According to Paul Caine, president of the Time Inc. magazine group that includes Entertainment Weekly, the ballpark dollar cost for one of these video units is in the "low teens," although he said the cost may come down before the issue comes out.

Jesus Fucking Christ. I mean...wow. The Future!
[Vid via Boing Boing]

And here you were probably thinking all along that straight men only wanted to beat up any gay man occupying the same room with them out of fear that they might get their genitals grazed by a gay hand that has touched the genitals of other men—You are so wrong! The times, they are a changing people!

As America's openly gay minority becomes more visibly interwoven into society - a 2007 poll by the Pew Research Center found that 4 out of 10 respondents had a close friend or family member who was a gay man or a lesbian - the straight world becomes more aware of the gay world. Although male friends of opposite orientations can face formidable obstacles - sexuality, language, peer pressure, inequality - there seems to be more mutual appreciation and common ground.

The Times cites the friendship between American Idol finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert as an example of how some straight men are capable of actually acting like evolved human beings when exposed to overwhelming gayness.

"I'm flattered, and I think it's hilarious," Kris Allen told People.com recently, responding to the news that his former roommate and runner-up on "American Idol," Adam Lambert, had a crush on him.

Mr. Lambert, who favors black eyeliner and leather pants, had told Rolling Stone that Mr. Allen, an aw-shucks Christian from Arkansas, was "the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show - nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type - except that he has a wife."

Mr. Allen's cool, self-assured response to being the object of his gay roommate's affection doesn't exactly qualify him as a civil rights hero, not at a time when straight men march against Proposition 8 in California and the most anticipated gay-themed film of the year, "Brüno," is coming from a straight (if highly waxed) comedian.

But do give him credit for overcoming one of the most common deal-killers in friendships between straight and gay men: the awkward crush.

Wow. Maybe Allen and Lambert can do a duet that does for gays and straights what Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder did for blacks and whites with "Ebony and Ivory?" They can title it "Bubba and Fabian" or something.

So this is like, a cool, trendy thing now? I had no idea! Thanks for educating this ass-backwards straight New York Times. Now, with that said, I wonder what Richard Lawson is doing later in the week? Maybe he and I can, oh, I don't know, get frozen drinks with little umbrellas in them and talk about baseball?

Happy Gay Pride Day everybody!

I Love You, Man (as a Friend) [New York Times]

You may remember that when the country initially went into its economic cataclysm, an openly gay troubadour became the face of the people's revolution. Now they've placed out gay person Johanna Sigurdardottir, who had been the nation's social affairs minister (and a former Icelandair stewardess), into the highest office in the land. It's unlikely that Sigurdardottir will remain in office after the election, as her party isn't doing terribly well in the polls, but who knows! It's a long way til May. Maybe the small handful of voters—there are only like twelve people in Iceland, and three of them are adorable children dressed in Oilily—will decide to stick with her in the end.

During her tenure as the social affairs minister, Sigurdardottir was known and well-liked for allocating large amounts of government money to fund programs like aid for the disabled and domestic abuse prevention. She lives with her partner, a journalist, and has two children from a previous marriage.

Image via AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti

In the game Gossip Girl, spend a semester fraternizing with the glamorous socialites of Manhattan's Upper East Side at an elite private school. Explore the hippest social hot spots of New York City and attend the most fashionable parties. Shop in the trendiest boutiques of the fashion district and customize your character's appearance. Gain entry into exclusive social cliques where you'll make or break relationships with popular girls and date the most desirable boys while you build up your social status. Read the Gossip Girl Blog and see how the choices you make become part of the complex world of shifting friendships, jealousies and scandals.

"We are afraid of quiet," Dwye says, and sure, sometimes at the end of a day I rue pixelation and curse each and every LCD screen around me. But the best spec feature they've got is the off switch. Last time I checked, there were more, not fewer sources of news on Afghanistan, Iraq, the economy, and our "energy policy," than there were ten years ago, and I'm free to partake as I wish (or can afford—$500 a year for home delivery of the Times?)

Dwyre's argument, like others before it and after it, assumes that the American public is so damn stupid (All those reality shows! All those trailer parks! It's a lethal combination!) that without the guidance of the fourth estate, it will revert to its default setting—the consumption of only the lowest common denominator of light innuendo-based trash. It also assumes this trash is new; that we've only started recording the idiotic things people say and do since the electrode was invented. Are any of these things true?

Does it really matter? The best way to effect change is to do something, not say something. Dwyre wants less noise and more substance. I look forward to his next LATimes column on locker room race wars and his suggestions on dealing with the brothelization of America's professional athlete.