Bostonian police are looking for four suspects after what appears to be a particularly brutal anti-gay attack last week:

"They started yelling out slurs directed to my friends, calling them 'faggot' and 'better not look over here [expletive] faggots,' " Jenna, a 23-year-old Jamaica Plain resident, said yesterday as she described the Aug. 25 attack.

Jenna said she stepped in front of one of the men, hoping to defuse the situation, and was stunned when he attacked her. "He punched me directly in the face as hard as he could," she said.

Within seconds, Jenna said, she was knocked to the ground; one of her friends was unconscious and being kicked and beaten about the head; a third had fled, bleeding profusely from a scalp wound; and a fourth was frantically calling police on his cellphone.

"It wasn't a fair fight at all," said Jeff, the man who was trying to summon help on his cellphone. "None of us are big, muscley guys or into karate or something like that."

Such attacks have been on the rise in Boston. Police reported 25 anti-gay hate crimes in 2006. Last year saw 56.

Update: Police used the long weekend wisely: they've arrested one suspect, 28-year old Fabio Brandao, and charged him with assault and battery with a deadly weapon. More charges may follow, according to Bay Windows.

The drama continues as HX Media's Boston newspaper, In Newsweekly: rumor has it Matthew Bank, David Unger and company offed associated publisher Bill Berggren.

More gory details here of the staffer massacre here.

New York-based HX Media's Boston adventure hit some speed bumbs this week.

Editorial staffers at In Newsweekly, which HX acquired last year, are none-to-happy with the way things are going down. Contributor Joe Siegel offered his resignation this weekend, just a week after he and three other regulars - including our favorite black preacher woman, Irene Monroe - sent HX founder Matt Bank a blistering letter. They've all since stepped down.

Read said letter, after the jump…

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UK's The Times newspaper recently invited readers to submit silly snapshots from their world travels.

Coventry-based tourist Pamela Pearce spotted this doozy in Boston. She thinks it refers to boats. We think it refers to dirty boys.

Okay, we don't really think that, but it's fun to imagine! Plus, that Uganda story bummed us out and our doctor recommended a laugh.

• We're not sure what's funnier - the fact that a bird took a shit on President Bush or that ABC News actually used the word "poop".

• HX Media's Boston rag, In Newsweekly., found itself in the papers this week when associate publisher Bill Berggren's criminal past came back to haunt him. It seems Berggren has been arrested for a number of incidents and some questioned his role as leader for Boston's Pride Committee. Rather than cause a stink, Berggren stepped down voluntarily. And Berggren ain't the only one on Innews' stepping down. From Boston's Weekly Dig:

In the last few weeks, their masthead has gotten a lot lighter in its loafers—editor James Lopata has left the building, as have distributor Thomas Kilduff and associate editor Alexander Sliwinski… We hear grumbling in the streets, too, that their freelancers haven’t been paid in eons.

The blurb goes on to suggest euthanasia. Ouch.

• You know what would help the African continent's millions of AIDS patients? Doctors. Too bad there's a shortage.

• Jenny Bailey can now call herself the United Kingdom's first trannie mayor, thus crushing our life long dreams…

• South African hooker outs celebrities, media refuses to pass names along.

• Mitt Romney doesn't hate gays:

I oppose discrimination against gay people. I am not anti-gay. I know there are some Republicans, or some people in the country who are looking for someone who is anti-gay and that’s not me.

Wait, isn't trying to stomp gay marriage discriminatory?

Most gay erotic artists rely on the cum shot or throbbing members to propel their message. Not New York-based artist Robert W. Richards. He employs more than sex in his artistic schemes. Each panel's saturated in as much emotion as lust: passion, longing and nostalgia pepper his works, giving them far more depth than a doodle of a dick. These distinctions make him the perfect addition to The Emotions Issue.

Now, for full disclosure, we've known Richards for a few years now. We'd never really sat down to talk to him - to really give his brain a good pick. So, we sent editor Andrew Belonsky on a little mission to see what makes Richards tick. And there's loads. He's got so much information to share, in fact, that we've had to split the interview in two. Lucky you.

After the jump, see what Richards had to say about his first love, how he spent his first night away from home and the true value of marriage.

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