The whole Johnny Depp discussion that started Aren't We Real is, surprisingly enough, based in fact. I actually had a similar conversation with a former acquaintance of mine during a friendly get-together with some pals.

The conversation during the course of the evening had turned to movies, and we started talking about actors we liked. I, myself, mentioned enjoying Johnny Depp's work a great deal because I like his natural quirkyness, among others. Said aquaintance, let's call him "Martin", reacted by stating something to the effect of "You can't like Johnny Depp, you're not a woman. Or gay." We all gave him puzzled stares and he simply added that only women liked Johnny Depp.

I took offense to this, not because I fear being referred to as being gay (it's happened before and it will happen again) but because of his small-mindedness. I'm a terribly huge Tim Burton fan (especially with Edward Scissorhands), so I took deep exception to his comments. Martin simply argued that in the world of show business, there were "Actors For Girls" that proper men were just not meant to like, lest they expose a feminine side of themselves which would be translated into latent homosexuality.

He listed a few off: Johnny Depp, Hugh Grant, Christian Slater... those are the ones who come to mind. Therefore, according to his theory, if you were male and found yourself liking these actors, you were probably in denial of something, which, of course, we all had a good laugh at. The sad thing was that he believed what he was saying, which in turn made it all the funnier. I guess, in a way, he was responsible for the genesis of Horse, because I remember scripting stuff for Horse and thinking to myself "What would Martin say in a time like this?"

Needless to say, I lost sight of "Martin" over the past couple of years. I clearly remember frequenting him with other people on only two other occasions after this particular event, and they both occurred before 2002.

I recently got wind of him for some reason, and he's apparently turned into a raging homophobe after allegedly being hit on by a gay man on the street. Some guys just are that uncomfortable with their masculinity.