Folks who braved the multiplexes this weekend (with Iron Man raking in over $200 million in just four days, it must have been like a mini Comic Con at every concession stand across America) had the chance to catch the brand new trailer for The Dark Knight in all its creepy, explosion-happy glory.

The trailer is now online, and it's both reassuring to see that the Warners haven't tried to bury the performance of late, great Heath Ledger and undeniably disturbing to see the apparently troubled actor playing it convincingly unhinged in his final (and biggest) role.

How do folks feel about this one? 

Earlier this week, I blogged about the upcoming gay themed film Taking Woodstock and its director, Ang Lee. Ang's partner on the project, James Schamus, is about to receive the Golden Gate award from GLAAD, and is one of the most influential gay allies in Hollywood.

As head of Focus Features (a division of Universal), he's collaborated three times with Ang on gay-themed projects: the aforementioned Taking Woodstock, 1993's The Wedding Banquet (which he also co-wrote), and of course Brokeback Mountain. He also greenlit out director Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, and the film 8 Women from queer director Francois Ozon. Most recently, he's responsible for getting Milk, by out director Gus Van Sant, out of the gate after years of delays.

Variety interviewed him to find out why he gives the go ahead to such potentially non-blockbuster projects:

"Schamus doesn't consider movies with gay themes particularly risky enterprises. After all, he says, any film -- even a horror pic -- faces its own challenges in the theatrical marketplace. "A lot of movies bomb every weekend," he points out. He says if he wanted to play it safe, he would only make movies with gay Chinese cowboys since he has had the most success with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback." But he's found that deviating from the norm often works best. "When we've parted ways with formula, we've done pretty well," he says. Schamus admits homophobia is an issue, but says it shouldn't be a deterrent. The problem, he asserts, is not the homophobia itself but "the assumption that homophobia has an effect."

Obviously, Hollywood would be a better place with more men like him in charge.

Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of the landmark film Brokeback Mountain, is set to boost gay visibility yet again with the biopic Taking Woodstock. It's based on the memoir by Elliot Tiber, who was instrumental in bringing the famed music festival to a farm in upstate New York. From Tiber's website:

In the summer of 1969, Elliot Tiber's life changed in a way he never could have foreseen. Greenwich Village had become the mecca for gays in America. There, Elliot had socialized with the likes of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Andy Warhol, and a talented young photographer named Robert Mapplethorpe, and yet had managed to keep his gay life a secret from his family. Then on Friday, June 27, Elliot walked into the Stonewall Inn and witnessed the riot that would galvanize the gay movement in the United States. And on July 17, when Elliot read that the Woodstock Concert promoters had lost their license to stage the show in Wallkill, he called to offer his help in finding a new venue. In the days that followed, Elliot found himself swept up in a vortex that would change his life forever.

Should be a fascinating movie, and with Ang at the helm, will definitely be visually splendid (this is, after all, the man who made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and be gay positive (in addition to Brokeback, he also made the 1993 gay comedy The Wedding Banquet).

With this film, and the upcoming Milk , it's heartening to see great filmmakers looking into our past, and telling the truth about our history.

In the latest Two Gay Guys vlog, Michael and Brent ask just what it is about gay people that late night comics find so incredibly punchline-worthy. Was Brokeback Mountain really so hilarious that it merited a year's worth of monologue mentions? The guys suggest that late night needs a makeover, and decide to make over themselves as well. Yes, that's Michael sticking some sort of torture device up his nose.

Check it out below...

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Our sisters over at AfterEllen.com posted an intriguing entry about songs written or performed by straight artists about lesbians. Let's take a look at the flip side: Ten songs written or performed by straight artists about gay (or, in one case, transgender) men. (In no particular order except #1.)

10. Rod Stewart: "The Killing of Georgie Part 1 & 2"

In 1976, Rod Stewart wrote and recorded this song about a gay boy named Georgie, who moved to New York City and met an untimely end.

Sample Lyric

In these days of changing ways, so called liberated days, a story comes to mind of a friend of mine. Georgie boy was gay I guess, nothin' more or nothin' less, the kindest guy I ever knew. His mother's tears fell in vain the afternoon George tried to explain that he needed love like all the rest. Pa said there must be a mistake how can my son not be straight, after all I've said and done for him.

9. The Kinks: "Lola"

1970's "Lola" was one of the biggest hits for The Kinks, and was about a naive young man who falls in love with a girl with "something extra". The matter of fact way it was treated was quite daring for the time, and according to Ray Davies, was based on a true story.

Sample Lyric

I met her in a club down in old Soho where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Cherry Cola C-O-L-A Cola. She walked up to me and she asked me to dance. I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said, "Lola" L-O-L-A Lola, lo lo lo Lola Well, I'm not the world's most physical guy, but when she squeesed me tight she nearly broke my spine

Kinks - Lola (Top Of The Pops 1970)
Uploaded by newcanadian

Eight more straight songs about gay men after the break!

Jake

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.

• It's no surprise to learn that Heath Ledger's death is hitting Jake Gyllenhaal hard. Jake, the godfather of Heath's daughter Matilda, is taking time away from the set of his new movie Brothers. According to People Magazine just how close the two men were was evidenced when:

During one intense early prison scene, Gyllenhaal jokingly reached into his pocket and took out a picture of his Brokeback beau to stick on the prison wall. "Like those prisoners put [loved ones] on the wall, but Jake's was Heath Ledger," one set source recalls. "That was hilarious. It was a nice moment."

The source adds, "When you think back on it now, it's touching."

• We linked to Cheyenne Jackson's star cameo turn in the [title of show] show Christmas episode, but he's back and more foul-mouthed than ever in the hilarious new ep. I can't get enough of these guys, with or without profanity-spewing Broadway mancandy! (PS - I never want to hear "peanut butter haystack" and "rusty trombone" used in the same conversation again.)

• How do I make this one safe for work ... the gay porn actor who made a brief but memorable appearance as Borat's son in that movie with the really long title has reportedly undergone gender reassignment and now "Stonie" is Brittany Coxxx. The kicker? She's still a porn actor, making Coxxx one of the very few (if not only) porn actors who has worked as both a male and a female.

• Okay, how many times can this New York Magazine item refer to David Hyde Pierce as "chilly"? Hey, it's January in New York and the Rainbow Room is notoriously drafty. Okay, the insipid questions about Clay Aiken probably didn't help, either.

• Here's some photo coverage of the opening night of Celebrity Autobiography, which counts Cheyenne Jackson, Jack Plotnick, Richard Kind, Kristen Johnston and Kristen Wiig amongst its revolving, memoir-gnashing cast.

First off, John Gibson has apologized (read: done insincere damage control) for his mockery of Heath Ledger's death. This is of course mere breaths after he defended his using clips from Brokeback Mountain to make light of the tragedy (not to mention calling the actor a "freak"). So whaddaya think, is he being sincere or did someone lean on him? I mean, aside from GLAAD, half of MSNBC, and pretty much the entire blogosphere? To me, whenever anyone says "I'm sorry that some are offended by my comments", it's doubly-insulting, because what they're really saying is, "not only am I not sorry for what I said, but you're a sissy for being offended by it, nyah-nyah-nyaaaaaaaaah!"

In related "news", gossips at the NYDN are claiming that another troublesome Gibson - this time noted anti-Semite, noted homophobe, and noted anti-shaving repopulation enthusiast Mel Gibson - distanced himself from Ledger after the young actor took the Brokeback role.

The piece claims that although the two were close after Ledger played Gibson's son in The Patriot, Gibson's homophobia intervened when Ledger opted to play a gay man that Gibson couldn't throw out a window while wearing makeup and a skirt.

Gibson's reps are denying any such claim and Ledger's reps did not respond with a comment. Not that they should.

Meanwhile, back in the land of those capable of experiencing authentic emotion, Ledger's family is en route to New York, where the funeral for the actor will be held.