Deep Dish Dinner Party #18: The Jake & Ryan Show continues

The rules are quite simple - each week I feature 10 past/present celebrities and you get to invite (vote for) your three favorites to the Deep Dish Dinner Party. The five folks who receive the most votes get to stay, and the following week five new people (whose birthdays are during that week) are added to the guest list. So enjoy the party - and please feel free to leave a comment and share your selections.

1) Jake Gyllenhaal
Last Week #3, Week 10, 37 invites out of 220

2) Ryan Reynolds
LW #4, W18, 35 invites

Dish of the Day #843: Hot Fun in the Summertime

Every Monday through Friday a new Dish of the Day is featured, and beginning on Friday you can vote for your favorite Dish of the week. If you haven't voted for last week's Dish yet, choose your man in the sidebar poll.

Groovy Giveaway: Black Briefs DVD

Courtesy of Guest House Films, this week's Groovy Giveaway is two DVDs of Black Briefs, a collection of six dark-themed gay short films, including:

Spring, a kinky British short about a young man who meets up with an older stranger for S&M sex (you can admire actor Jonathan Keane's bare backside in the pic below).

Remission, an intense horror flick about a guy waiting for the results of his latest biopsy in a secluded cabin.

Winner Takes All features some nice eye candy in actors Adrian Quinonez and Gavyn Michaels as well as the fabulous Alec Mapa (from TV's Ugly Betty). The movie centers around a hot young stud who decides to have his two boyfriends fight for him.

Promise, a drama about a gay couple (well-played by a handsome Rick Cornette and Korken Alexander) whose relationship takes an unpleasant turn on the eve of their wedding.

Video Night - this creepy and clever film about some friends making a video is my personal favorite on the DVD. Co-directors and stars Jim Hansen and Jack Plotnick effectively tell their scary story in only six minutes.

Communication, a sad drama about the relationship between a young student and his older mentor.

To enter to win this Groovy Giveaway, all you have to do is email your name and address to deepdishdrama@aol.com. Winners must have a US or Canadian mailing address, and entries close at midnight on Thursday, February 23 (CST).

If you would like to give away something groovy (DVDs, CDs, books, movie passes, theatre/concert tickets) here on Deep Dish, please email me at deepdishdrama@aol.com.

Top 10 Tuesday of Groovy Tunes: Dolly is workin' "9 to 5"

Each week I feature 10 groovy tunes that reached the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart during the last 50+ years. You can vote for your three favorites, and the five with the most votes move on to the following week when five new songs will be added to the list.

Last week Petula Clark remained in the top spot, receiving 23 votes out of the 157 cast - and Carly Simon and Barbra Streisand tied for fifth place, allowing them both to remain on the list. This week these lovely ladies will be challenged by Nancy Sinatra, Roberta Flack and Dolly Parton.

Dish of the Day #842: Hot Fun in the Summertime

Every Monday through Friday a new Dish of the Day is featured, and beginning on Friday you can vote for your favorite Dish of the week. If you haven't voted for last week's Dish yet, choose your man in the sidebar poll.

Today's Dish is Alex Collack.

Dish of the Day #841: Hot Fun in the Summertime

This week I'm featuring a few hot summer dishes to warm us up.

Every Monday through Friday a new Dish of the Day is featured, and beginning on Friday you can vote for your favorite Dish of the week. If you haven't voted for last week's Dish yet, choose your man in the sidebar poll.

Today's Dish is Jason Taub photographed by Michael A. Downs.

Web Series Worth Watching: The Return of Gay's Anatomy

Web Series of the Week: Gay's Anatomy
This hilarious queer comedy about three young urologists (played by Wil Petre, Bobby Hodgson and Max Jenkins in the above photos) has finally returned for a second season - and I'm happy to report that it has lost none of its groovy gay charm. The entire cast is terrific, and the handsome Joe Curnutte is a welcome addition as the new chief resident Brad Johnson. However, Jenkins continues to be the scene-stealing star of the series as the flamboyantly funny Jim Gable.

Dish of the Day #840: Vote for your Favorite

Every Monday through Friday a new Dish of the Day is featured, and beginning today you can vote for your favorite Dish this week in the sidebar poll.



Last week your favorite Dish of the Day was #834, who received 38.1% of the 155 votes cast. #835 came in second with 27.1%, followed by #833 (18.7%), #832 (12.9%) and #831 (3.2%).

Dish of the Day #839: Brief Encounter Week

Every Monday through Friday a new Dish of the Day is featured, and beginning on Friday you can vote for your favorite Dish of the week. If you haven't voted for last week's Dish yet, choose your man in the sidebar poll.

Remembering Dory Previn 1925 - 2012

I'm most familiar with singer/songwriter/lyricist Dory Previn, who died Tuesday at age 86, from the five songs that she and her first husband, André Previn, wrote for the infamous 1967 film, Valley of the Dolls, including the hypnotic "Theme from 'Valley of the Dolls'" and the amusing "I'll Plant My Own Tree". She also received three Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song for "Faraway Part of Town" from the 1960 film, Pepe, "Song from 'Two for the Seesaw' (Second Chance)" from the 1962 film, Two for the Seesaw, and my personal favorite, "Come Saturday Morning" from the 1969 film, The Sterile Cuckoo. Other songs she composed the lyrics for include "So Long, Big Time!" (a collaboration with Harold Arlen) and "You're Gonna Hear from Me" (from the 1965 film, Inside Daisy Clover). And in the 1970s, Previn released seven solo albums of original songs, including an acclaimed live LP of a 1973 concert at Carnegie Hall.

Deep Dish Dinner Party #17: There Are Worse Things Stockard Channing Could Do

The rules are quite simple - each week I feature 10 past/present celebrities and you get to invite (vote for) your three favorites to the Deep Dish Dinner Party. The five folks who receive the most votes get to stay, and the following week five new people (whose birthdays are during that week) are added to the guest list. So enjoy the party - and please feel free to leave a comment and share your selections.

1) Stockard Channing
Week 2, 40 invites out of 225

Dish of the Day #838: Brief Encounter Week

Every Monday through Friday a new Dish of the Day is featured, and beginning on Friday you can vote for your favorite Dish of the week. If you haven't voted for last week's Dish yet, choose your man in the sidebar poll.

Groovy Short Film: Elliot London's The Wedding Dance

Today's short film, The Wedding Dance, is appropriately sweet for Valentine's Day - and you gotta love its perspective on marriage equality. Its talented director/screenwriter, Elliot London (that's him in the pic), is also hoping to raise money for his new feature film, FRIEND, a modern story about coming out amidst bullying and social networking. And he is planning to donate the profits from this movie to groups that help educate at-risk youth.

So if you would like to learn more about FRIEND and/or contribute money, please go to www.indiegogo.com/myfriend. You can also become a friend of FRIEND on Facebook. To learn more about Mr. London - who also wrote and directed the gay short, 306 - go to londonproductionsonline.com or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Top 10 Tuesday of Groovy Tunes: Linda Ronstadt Thinks "You're No Good"

Each week I feature 10 groovy tunes that reached the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart during the last 50+ years. You can vote for your three favorites, and the five with the most votes move on to the following week when five new songs will be added to the list.

Last week we had a three-way tie at the top as Petula, Carly and Madonna each received 25 votes out of the 161 cast. This week these lovely ladies will be challenged by Linda Ronstadt, George Michael and Whitney Houston, whose "I Will Always Love You" was a #1 hit 19 years ago.

Groovy Giveaway: Abrupt Decision DVD

Courtesy of Silly Bunny Pictures, this week's Groovy Giveaway is a DVD of Abrupt Decision, starring Steve Callahan (Role/Play, East Side Story) and David LaDuca (Theft).

I recently asked director/screenwriter Paul Bright what inspired him to make the film:

I have a friend from my college years who was going through a mid-life crisis, and I realized that mid-life crisis is not what Hollywood makes it out to be: It's not about feeling old and compensating with a new car and sexy young lover.

A mid-life crisis is really a matter of reaching a point in our lives when we question what we've done to this point is worth what we have now.

In Abrupt Decision I decided to make the stakes even greater, much more than a mid-life crisis but an all out burn down the house sort of disastrous period in our hero's life - he loses his job, his long-term partnership is on the rocks, and his mother goes into the hospital with a serious medical condition.

And now Denis, our hero, must make some very painful decisions in his life about what is most important. He finds decision making extremely difficult because he wants to know all the options and be assured that he's making the 'right' decision.

But there are no guarantees in life about what the 'right' decision is. Trust me on this - my partner and I just had a very tense discussion tonight about whether to buy a house. Like Denis in the film, he wants assurances that he's doing the right thing. Like Denis' partner in the film, I believe life is about taking risks.

For more information about the film, go to abruptdecision.com.

To enter to win this Groovy Giveaway, all you have to do is email your name and address to deepdishdrama@aol.com. The winner must have a US or Canadian mailing address, and entries close at midnight on Thursday, February 16 (CST).

If you would like to give away something groovy (DVDs, CDs, books, movie passes, theatre/concert tickets) here on Deep Dish, please email me at deepdishdrama@aol.com.