Lance Bass, the former 'N Sync heartthrob, reveals that he is gay, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.

"I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake.

"I didn’t know: Could that be the end of ’N Sync? So I had that weight on me of like, ‘Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never did," he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time with PEOPLE.

Now, after years of keeping his personal life private, the Mississippi-bred, Southern Baptist-reared Bass, 27, is publicly revealing what he first shared with his friends, then his shocked family.

read all about it

It's not as dirty as it sounds. A "fisking" on Andrew's site is when he takes the text of an article and speech and intercuts it with his opinion of pointing out how they are twisting words to their advantage. As such, a podfisk, is that same practice done in audio/podcast form.

It is available here, and worth a listen:

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/06/podfisking.html

Everyone add me on myspace, so I can see what this is all about...

Jeff Walsh
jeff at jeff walsh dot com for e-mail

So, in my book, the main character documents all the things he plans to do now that he's changed his life. The length of the list will also show how long it has been on hold up until this point.

In any event, feel free to reply with additional goals that can be added to this list. Nothing sexuality-related, though. It's not that kind of book.

Here is the excerpt:

"I will take up yoga… go hiking, go out dancing, dress better, decorate the apartment, get a master's degree, buy a house, join a local sports team, have a relationship, go to Europe, go to fancy restaurants, learn to like red wine, read classic books, go scuba diving, pay attention to politics, learn a new language, go away for a weekend, make new friends, get a massage, take vacations, donate to charity, get a new car, write a short story, go camping, learn to cook, shop for clothes, walk on the beach, try absinthe, plant a garden, see a foreign film, swim, lift weights, become passionate about a hobby, go to an amusement park, get a pet, take a photography class, figure out my spiritual path, go to the beach, act in a play, make a web site, go skiing, volunteer for a good cause, buy a mountain bike, pay it forward, run a marathon, start a band, take up painting…"

Hey everyone,

As a lot of people on the site are into music and such, thought I'd pass along a new out musician that seems worth supporting, Laura Wolfe.

You can hear her music at www.myspace.com/laurawolfe

Here is some of her marketing copy:

"In her lyrics, Laura strongly expresses her views on pushing the edges of prescribed gender roles and appearances for women. In the title track, “Siren,

Excerpted from today's entry on my blog. Just posting this here for whatever reason:

On a few hours sleep, I had lunch Saturday with Anthony Rapp, in town to promote his new book and do an acoustic show at the Swedish American Music Hall. Once again, the bears made me nervous as every brunch place on my way to Nirvana was overflowing with lines onto the sidewalk, but apparently, Nirvana was too healthy for the bears, and I got my pick of tables. Anthony and I had the longest conversation of the time we have known one another, and it was certainly enlightening.

Resolutions have never been my thing, at least not in January. I always did mine at Gay Pride for some reason, although this was the last year that will be happening.

I don't get on Oasis as much as I'd like, but it's good to see that the site still seems to be vital and living up to why it was put together 10 years ago. There is something special about having a site that is about community that isn't segregated by sexuality and gender, which is how so much of the online world is carved.

If anyone is interested, I posted a character sketch that I recently wrote over on my blog tonight. The piece is called "The Cuddler" and is available here. I know I keep talking about writing on here and other places, so here's something you can actually read, since I keep the novel under wraps for the most part.

I know this is hard to fathom, but one of the best players in the WNBA came out of the closet.

Lesbians playing basketball? Hard to believe, I know, but there you have it.

There's a story in this week's New York magazine asking whether JT LeRoy, author of Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, and profiled in Oasis in August 2000, is not a real person.

You can read it online here

For a while back then and in occ

So, there's been a lot of negativity and name calling lately. I just deleted an account (without even a warning) that used another user's avatar and clearly was there to provoke and make fun of them. Hopefully that doesn't have to be a regular occurrence, as it is obviously a new phenomenon here.

The basic rules here are that we are here to support each other and, if unable to do that, to learn what you will have to learn in the offline world: to ignore people who bother you. No one on this site is wrong, they just think differently than you.

Hmm, this brings a new focus to the war that is going on. In this picture of their final moments, two teenage boys - one under 18 - were publicly hanged by the Islamo-fascist regime in Iran yesterday for being gay.

Good fodder for discussion about other implications of what we are fighting the war for, as well as some perspective on how trivial some of our big issues really are in this and other more tolerant countries.

Anne Rice answered the following questions about her son, Christopher, via e-mail. This exchange has also been appended to the Christopher Rice interview:

Jeff: Were you surprised Christopher ended up being an author, given it is also your career? Did anything about his childhood or upbringing make you think... I think this might happen?

Anne Rice: It did surprise me when Christopher completed his first novel, and my husband came downstairs and told me he'd just read it and Christopher's whole life was going to change. I thought Christopher would become an actor. He'd been in plays all over New Orleans, school and amateur productions of all kinds. He loved the stage.

Indie boys kissing!