Mr. Radcliffe isn't out himself, according to British papers. But, they say, he is fascinated with transvestite culture, thus his friendship with Ms. J. Some of the tabloids have suggested the two were a couple.

"I was on the [Harry Potter] film set when all that tabloid stuff happened with us hanging out last year and none of my friends gave me shit about it," Mr. Radcliffe said in an interview with Ms. J in Out this month. "Nobody took the piss."

Ms. J is a gospel-singing classical pianist, who shares her name with a female urinary tract adapter (girls pee standing up) and a girl in G. I. Joe.

Narciso Rodriguez told us about Michelle Obama's controversial Election Night dress at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. 

We caught up with the MisShapes at Christian Siriano's birthday party at Citrine. 

At the re-dedication of the Bridge Formerly Known as Triborough, we discovered that Nancy Pelosi isn't one for frivolous questions (but Martha Stewart is!). 

We faced the new media reality and took advantage of the complimentary burgers at Tina Brown's Daily Beast launch party in the Meatpacking District. 

We also learned about Out magazine's recession-proof readership and searched in vain for James Franco at the annual "Out 100" celebration. (We found him a few days later at a screening of Milk.)

And, indeed, there was some bad mojo in the air. Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that prohibits gay marriage, had passed 10 days earlier. And you couldn't help but feel that Out--which was sold earlier this year for pennies to the owners of the hereTV! network--might be throwing its last big party that every gay boy from Chelsea to Bushwick tries to get on the list for.

But Joe Landry, the magazine's publisher, insisted everything was just dandy.

"We had our best quarter in the fourth quarter," said Mr. Landry, before adding that his audience is "still" spending lots of money.

Others were less optimistic. "We haven't hit the tail end of this," said David Hauslaib, the 25-year-old gay blogger whose mini-empire includes Jossip and Queerty.

Even if it was the last of its kind, it was packed. Nick Denton, the Gawker Media mogul, spent most of his time with his boyfriend in the VIP section. WWD's Jacob Bernstein roamed the room, and Out's exhausted editor Aaron Hicklin was working the room, generously handing out black VIP bracelets to anyone he recognized. There were gaggles of Project Runway contestants (hi, Jack Mackenroth and Suede!) and the recently dropped Survivor contestant Charlie Herschel who was telling everyone about his overburdened TV schedule (enjoy it while it lasts, Charlie!) and how some other contestants had a less than flattering nickname for him on the show (we wouldn't want to be called Fag, either, honey).

And some things proved immutable--like the uniform donned by most of the male partyers (dark suit, no tie, open collar). Other changes were welcome: The saccharine ubiquity of champagne at last year's event gave way to smart Absolut vodka cocktails, but you were limited to just that.

The Out 100 hands out awards and they went out to stars like Xanadu star Cheyenne Jackson, singer Katy Perry and Milk director Gus Van Sant.

Mr. Jackson even gave everyone an assignment! As he got his award, he told the crowd to remember the big gay marriage protest that would take place on the steps of City Hall the next day.

"Right, like we'll be up before 1:30," sniffed one attendee near us.

The one time everyone shut up during the night went out during the Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash, and Patti LaBelle performance; the 60s trio was performing on stage together for the first time 30 years.

But alas, one person we couldn't find was actor James Franco, the recent Out cover boy and definitely the boldest-face name on the invite list (and we even checked the bathroom).

There was something to make up for that, however. As party guests made their way out the doors, they were treated to a 50-pound survival gay hanbag. Inside we found DVDs of Samantha Who?, a Pink CD, a Patti LaBelle CD, a Lady GaGa CD, a tote bag, a coffee mug, cologne, an AIDS awareness T-shirt, a pair of 2(x)ist briefs (large!!), toothpaste, KY-jelly and condoms.

Out Magazine has a small profile of Ms. Maddow (seven sentences!) in its next issue, which is part of the magazine's annual 'Out 100' issue, a "unashamedly subjective list of the gay men and women who moved culture—ours and the culture at large—over the past year."

Editor Aaron Hicklin tells Media Mob via email that, "It's a hugely ambitious issue—we shoot all 100 people, making it the biggest original annual portfolio in any magazine, and this year's issue is a spin on Classic Hollywood."

Looking for media people on the list, you'll find:

• Ari Shaprio, a reporter for NPR, who broke a story that a Justice department candidate was blocked because she was a lesbian.
• Alex Ross, New Yorker music writer, and rich genius.
• Diana Nyad, a broadcast journalist, who filed dispatches from the Beijing Olympics for NPR and is launching a new Web site aimed at boosting women's self-esteem called BravaBody.com.

If that list seems a wee bit small, Jesse Oxfeld also wrote a piece for Out chronicling gay campaign reporters, and earlier this year the gay reporters and editors at The New York Times made Out's Power List.

On the heels of the major departures of its managing editor and photo director, Blackbook has now lost its publisher, Joe Landry.

Mr. Landry is returning to his old stomping grounds and will become group publisher of both Out magazine and The Advocate, replacing Jay Adams, who was fired earlier this week. Mr. Landry worked with both Out and The Advocate for years before he ditched them for Blackbook two years ago.

"It's an opportunity to go back to the brand that I built," said Mr. Landry to Media Mob. "The new owners are very passionate about the brands that I bought."

"We’ve been bought by a company that primarily deals with television and film and therefore lacks some of the experience in publishing that Joe will bring to the company when he returns," said Aaron Hicklin, the editor of Out, in an interview. Last month, Out and The Advocate were purchased by Regent Publishing for the tiny sum of $6 million (five times less than what they were purchased for 2.5 years ago).

And so what in the world is happening at Blackbook? Within the last month, the magazine has lost both its managing editor, Una LaMarche, and its photo director, Shannon Hall.

And yet one could be forgiven for making it. Back in April, the gay-targeted monthly and its older-sister biweekly, The Advocate, were sold in a veritable fire sale by PlanetOut to Regent Releasing (who also run the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender-geared here! TV network) for $6 million—less than a fifth of the $31.1 million PlanetOut paid LPI Media two and a half years earlier.

But Mr. Hicklin, former editor of Blackbook, insisted that any problems are the financially beleaguered PlanetOut’s, not his magazine’s. “Our circulation is up 30 percent since I’ve been editor and we just launched our second-best issue in terms of advertising and page count!” he said. “It would be an inaccurate premise to say we’re facing any more significant challenges than any other magazine. I feel our magazine is in a very good position now.”

Some staffers, however, are feeling queasy. “The mood prior to this announcement was really grim,” said one. Back in March, when the sale was mere rumor, employees were updating résumés and wondering which day would be the magazine’s last.

And after the transaction went through?

“So people were like, ‘O.K., when is the other shoe gonna drop?’ And it hasn’t!” the staffer said. “The Regent people have been meeting with us one on one and they seem really chill. If they wanted to disrupt stuff, they probably would have done something. The mood is up, which it hasn’t been for a long time.”

Members of the masthead might be toasting their close shave, but there’s still that age-old gay question about identity! Where does Out stand in a field where a general-interest magazine like The New York Times Magazine dedicates a 7,000-word cover story to young gay men who marry (as it did on April 27), to say nothing of what GQ and Details regularly cover?

“We bring a much better perspective,” Mr. Hicklin argued. “I think [those publications] are very aware they have a gay audience and they tread very carefully in terms of creating and articulating their sensibility, and they don’t alienate their gay readers. But that leaves us free to be unequivocally a gay magazine in a way we can be and they can’t be.

“I absolutely don’t think they’re stealing our gay turf,” he said.

In fact, he might be stealing their audience! “I’ve been getting the magazine and enjoying it—if I’m the test case, you’ve produced the first crossover gay magazine,” wrote Slate editor Jacob Weisberg in a note to Mr. Hicklin that the latter shared with Off the Record.

How ‘bout that? But will Out be around in 20 years, when gay people are completely assimilated into mainstream culture?

“I think we’ll exist, yes,” Mr. Hicklin said—though of course, like most editors these days, he conceded: “Whether this is a magazine that’s delivered as a print publication or primarily a Web operation, that’s something I wouldn’t put my money on. But everything that exists within those two covers will exist.”

Tonight, Out magazine will honor its 100 most influential people in gay culture with a big bash at Cipriani Wall Street. Kathy Griffin must be on a cruise ship somewhere, so Tori Spelling and Tim Gunn will co-host the camp affair, where the five people on the cover of Out’s December issue—Jennifer Hudson, Mary-Louise Parker, Bryan Batt, Thom Browne and Bill T. Jones—will be among the bellini-sipping award-winners this evening. Annie Lennox is expected to make a special appearance, and Chaka Kahn and Kat Deluna will perform.

We spoke with the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Aaron Hicklin, today to learn more about the selection process behind this year’s honorees.

He talked a lot! Here's what he said: