In this week's episode of Angry Puppy, Marc and Lee talk about breaking movie news (keywords: Jake Gyllenhaal!), George Takei's Secret Talent, Jack and Ianto's Weevil-hunting clinch, some new X-Men books, and much, much more.

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.

It's funny, but I've been so busy writing our article about Heath's death that I haven't really had time to ponder what I'm feeling about it. Yet now that I do, I find this is one of those celebrity deaths that really does feel like a body blow. Why exactly? It's not like I ever met Heath, much less knew him. And he's hardly the first celebrity to die far too young (and as JBE said in an early thread, let's hope this was an accident and not a suicide).

But as a gay man who was so deeply moved by Heath's performance as Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, his tragic death somehow resonates much more deeply because of that same performance. Seeing Ennis' pain at the end of Brokeback as he clutched Jack's bloodied shirt, regretting the missed life the two men could've shared, regretting his own wasted life and Jack's senseless death, somehow makes Heath's death and his now own wasted life so much more visceral than it should be.

It's ridiculous, but it meant so much to me that Heath and Jake Gyllenhaal were willing to take on the roles of Ennis and Jack when so many other actors ran shrieking from them. I'm a grown man and I don't need the validation of others for my sense of worth. But it was still so meaningful to see Brokeback brought to life and become such a hit despite the anti-gay hatred that is still far too prevalent. And part of the reason it was such a hit was because of Heath's revelatory performance.

As if watching Brokeback Mountain weren't already painful enough, that final scene is now going to be even that much gut-wrenching. We're going to miss you, Heath.

BTW, here is a pictorial tribute to Heath I created.

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal, continues on his whirlwind promotion tour for new movie Rendition with an interview in the Telegraph out yesterday. Predictably, the interviewer took a detour from discussing Gyllenhaal's new movie and alluded to something the actor had said while promoting Brokeback Mountain.

As always, I'm struck by how gracious the actor is in discussing Brokeback, even when, presumably, an interview is intended to promote another project.

In this instance, the interviewer asked Gyllenhaal to elaborate on a comment he once made about homosexuality: "I don't think I'd be afraid of it if it happened."

"Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I live in a different world. What I was trying to say was why leave out possibilities in my life? It wasn't meant to be provocative."

The Telegraph interviewer went further and asked whether Gyllenhaal was being calculating when he allowed people to think he was [bisexual]. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the actor ever really fostered the impression that he swung both ways.)

"It was meant as a way of saying it was important for Heath Ledger and I to have the movie exist as the movie, but also to have people know it was two straight actors playing those parts....Here are these two lonely people who find themselves through love. Love has no bounds and these two people found a connection in this massive, lonely landscape of Wyoming."

Finally, the interviewer asked if Gyllenhaal got nasty letters from homophobes.

"Determining what was nasty and what was nice was always going to be hard for me with that movie. But yes, I got an insight into homophobia that I wouldn't normally have encountered."

You can find the full interview here.

• Folks in Australia think that the HRC's Coming Out Day YouTube campaign worked wonders for gay folks who are isolated from gay communities, as well as young people.

• Neil Patrick Harris is the force behind getting walking tour/scavenger hunt Accomplice NY expanded to Los Angeles after he and his friends had a blast at the event: "He’s super sharp and very in tune with what we do."

• Sad, sad news: John Barrowman and his husband Scott had to put their dog, Tiger, to sleep last week. Tiger appears with John on the cover of the new Pet Pawtraits Calendar, which raises money for sick animals in need of vet care.

• Who Wants to Put Their Foot in Their Mouth? Meredith Viera makes a lame Brokeback joke while interviewing Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake's a gentleman about it. (Final answer.)
  

Back over the summer there were rumors that Brokeback would get a Broadway musical adaptation. Names considered for the main roles? Hugh Jackman and James Marsden. That sounded a bit like wishful thinking.

But it looks like Brokeback will indeed be getting the musical treatment — albeit a more highbrow, operatic one. Today's New York Daily News mentions that Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx has given the go-ahead for an opera based on her short story. Hmm, wonder if Heath can sing? We already know Jake has the pipes (remember his SNL performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going?"). Seriously though, this sounds like a legitimate endeavor with Pulitzer prize winner Charles Wuorinen signed on to compose.

I'm not much of an opera fan but I'd sure be tempted to buy tickets for this one.

• Soap Opera Digest offers a few witty (and a few groan-inducing) slogans to help boost Nuke interest.
  

• Out musician Rufus Wainwright performed the final of three tribute concerts to Judy Garland last night, this time at the Hollywood Bowl with the help of Lorna Luft, his sister Martha and mother Kate McGarrigle.

• Salon offers a gay voter's guide to the GOP. Our contribution? "Avoid"

• Some guy named Jake is on the cover of the next Interview. (pic above, more at link)
  

• Regis Philbin aficionado Neil Patrick Harris wins the Regis Philbin award at the fifth annual Rellys, beating none other than Regis Philbin for the title.

• The Advocate's next cover subject is Hillary Clinton. Favorite line: "I felt a connection with her in the same way I did with Madonna."

• T.R. Knight on his Grey's Anatomy's character in the next season: "George is a mess." Because the rest of the characters are soooooo balanced.
  

In this week's vlog post of Two Gay Guys, Brent and I move from poolside to actually into the pool. Hey, it was 110 in Palm Springs! This week we "chew the fat" over the AfterElton.com's first annual Hot 100 List which, incidentally, turned out to be national and international news with the Associated Press writing an article about the whole shebang. (Many of the articles can't get over the fact Tom Cruise didn't get a single vote.)

In other words, all this week hundreds of thousands of folks — gay and straight — have been exposed to the shocking notion that gay men enjoy looking at attractive men — and that there is nothing wrong with being thought of as hot by us. In fact, it's a huge compliment! So, yes, the Hot 100 is fun and hot (as we discuss in the vlog), but I'd like to think it also serves a larger purpose in reminding folks of all sorts that gay sexuality is just like any other sexuality.

Plus, the Hot 100 proves once-and-for-all that I'm right about Jake Gyllenhaal and Brent is wrong. Bw-ha-ha!

For those of you who haven't yet caught the broadcast of the recent GLAAD Awards, here's a treat: everyone's favorite (or at least second-favorite) gay cowboy Jake Gyllenhaal taking the stage to present the Vanguard Award to Jennifer Aniston.