Archive for February, 2009
Friday, February 27th, 2009
I’ve done a few email interviews lately and somehow Lucy Lawless continues to come up. I think at this point, the goal for me and Christian is just to keep talking about her in every interview and put it out there over and over again that we just want to hang out with her once. The thing is, I have never seen her in anything other than Xena. I never really watched Xena when it was on the air, but Christian did. I didn’t get into it until a few months ago. We have that Netflix box that lets you watch your instant queue on the TV via wireless, and we added all six seasons of the show. I started watching it kind of as a joke, but I got SO into it. It’s not even a guilty pleasure at this point, it’s a straight up character flaw here and now in 2009 but I share it with quite a few others so I don’t want to hear it.
Lucy Lawless was a huge star, right? Like, I remember seeing her everywhere when Xena was on the air, and reading about her doing Broadway afterward. Everyone was obsessed with the fact that she was from New Zealand. Her SNL Stevie Nicks was GOLD. And now she’s apparently blonde and on Battlestar Galactica? I’m completely obsessed, but there’s no way I’m getting myself hooked on Battlestar Galactica. That’s like… another level. When she guest judges RuPaul’s Drag Race, I’ll watch. I think for Halloween this year Christian is gonna be Xena and I will be Hercules, because I’d rather die than be Gabrielle, and I can’t be the Xena, because come on.
Okay so, there are the typical episodes of Xena… the fight, mission, battle, journey episodes. Those are good. Then there are the historical intervention episodes. Those are the ones where there are famous mythical (and sometimes actual historical) figures who interact with Xena and she somehow inspires them to do their crowning deed or come up with their legendary concept. Gabrielle invented Santa Claus, by the way. But then there’s the occasional WTF episode during which you just sit through to the end and then go “oh okay.” Everybody sings every line, or Xena is stuck in another actor’s body for like four episodes in a row, or there are silent film placards, or Xena spends an hour knitting in silence and stirring soup with her bare foot. Or, actually, there’s the one that takes place in the 1940s on an archaeological inquest into the “Xena” legend, populated by direct descendants of the main characters.
Long story short, I’m going to click over to Wikipedia and IMDB and do some catching up on the True Hollywood Story and facts of Lucy Lawless, because she is more than this role, and if we’re gonna make this meeting happen I want to be prepared and not just pretend like she is Xena of Amphipolis. Lord knows it’s annoying enough that everyone still thinks Christian’s only vocab word is “fierce,” and he actually did say that shit all the time. Wasn’t even a character from ten years ago. This was real life, last year, and it’s already stale crackers in our current life situation. So I imagine that Lucy Lawless likes people to know that she is other things. And dammit, I will know!
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
I’m looking at the IMDB home page right now, on the plane from LA back home to NYC with in-flight internet, and there is a photo of Kate Winslet all dolled up winning her Academy Award last night for Best Actress. Over the top of my laptop I can see Kate Winslet herself, right there, eating the ice cream sundae they just served us. On the flight to LA yesterday we were sitting near Seth Myers, and I love him, so that was a lot of fun. And we’ve flown with really great actors before like Felicity Huffman and Bob Balaban… but to fly with Kate Winslet less than 24 hours after she won Best Actress is about the most surreal flight experience we’ve had yet. She’s one of those rare people who looks both otherwordly and completely normal at the same time. Totally stunning and gorgeous, but you could easily imagine her at the grocery store comparing the prices of PineSol and 409. Victoria Beckham, not so much.
Last night were the Oscars, and we had a great time looking at everybody’s outfits and party-timing with the beautiful Mena Suvari! Christian dressed her last night in one of his dresses from his show last week at Bryant Park. She’s so crazy, So much fun. And her friend Laura was great, also a talented designer and wearing her own creation. At the other end of our table were Brittany Snow and Amanda Bynes, both of whom also walked in the Heart Truth’s Red Dress show that kicked off fashion week last week. Maulik Pancholy, who’s basically on every great television show that exists, sat with us as well. The evening was lots of fun. The musical opening of this year’s Oscars was the best I’ve ever seen! Hugh Jackman did such a great job, and Anne Hathaway was icing on the cake.
This morning we left the hotel (the London, whose second floor big balcony rooms are our favorite in LA – so amazing) headed for the E! studios where Christian was filming the Oscars episode of Fashion Police, and I’m pretty sure Darius “Hootie” Rucker was on a cell phone getting into a Toyota. I felt that warranted a text to Kathy, who responded “but who’s watching the blowfish?”
Friday, February 20th, 2009
It’s over! It was amazing! I’m so proud, yet again. It’s gotten such a great response. Here’s the song I did for the runway this season, some have asked to hear it. It doesn’t have a name. Not available for download yet.
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Here are some photos taken by Antwan of the show, backstage, and after party. He sent them over to us yesterday, and thank god he was there. He got some great stuff that we didn’t otherwise have any record of!
After the jump are some photos from the hotel between the show and the party and the day after… (more…)
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
A couple weeks ago when Anna was in town, we and Kate and Alana did some impromptu zoological photography. Believe it or not, this is all stuff we had around the house. Christian likes him some feathers.
As usual, fashion week is trying nerves and kicking ass. Poor Carolina Herrera and her spotlight trouble. I’m doing a lot less this season than in seasons past, and I’m still overwhelmed. Christian is gone every day from dawn til bedtime, not sleeping, double booking, driving himself crazy. But it will all be worth it in the end on Thursday when he shows what I think is going to be his best collection yet. It’s gonna be amazing. I finished the runway music, so that’s a weight off. The stress level is high for various reasons, and I’m going to be glad when things die down a bit.
What was particularly fun was the kickoff to fashion week – the Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection – where many designers dressed celebrities in red for the runway. Christian was asked to dress Valerie Bertinelli. We had front row seats for the show next to Kellie Pickler, who was beautiful and said “y’all” a lot. Valerie looked so good, so confident, she totally stole the show for me. Jane Kaczmarek backstage was super nice, and I got particularly surreal-ed out when I saw John Basedow talking with Gerard Butler. Some things, I just don’t get. I loved that Hilary Duff walked to her own song, and that Tori Spelling walked to “Two of Hearts.” The whole show was like a party, loose and fun and celebratory.
Christian and Tori filmed for her show backstage at the Red Dress show, and on Saturday she and her film crew came to our house to discuss something (you’ll see soon enough). She’s a lot of fun. Topper scratched the shit out of her. Then on Saturday night we went to the Mercedes-Benz party and had some good, much-needed hangout time with Geneva and Lisa and Josh. Best part of the week.
Click through to watch a piece on Christian and me at home that Nylon did… (more…)
Friday, February 13th, 2009
I met Melissa Beck when she was Melissa Howard, fresh from her stint on The Real World and a Challenge or two. At that time she was pulling pranks as a cast member of Girls Behaving Badly and I was dancing to Britney Spears. But soon she was giving up Hollywood monotony for work and New York married life and now, mommied life.
I’m so thrilled to have photographed both her wedding and now her current state, eight months pregnant. She’s a super real lady and I am not lying when I say she is the funniest person in this state. I love her, and I wish her and Justin and their girl the best forever.
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
I will stand in the middle of the street and cough up quarters. As the cars halt and people start taking pictures, the quarters will flow from my mouth and onto the pavement where they will be collected and stuffed into the pockets of children hungry for that nickel glow and the promise of luxury that it brings. There will be so many quarters, such a constant and bountiful flow, that scoopers with pockets full will begin to store handfuls in grocery totes, and soon, garbage bags and the trunks of their vehicles. The quarters, the quarters, they will number in the hundreds of thousands. People will perform their estimations and loose counts, dividing their coin number by four to determine approximately how many dollars they have just stumbled upon for free in this, the worst economic season of my living history.
When the police taser me because they are afraid of that which is unexplainable, the shock will travel through me, the metal spilling forth through my mouth, and to the appreciative crowd below. It will only serve to energize the lot of us, like shots of espresso to the brain. The street will be closed off, someone two floors up will position their stereo facing out and max the volume, pushcart vendors will wheel in and provide free treats and street meats to all, and an impromptu Manhattan block party will materialize in the middle of the work week. It will be a daylight speakeasy, the worst-kept secret in all of New York. People dancing on the ground to “Dancing on the Ceiling.”
And then? Then I will acknowledge your thrown-together tulle and neon lycra shitstorm in a nightclub as a legitimate fashion show.
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
I got to photograph Novel a week or so ago. I’m a big fan of his music, especially “I Am” and his cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” (both of which you can hear on his MySpace). He’s worked with so many amazing musicians, including Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis, Ben Folds, Beyonce, Adele, Talib Kweli, and Joss Stone. I think he’s going to be huge when his album The Audiobiography is out.
Monday, February 9th, 2009
I was particularly excited to photograph Melanie Fiona last week. She’s one of my favorite new musicians, such a nice person, and I am certain she’s about to be big. She just toured with Kanye West and played her first NYC showcase with Jay-Z and Questlove cheering her on.
Click through to watch an awesome video of Melanie performing “Bang Bang” at the Canal Room last week… (more…)
Monday, February 9th, 2009
My former roommate Kathy and I just went through hell with our landlord when we moved out of our last apartment. While researching our legal options, we found scant information online about him, so I’m putting the following detailed account on the web in case anybody in the future turns to Google for some help in dealing with him… (more…)
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
Anna came down for the day yesterday and we caught up after literally months of not seeing each other. We used to hang out every day, and then she moved out of the city and we rarely get to have face time any more. I love her, it was great to spend the day together.
