Micky's

Roman Heart, Derrick Vinyard, Moi, and Benjamin Bradley

There is a bar in West Hollywood that hosts a weekly meet-and-greet event each Thursday evening, 6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. During this time, a gay adult video star will turn out to get interviewed (in segments spaced over the time period), pull drink tickets and call out winning numbers -- the winner receiving a copy of a XXX DVD, and sign autographs. I've been going for years now.

Last night was especially enjoyable, with folks from Falcon Studios appearing to promote their two-part, uh, epic, "Cross Country." Stars Roman Heart, Roman's real life boyfriend, Benjamin Bradley, and Derrick Vinyard turned out and impressed a big crowd of admirers. Benjamin was the friendliest kid (he's 23, ay yi yi), and we had a lot of fun yammering away during their breaks from the interviews.

Reality

No, not real life reality. Reality as seen on television.

Tonight, the fourth season of The Apprentice debuts on NBC. And before that, of course, over on CBS, is the latest season of Survivor. "TA" looks to be watchable from an eye candy standpoint: several of the guys are pretty hunky, at least based on their publicity photos. Survivor's premiere last week was good, although the hunk factor is fairly non-existent there.

And then the season premiere of my own favorite reality television series, The Amazing Race (or, TAR) begins next Tuesday. The eighth edition will consist of family members racing as part of teams of four -- as opposed to the traditional two-person team format. Sigh. We'll see how that idea plays out.

And my friend Patrick has been trying to get me to watch America's Next Top Model, a proposition which fills me with both horror and interest. Horror at the show itself, and interest because it does mean I get the opportunity to gab with Patrick on the phone one extra hour each week.

Speaking of which, I think our sorta-tradition of chatting on the phone while watching a specific television show began back in 1992, with the debut of MTV's The Real World.

Freaky Tuesday

Damn, our weather in L.A. today was jacked up. We had thunderstorms and high humidity -- it was like we were temporarily dropped into the Southeast U.S. or some place.

I was in Palm Springs Saturday and Sunday. I was out there to celebrate knowing Stu for twenty damn years, and he and his beau, Mike, and I enjoyed dinner at a Thai food place in town. Sadly, miscommunication nixed my joining my friend Jim and Phil at their own place in PS in order to celebrate twenty years of our friendship. Next year, I'll have known my friend Kenny for twenty years. It's cool having these long-ass friendships, y'know?

Sunday was the sixty-seventh wedding anniversary of Grandma and Grandpa Gypsy. Oh, they are currently living in an assisted care facility, thank goodness. My elder uncle saw the wisdom in moving them out of their place and into a place where they will be well cared for in the years left to them. (Which could still be many: I've got a heap of ancestors who lived into their nineties.)

Happy Birthday is in order for my friend Tim -- who, incidentally, has been a total dweeb by not staying in touch. But I left him a voice mail message with happy wishes anyway.

Friday

I met a cute guy (a friend of a friend) today.

We'll see how things go. If, indeed, they go at all.

1/2

Six more months until I turn forty. Yep. I'm at the half-way mark.

Eeeek!

Genius

Here's something random. If I could spend a day with a famous historical personage -- say, just interviewing them or observing their actions for a single day, I'd choose:

Mozart. Certainly a lot of my knowledge of what sort of man he might have been has been influenced by several viewings of the film "Amadeus" over the years. But how I'd love to sit and watch and listen as he composed a part of The Marriage of Figaro or Symphony No. 40.

Picasso. It took a few years for me to fully appreciate the talent of the Spanish painter. I spent much of a day at the remarkable Picasso Museum in Barcelona a few years back, and it was fascinating to watch his work progress from his excellent drawings while still a child to his later work. And what a long, rich life he lived! I think I'd probably want to spend a day with the master sometime in the 1950s or early '60s when he was living on the French Riviera. I've seen a number of photographs of that time, and he looked so content and focused.

Thomas Jefferson. American history lover that I am, can one imagine that excitement in sitting and watchinig as he drafted the Declaration of Independence?!

Leonardo da Vinci. And not while he was painting the Mona Lisa. He had such diverse interests and talents. I think I'd want to observe him working on one of his other, lesser known and, in my own opinion, superior paintings that also hang in the Louvre. There is a gorgeous painting of the Madonna, Jesus, and John the Baptist that is stunning.

WTC

New York City, July 2, 1994

Shrub

George W. Bush is a goddamned fucking shit-sucking maggot-scum moron nitwit.

Just my .02.

Oh, and his mother sucks ass, too.

Mykonos

Mykonos Town, September 4, 2000
(Photo: Chris)

Chris and I were in Mykonos five years ago today. We really had very limited time: four hours, essentially, which included the time it took to get to and from the our cruise ship on the small tenders which ferried us to shore.

Anyway, the place was magical. Chris and I trekked up through town to a windmill crowning a ridge. What a treat to meander through the quiet, narrow streets to the windmill and its sweeping views of the little harbor and our cruise ship anchored some distance from shore. After watching the sun set and a quick trip for souvenir shopping, we headed back to the ship.

My favorite photo from our excursion was this one that Chris took. This adorable kid just kept coming closer and closer until Chris told him to stop. And he captured this exquisite image.

Mea Culpa

Oops!

Somebody (namely me), who is usually so good about remembering birthdays? Might not have remembered a certain South Carolina hunk's birthday -- his big 4-0, in fact -- which fell on this very day. I promise to let you spank me later, Dan.

It's still the 3rd here in L.A., so I will officially (and humbly) wish you a very Happy Birthday . . . weekend.

I took this photo of Dan during my visit to Charleston in January. Ain't he the cutest?

Greece

The Acropolis, September 2, 2000

It's been five years since Chris and I spent a little over a week in Greece. We spent three nights in Athens, followed by a cruise of the Greek Islands (Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete, Santorini -- and a day trip to the ancient ruins of Ephesus, in Turkey). On our first full day in Athens, we trekked up the Acropolis to visit the Parthenon and the other haunting ruins surrounding it.

I have such happy memories of our time in loud and frantic -- yet, to me, loveable -- Athens (the ouzo, the Acropolis, the Archaeological Museum), our equally loud and frantic -- and, yes, loveable -- dining companions aboard the ship, the wonderful ports of call on our cruise of the Aegean.

Chris and I shot some amazing photos during our journey. This shot of Chris, taken behind the Acropolis, is one of my personal favorites: the Parthenon reflected in his sunglasses, the way the morning light is shining on the back of his neck, the light shadow across his face, and the other tourists blurred in the background.

Disbelief

What else can one feel, sitting and watching an American city die . . . live on CNN?