Actor, writer and comedian Paul Mooney was spotted shopping at the Out of the Closet thrift store last week by photojournalist Cornelius Washington , just a stone's throw from the B.A.R. offices. Mooney graciously submitted to an impromptu Q&A for our loyal readership.

Cornelius Washington: Several critics have praised your performance in Chris Rock's hilarious documentary Good Hair. What do you think of it?

Paul Mooney: Even though it's about black people's obsession with hair, it's a universal story! Everyone is frying their hair up, bobbing and bleaching, putting in weaves, hot combs and highlights. Everyone is trying to assimilate!

What's your opinion about your competition, the Michael Jackson movie This Is It?

I've known Michael since he was eight years old. I've seen the movie, it's just the best about the best. We've truly lost a genius. He was not a pedophile, he was X-Files!

From art to politics: What's your take on President Obama's recent signing of the hate crimes bill?

I just know he's going to pass the health care bill, I just know it! As for the hate crimes bill, well you know, I was one of the writers for the comedy show In Living Color, so since we've been talking about movies, I will say in the words of the Men on Film critics Blaine and Antoine , "Hate crimes – hated it!"

Arts beat

Have we mentioned SF author Kevin Killian 's new book, Impossible Princess? He reads at City Lights bookstore on Thurs., Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. Impossible Princess is Killian's third collection of gay short fiction. City Lights says: "From an examination of an ex-British-boy-band-member's skeevy skivvies to a sexual assault inside a copy machine, to a nocturnal tryst in a panther cage, Impossible Princess runs a bizarre gamut of erotic experience, where the appetite of lust is only satisfied by the peculiar unexpected."

This weekend, San Francisco Cinematheque is presenting a series featuring the well-known lesbian feminist performance artist, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer. A prominent filmmaker in the 1980s and early 90s, Rainer used to appear in person frequently in the Bay Area, and her films were hugely influential, but she hasn't screened here for over 10 years. SF Cinematheque will present two Rainer films and a lecture, Nov. 20-22 at San Francisco Art Institute. Info at www.sfcinematheque.org.

Rockin' the Gay 50s, described as an inventive mix of 1950s rock music and same-sex comedy vignettes, will premiere in the Bay Area on Nov. 21 & 22 at the Ashby Stage in Berkeley, and on Dec. 5 & 6 at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. Presented by The Graceland Girls, a group of lesbian musicians and actors over 50, the show is designed to raise awareness for gay equality by using laughter and entertainment. Information can be found at www.gracelandgirls.com.

Dudes abide

The new name for St James' Park, the third-biggest league ground in England, is sportsdirect.com@St. James' Park Stadium. Sports blogger Dara O'Briain at the [UK] Guardian observed that "a child excreting Scrabble tiles could not have come up with a worse name for Newcastle United's historic stadium." And this: "You shouldn't approach a stadium saying to yourself, 'Ah, sportsdirect.com! That reminds me. I must go online and buy a jockstrap.'" You shouldn't?

Ringing endorsement of the week, an appraisal quoted in The New York Times of Los Angeles Philharmonic president Deborah Borda's big rollout of new maestro Gustavo "The Dude" Dudamel: "She had the advantage of what they call in Hollywood a good product. She didn't have to put perfume on a stink bomb."

But if only all newspapers' corrections boxes were as consistently amusing as the Times'! From the paper of record last week: "An article on Oct. 22 about the writer Augusten Burroughs' home in Battery Park City misstated a word in a quotation regarding his writing process. Mr. Burroughs said: 'I have my diaries (not 'dairies')." Presumably meaning, he writes from memory, not mammaries. While Out There is daily nourished by the milk of human kindness.

Finally, congratulations go to Thai gay filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who was named a finalist for the 2010 Hugo Boss Prize. He is the auteur behind lyrical, non-linear narrative films produced in his native land (he lives in Chiang Mai). If you want to Twitter your kudos and need to keep that character count down, his friends call him Joe . The $100,000 award winner will be announced this fall, and receive a solo show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2011.