· Showtime and Stan Lee are indeed developing a drama about the life of a gay superhero, as Hero author Perry Moore hinted back in May. And he just happens to be gay, OK? He's not, like, Poppers Boy or Wonder Trannie. [Variety] · Michael Moore is shifting the scope of his next movie from foreign affairs to the U.S. economy, allowing him to return to the struggling backroads of Roger & Me's Flint, where he's shocked to find the "Rabbits: Pets or Meat" lady has expanded her roadside stand into HARECO—the world's largest bunny-distributing conglomerate. [THR] · Meryl Streep will star in a movie based on Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. Finally! A cat movie from grownups! [Variety] After the jump: Which new dad is going to wish they never even heard the name David O. Russell in a matter of months?· ABC won the night with the Three Hours of Country Music Industry Auto-Fellation You'll Never Get Back Again Awards. [Variety] · Matthew McConaughey's life is about to be made a living hell by director David O. Russell in The Grackle, about a "barroom fighter in New Orleans who hires himself out for $250 to settle disputes." He then dispatches a couple of walleyed Malibu surfers to beat the shit out of the warring parties. [Variety]

We'd previously teased today's El Coyote throwdown between "Yes on 8"-donating manager Marjorie Chrisoffersen and a crowd of gays hungry not for quesadillas but for vengeance; now, word has come out about the confrontation, and it sounds like things went not so well. The blog Shut Up! I Know! has a first-person account:

As we've learned from his last big screen effort, Sacha Baron Cohen employs a wide variety of low-tech tricks to sell his comedy illusions. For example, to create those Borat Polaroids in which his face grazed his teenage son's exposed manhood, a gay porn star was hired who looked young enough to be the Kazakh's spawn. But with follow-up Bruno, the stakes and degree of technical difficulty have upped considerably.No longer will audiences be satisfied with the suggestive flopping around of a fist-shaped dildo and post-gay-pride-parade communal showers. A movie about a gay Austrian fashionista simply demands unobstructed man-on-man-on-man penetration—and Cohen is determined to deliver on every front. And back. And daisychaining where necessary. NY Daily News reports, using our fake title yet again:

Last week, addled ghost flapper Courtney Love celebrated the elections the best way she knew how: with a confused blog entry indicating she mistakenly voted "yes" on the anti-gay Proposition 8. Not one to let Drew Barrymore and James Franco hog all the credit, Love has now posted a series of blog updates meant to rectify the matter:

If you've not yet discovered the LAT "Follow the Donors" feature yet, it's a searchable database tracking every individual who donated to either side of the Prop 8 campaign, alongside their corresponding place of business. It's a great way to check up on that receptionist with the troll dolls on her computer who's always yammering on about how great the new Michael W. Smith album is. You can also plug in celebrity names, of course, and see what pops up.We already found two donations from David Geffen amounting to $200,000, and, confirming reports, another $100k each from a "self-employed" Brad Pitt and Ellen DeGeneres. And what of donations in support of the measure? We managed to ferret out an "unemployed" Mel Gibson living in Cameron Park who gave $250 to the Yes side. Alas, this was probably not the star but a gay-hater of lesser means bearing the same name, as Cameron Park is a community about 25 miles outside Sacramento. Then again, you never know where the Malibu land baron might have a little pied-a-terre. We'll just assume it is the Apocalypto director until we hear otherwise.

Evidence! Though we were certain that was James Franco at the Drew Barrymore vehicle known as the Silver Lake Prop 8 protest, here's photographic proof, thanks to Deeply Shallow. In a clever career move, Franco is seen appealing to both of his 2008 audiences: the gays who will flock to see his turn in Milk, and the Pineapple Express-worshiping stoners who know a deeply toked face when they see one. (Sorry, Nights in Rodanthe fans — Franco's unbilled cameo warranted nary a bit of synergy.) Click through for full-size. [Deeply Shallow via Towleroad]

LA's Prop 8 protests reached a high point on Saturday, as a Silver Lake rally/march drew an estimated 12,500 — and, crucially, a higher class of celebrity endorsers! We spotted actors like Milk's James Franco in the crowd, and when thousands of protesters broke away from the main group to head west on Sunset, they were eventually joined by Drew Barrymore, who addressed them at Sunset and San Vicente. After a tearful speech, the Beverly Hills Chihuahua voice actress descended into the crowd, while an organizer reminded the Drew-lovin' masses to treat her as just another protester (translation: no autographs, and please, no Facebook profile pics). [YouTube]

Lindsay Lohan's career path may be studded with recent missteps (Labor Pains and a stint on Ugly Betty cut short with just one majestic eye-roll from America Ferrera, to name a few), but if there's one thing that actually seems to be going well in Lohan's life, it's that whole "dating Samantha Ronson" thing. Not only did it appear to inspire near-sobriety and some cogent blog posts, but it also repelled sleaze-meister Joe Francis, breaking him of his addiction to girl-on-girl action forever. So, how has Lohan shown Ronson her thanks? With a couple of cagey disavowals in the new issue of Harper's Bazaar, of course:

Grey's Anatomy finally entered the final phase of its gaywashing yesterday, disposing of Brooke Smith's Dr. Hahn in a scene as muddled and incoherent as Smith's actual firing.Hahn and her on-screen love interest, Sara Ramirez's Callie, had only one scene where they discussed their same-sex leanings, and it came near the end of the show. The exchange started in classic Grey's "This hospital issue is really about our relationship!"-speak before devolving into...well, we don't know exactly. It appears that Hahn gets mad at the somewhat reluctant Callie and says, "You can't kind of be a lesbian," which is awfully tough talk for a character who just realized she was a lesbian in the last episode. "I don't know you at all," Hahn continues, before storming off into the parking lot (where she is presumably flown back to her home planet on a rocket ship booby-trapped by worried ABC executives).

T.R. Knight was the first high-profile gay star to contribute to the "No on Prop. 8" cause, and he didn't simply stop there. The Advocate has just published a first-person piece by the actor in which he recounts the sometimes-stormy volunteering he did outside a polling place on Election Day. While holding up signs, Knight was met with a steady stream of Isaiah Washington-style invective, and he details the culprits:

We find ourselves absentmindedly doodling pictures of littlest karaoke soldier David Archuleta in the margins of our publishing software, wiling away these final days until his totally-going-to-blow-Cook-out-of-the-water debut LP drops. But listen, Archie—our little shaved koala, our 300-lb. gospel powerhouse in the body of a 17-year-old Mormon twink—the times, they are a-changin', but not a-quite fast enough. You've already begun to do your part, releasing a catchy single called "Crush" whose video remains titillatingly unspecific about which of the several boys splashing around in a lake you secretly want to take Christmas Tree shopping. But things are escalating.Your fanbase is bum rushing your houses of worship, hoisting placards demanding back their pillaged civil rights with the very hands that feverishly dialed in your 1-866-IDOLS number during your own moment of need. Only one child can bring these two sides together. The One. The Archie. Just leave your father at home, and remember what we always told you: song choice, song choice, song choice. Now what are you waiting for—a sign in some cornfield? Go save the world, kiddo! We're counting on you!

An estimated 10,000 marchers descended on Westwood last hour to protest the passage of Proposition 8, leading to a bust of outrage large enough to encircle the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Blvd. before overtaking the thoroughfare itself. Streaming live footage from KNBC features a mostly peaceful protest to date, with only minor incursions resulting in a driveway shout-down and a bit of get-the-homos-off-my-lawn resistance from cops nudging marchers off a sliver of LDS property. The crowd spilled onto Santa Monica around 3:15, shutting down westbound traffic en route to Westwood Blvd.A citizen operative sends word: "Shit is packed. ... There were a handful of Mormons out front early on, but they went inside. Peaceful so far. But PACKED." We'd love to hear from any others on or near the scene; you know where to find us.

Revolution! "We hope that everyone would treat [each other] with civility, with respect and with love no matter which side of this issue they were on," said Elder L. Whitney Clayton, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Presidency of the Seventy. Just in case the angry crowds protesting the gay marriage ban overwhelmingly underwritten by out-of-state Mormon dollars don't feel the same way, however, precautions are already being taken to ensure things don't get out of hand. A reader working at the BET offices near the Mormon Temple sends us this shot, where police line tape has already gone up in anticipation of the 2 p.m. rendezvous. [Defamer]

"NO MORE MR. NICE GAY," read one of the many signs last night in Los Angeles as Defamer attended a huge anti-Prop. 8 rally that drew several thousand — then set them marching all over the city. (Your Defamer was also partial to another sign, referencing the easily-passed, animal rights-granting Prop. 2: "I Want What the Chickens Got!") It was powerful, emotional stuff, and even more fireworks should erupt today at 2pm, when the crowd takes their fight to the Mormon temple on Santa Monica Blvd to protest the many millions the church sunk into passing the anti-gay Prop. 8. Until then, though, let's relive the night the best way Defamer knows how: with celebrity spottings and silly anecdotes! You can see the Robert Rodriguez-less Rose McGowan protesting up above — who else was there, and who wasn't?

Video has surfaced of Sacha Baron Cohen's storming of a Yes on Prop 8 rally outside City Hall over the weekend, posted by an irate Third Rail Media who claim the British comedian's crew physically pushed their cameras out of the way. As it's hard for us to get too swept up in the struggles of guerrilla videographers attending a rally protesting basic human rights for gays, we'll instead focus on the antics of the Austrian fashionista: Yet again, Bruno risks his own bodily safety in the name of his higher prank-comedy calling, and in the process secures some mildly amusing footage in which he explains to an angry religious zealot that his sign, "ASHERS ARE FOR SCHEISSING, NOT FOR SHTUPPING," actually places both men safely on the same side of the Gays Are Sinning Sodomites Who Must Be Stopped At All Costs debate.

Here's a warning to anyone who voted to strip gay Californians of their rights to wed, and 18,000 already-married same-sex couples of their licenses: You don't want to see a ticked-off Mr. Defamer. His eyebrow arches even higher than usual, and he's been known to accidentally fumble that intern-monitored mug of 140 degree chai latte into a nearby face. We, meanwhile, are busily polishing our pitchforks and stocking up on 99 Cents Only-brand torches for tonight's Prop 8 protest rally (7 p.m. on San Vicente Blvd between West Hollywood Park and the Pacific Design Center). After the jump: Could an earlier Milk release have made the difference?L.A. county has already suspended the issuance of marriage licenses and civil marriage ceremonies for gay couples, saying in a statement "based on the Secretary of State's Semi-Official canvass results from Election Night and the California State Constitutional provision that states '(a) proposed amendment or revision shall be submitted to the electors and if approved by a majority of votes thereon takes effect the day after the election.'" The war, however, has already begun. Multiple legal challenges have been filed to subvert the measure—including one from high-volume feminist firebrand Gloria Allred on behalf of Couple Zero, Robin Tyler and Diane Olsen—arguing that this vote amounts to nothing more than an illegal constitutional revision. In Contention, meanwhile, asks a very good—if difficult to hear—question regarding Milk. The movie itself is about the legendary SF board supervisor's crusade against 1978's Prop 6, which would have banned gays from teaching positions. The parallels are impossible to ignore. Couldn't an earlier release of Gus Van Sant's film have pushed public opinion in this incredibly narrow vote onto the No side?

Now that ABC has unceremoniously axed Brooke Smith's lesbian character from Grey's Anatomy and performed a wholesale gaywashing to turn an upcoming bisexual guest arc into a totally heterosexual, female bonding adventure, other Grey's stars are speaking out — or, in the case of Patrick Dempsey, using loaded silences to make his thoughts on the matter known.Dempsey appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show today (incidentally, a program that Sara Ramirez's Callie will no longer be watching) and when DeGeneres brought up the firing, McDreamy pulled out a canned response ABC had sent to him and read from it sarcastically. Afterward, DeGeneres asked if the firing was OK. "It is for them," said Dempsey, providing enough passive-aggressive venom to make Isaiah Washington (busy waiting tables at the NBC commissary while he waits for that follow-up call from Ben Silverman) point to the screen and insist, "See? That's what I was talking about!"

We noted yesterday yet another shitstorm brewing behind (and in front of) the scenes of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, as a still shell-shocked Brooke Smith told EW.com about her character's abrupt dismissal from the series. She plays Dr. Erica Hahn—who, it's worth noting, replaced Isiah Washington's ejected character as head of cardiothorasic surgery—and who had recently embarked upon a McLesbiany relationship with Callie, played by Sara Ramirez. It began with a sweet kiss, but soon after the writers took it further, with dialogue about exploring "undiscovered country," and at least one postcoital monologue on the joys of ladyfruit harvesting (above). The relationship—what AfterEllen points out is the only depiction of a lesbian couple currently on primetime TV—was developing rapidly. Now Smith has been informed, in the vaguest terms, that her character won't be returning to Seattle Grace after this week's episode. She explains:

A reader sent Towleroad this snapshot of the sky above Warner Bros. in Burbank, probably the largest and most nausea-inducing "Yes on 8" sign yet erected in the ongoing, Mormon-underwritten campaign to strip gay Californians of their Constitutional right to marry. Luckily, God got one look at the message and blew it away:

A hearty mazel tov goes out to Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick and new husband Erik Hyman, who married in a traditional Jewish ceremony over the weekend that also incorporated the naming of their month-old baby daughters. While every step of the weekend was carefully planned, no one could have foreseen the soul of Sean Hayes enveloping both bridegrooms during the simchat bat ritual, leading to a last-minute decision to ditch the settled-upon Rose and Evan in favor of two more residuals-friendly monikers that scored higher in key demos. View the slideshow here.