1.26.2012
1.13.2012
Year End: 2011
Some years are filled with change, some with sadness, some with hope... I’ll remember 2011 as a year of significant accomplishment. A major milestone in my professional life was met by the completion of my first film. Hollywood to Dollywood was shot and mostly edited in 2010, but we focused-grouped and re-shot and had our premiere in 2011. At the packed 600-seat DGA theatre on Sunset Blvd, as part of Outfest; it was a day I don’t think I’ll ever forget. And I’d have been fairly happy if that was the culmination of the journey, but thanks to the tireless efforts of Gary and Larry Lane, it’s become the little-documentary-that-could, playing since July in almost 50 film festivals world-wide and picking up over a dozen awards along the way, including Best Documentary and Best Director. I truly couldn’t be more proud of this film. Hopefully the music licensing issues will be worked out and we’ll find distribution in 2012!
It may seem trite to some, but this year was one of physical accomplishment for me as I worked out hard with Joao, my trainer, and changed my body in ways I didn’t think possible. It’s not like I was terribly out of shape, but just slight physical modifications have had positive effects on other aspects of my life: confidence, health, work etc. I guess as 40 approaches, the motivation gets stronger, and I actually find myself feeling better now than I ever have before. Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue through the new year and beyond.
Work continued at a steady clip, with no shortage of travel to shoot new and interesting projects. Between January and December I found myself in:
-Palm Springs: rang in the New Year with the boys;
-San Francisco: to continue shooting with Larkin Street;
-New York: during one of the coldest weeks on record, but working with three lovely Russian sisters made it a blast;
-Mendocino, CA: a phenomenal weekend at John Dixon’s inn to celebrate his and Mike’s lebenspartnerschaft;
-Puerto Rico and St. Croix: to shoot a new installment in the ongoing Path webseries;
-Palm Springs: for White Party weekend, though we actually didn’t go to the party;
-New Jersey: to shoot a pilot on old barns, and got to visit with Ali and Anthony;
-San Francisco: back for Larkin Street pickups;
-Las Vegas: for a killa’ weekend with fellow birthday boys Zac, Bruce and Brian;
-Southland Tour 1: Raleigh, Atlanta, Chattanooga and Birmingham to shoot more of the webseries, see Mike and ‘dem in the ATL, Mom for Mother’s Day and Jen in the ‘ham;
-Portland, OR: continue shooting webseries with Matt and Tom;
-Palm Springs: Memorial Day at the Bradbury House;
-Portlnd, OR: more shooting and yummy food trucks;
-San Francisco: to see new Tales of the City musical and dance at Bootie SF;
-Laguna: July 4th beach and shopping and fireworks;
-New York and DC: continue with webseries shooting, and also see friends in NY and Leah in DC;
-Southland Tour 2: (this time with Greg on board for his first time ever in the South) Atlanta with the guys; Chad’s 40th at Lake Martin, AL; Signal Mtn. and singing at Tom and Julianne’s cabin; Nashville to shoot webseries; then H2D screening in Memphis—9 awesome days!;
-Atlanta: again! for H2D screening with Mom, Billy, Jen, Rohit, Mike etc. just awesome…;
-Palm Springs: pride;
-Palm Springs: 2 week sojourn at Jack’s house to work, relax and do press for H2D; also convinced myself that I should start looking to buy something there soon;
-Chattanooga: for Christmas with the family;
-Palm Springs: ring in the New Year!!
Damn, no wonder I didn’t have time for much else this year. Though I did manage to see some good shows, both theatre and concerts, in 2011. Top among those were: Book of Mormon on Broadway, Les Miserables at the Ahmanson with our moms, Dolly at the Hollywood Bowl and Kylie at the Fox in Atlanta for one epic night with Mr. Head. Also really enjoyed Shrek at the Pantages, Tales of the City in San Francisco, Adam’s Family (starring Jimmy B!) on Broadway, Follies on Broadway, Cirque du Soliel’s ode to cinema, Iris at the Kodak, one of my all-time favorite’s Rocky Horror Show at the Old Globe in San Diego, Bring it On at the Ahmanson, and the debut of Mack & Poppy in Hollywood. As for movies and tv—Downton Abbey caused a massive sensation in our little neo-Edwardian social circle and Bridesmaids and Crazy Stupid Love stand out in a rather lackluster year for films. The big movie, for me, was Hollywood to Dollywood. I also got a second music video out that I’m super proud of, for Laurence Duff’s Amor & Psyche:
Seeing as I love to eat and drink, a year-end piece just ain’t complete without mentioning some awesome nights out. At the top of my list was The Bazaar at the SLS. Uh… I didn’t have any idea what was happening with high-end dining until experiencing this. Thank you Paulo for a really memorable meal. Marvin’s in DC with Leah and Martin, Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham with Jen was fantastic, Nobu with Paulo in NY- uh, again, holy shit, that’s some good sushi, and also Kai’s new restaurant, Currywurst (on-going!) on Fairfax. Sooooo good…
Downtown’s new hot spot, Perch, opened directly across from our loft so we’ve lost our privacy on the patio, but we’ve gained an awesome new neighborhood restaurant. St. Patrick’s day at Villains was, uh, well I don’t really remember it, but the pictures say that I had a great time with Matt and ‘dem, Bootie in both LA and SF continues to be the best night for dancin’, MJ’s with Kevin (after some delicious home-cooked concoction of his), and First Fridays at the Natural History Museum (thank you Tarik for turning me onto that). Sadly, success killed Summertramp, the hipster dtla pop-up waterpark, imho.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention two epic fails from the past year, lest my life should appear all unicorns and butterflies. The first would be our first attempt at a potluck dinner for our first annual holiday concert at the loft. With 150 rsvps, and “pot luck” plainly stated on the invites, I thought we’d be set for a bounteous holiday feast. Unless you consider two roasted chickens and 7 delicious cakes a feast (which I kinda do), which is all we ended up with to feed the masses. First and last time I ask gays to make food. Ugh...
The second was the Sky Lantern Debacle of 2011. Oy, we almost set Palm Springs on fire on New Year's Eve by sending a miniature hot-air balloon (lit by an open flame!) aloft into the night sky. In a desert. In a residential neighborhood. With power lines and palm trees everywhere. Those five heart-stopping moments were some of the worst of the year.
In April, Leah and Jesse and Martin came to stay with me on my birthday. We all loved the street art exhibit at the MOCA/Geffen, hiked Griffith Park, did Venice Beach and hit Bottega. Twice.
Then in late June, Matt, Brian, Greg and myself hosted our dear, sweet mothers for four days of dinners, shows, museums, sight-seeing, laughing, story-telling, photo ops, movies, views, lunches, shopping, drinking and singing. That was an incredibly special burst of activity that we’ll always treasure.
And on September 13th, I met a great guy by the name of David. He is a cousin of the Ringenberg's--old family friends. We had dinner and drinks at Villains and I haven't looked back. Thankfully he lives around the corner from me, so even though he’s getting his masters in architecture (like my brother), we’ve found time to embark on an fantastic voyage.
It may seem trite to some, but this year was one of physical accomplishment for me as I worked out hard with Joao, my trainer, and changed my body in ways I didn’t think possible. It’s not like I was terribly out of shape, but just slight physical modifications have had positive effects on other aspects of my life: confidence, health, work etc. I guess as 40 approaches, the motivation gets stronger, and I actually find myself feeling better now than I ever have before. Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue through the new year and beyond.
Work continued at a steady clip, with no shortage of travel to shoot new and interesting projects. Between January and December I found myself in:
-Palm Springs: rang in the New Year with the boys;
-San Francisco: to continue shooting with Larkin Street;
-New York: during one of the coldest weeks on record, but working with three lovely Russian sisters made it a blast;
-Mendocino, CA: a phenomenal weekend at John Dixon’s inn to celebrate his and Mike’s lebenspartnerschaft;
-Puerto Rico and St. Croix: to shoot a new installment in the ongoing Path webseries;
-Palm Springs: for White Party weekend, though we actually didn’t go to the party;
-New Jersey: to shoot a pilot on old barns, and got to visit with Ali and Anthony;
-San Francisco: back for Larkin Street pickups;
-Las Vegas: for a killa’ weekend with fellow birthday boys Zac, Bruce and Brian;
-Southland Tour 1: Raleigh, Atlanta, Chattanooga and Birmingham to shoot more of the webseries, see Mike and ‘dem in the ATL, Mom for Mother’s Day and Jen in the ‘ham;
-Portland, OR: continue shooting webseries with Matt and Tom;
-Palm Springs: Memorial Day at the Bradbury House;
-Portlnd, OR: more shooting and yummy food trucks;
-San Francisco: to see new Tales of the City musical and dance at Bootie SF;
-Laguna: July 4th beach and shopping and fireworks;
-New York and DC: continue with webseries shooting, and also see friends in NY and Leah in DC;
-Southland Tour 2: (this time with Greg on board for his first time ever in the South) Atlanta with the guys; Chad’s 40th at Lake Martin, AL; Signal Mtn. and singing at Tom and Julianne’s cabin; Nashville to shoot webseries; then H2D screening in Memphis—9 awesome days!;
-Atlanta: again! for H2D screening with Mom, Billy, Jen, Rohit, Mike etc. just awesome…;
-Palm Springs: pride;
-Palm Springs: 2 week sojourn at Jack’s house to work, relax and do press for H2D; also convinced myself that I should start looking to buy something there soon;
-Chattanooga: for Christmas with the family;
-Palm Springs: ring in the New Year!!
Damn, no wonder I didn’t have time for much else this year. Though I did manage to see some good shows, both theatre and concerts, in 2011. Top among those were: Book of Mormon on Broadway, Les Miserables at the Ahmanson with our moms, Dolly at the Hollywood Bowl and Kylie at the Fox in Atlanta for one epic night with Mr. Head. Also really enjoyed Shrek at the Pantages, Tales of the City in San Francisco, Adam’s Family (starring Jimmy B!) on Broadway, Follies on Broadway, Cirque du Soliel’s ode to cinema, Iris at the Kodak, one of my all-time favorite’s Rocky Horror Show at the Old Globe in San Diego, Bring it On at the Ahmanson, and the debut of Mack & Poppy in Hollywood. As for movies and tv—Downton Abbey caused a massive sensation in our little neo-Edwardian social circle and Bridesmaids and Crazy Stupid Love stand out in a rather lackluster year for films. The big movie, for me, was Hollywood to Dollywood. I also got a second music video out that I’m super proud of, for Laurence Duff’s Amor & Psyche:
Seeing as I love to eat and drink, a year-end piece just ain’t complete without mentioning some awesome nights out. At the top of my list was The Bazaar at the SLS. Uh… I didn’t have any idea what was happening with high-end dining until experiencing this. Thank you Paulo for a really memorable meal. Marvin’s in DC with Leah and Martin, Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham with Jen was fantastic, Nobu with Paulo in NY- uh, again, holy shit, that’s some good sushi, and also Kai’s new restaurant, Currywurst (on-going!) on Fairfax. Sooooo good…
Downtown’s new hot spot, Perch, opened directly across from our loft so we’ve lost our privacy on the patio, but we’ve gained an awesome new neighborhood restaurant. St. Patrick’s day at Villains was, uh, well I don’t really remember it, but the pictures say that I had a great time with Matt and ‘dem, Bootie in both LA and SF continues to be the best night for dancin’, MJ’s with Kevin (after some delicious home-cooked concoction of his), and First Fridays at the Natural History Museum (thank you Tarik for turning me onto that). Sadly, success killed Summertramp, the hipster dtla pop-up waterpark, imho.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention two epic fails from the past year, lest my life should appear all unicorns and butterflies. The first would be our first attempt at a potluck dinner for our first annual holiday concert at the loft. With 150 rsvps, and “pot luck” plainly stated on the invites, I thought we’d be set for a bounteous holiday feast. Unless you consider two roasted chickens and 7 delicious cakes a feast (which I kinda do), which is all we ended up with to feed the masses. First and last time I ask gays to make food. Ugh...
The second was the Sky Lantern Debacle of 2011. Oy, we almost set Palm Springs on fire on New Year's Eve by sending a miniature hot-air balloon (lit by an open flame!) aloft into the night sky. In a desert. In a residential neighborhood. With power lines and palm trees everywhere. Those five heart-stopping moments were some of the worst of the year.
In April, Leah and Jesse and Martin came to stay with me on my birthday. We all loved the street art exhibit at the MOCA/Geffen, hiked Griffith Park, did Venice Beach and hit Bottega. Twice.
Then in late June, Matt, Brian, Greg and myself hosted our dear, sweet mothers for four days of dinners, shows, museums, sight-seeing, laughing, story-telling, photo ops, movies, views, lunches, shopping, drinking and singing. That was an incredibly special burst of activity that we’ll always treasure.
And on September 13th, I met a great guy by the name of David. He is a cousin of the Ringenberg's--old family friends. We had dinner and drinks at Villains and I haven't looked back. Thankfully he lives around the corner from me, so even though he’s getting his masters in architecture (like my brother), we’ve found time to embark on an fantastic voyage.
1.11.2012
Shit People Say
It's the meme that won't die, but there are some really funny ones.
Here are my faves:
"Same song. It's the same song."
"Thas cute, right...?"
"Oooo turn it up; that is my JAM!"
"Motha fucka you want a bulow. Jawab."
"I just got the best deal on printer ink!"
I mean, people are clever. Thank God for the YouTubes...
Here are my faves:
"Same song. It's the same song."
"Thas cute, right...?"
"Oooo turn it up; that is my JAM!"
"Motha fucka you want a bulow. Jawab."
"I just got the best deal on printer ink!"
I mean, people are clever. Thank God for the YouTubes...
11.25.2011
11.09.2011
Shameless self-promotion
But it's my first cover! So I'm proud of it!
(Even if it is an odd mix of Ted Baker fashion, food and wine (w/recipes!) and h2D interview...)
(Even if it is an odd mix of Ted Baker fashion, food and wine (w/recipes!) and h2D interview...)
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