Out actor Bryan Batt (Mad Men's Salvatore) at the Season 2 premiere

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Hey Randy Harrison fans! The out Queer as Folk alum is back at the Berkshire Theater Festival this summer, this time doing Beckett's Waiting for Godot. There's a fresh interview with him over here.

• George Michael performed on Good Morning America today and spoke about his history of drug busts and that fateful bathroom visit in Beverly Hills. Says George, "I meant to do that..."

• The good news: Jurassic gossip Liz Smith is reporting on George Takei's upcoming wedding just like she would on any other celebrity's. The bad news: She's doing it on FOX News, and makes a rather odd comment about William Shatner being "too butch" to attend.

• Above, ridiculously cool guest judge Natalie Portman comes out from behind the Project Runway Shadowpuppet Screen of Infamy, causing one designer to "freak out" and another to almost "pee her pants." Smell Watch what happens!

• The Newsweek cover story on the murder of 15-year-old Lawrence King is infuriating and fascinating in the same breath. Is it a coincidence that the victim and his murderer both had parents with histories of drug abuse and arrests, and that both kids themselves were troubled, disruptive, and prone to criminal behavior themselves? And yet the lesbian assistant principal who supported King's self-expression is taking the heat from many of those involved. Insane.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

So on Friday night I left the house (I know, crazy, right?) in the rain to brave the crowds at the annual Out 100 party in downtown Manhattan. It was a night of elbow-rubbing, open-bar-flocking gay media craziness, and I have a few tidbits to share for those of you who missed my live Twitter from the event or couldn't read my bizarre abbreviated Jumpin' Jack Flash-esque updates. (For future reference, "Cat meows, no galoshes for baby" means "Tori Spelling's purple dress was fierce, but I could have done without the mushroom risotto.")

Highlights

• Easily the highlight of the night for me was meeting Dale Levitski, almost-Top-Chef and all-around nice guy. I asked if he thought that he was portrayed accurately on the show (which he really should have won, having brought it in spades to the final challenge), and he said it was "a ditzy version" of the real Dale that made it to broadcast. He's opening his own restaurant in Chicago and when I saw him he was canoodling with Jack Mackenroth from the upcoming season of Project Runway. I asked if there was some Bravo incest going on and he said "Well...?" but the fact that the two were holding hands when he said it pretty much answered the question. Hot! Seriously, just as sweet as I'd hoped, and all the best to him and to Jack, who has some pretty big gay reality contestant shoes to fill. Jack, also very nice, told me he's pretty happy with how he comes off in the season, which starts Wednesday. We'll have to tune in to find out!

• Mary-Louise Parker was a total goofball, which really surprised me given how stiff I've always found her to be in interviews and events. She even told a gay oral sex joke when receiving her award ... know your audience, I guess!

• Gina Gershon, likewise, was great. She looked hot, but I maintain that if you piled her hair on her head and attacked her with eyeliner she'd be a dead ringer for Amy Winehouse. For real.

• Bryan Batt gave a fun and animated acceptance speech and Paul Rudnick introduced him, which was really nice and made me feel that I wasn't 100 years old.

• Honoree Jennifer Hudson looked fantastic. I wish she would have performed (especially given who did, more on that later) but I guess she was there to be admired, not sing for her supper.

• Other sightings: Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear, Marc Jacobs, Peter Stickles from The Lair (had a nice chat with him, he heads back in February to shoot Season 2), the gay judge guy from Shear Genius, the Target dog, Michael Musto, Andy Cohen, and about 100 other stylists/designers/fashion gurus that I recognized from a host of other makeover shows, reality competitions and my own nightmares.

Lowlights

• When I got home I discovered in horror that my gift bag included a DVD of famously homophobic buddy comedy Wild Hogs. What, Cruising was out-of-stock?
  

• For some reason Mya was there to perform, and for some reason she sang "Lady Marmalade". Funny, just the other day I was saying to someone, "You know, I really wish it was 2001 again, don't you?"

• Speaking of disposable pop tarts whose popularity with the gays has me continually mystified, Kelly Rowland was there to present someone some kind of something. I of course immediately wanted to yell, "Hey, Kelly - thanks for using the word "faggot" in Freddy vs. Jason!" Yes, I can hold a grudge. Especially when she helped ruin not one, but TWO horror franchises.

Here it is, folks, Out Magazine's biggest cover of the year, which features Out 100 special honorees Bryan Batt, Jennifer Hudson, Mary-Louise Parker, Bill T. Jones, and Thom Browne.

But that's not all: breaking news from the Out Mothership reveals that this year there will be a 101st honoree, Annie Lennox. Lennox will receive the Humanitarian of the Year award and will screen a short film detailing her efforts to combat AIDS in Africa at tonight's ceremony.

Congrats to all honorees, many of whom I hope to attack at the party tonight. For the full list and lotsa fun pics, check out the Out 100 website.

UPDATE: It also looks like I'll be Twittering live from the event tonight right here on the blog, so check back in for all the up-to-the-minute dish. It'll be like the As the World Turns liveblogs, only I'll have pants on!

Out actor Bryan Batt talked with financial site QueerCents recently. The Mad Men star discussed his hit AMC series, his career and his partner in the interview. Here's a few tidbits.

On charting a career as a gay actor:

I’ve never tried nor cared to “sell” my sexuality, to me it is such a non-issue. “What you do” with your life rather than “who you do” is far more meaningful to me. Being gay is as genetically predisposed as having brown eyes and being six feet tall. I am a six foot tall brown eyed ACTOR who happens to be gay.

On the odd jobs he's had to take while establishing himself as an actor:

I did have an embarrassingly humiliating job. Although it paid well and I could arrange my hours around auditioning, I was a “fragrance model” at Bloomingdales in the late eighties and sprayed people with cologne. It was horrific because the perfume vendors were so pushy and aggressive - they wanted us to force ourselves on the unsuspecting shopper, which is not my style. Later on, I taught aerobics. Mary Tyler Moore was in my second class … that lady can really do her sit-ups.

On the making a living in the arts:

The arts are the only businesses where although you may have the best training, incredible talent, and great ambition, you may not work or make good money. A friend of mine was in Les Miserables years ago playing one of the leads, and he earned the same amount he had waiting tables. It’s a tough and unfair business. That’s why I love it when I hear actors making insane amounts of money.

Watching last night's "gay" episode of Mad Men reminded me of nothing so much as the infamous "Some men like oysters, some men like snails" dialogue from Spartacus that wound up on the cutting room floor (and was only recently restored). There may be 2000 years time between Spartcus' Rome and 1960's Manhattan, but not much changed in how gay men talked about the issue of sex when they weren't able to speak freely.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt), the advertising agency's art director, has so far been a suave, confident player, but most gay viewers probably weren't too shocked when last night's ep made it clear he is in fact gay. He is the art director after all.

Her interest in Salvatore is so palpable she might as well have peed on his leg to mark him. Next she fakes a phone call for him so she can invite him to join everyone at the local watering hole to celebrate an account.

Naturally, she butters him up.

Lois: Everybody's talking about the meeting. Miss Olson said your artwork was spectacular.

Salvatore: They are, are they?

Salvatore's no dummy. He knows what's going on and plays along by agreeing to come for drinks.

• AMC's hit show Mad Men threw themselves a wrap-party to celebrate their first season. Out actor Bryan Batt (he plays Salvatore) is lookin' fine!
• As the World Turns spoilery news: here's a video preview (RealPlayer req'd) of what looks to come next in the Noah/Luke/Maddie triangle. (t/y Liz!!)
  
• Out author Neil Plakcy has a sequel out to his first gay mystery set in Hawaii. Mahu Surfer continues the story of murder-solving Kimo who knows how to hag ten. FYI, "mahu" is a pejorative term for homosexual. Aloha!
• Grey's Anatomy spoilery news (a lot of that going around lately, eh?): George (T.R. Knight) may not be canoodling with Izzy any more this season, but he may find himself working closely with another one of the show's ladies.
• For you Bones fans: the upcoming season will have a gay-player in one of the early episodes (spoilery, natch).
• Luke MacFarlane (Brothers & Sisters) and Wentworth Miller (Prison Break) recently went for a stroll.
  

Well, a long weekend of panels at the Television Critics Association is over and I've just finished packing, but I wanted to give everyone a quick update on some of the highlights of what I've learned you can expect to be watching soon. Details and full interviews are to follow later!

• Out actor Bryan Batt has a juicy role on AMC's Mad Men, a show set in the 1960's Golden Age of New York advertising. Soprano's writer and co-executive producer Matthew Weiner created this one and I suspect it's going to be worth keeping an eye on. Weiner had a hand in the Soprano's Gay Vito storyline and he and I chatted afterward about the new show. Details to follow! (Oh, and I had some face time with Bryan as well!)
• The final season of Queer Eye will air this fall and includes a "Straight Guy Pageant" hosted by Susan Lucci. I'm not sure if the Bravo spokesperson was kidding or not, but a tiara and sash were actually mentioned.
  
• Project Runway's fourth season arrives sometime toward the end of the year. I spoke with Tim Gunn after his presentation for his new show Tim Gunn's Guide to Style and the man is every bit as elegant, dapper, and dashing as he appears on television. Check Friday's BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER! for more of my conversation with Tim.
  
• Top Chef will have a fourth season and this time the setting will be Chicago. It sounds like Ted Allen might be returning as well. Bravo also announced that the current round of Top Chef Miami will have a live finale. That should be interesting!
• IFC's The Business will go where few TV shows dare to go -- full frontal male nudity. Oh, and it's gay male nudity.
• Finally, I very briefly met and chatted with CNN's Anderson Cooper. He's a sweet, funny guy, and, no, that topic did not come up. I'll explain more later about what we discussed!