Single Ladies

Shane Mercado, whose spot-on rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" has earned him over a million views on YouTube, was asked to do the routine for The Bonnie Hunt Show in front of the video backdrop and his story was the subject of a recent CW11 news segment.

Suddenly everyone wants to be a "Single Lady", even Cubby from 96.1 The Beat in Charlotte (above, right). Even the big girls are doing it.

Watch all the clips, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Lance Bass: 'I Don't Have a Boyfriend'

Although he's been linked to trainer Sebastian Leal in recent months, Lance Bass told AfterElton, during an interview about his stint on Dancing with the Stars, that he doesn't have a boyfriend.

Said Bass: "You get seen with one person and that’s automatically your boyfriend."

As far as dating in the public eye, Bass says, "It’s really impossible to date, especially when you’re doing something as big as Dancing with the Stars. It’s a monster of a show and it keeps you working 24/7 for months. Right now it’s almost impossible to have any kind of personal life, especially a love life, so that’s on hold for right now...It’s easier to date someone in the business because they get what you do and you don’t have to teach people how to deal with the situation, being in the public eye. It’s really hard to deal with that when you’ve never had to deal with people, paparazzi, interviews, the schedule we have. So it’s a lot easier to date inside the business. But if you do date someone inside the business, then it really takes a toll on your relationship because the [media is] just more focused on your relationship, which ultimately, you know, destroys it. It’s win or lose in those situations, so nothing is easier inside or outside the business."

Recently
Lance Bass: He Kissed a Girl, Did He Like It? [tr]
Lance Bass Does the Cha Cha Cha on Dancing with the Stars [tr]
Lance Bass Dealing with a Pair of Swollen Sausages [tr]
Lance Bass Wants to Do the Gays Proud on Dancing with the Stars [tr]

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Lance Bass: He Kissed a Girl, Did He Like It?

Seems to me he enjoyed the cherry Chapstick more. Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Lance Bass Does the Cha Cha Cha on Dancing with the Stars

Lance Bass and his partner Lacey Schwimmer (and her Bass-adorned costume, below) made their debut on Dancing with the Stars last night.

Clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Lance Bass Dealing with a Pair of Swollen Sausages

Lance Bass says the choreography isn't the only challenge he's facing on his upcoming season on Dancing with the Stars. He tells People how he's training: "I’m wearing heels! It’s not that fun. My feet are swollen sausages every day!"

Bass also says he's not as spry as he was when he was in N'Sync: "It doesn’t feel the same at all. The first thing you notice is your knees, then your lower back goes out, your arms start hurting–and the feet!"

Lucky he's dating a hunky Brazilian trainer who's likely well-versed in massage.

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Lance Bass Wants to Do the Gays Proud on Dancing with the Stars

Lance Bass tells E!'s Marc Malkin that dancing with a male partner on Dancing with the Stars would have been "like making fun of something" and would have overshadowed the competition:

Says Bass: "I think it's so important for me to do this. But my biggest concern is I just hope it doesn't hurt the gay community in any way because, you know, we definitely can be scrutinized and picked apart. I definitely feel a responsibility of making sure I represent well."

Malkin adds: "With countless hours now spent rehearsing—DWTS has a three-night premiere starting Sept. 22—the 29-year-old Bass is one tired puppy. His boyfriend Sebastian Leal isn't too happy about it, because 'he really wants to learn' the dances, Bass says. 'But we haven't had time. When I go home, all I wanna do is just sleep and eat.' Bass did, however, make sure to find the time (and the energy, for that matter) to appear on Saturday night at event producer Tom Whitman's West Hollywood fundraiser for No on 8, a campaign to fight a November ballot that would ban same-sex marriage in California. 'I'm definitely not political,' Bass explains. 'But I know what's right and wrong, and I know that's wrong. So I'm going to speak up about it. It's just common sense.'"

Previously
Lance Bass in Olympic Kissing Match [tr]
Lance Bass' New Man Has a Wife [tr]

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Lady Gaga Talks to HX on Bisexuality and Britney Spears

Lady Gaga, the New York-based singer behind this summer's electro-pop single "Just Dance," talks to HX magazine this week and reveals that although she's bisexual she's more into her music than anything:

"I’m girl-crazy too. I really depends on where I am. I love men, I love women and I love sex, but I’m actually pretty introverted right now because I’m so enveloped in my work, and it’s hard to let anybody near that. People fuck with your energy, and it’s very hard to find people that are supportive of your art and don’t want to take time away from it. A lot of times, boyfriends and girlfriends get jealous and want all your attention, and I really don’t have time for that."

She also says that Britney Spears has recorded one of her tracks:

"I was working with Rodney Jerkins on Pussycat Dolls, and we wrote this song—I almost slipped and told you the name. Thank God I caught myself; I respect her a lot, so I was to give her control over that. When we were done with the song, I was like, 'Oh, I want to sing it,' but my album was already closed. It never even crossed my mind that she was doing a new record. Then Rodney played it for [Britney’s manager] Larry Rudolph, who was in the studio. Rodney called me later and was like, 'Britney’s people are freaking out about this song.”' Ultimately, she makes the decisions, so when I found out that she loved it and was going to record it, it was amazing. I actually heard it yesterday with her on it for the first time, and I really had chills."

Check out Lady Gaga's performance of "Just Dance" (which she doesn't lip sync) from last night's So You Think You Can Dance, AFTER THE JUMP...

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News: Dan Quayle, Arctic, Hunter Parrish, Booker Prize, Alzheimer's

Blue Cross of Western New York says they'll offer spousal health care benefits to validly married gay and lesbian couples: "The news comes less than three weeks after the NYCLU filed a lawsuit against the company on behalf of a Buffalo lesbian couple that said it was denied such health benefits."

Guess who's on the short list to join Dancing with the Stars?

Asian HIV infection rate reaching epidemic proportions: "All over Asia there are now epidemics of HIV in men who have sex with men of the same magnitude that we saw in this country 25 years ago. That is something that has been detected fairly recently. There is not enough action yet but we are now starting programs."

Arctic ice shelf sheds largest chunk in two years: "The 4-square-kilometer (1.5-square-mile) piece broke off last week, the newspaper said, citing Sami Soja, a surveyor working for Parks Canada who witnessed part of the event. It's the biggest piece shed since the entire Ayles shelf, one of Canada's six major ice shelves, broke off in 2005, creating a 66- square-kilometer frozen island, the newspaper said."

The long list for the coveted Man Booker literary prize has been announced.

Tim Gunn was paid $2,500 an episode for season two of Project Runway.

Man in Sonoma County's first same-sex marriage dies suddenly.

Check out the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

FBI dubs Seattle bank robber 'The Brokeback Bandit': "We don't know his sexual orientation. The name was because of his cowboy hat. The guy's got a cowboy hat. It's a popular movie. Let's not be too overly concerned about the bank robber's feelings." Wouldn't the Brokebank bandit have been more appropriate?

Christopher Ciccone denies Madonna involvement in writing of tell-all: "If she did, then she's doing the best acting job I've ever seen. No. Whoever is doing it (making up the stories) is doing me a great favor. I appreciate it."

Landslide?: Three political scientists describe tight presidential race as a myth. "Alan Abramowitz, a professor of political science at Emory University, Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution, and Larry Sabato, professor of politics at University of Virginia, accused the media of flogging a dead horse in trying to portray the presidential race as a cliffhanger."

John Mayer shaves most of his hair off.

Provincetown police department gets a Harley-Davidson: "The motorcycle, which will be leased for a year, will give the police nimbleness to drive through narrow, crowded streets and respond quickly to crosstown calls, Jaran said. It will also reduce the wear on cruisers and invigorate the younger, more energetic department members, he said."

Parrish the thought: New season of Weeds gets buff and kinky.

Aaron Charney, the attorney who sued his firm Sullivan & Cromwell for anti-gay discrimination and retaliation, will join Clifford Chance next month: "Based on the experts it spoke to, the WSJ concluded that 'it'll be tough for Charney, though not impossible, to find work at another big firm.' In the comments to the WSJ post, readers were less optimistic."

Janice Dickinson stops Lizzie Grubman from running anyone else down in an SUV.

British lesbian couple receives £5,000 settlement after real estate agency posted the word "lesbians" on an advertisement for their home: "In a statement, they added: 'Publicly linking our home address with our sexuality could have ruined our lives.' The couple's lawyers, Russell Jones & Walker, said the estate agent had settled the case before it reached court. Philip Gilbey, a partner in Jackson-Stops & Staff, said: 'It was the regrettable action of an individual uploading the property details - it wasn't the butt of an office joke. It resulted in a formal disciplinary hearing and that person has narrowly avoided instant dismissal.'"

New Alzheimer's drug halts progression of disease: "The people on placebo lost an average of 7 percent of their brain function over six months whereas those on treatment didn’t decline at all."

Residents of Salinas, California voice concerns over recently approved gay pride parade: "Vicky Norton said she isn't opposed to free speech, but was concerned that gay pride events would lead to acts such as indecent exposure, public defecation and urination. 'We have the right to assemble, but we also have the right to uphold the law,' she said. Todd Williams, owner of the Cherry Bean Coffee House on Main Street, said the parade attracted lots of customers last year and is hoping the same will happen again. 'I saw no pooping' last year, he said."

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Will Lance Bass Get a Male Partner on Dancing with the Stars?

Lance Bass is reportedly set for the next season of Dancing with the Stars but his sexuality has apparently presented producers with a question.

The NYDN's Rush & Molloy report: "Lance Bass is locked and loaded for the next season of 'Dancing With the Stars,' says an insider. But we hear network execs are already fretting over whether or not to pair the openly gay pop star with a male or female dance partner. A gay ballroom dancer? Color us surprised!"

How about Mark Ballas, who's said he's comfortable with stereotypes?

Of course, then comes the battle over who will lead.

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Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray is a Gay Fragrance Model

Matthew Bourne, choreographer of the all-male Swan Lake and several other transformed works, has been working on a version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. The final version is set to debut in August in Edinburgh. Like most of his other works, it's taken to a new place:

"Having decided to bring the piece to the present day, the two men had to choose an appropriate milieu for Dorian. They finally settled on the world of arty, upscale photography. Brotherston's plan for the set is an ingenious revolve that can turn the production on a sixpence between loft apartment, studio, club and even the Royal Opera House. Dorian's beauty becomes immortalised through an ad campaign, rather than through a painted portrait, as in Wilde's novel. 'We were trying to think how a person would become the talk of the town today, and it had to be through an image that you see everywhere. So Basil [the portrait-painter in Wilde] is going to be an iconic photographer, someone like Annie Leibovitz, and Dorian is going to become the face of a new perfume, like in a Calvin Klein ad.'"

A clip from Bourne's all-male Swan Lake, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Nigel Lythgoe Says Dancer Looks Like He's Been Anally Violated

So You Think You Can Dance is one of my guilty summer entertainment pleasures, for sure, but producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe, who has been known to take dancers to task for their lack of masculinity, last night told a contestant that he looked "like someone's taken a broomstick and shoved it up where the sun don't shine."

How Lythgoe might have first-hand knowledge of what that looks like I have no idea, but it was a pretty rude comment. The audience thought so too, and I don't imagine he'd say the same thing to a woman.

I've clipped it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Here, also, was one of my favorite performances of the night:

Previously
So You Think You Can Strip is Back [tr]

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #303

SCREEN TEST: James Dean to Paul Newman: "Kiss me."

BONER TROUBLES: A short vid starring Spike from Top Chef. What it all means, I have no idea.

HIT AND RUN: An accident was recently caught on tape in Hartford in which a man was slammed by a hit and run driver, and nobody did anything. AP story.

COOPER ZAMORANO: One of the best from this week's So You Think You Can Dance auditions.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

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So You Think You Can Strip is Back

The summer guilty pleasure So You Think you Can Dance is back for another season. Here are a few highlights.

Once they got past the cocky Italian eye candy the dancing, good or bad, did not disappoint. But, uh, let's just pause on the former, Jonathan Anzalone, for a second.

Anzalone: "All I want is to show myself. I just want to get attention from people, that's all."

I've clipped Anzalone's segment and posted a few of the other outstanding auditions,
AFTER THE JUMP...

Jonathan Anzalone, above. A few more of the highlights (and one very expressive underwear dude) below...

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News: Georgia, Rauschenberg, Jamaica, John Mayer, Sonoma

First batch of NewNowNext Award winners revealed!

John Mayer gives up on Kristy McNichol haircut, charges fan $10 for photo-op.

Send a personal message of support to Senator Ted Kennedy.

Con man Sonoma County, California attempts to stake claim as same-sex marriage destination.

Who won Dancing with the Stars?

Prayers for Bobby: Sigourney Weaver to play conservative religious mother in Lifetime telepic about gay son's suicide. "In her first telepic role, Weaver will star as Mary Griffith, a devout Christian who winds up becoming an advocate for gay and lesbian youths after her son is driven into a deep depression by his family's disapproval and attempts to 'cure' him of his sexual orientation."

Jamaican prime minister stands behind nation's homophobia: "Jamaica is not going allow values to be imposed on it from outside. We're going to have to determine that ourselves and we're going to have to determine to what extent those values will adapt over time to change, change in perception, change in understanding as to how people live."

Tyler Green on the hetero-normalizing of the late Robert Rauschenberg: "Critics at America's largest publications, including Michael Kimmelman, Alan Artner, Blake Gopnik, Richard Lacayo, and Peter Plagens, mostly avoid the topic. Kimmelman's queasy reference to Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, and "the intimacy of their relationship" was the closest the Times came to acknowledging that Rauschenberg was gay. The Boston Globe's Mark Feeney, Obit magazine's Phyllis Tuchman and Newsweek's Plagens and others also took the Johns route. The two major papers in Rauschenberg's home state were even more timid."

Court in Malta rules that calling someone "gay" is not defamatory: "Magistrate Michael Mallia ruled that a person’s sexual orientation in the current society was not of social interest bar that of assuring that no discrimination is made. The fact that homosexuality was a criminal offence until 1973, said the magistrate, does not reflect the situation in the 21st century."

Jason Statham has been flogged.

Eric Dane took a few inches off the top.

EU debates sexual preference anti-discrimination guidelines.

Georgia congressman announces plan to introduce federal amendment banning same-sex marriage: "Georgia Congressman Paul Broun announced Tuesday that he will be introducing a constitutional amendment to prevent same-sex marriage in response to a recent decision by the California Supreme Court that recognizes same-sex marriages...'Marriage as an institution exists solely between one man and one woman. Americans have traditionally recognized this definition as being the most beneficial arrangement for the creation of stable family structures and for the upbringing of children. In fact, Americans have repeatedly shown their preference for the traditional definition of one-man, one-woman marriage by passing state and federal laws or by amending state constitutions to preserve the traditional definition,' Broun said."

Hillary Clinton ready for her close-up?

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Mark Ballas Not Bothered by Stereotypes or a Man's Tongue

TMZ caught Dancing with the Stars' Mark Ballas on the street and asked him if he'd ever had to deal with people wondering if he's gay because he's a professional dancer. Meanwhile, his companion proceeded to kiss and lick Ballas' ear.

TMZ: All you guys, professional dancers, in the old days there was that thing like — do you have to deal with those stereotypes of a professional male dancer, anything like that, do you ever deal with any of those stereotypes?

Ballas: What stereotypes?

TMZ: That male dancers are gay.

Ballas: Do you see the women I dance with?

TMZ: Have you ever dealt with that in your career?

Ballas: No. If people want to say it, it's like, whatever.

Watch the clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

Ballas to Dude: Lick Me Baby One More Time! [tmz]

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Jerry Mitchell on Elizabeth Berkley and the Nomi Malone 'Flick'

Choreographer Jerry Mitchell talks to AfterElton about his role as co-host of Bravo's new reality dance show Step It Up & Dance. Mitchell's co-host is Elizabeth Berkley, whose role as Nomi Malone rates as one of the great (unintentionally) camp performances of all time. Mitchell tells AE that Elizabeth "looooves that she was in that movie" and that it took the contestants on Step Up only a split second before they honored her for it.

Says Mitchell: "Elizabeth has always been a dancer. She studied dance and she still does dance. I knew that about her. We both grew up in the Detroit area, but we didn’t really know each other before this. And I was a huge fan of Showgirls — as is everyone. I said to her the very first day we were shooting, 'I want to time how long it takes until one of these dancers does that fabulous Nomi move where they flick their fingers in front of their face.' And, of course, the moment we walk out in the first episode… She did it because they did it. We came out and the dancers all went, 'Oh my God! Nomi!' and then — 'Whoosh!' they all did the move. It took a total of about seven seconds. But you know, that movie spoke to dancers in a camp way, but also in a very realistic way about what can happen in your career, the different types of dance you can get involved in and the cutthroat world it is. So, in a melodramatic way, it’s true."

An Interview with "Step It Up & Dance"’s Jerry Mitchell [after elton]

AFTER THE JUMP, a flashback clip of Nomi's first rehearsal...

And here's the show preview:

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Steve Guttenberg and Jonathan Roberts Full-On Man-on-Man Tango

On last night's Dancing with the Stars results show, Steve Guttenberg and Jonathan Roberts performed the full man-on-man tango we wished for yesterday.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

You may have missed...
Steve Guttenberg and Jonathan Roberts Have a Man-on-Man Tango [tr]
Jonathan Roberts Chest Wax on Dancing with the Stars [tr]
Heather Mills was Hoping for a Gay Partner [tr]

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Steve Guttenberg and Jonathan Roberts Have a Man-on-Man Tango

Steve Guttenberg practiced a man-on-man tango with Jonathan Roberts on last night's Dancing with the Stars when Guttenberg's partner (who is also Roberts' wife) Anna Trebunskaya fell ill. I'm glad she got better, but I would have loved to have seen Guttenberg and Roberts take this to the main floor.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

There was also this bit from Adam Carolla, who thought his partner Julianne Hough's "Sandy Duncan wig" and "Friar's frock" were a bit too gay:

You may have missed...
Jonathan Roberts Chest Wax on Dancing with the Stars [tr]
Heather Mills was Hoping for a Gay Partner [tr]

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Step Up 2's Robert Hoffman Gets Jiggy With Himself

Step Up 2's Robert Hoffman put together this short film about the difficulties in finding the perfect date, dedicated to the narcissist in all of us. Somehow though, I doubt Hoffman has any problem finding dates.

View the entire clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

(warning: BRIEF nudity from behind) Not that it's a bad thing.

And for those of you who can't get enough Hoffman, here's a solo performance at the Choreographers Carnival and his choreography reel.

View the trailer for Step Up 2 here.

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Flashback: Breakdancing with Vin Diesel

Before he was an actor or a bodybuilding pin-up, Vin Diesel was apparently a breakdancing instructor.

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SYTYCD: Danny Tidwell Spins for the Win (Hopefully)

Here's the highlight of last night's So You Think You Can Dance finale, at least for me. Danny Tidwell's brief but breathtaking solo performance. Danny should be handed the competition. He's head and shoulders above the other three, although I'm a major Sabra fan as well. Tune in tonight for the last gasp and the results.

Danny and Sabra's performance, after the jump...

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Heather Mills was Hoping for a Gay Partner

I rarely watch Dancing with the Stars but last night I happened to catch Heather Mills performing the Mambo with her dance partner Jonathan Roberts. Mills did a stunning backflip during the routine, and if there were ever a time for the leg to come flying off, that was it. Mills has been publicizing her stint on the show with just such a possibility.

She told Access Hollywood: "There is a chance on one of the tricks that I do on the mambo at the beginning it is such a kind of pow trick that it could come off. And, I know people are making bets on it and everything." She also told Jay Leno, earlier this week, "I've bet a few hundred dollars it's not going to come off. So I'll win some money."

Mills also recently said she wanted a gay man as a partner: "I asked for a gay guy... I said, 'I haven't had a date in 10 months and yet I've been associated with all these different people, which is rubbish.' Jonathan turned up and I said, 'Well, he doesn't look gay,' and I said, 'Are you gay?' And he said, 'No, I'm not, I'm married...' He's just a great person."

Though I have issue with so many things about that last statement, I have to say that Mills does a mean backflip given her prosthetic limb. She certainly knows how to keep her eyes, er, leg on the prize. Clip (sorry for the quality) after the jump...

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Matthew Bourne to Stage Gay Romeo and Juliet Ballet

Matthew Bourne, who dazzled audiences with his all-male version of Swan Lake in 1995, plans to tackle Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in an upcoming production entitled Romeo, Romeo, the Sunday Times reports.

Bourne says that the adaptation presents challenges due to the male-female dynamic of traditional dance partnering:

"It’s more to do with dancing than with sexuality. A male dancer, whether he’s gay or straight, fits into a relationship with a female partner very happily. Getting away from that, making a convincing love duet, a romantic, sexual duet, for two men that is comfortable to do and comfortable to watch — I don’t know if you can. I’ve never seen it done...I have a way of approaching it so as to make it — I hate to say ‘acceptable’, it’s a terrible thing to say — but so that people don’t run screaming from the theatre. I let them find their own way with it, take it as far as they want in their own heads."

Bourne plans to begin rehearsals early next year after a summer of improvisation and testing of scenes with small groups of dancers.

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