Though Bright Light Bright Light’s electro-pop wonderland of a debut Make Me Believe In Hope doesn’t drop until late June, we’re just not the kind of guys to tease you and make you wait. So here are two videos that represent the delectable package you have waiting in store next month from openly-gay front-man Rod Thomas. First up – the main course: the beefcake-drenched video for house single “Waiting For The Feeling.”  And if that’s not enough, the surreal “Disco Moment” parades a bevy of fashions that could’ve come from a sample sale for The Hunger Games. Sexy and funny are two of our favorite things. Bright Light Bright Light is another.

It’s Attack of the Well-Titled Killer Pop Culture Memoirs: With Descriptive Sub-Titles! Well, actually, three memoirs and a “making-of” one of the greatest film comedies. All are fantastic summer reading.

Most Talkative: Stories from the Frontlines of Pop Culture, Andy Cohen
The man has done more to shape current pop culture than Lady Gaga, and without all the costumes. An utterly charming read, Cohen chronicles his life from TV-obsessed gay Jewish kid in St. Louis through his spectacular career at Bravo, always with a knowing sense of humor (especially about himself: he includes some less-than-flattering, though priceless, ’80s/’90s pics…that ponytail! Oy!).

Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster, Kristen Johnston
When Kristen Johnston, in a small part in Sex and the City as foul-mouthed, chain-smoking Lexi Featherston, tripped out of a window during a coke-fueled, drunken tirade, she fell right into our hearts. Here, Johnston, best known for 3rd Rock From The Sun, delivers a memoir as laugh-out-loud funny as that scene. Self-deprecating and sharp, she covers adverse periods in her life with impressive honesty.

Girl Walks Into a Bar: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters and a Midlife Miracle, Rachel Dratch
The woman behind Debbie Downer recounts her career, with the highs of Second City and seven years on Saturday Night Live, culminating in getting booted from a role in 30 Rock after the pilot was shot (waaa-waaaaa). Riding out a professional low, she finds her previously unfulfilling personal life taking a new direction with a few pretty special developments. As funny as it is inspiring, we rooted for Rachel all the way through this very sweet book.

Fat, Drunk & Stupid: The Inside Story Behind the Making of Animal House, Matty Simmons
One of the most influential comedies of all time, not to mention profitable (it cost $3 million and made over $600 million…now THAT’S a good ROI), Animal House gets a “making of” book that fans of the film will devour. Director John Landis, producer Ivan Reitman and many others give new interviews about the film that Universal Studios didn’t want to make. Through fun anecdotes, the towering spirit of John Belushi lives on in these pages.

To the untrained ear, the queer musical landscape in the immediate wake of the Stonewall uprising can seem pretty limited: early disco stompers, pioneering womyn’s music acts like Lavender Jane and Meg Christian, the ubiquitous Judy At Carnegie Hall. David Bowie and Lou Reed paid lip service to bisexuality, but genuine homos like Jobriath and Sylvester & the Hot Band were still maligned and marginalized. Now Australia’s Chapter Music imprint wants to, um, set the record straight. Strong Love: Songs of Gay Liberation 1972-1981 (out tomorrow) uncovers sixteen little-known musical specimens by men-loving men, the vast majority of whom were hopelessly underground; future UK hit-maker Tom Robinson (represented by early rarity “Good To Be Gay”) and Steven Grossman, the first artist to release an album of openly gay material on a major label (Caravan Tonight, Mercury Records 1974), are the closest things to “names” here. The eclectic program touches on a variety of sounds: brooding synthpop by Smokey (“Strong Love”); Lavender Country’s twangy roots music (“Crying These Cocksucking Tears”); trashy cabaret funk courtesy of Buena Vista (“Hot Magazine,” a hilarious paean to porn periodicals). Speaking of trashy cabaret, the Cockettes are represented, too, thanks to hippy drag artistes Scrumbly & Martin and “Hots For A Hustler,” a tone-deaf torch song that borders on outsider art. Some of the folkier performances and no-frills recordings might seem wimpy by 21st century standards, but the artistic and political convictions of Strong Love still resonate powerfully across the decades.

Anglophiles, are you experiencing “Downton Abbey” withdrawal? Does your day drag without the soothing effect of a dulcet English accent? Steady on, then, because it’s time to check into The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (opens tomorrow). Director John Madden’s India-set rom-com features Brit acting royalty Judi Dench and the Dowager Countess herself, Maggie Smith (both Dames, you know), as well as the ever witty, ever bumbling Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson as a gay retiree searching for the male lover he abandoned in his youth. Ol Parker’s screenplay is a hodgepodge of romantic clichés, but the film delights nonetheless by the sheer force of its acting talent. When it’s over, you’ll want a cuppa tea to go with your chicken tikka masala.

Summer is around the corner and new books are coming at a frantic pace. Here are a few that we are most excited about:

Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel
In the follow-up to her popular graphic memoir Fun Home, Alison Bechdel explores her complicated relationship with her mother, a woman whose unhappy marriage to a closeted gay man waylaid her artistic ambitions. Beautifully drawn and deeply felt, Bechdel delivers Fun Home‘s equal. Check out the fascinating author profile in last week’s New Yorker. (See panels from book below.)

This Is How, Augusten Burroughs
Taking a break from his typical essays and memoirs, Burroughs delivers an unusual collection of advice on various life topics. Covering all sorts of issues (disease, grief, weight, spinsterhood, molestation…28 chapters in all), Burroughs dispenses common sense advice informed through life experience (some of which we are familiar with from his prior books) and, of course, told in his inimitable, precise prose and with a strong dose of humor. (Details on his extensive book tour here).

Into The Garden With Charles, Clyde Phillip Wachsberger
A beautiful memoir accompanied by images of the author’s watercolor paintings, Into The Garden… tells the captivating story of a NYC gay man in the ’60s/’70s with little luck in finding true love. Approaching middle-age, he moves to a 300-year old house on Long Island, where he sets about creating a spectacular garden. During the process, a series of circumstances leads him to cross paths with the man who will become his life-partner.

David Hockney: The Biography, Christopher Simon Sykes
For this biography, the first volume about the British artist’s life, covering 1937 – 1975, the author had unprecedented access to Hockney’s personal archives, notes, works, friends, family and even the subject himself. His creative peak in the 1960′s is explored in depth, and the story of his long-term relationship with partner Peter Schlesinger is a major part of the story. Essential for fans of modern art, contemporary gay history and immersive biographies.

Mamika: My Little Grandmother, Sacha Goldberger
This charming book features photos of 93-year-old Frederika Goldberger (aka Mamika – “little grandmother”) taken by her grandson Sacha, all in traffic-stopping poses, costumes and scenarios.  Mamika is clearly a candidate for coolest Grandma of the year, as there is pretty much nothing she won’t do. It’s easy to see why the pics were a viral sensation when they hit; collected in print, and accompanied by her humorous comments, they practically defy you not to smile. (Photo from book at top of post by Sacha Goldberger).

Malarky, Anakana Schofield
We’re all for quirky, character-driven novels, and this insightful and sharply funny book delivers in spades. The protagonist, “Our Woman,” leads a working class Irish farm life, but after seeing her Afghanistan-bound son engage in hanky-panky with another man in the fields, and learning that her deceased husband may not have been the man she thought, goes on a truth-seeking odyssey of self-discovery.

Above excerpted from ARE YOU MY MOTHER? by Alison Bechdel. Copyright © 2012 by Alison Bechdel. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Here are a few timely books that came across our desk recently, all with LGBT subject matter, and all worth checking out:

My Two Moms, Zach Wahls (out April 26)
Zach Wahls became an unsuspecting internet sensation at age 19 last year when he spoke at the Iowa House of Representatives to argue against the proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in the state. He eloquently and touchingly defended his two moms (pictured above with Zach in their NoH8 pic by Adam Bouska) as having raised him to be a good person, with their sexuality having “zero effect on the content of my character,” the video of his speech (see below) soon ricocheted around the world, garnering nearly 20 million views. Here, Wahls writes an inspirational book about the power of family and love, no matter what form it takes. If this kid is any indication of future generations…we are in very good hands.

Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas, Dale Carpenter
The full story of the landmark 2003 Supreme Court case that struck down America’s sodomy laws. Extensively researched, with dozens of new interviews, Carpenter presents the most detailed version we will likely ever get, starting with an overview of 400 years of the U.S.’s legal history of sodomy, to the events that unfurled when the Houston, Texas policemen responded to a call and reported that they walked in on two men having sex and, from there, examinations of the Texas court case and then the U.S. Supreme Court case five years later. Told as a compelling narrative, Flagrant Conduct conveys the high stakes for everyone involved, including the reader.

The Essential Guide to Gay and Lesbian Weddings, Tess Ayers and Paul Brown
It’s still relatively new territory, so a how-to handbook on throwing a wedding makes for a thoughtful gift for the newly-engaged among your close friends. With checklists, pictures and troubleshooting tips for every aspect of the event, this guide (its third edition) will steer the soon-to-be-newlyweds through the byzantine, detailed process of planning a wedding, especially those elements that one might not find in any other wedding guide, like educating family and friends who aren’t fully on board and dealing with businesses that might not be LGBT-friendly.

Gay Rights at the Ballot Box, Amy L. Stone
A textbook-style examination of the more than 146 anti-gay ballot measures, both unsuccessful attempts and those that made it before voters, in the U.S. since 1974. Looking at the ever-evolviong tactics of the gay activists who fought, and occasionally won, the battles to bring down these bills, the book explains what the community learned and what it didn’t. With gay rights continuing to be assaulted by the religious right, and the politicians pandering to them, an in-depth study of this recent history could not have come at a better time.

Artist and doll aficionado Gina Garan puts 1960s/’70s doll Susie Sad Eyes in a variety of situations in the endearing photo-book Susie Says (out now). The doll, who has clearly remained silent for too long, expresses her (sometimes alarming) thoughts accompanied by images Garan took at various locales and sporting many costumes (some vintage, some handmade). With words by the brilliant Justin Vivian Bond, Susie gets brought to life in a way no other doll ever has; this one definitely needs her own twisted cable series. Among the bon mots: “People die. That’s all you need to know” (one of Justin Vivian’s Kiki classics), “Desperation is the fastest route to fun as far as I’m concerned,” “Every morning I wake up and say to myself: ‘Don’t kill people.’ So far, so good.”

All images from Susie Says, photographs by Gina Garan, words by Justin Vivian Bond, published by powerHouse Books.

We doubt any red-blooded females – and a good number of males as well – would mind getting stuck in a rural cabin with Thor’s hunky Chris Hemsworth. But after seeing Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard’s directorial debut The Cabin in the Woods – which was co-written with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” mastermind Joss Whedon – you might opt for another fantasy where you get to marvel at Hemsworth’s, uh, hammer of the gods. Why? Because once Hemsworth and his college friends arrive at that cabin, all hell breaks loose. And that’s just the starting point for Goddard and Whedon’s exhilarating meta-horror extravaganza, featuring meat-hook slinging undead rednecks (is that an oxymoron?) and all manner of bloodthirsty beasts.

What would Adele sound like if she were dropped down into the middle of a smoking hot rock and roll band? Probably a lot like Brittany Howard, the front-woman of Alabama Shakes, whose debut Boys & Girls (out now) is a barn-burning, foot-stomping, juke-jointing pleasure from screaming beginning (“Hold On”) to howling end (“On Your Way”). This isn’t to say that Howard’s got a set of pipes as strong our favorite Grammy-winning multi-platinum lass, but she’s grittier. Whether she’s yearning like Janis Joplin on “You Ain’t Alone” or sassing the blues like Bonnie Raitt on “Goin’ To A Party,” she’s a fierce original who knows soul as deeply as her sister across the sea.

We say this without any irony: it’s not easy being Madonna. She acts…the knives come out. She directs a movie…listen to the sharpening of the blades. And now whenever she releases new music, oh, we fickle gays hate it love it hate it love it. Sometimes she doesn’t make it easy. Hard Candy? We’ll pass. And the first single from her latest MDNA (out today), “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” left us cold. But the chilly electro grooves and ballads that comprise the rest of this album are her best in ages. “Girl Gone Wild” features the type of homoerotic video she used to toss off in her sleep, but hasn’t given us in years. “I’m Addicted” percolates with lust. And “Gang Bang” – with its repeated command to “drive, bitch!” – is a revenge song with a capital F.U. Pass us the keys.