We've written a little about Anthony Callea, the Australian Idol runner-up who came out this past March, but we haven't followed his career closely. Now thanks to RJ, we've got a little closer look at his current career for you.

Callea's been quite busy since coming out. Right now he's getting ready to perform in an opera, Dead Man Walking, based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean (which also inspired the Susan Sarandon/Sean Penn movie.) After that he's scheduled to take on the role of Mark in a Perth production of Rent. Wow, can you imagine any of American Idol's final two performing in an opera?

Callea was also the runner up in It Takes Two, which sounds like an Australian version of the Celebrity Duets show Fox aired last season. Callea and his partner, radio host Jo Stanley, placed second in the competition. They got that far performing of hits like "Shake Your Groove Thing", "S.O.S." and "Call Me."

• 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.