Michelle Borok

Mix meets LA. GR meets queer LA.

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:27:00 +0000

While the Susie Ghahremani show was opening at GR2, our friends at MIX LA were having a summer picnic in the dark at the Los Angeles State Historical Park (formerly the Not a Cornfield site). Fun stuff went down - fun films, naughty films, films about leaving thick films on fun boys and girls, dance performances by some LA's best dancers (not to be confused with LA's Best Dancers), a sex toy fashion show and a raffle with kick-ass prizes, including a handful of subscriptions to Giant Robot Magazine! Yay! GR is a sponsor of the festival, and excited to see where MIX LA is headed. It's the queer baby brother/sister of the Big Mama Jamma MIX festival in NYC coming in October.

Damiana Garcia, correspondent extraordinaire from WOW TV, showed up to document the event. Here's her report. Fun to see friends Rudy Bleu, Mad Dog, Vanessa, and other familiar faces in the episode.

Just in case you can't see the video, since I'm not really good with this Blogger thing, you can check it out here at World of Wonder.

OMG, Shoes!

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:36:00 +0000

I've had a long time shoe fetish. Ever since I was a kid I've had lots on hand. When my feet were big enough to fit in my mom's shoes, it got even better, but right around that time was when my tastes became my own. By the time I was able to start making my own decisions about purchases, I was vegetarian, and soon after that I was vegan.

For the bulk of the almost 15 years that I've been vegan, I didn't wear any leather, wool or silk. Not like I go out decked out in it now, but at some point I made a personal decision to wear vintage leather. I got big on collecting shoes from the 1930's through the 1960's. Whenever I could find them, I grabbed up vegan shoes, but every once in a while the most exquisite pair of delicate 1940's wedges would cross my path and my will power would wither and die. Me and my boyfriend at the time struggled with buying leather shoes, but we did it and we were resolved to maintain the shoes to keep them as long as we could without replacing them. I think he had a harder time with it than I did. The first time I bought a "new" pair of shoes that had bits of leather on it, I felt so guilty that I ended up spending $600 on sponsoring a cow named Linus at Farm Sanctuary. It only helped suppress the guilt a little bit...

I'm still nuts about shoes, but last year, after realizing how gluttonous my collection had become, I did some serious scaling back and started buying new shoes (vegan) just once or twice a year. My collection is now only down to about 70-80 pairs, which should keep me happy for quite a while. I am fully aware that this number of shoes is more than most people will own in their lifetime.

My ex-boyfriend has found a way to give back, not just scale back, and I think it's a great endeavor. I remember the first time we went to Moo Shoes in Manhattan and saw what a pathetic offering of vegan men's dress shoes there were out there - not just at Moo Shoe's but in general. Plenty of skate shoes, plenty of ugly hemp mocs and bad man sandals, but not a lot of sharp looking oxfords. I guess a big reason for the lack is that the average vegan guy isn't a guy that needs a snappy dress shoe, but times have changed. Check out Kevin's debut into the world of fine men's footwear with a heart. I'd post pics, but he's got his page in flash and I'm not clever enough to figure out how to post a pic from his site.

The Vegan Collection isn't just nice to animals, it's also nice to humans. His shoes are affordable and look like they'll hold up for a while, at least until he's able to start offering up some new designs!

Hot for Rhonda

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:01:00 +0000

Lastnight, the flyer for the Thursday night Bikes Rock party was debuted. Super hot flyer, for a super hot night. Come on out.

BFF and Buff Monster Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:09:00 +0000

This week is a crazy one... gearing up for all kinds of nutty fun for the Bicycle Film Festival in Los Angeles, and Buff Fest! I hope to see lots of people out for both! Ride your bikes to get there!!

It's been an interesting year trying to work for the festival... at one point I was the co-producer of the festival, but it looks like now I'm just a supporter. Regardless, I'm trying to spread the word because I believe in the power of the festival to bring people together and inspire action in the bike community wherever the festival touches ground.

Here's a breakdown of the events for the week:

Thursday, July 17th
Bikes Rock!

9:30 pm till 2:00 am
A Club Called Rhonda
$3 with RSVP/ $6 without/free before 10 pm if you show up on a bike!
Guatelinda
4916 Hollywood Blvd. , LA 90027

Featuring:
free bike valet from LACBC
DJ sets from Little Boots (UK)
crazy hot dance floor fun!

Friday, July 18th
Bike Movies

The Vine Theatre
6321 Hollywood Blvd., LA 90028

7:30 PM | Program 1 - Fun Bike Shorts
9:30 PM | Program 2 - The Six-Day Bicycle Races

Read about the films, and buy your tickets early!

Saturday, July 19th
Bike Movies

The Vine Theatre
6321 Hollywood Blvd., LA 90028

1:30 PM | Program 3 - The Bike Lane
3:30 PM | Program 4 - Les Ninja Du Japon
5:30 PM | Program 5 - The Way Bobby Sees It
7:30 PM | Program 6 - Road to Roubaix
9:30 PM | Program 7 - Urban Bike Shorts

Read about the films, and buy your tickets early!

Sunday, July 20th
BFF Street Party

12 till 8 pm
Heliotrope Drive at Melrose Avenue
East Hollywood

Kunst Rad Show
artistic cycling performance
INES BRUNN

Testy

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:27:00 +0000

This is just a test blog post, totally ignore this if you see it.

Hot Yoga

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:26:00 +0000

Driving in to Sawtelle from Praxis' chemotherapy today at City of Angels Veterinary Cancer Group I heard a story on NPR about the rise of competitive yoga.

There are lots of discordant manifestations of Eastern wisdom and culture in the Western world. I feel like I see even more of it being connected to GR, where we don't try to re-interpret culture, or try to sell it as the next big thing... the culture just exists, and we try to share. It sells, that's for sure, but we don't play the hype game.... it's a sinking ship really, and our prominent Asian upbringings have taught us that it's not good to be on sinking ships!

Anyhow, competitive yoga? For reals? Isn't yoga supposed to be some internal struggle, non-competitive, self-improvement, set your own bar kinda thing? Granted I've only done it once or twice in half hour installments at 24 Hour fitness, but I grew up seeing my grandfather do it. He'd wake up at 5 am and do yoga until around 8 or 9 when everyone else in the house was just rolling out of bed and thinking about breakfast. He did it before he went to sleep as well. He did it in the privacy of his study, without music, or incense, sans candles... it was just part of his routine for physical and mental health, and at 92, it's served him pretty damn well.

White people are weird. I just chalk it up to that. They find something that's about self reflection and turn it into a sport, or a talk show, or an info-mercial. This yoga thing is happening in very white Portland, but I'm sure it's happening in LA too. LA, also home to the "maid cafe" in Culver City, staffed by white girls in cos-play yellow face. I'm sure it's going over well, but it's still a poor facsimile of the "cafe" cultures in Japan. There's a darkness that I kind of love about the maid and butler cafes... a really public and acceptable state of loneliness and isolation that can be cured for $20 an hour. It's not spectacle and kawaii, it's a modern take on traditional Japanese ideas about the art of a fine companion, and what it means to host and serve a guest. I can groove on that, even if I don't want to pay money to hang out with boys who are prettier and more gracious than I am. It's disconcerting and reminds me that my femininity is not fully realized - in the most non-patriarchal way of course!

When the GR crew was in Tokyo we skipped out on the maid and butler cafes and went for the real underground shit... the cat cafe!! This is where dreams are realized, where affections are bought and sold, and you get to TOUCH the objects of your desire. Pick up the latest issue of GR (with James Jean on the cover) and get the skinny...

Photo by Pryor Praczukowski, who I hope enjoyed this experience as much as I did!!

When I Grow Up

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:18:00 +0000

Pretty in Pink was the first PG-13 movie I ever saw. I saw it somewhere in Santa Monica, at a birthday sleepover with my best friend Brooke. I think Ramey was there and Brooke's mom, but I can't remember any other people who might have been there with us... my long term memory is pretty awful. Anyhow, it was the best movie I had seen and it remains one of my all time favorite films.

I wanted to grow up and have Andrew McCarthy fall madly in love with me, I wanted to have romantic make out sessions in hay barns at country clubs, and I wanted to have the best soundtrack ever to my life, but honestly.... I didn't want to be Molly Ringwald, I wanted to be Annie Potts. Iona, is quite possibly the coolest fictional woman I have ever seen portrayed on the big screen. I'm pretty sure was my first girl crush. I mean, come on... how can you resist her?! (Picture above borrowed from someone's blog... they only JUST saw Pretty in Pink... kinda criminal.) I wanted to be Iona when I grew up, and I still do. She ran a kickass record store, had the coolest apartment on the planet, the best hair, the best clothes, she was the oracle of cool for all the alienated punk rock kids, and she had fun being single! All things that I have only half-way done so far, or will forever struggle to accomplish for myself.

I thought of her a few weeks ago, when my dog was diagnosed with cancer. At the end of the movie, she falls in love with a handsome veterinarian. I should have paid closer attention to make that part of her fictional life my reality, not just the part about working in a cool record store and serial dating. If I had a veterinarian boyfriend, I'd make him sell me chemotherapy drugs at wholesale so I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to pay for the chemo sessions still ahead of us. If I had Iona's boyfriend, I wouldn't have to have art auctions to try to raise money to pay for the chemo and the follow-up treatments that will keep him in remission until his time really does come to leave me. (More on the art auction later, and how you can help Praxis and end up with some amazing art from some of my amazing friends!)

As far as I understand it, Praxis is doing fairly well with the chemotherapy. He has Lymphoma, and if left untreated, he would be dead in a week or two (they gave him 2 months at the time it was diagnosed). With chemotherapy there is the chance of remission, and maybe extension of his life with happiness and comfort for another year or two. We're in our third week of chemotherapy and the negative side effects have been a lot milder than I imagined, and he's maintaining pretty well! He's his normal sleepy/pokey/quiet self. He's been my steady companion since 1994... He's lived everywhere I've lived, loved everyone I've loved, and has unfailingly been one of the positive beings in my life. It's been hard trying to imagine him as sick, and to think of his body slowly failing, and me eventually having to let go.

This has been a rough year for dogs in my life, and the dogs of friends... This weekend the universe lost another good dog, Hanako. She was loved, and an important part of a family that I care a lot about. I hope these pups are leaving us for a good reason - and not just for our hearts to break. I think it gets harder to recover from loss as you grow up, not easier.

Anticipating Emergency

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:11:00 +0000

On Saturday I received 3 hours of CPR training and certification. I now know how to breathe into the plastic wrapped mouth of a fully amputated dummy, I know how to adminster the Heimlich maneuver, and most importantly, I learned a secret 911 code that could save my life!! I'm going to share it with you to give you a chance at life as well. It's the right thing to do. This is Bob, he traveled with me on this journey of discovery.

So, the first vital piece of information is to make sure you have a landline at your house. If you just can't stand to do that, then make sure that your billing address for your cell phone is your home address. In the case of a 911 call on a cell phone that can't be completed because something awful is happening to the caller, the address that shows up for the operator is the billing address. Only useful if you're at home and that's where your life-threatening emergency is happening.

So, say you're choking, or there's a psychotic killer in your house and you've found a place to hide, but you need help to survive the night... you have your phone, but you can't make a sound that anyone could recognize as a call of distress. You have to stay perfectly quiet, but you have that cordless landline phone in your hand. Here's what you do: when the operator picks up and says her/his schpiel, the way to let them know that you're in distress, and not that you dialed by accident, or changed your mind about the state of emergency, is to knock on the mouthpiece of the phone three times.

Ok, got that, they say their line, you knock on the mouthpiece 3 TIMES. This lets them know that you need help. They'll send police and a paramedic automatically when they get this secret code, no matter what the emergency.

I'm less inclined to want to try the secret 911 code than I am the CPR that we learned. I now have this strong desire to try it all out in real life. According to our CPR instructor, less than 10% of the population has CPR training, but what's the percentage of people who've been saved by it? Probably even less. In 8 plane flights that I took in the last two months, two of them had medical emergencies on board. Both times there was a doctor or a nurse present who was able to help the person on board until the plane could land and they could get out to the ambulance on the tarmack. I thought it was odd to happen with such frequency.

Is it wrong to want people to dance with danger just so I can cut in?

My Birthday Lumps and Humps

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:29:00 +0000

It wasn't as luxurious as the karaoke night with Seonna Hong and Takashi Murakami (and co.) but it was just as fun, the company was all company I love to keep, and I kept the same clothes on the whole night!

(Video courtesy of Souris of a multitude of fames, but Hustler of Culture being her most public of personas)

Michelle's Birthday Party - Endless Love from souris on Vimeo.

There's a super secret video of Saelee and I that would rock your world, but I think... ultimately, the power of our AWESOME is too much for this world.

Buket in the Slammer

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Thu, 29 May 2008 08:07:00 +0000

My favorite kind of graffiti is the kind that makes a political statement, not a territorial one. I guess that could launch into a debate about public and private spaces, which I'm only half-way interested in engaging in, but mostly... I think defacing public spaces should have a greater purpose, like the tags in this classic video:

In my Tivo cram session tonight, I heard a quick snippet about a "prominent LA tagger" being arrested for a boatload of stuff he did around LA and posted video of on youtube.

So, what does this mean for the rest of the "street artists" out there. Is this the reason for the hustle to get off the streets and into the galleries. I know that when someone has jacked up the GR store with an ugly tag, paste-up or stencil, I'm always on the hunt to find out who the person is - typically because the work is lame, and doesn't deserve to grace even our outer walls. It's ridiculously easy to find out who a person is with all the shameless self-promotion the internet allows for nowadays. I guess that's the point for these kids. Now it's coming back to bite them in their baggy pants covered asses. These are black days.

Anyhow, maybe I should have everyone's backs and stop adding incriminating tags (whoa... double entendre!) to my friend's pics on my Flickr....

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:36:00 +0000

I know a few people participating in the AIDS LifeCycle ride this year, and they're tougher than I am! The training, dedication and devotion it takes to prep for this ride and then finish it is something I admire. Most of the people I know who are doing it are people who aren't hardcore athletes, but they've been pushing themselves in a way I know I can't, to make this ride a reality. I like this fundraising effort because it doesn't shovel funds towards research and paying for luncheons and red ribbons - money raised by the people who make the 7 day trek go towards education, and assiting men and women living with HIV/AIDS. Good stuff that can't be forgotten.

There's a group of LA riders who have been working hard not just on their endurance, but finding a way to make their ride something that will not only provide for the beneficiaries of the AIDS LifeCycle, but something that will enrich the LA bike community, and I encourage everyone to check it out - it will be at my favorite immediate-neighborhood bicycle community center, The Bike Oven on Figueroa. Fun place where good things happen.

You can find more info on the thread posted on the Midnight Ridazz board, and while you're there, check the list of upcoming rides in your area (or beyond) to have some bike fun of your own.

My bike and I have been apart for a while... too much travel, not enough time at home, and nowadays, she has to compete with a horse - which isn't easy. I'll be in Japan next week, and hope to get a bit of my bike fix on when I meet up with some Tokyo bike peeps. I'll be sure to share when I get back. But yeah, in the meantime, everyone else should live it up and keep the rubber side down!

Happy Buff Day!

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:53:00 +0000

You may recognize the character above from walls around the country, from vinyl toys, art galleries and t-shirts. This cake is Buff Monster's, Pink Pirate, and it was by far the coolest birthday cake I've ever seen. Buff's brother planned this surprise for Buff's birthday, and in doing so, blew everyone away with the enormity and awesomeness of this cake. It wasn't vegan, so I can't say much about the tasty factor, but everyone who had a slice seemed pleased. Underneath all that fondant was chocolate cake with massively fat layers of chocolate frosting in between the cake - three or four layers I think. Decadent, just the way Buff likes things!

Speaking of decadence, I popped into Whole Foods inbetween errands this morning. My tummy was rumbling, and I needed to get a few things for the critters and the house before packing up to head off to New York Comicon this weekend. The Whole Foods in West Hollywood is like a pseudo eco-friendly, free-range meat market - always a good place to watch self-righteous Prius driving people watching people.

After finding some seitan to snack on, I went to the drink cooler by the salad bar to find a juice to wash the gluten down with with. There was an old white guy in front of the case trying to get people to try a new Green Tea beverage Whole Foods was carrying, called Carpe Diem. There weren't any weird non-vegan ingredients in it, so I chose the "Ginkgo" version for a taste. It wasn't half bad, but I almost gagged on the spiel the old white dude was dishing out.

It started innocently with a lesson in Latin, and degenerated into a monologue about the Green Tea in all the drinks, and how Asian's knew the score on secret ingredients, which was some sort of indication that Asians knew all kinds of other secrets - like how to build better cars, better tiny technology, and how their food was the best.

I couldn't argue with a lot of the points he raised, I mean... we have a tendency to look like the master race most of the time, but I couldn't help but feel like this was a racially motivated sales pitch. There are lots of those thrown our way at GR, and it's something I never get used to. I have an urge to launch into my own monologue about race here, but I'm kind of wiped out from the weekend and the current week of madness. I'll save it for another day.

I bought a bottle of the Ginkgo Carpe Diem, kind of out of pity since the old white guy reminded me of the Korean women handing out kim at the Korean market, trying to get you to buy the grocery item they've been assigned to shill that day. If I try it, I usually buy it unless it sucks. This drink was okay, I guess... kind of like an oddly carbonated Arizona Green Tea. I won't be buying it again, even if the person pushing it tells me that my almond eyes are exotic and asks me how to say "Green Tea" in Korean.

Only 99 Cents!

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:42:00 +0000

This is one of the reasons I love living in Lincoln Heights. The 99 Cents Only Store on Broadway never fails to surprise me with a whole mess of vegan food and treats. I could pretty much get away with doing all of my food shopping there, save some proteins and fresh green veggies... Of course, this isn't a new concept. These guys did it once before, and did it more creatively than I do. They did this in blog form first, but then... as seems to be the fashion lately, looks like they turned the popular blog into a book.

I'm not much of a cook, so I'm all about the easy eats. If I don't have to do much more than boil water and open a package or two, I'm happy!

Speaking of bad cooking, this afternoon I Tivoed an episode of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares that takes place in a little vegetarian restaurant that I visted in 1999, Piccolo Teatro. The place has changed hands and had a facelift, but according to this episode, itwas still struggling to make good food.

Eating vegan in Paris was tough... tougher than anywhere else I've ever traveled. Parisians like their meat. I ended up going to 4 or 5 different places during my stay there, and only really liked one or two of them. This place kinda blew because after a full interrogation about the presence of dairy in my dish, there was still some in the gravy that was poured all over my seitan steak. I spent most of that evening in the tiny little French bathroom in the tiny little French apartment we were shacked up in for the stay.

I guess Gordon Ramsey wasn't able to bail them out in the end. The place is closed and for sale. Maybe I should move there, buy the place and show them how it's done. For lunch I'll serve Malt O'Meal knockoff cereal and soymilk, apples with peanut butter, and on weekends, fried ramen. Dinner will be a little fancier.... maybe some rice stick noodles in vietnamese sweet and sour soup paste with a spoonful of garlic siracha, novelty pasta with sauce out of the jar, a Gatorade sangria, and for dessert, these AMAZING maple cookies that are 100% artificial, and taste 99% like very un-vegan glazed donuts.

Let me know when you're ready for seconds!

My Life on the Detainee List

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:30:00 +0000

On Thursday I made it back across the Mexican border into the homeland.... just barely.

I spent two amazing days in Baja with my BFF Christiaan, recharging my batteries so I'd be all set to face the next few months of lots of GR related travel, and the big Year of the Rat show opening at GR2 on the 16th. (Finished hanging it at about 2 am Friday morning, and VERY proud of the show and the GR staff and friends who helped hang it!)

The original plan for Mexico was actually a trip to see Stereo Total play their tour date closest to North American, in Tijuana. After just a few minutes passing through the fringes of Tijuana traffic to get to our first destination (a secret spot in Baja), and after checking in to our first hotel room of the journey, my travel companion and I decided that it was going to be an impossibility to leave the sanctuary we had arrived to and go back into the chaos of the city, even if it was our only chance to see Stereo Total before they slipped further and further South.

The decision was the right one, and we spent that evening staring at the starriest sky I've seen in decades, watching the waves glow blue with red tide, smiled back at the crescent moon as it fell into the ocean, and had a delicious night of sleep knowing we would get to enjoy so much more when the sun was up the next day.

Wednesday was spent sunbathing, wandering just a bit further into town to pet local ponies hanging out in people's front yards, enjoying criminally yummy margaritas for $1.50 and doing short story writing exercises until the hotel bar closed. It was a pretty perfect day, even if we couldn't get a roaring fire going in the fireplace in our room. Next time we're bringing lighter fluid. You'd think I'd know how to get a fire going with the practice I get at the San Diego Comic Con, but every year GR somehow channels the pyromania of our genius art and comic friends that are more in tune to nature than we are, and let them take all the well deserved glory to get the GR Bonfire blaze going.

Thursday started out just as well as Wednesday had. This time at breakfast we got the added bonus of frolicking dolphins in the waves that were in perfect view of our table on the restaurant patio. We got on the road earlier than we planned, butweren't rushed, and didn't do much grumbling about the line at the border. We car-danced to 80's music and politely declined the offers of wilting churros, warm Pepsis and ukeleles from the vendors walking the lines of traffic. Everything was pretty groovy until we got to the Border Patrol window...

In times like these, you want to land the person who's new to the job and just wants to get through the day with a low profile. We didn't get that person... we got the guy who had probably been doing the job for many, many years and loved it for the chance to puff out his chest, maybe pound it a little, and manipulate the lives of the general public in a way that amused him. Not realizing that a passport was required for travel to Mexico, I got busted for not having mine and was sent to the secondary search at the border and detained for an hour so Border Control could verify my American citizenship.

I made a few mistakes here.... not bringing my passport would be the most glaring. The second mistake I made was telling the Border Patrol officers that I was born in Seoul, Korea. The third mistake was telling them that I was a Naturalized citizen.

I'm very rarely id'ed as someone who was born overseas, but I was. I moved to the US in 1979, born to a Korean mother and an American citizen, which I learned on Thursday - regardless of circumstances, made me an American citizen at birth. For some reason, my parents told me that I obtained citizenship through naturalization, but that wasn't the case. I called my dad while I was being detained - to get some clarification about the naturalization issue, but also to let him know that I had been safe during the trip... the only difficulty was the situation I was presently in.

After the Border Patrol officer checked some other database (since I didn't show up the one for naturalized citizens) I was given a good scolding for not traveling with my passport and let go. Being detained wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was allowed to leave the car and use the restroom, we got to see two awesome drug busts while we waited, and I got to learn a little something about myself. I feel silly for not knowing, but I guess I heard it as a child and it stuck there as a kernel of truth - kind of like when kids are told that skinny people are better than fat, and girls should be helpless while boys should never cry.

Crazy adventures in bottled water, dope sniffing dogs and self-awareness.

You still have time for your bike movie...

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:54:00 +0000

The deadline for submissions for the Bicycle Film Festival has been extended, and you still have time to get a film in for 2008. I've talked to so many people about this, and so many people get excited, but now you have to get those films in, people!!

K,THANX. BAI!

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:58:00 +0000

In my lifetime I have come to know about some pretty special people on the planet. People we are lucky to share lifetimes with, people notable not just for their fame, but for their individuality. Crispin Hellion Glover is one of those people - unique in every way, driven by a fiercely independent creative muse, and devilishly handsome. Madonna is the most obvious. She's carved her own path to icon status, blazed a million trails for women everywhere with lace-clad fantasies, and she helps AIDS babies with her own money and not just her name.

Most recently notable on my Notable Peoples list is Bai Ling. Bai Ling has been in the scene for quite sometime. She pre-dates Lucy Liu in the "dragon lady" vein, has more balls now than Joan Chen did in the 80's, keeps it real for all the good looking celebrity shoplifters out there, and Bai Ling holds it down for dressing like a kook when Bjork gave up after that swan incident. The lady is no quitter.

Bai Ling is most *recently* notable because I was just introduced to her blog by my friend Franky. I want to share this gem with all of you.... Let me welcome you now to the world of Bai Ling.

Are you ready?

Are you sure?

Cause this is some mind expanding, world shifting, Oprah book club type shit.

Seriously, Bai Ling is tuned in to some crazy wavelengths that don't register with normal humans.

She's all visionary and stuff...

Are you prepared for this?

Okay.

Meet Bai Ling.....

This is now one of the blogs I read on a regular basis. It should become one of yours too. Bai Ling helps remind me that the world is a beautiful, exciting adventure everyday, even if I don't look as good in a bikini as she does. She reminds me that hair is an accessory to be modified, often as our bodies are impermanent. She reminds me that it's important to have friends like Angelina Jolie, who have selfless passions in life and inspire us to develop those passions in ourselves. Bai Ling reminds me that travel helps to simultaneously feed and center the soul. Bai Ling's childlike look at love reminds me that love should be easy and full of joy, even if in the now it feels like a laborious, uncalculated risk that brings nothing but heartbreak.

Enjoy Bai Ling. Share her with the rest of the world, and as Franky says, "be nice" to the little star dweller. (You never know, she could report back to her planet if we're jerks to her, and they could destroy all of planet Earth in a fiery blast that we never saw coming.)

Sunday Bloody Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:55:00 +0000

After an exhausting weekend of boy troubles, boy triumphs, visual overload and ponies, I started the week with a weakened immune system that allowed a nasty cold to come visit for a day and a half. I've beaten it into submission with the help of Airborne, bedrest, and tonight... a little bit of vodka.

What I meant to do earlier this week was share how blown away I was by U2 3D. My hero, Souris helped make this film come together and has been an amazing force in getting it recognized. I haven't been a fan of U2 since Jr. High. My best friend's boyfriend, Brandon, made me a cassette tape of War and Joshua Tree. It was back when a boy took time to make a mixtape... he drew on the cover, omitted songs that weren't tops, and delivered it by hand. I don't think I've given it a listen in more than 15 years, but it's still there in my collection of cassettes, never to be discarded.

Now, Souris' been pimping this film like there's no tomorrow, and yeah, we all know that everyone is supposed to come clean to loving to U2 at least once in their adolescence or young adulthood, but who, besides the schmucks that paid outrageous ticket prices for those concerts last year and paraded around those little white rubber bracelets, was ready to plunk down some green for a U2 cinematic experience? In the spirit of supporting a friend who I believe in, I agreed to go check it out for myself at the Arclight on Sunday. When the film premiered at Sundance, Robert Redford came out of his leather embossed, lambskin lined cave to attend the screening. My rule: if it's good enough for Robert Redford, it's good enough for me.

I had low expectations... Captain Eo in Tomorrow Land expectations, but this is NOT that kind of movie. The film jumps right into the concert experience and keeps you there. There are no cheesy 3-D gimmicks. There are big sweeping moments matched by intimate times on stage that lock you down for the whole film. The crowd is full of sexy, young, shirtless Argentinian boys (and girls - although, they mostly have their shirts on) and the enegry of this crowd is amazing. Even more amazing, is how it's captured.

You know how in Lord of the Rings, and all those other action films that followed, that have the giant scenes with mobs of people/soldiers/trolls/Occidentals that are surging a castle gate, or flooding across a giant expanse towards an enemy - you know how you're always like, whoa... that's soooo many people/soldiers/trolls/Occidentals... that looks really cool. Well, you get that in U2 3D, except the giant mob surging with energy isn't a bunch of digital heads bobbing around in an algorithm created by a team of 20 nerds. This mob is real. It's thousands of people moving without calculation, driven by the rythym and emotion of the performance on stage. The crowd undulates and explodes, and you feel that energy in your cushy theatre seat. There were times when I was tempted to take my 3D glasses off to see what it looked like without the technology, but I didn't ever want to miss out on what I was seeing. The woman who's been creating the visuals for their concerts is the director of the film, and you get the feeling that this film is the way she means for everyone to experience a live show.

Admittedly, I took a five minute nap-eroo between New Year's Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday... I'm still not U2's biggest fan (and my state of sleep deprivation, accented with a chugged cocktail on the Arclight patio didn't help), but I HIGHLY recommend checking out this film. The rest of the set after my nap was a knockout. I was rocking out in my seat for more than a song or two. If the idea of paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket to see U2 pisses you off, this is the way to go. You get lost in the magic of the film, you can have popcorn and an icee, you don't get bootlegged t-shirts shoved in your face, you don't have to smell anyone who's been standing around and sweating Coors light for the last two hours, and you get to experience the band in a way that you deserve to experience them.

Evan Hecox book signing at GR2 tomorrow. Should be good, and a mellow pre-cursor to his opening on Saturday (not at GR2). Anne Ishii in town this weekend. Cold on it's deathbed... the rest of this week could end up pretty sweet. Tomorrow Selma Blair is riding at the barn. I'm signed up for a ride in the early AM so I can stalk from afar. Life in LA....

The Sexual Politics of Meat

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:25:00 +0000

There's a new strip club in Portland, and for some unknown reason, it's "vegan"... There's video, but I'm new to blogger and I don't know how to add it, so you'll have to work a little harder to view it, but the answers are there.... I guess....

The opening of the strip club has been all over the news in Portland, and making its way around vegan sites, but very few people are talking about the bizzare paradox this place is. The owner of the strip club is vegan, he claims he's vegan for ethical reasons. He's totally down for not consuming animal flesh for pleasure, but he's all for allowing for the consumption of women's sexuality for profit.

I could go on about how this pisses off the feminist in me, the one that has read Carol J. Adams' book cover to cover multiple times, was inspired by it and has used it to topple many a debate with meat-eating "feminists".... but I won't. I'm not the same vegan I used to be. I can admit that.

This isn't the world of activism that it used to be, and that's been on my mind a lot lately. Is it the fault of all the activists who dropped out of the movement? Is it the Patriot Act? Is it places like Portland that allow activism to atrophy into a lifestyle of free trade coffee after a raw food dinner, hopping into your electric car to drive half a mile to your next destination - the vegan tittie bar, where you can get your rocks (clad in organic un-bleached cotton boxers) off as pale vegetarian girls in tacky outfits try desparately to fill the empty void in their cholesterol free hearts with the attention of men snacking on seitan hot wings?

I hope that the feminists of Portland can get it together to get a dialogue going about what this place represents, but they're probably too busy with important agendas like knitting vibrator cozies, and selling them on etsy to raise money for their roller derby team.

My Inheritance

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:10:00 +0000

In August I went back to Korea for the first time in years. I went to see my grandfather, other family there, and to tool around Seoul. I got to share my adventures at the Kimchi Museum with GR readers, checked out Kinki Robot, and ate a free lunch with won-pinching Buddhist housewives in one of my favorite urban temples. A lot of things about the trip I haven't really shared with anyone.

I was born in Seoul, and lived there with my mother, grandparents and their extended family. For a short time I lived only with my grandparents while my mom was setting up camp in Southern California with my Dad. When I was young, I was very close to them, but I grew farther apart from my grandmother when I stopped speaking Korean. My grandfather spoke eight languages (one of which was English) so I was always able to communicate with him. My grandmother died when I was in grade school, but my grandfather has lived on to 91. Long, healthy lives run in the family. He had an older sister that finally passed away in her late 90's, closer to 100. I met her once (that I can remember) and she was a total bad ass.

It had been way too long since I'd seen my grandfather, and he'd been through a lot. He wasn't the man I remembered. Age does that I guess... I never grew up with a lot of old people around me, and I've always felt pretty out of touch with the things that other people understand and expect to experience with the elderly. Several times during our first visit to his house he had to ask my mother who I was. I saw a side of him that frightened and saddened me. I could catch glimmers of the grandpa I remembered, but they didn't linger.

I started to become really afraid of losing more of him. When I looked around his house, I couldn't find all the pieces of him that were so much a part of how I always remembered him - his tennis trophies, his offical keys to multiple cities, his multiple diplomas, gifts from diplomats all over the world, his dozens of photo albums... Eventually, some of those things were found, most importantly, his albums. I confiscated them, afraid that they would be thrown out, or forgotten about.

My mom took half back home to Memphis for my dad to scan, and I took the other half to work on as well. My dad beat me to the finish, and for the last couple of days I've been uploading his half of the pictures on to Flickr, wrapping my head around what a troubling treasure they are.

The picture here is from the late 1920's or early 30's, when my grandfather was a teenager. He's a brilliant man, and his brilliance was recognized at an early age. There are a lot of blanks to fill in, but ultimately, my grandfather ended up as the Dean of the Law School at Korea University, became an important man in Korean politics and foreign policy, and raised my mom, who raised me.

I have hundreds of photos of him, documenting his travels, his accomplishments and ultimately a large part of my history, but I can only identify a handful of people in all these images. I can't read Korean or Japanese, so I can't be sure where a lot of the photos take place. The one person who can tell me, and teach me this history is slipping away. I'd like another trip to see him, and make some time to see what he can remember, but I'm not sure I'll have that chance.

Happy Birthday, Praxis!!

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:33:00 +0000

Tomorrow is Praxis' 14th birthday. I'm having a surprise party for him tomorrow night at Scoops (as seen in GR) his favorite place for vegan ice cream treats. Last year, for this 13th birthday, Tai made Praxis a special batch of vegan Peanut Butter & Coconut ice cream and we had a party at home with friends (canine and primate) and partied like rockstars.... sort of. Praxis was totally pooped by the end of it.

The party was one of the first I'd had in my new house. It was one of those things that made my house feel like home. Some of the best people I know came to help celebrate. They aren't just the best people I know because they understand how much I love my pup, but they just simply are... really great people. Praxis got lots of love that night. He was showered with prezzies, snacks, brain freezes from his special ice cream, and weird anxiety from the giant dog cake he wasn't sure what to do with.

Esther was with us then. I'm thinking of her a lot lately, especially when I think of how for a short time I was able to share a lot of love with her, but not enough sharing for me... I wish I had more time to give her more. Every dog deserves love, ice cream, birthday parties and friends. I'm happy I was able to give Esther a taste of all that, I just wish she was with us to have some more this year, and next, and the one after that...

So, yeah, if you're near the Bicycle District at around 8:30-9 pm ish, then join us for some of the best ice cream in LA, and wish my pup a happy birthday with me! It's a surpise party, so don't spill the beans to the birthday boy...

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:37:00 +0000

When I'm not at GR, and I'm not riding ponies, and I'm not hanging out on my porch with my dog, I'm playing bikes. A couple of years ago, I met the founder of the Bicycle Film Festival, and last summer I worked with him and a whole slew of LA bike folks to help pull off the 2007 Bicycle Film Festival. This year I'm one of the producers for the festival in LA, and working hard to help make the 8th annual BFF super fantastic!

Part of a great festival is, of course, great films in the program. We've been accepting submissions for 2008 for a while now, but the deadline is upon us, and we want the word spread far and wide so everyone can get a shot at being part of BFF. The festival travels to 17 cities around the world (reaching four continents) and brings together variety of bike culture through parties, art shows, film screenings and more.

If you have a project sitting on the shelf that's just waiting to be shared with the world, or something near completion that you could use a little encouragement with, drop us a line. Here's the official welcome from Brendt Barbur:

Hi All

EIGHTH ANNUAL BICYCLE FILM FESTIVAL: Call For Entries
Deadline: February 19th
http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com

We are looking for films with a strong theme or character of bicycles.
This includes all mediums and styles such as animation, experimental,
narrative, documentary and music videos.

The BFF is held in over 15 cities around the world including
Tokyo, New York City, Los Angeles, Milano and London.
In 2007 the BFF was attended by up to 100,000 people.

It is a celebration through film, art and music.
The BFF has been fortunate to have included the works of well known
artists including Jonas Mekas, Michel Gondry, Mike Mills and Jorgen Leth. We showcase the emerging artist as well.

The Bike Film Fest looks to be a lot of fun in 2008.
For more info and the entry form go to:
http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com

All cities have been selected and dates for NEW YORK
are May 28-June1. All dates will be set within the month.

PLEASE PASS THE WORD AROUND
Poster Pdf here:
http://bicyclefilmfestival.com/2008_site/materials/bff_submissions_poster_2008_US.jpg

Thanks
Brendt Barbur
Founding Director
Bicycle Film Festival

Getting Fingered

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:10:00 +0000

Since moving to Charlie O's, Ryan Heffington's dance party downtown seems like it has become something pretty big. The first time I got Fingered was last summer at Little Pedro's. It was a small, intimate crowd, and the dancers performed with WORK.

The performances are always pretty fantastic. Costuming, makeup, choreography, insanely good music.... there's pretty much nothing they leave to chance. Lastnight's performance ended with Kate Bush, and the dancers pulling people onto the floor to dance the last third of the song. Being a friend of a friend of the dancers, and having a choice spot on the edge of the dancefloor were the biggest perks of the evening, and made having to deal with the generic hipster melee, worth it.

I was at Charlie O's with Buff Monster, part two of an evening that began with helping Charlie Becker turn 40 at a surprise party downtown at the warehouse of Grn Apple Tree Clothing. Charlie's a nice guy, and a talented sculptor who has worked with some our generation's biggest art stars. He's a recent transplant to LA, but he seems to have settled in quite nicely. A ton of people came out to help him celebrate his birthday - a fun crowd stocked with creative and talented folks. Friends, Silvio and Kyle had artwork on display with samples of Charlie's work, and helped pull off the big surprise.

Some people inspire surprise parties and some people don't... what does that say about some people?

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:27:00 +0000

This was the scene at the LA Equestrian Center last weekend. The rain made the hills of Griffith Park gorgeous, dumped some snow on the mountains and kept my Chinese neighbors from having to hose off their driveways, but it kept me on the ground and out of the saddle. Why is it that in LA it's always all or nothing? Rain's gone, for now, and the ground is dry and we're back to riding in the outdoor dressage arena in the sun. My horse, Buddy, still needs to get body-clipped though.... and it's only going to get warmer. This is winter in Southern California after all.

Posted this picture on my Flickr and it's already received 110 views. Is there something sexual here that I'm not seeing? I always assume there is.... especially on Flickr, home to more web-pervs than Craigslist. If anyone can tell me what the deal is, I'll send them a prize.

This weekend, my friend Abi will be competing in the Cornerstone 2008 LA Winter Dressage Show. I'll be waking up at the crack of dawn to offer my support and watch her compete. She's uber talented and needs a good heckler in the bleachers to keep her on her toes.

Tonight is surprise birthday party for *******, which should be a nice bookend to lastnight at La Cita with Sam & Tury from Friends with You, Tim Biskup dj'ing, Thomas Han tearing up the dancefloor, Buff Monster on the sidelines, and Jamie from Japan LA and Nicole from Kid Robot rounding the night out. I went home sweaty and exhuasted... just the way I like it.

Sunday is inventory at GR2, our third and final installment of the all-night count-a-thon at Giant Robot. It's a good time when you have a good crew on board. So far we've been whiskey fueled and we've been making much better time than last year. If you're on Sawtelle sometime around midnight on Sunday, come knock on the door and have a shot with us.

Mazeltov!

noreply@blogger.com (gr) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:09:00 +0000

Yay! This is working. I'm transferring my original post on the other blog I created to pass the time until this one was working, but this will be homebase from here on out.

I'll be posting here about the things I get to do from day to day thanks to the decisions I've made and the opportunities I've been given. I'm excited to share! There's a lot in the works right now... Bicycle Film Festival 2008, some amazing shows at the GR galleries, life with Praxis, life with more pony fun than I ever thought I'd have again, and more I can't categorize right now. Hope it entertains you as much as it exictes me.

After wussing out and staying in lastnight, out from the harsh, harsh LA winter rain we're experiencing, I'll be going out to night to check out artwork and the book release for my friend Mark Meadows' newest book, "I, Avatar" at Amautalab, and then off for dj and dancing fun with Buff Monster. Friday's been shaping up to be pretty awesome. You can't go wrong when you start the day with soyrizo scramble from Swingers with a great breakfast date, and making it on time to an appointment in Beverly Hills... that NEVER happens...