Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aguilera! The film will be released in theaters nationwide on November 24th.

MTV is busy playing on Twitter and Facebook games with the tweens this year and dreaming they could be the shadow of Justin Bieber on Youtube. The network now known for 16 year old pregnancies is wanting everyone to check-in to STD clinics and get a virtual badge throughout September at these places. Really? A happy face sticker on my online Foursquare application for checking in to a STD clinic. What does MTV gain of people lined up at STD clinics anyway? Do they play MTV soap operas while waiting for results of chlamydia tests?

What the network should be focusing on this year are what no one is talking about right now the VMA’s coming in under a few weeks from LA’s Nokia Theater. They really sound lame this year because there is no major headliner or opening act and no big celeb deaths like Michael Jackson to draw the interest. Maybe too many celebs testing for the Clap? j/k.

But no Madonna, no Britney Spears, no Lady Gaga performances. Lame. Is this going to be a cheesy bubble explosion of Katy Perry coming out of icing with Jack Black peeing on a rainbow that ends with Kanye West and Taylor Swift jumping around like Glee lovers holding hands into eternity? Lady Gaga will probably be the most talked about thing at the show but how many outfits will she be putting on just to get up and accept awards all night long. We wanted to hear her perform at least!

Their focus of silly foursquare check-ins such as Facebook wanting to get into the location business instead of its core business will make these companies finally see this bubble bursting when people laugh and start hiding check-ins or use them for blackmail purposes. Hopefully someday MTV will focus on their music or at least more of the drama as Justin Timberlake begged the network to do a few years ago..

My predictions for 2010 for the MTV VMAs are that it could turn out to be the lamest in years. Last years from NYC Radio City Music Hall will be hard to top with Madonna, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, and the list goes on. They would have to at least have a SURPRISE appearance from Britney Spears to come close to last years and normally their LA version of the show sucks anyway but then again they could run an skit of Britney Spears checking into a STD clinic via their ridiculous Four Square App right? or have Lindsey Lohan appear which I am sure they will do anyway before she goes back to rehab.

I wrote a song once, or co-wrote it if I am to be completely truthful. It was a cabaret number, a comedy song and a list song. There are only two kinds of songs, should you be interested to know, and these are ‘lists’ and ‘stories’. Think of any song and you will be able to put it into one of those two categories, honestly. But I am already straying from the point.

The point of mentioning that song was to bring in its subject matter which was, famous gay people of history. I am sure my co-writer would not mind me sharing some of the lyrics (in italics) with you as I run through some of the more unexpected gay people from the past.

There is often doubt over far back historical characters and their sexuality. Examples:

‘Frederick the Great, Peter the Great, Alexander the Great, not one of them straight.’

And sometimes there is room for a lot of speculation. I just checked out a list on a site and it has Saladin the Sultan of Egypt and Syria listed as a famous gay man. Famous for sure, but how do they know? Where’s the evidence? The site did have a list of sources actually, but my point here is that history can quickly become myth, so to say for 100% certainty that, for example, Alexander was gay, is to make assumptions based on ancient chatter. To be certain or our famous GLB folk we need to be more up to date:

‘Herman Melville, and Marcel Proust – and all the boys that Hadrian the first seduced.’

I know Hadrian wasn’t that recent, but it’s a fun rhyme for Proust who, let’s face it, could do with some jollying up. Also on the list was Cole Porter, no surprises there except he was also married, but that’s what some gay men did in those days, and perhaps he really was bisexual. (And, as an aside, if you want clear examples of list and story songs then look at Cole Porter, the master of the list song: Let’s do it, You’re the top, I get a kick out of you, and more or less anything from Anything Goes.)

‘Kenneth Anger loved the men he’d fetter, David Hockney likes his men much wetter.’

Also on that site and its list were Andy Warhol, Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde, and you are probably not surprised to see these great people listed. But what about some of the others?

‘Edward the second, Richard the Second, James the first, it’s been reckoned.’

Pope Julius III (1550 – 1555), Marie Antoinette, Pope Benedict IX (1032 – 1044), Pope John XII (655 – 964), the list goes on, and is not restricted to Popes or aristocracy who lost their heads.

‘There’s William Shakespeare, and Marlow too, and Sophocles, Euripides to name a few.’

But what I did notice from this list, and the list we came up with for our song, is how many talented people there were. Of course there is no reason why GLB folk should not be talented, I didn’t mean it like that, and there are thousands of talented straight people from history, but some of the greats are here – I mean the really greats. From Alexander and the others who were actually called ‘Great’ to the painter of the Sistine chapel, Michelangelo, the inventor of economic theories in the 20th century, John Maynard Keyes and the inventor of just about everything else, Leonardo de Vinci.

‘…And Gertrude Stein, whose brownies would have fattened Ida Rubenstein
And who can forget Divine? That’s what John Waters taught us…’

‘Hans Christian Anderson, Walt Whitman and Virginia Woolf,
And that’s not all
There’s Lady Una Troubridge, and Radclyffe Hall.’

So it seems to me, that whatever way you look at it, being gay means that you are in good company. Such good company that it makes you wonder who the straight folk have to be proud of.

Miranda, Carrie, Samantha, and Charlotte return to theaters on May 27, 2010 with another installment in the story of Sex and the City. Across the country, fans are anxiously awaiting the new film and a new adventure for the four friends. As Miranda Hobbes, Cynthia Nixon created a driven, determined, high strung and defensive New York lawyer, struggling with single motherhood and relationships. The real Nixon’s life is much less dramatic than Miranda’s, but no less busy as she balances parenting two children, work, and activism.

Nixon’s career began at age 12 with a role in Little Darlings, and by 18 she had roles in two Broadway plays simultaneously. She was a successful New York actress, but HBO’s Sex and the City catapulted her into stardom. Since the series ended, Nixon has taken a variety of roles, including Eleanor Roosevelt in HBO’s Warm Spring and a frazzled mother navigating a child with ADD. She has worked on both theater and film projects since the end of the series, choosing roles that offer both a challenge and a distinctly different character than Miranda.

In 2004, the New York Daily Post and New York Daily News outed the New York actress. With grace, she maintained her privacy but didn’t hide her relationship, taking the scandal out of her outing. Nixon’s partner, Christina Marinoni, is a community organizer in New York City. Nixon and Marinoni are raising Nixon’s two children, and while she is an involved parent, she does cheerfully celebrate the benefits of having four parents available.

Activism and advocacy work plays an important role in Nixon’s life. After battling breast cancer in 2006, she remains active with the Susan G. Komen foundation. Cynthia Nixon’s children attend New York public schools, and she works to support the schools, ensure adequate funding, and provide for teachers. In the last two year’s Nixon has taken an active role speaking out on gay and lesbian issues, including marriage and adoption. As of May 2009, Nixon and Marinoni are engaged to be married. Cynthia Nixon received an honorary award for her work on gay and lesbian civil rights issues from GLAAD in March of 2010.

The follow-up to the first hugely successful “Sex and the City” soundtrack, which debuted on Billboard’s Soundtrack chart at number one and its Top 200 chart at number two, will feature an exciting lineup that includes several platinum artists and consists of 17 songs. The announcement was made today by WaterTower’s Jason Linn.

Sex and the City 2 will have a all-star soundtrack released

The soundtrack will include original music from Grammy and Academy Award® winner Jennifer Hudson, along with global superstar, multi-platinum recording artist and three-time Grammy Award nominee Leona Lewis. T-Pain produces a new song by platinum-selling Cee-Lo and international superstar Dido also contributes an exclusive new track. Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe, Tony and Academy Award® winner Liza Minnelli covers Beyonce’s chart-topper “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” and 12-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys performs her own extraordinary new version of the Blondie classic “Rapture,” produced by Salaam Remi, who has worked with Amy Winehouse and Wyclef Jean.

The soundtrack also features the stars of “Sex and the City 2,” Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, performing the Helen Reddy classic “I Am Woman.”

The full track listing is as follows:

1. Alicia Keys – “Rapture”
2. Dido – “Everything to Lose”
3. Cee-Lo – “Language of Love”
4. Erykah Badu – “Window Seat”
5. Natacha Atlas – “Kidda”
6. Michael McGregor – “Euphrates Dream”
7. Liza Minnelli – “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
8. Ricki-Lee – “Can’t Touch It”
9. Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down”
10. Jennifer Hudson and Leona Lewis – “Love Is Your Color”
11. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon – “I Am Woman”
12. Sex and the City Men’s Choir – “If Ever I Would Leave You”
13. Sex and the City Men’s Choir – “Sunrise, Sunset”
14. Sex and the City Men’s Choir – “Till There Was You”
15. Shayna Steele, Jordan Ballard, Kamilah Marshall – “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
16. Liza Minnelli with Billy Stritch – “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”
17. Aaron Zigman – “Divas and Dunes”

Some shows spark conversation, blogs and water cooler discussions, and Glee is most definitely one of those. Last October, Madonna, as entranced by the charm of singing high school misfits, granted music rights to her songs to the series for an all-Madonna episode. This episode aired on April 20, 2010, once again showing us that Glee is willing to tackle the hard issues, including teenage sexuality, in a playful and whimsical way. The message behind this episode? Woman (or girl) power, at least in theory. Like a Prayer, Express Yourself, and, of course, Like a Virgin all were key numbers in the long-awaited Madonna episode.

So, the boys realize that the girls deserve more respect than they’re getting with prodding from Will, Sue does Vogue, Tina stands up for herself and Rachel, Finn, and Emma all wrestle with issues surrounding sex. Jesse pressures Rachel and she eventually says no. Santana pressures Finn and he says yes. Emma tries, and finally says no…all choreographed to Like a Virgin. More interestingly, Rachel claims she did and Finn claims he didn’t. Will tells Emma she needs to get help and he needs to get a divorce. Finn and Mercedes join the Cheerios to take starring roles they don’t necessarily get in New Directions, convincing Sue simply with “Mercedes is black. I’m gay. We make culture.” Sue tells us that Madonna is all about power, and Rachel, Emma and Santana all take their own, as do Mercedes and Kurt in their own way.

There’s no discussion of Glee without a discussion of being gay on Glee. While Madonna is certainly an icon in the gay community, Kurt plays a minor role in this episode. It seems likely we’ll see a much more Kurt-centered episode when it’s Lady Gaga’s turn on Glee. While Kurt is the only openly gay character on the show, we’ve seen multiple references to bisexuality on the part of both Santana and Brittany. The two girls offer to let Finn watch them make out and in an earlier episode, they casually mention having had sex. Fox’s official Glee Wiki lists the two as “Best Friends. With Benefits.” There’s certainly no arguing that Glee plays with stereotypes, allowing characters to be weak, flawed, and very human, whether they’re gay, straight or bisexual.

Where are you on Wednesday nights? For many people, the answer has become McKinley High. Fox’s Glee tells the stories of a high school vocal choir. This quirky mixture of social outcasts and popular kids has sung and danced its way into the hearts of viewers everywhere. At first glance, the characters can seem stereotypes, but well crafted personalities and relationships have created individuals we can love and despise. In a television world with only a few gay characters, most minor, Glee offers us a key character who is openly gay and features a gay couple as one of the few intact families mentioned.

While the glee club at McKinley high is a mishmash of minorities, one of the major characters on this show is a young man, Kurt Hummel played by 19 year old actor Chris Colfer. While, on the surface, Kurt is a stereotype in search of a day spa to recover from a face full of slushie and looking for knee length cardigans, he’s also won the football game for the school and stepped boldly out of the closet to his friends and single father. He’s bullied by the jocks, but willing to stand up for his friends. The episode all viewers will associate with Kurt boldly featured him singing Beyonce’s “Put a Ring on It,” complete with dance number as he won the big game for the football team. His father, dressed in flannel, cheers. His coming out is met with a quip about sensible pumps, a hug. Chris Colfer made us laugh and cry as Kurt triumphed for his school, bringing glory to all those who took too much crap in high school.

Critics have argued that Glee offers up discrimination. We see Kurt thrown into the dumpster, gay parents criticized for encouraging rebellion, and an expectation that an artistic father will produce a gay son. There’s no doubt at all that we see bullying, homophobia and discrimination in McKinley High. The jocks have to find themselves and learn that they were wrong as the gay kid brings the losing football team victory and they themselves sing and dance on the field to throw the other team off their game. Cheer coach Sue Sylvester is the clear villain of this show. Her comment about gay parents fits in with her suggestions that students be caned and her willing manipulation of students and staff.

High school wasn’t a picnic for most of us, gay or straight. It’s not for the kids in Glee either, as they deal with bullying, pregnancy, sexuality, friendship and competition.

In a saturated and sometimes boring late night TV market, Wanda Sykes’ new show, premiering November 7th, will offer a fresh take on current events as well as Wanda’s wit, style and personality. Airing on Saturday nights on Fox, the show will feature panel discussions with recurring personalities and lively discussion of topical issues. Sykes will leave the studio for field reports, adding variety to the late night comedy show. While the promos for Sykes’ new show joke about DVRs, you should be sure to set yours for a new, funny, and intelligent alternative to Saturday Night Live.

Named as one of Entertainment Weekly’s 25 funniest people, Wanda Sykes has had a long career in films, television and stand-up comedy. The Wanda Sykes show will be her second weekly television appearance as she plays Barbara Baran (Barb) on the New Adventures of Old Christine on CBS. Other appearances include comedy specials on the Comedy Channel and HBO. Her second HBO stand up special premiers in October, 2009. Sykes spent five years working on the acclaimed Chris Rock show and has won Emmy awards for her work on the Chris Rock show and Inside the NFL.

While Wanda had been out privately for quite some time, she stepped out of the closet quite publicly at a Las Vegas Proposition 8 rally in November, 2008. Sykes and her partner were married in October of 2008 and welcomed twins in April of 2009. Even before she officially came out, Sykes included discussions of gay and lesbian issues, including gay marriage, in her stand up comedy routines. It seems likely that her new show will cover, among its topical issues, many of those relevant to the gay community as a whole.

Tune into the Wanda Sykes Show on Saturdays on Fox, starting November 7, 2009 at 11 PM Eastern. Find the current promos for the show at tvbythenumbers.com.

Just when you thought we would quit hearing news from Alaska the ice is melting more and more not far from the Palin Household.  The father of Sarah Palin’s grandson, Levi Johnston, 19,  is said to be working out 6 times a week, pumping up, and cutting carbs to prepare for a revealing shoot from the magazine.  We are not sure where exactly they plan to take pictures but we are sure it will be a juicy photo-op we only dream for when it comes to male celebrities. If you want to call him a male celebrity.

Recently the 19 year old was seen on the red carpet with Kathy Griffin during the Teen Choice Awards and Kathy made some jokes a few weeks later on Bill Maher saying she felt some kicking in her stomach.  Levi Johnston is also featured in some nut commercials where they say he is now using “protection” wearing an Alaska shirt.  But seeing him in the bare may be something we did not expect from him.  You know this will be one hot selling playgirl magazine because we love seeing ex or current hockey players or any type of college-aged boys in the buff and spread wide.

Kathy must have had a good influence on the still teenager.  A “Good” influence.  As for Sarah Palin it probably just adds more publicity for her upcoming book “Going Rogue” which comes out in a few weeks and is topping Amazon’s Best seller list for pre-orders.  I bet it helps Kathy’s book sales out as well.

Wasn’t it Marky Mark that posed for Playgirl years ago.  I sure wanted a copy of that!  I thought Levi Johnston was hot the first time I saw him at the RNC but now he has sort of lost some of that.  Maybe after he cleans up some from working out and tones it up he will be ready for the big time and hopefully he does not disappoint us with something small!

It is a battle of the divas and this diva has won again.  Barbra Streisand (Babs) scored her 9th number one album on the United States pop charts Wednesday according to Billboard Magazine.  With the days of Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, Lil’ Wayne, and the Black Eyed Peas who would have thought that Barbra Streisand a jazz adult contemporary singer could get to the top spot and beat everyone out.

This shocked the music industry today because they expected Mariah Carey “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” or Paramore “Brand New Eyes” to hit #1 for next weeks edition but instead Babs took the spot.  How did this happen?  Could it be all the mean comments coming from Bill O’Reilly to her on his Pin Head game he plays nightly or could it be that we are turning back to real talent instead of just artists promoting themselves on talk shows.  Although she did just promote her album to a tiny NYC Jazz club she played at in the 60’s in front of President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton (not a bad way to get your album off to a big start).

The strong sales came from non-traditional outlets such as Starbucks and QVC’s home shopping network for Streisand.  She now extends her lead as the female act with the most number one releases on the Billboard 200 charts.  At age 67, she is also the first artist to top the chart in 5 consecutive decades.  She has not topped the chard since 1997 with “Higher Ground” and that sold more copies at 207,000.

Mariah Carey has a great new CD with an amazing remake and the Obsessed song we love so much.  I am even shocked she did not hit the #2 spot and get more sales than Paramore.  Judging from sales in the UK it was Madonna who won the battle beating out Paramore to the #1 spot the first week.  Mariah has been all over the Today show and other shows promoting her album and only sold 52,000 more copies than her 2001 “Glitter” flop.

When you look at the numbers Streisand only sold 180,000 copies compared to 168,000 from Mariah Carey and 175,000 from Paramore.  So they were definitely close and it was not a knock down drag out and considering record sales were down from 2008 this time last year you can tell money is tight from the recession.  I wonder how many pirated copies are downloaded for free of each artist.

Madonna did not underperform because her album is a two-set cd which is more expensive than any of the above.  Celebration came on at number 7 with little promotion but maybe it will get more sales now that she appeared on Saturday Night Live.  I did not see Madonna mention her new album.  She appeared on the MTV VMA’s but did not perform instead she did the very unselfish tribute to Michael Jackson.  I just think many could not afford the two-cd set from Celebration and opted for the cheaper albums on sale this week.  I will be enjoying the DVD of all of her videos over the years she also put out and her new Celebration CD – especially the Lil’ Wayne revolver song ‘Revolver’.  This is Madonna’s final record with Warner Music Group and she will launch a new re-invention with Live Nation in the coming years.

Babs we are happy for you!  It looks like the Liberals won for sure on this one.

We all loved her speech at the MTV VMA Awards Sunday night where she did an amazing Michael Jackson Tribute. Support Madonna now and get her new CD. Get the greatest hits collection on pre-order now.  There is also a deal with this link for a DVD of all of her videos from the #1 hits featured on the new album.  Have a Celebration and get Madonna now.