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  NIGHTSPOTS

Billy Masters
Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Billy Masters
2016-02-24

This article shared 2829 times since Wed Feb 24, 2016
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"I'm not above taking my clothes off for money—that's the bottom line."—Ryan Reynolds discusses his much-touted nude scene in Deadpool. More on that later—or on BillyMasters.com .

I recently spoke to my doctor about the possibility of going on PrEP. I wanted to get educated and find out the pros and cons. For me, there were no cons—aside from taking a pill every day and, like Judy, I never met a pill I didn't like. So after the routine blood work, I started taking Truvada. The reaction from some of my friends was rather surprising. It was as if I announced that I was booking a vacation to Chernobyl the day after the disaster. People really questioned my decision—a decision I thought was relatively simple. I'm HIV-negative, I have a healthy sex life and I practice ( relatively ) safe sex. Why wouldn't I take a pill every day that would take away even a minuscule chance that I could be at risk? I share this story with you because many, MANY people have written to me about "PrEP shaming"—that people are looking down on them for going on PrEP. What's the problem? I'm on cholesterol medication. I'm on allergy pills. I'm on Ambien. If I could find a pill to lose weight, I'd be all set. Science has come up with a medication which, for all intents and purposes, vaccinates you against HIV. So if you are negative and concerned, look into it. It may save your life.

Tom Cruise shocked the paps when he turned up at the BAFTA Awards with an almost-unrecognizable face. It's as if he's on some sort of steroid where your face just blows up. Or maybe he had an eye job. His face was puffy and his eyes were small. Cruise presented Best Film to The Revenant. Do you know how fat your face has to be for it to be noticeable standing next to Leonardo DiCaprio? People immediately commented online with statements like "Tom Cruise looks like his whole face has been stung by a million bees!" Another wrote, "What has Tom Cruise done to his face? Scarier than the bear in The Revenant!"

At the now-defunct Imperial Palace Casino in Las Vegas, they had Dealertainers—dealers who were celebrity impersonators. You could choose to play blackjack with Wynonna Judd or Paula Abdul or Lionel Richie. I was thinking about this when I saw Lady Gaga on the Grammys. Gaga is the Dealertainer version of a singer. She doesn't have a distinct style or sound—she's a vocal chameleon. Her Bowie medley sounded Bowie-esque. Her "Sound of Music" tribute sounded appropriately musical theater-y. And she imitated a big-band singer with Tony Bennett. But on her own, she is completely devoid of a musical personality. What she very well may be is a tribute artist. Or perhaps she's simply an actress who finds her voice from the role. My darling Marissa Jaret Winokur says that people are surprised that she doesn't always sing like Tracy from Hairspray. She came up with that voice for the character. Maybe that's what Gaga does. Whatever she's doing, I would have rather watched a David Bowie video than her posing as some pale imitation.

Speaking of Hairspray, NBC has announced its live version will air Dec. 7. They've also announced that Harvey Fierstein, the original stage Edna with more than a thousand performances under his belt, will adapt the book for the small screen ( as he did for The Wiz: Live ). Kenny Leon, who directed The Wiz: Live, will direct. And Jerry Mitchell, the choreographer of the Broadway production, will make sure everything moves as smooth as silk. No casting has been announced, but one can only hope that Fierstein will get to preserve his Tony-winning Edna for posterity. As Motormouth Mabel, Black-ish star Jenifer Lewis is the natural choice. The role was written for her, and she played it for six months on Broadway.

OK, here's an odd pairing for you—Barbra Streisand was just in the studio with Jamie Foxx. But wait till you hear what they recorded. Here's what Jamie posted on Instagram: "You cannot tell me that my life is not blessed. Just finished doing a record with The legendary Barbra Streisand... 'Climb every mountain'." Somewhere Audra is weeping uncontrollably. Or wait...is that laughter?

In a move that doesn't surprise me, the feds have dropped all charges against six employees of Rentboy.com . That leave only one defendant in the case: founder and CEO Jeffrey Hurant. We hear that the prosecutor has been advised to propose an acceptable deal and make this go away. Whether that will be possible remains to be seen.

We have discovered who Ian Thorpe's new boyfriend is—he's law student and model Ryan Channing. The relationship is still new, but friends of the couple say they are completely smitten with each other. Channing recently posted a photo of the duo with the caption "The summer of love." ( It is summer in Australia right now. ) Ryan's social-media account has suddenly become private, but that doesn't mean we don't have photos of the couple—and some hot solo pics of Ryan—on BillyMasters.com .

Zachary Quinto's model boyfriend Miles McMillan recently did a revealing spread for Purple—a magazine I inexplicably don't subscribe to. If you've let your subscription lapse, you can check out Miles' naughty bits on BillyMasters.com .

Our "Ask Billy" question comes from Patrick in Dallas: "Ryan Reynolds keeps talking about being fully nude for the fight scene in Deadpool. But can you really see anything? Is it worth going?"

Well, that depends: Do you have a membership to BillyMasters.com? Because if you do, you can see the entire fight scene there. Of course, I don't want to dissuade people from checking out the film in the theaters. Let me warn you that there's lots of fire and smoke and shadows. Aside from a plethora of posterior shots throughout the film, you can see a piece of flesh dangling betwixt his legs at the end of the fight.

When we're showing you what's under Reynolds' wrap, it's definitely come to end yet another column. Be sure to check out www.BillyMasters.com, the site that's always uncovering hot items. If you have a question for me, send it to Billy@BillyMasters.com, and I promise to get back to you before we find out if Tom Cruise was attacked by the bear in The Revenant or some other type of "bear." So, until next time, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.


This article shared 2829 times since Wed Feb 24, 2016
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