To Make a Long Story Short... Alan Ball's back on HBO, Harvey Fierstein reworks Paddy Chayevsky and more!

• HBO has picked up Alan Ball's vampire drama, True Blood which stars Anna Paquin. Maybe it's time to reconsider all that talk about HBO losing its edge to Showtime.
• In September, the London Zoo will host its third annual Gay Sunday. The London Gay Symphonic Wind Orchestra will perform and guests will have the opportunity to have a "face-to-face meeting with a gorilla".
• Barack Obama launches a Pride mini-site, making him the first Presidential (at least, as far as I know) candidate to create a space for his LGBT supporters.
• Harvey Fierstein's next theatre project, A Catered Affair will begin previews on March 25. It adapts a similarly-named Paddy Chayevsky teleplay which went on to become a 1956 film starring Bette Davis and Debbie Reynolds.
• Two English professional football leagues, The Premier League and The Football League, are adopting new rules making homophobic abuse a red card offense.
• Out Australian Idol runner-up Anthony Callea discusses the pressure of being a closeted performer and the relief that's come since being accidentally outed.
• Time Magazine's Mark Halperin grades the candidates in last night's Visible Vote forum, giving Hillary Clinton the top grade.
• Tori & Dean: Inn Love premieres on Tuesday on Oxygen, but for the next 24 hours you can see this sneak peek. And in episode three, Tori proves what a friend she is to the community when she officiates at a gay wedding.

By the way, as Michael heads off to his vacation I'm taking a mini-vacation myself -- stepping away from watching the Big Brother house for an episode. There's plenty to discuss so there'll be a new recap on Monday. I could really use a day or two to stop thinking mean thoughts about the show's producers.