Yes. It works.

Also, just a sidenote: we now want to sleep with Franco's brother Dave.

[via Unzipped]

Our friends at Homo-Neurotic today ask the question "Does James Franco Even Need to Be Out?" We're sure Rupert Everett would shout NO and Michael Signorile would threaten to cut a bitch if they didn't say YES. H-N cites his gay roles in Milk and the upcoming Howl, as well as his playfully homoerotic turn in The Pineapple Express, and his willingness to kiss a guy on SNL (the latter we wouldn't count as evidence of anything). We'd point to his playful turn on 30 Rock as an actor in need of a beard girlfriend, and his student film project at NYU, where he was enrolled in a queer cinema course. On another site, we also once named him the #1 actor who should come out, but that may just be our bias. We'll still love him either way.

Aww... even though we had absolutely nothing to do with Jeffrey Self's success, we feel proud like a mother nonetheless to see him showing up on 30 Rock tonight.  It's been a couple of years now since we first spotted the hilariously talented young buck on our computer screen with funny friend Cole Escola, as the VGL Gay Boys, doing a bit about trying to get tickets for the Sex and the City movie. After a series of funny YouTube outings, the pair landed a spot on Logo's schedule with Jeffrey & Cole Casserole, and all the while, Jeffrey has worked on theater projects like his one-man show, "My Life on the Craigslist."

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Thanks to EW's Popwatch blog, we have these teaser clips of James Franco's bizarre, meta, and very possibly misguided arc on General Hospital. The first clip features a shoot-out that suggests Franco gets mixed up with the mob in Port Charles (there's apparently mafia on daytime TV now). The second clip is kind of sexy, though, with Lost's Marsha Thomason giving him a shave. [EW]

We don't mean to be harsh, but we just watched the film collaboration between the artist known by the single, Madonna-like moniker of Carter, Erased James Franco, and it kind of sucked on many levels. See the clip above as example, and read our full review here on SFist. Despite a couple high points -- like where James reads a monlogue originally delivered by Julianne Moore in Safe, or where James turns to the camera and says the line, "I'm gay. You're the first person I'm telling," which made our hearts skip a beat and which we wish were the secret point of this whole film -- the piece comes off as a bit of masturbation by Carter on the subject of acting, and identity, and blah blah blah, and would have been equally boring with anyone else in the title role.

The fact is, if this is the guy who encouraged James to do the stint on General Hospital, which is to be part of a feature film the two are working on, we are truly scared for little James' career. The 30 Rock guest shot notwithstanding (Tina Fey's writing can solve anything), we really think James should re-think this continued collaboration with an unknown, unproven artist who's clearly just taking advantage of him for exposure.

As with everyone, we were flummoxed about James Franco deciding to do a stint on General Hospital, but it sounds like this amazing and bizarre meta thing that is getting him heaps of publicity while he's busy taking classes up the street at Columbia University. 

His character's name is Franco, and he's a celebrity (?) with a dark side, and he'll be involved in some kind of daytime-TV style intrigue. His first appearance will be on November 20 at 2PM, hopefully they'll make him take his shirt off, and clearly we'll be tuning in insofar as we can do that via the internet.

And the capper: He'll also be playing a bizarro version of himself on 30 Rock, too, so yeah... awesome cross-marketing job, kid. [ChicagoNow]

EARLIER: James Franco Enrolled in Queer Cinema Course

Not that we want to fuel unsubstantiated rumors about James Franco being gay (yes we do), but NYU Local is reporting that he's enrolled in an undergrad queer cinema course at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Yes, there have been one or two rumors, and we did put him at the top of our list once of celebrities who need to come out, and sure, he'll probably be the token 'straight' boy in a class full of gays, lezzes, and bisexual chicks. But we're sure it means nothing. (via Towleroad)

RELATED: Top 10 Celebs We Think Should Come Out