now, ahem, i would love love love to know who reads my site... i know that it's fun and all to peek into someone's life (no matter how dreary or humdrum) and remain anonymous, but i've received letters from geocities the last three days in a row saying that i've been going over my data transfer limit of 3 gigabytes per month... luckily, the month's over now, but i know that the site has been temporarily turned off at times when some poeple visit... (i swear, mom, if i find out that you are reloading my site every hour to see if anything exciting has happened to me yet i'm gonna be so mad!)
so brian left at 5:30 this morning for the airport where an airplane took him off to live in los angeles for six weeks... this means i am officially all by myself... *sigh* i'm looking for peeps to spend time with and in order to bribe you a little bit, i've got a free ticket for a movie at the new lowes theater on 34th st. and 8th avenue. who wants to go to a movie with me???
SUNDAY, 10.28.01 i am 52% punk.
SATURDAY, 10.27.01 so here are a bunch of pictures from today/tonight... it was our halloween before halloween day since brian will be leaving to los angeles on tuesday and will miss out on all the good stuff... first, we stopped off at our friend jim's house for a little halloween party... got to see a bunch of peeps we don't get to see often and had arts and crafts and everything!!! brian and i dressed up: me as an organ grinder's monkey (i had a great tail!) and he as a bowery boy of the depression era... then we met up with friends for a movie (trembling is currently playing at film forum to sold out crowds every night... you really should check it out...) then dinner where amanda called up a new brian who met up with us... total doll!!! then off to the cock which was, as ever, too crowded and annoying... this guy walks up to me, grabs my monkey tail, and as i turn to see what's going on back there, he sticks his (nasty cocaine coated) tongue in my mouth... what, i really want to know, gives these guys the idea that they have the right to do something like that... i mean, i don't care how cute you are (and he definitely was not) - ask me for crime's sake... anyway, oh yeah, here we go:
THURSDAY, 10.25.01 went to the lure last night for a party called "hustler ball"... (the name will soon be changed to "hooker ball" due to legal stuff with larry flint, who claims he "owns the rights to the word hustler" or something like that)... i was a little bored until one of the performances... they had a piercing show on stage that was incredible... if you don't know what that is, ask and i'll tell you...
TUESDAY, 10.23.01 i talked to howard tonight and then after we hung up i found a bunch of old pictures from san antonio that i didn't know made it to new york with me... i'm realizing that i'm pooping out... i'm losing interest in everything that i'm currently doing and i don't know what i can do about it... well... i mean, i'd like to get a new job and have more money and be able to afford some upcoming trips, and, while that would get me excited, it's not what i'm talking about... i find that recently i spend all of my spare time (and there's a lot of that) baking pies and pot roasts or cleaning the apartment... i've never felt more like a prude in my life... i mean, i love doing both of those (call me mom) except i feel like i'm turning into someone boring... i have this painful desire to pick up a pen and start sketching again... (any hot guys out there interested in sitting/standing/sleeping naked in front of me for a few hours???) there's just something holding me back... is it a lack of motivation that results in depression like this or is it depression like this that results in a lack of motivation??? i don't even have my halloween costume thought out yet!!! i usually have at least an idea by august!!! how do i get out of this and how long will that take??? will you allow me to rant??? i feel really lonely... i miss college... i miss having that small group of friends that was always hanging out at your apartment watching mindless television or that friend's apartment where you and your small group of friends would go to order pizza and drink beer all night... i even kinda miss my drug habit... or i did for a few seconds... i miss going to art class... i miss having a job that i enjoy... i just want to know how i got so damn old at such a young age...
MONDAY, 10.22.01 so, here we are... i think we look hot!!! you should see brian's hair... i dyed it red last night... how red??? refer back to my wigstock do...
so, i love this!!! thanks to scally (i stole it from your site)...
SATURDAY, 10.20.01 so this is insane... edsel (refer back to august 2001 if you need to) is back in new york from los angeles for a visit... spent the evening with him and, get this, never got a picture of him!!! shoot me now... i did, though, get to grab some pics of my friend david's band 46bliss performing at under the volcano... sooooo, i get there and find that there is still one performer to go on before they do and it's this kick-ass electric cellist named pablo (also possible known as 'contra mano'?)... he was incredible!!! i wouldn't normally do this for something that i'm not in some way involved with, but i'm plugging his next show... check him out at 6:00pm on tuesday november 6th at soul cafe (444 w. 42nd st. between dyer ave. & 10th ave.) it's really quite something... i'm sure you'll be hearing more about this one here on "-freedom"... also met candi at the show... she'll be performing after pablo on the 6th so go! anyway, as expected, 46bliss rocked the volcano... you have to hear this cd!!! after the show, edsel and i went over to good ol' barracuda where i had the pleasure of meeting a beautiful one named martin... he's so sweet for letting me take his picture... aren't you, martin???
FRIDAY, 10.19.01 didn't write last night but yesterday was CRAZY!!! where do i start??? okay, so have you ever stepped onto one of those morning rush trains that are so full that you barely squeeze in between the closing doors??? but it's one of those packed and QUIET trains... you know what i'm talking about... no one saying a word... that is what i got on thursday morning on the way to work when i transfered to the 4 train at broadway-nassau... next stop the doors open and i try as hard as i can to stay in the train when a (excuse me for not being able to find a better term) crazy crazy gets on and squeezes right up on me... a short woman that starts preaching in spanish (which i happen to understand) about how the "white, non-spanish-speaking people are responsible for what happened in september" and how they will all go to hell for it... etc. etc. etc.... well, at some point, i giggled... not that she had said anything particularly funny or anything... i just giggled... and she went CRAZY!!! she started screaming at me, yelling that i have no idea how serious she was and that i am just a stupid white man that doesn't know what's coming!!! normally, i ignore this kind of stuff... but how do you ignore a crazy crazy that happens to be standing on your right foot and screaming in your face??? i went off!!! i yelled, "i AM a white person but i am ALSO a SPANISH SPEAKING person... am i going to your heaven or your hell???" etc. etc. etc. well, she ended up getting really mad and got off the train at the next station... get this: the other passengers start applauding!!! a few whistles... a few "whoooo"s... i almost felt really good (for some reason) then i realized i had missed my stop...
goth boy: "so i worked, like, fourteen days in a row and i didn't know what today was until just about an hour ago... it's like when you're like, 'i hope it's wednesday because then tomorrow would be thursday,' but then someone says, like, 'it's sunday' and it throws you off completely."
i'm serious... now, please don't steal this dialog from me, 'cause i already stole it and i'm gonna use it for something... i have to...
WEDNESDAY, 10.17.01 went to the premiere of a new american masters documentary on richard rodgers tonight... i've always considered myself a fan of rodgers & hart/rodgers & hammerstein but i had NO idea that this man had written sooooooo many of the songs i love... i mean, i knew that he was one of the most successful musicians ever to hit broadway, but there were so many songs that i've loved for as long as i can remember that came up in the film where i said, "i didn't know he wrote that, too!" it was thrilling... learned a bunch of other stuff, too... did you know that the only rogers & hart song ever written for any reason other than to be staged in a musical is "blue moon"??? that's right... they wrote it just for the heck of it... and it became one of their most famous tunes... anyway, i think you'll be able to catch it on november 4th on pbs... be sure and check it out... you'll be singing for days...
TUESDAY, 10.16.01 dave's here!!!... this is my friend dave from back home in san antonio... he's next to brian and our friends sean and amy (i don't think she likes her drink... hehehe... she's going to hate this picture!) last night at dick's bar... anyway, dave came up to visit for a few weeks!!! haven't seen this boy in two years... i ran off to new york and he ran off to join the marines!!! i know what you're thinking!!! well, i believe he's single (who ever really knows???) but, sorry boys, he's straight!!! i know what you're thinking and YES, i have a straight friend... in other news, i hear that jhh is doing pretty good at the box office, but that it really needs to do better... come on, now!!! it's only around for a short while longer... go see it!!! in OTHER news, i've finished (i think) a new website... check it out sometime!!! what does all this mean??? it means........... that i need your help finding a new job!!! "hey, dan'l... i would love to send your resume to my friend that will jump at the chance to hire someone like you!!!" gosh!!! thanks!!!
WEDNESDAY, 10.10.01 last night: the premiere of jails hospitals and hip hop...
MONDAY, 10.08.01 from tonight's birthday party for my friend john:
SUNDAY, 10.07.01 went to six flags yesterday!!! had a great time with tim, brian, todd and richard... it's halloween fright fest there so there are all of these zombies (more than usual???) walking around the park... but can i just say that i love rollercoasters and have never ever experienced one like the nitro... it's so smooth and poetic in motion... it really is!!! go ride it before it gets too cold to have fun...
WEDNESDAY, 10.03.01 got to hang out in the rumpus room last night... tried to take some pics but my camera if fucked up!!! urgh... i joined sparky and the boys (that's latin for "the guys whose names escape me now") for the season premiere of buffy... i'd never watched it before so i kept asking annoying questions about the plot and history of the show... i don't think they minded filling me in, though... (such sweeties)... after the show we popped in the dvd of "unbreakable"... it was interesting that the movie was so different than the way it was marketed... i won't give away the plot to those that haven't seen it yet, but it's an interesting twist on what i thought the movie was going to be about... and it's shot very beautifully... i guess it's a recommendation... oh!!! speaking of movie recommendations, i have to put this up... i'm stealing it from the rumpus room, but it's great!
September 29th, 2001. The day I went to see "Glitter."
Remember how in 1980 Bette Midler came out of nowhere and gave a knockout performance in "The Rose" as the singer whose quick rise to the top and equally fast descent into fame-induced hell charred the lives of everyone around her? Remember how Bette became the critics darling, got tons of new fans, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress to boot?
Well, none of that's going to happen to Mariah Carey Nope. None of it. She'll never live this one down. (Future historians are likely to say that Mariah went straight to "Beaches"). The New York Post review of "Glitter" claims that whenever Mariah tries to emote in "Glitter" she simply looks like she's lost her car keys. What they didn't disclose is that not only is it beyond her limited capabilities to even "find her car keys", but had she managed to find the keys in this movie, she would've been promptly out-acted by them.
Yes, Mariah's problematic as the star of "Glitter." (Of the seventeen times she says "what-eh-VUH," probably only about two are Inside the Actor's Studio-worthy). The directing is a big problem with "Glitter." The nauseating "Let's pretend this is a Bazz Luhrmann film!" editing style of "Glitter" is a problem. Hell, as far as I know, the catering service and the cat trainer were problems on the set of "Glitter." But the real, systemic, DEEP DOWN problem with "Glitter" is simply:
The Screenplay.
The screenwriter is Kate Lanier, who also word-forged the thoroughly ignored "The Mod Squad" a couple of years back. Lemme tell ya, that screenplay was her "Gentleman's Agreement" compared to this squishy dangle of Razzie bait. It puts the B in Banal.
Here's a sample of actual dialogue from early on in the film, when Mariah's character Billie (oh... as in Holiday! Gee thanks, Mom, for sublimating your frustrations at being a boozy lounge singer who never amounted to anything on ME!) first meets Dice, a Sleestak-y looking DJ thing (soon to be her producer-cum-boyfriend) at a downtown club during a theme night called "Least Convincing Recreation of 1983 -- EVER":
DICE: Name's Dice -- like lucky sevens.
"Glitter" contains exactly ONE good line. During her first (disastrous, natch) video shoot, lots of little pieces of silver foil are blowing behind Billie and her "comedy relief" backup singers (although the only relief I felt with those two was when they were NOT onscreen) and the director character, in a fake Russian hiss, cuts the action and yells, "The glitter CAN'T overwhelm the artist!" I kid you not. He actually says that. (And a lot of other director-y things in an accent WAY less convincing than Walter "Mr. Chekov" Keonig’s). The irony being, of course, that little silver pieces of foil caught in a wind machine actually ARE capable of overwhelming poor lightweight Mariah Carey.
Now imagine that the producers are asking the screenwriter to come up with a scene to show "you know, how Billie is an unsophisticated girl suddenly caught up in the whirl of Manhattan's hip downtown scene..."
Great. What on-her-way-to-the-top movie would be complete without one of those scenes? So what did the screenwriter come up with? ESCARGOT! Yes, of course! There is actually a scene in "Glitter" where the befuddled Billie is served a plate of escargot in a fancy-schmancy restaurant -- and she doesn't know what to do with it! And we don't even get the satisfaction of watching as Dice breaks the news to her that it's really snails! She has no intention of eating it, whatever it is. Period!
Sigh. She could've at least done a Lucy Ricardo and clipped the snail-holder to her nose and tried one. Even a "Pretty Woman" Snails-a-Flyin’ Event would be better than simply cutting off the scene before the ached for and all-important snail reveal. O, what could have been.
I didn't check the credits to see of there was a Script Continuity person hired for this movie. If that's the person who's supposed to make sure that all the scenes are strung together with SOME KIND of temporal sensibility, then either they didn't have one, or he/she was more out of it than Billie's mom.
OK, so after the "My Mom's a Drunk and Burned Down the House With Her Cigarette So I Have To Go Live In New York With My Cat" prologue, the movie cuts from Billie as a child to Billie as a club slut in the aforementioned scene at the downtown dance venue. The subtitle says "New York -- 1983." Since Billie and Dice are all innuendo-ing around OUTSIDE, she in satin shorts, sports cap and pigtails that make her look like the bratty girl in "Carrie," and he in an oooh-so-tight sleeveless black T and plastic pants number straight from next month's OUT magazine, one can only assume that it's NOT the dead of winter. So let's be generous and say it was a very warm April Fool's Day. Fine.
Now at the end of the movie, it's her SOLD OUT (we are reminded a lot) concert at Madison Square Garden. A close up of the ticket stub says "June 30th, 1983." Hold ON! Are we to believe that this entire movie, her whole glittering Homeresque epic journey from skanky back-up singer to sequin-gowned famous person, took less than 3 months!?!
I call no way.
And I swear that in a scene that shows Dice reading a Billboard magazine blaring the headline "Billie Franklin Sells Out MSG in 20 Minutes," the issue was dated APRIL 1983! SO... not only is this movie a rags-to-riches story... It's a TIME TRAVELING rags-to-riches story! NOW I get it!
Dice gets shot in the chest and dies. Sorry to let that spoiler pounce on you like that, but we need to discuss the "Bad Guy" subplot (which is only slightly more annoying than the "Where's My Mommie?" subplot). I don't get it. Early in the movie, Dice offers Billie's original manager a hundred large (Dice's hip lingo for $100,000.00, not mine) to buy out her contract. He never pays the guy. So throughout the movie, the bad guy shows up every now and then and threatens to hurt Dice and/or Billie. SO WHY NOT JUST PAY HIM THE $100,000 THEY OWE HIM?
I mean, c'mon... Dice is on the cover of Spin magazine as DJ of the Year, owns a packed dance club (I think he owns it -- he keeps calling it "my club") AND has a beautifully appointed loft! SHE JUST SOLD OUT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN and has had a #1 hit for 10 weeks (another continuity problem). THEY HAVE (or at least can GET) THE MONEY! It's not like they're putting the loot up their noses. (This movie seems to think that music people in the 80’s didn't do drugs -- boy now THAT'S realistic!) But no. They have no intention of living up to their verbal agreement. Instead, they let the problem fester until finally, on June 30th, 1983, (that's right...Billie's big night!) the bad guy kills Dice. Billie of course goes on with the show (oh yeah -- they've broken up at this point -- it was a big scene -- she took the now ancient cat, but no clothes - and MOVED OUT on his ass) and dedicates her big hit to his memory. The "big hit" that got her to the Garden, by the way, is a cover of "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" which I believe in reality was a semi-moderate hit for Mr. Robert Palmer. Perhaps she should've done a Candle in the Wind-ish remake called "I Didn't Mean For You To Turn Up Dead." Was there anything GOOD about "Glitter" in the true sense of the word? Well, the ACTUAL songs from 1983 were mostly good, though I don't think it was the intention of the producers to so thoroughly counter-point the heinousness of the music created for the movie. And Ann "Frantic & Edgy" Magnuson was her usual wonderful self, even if the screenplay couldn't come up with anything more original for her to do than be a frantic, edgy publicist. I give her the "Gina Gershon in Showgirls Tongue-in-Cheek Award" for probably knowing that a piece of crap she was in, yet running in screaming joy to the bank with her paycheck.
I can't wait to see this movie again. (On DVD. With deleted scenes!) What I'm NOT going to reveal is the final scene. The scene that wraps it all up is thrown rock stunning, absolutely awe-inspiring in its sublime awfulness. If it weren't for the rest of the audience in the theater for the Saturday afternoon matinee I attended, (consisting of: two 11-year-old girls and me. Hey maybe they were script consultants!) I would've jumped up on my cushy seat and screeched "Jackpot!" over and over. As it was, I simply screamed it in my head. At least I think I was hearing my own voice. I'm not sure. Like poor Mariah, "Glitter" may have simply tipped me over the edge into temporary insanity.
Hopefully, one day, Mariah will be able to explain it all to James Lipton and again the world will make sense. Until then, I remain, as always,
Overwhelmed by the glitter,
TUESDAY, 10.30.01 who doesn't love an evening with sparky!?!? me and my sweets went over to two boots pioneer theater tonight to see a collection of shorts including "20 bucks and a bag of coke" by beautiful brett berg... we got to experience a wonderful short film renaissance, directed by david etkin - a man i now must meet... i adored this film!!! so, on the way into the city bernhard walks onto my train and on the way back into brooklyn i step onto the train to find him again, this time with roger!!! i love how tiny this city is at times...
"the intelligent punk. tuff and smart. i may be able to maintain a train of thought
long enough... what the fuck was i talking about?"
in other news, i have a brand new tooth thanks to my very wonderful and very sweet and almost touchable (*clears throat*) dentist... it looks and feels natural... it's pretty neat...
ugh...
went to this party at the slipper room... daddy's chicken held octoberfist... yes, -fist... i was a little nervous, having been invited by a friend and not knowing exactly what to expect... i was thinking "sex party" and not too sure if i should actually go... but, of course, i did... it was such a surprise... not only was it NOT a sex party, but it was this wonderful bohemian cabaret with a german theme... the acts were hillarious!!! this is a monthly party, each month a new theme (november will be the "horn of plenty")... i urge you to check this out... it's for gay and straight alike!!! and a total blast... i was lucky to run into friends pie and kai there... adorable as always... brian and i got a little dressed up... i (along with others at the party, i realized once i got there) had mistakenly dressed ala tom of finland (i, the sexy sailor) because the flyer used one of his drawing depicting a fisting... i'll post a picture of brian and i from before we left, but probably later tonight...
later that afternoon, i went with dave to a taping of the david letterman show... all i have to say is
brittany murphy - cocaine or ecstacy
macy gray - pot or alcohol or ketamine
senator john mccain - just an ass...
a crazy thing about this show is the FAKE audience that you end up a part of... i mean, it doesn't matter if the joke is funny or not... it doesn't matter if there was even a joke!!! there are these letterman kids standing all around you getting you to laugh at any and everything that happens... there are signs directing you to laugh or clap or scream "whooo!" (just like on the subway, remember???) so after the show, i get on the train back home to change quickly before heading back to the city to meet up with paul (not only my cousin but a great fabulous friend!!! J) to see hedda gabler (which kicks ASS) and onto the train walks goth girl and goth boy... both incredibly beautiful... and here is their conversation:
goth girl: "yeah, but sunday has, like, a very specific feeling..."
goth boy: "how?"
goth girl: "like, if i were to fly to pluto and come back to earth on a sunday, i'd just know it was sunday..."
goth boy: "you'd know?"
goth girl: "i'd know..."
had a good time at the party which was held for the movie's premiere... this movie was "completed" over two years ago but ran into some problems with a suck-ass record label that withdrew from the film after all of the music was laid down... this was followed by a bunch of legal stuff and the decision to bring in mixmaster mike from the beastie boys to compose a new (and may i say, MUCH BETTER) soundtrack... after losing two years on this, it became difficult to find a distributor so the film was released here in new york at one theater (village east at 2nd and 12th) and for a limited time only... if ticket sales are good (great!) it will help get the word out and perhaps grab a distributor... it will also open in los angeles (for all my west coast peeps) on november 9th (i believe)... stay on the lookout!!!
got back into the city last night and went around with sandi to help hang posters and hand out fliers for his movie...
BILLIE: I know who you are.
DICE: You do -- really?
BILLIE: Yeah -- I heard a lot about you.
DICE: Well. Don't believe everything you hear.
Followed by a pause to allow the charmed audience to finish their peals of laughter and Kleenex away the tears of mirth.
