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a simple equation

In the future, many, many years of hard work by highly-paid reproductive scientists finally make it possible for a gay man and a post-menopausal diva to finally reproduce. Only the strange, strange product of their strange, strange love was unhappy growing up in the shadow of his strange, strange parents and wanted to live, if not a normal life, then one where he could at least make something of himself without always having “the son of” appended to his name, but it seemed to be an impossible dream.
He knew from the photos scattered around his family home that the scarred recluse who lived in their pool house was once a very famous man who ruined his life having surgery after failed surgery in the attempt to make himself over in the glamorous image of his mother. He always pitied this poor, broken thing, until he realized just how exploiting his own resemblance to his mother could change his life. Until the day he realized the only place he could ever be anything other than “the son of” was… the past. *cue dramatic music*
Long story short, he murdered his parents to get his inheritance a little earlier, used the money to fund time travel research and escaped to 1986 as soon as he could, to murder their house guest while he was still successful and take his life over. This explains both Michael Jackson’s horrendous visage of recent years (not so much the result of misguided plastic surgery as attempts to save him from the ugly side effects of experimental time travel) and why Bad wasn’t quite as good as Thriller.
a simple equation
And no, I’m not doing drugs. No, really.
I read about the crazy ass David Gest/Diana Ross rumor on Gawker and watched this unfold in my dreams Thursday night. So it’s all Choire’s fault.
Also, my favorite comment so far about this rumor is from this page, by Doom Nation:

Naw lady, everybody dosen’t know Ms Ross is strictly dickly. Do you really know? We do know that she’s dramatically drunkally. She’s been out there in Hollywood. Who’s knows if she’s had girlz under her hood. She could be into experimentation. Maybe this Gest guy is swinging big time wood. Don’t let looks decieve you. I’ve read that Gest is a revitalizer of has beens. Maybe Ms Ross is trying to make a comeback. I could see this; Ms Ross sings the national anthem at the Master’s and Gest walks by and pulls off her bra exposing silicon enchanced tities. Sorry folks but Ms Ross is doomed

update: Brad points out Best Week Ever also arrived at the formula—but not the accompanying story. That particular craziness is mine, all mine.

kelis right now

Speaking of hate, I like this 2001 interview with Kelis where she speaks about speaking about hate:

drDrew.com: What’s interesting to me is that you sing “I hate you so much right now.”
K: That’s important, that’s really important. No one ever notices that, but that’s so fucking key; it’s not forever. I say it all the time. It’s that momentary feeling and it’s a feeling of outrage. People say that hate is a really strong word and it is. “Right now” makes it so real. You can be in love with someone and at that moment you can hate them because of something that they’ve done or something they’ve said or however they’ve made you feel. Sometimes we don’t say it because it’s like, “Oh, I really love this person.’ Fuck that: You’ve pissed me off really bad and I hate you right now. I can’t say it any better.

If you’ve missed the reference, check out the lyrics to “Caught Out There” off her 1999 debut Kaleidoscope. Frankly that song terrifies me, although it’s great to listen to when you’re pissed off. Having said that, I’m not really a fan of hers although I think her current single “Milkshake” is an excellent piece of work. If you haven’t seen the video for it yet, now’s your chance.

wau wau sisters at knitting factory

wauwausisters.jpg
I first saw the fabulous Wau Wau Sisters in December when they opened for Kiki & Herb at Bowery Ballroom and loved them so much I resolved to take all my friends to see them sometime in the near future.
Well, the near future turned out to be last Wednesday when they headlined at Knitting Factory. Alaina, David and Adriana were my posse, and good fun was had by all. Highlights of the evening (apart from the gorgeous Tanya and Adrienne, of course) were crazy accordion man Corn Mo‘s cover of Queen’s “We Are The Champions” and Neal Medlyn‘s striptease. Not only is he the Paris Hilton of performance art, but his milkshake is better than yours. Also his legs would put any supermodel to shame.
My photos of the Wau Waus: see their Knitting Factory show or as Kiki & Herb’s opening act.

remote lounge

lille
mich
lia
Lille and Mich are both in town for a few weeks so I brought them to Remote Lounge the other night.
We spent the first few minutes looking at other people, giggling over them until we noticed the camera at our booth was moving, which meant someone was looking at us. Interesting social experiment when you’re with a small group of friends, but I don’t know that it would be so much fun with a large group or if you were with your date or partner. Or parent, for that matter.

wau wau sisters + kiki & herb = good times

wau wau sisters
christmas-kiki.jpg
Last Sunday I got to see both the Wau Wau Sisters and Kiki & Herb with Chris, Sparky, Glenn, Andy and a few other people at Bowery Ballroom.
Chris did a great job of summing the night up so I’ll just tell you about my favorite part. We were right up at the stage so I got lots of photos of the Wau Waus and Kiki, and while I was trying to frame one of my last shots of Kiki as she was talking between songs she stopped and said,
Kiki: Excuse me, are you trying to take a picture up my skirt?
Lia: No, Kiki, just your legs! Your gorgeous legs!
Kiki: Herb, Herb, she just paid me a compliment. (to the audience) Remember, it’s not about how I make you feel, it’s about how I make ME feel.
We had a moment, people. Fleeting, yes, but still.
Runner-up moment was having my picture taken with Tanya of the Wau Waus. She’s incredibly nice and although it seems impossible she’s even hotter off stage than on—but (like Andy) I think I have a bigger crush on Adrienne. Their Sister Christian number finally makes the ten years I spent in Catholic school totally worthwhile.

michael jackson’s mugshot

michael jackson's mugshot
lia: michael jackson’s mugshot is soooooo bad
matt: like a surprised housewife
matt: “you rang?”
lia: i want a large file so i can make a t-shirt
matt: I love the eyebrows in their perma-surprise position
lia: scary
lia: also the cheekbones that slide straight into the jaw, wtf
lia: who has bones like that?
matt: yeah. did he get his eyes enlarged?
lia: yah
lia: dude, there’s nothing left of his old face!
lia: it’s all been done over and over and over again
(Question now is what’s been done more often, Michael Jackson’s face or Paris Hilton?)
See also: Separated At Middle Age, Michael at the doomed Gest-Minelli nuptuals with the newlyweds and Liz Taylor.

neal stephenson

nealstephenson.jpg
Neal Stephenson did a Q&A and book signing for his new novel Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) in Union Square last night, so naturally I walked up from Washington Square after my drawing class and sat in an awful folding chair along with my fellow nerds to hear him talk and get my book signed. He said he wore a suit because New York was dressy but then opened his jacket to show his concession to his geek roots: five or six pens neatly lined up in his shirt pocket. I don’t know, I think I would’ve been more impressed if he’d a protractor in there, or at least a pocket protector.
Anyway, one of the things I love most about Stephenson’ last book Cryptonomicon is how authentic the parts of it set in the Philippines feel to me, in every case more so than in most any novel I’ve ever read written by someone who actually grew up in the country, so I asked him how he does his location research; he said he did it by reading up, especially about places he knew nothing about, and then visiting them with his eyes wide open, taking notes on everything he saw. He also said he could only stay somewhere to do that for about a week, because after a certain amount of time he’d get too comfortable and would stop noticing things—diminishing returns, if you will.
The Confusion, the second book in Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, goes on sale in April 2004. Harper Collins has an interview (transcript and audio available) with him about Quicksilver, if you’d like to find out more about it. If you’ve never read any of his work, might I suggest you start out with the book he’s most famous for and that most people love most? Amazon has Snow Crash for a measly $11.16, a bargain any which way you look at it.
Thanks again to Skot, who sent me The Diamond Age off my wishlist a very long time ago, when I was too broke to buy books and feeling very sorry for myself.

r.e.m. at jones beach

r.e.m.: mills, stipe, buck
Last night I realized one of my life’s goals: I saw Mssrs Mills, Buck and Stipe play at Jones Beach. So good, so so good, even if it was so cold out that Michael Stipe jokingly asked the crowd near the water if they wouldn’t mind standing up to block the wind from blowing over and freezing him.
Thanks to David for coming with! He took this photo of me on the LIRR train home. And apologies to Jessica Zafra, whom I’ve never met but have bitterly hated from afar since I was sixteen because she got to fly from Manila to Hong Kong to watch R.E.M. play there and I never thought I would get the chance to ever see them.

golden girls live

the golden girls
Last Saturday I invited David, Alaina, Anil, Jason and Silas along to what turned out to be the most fun thing I’ve been to since I moved to New York a year ago: “The Golden Girls: LIVE!”
Four men play the girls in a reenactment of two (soon to be three) of the best episodes from the show’s seven seasons. You can see them at Rose’s Turn in the West Village (on Grove Street, a minute away from the Christopher Street 1/9 subway stop) twice a night on Fridays and Saturdays until December (when they move to another venue and start performing eight times a week), but make sure to call a few days in advance to make reservations as they’re always sold out. Peter Mac, John Schaefer and Darren Polito are excellent as Sophia, Dorothy and Blanche (Schaefer with make-up in profile looks uncannily like Bea Arthur—but then again, she’s always looked like a man in drag!) while Desmond Dutcher’s Rose still needs a little work, but “The Golden Girls: LIVE!” is hysterical and I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.
If you’ve already been to the show (or are just an insane fan) you can download mp3s of the musical moments they play in between scenes courtesy of some kind souls who put together “Meet the Golden Girls!” My personal favorite is “Miami Beach”, which has been playing in my head—complete with Blanche’s escalating “Girls!”—for the better part of the past week.
Those of you on the West Coast, rejoice, the show will be visiting L.A. and San Francisco for two month runs next year so you can see it then.