Our Puffies and We

You need to have a Puffy in cold weather. You will die without one. Here's DBB and I modeling ours. It is the best purchase I made this winter. I love it frankly. I brought it to Washington DC with me and thank God I did.

No offense, but...

Some people are idiots.

So I bought this fabulous shirt last week to add to my great collection of tees. Here is the design:

It's pretty awesome, huh? And it's totally cute on me. I love it. I was SO excited to wear it. But on the day of inauguration, there were quite a few idiots who asked me what it meant. I was like, are you serious? They were like, yeah. I'm like, dude, there's a double meaning. They're like, which meaning are you referring to? I'm like, hello... both. That's what double meaning means. That's what makes this t-shirt so special.

Anyway, I was disappointed at the simpletons' reactions but pleased with the people who understood immediately and promptly furnished compliments. I do it for them, you know.

Here's a picture of me with the t-shirt on. I'm at the Redwood Bar in downtown. The bar is wonderfully pirate-themed. Redwood and my t-shirt made my day.

Me and my bitches.

Happy birthday, ATG!

my new BFF

That's right, bitches. I made a new Best Friend Forever. Meet K-Train.

DYY and K-Train checking out the Thomas & Friends exclusive website.

K-Train giving DYY a big morning kiss.
(and yes, I'm wearing a muu muu)

"We are still... the Pet Shop Boys"

That's what Neil Tennant (on the left) said at the conclusion of their concert yesterday at the Wiltern Theater. Chris Lowe (on the right) was silent most of the night, marking his genius at the keyboard while wearing the exact same neon yellow hoodie and shades pictured above.

Not only are they still the Pet Shop Boys, but they are still very cool. The concert was amazing and they are awesome live. I swear, Neil's vocals sound just like they do on their cds! Thankfully, they played many of their old hits and we went crazy. It was really wonderful.

Lady Pun and I decided to go last minute. Thanks to Jane, we were fortunate to get discount tickets ($15 plus surcharges... original price was $65!). With the discount, it was even more worthwhile.

Yes, they are old. They don't look like this anymore, actually:

They can no longer prance around like they did back in the day, nor partake in any theatrics. And the audience was old, which made me think of my own fleeting youth...

But I actually think they are way cooler now... instead of prancing around themselves, they hired gorgeous gay men to prance on stage for them! Now that's hot. The dancers and back-up singers wore a multitude of lavish costumes that ranged from urban couture to head-to-toe white jumpers to sparkly golden cowboy outfits to flashy naval uniforms... there were at least 2 costume changes with each song.

Unfortunately, no one else in the theater (occupied only by gay white men and Asian people) dressed up for the ultimate new wave electro pop concert of the year except for the Pet Shop Boys, their dancers, and us:

Dude, we could pass for the Asian version of the West End Girls, a tribute band for the Pet Shop Boys. Perhaps we should call ourselves the East End Girls?

This young Swedish duo (only 17 years old!) sing only cover songs from Pet Shop Boys albums.

Although Joe introduced me to the West End Girls, the first time time I heard of tribute bands was when I read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. Author Chuck Klosterman, who was my hero for a minute (he did not have lasting power over me, unlike Gandhi), toured with Paradise City, a tribute band for Guns N' Roses. It wasn't until I read Chuck's book did I learn that most well-known singers and bands have a following of impersonators who make a pretty decent living singing the songs of the original performers.

Chuck describes these impersonators perfectly: These bands are mired in obsurity and engaged in a bizarrely postmodern zero sum game. If a tribute band were to completely succeed, its members would no longer have personalities. They would have no character whatsoever, beyond the qualities of whomever they tried to emulate. The goal is not to be somebody; the goal is to be somebody else.

Well-written, Chuck. That's why you were my hero for like two minutes. The Pet Shop Boys, on the other hand, have earned my loyalty. I am a fan for life.

Recent museum and gallery excursions

Okay, I must either be getting older or lamer but I must say... I had a blast at the Huntington Botanical Gardens when my family visited last month. We were suppose to go to the popular Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena, but lucky for me, there was a Rosebowl game and so the museum was closed. As a fairly new fan of horticulture, I was in heaven.

Here I am with the special men in my family.
We're striking a pose in the Desert Garden.

Here's another marvelous work of nature.

Here's my dad picking a tiny unknown fruit from the tree... and yes, he ate it. The white people thought we were strange and probably a bit ghetto or foreign, and my sister walked away in embarrassment, but I found it very amusing and encouraged my dad to eat as much fruit as he could pick... we paid a hefty admission fee so I felt it was acceptable. He just ate one though, just for taste and curiousity.

Two weeks later, Tonk and I went to the opening reception of Street Signs and Solar Ovens: Socialcraft in Los Angeles at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Mid-Wilshire. This exhibition is so so cool. I encourage all my artsy and/or environmental friends to check it out... it runs until December 31, 2006. The exhibit is described as a thought-provoking exhibition featuring artwork created with social activism as its inspiration. The exhibit explores the inventive objects & strategies created by artists in response to the environmental, political and social issues of our time. The objects featured will include protest art meant for public display as well as tools for socially concious living... such as a bicycled-powered blender. I'm totally for real. Another piece I thought was totally cool was Fallen Fruit: A Mapping of Food Resources in Los Angeles. Three artists/activists created map legends of fruit trees in Los Angeles that are accessible and available for picking by the public! When my dad visits next, you know what we're going to do.

We were also able to check out Tigers and Jaguars: LA's Asian-Latino Art Phenomenon on the same night. Unfortunately, the exhibit ended that week, so it's too bad if you missed it here or at LACMA... because it was really rad. Dude, an artist made a low-rider rickshaw. Enough said. I did not have my camera to take pictures, but Tonk took several photos from his camera phone... perhaps he'll share them in a future post.

Finally, a few of us went to the Calavera Fashion Show & Walking Altars at Tropico de Nopal Gallery in Echo Park, in celebration of the Day of the Dead. Since I love love love fashion, as well as Day of the Dead celebrations, and had missed the annual Dia De Los Muertos at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary (one of my absolute favorite places in LA), I knew the fashion show was a must-see. And I am so glad I was right, like usual...

The organizers did an amazing job tranforming the back courtyard into a real professional-looking fashion show runway.

Poli, a close friend of Tonk's grandparents, was jamming! I was so impressed by her artistic vision and dance skills. She was paying homage to her grandmother in this homemade outfit.

A Keith Herring inspired skeleton dancing to Madonna's Vogue.
Let your body move to the music...hey hey hey... C'mon Vogue!

The three women above inspired me to learn how to sew. After all, I do own a classic old school sewing machine. Yeah, it's a paradox.
Anyway, Tonk agreed to teach me. YES!

I'm not generally into goth or death metal, but I was really digging the pinhead dude.

Long Live The Dead!

Last post about halloween, I swear!

Sorry, but it's one of my all-time favorite holidays...

Annual Halloween Carnaval in West Hollywood
10/31/06

Finally, someone wore a Kim Jung Il outfit! I tried convincing my Korean friends to be him this year but to no avail.

These trons were Tron's favorite.

This is not a joke. This is real.
K-Fed was one of the acts for West Hollywood this year.

I love Halloween.

Halloween at Fu's Palace

A few of us rented Fu's Palace on Saturday for a blow-out Halloween party of the year!

Fu's is THE place for a private party. The restaurant has a huge rectangular bar area, a banquet room for the dance floor and a spacious outdoor patio. The decor is kitchy Chinese American, with round red booths and laterns and all that good shit.

The crew and I came as a CIRCUS.

From left to right: Pixie, Ringleader, Bearded Lady, Cross Dresser, Animal Tamer and Clown.

... and the Woman who shoots out of a Cannon and an Acrobat.

Music by:

DJ Rewind

DJ Mighty Nice

DJ Dithmar

Big Bird getting naughty on the dance floor.

It was very exciting because there was about a 95% rate in costume participation.

Owner Gary Fu with Min from the Chinese Opera

The Birds! The Birds!

Foxy Brown posing with Jane the Matador

Dick Cheney hanging out with Jenna Bush and a Saudi Prince

The Ax Gang from Kung Fu Hustle with some nondescript Halloween ladies.

Very rad.

Cleopatra with Sid Vicious.

A Giant Ipod.

This was homemade. Go Nacho Libre!

I covet his bow.

Happy Halloween!

Represent

My newest t-shirt, a belated birthday gift from Kim Chee Farmer.
SOUTH SIDE!
(That's his painting in the background. Fresh!)

Paris Hilton has the best style

NOT!

You got to give her credit, though, for trying to disguise her pajamas with a big red belt.

A Fashion Must-Have

Photo by DYY

The Pope Wears Prada

The Queen is looking fierce in those red shoes!

"Twin Nipples"

Last Friday night, Tonkhero and I ventured into an off-beat journey with the Midnight Riders, a group of about 300-400 bicyclers who reclaim the streets every second Friday of the month. The theme of the month was "TWINS". And yes, we were a pair of breasts, even though everyone called us Twin Nipples.

Some people didn't understand our costume because they're stupid idiots. But the smart people thought it was very funny and creative. People gave us strange looks when we were a single boob though. That's when I replied that I had breast cancer.

The strangest remark a cyclist said to me was, "That looks like my daughter's nipple on your head." I gave him an unusual look and said, "That's a really weird comment." He immediately became embarrased and said that he has a 9-month old and he was actually referring to his kid's baby bottle... yeah right.
The experience was very liberating. Since there are hundreds of us, there was no way that we could all pass the intersections of the streets in a timely manner. So when the light turned red, either organizers or volunteers would plant themselves and their bikes in front of cars and buses who had the right of way, so that the rest of us could pass and stay together as a large mass. It was really frightening at first, because drivers would get pissed and honk or even come out of their cars and bitch at the bicyclists in their faces. I honestly thought a fight was going to break out, or that some psycho LA driver would become ballistic and run us all down. Still, the human roadblocks wouldn't budge. It's quite a public service, I think.

The crowd were all carrying beers, drinking as they rode. Some of them were visibly drunk but, surprisingly, I only saw one crash, and I think that resulted more from lack of coordination than inebriation.
The SKEET brothers made me take their picture. It's funny and all, but they thought they were so clever... homeboy on the right kept bragging that he came up with the idea and made the shirts at 9:00pm. I pointed at the nipple on my head and said 10:15.
We started in Echo Park at 10:30 pm. Then to Downtown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Skid Row (which I thought was tasteless actually), and ended up here at Mariachi Square in East L.A. We reversed the route and returned to Echo Park by 1:30 am. We ended the night with more beer, pork rhines and tacos from this awesome taco truck next to the ghetto Vons in Echo Park. Very yummy...