Two Gay Guys are back to discuss two things on many a gay man's mind these days: gay marriage, and the Sex and the City movie.

The guys ask why some people don't see the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California as being a big deal, and wonder if their own excitement about it makes them a little bit nuts. Me, I'm wondering what that day-glo substance is in their wine glasses ... but perhaps it's better not to ask.

Check it all out, after the break!

Sex and the City shocked Hollywood this weekend by proving the power of the female and gay male dollar at the box office. It grossed $55.7 million, which was twice the industry prediction. Not only was it the biggest opening in history for a female led movie (surpassing Tomb Raider), but it was the biggest opening ever for an R rated comedy, and the fifth biggest for any R-rated film.

Predictably, the reviews were wildly mixed, with the movie scoring a middling 55% on the Tomatometer. Looking at a sampling of some of the reviews, a couple of interesting patterns emerge. First is how many male (and presumably straight) critics have to repeatedly point out that they're "not the target audience", as if to either apologize for not liking it, or if they do like it, to assure us to not to read anything "gay" into it. The other is how venomous some of the negative reviews are. Some of these critics don't just dislike the movie, to them it represents everything that's wrong with society. Here is a sampling of some of the most extreme views:

The Globe and Mail - "This is a pricey handbag of a movie, uncontaminated by anything so crass as substance, filled only with the perfumed air of a culture at rest – concept blissfully free of content. Walking on high heels, our culture hits a new low."

Film Threat - "privileged hags frantically trying to give meaning to their petty, grasping existence."

EfilmCritics - "Here, the characters are simply not amusing or sympathetic by any means--they are snotty, snobby and shamelessly materialistic status seekers and rather than look critically at their stunning levels of self-absorption, the film celebrates their narcissism wholeheartedly."

Brian Orndorf - "I loathed the film because it’s a lazy, mean-spirited commercial for cultural deterioration. Even the most outlandish of fairy tales have some sense of magic and a feel for limitations. “Sex and the City” exists on another planet, where materialism is a desired component of life and a woman is worth nothing if there’s not a man to love her"

Orlando Weekly - "Is it any sort of inroad for a summer film to prove that ladies, too, can surrender to pummeling materialism, a blinkered emphasis on self-gratification and hollow objectification of the opposite gender? Plus, Darren Star and his “creative” crew must be laughing their sphincters loose knowing that their amoral fantasia has been welcomed as gospel by genuine urban women, instead of their obvious target demo: Iowan paralegals too tipsy and titillated to notice that the characters are actually semiotic stand-ins for gay men. We’re realists here. We know that nothing we might write could dim a fan’s enthusiasm for rejoining the continuing adventures of Carrie and Samantha and … uh, Dopey, and … uh, the Pink Power Ranger. And maybe that’s as it should be, because everybody has the right to indulge his or her particular pop-culture obsession in a state of unmolested respect. So knock yourselves out, skanks"

Then there's the "critic" for The New York Observer, Rex Reed (yes, he's still around). His review starts out with "There’s nothing wrong with Sarah Jessica Parker that couldn’t be cured by wart-removal surgery", and just goes downhill from there. You can read his typically nasty review HERE.

Just keep repeating to yourself, it's only a movie ... it's only a movie. My favorite SATC review came on Friday's Today show, when legendary gap toothed supermodel and actress Lauren Hutton let loose with a stream of consciousness diatribe that started with "It's written by guys, who happen to be gay, who are sluts. That's what I think. Let's face it most men are sluts", and then veered off into something about hunters and gatherers. You can see that entertaining rant HERE.

Anyone catch the movie? What'd you think?

You didn't think we'd go into Mother's Day weekend without paying tribute to those wacky ladies (real and otherwise) that gave birth to our fabulousness, did you?  If you can't surprise your Mom with Sunday brunch or a T-shirt with your face on it, be sure to call her/them and express your love and gratitude for raising such a fierce child. 

It is, after all, Mother's Day so just remember, kiddies ... without Mothers there'd be no frakkers; without Mamas there'd be no Mia's, and the most important lesson of all: those lovely ladies that brought you into this world can take you out just as easily (sorry, I had to), so celebrate them!

Sit back and relax as I honor some of my favorite real-life Moms, as well as those from television and movies that represent the good, the bad and the ugly of memorable mamas.

THE NEWBIE
Lily Van der Woodsen (Gossip Girl)

Gossip Girl's Lily Van der Woodsen is a complex character who wants to be a better woman, Mother and lover than her upper crust gal pals and family will allow and I currently heart her. Sure Lily will marry any Tom, Dick or Bart for their money and she'll go to great lengths to save face amongst the Upper East Side elite and yes, she had a mini-meltdown when evil Georgina outed her son Eric at the dinner table but she came around in the end! Kelly Rutherford has taken what could have been a one-note rich bitch and made her a woman to root for. PFLAG will never be the same.

THE SEMI-OLD PRO
Nora Walker (Brothers & Sisters)

Nora Walker meddles and occasionally messes with her children's lives but she's always best friend and supporter to her gay son Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) on ABC's Brothers & Sisters.  Sally Field is a powerful presence on screen and she can dominate the drama like no one else but she always let's her character live and breathe the world of her children (often to a fault) and she's really embraced Kevin's relationship and soon to be marriage to Scotty (played by Luke MacFarlane).  Nora could teach Lily a thing or two about patience and acceptance.

THE TRUE OLD PRO
Debbie Novotny (Queer as Folk - US)

Debbie (or PFLAG The Clown as my friend Armando likes to call her) could school all other Mother's on how to support your gay child and every fey friend that makes up his/her gay gang.  She's been crazy involved in her son Michael's (played by the adorable Hal Sparks) social and sex life so if you have questions on which gay clubs to haunt or which lube works best she's your go-to-gal.  Debbie does the gays proud and I salute her efforts and enthusiasm in grounding the sometimes outrageous Queer as Folk.

THE LEGEND
Anne Bancroft (Torch Song Trilogy's Ma Beckoff | Home For The Holiday's Adele Larson )

Anne Bancroft played two of the most memorable Gay Movie Moms from two of my favorite films with gay characters. In the classic Torch Song Trilogy she was the conflicted, confused, and sometimes pain in the ass Ma to Harvey Fierstein's Arnold Beckoff. In the end she realized that no matter how you raise them, sometimes kids really do "come that way."  In Jodie Foster's Home For The Holidays, she was the Mom most in need of a Silkwood shower and a neurotic nag to her gay son Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.) but she was never anything but amazing.  Rest In Peace Anne Bancroft (1931-2005).

THE ASS KICKER
Sandra Gangel (Beautiful Thing)

Sandra's the kind of woman that's not afraid to stand up to an abusive Father, knock out a whacked out Mama Cass lovin' neighbor, and encourage her gay son to make his own kind of music. Linda Henry's multi-layered performance in Beautiful Thing has always forced me to stand up and cheer.  She's funny, intense, and ruthless but encouraging and nurturing to not only her gay son Jamie but his teenaged lover Ste.  The final scene of the film is one of endless hope and utopia made even more amazing by Sandra's fearless efforts to accept her son.

Love it or hate it, Sex and the City was a series that inspired plenty of empathy in in its audience of straight women and gay men, a series that helped HBO become a network with plenty of watercooler buzz. Since it ended in 2004, HBO's schedule has been missing a dynamic like one SaTC brought and the network has looked for another series that is similarly edgy and female-driven.

In 2005, HBO was looking at adapting Ruth Reichel's Comfort Me with Apples, which looked at how Reichel transitioned from chef to influential food critic, including a late-in-life sexual awakening. The following year, the network announced another pilot about urban career women, Whitney which was said to focus on four women navigating sexual politics in Miami. Generally, the rule for pilots like these is "no news is bad news" and since we've heard nothing about these shows after they were first announced, it's likely we won't see either show. Meanwhile another comedy project -- 12 Miles of Bad Road, which starred Lily Tomlin and Leslie Jordan as part of an absurdly wealthy Texas family -- was recently dropped even though six episodes were already filmed.

Now, two new potential series will try to revive what's been missing for HBO. Out producer Darren Star is adapting a memoir by former sex worker, Tracy Quan, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, into a comedy about the intersection of power, sex and money. Before Quan wrote her book, she was a columnist for Salon.com, telling the early chapters of the story that would continue in her book.

However, the series I have my eye on is an attempt to adapt the incredibly campy Britcom Suburban Shootout. Back before it was known for reality shows starring Tori Spelling or Janice Dickinson, the gay-friendly Oxygen network was making waves for importing dark comedies like Shootout and Nighty Night.

Suburban Shootout can be aptly described as Desperate Housewives meets The Sopranos -- or, rather, a combination of the good memories these series invoked when Shootout first aired. The series follows Joyce, a police officer's wife who thinks her days are going to be much calmer now that she has moved from the city to a small country town. Unfortunately, it turns out her new home is a battleground between two gangs of housewives who are eager to add Joyce to their roster. While women like Camilla Diamond and Barbara Du Prez seem well-mannered, stylish and peaceful, their battle for control over their little town often involves trading gunfire and bloody fisticuffs. On Joyce's first day in town, the local basket shop gets bombed for falling behind on their protection payments.

Barry Sonnenfeld, who recently directed the pilot for Pushing Daises, will be directing the pilot for Suburban Shootout. That's a hopeful sign that the adaptation will get the look and tone of the original series right. Still, one major drawback for Shootout is that its story of violent crime in a pleasant little town might remind audiences too much of last year's Hot Fuzz. Still, one thing Hot Fuzz doesn't have is tough women looking fashionable and fierce as they're committing over-the-top violence.

What do you think? Are there any fans of Quan's writing or the original Suburban Shootout out there? Do you think HBO can turn either pilot into the next heavily-buzzed comedy?

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

• The Pugliese Collection will be auctioning off a ridiculous number of pop culture items in Las Vegas next week. Gay-related items include the Wicked Witch's hat from The Wizard of Oz, enough Bob Mackie to choke a horse (or Cher), and much, much more.

• Thanks to the efforts of Luke and Noah fansites including vanhansis.net and lukeandnoah.com, the traditional press is really starting to cover the story including the Associated Press, the BBC, and CNN. Which isn't to say the coverage has been particularly thorough, and most Nuke fans aren't thrilled with it.

• Barry Humphries, better known as Dame Edna, is set to join John Barrowman on I'd Do Anything. That may sound like one of Fox's crap reality shows, but it's actually a British reality show that will cast a new stage version of Oliver!

• John Polly who does double duty interviewing Project Runwya's aufd contestants for us, recently interviewed the Sex and the City gals for NewNowNext. Cynthia Nixon talks about dating a woman, Kristin talks about how the shows hurt their feet, and Kim Cattrall talks about playing a gay man.

• Andy Towle of Towleroad talks with fillmaker John Krokidas, the gay man who, along with Bruce Cohen (American Beauty), created Hillary Clinton's viral ad featuring Jack Nicholson.

• Starting next week Paolo Andino and Jonny McGovern of Logo's (AfterElton.com's parent company) Big Gay Sketch Show will be bringing you a weekly vlog, but Paolo was so eager to make his AfterElton.com debut that he shanghaied his boyfriend into doing one this week!

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