackmail and sexual harassment in order to hide her sexuality so she could continue to serve. What happened was horrific, and thanks to DADT she had nowhere to turn.

Remember Joaquin Phoenix’s meltdown, and the mockumentary that was being made? The good news is that it reportedly contains a huge amount of full-frontal male nudity. The bad news is that the “bathroom humor” is a bit realistic and literal. I don’t know if this thing will ever see the light of day.

Thomas Dekker attempts to explain Kaboom, his new sexual awakening film with Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin). I’m still not sure what it’s about, but it is screening at Cannes, so maybe a review can make it clearer.

Good As You has a post about the lack of kissing between Cam and Mitchell on Modern Family, specifically about how they hugged like roommates at the airport in last week’s episode while Phil slobbered all over his wife. And now there’s a Facebook group demanding a kiss between the two, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson pledged to sign via his Twitter.

Even after a real weekend, I'm left a little drained.

There's a lot of promotional material hitting the web for Walt Disney World's Star Wars Weekends, which happen mid May to Mid June. I've been told they're conveniently the "official" events happening during Gay Days as well.

Well, Darth Maul might bring Gay Days and Star Wars Weekends together.

Wookies are not aerodynamic.

May not be official artwork.

I saw the new trailer for Christopher Nolan's Inception when I saw Iron Man 2. I still have no idea what it's about, but everyone in it seems so incredibly serious about whatever it is. This poster doesn't help.

Is it the Matrix? What is the dream connection? 

Two Dudes, One Pan as a title for a cookbook pushes the edge of what's acceptable in polite society. Still the concept of good cooking, using a single kitchen implement could mean I could have more guys cook for me on dates.

Too soon, or too late?

Some people take organic, down comforters to a whole new level.

Betty White didn't just have a tour-de-force on Saturday Night Live, she's also got her new sitcom, Hot In Cleveland, which starts taping today. Here's the latest promo for the series.

It's been wall-to-wall about George Rekers hiring "Lucien" from Rentboy.com. The coverage has taken a lot of forms, from the serious to the activist, to the comedic. All have their places.

Friday, Anderson Cooper ran a very classic "news" report on the situation that included a brief on-camera interview with "Lucien." I liked it, but a lot of activists said it fell short. I think what worked was that it presented the hypocrisy of the situation without preaching, and will resonate well with middle America who might listen to people like Rekers. While statements from Famly Reseasch Council were read, the on camera expert was Wayne Benson, who got in a zinger without preaching.

Rachel Maddow made a great presentation for the choir - she drove home the harm people like Rekers do, and how awful it is that time and time again people like Rekers and Larry Craig get caught in compromising situations. But as fun as it is to watch, as heartfelt as it was, I'm not sure that it's going to work with the bulk of the country.

Craig Ferguson had a lot of fun with the situation, and spoke a lot of truth. For a straight man, Ferguson, like Jon Stewart manages to make the jokes and laugh with us. Major props to him for being funny in the right way.

Storycorps has a mission to allow people to tell an oral history of their lives. They've just done their first animated story, and it's a tear jerker between Sarah Littman and her 12-year-old son Joshua, who has a form of Aspergers. it just so sweet, you're going to need a tissue.