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.

• Bummed because Season 2 of Torchwood is over and since you didn't watch, you can't discuss with all the cool AfterElton.com kids? No need to fret because BBC America just made Captain Jack and the gang available on iTunes!

• That picture of John Travolta is from his new movie, the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. A clever wag over at CityRag makes an interesting observation about John's new look. Think Finland.

• Judge David Young — yeah, the gay judge — joined Van Hansis in scoring a Daytime Emmy nod. We find him guilty of being totally awesome!

• Greg Hernandez got to ask Kevin's siblings (okay, the actors who play them) what they think of his getting hitched on Brothers & Sisters.

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

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.

• L.A. Times critic and "awards insider" Tom O'Neil made the bizarre suggestion that the film The Kite Runner should have been acknowledged by the GLAAD Media Awards nominating committee for featuring an adolescent male rape. (The character grows up to be a pedophile who molests both male and female children.) I saw the film and sorry - this "gay subtext" is neither gay nor subtext. Discuss.

• Michelangelo Signorile will be hosting a live Gay Presidential Caucus on his Sirius OutQ radio show this week. While the promise of "representatives and supporters" of Clinton, Obama and Edwards leaves me wondering just what the quality of the participants will be (I mean, the guy who sells hotdogs outside of the Time Warner Center could qualify as a "supporter", right?), it should definitely be worth checking out.

• Kathy Griffin (whom we just saw perform in New York, report forthcoming) did end up making the cover of The Advocate, despite telling Jimmy Kimmel that she wasn't sure she'd rate.

• Above: Out producer/director Paris Barclay (pictured with Steven Soderberg) was among the guests at the SAG Awards last night.

• Alright, this Zabruder-type deconstruction of a moment from last night's SAG Awards where John Travolta may or may not have checked out Viggo Mortensen is totally unfair. It's also going to quickly become the most popular animated avatar at Daddies4Travolta.com.

• Towleroad has a look at a rather haunting portrait of Heath Ledger that the late star had commissioned shortly before his death.

Yesterday, we looked at a survey of the best film costumes of all time, a list that lacked any iconic men's costumes (as Gwen noted in the comments). Now to some degree, that could be seen as an example of how women's fashion allows for more experimentation, but there are a number of male film costumes that have had an impact on our culture and it seems a shame not to give them credit.

Thus, here are a few suggestions for men's movie costumes that deserve a place among the greatest film costumes of all time, and a poll inviting you to cast your vote for the best. Some of them are from recent films (though nothing as recent as Keira Knightley's Atonement dress) while some are images that have stood the test of time, but they're all memorable.

Tell us what you think of these suggestions in the poll that follows!

Jack Twist's shirt
From: Brokeback Mountain

Jack's shirt is the cornerstone of Brokeback's touching, closing scene where Ennis discovers his dead love's clothing intertwined with his. That reminder of lost love was a powerful image and when the shirts were put up for sale they pulled in over $100,000. The buyer, actor and activist Tom Gregory, called them "The Ruby Slippers of our time" (referring, of course, to the iconic costume pices from The Wizard of Oz) and swore to keep the shirts together, as they appeared in the film.

James Dean's Jacket
From: Rebel Without A Cause

James Dean showed have quite a bit of media savvy in one popular story about Rebel without a Cause. The story claims that Dean's character, Jimmy Stark, was originally supposed to wear a leather jacket but when Dean learned the film would be in color, he suggested his character wear something more colorful. The red, nylon jacket Dean wore became an iconic image for the classic film and for Dean himself. Rebel also featured an unrequited homoerotic relationship between Stark and Sal Mineo's Plato, with the red jacket playing a role in their relationship's final moment.

Daniel Craig's squarecut trunks
From: Casino Royale

One image key to marketing of the prior Bond film, Die Another Day, was the image of Halle Berry stepping out of the water in a bikini. With the arrival of Craig's Bond, however, we got a change in how Bond was marketed to audiences: this time it was Bond walking out of the surf looking sexy in a swimsuit. The movie poster showed Craig in Bond's traditional tuxedo, but Craig's buff body in revealing swimwear was the image we most frequently saw when the media discussed the film. It was the first time Bond's barely-clad body (as opposed to that of a "Bond girl") was the film's most lasting imagery.

• Happy birthday to talented, articulate, courageous, and inhumanly hunky out actor Robert Gant, who turns 39 today. Hmm ... when you're a guy who most gay men (and straight women) would kill to have jump out of their birthday cake, who do you have jump out of yours? The bulldog?
• We'd like to think that this was due in part to our relentless coverage (although rave reviews by two dark horse publications called "The New York Times" and "Variety" may have helped): Xanadu on Broadway broke the Helen Hayes Theatre's box-office record.
• The evil-kiddie thriller Joshua, starring Sam Rockwell and the fabulous Vera Farmiga (from The Depaahted and Breaking and Entering), has a gay supporting character, played by Dallas Roberts. But critic Ed Gonzalez thinks the thriller is driven by a hatred of "women, queers, and religion," and feels that Joshua's dandied, pint-sized sociopath is one left best in the celluloid closet.
  
• Armistead Maupin trash-talks John Travolta and Scientology, calling it the "biggest ex-gay movement in America."
• Freddy Rodriguez (Six Feet Under, Grindhouse) to join Ugly Betty as the new love interest I mentioned in my column. Yay! His character's name is Gio. Ileana Douglas also joins the cast as a new editor at Mode. You may remember the fabulous Douglas from her turns in Ghost World, Six Feet Under, and Cape Fear.
• In honor of Friday the 13th, here's a short film from my favorite attention-deficit, seemingly transgender, part-mannequin former model, Shaye St. John. WARNING: Shaye's mind-bending work is not for everyone and has been known to turn sane men into drooling, empty husks.
• Make sure to check my guest column for some other TV news and a bit about gay cross-country competitive racers (seriously) -- and have the BEST.GAY.WEEKEND.EVER!

Rescue Me (FX) 10:00PM EDT
Far be it for us to recommend this show, given the atrocious track record it's had in the past with gay storylines, but when the Ausiello Report scoops that "we'll find out that someone's been harboring a secret — and borderline stalkerish — crush on Tommy. One hint: It's not a woman," we are obligated to pass it on. Did we mention the ep is titled "Pussified"? Classy.

UPDATE: We've confirmed that the "crush" is of the non-sexual variety (think Single White Female, not Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss), so there's likely no need to tune in.

Top Chef (Bravo) 10:00 PM EDT
Why is it when I look at the "preview" videos for Top Chef on Bravo's web site, it shows me the recap of the last episode? Couldn't they cut those first two minutes out? I don't need a "preview" of the part of the show I usually ignore.

Okay, I feel better for having said that. As for tonight's show, it involves a cocktail and appetizer pairing (hey, that's my favorite challenge to play at home) and a brand of alcohol I don't need to mention here because I'm sure you'll see plenty of it if you tune in.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC) 11:35 PM EDT
Tonight it's John Travolta's turn to promote Hairspray. It'll be interesting if the Washington Blade's call for gays to boycott the film comes up as a topic. Not that I expect Leno to be sharp enough to go "What do you mean 'It's not a gay movie?'"

I'm scratching my head over this one -- John Travolta says there's nothing gay about Hairspray and, therefore, there's no good reason for gay activists to call for a boycott of the film over his church's stance on gay civil rights.

Perhaps Hairspray doesn't specifically deal with gay issues, but we are talking about a film based on a camp classic directed and written by a gay man that looks at prejudice and self-acceptance. In some ways, the story of Hairspray has even greater relevance to gay audiences now. One of the storylines involves an interracial romance in the years before anti-miscegenation laws were repealed -- an issue LGBT people have been considering more of late. Additionally, Travolta's is taking on a role associated with two gay men, Divine and Harvey Fierstein.

There's plenty of good reason for gay audiences to feel a bit of ownership of the Hairspray franchise. At the very least, its appeal to gay audiences should be easy to see; that should be enough to spur activists into asking gay moviegoers to stop and consider where a portion the box office royalties may end up.

I find myself wondering, now, if Travolta was alone in that sentiment or if other members of the team that put together the new Hairspray felt similarly. I'd say they were overlooking the full impact of the original Hairspray if they, too, didn't think of it as a gay film.

All my friends hate me now.

I got to see a rough partial screening of Hairspray Thursday night - yes, THE Hairspray, the new musical film of the musical stage show of the original 1988 John Waters film.

And yeah, John Travolta plays the Divine role of Edna Turnblad and yeah, that didn't work so much for me, but the rest of it? Divine is smiling down from heaven.

Director Adam Shankman - one of the most powerful gay men in Hollywood, or as he called himself last night, "Just a chorus boy who got a better job" - introduced the screening, his voice actually quivering with nervousness. It was kind of adorable. As was his comment that John Waters (who has a cameo in the film) told him, "Don't make the original movie. Don't make the play. Make what you have inside."

Finally proof John Travolta is unwatchable in either gender. Where is Harvey Fierstein or Bruce Vilanch or even my Uncle Max when you need them? When we interviewed Hairspray creator, this is what he had to say about Travolta:

And with John Travolta it's a new version, which it should be. Imagine John Travolta playing a fat woman that can't dance and suddenly gets up and can. That sounds crowd-pleasing to me. It's a different kind of wild hog. Isn't that the name of that movie [that Travolta is in right now]? Edna is a wild hog of her own.

Here is the clip so you can judge for yourself!