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September 28, 2005

Announcement

I guess it isn't really real unless it's on paper: I bought my plane ticket last weekend; I'm officially leaving Seattle October 22nd. Let's see how it goes. The first few weeks are going to totally suck, but I think once routine starts settling down I'll be much more at ease.

Posted by Charlie at 02:08 PM | Comments (2)

September 25, 2005

Junior Tolo Night

Great Indian summer weekend. I got two more Yoko Kanno albums, watched two very interesting films (The Raspberry Reich, O Fantasma), and ate more curry at Fort St. George.

Eric and his sister hosted a cocktail party to celebrate the end of summer, and it seemed all of Seattle's beautiful hipster crowd was there. Booga and I just coincidentally decided on wearing turquoise tops, black jackets, and white shoes, and for the rest of the night we masqueraded around as two junior Tolo dates.

We also made a pit stop at RPlace, but I don't remember too much about that portion of the night, save for the sweaty dancing and some drunken secret-revealing. At the end of the night we went back to Eric's place, and the entire apartment complex was wall-to-wall packed with dancers. It was definitely an event worthy of Page Six.

Posted by Charlie at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2005

A Constant State of Egomania

Fitting everything into my schedule has been hard as of late, with me trying to get all of my shit together before I leave Seattle. Nothing is still official yet, although I did go out and purchased a shiki-futon mattress for good measure. I have a place to stay "for however long I need to get settled," and my parents have generously offered to help foot some of the bills, but again, nothing is official yet.

I haven't even told most of my friends in New York that I'm coming. I guess I am just scared to cross that line dividing fantasy and reality... I am much more of a dreamer than I am a doer, preferring instead to live out my life vicariously through my grandiose aspirations and of others' own. Don't get me wrong: I have a personal history that I am very proud of - I have two college degrees! I used to be a concert-level pianist! I am semi-fluent in three different languages! I stared Death in the face and said, "FUCK YOU!" - but somehow it all warrants up to nothing unless I'm back on my own two feet, supporting myself again, in a different city where things will be refreshingly much harder.

Again, nothing is official yet.

I often wonder if I'm running away from Seattle, that New York (or anyplace else) is my emotional catharsis, an escape from everything that I've come to resent here. Coming back from a whirlwind experience like the Tour only to spend the next four months in a state of suspended animation, watching the lives of others proceed and evolve with everyday living, I've gotten way too bitter for my own good, and I'm starting to hurt people that I care about.

Speaking of which... history reared its not-so-ugly head back into my life a few days ago, and for the first time ever I realize that leaving Seattle will be the best and worst thing that I can do for myself right now.

Posted by Charlie at 02:38 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2005

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children

Wow. Go see this movie, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, and be prepared to be visually stimulated.

Posted by Charlie at 11:05 PM | Comments (1)

Reminiscing Good Times

This is going to be hard. Just when I thought I was mentally/emotionally prepared to leave Seattle... Fuck.

Posted by Charlie at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2005

Chug Chuggin' Along

All I need now is a plane ticket, then I can officially announce the time/date for the going away party. I know I am romanticizing everything here, excited about living out my Sex and the City fantasies in Manhattan, but I think I'll probably be spending the first few weeks in New York sleeping on an air mattress while I work out my financial assessments.

I was soooooo kidding on that SATC bit.

Posted by Charlie at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2005

Hung Up On Madonna

Madonna's next album finally gets a cover, and what a cover it is! Steven Klein, Giovanni Bianco, and Madonna worked together to create a rather pop graphic portrayal of the superstar, a stark contrast to her 2003 album American Life's artwork. I'm really excited for this album; I heard her upcoming single, and it's reassuring knowing that Madonna has not lost her touch on dance music one bit. No sir. This is going to be one uncontroversial, mindless, dance-induced piece of work. I cannot wait.

Posted by Charlie at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2005

The First Advent

We left the second half of our chapter unwritten, but the ink has run dry.

Posted by Charlie at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)

Rules For Dating Charlie - Tip #231

Yes, I know it's the first date and all, and yes, I know it's kind of like a job interview, but please, don't say that one of your hobbies is "working out." You obviously have a nice body, but I'd want this idealized image of you, that you're effortlessly striking. Plus it just isn't really intellectually sound.

Posted by Charlie at 03:19 PM | Comments (2)

September 15, 2005

Classroom Notes

"U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war."

(via Reuters)

Posted by Charlie at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)

Reprocessing & Rehashing

I've been going into the Mavin offices periodically this past few weeks to do a little re-shooting for the documentary. Justin wanted me to answer a few more interview questions, as well as shoot some cutaway shots of my character. It was a little hard to get back into that sort of mindset that I had when I was back on the tour, back when it was so easy for me to remember a particular time and instance of an event. "Yeah, meeting with Senator Obama was... great. Yeah. He was... um... taller than I imagined."

Posted by Charlie at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2005

Reared By Poodles

I spent the day today looking for the perfect bottle of tartar sauce for one of my mom's spoiled-rich friends from Thailand. Call me culturally elitist, but I can't stand it when tourists make rash generalizations based upon a singular experience. It's really hard to keep one's mouth shut when you're in the company of uneducated brats.

Posted by Charlie at 05:54 PM | Comments (1)

September 12, 2005

This Space Between

This photograph details the textured sanding done of the Walt Disney Hall: one side is smooth and reflective, the other is coarse and opaque. If this photograph represented a piece of the timeline of my life (and this is now me putting on my art history bullshitting cap), my current state of mind would be in the space of air between these two walls. I've polished and buffed Seattle as much as I can for at the moment, and it's now time for me to make that leap to the other wall that is New York so I can start polishing.

Um... what the fuck did I just write?

Anyway, it looks like I might be moving out to the Big Apple a little sooner than I first expected.

Posted by Charlie at 09:40 PM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2005

Three Days of Making Whoopee

Oh Lordy. I am officially partied out, at least for the next month or two. Met a cast of interesting characters in the three days that I hung out with Ireneo: the local newscaster who thought I was gorgeous and wanted to know if I took hip-hop dance classes (how sweet); this cool thirty-something couple who met on a bus in Europe (how adorable); this guy who claimed to have taken the same flight as me to LA (how weird); oh, and a random encounter with Chandra at Manray (how awesome).

Posted by Charlie at 10:45 AM | Comments (1)

September 10, 2005

Chasing Daybreak

I feel somewhat guilty. During the Generation Mix Tour the crew members and I had an additional responsibility that went along with our individual roles, which was to videotape our journal across the country for the tour documentary, 'Chasing Daybreak'. While in the end we achieved getting over sixty hours of footage, I felt that it wasn't enough, after screening the rough cut of the film earlier this afternoon. That was the first time I saw any of the footage that was taken during the trip, and because I have a personal attachment to the characters in the film, I kinda wanted to see more. It felt nostalgic watching myself and the other four go through our individual character developments and the journey that we took together. The images of our time in New Orleans were especially haunting, (not) knowing that some of the people that we interacted with there may or may not be okay. I'm really excited/nervous/apprehensive/scared/happy to see how the final cut turns out.

Posted by Charlie at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)

September 08, 2005

Scion t2B

I like cars. Especially concept cars. The Scion t2B is one drool-worthy car. It has daring exterior design, a stylized interior, and an overall fun character. Now if only the streets of NYC were more car-friendly.

Posted by Charlie at 03:34 PM

iPod nano

Wow, when did this happen?! Apple replaced the iPod mini last week with the iPod nano, a pencil-thin flash player with a color screen. Sexy!

Posted by Charlie at 10:49 AM

September 07, 2005

The Place To Be Seen

LA was a lot of fun, although it felt a bit like we were dragged from one misadventure to the next at times. For a while I seriously thought that we weren't going to make it back to Seattle in one piece, and now that we're back, I'm already meticulously planning my next impulsive vacation, which will be my two-plus-year stint in New York.

Hmmm... where to begin...

Spent a day exploring the Getty, which is pretty much a graphic designer's dream come true. The architecture of the entire complex is laid out according to a strict grid system, and everything - from the placement of the trees on the hills to the sizes of the travertine squares - is fastidiously laid out. The architectural space was so much more interesting than the pieces of art that it housed that we ended up wandering around the outside complex for much of the day.

Latin Pride took place in LA this weekend, and I of course just HAD to go witness the entire affair. We only stayed for an hour though; Latin Pride in LA kinda reminded me of Sunday nights at Neighbors when they host Spanish karaoke: very much lost in cultural translation. Latino guys are so cute; they haven't (yet) succumbed to the homonormative conventions of beauty, so you have all these couples in oversized t-shirts walking around holding hands. So gangsta, so cute.

I also saw a man with the largest breasts I've ever seen in my life there.

Spotted the cutest guy in Little Tokyo while eating lunch at Curry House... Brian and I were having very in-depth discussions about race relations in the land of racial hierarchy that is America, and I couldn't help but stare at this beautiful specimen obviously trying to pretend like he wasn't listening to our conversation. I caught him several times looking like he wanted to put his two cents in, and my inner stalker told me to take a snapshot of him.

Bryan's car broke down when we were at Griffith Park this one time, and we spent the rest of the afternoon huddled in the shade of the hill, conspicuously avoiding the many guys that were in the area cruising. It was so nasty: this one guy, seeing us in our dire state, parked the car some twenty feet away, and I, thinking that he might be some concerned citizen, forced Brian out of the car to ask the guy for help. Brian came back and reported to me that the guy was in very short-shorts, and was stroking the visible outline of his cock while Brian was soliciting him for help. We got him to drive over, short-shorts and all, and try to start the battery with jumper cables. When that didn't work he left us, drove some twenty feet away, parked, and stayed there for the next thirty minutes while Brian and I started praying for our lives. I don't even want to think what he was doing during that time.

Hmmm... what else did we do... there was the day trip to the beach, which I cut short because I had to get back to the house to spew the contents of the previous night's debaucherious outing; having very politically incorrect conversations with white huskies while feeling very much like the objectified Asian bride; realizing that I was checking out the guys on 18+ night... two nights in a row; eating and drinking and eating and drinking.

I left LA with a different impression than the previous ones that I've had in the past. I feel... I don't know... a little more enlightened in the ways of relationships/friendships between gay men, at least in the LA area. I don't know, maybe it was the crowd that I was hanging out with, but words like 'cocaine,' 'crystal meth,' and 'bathhouse' were commonly sprinkled in the conversations that I experienced. I find it a little sad and cliche knowing that some stereotypes of gay drug addicts are still fresh and true... In a city that elevates sex and beauty, it is not uncommon if you're friends with a porn star, and chances are good you guys have fucked in the past. This culture of being friends/periodical fuck buddies/borderline tweakers is still a little foreign to me, but I know it isn't unique to LA, although a lot of these things came up while I was there.

I guess just being in that hyper-realized environment saturated with gay men and no one else but gay men made me a little bit more desensitized and less romantic about achieving a successful relationship. Some couples I met were clearly in love with each other, but they pretty much had separate sex lives. It's a compromise that is ideal to some, but not all, and definitely not to me.

Anyway.

LA was definitely a lot of fun. I'm still worn out.

Posted by Charlie at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)

September 01, 2005

The Frailty of the Human Condition

Human beings are capable of achieving some very wondrous and beautiful things, but when we're bad, we're really bad.

Apparently God wanted to make sure that next week's Southern Decadence party doesn't happen.

In the meantime, please go to www.redcross.org and donate to help those who were victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Posted by Charlie at 09:57 PM | Comments (1)

Break Time

Out of sheer compulsion, Brian and I booked last-minute flights to LA for this weekend. Both of us have to leave Seattle for the moment in order to regain our sanity, and frankly I just need a change in scenery and a little R&R. I have no idea what I'll be doing while I'm down there, but that's the beauty in being spontaneous and off-the-cuff. Adults should be more impulsive; it makes life more interesting and less predictable.

Posted by Charlie at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)