Looking Back at 2011

 I'll be honest: 2011 is not a year that I will be looking back on fondly overall, at least not on a personal level. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad to see it coming to an end. Still, like any year there was plenty of good mixed in with the not-so-good.

 For instance, 2011 could be said to be the year of the people, or perhaps of the bottom 99% of them. This was the year of the Arab Spring, with popular uprisings trying- and in many cases succeeding- in sweeping away repressive regimes in the Mid East. In fact, 2011 was the year in which the likes of Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, and Kim Jong-il ceased to exist, leaving the world that much better off.

  Here in the United States, we saw the beginnings of the Occupy movement as well as popular uprisings against unpopular measures such as the stripping away of union rights in Ohio and Wisconsin.

  For many, though, 2011 was a year of continued economic hardship. This was driven home for me in a very real way with the bankruptcy of Borders, a company for which I spent the better part of a decade working. The ultimate closure of all Borders and Waldenbooks stores by mid September left most of my former co-workers out of work and they were far from being alone. It also left a gaping hole in the middle of the book world, whatever your opinions on big box stores vs independents.

  The most high profile coming out of the year was Zachary Quinto, star of Heroes and the new Star Trek films. Quinto wasn't alone in coming out, though. This year's list also included actor Sean Maher, CNN anchor Don Lemon and sports figures Jed Hooper, Graeme Obree, Scott Norton, Steven Davies, and David Testo, covering a wide range of sports from professional bowling, rugby, cricket, cycling and American Soccer.

 Actress Evan Rachel Wood came out as bisexual and Geri Jewell, an actress and comedienne with cerebral palsy who back in the early 1980's became the first person with a disability to play a recurring character on a television show (The Facts of Life)  came out in a new memoir.

 This year saw the passing of some true legends from the entertainment world like Elizabeth Taylor, Arthur Laurents, and Sidney Lumet, and those whose lives had a far reaching impact on the world in general, like Vaclav Havel and Steve Jobs.

 In the world of daytime TV, the losses just kept coming. ABC cancelled both All My Children and One Life to Live simultaneously, though the latter won't go off the air until the new year.  For a few months, it looked like the shows had been saved and would make the jump to airing online, but in the end that deal fell through and both shows were left with cliffhanger endings that would never be resolved.

 As far as gay characters on daytime, things are looking up from last year at this time, when the total number of LGBT characters had plummeted to zero. This year we've got an out and proud Sonny Kiriakis and an about to come out Will Horton on Days of Our Lives, so 2012 looks pretty promising in that respect.

 Now, on to my picks for some of my favorite things in 2011.

*Favorite Short Story Collection I read this year:  Ladies and Gentlemen by Adam Ross

*Favorite Novel I read this year:  Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

*Favorite Classic Gay Fiction Book I read this year:  Two People by Donald Windham

*Favorite Modern Gay Fiction Book I read this year:  Two Gentlemen Sharing by William Corlett

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year:  The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Autobiography) Book I read this year:  Bossypants by Tina Fey

*Favorite Film I saw this year:  X-Men: First Class. I should note that I saw very few films this year overall; in fact, I won't be doing my usual category of Favorite Gay Themed Film because I can't think of a single one that I saw!

*Favorite TV Drama: Once Upon a Time

*Favorite Sitcom:  New Girl, with The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family tied for a very close second place.

*Favorite Supernatural Themed Drama:  Teen Wolf

*Favorite News Program: The Rachel Maddow Show. After moving in March, I discovered that my new cable package offered MSNBC. Rachel's show quickly became my new addiction.

*Favorite Show that Needs Help: Glee. A lot of fans had issues with the show's second season, and I was right there with them. It wasn't until the third season began, though, that I felt Glee was truly in danger of losing what had made it so special to begin with. When Glee is good, it's fantastic, like with the recent episode 'The First Time' and with the scenes of Santana coming out to her grandmother. Things like that keep me watching, but the uneven writing is becoming more and more of a problem. One example is the character of Mercedes who has been completely destroyed by bad writing. How many times is Mercedes going to freak out about Rachel getting all the attention, have her issues seemingly resolved, and then go through it all again five or ten episodes later as if the earlier experience never happened? It makes the character completely unlikeable. With the prospect of losing key cast members after this year when their characters graduate, I'm not sure if Glee will ever get its magic back.

*Favorite Daytime Soap:  One Life to Live remained the best written all year long. With that said, in the final months of 2011, my heart belonged to Days of Our Lives once again.

*Favorite Gay Themed Website of the year: AfterElton.com.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): Since Will Horton has yet to actually come out, there is only one option for this category and that's Days of Our Lives' Sonny Kiriakis.  His introductory storyline was a bit preachy and he hasn't had all that much to do since, but he's attractive, likable, and I'm sure he'll be fantastic when/if he's paired with Will.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): It's a tie! Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson, Glee. For all the show's problems, it can't be denied that Kurt and Blaine had a really great year. They shared their first kiss during the season finale last Spring and this fall they lost their virginity together in an episode that juxtaposed their experience with Rachel losing her virginity to Finn. They've even got a potential love triangle brewing with new gay character Sebastian.

 *Hottest Actor (Daytime):  It's a Tie! This year, I've been all about the Chill factor. Chandler Massey and Casey Deidrick (aka Will Horton and Chad DiMera) may never actually be able to play out a Chill love story on the show, but their chemistry is as electric as they are hot.

*Hottest Actor (Primetime): It's so hard to pick just one, as my post about the Men Who Made 2011 should demonstrate. With that said, I'm going to go with Once Upon a Time's Jamie Dornan.

  *Hottest Actor (Film): If I'm going just by films I actually saw this year, one actor who did stand out for me was Lucas Till of X-Men: First Class.

 


If, however, I'm going by film actors in general, I'd have to say that while Chris Evans may be my second favorite Evans brother, he's still one of the hottest men working in film today:

  *Hottest Out Gay Celebrity: I'm going to have to go with the newest member of the club, Zachary Quinto.

Not only is Zachary sexy as hell, but he gets to hang out with some of my other favorite hotties, like Jonathan Groff and Colton Haynes:

 Well, there we have it, 2011 in a nutshell. I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful 2012!

2011: Best & Worst Lists

  One of my favorite things about the end of any year are all of the Best of (and Worst of) lists that come out on just about any conceivable topic. I'm working on my own, which should be up tomorrow. Following my own year end tradition at Seth in the City I thought I'd share some of the ones I've been enjoying from the professionals.

  Let's start with Film. I myself managed to get to the movie theater exactly three times this year and one of those times was to see a filmed Broadway musical and not an actual feature film, so I'm far from being a good judge of what was great and what wasn't. 

 The experts, though, have spoken. First up is Roger Ebert's look at the Best Films of 2011, his top twenty picks for the year, none of which I've seen. I have very much enjoyed watching Ebert Presents At The Movies this year, though, with Christy Lemire of The Associated Press and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of Mubi.com. Sadly, at this point the show has no funding to continue on past this week's episode unless they can find sponsors or willing foundations to help out. Roger and his wife Chaz were mainly funding it themselves.

  Next up, the trio of film critics for The New Yorker. David Denby's top 10 list does contain one film I've actually seen this year, albeit on DVD: Source Code. I can't say the same for any of the films on Anthony Lane's list, but you'd think I'd have a better chance at having seen some of the 26 films that Richard Brody writes about in his list. You'd be mistaken, though. I guess I should start going to the movies more often!

  Moving on to the small screen, Ken Tucker at Entertainment Weekly has his annual look at the Best and Worst in Television this year. Darren Franich also has a list of the Best TV Character Deaths of the year, including my Sheriff Graham from Once Upon a Time.

 Turning to the world of the stage, the staff of Playbill.com offer their favorite moments from 2011, and a photo gallery of all the Playbill covers from this past year, while the New Yorker's John Lahr offers his take on the best theater of the year and Hilton Als offers a look at his year in culture. EW's Tom Geier also offers his picks for the best of the stage this year.

 Let's move on to my own personal favorite topic: Books. The New Yorker once again offers up several lists on the subject of the Best Books of 2011, from the likes of James Woods, Sam Lipsyte, Yiyun Li, Tessa Hadley, Tad Friend, Ben Marcus, Malcolm Gladwell, Lorrie Moore, and Anne Beattie. Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly takes a look at the Best and Worst in Fiction and in Nonfiction this year.

 Lambda Literary offers up the best in LGBT books of 2011 and I think my favorite list of the year is from one of my favorite blogs, Band of Thebes. In this particular list, 92 authors offer their selections for the best in LGBT books for 2011. This list alone could provide me with ample reading for 2012.

  The New Yorker has a complete listing that includes many more lists than I've mentioned, as does Entertainment Weekly, including a Top 20 of everything list by Stephen King.

 Another favorite site of mine, AfterElton.com, offers up 2011's Most Memorable LGBT Quotes.

 I'll be back tomorrow with my own look back at 2011.

Say What?!

We've all seen some ridiculous film and TV casting decisions over the years, but I don't think my jaw has ever dropped quite so much as it did a little while ago when I read that Jennifer Garner will be playing Agatha Christie's beloved detective Miss Marple in a new movie update.

Yes, Jennifer Garner, the actress from Alias will be playing the elderly spinster from the village of St. Mary Mead. I saw her in 13 Going on 30 but I never dreamed they'd make her 39 Going on 80!

Of course, this is a cool new youthful update of Miss Marple, meant to appeal to the Disney tween crowd. Um, if you're going to completely alter the character, why not just create a new detective altogether? Why tie it in to a very well established character fifty years older than the actress?

Back in middle school and high school, I devoured all of Agatha Christie's mysteries and collected copies of every single one. The books starring Miss Marple were particular favorites of mine. Don't get me wrong, I loved Hercule Poirot too, but Miss Marple was more fun, somehow.

What made Miss Marple a great character and as good of a detective as she was? Experience and age. She'd spent a lifetime as a single woman in a small village, observing life around her with a keen eye. Years of this had taught her a lot about human nature. That's how she always solved crimes, through the wisdom brought by her decades of living.

A young Miss Marple just makes no sense at all. I'm sure Jennifer Garner will be her usual winsome self and it's certainly not going to hurt the books any, but the stupidity of the idea just astounds me and I had to vent a bit!

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to re-read The Body in the Library.

2010 in Retrospect

It's hard to believe that 2010 is already at a close. I feel as if it was 2002 about ten seconds ago, so how can we possibly be about to enter 2011?!

As with any year, a lot can be said to sum up 2010 from just about any perspective imaginable. In the United States, those on the right of the political spectrum certainly had a lot to cheer in the mid term elections, yet it was also the year in which Congress finally passed some Health Care legislation and repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.

On the Same Sex Marriage front, no new states joined the five states (and Washington, D.C.) that had already allowed (or were about to allow) LGBT citizens their right to marry at this time last year, but Maryland did begin to recognize same sex marriages performed in other states and, best of all, California's Prop 8 was overturned in federal court, though of course the case is far from over.

President Obama appointed Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court this year, bringing the number of women on the court to an historic high of three.

In the entertainment world, the two biggest men to come out of the closet this year weren't really any great surprise: pop singer Ricky Martin and Will & Grace star Sean Hayes had both been rumored/assumed to be gay for many years, but that doesn't make the fact that they finally took the steps to come out publicly in 2010 any less noteworthy.

A true milestone this year in terms of coming out: the first openly gay country music artist, in the form of newly out lesbian Chely Wright.

Ricky Martin, by the way, was part of another trend this year: out gay celebrities becoming parents. Ricky Martin has been a dad since 2008, while Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka, and Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, all welcomed new children into their lives in 2010.

We lost some greats this year in every field imaginable, from daytime TV's Frances Reid, James Mitchell, and Helen Wagner, to primetime TV greats Rue McCLanahan, Dixie Carter, Barbara Billingsly, and John Forsythe, to all around legends like Lena Horne, Dennis Hopper, and Tony Curtis.

The literary world lost an iconic figure in J.D. Salinger and we lost a great historian, writer, and activist when Howard Zinn left us at age 87.

Last year in my retrospective, I mentioned that the year had been bookended by two very different gay love scenes in daytime soaps: Luke & Noah's long awaited first time on As the World Turns at the beginning of the year and Oliver and Kyle's amazing New Year's Eve love scene on One Life to Live.

It's sad to read the hope and excitement I was feeling over Kish a year ago at this time, completely unaware that in less than three months Kish would be gone, that in less than nine months there would no longer be an As The World Turns or any LGBT characters on daytime TV at all. This year, when I say "What a difference a year can make" I say it with sadness.

Well, on to some of my picks for this year's favorite things!

*Favorite Classic Fiction Book I read this year: Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

*Favorite Gay Fiction Book I read this year: Mary Ann In Autumn, by Armistead Maupin, with Stephen McCauley's Insignificant Others a near second.

*Favorite Modern Fiction Book I read this year: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I snobbishly put off reading this for ages because it was published in the U.S. as a Young Adult novel (in the author's native Australia, it was published as adult fiction), but it was so good!

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year: The Book of William by Paul Collins.

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Autobiography) Book I read this year: City Boy by Edmund White.

*Favorite Film I saw this year: (500) Days of Summer.

*Favorite Gay Themed Film I saw this year: A Single Man. I only saw four gay themed films this year, and this was by far the best, but it couldn't begin to touch the beauty of the book.

*Film I Most Wanted to see this year but haven't yet: The Kids Are All Right. What's wrong with me?! I've been dying to see this. First film of 2011, for sure.

*Favorite Hour long TV Show: It's still Glee.

*Favorite Half Hour long TV Show: A tie between Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory, both of which I've belatedly caught up with and love.

*Best Daytime Soap: One Life to Live until March. After that, NONE.

*Favorite CD: Hard to say. I've been discovering Sondheim all year, so probably A Little Night Music or Company.

*Favorite Actress: Kristin Chenoweth

*Favorite Gay Themed Website of the year: AfterElton.com.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): A tie between Oliver Fish, One Life to Live (until March), and Reid Oliver, As The World Turns.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): Kurt Hummel, Glee.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (International): Aaron Livesy, Emmerdale

*Hottest Actor (Daytime): A tie. Scott Evans (until March)

and then the Brothers Ford (aka Nicolas Robuck, David A. Gregory and Lenny Platt), One Life to Live.
*Hottest Actor (Primetime): Jared Padalecki. I still love me some Jared, and this year he even deigned to show some skin!
*Hottest Actor (Film): I barely saw any films this year, so I'll go with my choice from last year, the still very sexy Ryan Reynolds.

Well, I think that about sums it up. I hope 2011 proves to be a wonderful year for everyone reading this!

Year End Lists

It's that time of year again! Last night I made my list of the Guys Who Made 2010 and now I'm working on my retrospective look at the year.

While I work on that, I thought I'd share some lists put together by others. I always love these annual Best Of lists!

First up, The New Yorker's look at the best in film. Actually, I should say 'looks' since they have three critics weighing in: David Denby, Anthony Lane, and Richard Brody.

On the subject of film, Roger Ebert also offers his list of the top ten feature films and looking at all these combined lists makes me realize how few films I saw this year!

The New Yorker also has several writers commenting on the books they read in 2010.

Speaking of books, one of my favorite blogs, Band of Thebes, has a fantastic round up of 80 writers who choose their favorite LGBT books of the year. The list numbers 100 books and it's certainly enough to give anyone hope about the future of LGBT writing!

Oh, and be sure to check of Lambda Literary for several great articles on 2010.

Playbill.com has an excellent look at the year in theater , including a tribute to those who left us this year.

Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker has picked his top ten TV shows of the year, and then added another ten on top of that.

Even though I've more or less sworn off daytime soaps made in the United States, I can't help but check in on Michael Fairman's list of the Best and Worst in the year of daytime drama.

Fairman shows some love to One Life to Live, naming it best soap, but also calls out the shameful dumping of the Kish storyline as the most shocking moment of the year. He also names As the World Turns' Luke and Reid as the best new couple of the year and Reid's portrayer, Eric Sheffer Stevens, as giving the best overall performance by a supporting actor.

Not surprisingly, he 'honors' the ATWT writers with a well deserved nod for the worst writing of the year and mentions Reid's death as the most upsetting soap moment of 2010.

Fairman also offers photographic evidence of the 25 best and 25 worst soap moments of the year.

Well, I'll have my own retrospective on the year up later this evening.

Van Hansis Lands His First Film Role

We Love the Soaps has a new interview with Van Hansis in which he talks about his willingness to do a web series if he's ever approached (someone approach him!!) and about landing his very first role in a film, a horror movie called Occupant:

We Love Soaps: How are all your fans still going to be able to find your work?
Van Hansis: I’ve got to get cast in something and then they can watch that [laughs]. But I am a doing a movie, I can talk about it now. It’s called, Occupant. It's a horror film in the vein of [Roman] Polanski, that is, it's a psychological thriller. It's a lot of fun. It's a big departure from Luke.

We Love Soaps: In what way?
Van Hansis: In every way. The character is nothing like Luke at all. I’m excited to try something new and I’ve never done a film before. We’re in pre-production now, and the whole process that comes into play is so exciting.

I've never doubted that Van will have a bright future beyond As the World Turns, but I have worried that it will be completely stage based, and therefore unavailable to fans such as I who can't get to NYC.

Prior to the end of Kish and the announcement of Jean Passanante's ominous hiring, I was really hoping that Van would turn up on One Life to Live after ATWT wrapped. I would have loved to see what sort of character Ron Carlivati might have created for Van!

Now, though, I'd rather not have to tune in and see the destruction of a show that was so incredible these past few years, so it's nice to have a film to look forward to! I can't wait to see Van in a role that is so completely different from Luke.

Brief Thoughts on the Oscars

The Oscars were on tonight, and for the first time ever I really didn't have anyone to root for since I hadn't seen a single one of the nominated performances. It made for a completely different experience, I have to say.

Over the last few years, especially, there have been nominees I've felt very strongly should win, and the entire night was colored by whether or not they took home the little statue. Last year, for instance, was especially awesome because of Dustin Lance Black's win and incredible acceptance speech.

This year, I really didn't care. It would have been nice to see Colin Firth win for A Single Man, true, and the clip they showed looked really good. But overall, I just felt like a detached spectator.

Despite that, I completely loved the opening! It was a fantastic surprise to suddenly see Neil Patrick Harris come out and start singing! He was wonderful as the host of the Tonys and the Emmys last year, so it makes perfect sense that the Oscars didn't want to miss out on the NPH action, either.

It was the best moment of the show, I have to say. The song was cute and Neil, of course, was hot. I love that he's getting so much recognition for his talent these days.

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were amusing hosts (except for that hotel room bit before the horror movie montage; what the heck was that?), but I hope next year they'll just hire NPH to do the whole thing.

I'm very glad that a woman won best director, just because it was pretty ridiculous that the winners up to this point have all been (white) men, but other than that I really don't have much to say about any of the awards.

I did think it was sad that they didn't honor Lauren Bacall during the televised ceremony, by the way. Yes, a twenty minute tribute to John Hughes was nice (I listed The Breakfast Club as my favorite film for years), but they could have trimmed it down by five minutes to allow a Hollywood legend her moment.

It was nice of the show to provide eye candy for the tween crowd with Zac Efron (who, I must admit, I finally saw the appeal of when I watched 17 Again. He's beautiful, has a fantastic body, and great comedic timing) and the inexplicable Taylor Lautner (I was especially perplexed as to his appeal when they showed the footage from New Moon during the Horror Montage and he had that ridiculous looking long hair. Seriously?) but I'd still take Matt Damon over them any day of the week! He was achingly beautiful in Good Will Hunting, a full twelve years ago, and he's still got it.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I'll see more films this year so I can get more into the spirit of things for next year's show.

We're Gonna Smurf a Party!

Nothing can take me back to my childhood as quickly as thinking about the cartoons I loved to watch as a kid. Just about every Saturday morning and every afternoon when we got home from school, my little sister and I could be found watching various animated shows.

A few months ago, I was at work and something- I have no idea what- reminded me of the theme song from Duck Tales. For the rest of the day, I walked around humming lines like "You might solve a mystery, or rewrite history, Duck Tales! Woo oooh!" and "Bouncing here and there and everywhere, they are the Gummi bears!" (thinking of one show having inevitably lead to another).

I think one of the cartoons I most loved as a kid, though, was The Smurfs. I haven't seen an episode in years, but I bet I could still list the plots of several of them, I saw them all so often. My best friend and I would even say "We're gonna smurf a party!" (a line taken, if I'm remembering right, from one of those mid 80's holiday TV movies starring the little blue creatures) whenever we were given permission to sleep over at each other's houses on the weekend.

I heard a few months ago that they were going to be doing a feature film version of the show, but I really didn't give it much thought beyond a moment of surprise that The Smurfs were still considered to be commercial enough to get that kind of attention.

Now they've cast Neil Patrick Harris, of all people, as a live action character (the movie is to be mixed animation and live action) in the film, and I feel as though the seven year old me and the present day me have somehow managed to come together in some kind of strange time paradox!

Thinking about this has made me so nostalgic for all those old shows and for those Saturday mornings when we'd camp out in front of the TV with our cereal and spend an hour or two lost in the magic of other worlds.

I probably wouldn't have even considered seeing the film version without NPH in it, but now that it's officially on my radar, I really hope they don't mess it up!

(500) Days of Summer

I finally managed to watch (500) Days of Summer last night. I completely loved it from the first moment of the film, before we'd even faded in on anything! I think I can safely say that no other film has ever made me laugh before a single image had appeared onscreen, but the opening disclaimer managed that feat:

"The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch."

Now, I pretty much think Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the most talented younger actors working today. Just watch Brick, Mysterious Skin or my own favorite, The Lookout, for all the evidence you'd need to prove that. I also think he's incredibly sexy. So, you may think that I'm a bit biased in my views and would love anything with him in it.

To that I'd reply: G.I. Joe. Ugh! I sat through that godawful movie for one reason, and one reason alone: JGL was in the cast. I'm not an action movie person in general, it's true, but give me a good action film, like the Bourne series or the second Terminator film, and I'll love it. G.I. Joe was painfully bad and if I could wipe the memory of those two hours from my mind I would.

In short, I will see bad movies because a particularly hot or talented (or both, in this case) actor is in them, but that doesn't mean I'll like them.

(500) Days of Summer was just really fantastic. I loved the retro look to it, which was just right without being so overdone that you felt like you weren't watching a film set in the present. I loved the character of Tom, the romantic who believes he's found The One and whose whole belief in love is dashed against the rocks of a woman who just doesn't love him back.

I liked the non-linear storytelling and the supporting cast, and I really loved that the movie avoided romantic comedy cliches while taking on the whole idea of the cheap, greeting card/Hollywood sentimentality that is so attached to the very idea of love today.

I especially liked that the movie didn't offer to tie things up neatly at the end. When the lead character, Tom, left his job and started pursuing his dream of being an architect, other movies would have had him find success to show that You Should Follow Your Dreams, the sort of easy sentiment that Tom has rebelled against. Tom is following his dreams, yes, but the movie makes it clear that doing so comes with no guarantees or easy success stories.

It's a great film about the realities of being in love, from the euphoric highs (I especially liked the scene after Tom and Summer have slept together for the first time, when Tom walks to work in such high spirits that a dance sequence ensues) to the lowest of lows, which usually aren't passionate fights but rather when you're faced with silent indifference from the person you love.

I just really loved this movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel were both fantastic, it was funny and painfully real, and the whole look of it, the very atmosphere, made it a film that I know I'm going to watch again and again.

Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations

I know that I'm pretty out of it this year (the only film that was nominated for anything that I've actually seen is Up), but the nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards seem kind of... (insert shoulder shrug here). There just doesn't seem to be a lot to get excited about this year.

I am glad to see that Colin Firth was nominated for Best Actor for his role in A Single Man, but that was the only nomination the film received.

I'm also thrilled to see Nick Hornby, one of my favorite writers, nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for An Education! I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even know he'd written the screenplay for this film before today.

Other than those two nominations, though, I see nothing to get excited about. This is probably because I've seen none of these films, I'm sure, but even so it seems that there is usually someone or something that I'm really rooting for at the Oscars. This year, not so much.

I'm sad that there were no nominations for Joseph Gordon-Levitt or (500) Days of Summer. After the Golden Globes, I'd thought there may be.

I think increasing the number of Best Picture nominees to ten makes some sense, but I think in practice it's going to be about nominating a lot of films that are just filler, with no real chance to win. Of course, that might lead to some great upsets in the future if enough people get behind one of the filler nominees at some point and upset the favorite. It will be interesting to see how much longer it makes the ceremony, too.

Well, I guess I'll have to try and see some of these films between now and March 7th. Maybe that will give me something to care about here.

Very Random Thoughts on the Golden Globes

The 67th Annual Golden Globes aired tonight and I decided to jot down some thoughts while I watched the show. No doubt they'll be completely random.

First off, I love Ricky Gervais, I think he's incredibly funny. I've been a fan since I saw his series Extras, but I have to confess that I haven't yet watched his more famous show, The Office (or the American remake of it). Anyway, I thought his opening tonight was very funny.

Of course, part of the fun of the Golden Globes is scanning the crowd for the wide variety of celebrities from TV and movies. It always looks like such a fun night, as opposed to the Oscars where you know the fun doesn't start until the show is over.

I spotted David Burtka, partner to Neil Patrick Harris, right away while the camera was lingering on Keifer Sutherland. David is such a cutie!

Lea Michele's category, Best Actress in a Television Comedy, was one of the first presented and as much as I would have liked her to win for Glee, I do think Toni Collette is amazing in The United States of Tara and deserved a win. I still have issues with her show being considered a comedy, though. I think it's a drama with comedic elements.

I really wanted Neil Patrick Harris to win Best Supporting Actor. I think John Lithgow is awesome in pretty much everything he does (I haven't watched him on Dexter), but Neil is so overdue for a win!

I completely teared up when they showed Michael C. Hall in the audience during Lithgow's acceptance speech and he was wearing a stocking cap because of his cancer treatment. He was fantastic in Six Feet Under and I really hope he beats this.

I was glad to see him win for Best Actor in a Television Drama, too, and when the little voiceover informed us that he'd been in Cabaret on Broadway it was news to me. I've never heard him sing, but now I want to!

Seeing Ryan Kwanten in the audience makes me think I really do need to watch True Blood, if only for the shallowest of reasons! I was fast forwarding past something and stopped and backtracked to see who that beautiful man I'd just caught a glimpse of was.

Speaking of unexpected glimpses of hot guys, Juliana Margulies' husband is a total hottie! I don't think I'd ever seen him before tonight, but I'd certainly like to see more of him!

I can't believe Sigourney Weaver lost again for Prayers for Bobby! She really deserved the recognition.

Alec Baldwin just beat Matthew Morrison for Best Actor in a TV Series Comedy or musical. I like Alec Baldwin, but it seems like he's already won plenty of awards for 30 Rock. Matthew looked very hot, though, and it was nice to see his Glee co-stars behind him in the crowd, cheering him on. There have been far fewer shots of the Glee cast than I expected tonight, given how popular the show is. Maybe NBC doesn't want to promote it more than they have to?

I love Zachary Levi. I wish he was nominated instead of just presenting. I'm glad Chuck is finally back for its third season. Between Zachary and Ryan McPartlin, Monday nights are hotter than ever.

I've been seeing Taylor Lautner's face everywhere for months, especially at work with all the endless Twilight merchandise we carry, but tonight was the first time I'd ever heard him speak. I know there are countdown clocks out there for all the people waiting for him to be legal, but he just comes across like a kid to me. His voice sounded like that of someone who hasn't quite hit puberty yet.

I really need to see (500) Days of Summer. Have I mentioned what an incredible actor I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt is?

It sucks that they chose a presenter from Gossip Girl and it wasn't Ed Westwick! Chace is very pretty, but he can't hold a candle to Ed for sheer sexiness.

How could Jane Lynch not win for Best Supporting Actress??!? Recount! Seriously, that's the one award I really felt certain Glee would win tonight. I'm very disgruntled, probably more so because Chloe Sevigny has always been one of those people that I find incredibly irritating for no particular reason.

Jane looked fantastic, and I can only hope that she'll have better luck at the Emmys and at next year's Golden Globes. I'm sure this won't be her only nomination for playing Sue Sylvester!

How hot does Matt Damon look? I know that's a given, of course, but the man seems even sexier now that he did over a decade ago when I fell for him completely in Good Will Hunting. How is it possible that he keeps getting better with age?

Leonardo DiCaprio still looks good, for example, but I'd definitely pick Leo from The Beach over the Leo of today. I'd chose current Matt over Good Will Hunting Matt without a second thought, though.

Sorry, my casually jotted down thoughts seem to run towards hot guys more than anything else. What can I say?

Oh my God, how much do I love Ricky Gervais for his Mel Gibson introduction?! That was awesome! Best joke of the night. Wow! It helps that I loathe Mel Gibson, of course.

Glee won for Best Comedy!!! Yes!! There was much shouting for joy in my apartment, which is particularly sad since I'm watching by myself. It was so great to see the cast on the stage together, looking so happy.

I didn't really have much to say about the rest of the awards. I haven't seen any of the nominated films in the Comedy or Drama categories, which says a lot about my movie going habits these days. Once upon a time, I practically lived at the movie theater on weekends, but for the last two years in a row I've seen a grand total of two films per year on the big screen. The saddest part is that last year my two choices were real winners: Friday the 13th and Wolverine. Yikes!

I really just prefer to wait and watch films through Netflix these days. It's certainly cheaper that way, though I do miss the excitement of the big screen experience.

Well, The Golden Globes have come and gone. Next stop, The Oscars, where I'll try (and fail) to be less random in my observations.

Thoughts on the GLAAD Nominees

Yesterday, the nominees for the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards were announced and I was very pleased with several of their choices.

In the film categories (there's one for Wide Release and one for Limited Release), I've only actually seen one of the ten nominated films (I Love You, Man; I've had a thing for Paul Rudd since I saw him in The Object of My Affection!) so I don't really have an informed opinion. However, based simply on the fact that I loved the book so much and can't wait to see the film, I'm hoping A Single Man wins in the Wide Release category.

For Outstanding Drama Series, they've nominated Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men, Skins, and True Blood. I've never seen Mad Men or True Blood, so I can't speak to either of those shows.

I loved the first two series of Skins, even though gay character Maxxie wasn't really given a leading story in the first series. Still, his brief hook up with lead (and otherwise completely straight) character Tony during their trip to Russia was a pretty cool direction for the show to take, demonstrating the fluidity of sexuality and being something you'd never see happen on an American show. In the second series, Maxxie did have more to do, but he still never got a serious onscreen romance.

I believe the GLAAD nomination is for the third series, though (I've never watched the show on BBC America, but I think that's what they're currently showing), and I was only able to endure the first episode of that before tuning out forever. The nearly complete change in cast was just too jarring and I couldn't connect with any of the new characters.

Grey's Anatomy? I watched the first season on DVD and about half of the second season in real time, and that was about half a season too much in my view. As a rule, I avoid cop shows and medical shows, since they're always so predictable and depressing. I broke my rule for Grey's Anatomy because I'd heard so many good things about it, but it quickly became everything I hate about such shows.

There weren't any LGBT characters when I was watching and I haven't followed any developments since, so I'm not sure exactly what it has been nominated for.

Which brings us to Brothers & Sisters, a show that I have followed since the beginning. I love Kevin & especially Scotty, so I guess they would be my choice to win, though even Brothers & Sisters is feeling pretty tired and almost too depressing to watch these days.

Maybe I really do need to start watching True Blood like I've been told I should!

For Outstanding Comedy Series, GLAAD has nominated three shows that I love against one another: Glee, Greek, and The United States of Tara. Modern Family and Beautiful People, neither of which I've seen yet, round out the list.

Looking just at their LGBT representation, it's hard to pick between the three shows. The United States of Tara has gay teen Marshall, who is completely accepted by his family and who had a love interest in a confused minister's son (who ended up making out with one of Marshall's mom's other personalities).

Glee has Kurt, of course, who came out to his friend Mercedes and to his father and was accepted by both. I especially love the relationship between Kurt and his dad.

Greek has gay frat brother Calvin, who has been out since the first season and who faced some difficulties in the beginning with his brothers over his sexuality. Most recently Calvin has started a relationship with Grant, his closeted roommate in the frat.

The show also features Calvin's ex, Heath, who is a brother in a rival frat and who is also out to his brothers. Heath was completely accepted from the moment he came out, but other than his on again, off again relationship with Calvin, he hasn't had much of an onscreen love life.

This past season it also featured sorority girl Rebeca questioning her own sexuality after a kiss with a visiting sorority alum.

It's really hard to pick which show is the most deserving of recognition. I'd be happy with any of them winning.

GLAAD also nominates individual episodes that deal with LGBT issues on shows without regular gay or lesbian characters. Supernatural, one of my favorites shows, was nominated this year for their episode entitled 'The Real Ghostbusters' and I really would like to see them win for this.

The episode was very meta in that lead characters Sam & Dean went to a Supernatural fan convention. On the show, their adventures have been published in book form by a character who turned out to be a prophet. These books, which no one realizes are based on a real Sam & Dean, have a cult following.

The episode was a way for the show to deal with its own fans in a tongue in cheek way and it was very funny. The LGBT element came in the form of Barnes and Damien, two of the geeky Supernatural fans who attend the convention, role playing as Sam and Dean.

They quickly realized that there were very real ghosts threatening the lives of their fellow convention attendees and ended up stepping up and helping to save the day, because it was 'what Sam and Dean would do'.

At the end of the episode, when Dean was saying his goodbyes to the characters and asked how they knew each other, they revealed that they were partners, which made an earlier moment when Damien turned back to save Barnes instead of running off to save his own life, and the encouragement they gave each other during the fight, stand out all the more.

I've never seen any of the other nominees in this category (two episodes of Private Practice, an episode of The Listener, and an episode of Parks & Recreation), but Supernatural is a show that has always playfully acknowledged their gay fans (as well as their female fans who write endless slash fiction stories about Sam and Dean, or Jared and Jensen) and this episode gave us gay characters who were not only different from most gay characters we see on TV, but also ended up risking their lives and heroically saving the day.

For Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-series, I don' think there can be any real competition. Prayers for Bobby should win, hands down. Pedro wasn't a bad film, but Prayers for Bobby was better. I haven't seen the Torchwood mini-series or An Englishman in New York.

Outstanding Daytime Drama: need you ask? One Life to Live is far superior (not only as a show overall, but in their gay storyline, which is what the award is for) to the other three nominees: As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and All My Children. In fact, if there was an overall category to award the best LGBT Media Representation in all of film and Television, Kish should win for their love scene on New Year's Eve alone.

Adam Lambert was nominated for Outstanding Music Artist for his album For Your Entertainment. He's nominated against Lady Gaga, Gossip, Otep, and Brandi Carlile, and in my admittedly biased mind, he's the clear choice.

AfterElton was nominated for Outstanding Digital Journalism Article for Bret Hartinger's excellent "Why Can’t You Just Butch Up? Gay Men, Effeminacy, and Our War with Ourselves".

There are several other categories, as well, so check out all the nominees.

My Favorite Gay Films

I've written about some of my favorite gay themed books, but it occurred to me the other day that I'd never done the same for gay themed films. I decided to make a list of my top 10 favorites, which turned out to be a lot harder than I'd imagined.

A former roommate of mine, who happened to be straight, once asked me if I'd ever seen a gay movie that I didn't like. He was being sarcastic, of course, but the truth is that there are way more than 10 films that I've loved or at least really liked. Still, I've seen a lot of very bad gay films, too, and a fair amount of mediocre ones as well.

I've heard more than once, from other gay men, that there just aren't any truly good gay films, that such a thing has not yet been made. Everyone's opinions are subjective, of course, and I guess if we're talking about full on masterpieces that would stand up against the best films of all time, the pickings would indeed be slim.

My own criteria is less exacting. I look for a movie that is well written and well acted, something that moves me in some way, whether it leaves me in tears, excites the romantic in me, or just makes me feel good.

The true test, of course, is whether or not it's a film that I can watch over and over again multiple times and still love it as much as I did on the first viewing. I ended up leaving off a few of the newer films that I've really liked, simply because I'm not sure yet how they'll stand up to this test.

11. The Trip. In the end, I just couldn't limit the list to 10, so I decided I had to make the list 11 films long instead. The Trip is about two lovers who meet in 1973. One is a gay activist and the other is an uptight, closeted Young Republican. The story takes place in three different segments, in the early 70's, late 70's, and early 80's as the political and social changes of gay life (including the AIDS epidemic), affect their relationship and lives. Steve Braun and Larry Sullivan both did a very good job in the lead roles, and Sullivan's roadside strip tease toward the end of the film is certainly memorable. The supporting characters tend to be a bit broadly written & acted, created with humor in mind more than anything else, but the basic story at the center is a good one.

10. Edge of Seventeen. This is probably the most realistic coming of age film I've seen about a gay character. Chris Stafford was very good as Eric, the lead character, who is coming to terms with his sexuality in the summer of 1984. In real life, most of us don't end up having ideal first times, and this film is full of the sort of awkward and less than perfect experiences people go through when they're coming out and becoming sexually and romantically involved for the first time and just trying to find out who they are.

9. The Boys in the Band. After Stonewall, when the fight for gay rights truly got under way and the mentality of the gay community itself changed, this movie (which came out in 1970) and the stage play it was based on came to be regarded as a negative throwback because the gay characters show such incredible self loathing as the film progresses.

It's certainly true that this isn't a film about the out and proud gay men of the later 70's or today, but there's no denying that it captures the pre-Stonewall mentality of a lot of gay men (at least those in cities like New York), guys who were completely out with each other but who were still seen as freaks by the rest of the world and took that very much to heart. The relationships between the gay friends all seem very real and the psychological impact of the arrival of a straight character at their party makes for a powerful film as they begin to tear themselves and each other apart.

It's very much of that era in the sense that you come away thinking that it's awfully depressing to be gay, and yet at the same time I was amazed to find a film from 1970 that is completely centered around gay characters and is very upfront in discussing their sex lives and relationships.

8. Trick. The adorable Christian Campbell and the incredibly sexy John Paul Pitoc spend an entire night trying to find a place to have a meaningless hook up, only to fall for each other in the process. Trick is funny, it has memorable supporting characters (yes, even the one played by Tori Spelling!), and it's sweet and romantic. Sometimes, after I make eye contact with a really cute guy and he smiles at me, I find myself humming the song that Christian's character is writing for his musical in the movie (Enter you, voila it's showtime...). That's certainly a measure of the film's impact, right?

7. Brokeback Mountain. You may be surprised that this isn't higher on my list. As a film, it's artistically very well done and Heath Ledger was so amazing in this movie. He was understated and brilliant. But it's actually a pretty hard movie to watch, at least for me, because it leaves me feeling so depressed afterward. I certainly don't need a movie to end happily to love it, but this is the kind of film that just hurts, if that makes sense. The love story is just so tragic, so pathetic, and so realistic for that time and place. It's an amazing work and easily one of the best mainstream films ever made dealing with gay themes.

6. Get Real. This was one of the first gay themed movies I ever saw. It's about two middle class British teens who fall in love. One is the school's star athlete and the other is Steven Carter, the character I completely fell for at the time. Most people would probably have fallen for John Dixon, the jock, but Steven's sarcastic sense of humor and goofy grin convinced me that I had to find a guy like that for myself. It's a funny, bittersweet story about finding out who you are and about the choices you make in life. The ending always makes me sad, but I love the film.

5. Shelter. This is a movie about a working class surfer/artist helping to raise his nephew while falling in love with the older brother of his best friend. He has to try and balance his love life and hopes for the future with the harsh realities of his daily life. The romance was beautifully done and Trevor Wright was incredible in the lead role.

4. Latter Days. This film just completely blew me away when I saw it. It's about an L.A. party boy who makes a bet with his friends that he can bed one of the Mormon missionaries who have moved into their building. From that premise and from the beginning of the film itself, you expect something a bit fluffy and light, but what you get is an incredibly beautiful love story that also deals with the harsh realities of what it means to be gay and Mormon. Steve Sandvoss was fantastic as the gay Mormon character (I'm truly surprised that I've seen him in so few films since this one) and the big love scene between him and Wes Ramsey's character was pretty much the best I've seen in any film.

3. The Broken Hearts Club. I love this movie so much! It's my favorite gay film that isn't really about a love story but rather about a group of gay friends. Who doesn't want to have the kind of friendships that this film is all about? The guys in the film are always comparing themselves to characters in other films (Steel Magnolias, St. Elmo's Fire) and by the time you're done watching you're busy deciding which characters in this film are the most like you and all your friends. This movie is funny and sweet and if I could pick a movie to just live in, to be my life, I think it would be this one.

2. Milk. What more can I say about this film? It's the movie that finally provided mainstream film goers with a depiction of a true gay hero. It's not a perfect film, of course. It whitewashed a lot of the sexual realities of Harvey's life and of gay life in general in the 70's, but it is still, in my view, the best mainstream gay themed film to date. It has an incredible cast, was written by a very talented screenwriter, and was a story that was long overdue to be told.

1. Beautiful Thing. This movie will always be number one with me, maybe because it was literally number one, the first gay themed film I ever saw. If I had to pick a movie to be anyone's first gay themed film, this would be the one. I'm very lucky to have stumbled upon it as my own first, thanks to whatever cable film channel I saw it on many years ago.

Whereas Get Real was a film about middle class British teens, this film (which I could recite line for line by heart, I think, I've seen it so often) is about working class British teens, living on a council estate in an environment where being gay could easily have very dire consequences. And yet, it lives up to its title completely. Ste and Jamie don't have it easy, but their love defies all odds in this film. The ending, which I won't give away in case you haven't seen it, is my favorite final scene of any film, ever. It's just so hopeful, so empowering, and so beautiful.

This is another film with a memorable cast of supporting characters, and Linda Henry (currently starring on the British soap Eastenders) deserves special notice for her role as Jamie's hard edged but fiercely protective mother Sandra. On top of everything else, the movie has a fantastic soundtrack of songs by The Mamas and the Papas. If you haven't seen this film, you really should!

Of course, I think you should seen all of the films on this list. They're my favorites, after all!

2009 in Retrospect

What a year 2009 has been. The first African American President of the United States was sworn in, the first Hispanic Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed, and three states and Washington D.C. decided to stop denying same sex couples their right to marry.

There were losses too, of course. Marriage equality suffered setbacks in California, New York and Maine and President Obama failed to live up to his campaign promises on the Defense of Marriage Act and on Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Adam Lambert, Jonathan Groff, Gavin Creel, Meredith Baxter, Kelly McGillis, and Wesley Eure all came out of the closet publicly this year, while Scott Evans was outed by his own brother Chris in The Advocate, not that he minded. Chris Colfer of Glee began his career this year as an openly gay actor. Am I forgetting anyone else?

We lost some amazing talent this year, from Bea Arthur to Natasha Richardson and John Updike to John Hughes, and an era ended in the United States Senate with the death of Ted Kennedy.

It was the year that was bookended by gay love scenes on soaps. In January, Nuke finally got to make love on As the World Turns after countless delays and while it was very exciting at the time, it still wasn't all it should have been as a payoff for fans of the couple. At the end of December,Kish fans were treated to the most incredible love scene between two men ever shown on American television, showing what a difference a year (and a different network, production company, and head writer!) can make.

Yes, it has been quite a year. Here are my picks for some of my favorite things of the year:

Favorite Classic Fiction Book I read this year: Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Favorite Modern Fiction Book I read this year: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

Favorite Non-Fiction (History) Book I read this year: And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts.

Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year: A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel.

Favorite Short Story Collection I read this year: All five of Ethan Mordden's books in his Buddies series.

Favorite Film I saw this year: Adventureland

Favorite Gay themed film I saw this year: tie Make the Yuletide Gay and Were the World Mine

Favorite Hour long TV Show: Glee!

Favorite Half Hour long TV Show: How I Met Your Mother

Best Daytime Soap: One Life to Live

Favorite CD: Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment

New Guilty Pleasure Addiction of the year: American Idol Season 8 thanks to Adam Lambert

Favorite Gay Website of the year: AfterElton.com

Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): Oliver Fish, One Life to Live

Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): Kurt Hummel, Glee

Hottest Actor (Daytime): Scott Evans
Hottest Actor (Primetime): Jared Padalecki
Hottest Actor (Film): Ryan Reynolds
Hottest Athlete: Andy Roddick
Favorite Actress (Primetime): Kristin Chenoweth

Favorite Actress (Daytime): tie Erika Slezak, Florencia Lozano, Hillary B. Smith, Susan Haskell, and Robin Strasser, all of One Life to Live.

Best Day of the Year: The day I saw Rent performed live with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal!

I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for all of you!

Year End Lists

I'm a sucker for all of the year end lists that take a reflective look back on the past twelve months, so I thought I'd share some links with you.

First up, the critics at The New Yorker.

Anthony Lane, Richard Brody, and David Denby each took a look back at the best films of the year. Among his top ten, Denby selected Adventureland, a film that I really loved and meant to write about when I first saw it, but which I somehow never managed to get around to mentioning!

Last year, I seem to recall that I'd only seen one of the films picked by these guys, so I'm doing better this time around since I also saw Up, another of Denby's selections, and Star Trek, which Lane mentions.

Nancy Franklin has a look back at the year in TV. While discussing everything from President Obama's inaguration to Tom Delay on Dancing With the Stars, Franklin also mentions the over the top reaction to Adam Lambert's AMA performance:

The “American Idol” runner-up, not the first gay contestant but the first to “do” anything gay, performed on the American Music Awards, on ABC, and went a little over the top, kissing a male dancer and mimicking oral sex. Then, on CBS’s “Early Show,” a replay of the kiss was fuzzed out (as was the oral-sex bit), as if this were 1909 and not 2009. Then ABC disinvited Lambert from Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show (sorry if I’m laughing at the idea that Kimmel’s show upholds any standard other than mediocrity) and “Good Morning America,” and a tentative booking on “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” was scotched. No one knows exactly where the line is anymore when it comes to what you can say and show on TV, but, wherever it is, it’s already been a crossed many times in recent years by headline-hungry heterosexuals acting in terrible taste. There’s a word for CBS’s and ABC’s hot-potato treatment of Lambert, and it’s either “hypocrisy” or “homophobia.”

James Wood covers the year in books, none of which I've read. But then, I don't tend to read all that many books the year they come out. I think the only books I've read in 2009 that actually came out this year were Judy Shepard's moving book, The Meaning of Matthew and The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's follow up to Shadow of the Wind. The latter only counts as a 2009 book in its English translation, of course.

Hilton Als has a look at the year's best in theatre and Claudia Roth Pierpoint has a list of the top ten cultural events of the year, which includes a range of things from short story collections to ballet performances.

There is a comprehensive list of all the year end picks in many other categories if you'd like to check that out.

Playbill has a list of the Top Theatre Stories of the year as well as a look back on the Broadway stars who left us this year.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello picks his Best Of in Television for the year, including Glee's Jane Lynch as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Ken Tucker made his picks for the ten best shows on TV this year (Glee was at number 9, while Modern Family was at number 3) and also the five worst shows.

Roger Ebert picks the year's best films, and once again I've seen none of them! What was I doing all year?

If you're a soap fan, Daytime Confidential has their picks of this years 10 Best Soap Couples (with LGBT couples leading the pack, Kish at number 2 and Guiding Light's Otalia at number 1) and 10 Worst Soap Couples. Semi-LGBT couple Rafe and Adam from The Young and the Restless made this list as the number 1 worst soap couple of the year.

Michael Fairman picked the year's 20 Worst Soap Moments and they included several LGBT related stories. Coming in as the number one worst soap moment of the year? The Z Twins on As the World Turns. Also making the list was the much bemoaned Bianca and Reese storyline on All My Children and the badly executed Rafe and Adam storyline on The Young and the Restless. Y&R also made the list for the botched return of Philip Chancellor III.

Fairman also picked the 20 Best Soap Moments, of course. Number 2 on that list was Olivia confessing her love to Natalia on Guiding Light, while Kyle telling Fish he loved him at the gay group wedding on One Life to Live made number 12. Philip's initial return and revelation that he was gay on The Young and the Restless made number 17 on Fairman's best of list, even though the subsequent story made the Worst of list.

That's probably enough list-mania for now!