Outrate online short film festival is now 3 years old and growing some legs. They’re calling for submissions under 10 minutes long. That’s the only rule – your short movie can take any form, include whatever content you want and be in any style, as long as it’s got a gay bent. They don’t even mind a bit of ‘erotica’ – ooh-er, saucy!

Closing date for subs is 29 July, so you haven’t got long, but then a bit of pressure can be a great thing artistically. Get your mates together, give them enough beer, get your creative juices flowing, turn on the video camera and see what happens. There will be prizes.

If you’re more the passive sort and just want to enjoy some gay shorts, check out the Outrate website where you can watch some of the latest submissions. Or just enjoy last years winning entry below:

At first I thought this was the same guy from the Acne underwear ad and that, maybe, this was the follow-up, but it’s not. It’s actually a gay short movie from way back in 2006 (wow, what must that have been like?) and it’s not exactly ground-breaking – I’ve seen this kind of one-trick, coming out to yourself story done so many times – but it looks good and creates a lot of atmosphere. Would be nice to see a first-time gay short without a hustler in it, though.

Oh, and bitchy cousin!

If you could get your lips around Robert Pattinson (or R-Patz, as he’s now known) would you gobble him up in one  go, or take your time and tease out a creamy load? Blockbuster are giving you the opportunity to do both with a special, limited edition cream-filled chocolate treat with Rob’s face on it. It’s to promote the release of Twilight 2.

Rob better look out, though – he might be flavor of the month, but there’s plenty coming up behind him.

With the release of new Disney movie, G-Force, I was wondering about other Hollywood titles that sound like gay porn flicks. Some obvious ones from the last few years are: Hannibal Rising, Blades of Glory, Hot Rod, Shoot ‘Em Up, Balls of Fury, Mr. Woodcock, Inside Man, Open Season, Bad News Bears, Down to the Bone,  Four Brothers, The Ring, College Road Trip, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (no, that’s just wrong!). See if you can think of any more – it’s great fun for about five minutes.

I’m sure Todd Holland had no idea what a storm his comments at last weeks Outfest would cause. When he said that any aspiring gay actors should keep the closet door firmly shut if they wanted a Hollywood career, the gay blogosphere and Twitter universe went into overdrive…

You can read the rest of this article on EzineArticles.com.

OMG! If you needed another reason to go watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, check out this Youtube clip of actor-slash-model (yes I know, one of thooooose) Freddie Stroma. Freddie is 22 and plays a Quiddich teammate of Harry’s in the movie – I think having wood between your legs all day long does funny things to a guy…

The ad for Acne Underwear (is this for real?) is great for the first 60 seconds, then you start to feel sorry for the young model, made to prance around like Jim in American Pie for 7.43 minutes. Mind you, can’t feel too sorry for a guy who’s got it all. Dance pretty boys, dance!

Already dripping with awards, Tina Mabry’s harsh tale of three kids from the Deep South trying to escape their abusive family, Mississippi Damned, has added another to its clutch and won the jury award for a feature-length movie at last week’s Outfest.

The audience award went to Spanish comedy, Chef’s Special – or Fuera de carta in Spanish – presumably because they wanted something light after sitting through the other film.

Chef’s Special doesn’t really need the help of a mere gay film festival, what with being a huge box office hit in Spain last year. It’s all about a highly strung gay chef, Maxi, who’s main concern in life is getting his first Michelin star, until his two estranged, disapproving children show up after their mother’s – and his former wife’s – sudden death. It all descends into chaotic farce when a hot, ex-footballer moves in next door and causes quite a stir among the staff of the restaurant, both male and female, and lots of misunderstandings and mishaps ensue…

If this mix of anarchic comedy and melodrama sounds suspiciously like Pedro Almodovar to you, you’re not the only one to notice. The movie hits the streets 20 Oct in the US, or you could just wait for the Hollywood remake.

Good to see Outfest awards getting space in the trades. If you want a full run-down of those lucky Outfest winners, well you’ve just gone past the link <-

Rupert Everett yesterday told the Guardian newspaper he thinks that if he was straight, he’d be getting the Hugh Grant movie roles. I think there is some truth in that, although he hasn’t done too badly for Hollywood parts and I’m sure there are a few disgruntled, never-made-it actors in Britain thinking that if only they’d been Rupert Everett, they might have a few juicy royalty cheques coming in.

I also think Rupert is selling himself short there. He’s way better than that and would have surely made a great Bond, if only being gay didn’t instantly rule you out of serving in Her Majesty’s Secret Service (on screen). He’s got the face, the height, the humour, the charisma and the brawn.

So, in some alternate, gay-friendly Hollywood, we can but imagine what some other movie posters might have looked like if Nathan Lane had got all the Gene Hackman roles and David Hyde Pierce didn’t mind slipping on a pair of tights…