• An e-mail forward circulated last week by a Mormon grandparent listed one of Mitt Romney's great attributes as the fact that he's "collar-ad handsome." The reference is probably to the famous Arrow collar ads of the early 20th century. What the grandma may not know is that the creator of the ads, J. C. Leyendecker, was gay, gay, gay—and so were his images, if you have even half a gaydar, packed with half-exposed nipples and bulging packages and poodles and tender moments between men ignoring their picture-perfect wives.

• At this past Saturday's PLUNGE! event at Seattle Center, the found-footage masters of Collide-O-Scope projected movies onto the spraying water of the International Fountain, which was cool but DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB, FOUNTAIN. Screens exist for a reason, and the video-on-water was more of a lava-lamp experience than a sequential-image-accumulation experience, which should be perfect for this Saturday's follow-up shebang at the fountain, which features DJ Freddy, King of Pants spinning while attendees dance for hours in video-enhanced water.

• Along with making him Ableism Enemy #1, Dan Savage's reinterpretation of The Miracle Worker at Intiman marked his first time working with professionally trained professional actors™—who are extra-thoughtful and conscientious. A couple of the (straight) actors tasked with playing lesbians asked Dan for details that might help them transcend mere stereotype/caricature, but Dan's camp-explosion theater wanted caricature, just the good rather than the evil kind (think Al Hirschfeld's drawings: "Broadly drawn but affectionate," Dan said). Anyway, these actors asked if there were films they could watch to deepen their portrayals of lesbian Americans, and Dan said: "Yes. Watch Pinocchio. The part where the boys start turning into donkeys. Those are the kinds of lesbians I want." Later, Dan clarified: "I wanted braying, boyish, exuberant dykes. And that's what they gave me."

• Remember when Bellevue Arts Museum was in so much trouble it had to shutter its designer building? The switch from a focus on contemporary to craft/design has paid off: On July 21, BAM raised a million bucks at its gala, more than a 45 percent increase over last year. Congrats go to administrators, trustees, and imaginative/diplomatic artistic director Stefano Catalani, who's still doing contemporary art, just with a twist.

• Ever since the Tashiro Kaplan building opened, Occidental Square has been losing gallery tenants, and now it's hard to remember it was once the center of First Thursday's Artwalk. Still remaining is the stalwart Davidson Galleries, always a great place to find antique and contemporary prints (see review, this page)—but July was its worst month ever, owner Sam Davidson said. New slogan for artgoers: Don't forget Davidson!

• Mike Simi took the title of his current art show at Season, Happiness Rides Wide, from the 2005 Harvey Danger song "Happiness Writes White." The internet says French writer Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972) coined the phrase "Happiness writes in white ink on a white page." It also says de Montherlant was anti-Nazi, maybe gay, and hot.