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October 30, 2005
Boston
My trip to boston a couple of weeks back with Jim was a lot of fun. Exploring new places is always an adventure. We stayed at one of Jim's coworker's condo downtown. It's not really fair to refer to Mike as just a coworker - he's a super great guy. Mike's and his girlfriend, Lauara both provided us much entertainment during our stay - thanks a ton, guys!
Our first day on the town, and we headed over Beacon Hill to all the action. The State House - the capital building, lay just beyond the hill. Some important suits passed us at every turn. Boston Commons lie directly across the street. Boston's park system really puts Minneapolis' to shame - Loring Park would have looks like a manure field next to this paradise in the city.
Jim insisted that we stop by Cheers - the absolute must do on your first trip to Boston. We didn't go in, as the smell of fish emanating from the restaurant was nauseating - especially for those of the non-tuna-eating persuasion such as ourselves.
Next up we headed straight for the shopping district - Newberry Street, the Rodeo Drive of Boston. The Ritz Carlton, opposite the Burberry store, are the first two buildings to greet you. Glam-bam, get your credit cards ready!
Beneton, Banana, Marc Jacobs, Kenneth Cole, Crate & Barrel, DKNY, you name it. If you're a designer, and you've made it, you've got a shop on Newberry.
And of course, there's "Louis.Boston". The most ridicuously expensive store I've ever been in. Nothing under $200 - and that's for a plain white cotton t-shirt. I went in, looked around, saw the stares of the salesmen watching me in my hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and casually walked out empty-handed with my head hanging low in retreat. Though my credit cards were itching in my pocket, I was thanksfully able to contain myself.
A short jaunt down from Louis was The Closet - Jim's favorite. I think he was looking forward to this more than anything else on the trip. I followed him down the steps to the garden-level shop to be trapped amongst the packed-in inventory of gently worn clothing. Jim immediately headed down another short, yet steep, flight of stairs to the men's area, where he thumbed through everything at lightning speed. It was as if he couldn't contain himself - he had returned home. After not finding anything, and beginning to feel the claustraphobia close in on me, I waited outside, for an hour before he emerged with one purchase in hand. All that time, and he found only one thing.
We stopped and ate at Abe & Louie's. I had a filet and veggies, trying to curb my tendancies for pigging out on junkfood while on vacation. It worked for the afternoon, but it was all-out anything I put my eyes on after that.
We set out to continue exploring. So many old, old buildings. Some of them had been there for hundreds of years, others were modern. I wish I knew more about architecture to describe it, but what I do know, is that I really dig what they've got down there. It was clear that they had no concept of what "cookie-cutter" was back in their day - they don't build 'em like they used to!
We found a few busses throughout the city that bore the name "Peter Pan". Thankfully, we found one parked to get a good shot. Now honestly - who would want to get on one of these things? I'd like to meet the folks who named this bus company and the group responsible for branding it. Good lord - I wonder if the busses fly with a little bit of fairy dust?
Finishing up our site-seeing adventures for the first day, we found ourselves at the Mother Church for the Christian Scientists. While I don't know much about their beliefs, their church was beautiful!. In front of it was one of the largest reflecting pools I'd ever seen.
Later that evening we went to my first AA meeting in Boston. It was a speaker meeting, though not like any speaker meeting I've ever been to before - they do it a little differently in Boston. A group of four or five people from another meeting came to the meeting I attended and each of them shared one at a time. And that was the entire meeting. It was pretty cool. During the first part of the meeting I noticed my friend Bob - a guy who I had been in treatment with nearly two years earlier! I spoke to him briefly after the meeting - it was nice to run into a familiar face so far away from home.
After the meeting we walked to China Town and found a nice little restaurant to dine in. Boston, being right on the coast, has a lot of seafood - something that's rather sparse here in the midwest. Upon entering, we were greeted by these HUGE fishtanks with live seafood swimming (or sometimes floating upside down) about. Definately something you wouldn't see in Minnesota.
We sat down and the wonton soup was just being served when my new cell phone rang. It was set to a tune that I had found rather amusing when I got the phone, but it couldn't have been more inappropriate at dinner - it was a stereotypical oriental tune that conveyed anything but respect for the culture. I faught to turn it off, but couldn't find it in my pocket until half o the restaurant was staring.
More photos of the trip are in the gallery. More stories and photos to come soon.
Posted by SparklesMpls at 10:53 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 28, 2005
The latest meme trend
Saw this on Ryan's blog. Google "
1. Sparkles needs our help right now
2. Sparkles needs a ride to CA
3. Sparkles needs a Home
4. Sparkles needs some paintings
5. Sparkles needs this costume!!
6. Sparkles needs a serial hug
7. Sparkles needs a sign!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN WE HAVE A LEMUR SIGN!!!!!
8. Sparkles needs to be on www.paperrad.org
9. Sparkles needs a new pair of shoes
10. Sparkles needs a Home with lots of love, attention, toys and pampering (some treats would be nice too)
Posted by SparklesMpls at 10:18 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
October 27, 2005
Insane Dream Interpretation
I woke up at 4:03 AM this morning. SCREAMING one long and monotonous yelp until my breath ran out. My heart was beating. That was one real fucking dream.
I was living in my old apartment - the 3rd floor of an old house. No roommate, but a cute, and unfortunately straight, twenty-something guy lived below me. Two girls, each servers at the Green Mille, and chronic pot-heads, lived on the first floor. The house was on 31st and James - a block off the lake and a block away from all the wonders uptown offers.
I had two entrances. The primary had you enter the house's front door, proceed up the stairs to the second floor where my "front door" was. Behind which you found another flight of stairs up to my apartment on the 3rd floor.
The second entrance was found in the back yard. A long, winding staircase had been built and enclosed in recent years to abide by the city's fire code requiring two exits. I never used the entrance because of the hassle of walking to the back of the house, the migit-sized door opening into the kitchen, and I needed extra storage space - which the stairs provided quite nicely.
It was a summer day and I arrived home in the afternoon to find that the door leading up to my 3rd floor apartment had been busted in - the lock broken. I looked at the cute guy's door, also on the 2nd floor, and his door too had been broken into. At that moment, he appeared at his door, befuddled. I asked him what happened. He said only that nothing had been taken - just that the lock had been broken.
The two of us went up to my apartment and found that there too, nothing was missing - just the lock broken.
We began walking down to the hardware store to purchase new locks. This doesn't really make sense to me because I was renting at the time and I never did any labor - I would have called the landlord, and the police - but I did neither. It may have been that I wanted an excuse to spend time with the cute guy downstairs.
We purchased some heavy-duty locks and brought them back to the house, where said neighbor installed them in a very butch manner. He had a nice screwdriver that fit perfectly.
After the locks were installed, we strolled down the street for something - not sure what. Probably wasn't important. Regardless, we returned shortly after to find that our newly installed locks were broken. Nobody was in the house, and nothing was missing.
WTF?
The girls on the first floor weren't home. That or they were too stoned to answer the door.
Cute guy and I decided to go back to the hardware store and get even better locks. This time we called the police, who we met back at the house when we were installing the second set of locks. The police seemed concerned, and talked to us about general safety precautions and showed us how to use the locks - telling us that we had made wise choices in our lock purchases.
We all left the premises again, and a third time, said-neighbor and I returned home. And guess what. The locks were broken. Again, nothing missing. This happened repeatedly throughout the day. Each time cute neighbor and I would purchase new, better locks. And each time, they would be broken shortly after.
Finally it began to get dark. We returned home again to find our locks broken. We couldn't believe it. We surmised that whomever was breaking them must be looking for us because otherwise they would have stolen something when they broke in. Seemed to make sense to me, but the reality of that theory was terribly frightening. Who could want to get me? Or us?
We were both checking out my apartment to see if the coast was clear. We were in my living room at the front window, when we heard something outside. We looked out and there were hands reaching up from the 2nd story window. We took the glass windows out, broke them, and began stabbing at the hands with the broken shards of glass when one of the hands grabbed a hold of me and pulled me down. And that's when I woke up. Screaming.
I heard my roommate crawl out of bed, shut his door, and go back to bed.
The definition of insanity is performing the same act over and over again, hoping for a different result. It never comes, but you keep trying. Does this dream just mean that I'm insane? And perhaps that my insanity will someday be the end of me?
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October 25, 2005
Boston
Okay, I promise to post pictures of Boston soon! Crazy insanity abounds in Danland.
Posted by SparklesMpls at 04:46 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 19, 2005
I wish I had a camera
I just returned from my daily Starbucks run. The Starbucks I frequent happens to be across the street from the Target Center. Today, in the midst of the "Vikings sex scandal on the sea" scandal, there is a very large cargo van made of glass, with bikini-clad women inside, catching some rays alongside small potted palm trees. The side of the van says, "Come enjoy the warmth of Mexico. Call 1.800.44.MEXICO." They could have at least had some men on board.
Meanwhile, it's 42 degrees.
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October 14, 2005
New server
Migrating to a new server (again). May experience some down time this weekend.
Saturday update: I should be back and running as normal now. Please let me know if you run into anything out of hte ordinary!
Posted by SparklesMpls at 11:45 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
October 11, 2005
Steve, The Dell Guy
Playbill Magazine has an interview with Ben Curtis, a.k.a. Steve, the "Dell Guy." Items of note:
1. He went through a time of depression after doing the Dell campaign when he used marijuana heavily
2. His father came out of the closet and left his mother when he was in his teens
3. He's playing a gay character in Joy
4. He is open about his bisexuality, but ultimately would consider himself "straight, but not narrow."
I have to wonder if he's not narrow, that mean's he's wide?
Read the interview yourself. It's refreshing to see a guy be open and honest about his feelings.
Full text of the interview is in the extended entry as well.
HE’S MUCH MORE THAN THE CHARMER IN THE DELL
As Steven, the Dell computer dude, Ben Curtis really clicked with TV audiences. But he’s now experiencing the greatest Joy of his life: getting loads of laughs and rave reviews in John Fisher’s gay romantic comedy at the Actors’ Playhouse. The six-foot charmer from Chattanooga, TN, plays a sweet-faced stoner named Christian, and his deadpan delivery and goofy grin make him such an endearing delight. Directed by Ben Rimalower, Joy follows seven gay and lesbian friends in San Francisco and stars Paul Whitthorne, Christopher Sloan and Ken Barnett. At first, Christian is seen going out with a gal, but soon he’s sleeping with a guy. Curtis says, "Christian is a free-loving boytoy and explores his sexuality through experimentation. I don’t see Joy as a gay play. It’s a play about sexuality, and it’s a beautiful story."
Curtis, who has a bisexual sister, knows the show’s issues firsthand: "My father is openly gay. He really loved my mother, but their marriage fell apart. When they separated, he told me he was bisexual and unfortunately, I was 12 and trying to figure out my own sexuality. I was really upset and angry and took me a long time to get over it. I’ve seen him suffer. Now we’re best friends, and he’s seen Joy many times."
Asked if he’s ever "experimented" like his character, Christian, Curtis says, "Absolutely, yeah. I appreciate men just as much as women, but I lean toward the female side." So is it fair to say he’s straight? "Umm … I’d say I’m straight, but I’m open-minded. As Darryl says in the show, ‘I’m straight, but I’m not narrow.’" Curtis, who even dresses in drag in Joy, adds, "I love it. It’s fun to bend ideals about gender." Currently single, he says he had his most romantic date when he was 17. "I blindfolded my girlfriend at night and led her into the woods, where I had a blanket, rose petals, champagne and candles. I played a song I wrote for her, and the rest of the night turned out great."
Though the Dell commercials were "a great way to make money and pay for college," the one-time NYU student says, "Suddenly everyone was recognizing me and yelling at me. It was very traumatic. I had moved into Ground Zero before Sept. 11. I really needed to get help and therapy, but the Dell commercials exploded. It was too much, too soon. I got arrested for buying a small amount of marijuana, and it was horrible. I spent the night in jail and was handcuffed to a wheelchair in Bellevue. But it was great because it helped put a stop to a vicious downward spiral I was going through."
Meantime, Curtis has made "Raccoon," an award-winning short that will premiere in Montreal and Palm Springs film festivals this month. "It’s an amazing story about two best friends during the Vietnam draft. We shot during a blizzard in upstate New York, and it co-stars Christopher Togo ['CSI: Miami'] and a raccoon named Lizzie." He’ll also star as a surveillance expert in "Spy," an upcoming action thriller.
Besides acting, Curtis, 24, sings blues and rock and has written songs since he was 12. "Theatre’s my passion," he says, and he’d love to play Hamlet, Biff and Puck. He probably picked up his love of performing "from watching my father as a minister spread the message of love. My mother works with refugees and my sister works with cancer patients, so I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the world. I don’t want to be known as the Dell dude forever. I want to be a great artist. Our cast is incredible, and I love making people laugh. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, doing [theatre]."
For more information, visit www.ben-curtis.com.
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October 10, 2005
New server on the way
I'll be migrating to a new server over the next few days. Hopefully it won't be all that painful - just need to figure out how to transfer the DB and the rest, I'm hoping, will be easy. If the site, or Jim's, looks to be down when you visit, please check back in the next day or two.
Hopefully, the new server will put an end to the lag time you've seen while commenting. In fact, it should already be better because I've already moved some things over to the new server, which lightens the load on this box. I'll get back to regular blogging as soon as possible.
Posted by SparklesMpls at 08:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 03, 2005
1000 bars in one year
So I find myself sitting in a coffee shop on Sunday night surfing Technorati for interesting things. Low and behold, I find a blog of a guy who labels himself "Bar Guy." Bar Guy is on a mission to visit 1000 bars in one year, and he's just about made it. Coincidentally, he's visited the gay bar strip on Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. Here are a couple of his photos. Scary to see some of these places during the daylight hours.
Posted by SparklesMpls at 09:56 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
October 02, 2005
The old days
I arrived in Vegas at the McCormack airport to find slot machines in the airport. It was my first time in the only state that had legalized prostitution, though ironically, not in Las Vegas county - apparently they had enough sin without the oldest profession in the world doing business on the strip.
I was with my boss Greg to attend the CES convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center to scope out the latest in high tech gagetry for a client of ours.
It seemed the bags took forever to come down the conveyer belt, and the longer we waited, the longer the taxi cab line grew just outside the glass doors. I was becomoing inpatient and wanted to get the party started.
We had booked a suite at the grand 'ol Alexis Courtyard motel - a couple of blocks from The Hardrock. Having waited too long to make reservervations for the weekend of CES and the infamous Internext Convention, a.k.a., "The Porn Convention," we were left to pick and choose from a handful of hole-in-the-wall joints of the edges of town.
Our bags arrived and we made our way to the Taxi line. Thankfully the line moved surprisingly quick - something I guessed was due to the number of visitors the city received each day. Greg and I were next in line when a cab pulled forward and screeched to a stop - the entire car lurching forward at the sudden breaking action of the driver. The cabby darted out of the car and quickly helped us throw the bags in the trunk. He seemed in a rush, so we hopped in the back as fast as we could. He took off from the lane so fast I had a hard time gathering the strength to put on my seatbelt against the G-forces generated by the high rate of acceleration. Each stoplight from the airport to the Alexis had our heads bobbing back and forth - generating more motion sickness than any airplane could have.
Upon arriving we got settled in the top floor unit. It included two rooms - a living room with a mini kitchen, and a bedroom with two queen sized beds. Greg claimed the bed closest to the window while I got on the phone to my friend Zach who was going to be in town from Los Angeles for the other convention. I arranged to meet him at Gypsy, one of only a handful of gaybars in the city. Odd, I thought - for such a party town, you'd think they'd have several more venues for us gays.
Greg, an outspoken homophobe, though surprisingly comfortable with me, was ready to party. I informed him I was planning on visiting with my buddy at the gay bar, to which he responded, "Let's go."
"I said it was a gay bar."
"Yep, I wanna see it."
"Alright, that's cool."
We arrived by taxi at the bar and waited in line to pay the cover. Upon entering I found Zach right away and introduced him to Greg. Zach gave us each tickets to allow entrance to the VIP room in the back, where we made our way.
Separated by a glass wall from the rest of the bar, we were immersed in world of near-nude high-buck porn stars, free drinks, and disappointing snack food. But who eats anyway? Food that is, who eats food?
Surrounded by sex, and not the persuasion he generally found interest in, Greg found himself a little uncomfortable. We immediately made our way to the bar where we ordered a couple of stiff cocktails and found a seat in the corner. The drinking ensued for a couple more rounds and we began socializing with the others in the room.
Names aside, we found ourselves engaging in conversation with the gay couple who ran ChiChi Larue's website, a lesbian couple who owned the publishing company behind Freshman magazine (among 14 other such pubs), an amateur guy new to the business had brought his mother - a Jr. High Librarian, the owner of the largest gay website on the 'net - in town from Toronto, the marketting manager for another big opperation, the photographer/owner of the largest provider of "twink" content on the east and west coasts - opperating out of both Miami and San Diego, and of course a handful of self-admitted fluffers and tan-skinned beauties from Larue's pack - one of which was circling the room to show off his viagra-enlarged unit.
I was in a gay porn utopia when ChiChi Larue herself entered. I promptly introduced myself and requested a photo with her - she politely inclined and we shared a moment.
Shortly afterwards the party was set to begin with the real entertainment. ChiChi disappeared into a hidden backroom to prep for her appearance. Greg and I made our way to the main room to get a good view of the stage.
ChiChi came out with a cordless microphone and an armful of promo videos of her new flick. She had the crowd laughing and tossed out the cassettes. (We hadn't yet entered the heyday of DVDs)
Greg was in a trance, but I was getting a little bored with the ecstacy on the stage and wandered back towards the VIP room, away from the crowd. On my way I was seduced by a charming young stallion, sans shirt. His name was Chris, and he was a local, probably out on the prowl during a night he knew there'd be a lot of out-of-towners. Regardless, he was incredibly attractive, and we were both drunk. We locked ourselves in the sole bathroom for several minutes before a bouncer forced us out. We had a few more cocktails before we couldn't take it any longer and headed out.
Both starving with alcohol-induced appetites, we stopped at Denny's on the strip for some breakfast food.
I found it funny that there was even a Denny's on the strip. Having never been to Vegas, my only visions of it were from things I'd seen on television and film. I had imagined it as a posh party spot with glitzy resort hotel casinos, water fountains, and huge lit art works lining the streets. But here, in the midst of it all, was Denny's.
After breakfast and a few cups of coffee we headed back to my hotel where we did everything but sleep. It was one of the most enjoyable one night stands I'd ever had.
And my homophobic boss was snoring away in the next room all night.
Shortly after sunrise I told Chris he'd have to go for fear of Greg's morning reaction to finding two nude gays in his room upon waking. We exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch.
Neither of us ever attempted to contact the other, but I kept that number in my phone for over a year. (So you can't say I'm not a romantic.)
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