Logo's released it 50 Best Gay Bars in America list and if you check out the list, you can read my write-up on three of them: L.A.'s The Abbey, New York's Pieces and El Paso's O.P. Daniel Nardicio mentions Denver's Tracks and says "It's better than anything New York's had in years." He's absolutely right.
Californians will get the opportunity to vote on a high-speed rail bond in November. Before you all start shouting "Monorail!", take a look at this short video that the CA High Speed Rail Authority has put together. As any driver knows, the state's current transportation infrastructure is stretched to capacity and while we could build more roads and more airports, the result will be more pollution and more congestion. California's uniquely positioned to take advantage of high-speed rail. And imagine a world where you hop the Metro down to Union Station, grab the train and two and a half hours later, you're in San Francisco. I can't wait to board the Friday 6'oclock party car.
Japhy eschews the usual cavalcade of sing-alongs, cartoons, and game show parodies to give you a firsthand, heartfelt, on-the-ground account of the historic marriage decision in his adopted home state of California. You know he's serious, because he's wearing a suit; though it's possible he's just trying to nab wedding invites.
Does this decision really matter? Will we ever achieve true equality? Don't expect the answers here, but it's a good place to start the conversation.
HIL-arious. Sunset Blvd. is, like most marginally employed screenwriters without a car in L.A., one of my favorite movies ever. And who better to play Norma, than -- oh, just watch it. I mean, it's really really mean, but oh-so-awesome.
Here's some of what I've been working on this week:
An interview with Arthur Dong, director of Hollywood Chinese, a fantastic documentary about the Chinese-American experience in Tinseltown. I could have talked to Arthur for hours-- a really funny, fascinating and thoughtful guy. (The Advocate)
A QnA with photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Sort of got me thinking about how the media's job is to define and label things (this is a trend, it is about these kinds of people, it fits into this category) and fine artists are all about introducing ambiguity and challenging the nature of the boxes we stuff things into. Not that any of that shows up in the piece. (Popnography)
The 400 pound gorilla this week is my big feature story on "The Boys of Buzznet", Jeffree Star, Clint Catalyst and Matthew Lush. I'll probably write another blog soley about the backstory to this piece. For the moment, I'll just say I'm pretty proud of it and really thankful for my editor, Shana. (Out.com)
I get a lot of shit for saying that the Pacific Design Center is my favorite building in L.A. My standard defense is that it's one of the few buildings in L.A. that bothers to embrace the utopian spirit of the city. It creates a triad of "big idea conteporary complexes" with Gehry's Disney Hall (which I finally got to see the inside of recently--that carpet is hideous) and Meir's Getty Center (which I loved when I first moved here, but now comes off as elitist and aloof).
The PDC is by far the best of the bunch: while it's ostensibly a cultural center (serving as a design showcase and an outpost for MOCA), it's also a commercial and retail space, home to a couple of Wolfgang Puck venues and also a popular spot to throw a Hollywood party. The complex, which will shortly be complete with the addition of the Red Building is Cesar Pelli's masterpiece. It brilliantly serves as pop-shorthand for the city, with its bold primary colors, abstract forms and palm courts, but refines these gestures so they're elegant, not garish. The scale makes them one of the few landmarks in the city. L.A's decentralized layout swallows up buildings. This is why, in L.A. the entire downtown skyline serves the same purpose the Empire State Building does in New York. The PDC recognizes this and takes up a lot of space in your mind when you look at them. Check out this video showcasing the now under-construction Red Building to get a feel for the completed project.
At the same time, the buildings are friendly. There's a feeling that you're walking in a giant Lego set and while the space's original purpose has changed over time (originally the whole complex was meant to be designer's show rooms, though now only the Blue Building serves that function), the space engages the West Hollywood streets around it, with its undulating lawns and inviting courtyards. Angelinos love complaining about the buildings, but then again they also love Botox and think high culture means American Idol. There's nothing like the PDC in L.A. or in the world. As it nears completion, maybe it'll start to get the acclaim its due.
If ever there was a place for high speed rail in America, it would be California. With it's bifurcated populace concentrated either in L.A. or S.F. the state is in desperate need of a way of tying these two population centers together. It makes sense from an economic standpoint as well as a cultural one. For you transit dreamers, here's SF Cityscape's map of what such a system would look like. While you're at it, check out their map of the L.A. transit system in 2030, where there will still be no simple way for me to get to LAX from West Hollywood.
If you do, you wind up being forcibly interviewed by James St. James. My shame shows up around 3:24. And though I seemed pretty gung-ho about it, the only thing I went home from the Jared Gold show at Union Station with that night was the beginnings of a hangover.
How Disney Could Bring the Red Cars Back to Downtown
It was Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that brought the sad story of the demise of the Los Angeles Red Car to mainstream attention. Could the Mouse help bring the Red Cars back?
It's hard to imagine that L.A. once had the best public transportation system in the country, but it's a fact. Just take a look at the 1930's Pacific Electric Railway map and you'll see that it puts L.A.'s present light rail/subway map to shame. The remnants of the streetcar system linger all over L.A. In my WeHo neighborhood, you can find weird diagonal lots that are the result of the tracks slicing through the area, now clogged with congested streets. And while L.A. ultimately embraced Judge Doom's vision of the freeway, L.A.'s Red Cars remain an icon of the city.
Downtown L.A. has talked of putting limited Redcar service back as a tourist draw for a few years, either along Broadway or Grand Avenue, though many dismiss this as another "we'll believe it when we see it" pipe dream for the city's core. However in January, the Community Redevelopment Agency voted to increase funding for a feasibility study to create a Red Car corridor between Broadway an L.A. Live. The biggest sticking point is that costs are expected to be around $60 million.
Here's where the Mouse comes in. Currently, Disney Imagineers are in the process of renovating the stillborn California Adventure Park, which brought such inglorious attractions as a demonstration on the manufacture of sourdough bread, into something more exciting. One of the new attractions: Accurate replica's of L.A.'s Redcars running through the park. This is a perfect opportunity for business and government to work together. Here you have a company whose name is synonymous with California working on building the very one-of-a-kind E-ticket item downtown L.A. is looking to build. While it might be too much to expect Disney to underwrite the whole project, the fact they're currently building and designing authentic Red Cars might just be the thing to kick a downtown scheme into motion.
Surely, the city and Disney can work out an arrangement that would benefit them both. I can't think of a better way for Disney to endear itself in the hearts of Californians (who incidentally, make up most of the tourist trade at Disneyland) then to help bring back a long lost city icon.
Corrections to the L.A. Times: Smells Like Typo Spirit
Nick knows how much I love the L.A. Times' penchant for poor copyediting and sent me this, writing, "The 1990's seem so quaint in hindsight! Check caption."
The New York Times hates hates hates the new Broad Contemporaty Art Museum (BCAM) that's opening at LACMA this weekend. It hates not only the building, but the art inside as well. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussouf sniffs the building "Will no doubt thrill those whose main focus is how a museum's design makes the art look. But architecture is about more than the quality of light" while art critic Roberta Smith looks around at the Broad's collection of contemporary lights like Cy Twombly, Jeff Koons and John Baldesari and huffs "the goal should be to do something that no one else is doing, not the thing that everyone has already done." The only thing the two of them both like is Chris Burden's lampost sculpture "Urban Light".
Both writers use the opening of BCAM as an opportunity to diss L.A.'s recent civic efforts to make Southern California a more cosmopolitan place, rightly pointing out that Richard Meir's Getty Center turns its back on the city both literally and spiritually. But that was more than a decade ago, an eternity in a city so young. Since then we've had Morphosis' CalTrans, Disney Concert Hall and more than half a dozen exciting new building in the works, from a Century City vertical oasis by Jean Nouvel to three seperate development projects for downtown.
The New York critics complain that Renzo Piano's LACMA addition isn't "L.A. enough" and they do it in a tone so strident, you can't help but think that anything short of Piano building a freeway through the LaBrea Tar Pits would be deemed inauthentic. In fact, Ouroussouf makes the freeway comparison to an earlier proposal for LACMA by Rem Koolhaas, which planned on demolioshing all but one of the current structures and covering it with an enormous glass tent. "Mr. Koolhaas's design reflected a shrewd awareness of what made Los Angeles one of the most original urban creations of the 20th century. The elevated concrete slab eerily evoked a displaced fragment of elevated freeway", he writes, before damning Piano for keeping the original buildings in his design. One of the main reasons Koolhaas addition was scrapped was that they couldn't figure out a way to clean pigeon droppings off the glass tent roof. With BCAM, LACMA now gets to contend with a similar problem--only the incoming is from critics instead of birds.
If you're into such things, Real Gay L.A. is a great new site that's filled a huge hole (yeah, it's intended) in L.A.-- a site for the gay and lesbian community in SoCal. The site is the brainchild of Matt Falber, who I met a few years ago when he randomly walked into a Mediabistro Party at the Abbey. He's an extremely passionate advocate for the young gay community and I look forward to seeing how the site develops.
This is Little Santa Anita Canyon, just ten miles from downtown L.A. Don't I look badass? Can't thank my buddy Travis enough for showing me this totally frikkin' awesome place and for shooting it so I can show all of you. The parts where we had to swim aren't on camera, because, well, swimming in ice cold water is hard!
Worried that my blog had become all-Obama, all-the-time, a friend and Hillary supporter sent me this video today, saying "Sure, Obama supporters have big name endorsements, but Hillary has Sophie B. Hawkins' unfettered support." As I picked my jaw up off the floor , he (yes, he's one of those young, white males who like Hillary!) added, "There is a certain charm to this video, actually. I mean, that Sophie B. Hawkins still exists and isn't doing heroin somewhere in the San Joaquin Valley is charming in and of itself.But clearly, she asked her lesbian girlfriend to film an impromptu music video on a shitty winter day in Venice-- probably for the best that she scrapped the line about 'coming inside her jungle book'.
Discussion Questions:
What is the significance of the graffiti tiger?
Who are the people in that apartment?
Who still carries around a boombox?
Why all the timecode?
Was the ASPCA monitoring the dogs used in this video?
Is that 'A Woman's Place is in the White House' bumper sticker especially made for this video?
This adorable video from the Courage Campaign explains how easy it is for us DTS'ers (that's "decline to state") to vote for a Democrat on Super Tuesday. Just ask for a Dem ballot. Want to vote for a Republican? Too bad. Only the DNC and the poorly named 'American Independent Party (they're wacky conservatives) allow DTS voters to vote in primaries.
Regardless of your affiliation, please take part in history and VOTE.
Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to at least 8:00 p.m. Anyone in line at the time the polls close is allowed to vote.
You can find your polling place here, read about the ballot provisions here, and find all about voter fraud here (PDF).
Voters have the right to cast a provisional ballot even if their name is not listed on the voting rolls. If a voter is at the wrong polling location and has time to get to the correct polling location before polls close at 8:00 p.m., they should go to the correct one and vote with a regular ballot instead of voting with a provisional ballot at the wrong location.
If you declined to select a political party when you registered to vote, you can still vote for Barack Obama (or any Dem) if you request a Democratic ballot from the poll worker. Make sure you mark "Democratic" in the appropriate space or the vote might not be counted.
Voters have the right to return a completed vote-by-mail ballot to any precinct in their county.
If you have any difficulties, you can call the California Obama Election Protection Hotline:
You can't blame CNN for cutting to audience shots all night long at the Dem Debate in Hollywood tonight: Barack and Hillary were too busy being substantive and friendly to provide much in the way of fireworks. And the DNC packed the house with celebs-- Leo, Spielberg, Diane Keaton, Bradley Whitford, Jason Alexander, but I have a question for you readers; a genuine non-rhetorical one. Is this too much celebrity to have at a DNC debate? Watching the show, I couldn't help but wonder if the Kodak Theatre has a "If you haven't received a gift bag in the last year, don't bother" admissions policy. We all know that for the most-part, Hollywood loves the Dems, but is the image of the two nominees performing for such an elite crowd really the one the party wants to send to America? Or do you think voters respond positively when they see that the Dems are the party that can make Stevie Wonder get up and cheer?
California residents only have a few more days left to register to vote in time for the California Primary. It's a semi-open primary, meaning independent voters are invited to vote for Democratic and Independent Party Candidates, but not Republican candidates. Register here.
To close out the year (and to give you folks something to read while I finish up scripts), tMR is listing the "Top 20 Trends of 2007". But I need your help putting them in order. Starting Friday, you'll be able to vote for the trend you think is the most important. Somehow, there'll be a prize involved. I've got to figure it out. If you have a suggestion for a trend, email me.
2007: Mean Girls
On the surface of it, the drug-fueled train wreck that is Lohanspearshiltonrichie is awesome; rich, privileged girls perform HI-larious stunts (ranging in creativity from driving drunk to shaving your head in front of the paparazzi), showcase the injustice of the criminal justice system (by avoiding it) and publicly back stab each other on any of the network shows more than willing to roll over and satisfy our collective fascination with America's favorite problem children.
But even if the objects of our attention have no depth, there is an undercurrent to our obsession with them. American culture is a deeply misogynistic one and never so clearly as when it's delighting in the destruction of sexually promiscuous women. But we've gone from eulogizing candles in the wind after the fact to active speculation of when and how Britney Spears will kill herself. It's the modern day gladiator tournament, with the maddening crowd goading these fame addicts to the grave. Spears et. al. are on the hook for their behavior, but we're not off the hook for watching it. Are these women a fascinating distraction from the tedium of our own lives or merely a reflection of it?
The Writer's Guild of America is on strike. There are actually really good reasons for the writer's to strike-- basically most guild members spend their career making no money, then a lucky few wind up making a ton of money for-- if they're lucky 7-8 years and then often, never work again. And those are the successful ones. Writer's are like the Olympic gymnasts of the entertainment world, only significantly less attractive. They train and work and burn out, never to be heard from again. So, while it looks like they make enormous salaries, in reality-- they don't and most survive off of residuals that derive from their creative contribution. And the studios have basically smacked down the WGA for the past decade over reality TV, digital media-- anywhere they could cut writers out. So, it's an important strike, really.
But this is the last time I'm going to be serious about it, because c'mon- writers on strike is HI-larious. Don't believe me? You'll see.
FunMaps, one of the oldest gay and lesbian travel guides, and I have teamed up to bring you FunMaps TV, a series of fun and informative videos about popular travel destinations in North America.
Check out the first one on Big Sur & Paso Robles here. If you're a regular tMR reader, you'll recognize a lot of this. Look for upcoming pieces on Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, New York & Montreal.
Still sick (less so, but my throat is scratchy enough to prevent podcasting and I seem to want to nap constantly), but I know how fickle my readers are, so here are some awesome things I've been doing in between my delirium tremens. Like the title says, these things will swallow up your day, not that you were doing all that much to begin with:
Jericho: the complete first season online. All the major networks have video on demand versions of their major shows. It's pretty frikkin' awesome. Brought back from the dead by a major fan drive, apoco-drama Jericho will air seven new episodes sometime soon (depending on the writer's strike), but you can catch-up on the first season online.
Truth be told, the show takes a long time to warm up and the producers seem to miss the fact that the reason we love Jack Bauer is because he's a bad ass, not a guy just looking to fit in at the bake sale, but once the town next door goes all Lebensraum on Jericho and we see that the army's wearing a new version of the stars and bars, the show goes nuts.
My proposal is for something I call Riverside Park-- using the footprint of San Francisco's Candlestick Park in the railroad area north of Cesar Chavez Boulevard. It's extremely close to Union Station, could be connected by a "game day shuttle" and once you moved the L.A. County jail out of the area, you could infill the project with mixed-use retail and hi-rise condos. It could then be the third anchor for downtown, continuing the sweep from L.A. Live through Grand Avenue, as well as a catalyst for L.A. River development. What's great, though is that this map gets you thinking about these things.
Also, while I despised the 30-second "lightning round" imposed on candidates at last nights Democratic Debate, the guy on fire (and by my estimation, the most straightforward and Presidential) was Joe Biden. Check it out:
So, L.A. is on fire. The local networks have canceled their regularly scheduled Montel Williams to cover the wildfires and as expected, the anchors are models of calm and composure. Here's some highlights I've overheard:
"You may not realize it, but L.A. is under siege. You may not see it in your neighborhood, but in neighborhoods very near you, people are running for their lives."
"I asked the chief here if they knew when this fire would be contained and he got very serious, lowered his eyes and said very gravely, 'It's far too early to know.' It's like he's given up hope."
"Even if the winds die down, if they ever ever die down, that is, the fires are not going to stop."
"Looking around at the situation, you want to put up a white flag and say, 'Mother Nature, you win!'"
But before you listen, if you're in L.A., you might want to check this out:
"We are thrilled to announce the opportunity for fans to attend a one-of-a-kind Josh Ritter performance. On October 26th, Josh and the band will be bringing their live show off the stage and into an exhibit hall of L.A.’s Museum of Natural History.
It will be filmed for the upcoming television series “Live from the Artists’s Den,” and we’d love it if a hundred or so of our fans joined us. This is an invite-only, closed to the public evening of live music and television cameras – but with martinis and extinct mammals abound.
To attend, you must be among the first 150 people to RSVP at the link below. AND if you’re among the confirmed attendees and you bring your ticket stub from the previous night’s show (at the El Rey Theatre), you get special privileges (at least moved up to the front of the line!).
Britney's Self-Service Salon, my contribution to the JUST BRITNEY show, gets the TMZ treatment today with snarky commentary and a video of Perez Hilton and Jeffree Star playing with the piece-- ie: shaving people's heads. Link here.
As you may have noticed, I'm paying around with style and format with these. A few of you have even commented or written in with suggestions. I really appreciate it and hope you'll keep them coming.
This one is what I hope will be part of a regular segment on fun weekend trips in the SoCal area. It's a look at Paso Robles, an up-and-coming wine region is Southern California. If you're looking for more information on the places mentioned in this podcast:
"Just Britney", a show all about Ms. Spears is going up September 28th at the World of Wonder (WOW) gallery in Hollywood. I'm doing the main window display piece, entitled "Britney's Self-Service Salon". I'm looking for a few brave souls willing to shave their heads for the opening night reception. If you went to the "Golden Girls Gone Wild" show, you know that these thing draw huge crowds and you'll be right up front and center. Come help blur the lines of celebrity by briefly being one yourself! If you're interested, or know someone who would be, email me athairtoday@themodernromantic.com
Cruising, the 1980 Al Pacino flick where he plays a cop searching for a killer in New York's underground gay S&M scene is playing until the end of this week on the big screen at the Mann's Chinese 6 in Hollywood. When the film came out it was loudly denounced by gay groups, but hey, it's got Pacino getting slapped by a black cowboy in a jockstrap, so it can't be all that bad. The film, directed by William Friedken, will be released on DVD Sept. 18th.
Pirates everywhere breathe easy: Misshapes, America's longest running hipster bacchanal, ended last night. No longer will Davey Jones and his crew have their clothes mercilessly deconstructed into glad rag chic by the barbarian hordes of Billyburg. The weekly NYC party ran for almost half a decade, gaining the dubious distinction of being the cultural touchstone for a crowd which scorns the idea of cultural touchstones as out of date and unhip. As for what the disaffected unwashed masses will do now, the NY Times quotes one former pirate-beater as saying that the new thing is "dinner parties". That's so three years ago.
I am "walking" in the Jimmy Fund Marathon this weekend. My Dad has had two heart attacks in the last year and to celebrate his comeback, our family is walking/running/virtually walking (that's me-- I can't make it back to Beantown, sadly) to raise money to fight cancer. If you'd like to donate, click here.
Shocker: New condo not as cool as it's next-door neighbor, classic icon of early Modernism, The Schindler House.
Seminal (tee-hee) queer-punk band Pansy Division is going on tour for the first time in four years this October.
Chris's parents are coming into town this weekend and he asked me for suggestions on places for his Midwest parents and him to eat. My initial reaction was "free meals!" and instantly thought of places like Whist, Matsuhisa and Royale, which are incredible and pricey. Then, I realized that parental dining isn't so much about scoring the best food possible, but like all things L.A., it's about crafting an image--namely, you as a fabulous L.A./Hollywood success. Here are my picks. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
Bar Marmont- Sort of the epitome of Hollywood. Better to go earlier in the evening for small plates and drinks. Can be a scene later, but much classier than the Ivy.
La Conversation- Great brunch place. Really good food, filet mignon benedict, Waverly wallpaper everywhere.
Spanish Kitchen- Really good Mexican food in a great atmosphere. If the folks want Mexican, you should take them here
Trader Vic's- Your parents will know about Trader Vic's. They will tell their friends back home that their son took them to Trader Vic's. You will get a mai tai out of the deal.
Hungry Cat- At some point, you will be in Hollywood proper. Suggest Hungry Cat, which has great seafood. I understand people from the Midwest thing fish is some weird delicacy, but almost everything is fried-- so it won't seem all that odd.
In-N-Out Burgers- You know who introduced me to In-N' Out? Perez Hilton, that's who. Of course, at the time he was just Mario and was you know, sort of pleasant. So, thank you Perez, for introducing me to the magic of "animal style". For that, I will always be grateful. And so will your parents, when you introduce them to the greatest fast food joint on the planet. Just don't start drawing cocaine sprinkles on photos of babies or anything.
Loteria Grill- So you're at the Farmer's Market and the Grove. Sure you could go to the Cheesecake factory, but then your roommate would call you "Cheescake Factory Boy" for a week. So go to Loteria Grill in the Farmer's Market. Basically, the best tacos in town. Choose a meat, try a few, get some sandia and show em how Cali does the taco.
Musso & Frank's- Whenever my Dad is in town, he eats here. I don't know why because he's never invited me. Maybe there are strippers? But somehow doubtful considering it's the epitome of old Hollywood. Actually, come to think of it... I'm told the martinis are amazing.
Cut- If Mom and Dad want to say "We ate at Wolfgang Puck's!" this is where you want to go. First, it's possible to get reservations. Second, somebody famous will be eating there. Three: It's a fucking steakhouse, man. Your parents will try the beef and make some jokes about how it's a lot of fuss for a porter or something, but inside they'll remember it for the rest of their lives. Now, I'm not saying a meal can make your parents proud of you, but when they think of you living some bigshot Hollywood life, they will think of having a meal with you at Cut.
Pinkberry- Because Pinkberry is the most important thing to happen to L.A. ever. It's not only a tasty treat, but a mood-altering mind control drug. If Pibnkberry asked me to kill, I would.
So, um--this is HI-larious and dead on. I'm especially a fan of "We may be vanilla but our labs are chocolate." But this:
West Coast
Is the start of a a rumble. I love that they shot part of it outside Fred Segal. I wonder if we can expect a Midwest response from Chicago. "Straight out of Naperville", anyone? *I owe Sabin total credit for this. I bow to his YouTube skillz. UPDATE: Actually, the whole thing is an ad campaign for Smirnoff. I fell for viral marketing.
So, I'm putting this Snark Week thing to bed with a look ahead and shows that you ought to get yourself to. I'll be doing concert reports on here as part of my whole- "personal blog that's actually useful to the casual reader" initiative-- or PBTAUT2CR as we call it at the Japhydome. Here are the shows I'm planning on seeing soon.
9/20Arcade Fire @ The Hollywood Bowl - Holy fuck a duck. After the concert the night before, off to the Bowl for apocalyptic rock...oh, and the AF is playing with LCD Soundsystem. I have to go clean myself up now.
And for once it's not for a recovery program. I'll let Jackie explain it in her own words:
I am hosting the Gay Erotic Expo again this year (3rd time!) at the L.A. Convention Center on Sat & Sun August 11 & 12.
This year I am bringing in some great entertainment such as Punk Bunny & Selene Luna! I am also having The Sir Heffigton Dancers to do a sizzling fully whore-e-o-graphed number on both days, BUT... They have several members and I need to pay them more than what the current budget allows.
That's where your porn/dildo/lube company comes in! I am looking for a sponsor to donate a mere $500 in exchange for signage (you must supply it) AND the dancers have agreed to even feature your product or business in the actual dance number! Imagine the geeenius Sir Heffington Dancers flying about while holding your porn/dildo/lube or whatever!
First come first serve! So GET ON IT!
This event is PACKED every year so it really is a lot of sexposure!
-JB
Now, $500 is not all that much and the idea of having your product in a dance number does sound kind of great. Don't have a product? Why not just print out some posters with your face on it and have Jackie and Co. perform a glorious homage to yourself? Personally, I'm hoping Pinkberry sponsors. If interested, you can message Jackie on her MySpace page.
Sony Pictures presents a re-issue of the 1986 filmLabyrinth, showing through Aug. 2 at Landmark's Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles. Special guests will be featured tonight at the 7:30pm show: Brian Froud, conceptual designer of the film, joined by his wife, Wendy Froud, a puppet designer for the film, and the Frouds' son, Toby, who played baby Toby in the film.
Labyrinth will show at Landmark's Nuart Theatre, through Thursday, August 2 for a one-week engagement. Showtimes are 5:00, 7:30 & 10:00 daily; plus Fri - Sun at 12:00 & 2:30. Landmark's Nuart Theatre is at 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, just west of the 405 Freeway, in West Los Angeles.
Fun weekend. First one in a while, to be honest. Saw Dan Flavin yet again. This time with Ryan and Guy. We made fun of the Friday night Jazz series. Somehow convinced Ryan to go to Ketchup with me. It's basically the old Cafeteria on 8th Ave in New York, with a better space and better service. Of course, considering that the waiters at Cafeteria made a habit of sharing their contempt, that's not saying much. By the way, we ate in the lounge, which required no waiting and gave us much more space. If I were to go again, that's how I'd do it. Ryan took me to a birthday party with amuse bouche's and lawyers (nice ones, though!) and Josh from Curbed, who I haven't seen the Palm Springs Dwell conference last year.
Took my new roomie Chris to the Standard's Pool Boy Party. At first the sea of circuit party Speedos put me in a bad mood and Chris sort of cringed at the $12 drinks. Then ran into a bunch of random people, including a straight pal of mine who had parked himself down in a chaise with a book and Bloody Mary, having forgotten it was gay day, but deciding that sometimes you have "to L.A. it up anyways." Jumped in the pool, drank mojitos, floated on tubes, watched muscle boys wrestle in the pool. Chris kept everybody drinking. We're going to get along great.
Later, Jordan invited me to a pajama party, all mysterious like. It was at a place called Pehrspace, which looks very much like a vacant dentist's office. I walk in and Graham's there. His bf is sharing DJ'ing duties and sadly, only a smattering of people dressed in PJ's. I however, rocked in my Paul Frank's (yes, Matthew, those Paul Frank's). The party is called Outre L.A. and seems pretty darn cool, even if it is populated with lots of people I already know.
Right now, I'm finishing my bowl of carrot ginger soup, listening to Icky Thump and wondering if anybody will be interested in this at all. And yeah, I did other productive things, but I'm not blogging about laundry. No sir.
You were reading my blog, I was ranting about Craigslist
As you may have guessed from my recent "Chance Meetings" post, I love Craigslist's Missed Connections. They can be funny, scary and poignant. But there's a certain kind of "missed connection" that makes me furious-- the scorned ex-boyfriend "blind item". I mean something like this:
I will miss you. But we're both looking for different things. And timing is off for both of us. I want and deserve the opportunity to have a full-time boyfriend with equal rules. You are a great catch, but so am I.
your friend always A.
I get how this could seem like a romantic gesture. I mean, the whole reason I read missed connections is for fun winsome sentimentality. I can see how it happens. You're up late one night and think- 'Hey, I'll write this really important message on Craigslist, because if it's meant to be, he'll read this, know that it's me and just like inSerendipity, we'll wind up united by luck and kismet'. Well, that's just fucking stupid.
As a conceit for a romantic comedy, it's lazy, but in real life it's cowardice. If you have something to say to someone you ostensibly care about, you owe it to them to tell them. Posting it on Craigslist is just a way to make yourself feel better, because you get the feeling of being a great sensitive guy, but without any of the difficulty or responsibility of facing an actual living, breathing human being. It just seems to me that if you're going to take the time to articulate something about someone you care about, you ought to tell it to the person in question and face the consequences, one way or another. Don't miss out on real connection if you can help it.*
And to the guy I saw walking on Santa Monica with his boxer-- call me.
*And no, I don't have any personal missed connection story/ history. I'm just easily irritated.
I get a lot of shit for saying that the Pacific Design Center is my favorite building in L.A. My standard defense is that it's one of the few buildings in L.A. that bothers to embrace the utopian spirit of the city. It creates a triad of "big idea conteporary complexes" with Gehry's Disney Hall (which I finally got to see the inside of recently--that carpet is hideous) and Meir's Getty Center (which I loved when I first moved here, but now comes off as elitist and aloof).
The Feds raid four L.A. area museums as seen on the NYTimes website.
"Just Britney", a show all about Ms. Spears is going up September 28th at the World of Wonder (WOW) gallery in Hollywood. I'm doing the main window display piece, entitled "Britney's Self-Service Salon". I'm looking for a few brave souls willing to shave their heads for the opening night reception. If you went to the "Golden Girls Gone Wild" show, you know that these thing draw huge crowds and you'll be right up front and center. Come help blur the lines of celebrity by briefly being one yourself! If you're interested, or know someone who would be, email me at hairtoday@themodernromantic.com
And for once it's not for a recovery program. I'll let Jackie explain it in her own words:
Fun weekend. First one in a while, to be honest. Saw Dan Flavin yet again. This time with Ryan and Guy. We made fun of the Friday night Jazz series. Somehow convinced Ryan to go to Ketchup with me. It's basically the old Cafeteria on 8th Ave in New York, with a better space and better service. Of course, considering that the waiters at Cafeteria made a habit of sharing their contempt, that's not saying much. By the way, we ate in the lounge, which required no waiting and gave us much more space. If I were to go again, that's how I'd do it. Ryan took me to a birthday party with amuse bouche's and lawyers (nice ones, though!) and Josh from Curbed, who I haven't seen the Palm Springs Dwell conference last year.
