Out magazine threw its annual "Out 100" fete at Gotham Hall in midtown on Friday, Nov. 14, an event that felt more intimate than in previous years: fewer high-wattage luminaries and an altogether understated sensibility.

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.  read more »

Everyone is getting a piece of Rachel Maddow now.

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."  read more »

It's quitting time at Blackbook.

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

“Any premise that the magazine is in trouble is an incorrect premise,” said Aaron Hicklin, the editor in chief of Out magazine.

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!  read more »

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! Click "Read More" below to read what he said.  read more »