drscott | GLAAD Media Awards Saturday, House Defacing Party Sunday

I'm still amazed to have witnessed the magic of Robin Williams from less than 40 feet away (even if his face was covered by a big speaker as viewed from our unfortunately-sited table.)

excessor covered the event fairly thoroughly here, so I'll just fill in some odds and ends.

One of the presenters he forgot was Alan Cumming, who managed to be cheeky and adorable with the Scottish accent and al; he took care to let slip he was staying in that very hotel in case anyone was interested. I recognized him when he was pointed out sittting at a table near us, but from what I couldn't remember. It turns out he's had many bit parts, but most recently I'd seen him as "Nightcrawler" in X2. The cast of the X movies has been almost entirely gay, even if not all have come out -- someone should really complain about this obvious case of discrimination against straight people. And on the subject of actors who won't come out even when their career is so... institutionally entrenched, Hal Sparks (Michael on QaF) did a fine impersonation of a gay guy "professing to be straight but really so cool and hip who could care" as emcee. I'm going to be really pissed at him if he comes out in 20 years, since his career was going nowhere until QaF.

The Executive Director, Joan Gerry, made a fine speech; she's the most polished head of a mjor gay organization I've ever seen. GLAAD does excellent work in keeping the media aware of our issues with their protrayals of our stories. The close contact does, however, make them the glitziest of groups, with much of their clout resulting from contacts with Hollywood and media moguls (and despite a very effective joke at his expense -- thanks to Robin Williams, I believe -- David Geffen donated $25K in 1994 to help create the national organisation.)

excessor also forget to mention the many catty remarks sotto voce about Sharon Osbourne's unedeniably well-engineered face, or the amazement at Tippi Hedron's appearance (she's lmost as old as my mother -- 73 -- and could pass (at stage distance) for 50 -- but what do you expect from Antonio Banderas' mother-in-law?), or the amusing remarks of our tablemates which alas, like fine champagne bubbles, didn't last long enough in my memory to be recorded here. All in all a wonderful evening I would never have experienced if Todd (a friend of our hosts) hadn't been forced to cancel. 15 minutes of Robin Williams at full throttle improv was worth all the time and occasional boredom.

The style of the crowd reminded me of the days when I visited in 1989 and later when I first moved here (1997) and thought I might live in the City. I attended a bunch of Max events, a gay social club which held mixers at one of the city men's clubs. The crowd at this event was thinner, more "groomed," and more like the sweater queens of yore than any I have seen for years, but that of course is because I haven't spent any time with mainstream gay society up in the City for many years. Not much has really changed but the details of what's currently in fashion.

I got home late and the alcohol and excess carbs kept me awake until 3, which made for a slow start Sunday. I was an hour late to the pool-and-painting party at John and Mark's (who were also our hosts at the GLAAD awards.) They are demolishing their main house (which doesn't have a lot to recommend it) to replace it with a nice new one, and allowed their party guests to decorate it as they chose for the remainder of its existence.

peppabear, who I knew I'd meet in the flesh someday, did one of the better pieces -- see the gallery here. Ran into several people I knew by face from the gym but had never actually talked to.

Tomorrow we move furniture and things for the flooring installation -- eek.