Train in Vain

Good on you for the fab 'do Joe. Blogging is all about good hair!!

This is my first week of commuting via Muni/BART to Oakland. I so looked forward to my romanticized version of taking the train to work replete with caddish Jude Law look-alikes sneeking glances at me over the top of his Wall Street Journal. Alas, reality has been more like "Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" than "Lady on A Train". It's cattle call, freaks and more freaks, dirty people, pushing, shoving and Asian women coughing within spitting distance. Where's the glamor??????

good news

today, I'm having a good hair day. Spiky, but artfully so, showing to best advantage my new 40-buck+tip doo.

how is everyone else?

What I did instead of watching the Stupid Bowl

(inspired by Greg's post)

The Mister and I watched half of the very dark "The Magdelene Sisters" while making homemade pasta. He made the dough, then we both cut and shaped it using my new hand-carved, imported wood corzetti stamps that I've been looking to buy for a year. You just can't get them in this country; I guess the little old men carving them in Liguria are spending too much time drinking grappa (as Boyer says, "grandpa's socks"). One uses the stamps to cut about 1 1/2-inch discs from thin sheets of fresh pasta, then one presses the discs between the two halves of the stamps, leaving behind decorative impressions (this set is carved with the retailer's logo, so not that cool; still looking for more traditional ones with cool design) top and bottom that help sauce adhere. Can it get any gayer?

Yes, it can: Sauced them with a shrimp/broth (homemade, of course)/pancetta (imported, of course)/arugula(organic, natch) combination from my favorite local Italian chef's new The Spiaggia Cookbook. Then we watched "Carnivale"--very gay, with its freaks and psychics who don't fit in the world, not to mention its many homo-erotic scenes, such as the lead character, cute Ben, being tied down in a dark shed ... -- during dinner, saving the other half of the Irish movie for another night (Netflix is so gay). Oh, opened a pinot grigio (from Velio, a good producer at great price; no Santa Margherita crap for our house), for its acidity to contrast the rich shrimp.

Gay gay gay.

anybody else?

Really Whitey Tighties and Scary Bunnies

Guess I should have been giving updates on the job thing. I spent the last 2 months consulting at a sound editing equipment company called Digidesign in Daly City as Interim Controller. They offered me the job full time but in the meantime, I continued to interview for full time gigs and tomorrow I start a new job at Clorox Corporation in Oakland. I am excited about this especially becoming a regular BART commuter. I've always had that overly romanticized vision of taking the train to work and now it will be reality. The acquisition of Gillette by Procter and Gamble has a lot of people speculating that other consumer goods companies (like Clorox) could be acquisition targets. That has me leery because my last two jobs ended when the companies were acquired. The modern workplace - zero job security.

I skipped the Super Bowl and rented Donnie Darko instead. This tale of time travel and a scary bunny consistently appears on favorite lists on all the social networking websites like Friendster. It's still sinking in, but so far I just don't get the passion people have for the film. I find Jake Gyllenhall only marginally dreamy.

Sundance Film Festival Report

Ok, so I only attended one film but that's probably more than Paris Hilton.

Park City is your typical "California-ized" mountain town with new construction "chalet look" condos rising everywhere and art galleries selling overpriced Southwest inspired art. The L-Lay and NYC attitude made the people watching a little less than perfect. That was somewhat salvaged by the stunningly handsome bloke from West L Lay who chatted us up in the movie line and by the Courtney Love look alike who seated herself next to me in a coffeehouse babbling nonsense into her cell.

We saw the winner of Best International Drama, "The Hero" from Angola. It was a great film. The director provided commentary through an agent before the film and simply provided the fact that there are 10 land mines in Angola for every one citizen.

The ski resorts were nice though the snow conditions a bit rough. My host, Bob, ran into a tree on his skis on Sunday and shattered his kneecap. I have to admit I had fun in the infirmary joking with the staff, looking at the different patient X-rays and overall just making a nuisance of myself. When it comes to ski injuries, it's always better to be in the Rupert Everett, helpful best friend role instead of splayed out on the table.

New Look

Love the new color scheme for BGN! It's very Wallpaper without being an IKEA knockoff of it.

Bush-cotting ...

are ya listening to the bushie-league-ness? I sure ain't.

hey, fans!

The new feature made possible with this lovely template is the Comment action. At the end of each post a Comment option is automatically created (when creating a post, one can opt to select No to prevent the comment option).
Comment allows anyone to make a quick note on someone's post without going to the trouble of an entire post.
Look for it!

Sing along, everyone!

Feeling down about the prez and his latest or previous lies? Need a pick-me-up? Launch this song for a little break: I hate Republicans

30-second bunnies theater ...huh?

Many times have I stolen post ideas from the genius that is Snarky, the best blogger on the planet (says me). So, why not steal again?



"The Exorcist"
This site she found is also genius (lots o' genius going around): Classic movies told in 30 seconds, by animated bunnies. What kind of crackhead comes up with this? The genius kind! See for own self: Go to the bunnies

this just in ...

well, not quite. Apparently, the info has been out there, but I just caught on. Do you find it annoying while posting a blog that you cannot easily do bolds, itals, or post links and photos? Well, some browsers have easy buttons for this and some do not. Safari, our prefered browser at Skyloft, for example, does not have these easy to use buttons. Netscape 7.2 and the latest Explorer do. Check out this article on Blogger, Blogger Browser Matrix, for details.

Back from black

Hey, gang!

Decided that the new year called for a new template, and coming back from the blackout was a good time (not sure about the dots, but ...). Hope to figure out the code a bit more to add back the fav links.

A big, "HEY" to Greg and his picks of 2004. I always have trouble picking my best of anything, but I have to agree with "Spotless." Here are some others to continue Greg's discussion:

Best new-found* band and best concert: Scissor Sisters, of course! Thanks, Dave & Paul!

Best album: Not really good at this one, since I don't buy that much music anymore. Scissor Sisters by default. Or Greg's pick of Loretta's disc.

Music listened to the most: Lots of Sam Phillips and Rufus Wainwright

Favorite newly-discovered* cuisine: Vietnamese, probably; love that pho!

Best wine: Tensley Syrah, hands down! Consumed at Alan's birthday dinner at Bouchon. Thanks, Al! Very small production from winemaker Joey Tensley of Carina Cellars. Santa Barbara County wines were one of the big stories of 2004 (thanks to "Sideways" and just a lot of good wine coming from the county's three AVAs), and Tensley's fruit is sourced there. His Tensley Wine Co. brand is a side project. Along with being winemaker at Carina, he has been winemaker, also, at Beckman, another favorite! Trick is, you can't find Tensley wines out here! I bet nearly all bottles are pre-sold or go straight to restaurant lists (like Buchon's). Keep an eye out for me guys, eh?

Job thrill of the year: Spoke to my idol: cooking teacher/cookbook author/legend Marcella Hazan, on the phone, in Italian!

Recipe of year: Well, it could be shrimp and grits even though it was published just this week, we tasted it in the TK (test kitchen) in December, prompting me to make it for Christmas brunch in Charleston, S.C.--ironically the birthplace of the dish--whereupon it became an instant hit and tradition. But since my list seems to be becoming more and more All About Me, then I'll tout my own recipe for chicken thighs with onions and arugula, which was picked for the Top 10 recipes of the year by our staff.

But, enough about me!

Best cookbook: Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie; or maybe Bouchon, but haven't cooked from it yet, myself, coz the boss has a death grip on it; however, it's beautiful, large, lushly-photographed, and has received great reviews elsewhere; or maybe Quick and Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes, everyone loved the dishes we tested.

Best Web launch: Stitch, of course. And I still want that Jonathon Adler pony.

Best service industry addition: Netflix ... and thankyou Blockbuster for your lame attempt at competition (lying about "no late fees" is stupid genius), which did nothing but make Netflix cheaper. Yeah!

Best TV show (or should that just be HBO since regular TV can't compete: Deadwood; love that Timothy Olyphant! (also check out Go photos)

Best fashion development: Wouldn't know! Are you kidding?


*Meaning not necessarily "new" but new to me in all my slow-to-pop-cultureness!

Best Of 2004 List

Ok, so I don't think I saw enough films or listened to enough new music to name a top ten list, but I'll take my swag at my favorite films and albums of 2004:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind remains my far and away favorite film of the year. Eternal is a brilliant story about the important role that memory plays in our lives. Are we simply the compilation of a lifetime of memories...or can we truly swipe the slate clean? It asks these questions and provides the analysis in an entertaining and beautiful way. My runners up are Bad Religion, Pedro Almodovar's smart noir film that keeps you guessing and features stud boy Gabriel Garcia Bernal in drag throughout and The Incredibles, the Pixar animated film about a family of super heroes making heroics out of everyday living. Pixar took full advantage of animation to achieve scenes a camera and live film could never duplicate.

My music choices are also simple and somewhat mainstream. Green Day's American Idiot is an amazing rock opera for this decade. Not quite as trascendant as Nirvanan's Nevermind, it nonetheless rocks throughout and nicely presaged the results of the Presidential elections in its theme of church versus state. Runner up for 2005 is Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose. Jack White was smart to mine the underutilized talents of this country legend. Loretta brings gusto to the lyrics in a way that Jack's sister Meg or any other modern female songstress could never do justice.

Ya can't say "tits" on the radio, but ya can say "shit" on TV

stayed up to watch SNL with Colin Farrell and the Grammy-nominated Scissor Sisters, and staying up that late (all the way until midnight) is very difficult for me. Just ask anyone from the Alan Flatt Birthday Brigade.

Colin was pretty good in some bits; not so in others. But in everything, he was pretty handsome. The Sisters did "Take Your Momma Out" and "Comfortably Numb," their Grammy song. Jake Shears didn't disappoint baring his chest in both performances, although the Oscar-night gown-like pants suit, open to the navel, with big swooping lapels and a completely open back down to his ass was a touch odd.

So they didn't do the Tits song, and so they didn't say tits on live TV, but at the end of the show Colin did his little thanks bit and said "shit" ...

well, if you can say "shit," then can't you say "tits"?!

just wonderin

That's Bullshit James! That's Bullshit!

Hi All,

A quick blog entry to tell you that I am just back from 9 days in Costa Rica with my friend Dean. The trip was fun but definitely a bit more third world than even I expected. One thing I have learned about travel is that it teaches you so much about yourself. Each trip helps refine what you like and don't like. On this trip, I learned that I really like the fact that we can toss toilet paper into the bowl after wiping instead of into an open container next to the toilet. Ditto for paved roads, accurate road signs and sidewalks. On the flip side, the canopy tour in the cloud forest was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. River rafting was awesome too. Dean and I agreed we could have made an occupation out of staring at the ass of our hot 21 year old rafting guide who was going commando beneath his tight surf shorts.

On the trip we ran into a group of guys on an Alyson Adventures gay tour. One of the guys was Wes, the winner of Bravo's Boy Meets Boy competition. Wes was beefier in person than on tv so Dean decided that victory must have meant consuming the competition. Wes was very cute but a total attention hound. The starfucker in me was totally smitten when he started making fun of how my shorts looked in the blacklit rooftop bar we were standing in. He has a website, wesculwell.com

Hope all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

blogging again

hey!

yes, yes, the monkey won, but at least Illinois and California did our bit.

moving on ...

and the newest news in town, the event we've all been waiting for, the retail and design debut of the season, of the year ... Stitch's Web site! In a word: fabulous. Chris and I are already on the board. so start your shopping, folks! (of course, always remember to shop at Atys, too!)





stitchchicago.com

it's been added to Fav Links, boys and girls. easy shopping while you get caught up on the latest blogs

Gay couple has banal sex

From the latest Onion:

MINNEAPOLIS—Jerome Ostrowski and Barry Lipner engaged in the practice of banal sex Monday, sources reported. "After we got home from Don Giovanni's, the restaurant we go to pretty much every Monday night, Barry started giving me one of his predictable mood-setting backrubs," Ostrowski said. "After five minutes of that, he mounted me and put in a hundred or so quick thrusts. All in all, not one of our more memorable encounters." Lipner said that Ostrowski's reciprocal act of fellatio was "serviceable."

... this is no commentary on the poster or his husband.

Bushworld

Last night I saw Maureen Dowd interviewed at the Herbst Theater. It seemed that all in the audience were frustrated that JFKerry is running such a weak campaign and Maureen is as well. Perhaps the problem is just that he truly is a weak candidate and that is the one thing we may never get the swing voters to look beyond.

Loved the Pedro article, Joe.

All about Pedro

"One of the happiest moments of my life was when I got to Madrid for the first time. If you are born a person like me, you are condemned to live in a village for your entire life. The good thing about living in such a small town is you realize very soon what you do not like. ... To live in that town for the rest of my life would have been like death. I came to Madrid with a definite ambition: to make films."

required reading in the Times Sunday Magazine

Get your kicks

From the Kinsey Sicks



This song is hilarious. And they have a few political tunes that are fun right now such as this.

Trampolina is my fav.

Read more about the girls here.