Hey gang, in a minute I’ll be boarding a fairy ferry to the gayest of gay places, Provincetown to attend the 10th Annual Provincetown International Film Festival.

I’ll miss tonight’s So You Think You Can Dance which pains me but I’ll survive… Gael Garcia Bernal may not though because I’ll be stalking his fine Y Tu Mama ass the whole time.

Have a great weekend kids!

The newest installment of my new AfterElton.com blog series is up and this week I examine how Olivia Newton-John, roller skating and neon lights made me the gay man I am today.

Check it out: How’d I Miss My Coming Out? Part 2: They Call It Xanadu

If you do head on over there, leave a comment or two so they continue this series.

If you missed the premiere of ABC Family’s THE MIDDLEMAN you missed something pretty frakkin’ fun. Hottie McHotsalot Matt Keeslar stars as the mysterious man of the law, The Middleman, and he sat down with a bunch of us earlier this week to talk about what makes the show so special and even spoils us one some of the upcoming episodes. He’ll chat about his costar Natalie Morales and whether or not their characters will ever hook up.

Sadly, I could only sit in on the first 25 minutes of the call because I had a meeting at my real job (WTF is that all about?) and I didn’t get to ask my questions. Luckily they were pretty much covered throughout the course of the interview.

On with the interview:

Panel: What is your favorite part about working on the show so far?

M. Keeslar: My favorite part about working on the show is the great group of people that Javier, the creator, has assembled for us. It’s an amazing crew, a really terrific cast. Natalie Morales plays Wendy, the lead in the show, and she’s a very talented newcomer, along with Brit Morgan and Jake Smollett, who are also young and very talented actors. We have Mary Pat Gleason, who is playing my android assistant, Ida, and she is a really fun, terrific actress to work with, much more experienced than probably any of us on set.

The writing team has been really terrific too. They’ve put together what I think are progressively better scripts. Even though I was much enamored with the original pilot script, I think that the script has gotten better as they’ve taken more chances and looked at new and interesting ways of spinning the iconic comic book hero.

Panel: Since the comic book fan base is so passionate; did you feel any pressure playing a comic book character?

M. Keeslar: The short answer to that is no. I didn’t feel a lot of pressure coming from the comic book fan base. I think that, like all fan bases, some people will love “The Middleman” and some people will have difficulties with it. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, this comic book super hero, so, it is, in a way, both an ironic statement about comic heroes in general, and also a really passionate and loving look at comics and all of their multi-facets. It’s a loving portrayal, but also a lampoon at the same time. We’re taking a look at it through the eyes of Wendy Watson, your average, everyday art school graduate and how she sees the iconic comic book character played by myself, “The Middleman.”

Panel: We interviewed Javier (creator of the show) a couple of weeks back and he talked about how he knew you found “The Last Days of Disco” and you’re the one that he wanted for this role. Can you talk a little bit about how you were approached for this and what your initial thoughts were?

M. Keeslar: I was sent a script that my manager said you have to read, because it’s great. I sat down as soon as I got it, read it that night, called my manager and said okay, I want to play this part, and I didn’t really care that much about what channel it was going to be on, or any of the other details involved. All I knew was that this was a great part and a great part for me to play. So I think the next day, they set up a breakfast with Javier and I met him for coffee and he basically said we really want you to play this part. That you’re going to have to go through the whole audition process so that ABC Family can feel like they’re participants in this process, but basically, you’re the guy that we want to do this.

I felt very confident going into the audition, even though it was quite a strenuous audition. I had to learn a lot of dialogue, but I felt, from the get-go, that this was a part that I could really play and I could do justice to.

Panel: You’ve had a lot of eclectic roles in the past. Is that something that led you to really enjoy auditions for this role, and how is it different from other things that you’ve played so far?

M. Keeslar: This character is very different from other things that I’ve played and that’s by design, in a way. I like to look for different and challenging roles to play, just because it keeps my interest and it keeps me excited about doing something new, and I think that, in a way, the various and eclectic roles that you mentioned from my past have helped, because “The Middleman” is kind of a jack-of-all-trades. He knows a little bit about everything.

So, being able to do stunt work was important, and that’s something that I had experienced in the past. Being able to do a large amount of dialogue and learn it relatively quickly was something that I had experienced on “The Last Days of Disco,” as one of the other interviewers mentioned. Learning how to play a comic character who takes himself seriously was something that I’ve also been working on with other characters in another project.

I think that the eclectic characters that I’ve played in the past have helped me to put together “The Middleman” and, even though he isn’t a character all in and of himself, he kind of knows a little bit of everything. (more…)

*Download all the music from So You Think You Can Dance now!

Last night the top 18 dancers took the stage during the second round of competition on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. We were treated to some jazz, hip hop, contemporary and even a little krumping’ because really, Wednesday just isn’t Wednesday without a little krump. Am I right?

And SYTYCD isn’t SYTYCD without a little TV Talk podcast. This week GMMR and I, along with our special guests Jess & Murph, break down each of the routines in a way that only we can, with utter honesty and complete foolishness. We’ve got it covered from Mary’s jaw-dropping hideous style to Nigel’s crotch grabbing antics to Mia Michael’s fantastical vocabulary. Oh and yeah, we talk about the dancers too. There’s a lot to chit and chat about because clearly we weren’t watching the same show as the judges last night.

So check out our TV Talk Podcast: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Edition. It’s banoodles!

Listen Now: New! So You Think You Can Dance Podcast: Top 18 Perform

Playing catch up? Check out our first two Season 4 SYTYCD podcasts:

• SYTYCD Podcast: Week 1 Performance and Results
• SYTYCD Podcast: Top 20 Revealed

What did YOU think of last night’s Top 18 performances? Were there any stand outs? Did the judges have it right? Leave a comment and let us know.

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