With the media world collapsing under the weight of the oncoming financial apocalypse, Out held it's annual bash to celebrate all the most important gays in the village despite the fact that we're all going to be living in a Mad Max meets Caligula hellscape by this time next year.

"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" declares The Observer in a piece that has everything but the iceberg.

There's Out publisher Joe Landry insisting that everything is fine, just fine and that gays are "still" spending money. And look! Our very own fearless leader, David Hauslaib warns "We haven't hit the tail end of this".  There's also a great bit where a bunch of anonymous partygoers are chuckling that there's no way they're going to be getting up the following morning for a scheduled Prop 8. protest rally at City Hall. Why fight for your rights when there's Absolut cocktails to be had?

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You all really wished Out had put Rachel Maddow on the cover of their Out 100 issue (and in all fairness, so did editor Aaron Hicklin), but you can catch her every night on her MSNBC show.

When Sarah Palin told Greta Van Susteren that the Eisenstadt hoax was started by "some blogger — probably sitting there in their parent's basement wearing their pajamas blogging some kind of gossip or a lie," a lot of people, myself included, took offense.

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There's a gay media/blogger clusterfuck pile-on going on over Out editor Aaron Hicklin's decision to put Katy Perry of "I Kissed a Girl" fame on the cover of his Out 100 list — and we want in. Because you're more interested in bitchy comments than the long-drawn out cold war leading up to them, here's a quick recap of story so far:

Every year, Out makes a list of a hundred or so people who they deem to be the most important gays in the village and make them dress up in silly costumes so as to sell a lot of magazines. [Full Disclosure: Queerty's David Hauslaib appeared on here two Out 100s ago.] This year, Hicklin put Perry on a chair surrounded by honest-to-goodness homos Gus Van Sant, Sam Sparro and Cheyenne Jackson on the cover. The problem is, that strictly speaking, kissing a girl one time and making an incredibly popular song about it, does not get you a gay card, according to Richard Lawson of Gawker. He penned a manifesto in which he says:

Her song "I Kissed a Girl" is a paean to girls getting drunk and sucking mug with other girls while their boyfriends watch. I don't want to sound uppity, but it's kind of a shitty song with a shitty message—that cutesy fake homosexuality is silly fun and good for attracting boys. So it pisses me off a bit that she's on the cover of Out magazine's "Out 100" issue this month. Why is this tittering dykesploitationist worthy of gay hero status?

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The year's drawing to a close, which means it's time for gay glossy Out to celebrate 100 homo movers-and-shakers who made 2008 so damn great!

The journos over there are slowly leaking some of their honorees, including Rachel Maddow, who tops the list. And with good reason - Maddow's catapulted to fame as a pundit over at MSNBC, which in turn gave her a prime time slot. Well done, Maddow.

Activist Evan Wolfson and NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro also made the cut, as did film makers Jarvez Sharma and Tom Kalin. You can see a few more of the honorees over at the mag's website.

Also, the Out team just sent out a press release informing us - and thereby the world - that comedienne Chelsea Handler will be hosting their annual Out 100 gala at Gotham Hall.

[Maddow shot by Roger Erickson, others by Greg Lotus]

Apparently New York City's looking for even more homos. The Big Apple just launched a $30 million queer tourism campaign, starting with Out magazine's recent Out 100 issue.

Ads will also start appearing soon on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender websites. The city says the demographic is key to the city's tourism because it contains people who have a high level of discretionary income and an interest in travel.

Similar campaigns have worked in Philadelphia, Chicago and Phoenix. The move is another step in the city's efforts to meet the mayor's goal of bringing in 50 million tourists by the year 2015.

Mayor Bloomberg obviously doesn't care about the mental health of this city's resident, who have to fight through throngs of gawking shutterbugs on a daily basis. Thanks, Bloomie!

But, on the positive side, there'll be more imported cock for those of you who have sucked up our supply. You know who you are…

• Exterface astounds once again with Orchid.

• "Harassed" lesbian soldier denies secret tryst with fellow lesbian soldier.

• OMG! Is Britney Spears a meth head?

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The Out 100's proving to be the event that wouldn't end: kind of like 9/11, only fun.

The gay glossy just sent over this video of designer Marc Jacobs from last Friday's big event. Watch, listen and coo as Jacobs discusses his Out cover, people's reactions to said Out cover and why he will continue to bless the world with his rip-roaring physique.

Check out what Jacobs has to say about relationships and his gayest moment to-be, after the jump. Hint: it won't involve pink feathers.

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We weren't allowed to get Out 100 honoree Nico Muhly on film, so we're using today's Morning Aural to feature his ephemeral and wholly captivating composition, "It Goes Without Saying".

If you're facing pop fatigue, we suggest you head on over to Muhly's MySpace and give his unique noise a listen. It's psychologically perplexing, thought provoking and, above all else, beautiful.

The gay gods were smiling upon Queerty when we were granted access to Annie Lennox and Out 100 guest Gina Gershon's inner sanctum Friday night. Watch as the girls talk about knowing gay people, why we shouldn't label folk, ENDA, Lennox's Humanitarian of The Year award and South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign founder Zackie Achmat.

[Oh, and be sure to check out Annie Lennox's main and Sing oriented websites!]

Out out did itself for this year's Out 100.

Check it…um, out, after the jump…

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The Out 100 blog continues to leak anticipatory details of the gay glossy's annual celebration of gay movers and shakers.

As we mentioned, the year-end issue marks Darryl Stephens' first official foray into the out and proud world.

Mr. Stephens joins other television titans such as Tim Gunn, Queer As Folk writer Russell T. Davies and uber-gay judge David Young. Taken together, the gay group - and others - are "The Serialists & The Channelers". Though he readily appears in the issue, Stephens remains mum on the sex part of his sexuality.

…We can also offer one long-anticipated quiet confirmation: [François Rousseau photographed] Darryl Stephens, who has declined to discuss his sexuality while playing a series of nuanced gay roles. He doesn't exactly talk about it, but he proudly joins the other queer honorees in our pages.

Well, it's a step in the right direction…

The Out 100 blog keeps growing. The gay glossy's staffers just posted a few new additions to their ever growing list, which already includes some rabble rousers and a Hilton. Today's charmers - Mikael Karlsson, Matmos duo Drew Daniel and MC Schmidt, Ari Gold and Israeli singer Ivri Lider - all have one thing in common. No, not their brutal good looks. They're all "Noisemakers"! Congrats, gents!

Meanwhile, John Waters and the ever-gorgeous Penny Arcade also made it on the list. Check out their shot here. Arcade looks like Catherine Deneuve.

As an added bonus, we've included "I Wouldn't Know What To Do" by The Honeydrips, Swedish Karlsson's solo project.

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Albus Dumbledore may be the most popular gay these days. He's certainly getting enough press.

While the Harry Potter character's outing may bring JK Rowling even more fans, Out's Aaron Hicklin thinks gays have always loved the Potter books. He tells Jeff Bercovici:

I suspect (but have no proof) that the books have a particular appeal to gay readers for all the obvious reasons. Gay men are able to identify a) with children's fiction because invariably the hero is the outsider; and b) with fantasy because it posits an alternate universe, usually one in which wrongs can be righted.

And people have powers and shit, which is cool.

Meanwhile, Hicklin also chatted with Bercovici about this year's Out 100 and a controversial addition: Perez Hilton. Says Hicklin:

Obviously we knew it would be polarizing, but it's hard to argue with the fact that he's made a tremendous impact, for better or worse — and do you know how hard it is to find 100 successful gay men and women every year?

Cough, cough…

It's never too early to get excited about the Out 100, gay glossy Out's annual celebration of the year's great, gay people, places and things. Well, actually just people.

The mag's tight-lipped about the honorees, but their celebratory blog posted this picture of 2007's "Rabble-rousers". We don't know how they did it, but the Out staffers and photographer François Rousseau managed to get Joe Solmonese and Lane Hudson in the same frame. The men, of course, worked together at Human Rights Campaign until Hudson outed Mark Foley and subsequently left the powerful non-profit. Also pictured: gay soldier Jason Knight and ACLU's leader Anthony Romero.

In other Out 100 news, we hear that honoree Darryl Stephens will finally acknowledged his homo inclinations. This will be the first time the Noah's Arc actor publicly "comes out".

As if we didn't know…

The fagalas over at Out have been hard at work compiling a list of today's gay movers and shakers.

While they're tight lipped about who made this year's Out 100, we hear the fag rag's end-of-the-year issue will feature a shot of HRC president Joe Solmonese, free speech defender Anthony Romero of the ACLU, Lane Hudson and twice booted soldier Jason Knight.

Things may get a little awkward for Hudson and Solmonese. Hudson worked for HRC before outing Mark Foley, a move that cost both men their jobs.