My favorite television commercial these days is the one on HGTV featuring a series of vignettes of people watching a real estate show, probably House Hunters.

One viewer wonders which house a couple will choose. Another comments on a kitchen, or the landscaping.

And in the last, a guy looks at the woman he's watching with and plaintively says, "I thought he was his brother."

The woman looks at him pityingly. "They're not brothers."

And that is why I love my big gay home decorating network.

Three years ago, HGTV introduced America to Design Star, a reality competition show for interior designers that went on to become its highest-rated show ever. The out gay winner and breakout star of that first season was David Bromstad, who has gone on to host HGTV's successful Color Splash and inspire legions of fans to fix up the family room and hit the gym and/or tattoo parlor because hello: David Bromstad has some nice arms, yo.

The second season of Design Star featured two out gay men as contestants, Josh Johnson and Scott Corridan, although they both were eliminated fairly early in the competition.

AfterElton.com just got word that Season Three will also feature two out gay male contestants, marking yet again a bold new incursion of gay men into the previously straight-dominated world of interior design.

First is 23-year-old Michael Stribling of College Station, Texas. He's the competition's youngest finalist, and HGTV tells us that he "attributes his success as a designer to his fresh and youthful approach to style."

Michael's audition video is on the Design Star website. He is both fabulous and awesome, and we know it because he says so.

The second out gay contestant is Matt Locke, 38, from Los Angeles. He's the son of an architect dad and artist mom who "provided him with a wildly creative home where he was allowed a great deal of artistic freedom. By age 6, Matt had planned his first bedroom and by age 27, he had built his first house. This Princeton grad also studied fine art and industrial design at the university level and for the past five years has operated his own custom furniture, lighting and interiors company. Matt describes his design style as warm and modern and looks to the great architecture of the world for inspiration."

You can check out Matt's audition video over here. He clearly knows his way around power tools, and don't tell anyone, but Brian has a little crush on him already. (Ed.: I'm quite sure I have no idea what she's talking about, and my testimony will reflect this.) And given that his favorite HGTV show is Divine Design and his favorite film is 9 to 5, I might have a little lesbian version of a crush on him myself.

I’m still waiting for his critically lauded experimental Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There, to open in my neck of the woods, but that isn’t stopping me from celebrating the birth of visionary gay director Todd Haynes today.

From the eerie sterility of Safe to the gender-bending antics of the vastly underrated 70s glam-rock epic Velvet Goldmine, Haynes’ films are always overflowing with inventive ideas. Now how often can you say that about the crap that gets released these days?

After the jump, check out a lengthy clip from one of my favorites, the gorgeously shot ode to Douglas Sirk-stye melodrama, Far From Heaven, as well as one of the wacky music videos from Velvet Goldmine.

The Daily Telegraph recently announced the shortlist of finalists for the 2007 Morgan Stanley Great Briton Awards. The awards are fairly new, established in 2004 with sponsorship from Morgan Stanley, The Daily Telegraph, and the Royal Society of Arts, as a way of honoring those people who have made significant contributions to British life over the course of the year. Candidates are nominated by the public, with thousands of names submitted each year. The nominations are then narrowed down to three finalists for each of the seven categories (Arts, Business, Campaigning & Public Life, Creative Industries, Environment, Science & Innovation, and Sport) by a panel of judges.

This year, two openly gay men were among the 21 finalists; Ian McKellen, nominated in the "Arts" category, and Stephen Fry, who scored a nomination in the category of "Creative Industries".

The Telegraph elaborates on McKellen’s nomination:

One of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, McKellen has been honoured with more than 40 international awards for his performances on stage and screen. While movie blockbusters such as X-Men and Lord of the Rings have brought him international stardom, he originally found fame playing the title role in Edward II both on stage and television. In 1972, McKellen co-founded the Actors' Company, earning him a reputation as a spokesman for actors and the British theatre in general. He also remains an outspoken advocate for the gay rights campaigning group Stonewall. This year he returned to the stage to great acclaim, appearing in the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Seagull and in the title role of King Lear. The judges described McKellen as "one of the last great actors" who delivers a "quality of acting that you have to be awed by". His performance in King Lear; perhaps Shakespeare's most demanding role was, said one judge, "simply brilliant".

And of Stephen Fry:

Comedian, writer, actor, filmmaker, television personality - Stephen Fry is one of the great British polymaths. As one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, he has appeared in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster, while also bringing Oscar Wilde to life in the cinema and making a successful career as a novelist. Fry has spoken publicly about his experience with bipolar disorder and has presented a documentary about it, Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic-Depressive. The two-part series was broadcast in 2006, repeated in March 2007 as part of the BBC's programming in aid of Comic Relief. He was nominated for Best Entertainment Performance (QI) and Best Factual Series (Secret Life of the Manic Depressive) at the 2007 British Academy Television Awards. The judges agreed that Fry is "the epitome of everything British, both modern and old" and - despite his huge intellect - a man who can communicate in a down to earth manner.

Hopefully Fry has some chance of winning his category because, with competition from J.K. Rowling, McKellen unfortunately doesn’t stand much of a chance.

In an interview in the current issue of Instinct Magazine film composer Marc Shaiman (best known for his musical scores to quirky films like The Addams Family, Down With Love, and the brilliant music and lyrics for South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut) and his partner, lyricist Scott Wittman announce that they've been signed to write the long-rumored musical episode of ABC's Ugly Betty for the end of this season. The pair previously won the Tony Award for Best Score for writing the music and lyrics for the musical Hairspray.

This announcement further solidifies Betty's title as "The Gayest Show On TV". As Shaiman himself says in the interview:

"It's great we're talking to a gay magazine, because where else can you say 'How much gayer can it get on TV?' Only with c*cksucking on TV could it get any gayer."

While this announcement is great news for fans of both Ugly Betty and musical theater alike, everything is dependent on whether the writers strike is resolved before the end of the current television season. Sadly, with tempers only rising on each side, a fast end to the strike seems to be increasingly less likely.

It seems there’s no stopping that Antony Cotton. What’s next, world domination? Yes, Cotton, otherwise known as Coronation Street’s knicker stitcher and barman, Sean Tully, is celebrating after landing a second series of his ITV1 chat show, That Antony Cotton Show.

Despite being slammed by the critics, the show has proved popular with audiences and pulled in good ratings, often beating daytime royalty that is Richard and Judy over on Channel 4.

But wait, there’s more! As if recommissioning another series of his chat show isn't enough, ITV bosses are also in the stages of developing a quiz show to be fronted by Cotton.

"Antony's proved a big hit with viewers outside of Corrie, so it makes sense to give him a game show,” an ITV insider told the Sun newspaper.

"He's got a great rapport with audiences and has always wanted to front a game show. We've not decided what show it will be yet - it could well be an old favourite like Mr And Mrs."

Well, it certainly looks like 2008 is going to be a very busy year for Anthony Cotton.

Actor and chat show host Antony Cotton was named Best Actor at last night’s Inside Soap Awards in London. The openly gay actor scooped the gong for his role in Coronation Street, as lovable gay barman Sean Tully.

"I've won the big one this year, and I'm very very pleased that they chose me. I don't act because of it but it's nice that someone thinks I'm doing well,” said Cotton.

It was a great night for the soap in general, which walked away with five out of fourteen trophies, most notable being the gong for Best Soap. Usually reserved for rival soap Eastenders, it was the first time in over a decade that Coronation Street had won the award.

Alas, our favourite Hollyoaks couple Guy Burnett and James Sutton (Craig and John-Paul) failed to win the award for best couple, losing out to Lacey Turner and Charlie Clements (Stacey and Bradley) from Eastenders.

The Inside Soap Awards are voted for by readers of Inside Soap magazine. The below pic is of Cotton with Charlie Condou, who plays his onscreen boyfriend Marcus, at the event.

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund presents its 15th Annual Liberty Awards on Tuesday, October 2nd at the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles. Topping the list of this year’s celebrated honorees is actor Alan Cumming for his distinguished career and as an LGBT activist and champion for civil marriage equality.

Great to see Cumming getting some recognition for his work for LGBT causes. The man certainly keeps busy. (You may not be familiar with Cumming's cheeky line of cologne, of which a portion of the proceeds goes to charity. Worth checking out is his ad for "Cumming: The Fragrance," which appears after the break. In it, the pasty Scottish actor transforms himself into a sex symbol by sheer chutzpah alone. Mesmerizing and quite funny.)

The Liberty Awards are being hosted this year by Honey Labrador (formerly of Queer Eye for the Straight Girl). Also being honored at the event are David Bohnett for improving society through social activism and philanthropy including his generous support of LGBT organizations; Reverend Susan Russell for effectively advocating for full inclusion of LGBT people in the Episcopal Church, including the blessing of same sex unions; and Hilton Hotels for their excellent record of workplace diversity as well as their dedication and hospitality to the LGBT community.

If you're interested in attending the Liberty Awards, contact Levy, Pazanti & Associates at 310-201-5033 for ticket details.