I have to admit, I really dig Louis CK.

I mean, it's not just that I think he's attractive (don't judge -- a funny man is a sexy one, except for Robin Williams), but he's smart in his comedy. He plays with people's perceptions of masculinity and emotions. I mean, he even wrote an entire sketch around straight men asking about gay sex, which is pretty brilliant.

But Louis was recently a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he talked about sometimes wishing he were gay so he could do certain things, gay sex not being one of them.

Every year in Halifax, the alFresco filmFesto brings cinemagoers to the outdoors, with screenings of various favourite films. Last year they programed a season of nothing but Bill Murray films, and this year they've returned with the idea of a single actor: Johnny Depp.

To celebrate and promote the series, a bunch of Halifamous musicians got together and created this little ditty all about Mr Depp, to the beat of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep."

Halifax playwright Lee-Anne Poole is getting ready to take her play Short Skirt Butch on a tour of eastern Canada. It begins in Fredericton, New Brunswick, then travels through Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, winding up back east in Halifax, with performances at the Queer Acts theatre festival.

The play debuted at least year’s Atlantic Fringe Festival, winning praise from both audiences and the press. Xtra wrote about the play last September, and since then, Poole has done a little bit of tweaking to her story of Jean, a recently dumped queer woman who decides to air her grievances. “I think of Short Skirt Butch less as a play and more like storytelling, with elements of standup comedy,” Poole says. “No matter what kind of relationship you are in, how many people are involved, sexually open or closed, heartbreak is heartbreak. It's horrible and it drives us a little mad sometimes.”

Poole is no stranger to telling stories. She has written original works as well as adaptations – she recently adapted Jean Genet’s The Maids, in a piece called The Obedients, calling it a “sexual re-imagining” – and is currently working on finalizing her latest project, Kinky Kitten Club. She also curates a blog called Filthy Emails, a collection of online mash notes. Down East caught up with Lee-Anne as she was getting ready to embark on her tour.

Q: How did the tour come about?

A: The three of us had a really great time on the Atlantic Fringe production of Short Skirt Butch last year. But it was a workshop production for us. I was writing up until the last minute and making rewrites during the run. All that being said, the Fringe run got amazing houses and some great reviews. People laughed their asses off, and I love that. I wanted to take some time after the Fringe run, really finish writing the piece and then give Stef and Bryden (the play’s lone actress, and the director) some time to really rehearse it (without me butting in with rewrites!). It’s also just such a fun, and funny, show. It’s been hard to let go of. We all wanted back at it and thought there would be an audience for it outside of Halifax, so we got to planning this.

Q: What are you expecting from your audiences?

A: During our workshop production word of this show spread like wildfire. We had our first few small houses with supportive members of the theatre community, and then it was like someone told the dykes! We ended up with packed houses of people standing in the back and sitting on the floor in the front. With audience members walking up to us afterwards to say things like, “It was so great to see a character that actually talks like me.” We were happy to have every audience member there, but it was a different sort of joy to see the audience this piece was made for appreciate it. The laughs were louder and longer, to say the least! We are excited to bring it back and to a wider audience.

Q: You're ending the tour with shows in Halifax, for Queer Acts. Any changes since the last incarnation of the show?

A: Definitely. We just finished workshopping some rewrites around the table, and I’m really happy with them. We’ve amped up how crazy Jean gets. She’s a bit of a caricature. Very blown up. She stalks, she steals, has a total breakdown due to this breakup. Not the most healthy way to deal with things, nothing I would recommend. But I think at the heart of it, everyone can identify with that feeling of loss . . . and maybe even wish we could act on some of those crazy thoughts that pop into our heads at times like that. Jean acts on all of them.

Short Skirt Butch opens in Fredericton on Sat, June 30, 8pm, Gallery Connexion
Montreal: Mon, July 2, 8pm, MainLine Theatre
Ottawa: Thurs, July 5, 9pm, Venus Envy
Toronto: Sun, July 8, 8pm, Glad Day Bookshop
Halifax: Thurs, July 19 to Sun, July 22, 10:30pm nightly, Queer Acts Theatre Festival, The Bus Stop Theatre

To reserve tickets, call 902-402-5706, or email dearhalifax@gmail.com.

- It's Pride season across much of North America. To celebrate New York's pivotal place in the story of Pride (ie, Stonewall), the New York Daily News has a slideshow detailing some of the history that has happened in the Big Apple.

- Having recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, Oreo decided to send out a little message to its queer fans. Well, some people didn't like that at all. The Huffington Post looks into it.

- Yesterday, I posted about Dan Savage's comments on the subject of GOProud's endorsement of Mitt Romney. Gay news-blog Towleroad looks into his most recent comments, as well as Micheal Musto's.

- The CBC looks into a recent report published by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, stating that the war on drugs has made the HIV epidemic worse and that drug users are forced to go further underground, away from education sources, harm-reduction outfits and clean needles.

- Diamond Rings has a new video out today. The artist appears in a Klaus Nomi-inspired outfit, while his dancers look like the love child of Tina Turner in Thunderdome meets the downtown New York ball circuit. In other words, awesome.

There is something to be said for Next Media Animation's media/news pieces.

The Taiwanese cartoons are not only funny, but often provide a different perspective on the news. It can vary from left to right depending on the story, but it's always pretty damn tongue-in-cheek.

Perfect example: Dan Savage attacking the GOProud for their endorsement of Mitt Romney.

I have to admit, the use of DTMFA is pretty awesome.

It's no secret that I have a great love for the Scissor Sisters' song "Let's Have a Kiki."

But it recently came to my attention that someone has made the song even better by putting together a crazy video edit featuring snippets of Paris Is Burning, Phantom of the Paradise and even Ana Matronic emulating the mating dance of a bird.

This video is marvellous. Happy weekend, everyone!

There have been a few updates on the Raymond Taavel story, both promising and unnerving.

First the bad news. The Chronicle Herald reports that Andre Denny, the accused in Taavel's murder, has had the time allotted for his psychiatric evaluation extended. Denny was sent to Ontario for his evaluation, since it was deemed that having it done in Nova Scotia could constitute a conflict of interest for the health authority that gave him a day pass. The psychiatrist to whom Denny was assigned has asked for more time before he makes his final assessment.

On to the good news.

Halifax Pride will be honouring Taavel, as well as Halifax's early pioneers and marchers, during this year's festivities. Pride's chairperson, Krista Snow, told The Chronicle Herald that “We’re hoping to do [something fitting] to honour that group from the first march. The people who protested got us, I guess, to where we are today."

Speaking of pride, Halifax Pride recently launched its new logo for this year's event.

And in what is probably one of the weirdest things I've read today, a piece in The Advocate offers advice on figuring out if your boyfriend is a psychopath. Gah.

Take this with a grain of salt. Or a drop of lube, as you will.

Apparently, a television show in China recently presented a story about the discovery of a rare or previously unknown type of mushroom/vegetation in a small town in China.

If -- and I feel like this is a big if -- the reporter believed that what she was shown was a mushroom, then she is, um -- how shall I say this delicately? -- uneducated in certain realms.

The second the item is lifted toward the camera, it becomes rather obvious what it is. A sex toy, with an opening in the shape of a certain female orifice.

Apparently, the Chinese network issued a statement:

An open letter to all netizens and viewers: Hi everyone, one of our news reports which aired last night has made everyone laugh. This incident has been widely followed, shared and commented on. As our reporter was still very young and unwise to the ways of the world, this report has brought great inconvenience to everyone. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for your criticism and correction. Please forgive our oversight!

It's everywhere.

Used, abused, hashtagged and more.

"Realness."

Please stop. Just stop.

You see, at first it was quaint, cute even. A flashback to its pop-cultural and referential roots, younger queers and queens discovering the cachet of the term, elegantly revisiting and elevating the term that so many people discovered thanks to Paris Is Burning. But soon it just got out of control. People were using it without knowing its roots, throwing it about like it was just another catch phrase. This isn't "fetch," people -- this term has some history to it. Not just some boring instamatic pop-culture background.

To all of you who drop the term blithely, let me educate you on the reality of the term "realness."

Get it?

"Realness" is a term used as an appropriation, a fuck you to a society that says you can not be real due to your social/racial/economic/sexual standing. Now, I understand that the use of a term can change and develop. This is how language works; semantics meets Darwinism. But to use the term without understanding or even acknowledging its history denigrates where it comes from.

I saw a great discussion/post about it on Tumblr. It reads:

• The Original Definition: The ability to blend. The skill of a homosexual, usually black or Latino, to be able to walk the streets without the assumption of being gay. Made popular from the documentary film Paris Is Burning in 1991 as a popular category of a Ballroom Scene. ie: "Schoolboy Realness" having the look of a teenage boy who would be able to go to school without being harassed.
• This New Definition: A term used to make any adjective a noun. Overdone by the popular Logo reality tv show RuPaul's Drag Race by clueless white queens. ie: "I'm serving you some Trashcan Primadonna Cleopatra Judy Garland Realness" which is a phrase that literally makes no sense.

To the person who posted this, I bow before you. I would argue that the contestants were probably asked by the producers to use the term as some sort of jingo-lingo-esque bullshit.

But to the rest of you who don't have producers leaning in your ear asking you to say shit: Learn it. And learn it well.

Today's edition of Popping Culture takes you to the late '80s and back and asks, "Is Shia LaBeouf getting naked a good or bad career move?"

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In 1988, I bought my first 7-inch single. It was Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance."

That single became a global hit, and the album, Raw Like Sushi, went gold in Canada.

Cherry is still out there, doing her thing. A recent collaboration with The Thing, remixed by Four Tet, is making the rounds online. It's called "Dream Baby Dream."

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Cat Power hasn't put out an album of original material since The Greatest, but all over the internet today, there's news of a new single. Chan Marshall's latest track is available thanks to Pitchfork, so you too can take a listen. It's a great continuation of her soulful and bluesy sound.

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Sigur Rós are perhaps known as much for their forays into glossolalia as they are for their stunningly beautiful videos. Their clip for "Viorar vel til loftarasa," featuring a love story between two boys, is possibly one of the most beautiful videos I've ever seen. Their clips have featured children in gas masks playing in a post-apocalyptic world and even a troupe of dancers with special needs. But their latest clip is perhaps their strangest and may be their most controversial. The reason: Shia LaBeouf. Naked.

The NSFW video: