Golden Globes 2012

My favorite category this year?

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story"
Kelly MacDonald, "Boardwalk Empire"
Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"
Evan Rachel Wood, "Mildred Pierce"


Boy, I'm torn who I would cheer for in this category. I watch "American Horror Story" and revel in each scene with Ms. Lang. Her fiery dialog and scorching delivery chews the scenery with even the most subtle glimpse or wince.

But Ms. Smith (a classic) in "Downton Abbey" zips every humdinger line of dialog like an arrow to the comedic and dramatic heart. I'm not sure what I meant by that last bit, but I know she's real good.

Here's hoping one of the ladies picks up the trophy this year.


Another terrific category:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Hugh Bonneville, "Downtown Abbey"
Idris Elba, "Luther"
William Hurt, "Too Big to Fail"
Bill Nighy, "Page Eight"
Dominic West, "The Hour"

While Mr. Elba deserves this win ("Luther" is riveting!), I'm posting it here just as an excuse to upload another picture of him. (Cheshire cat grin)

City of Paris Tree

Not a San Francisco native, I had never heard of the department store City of Paris. Heck, I didn't know there was anything in the space before Neiman Marcus (aka Needless Mark-up).

I was pleasantly surprised to stumble on this story. Below is a repost of a Peter Hartlaub "SF Chronicle" blog post that can be found here. (click here)


I love these old pictures.


Oh lala...sexy maniquins...

Laura Nyro

She's being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for 2012. Woo hoo!


I'll be honest as I didn't discover Ms. Nyro on my own. I have "the Mister" to thank for introducing me. Holy cow, she's written all the cool songs for all the cool people. I'd call her a singer's singer.

I find that Laura's music is not for background mood music, but music that demands to be listened to. "New York Tendaberry" was just such an album and really knocked me out.

I scoured YouTube but there's just not many clips of Laura singing live. This clip is a good one - just her.



A rocking good time (if that's the right words) can be found on this album with LaBelle (thanks Mister).


It's all a "Stoned Soul Picnic" to me!

Holiday Cheer

Impossible holiday cheer!

It's like watching a much younger version of myself.

Kathy Griffin & Jesse Tyler Ferguson

I love the new homage to Janet Jackson for the new issue of "OUT" magazine. Kathy is so boundry-pushing and has a "smokin' bikini bod" (look it up in the book in the Paris Hilton chapter).


Yeah! I just finished the book. Paperback is more portable, so I waited. I loved it.

Bird Riding Turtle

Not to mention the tacky-ass carpet...

Cute 42 seconds.

Happy Halloween

My motto... if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing!

Euro Autos

I’m not exactly an auto aficionado. Ok, I don’t know bupkis about cars, but sometimes they do catch my eye. Kind of the “shiny penny” effect (must be the OCD)…mmm pretty. Anyway (I ramble, therefore I am), I have some snaps of European cars that caught my attention.

Amsterdam – This beauty was just hanging out by a canal. I don’t think it was a VW, but it sure made me want to go topless! “Put ‘Em On The Glass, Baby!”


Berlin – This taxi wasn’t anything special even though it’s a BMW. But the gay pride flags? Yep, I’d wave that taxi down for a ride! And even a finger snap!!


Edinburgh – Wish I was taking pictures for postcards. An English cab? Next to an English phone box? Textbook example. It really does look like that!


München – Smart Car: a car I would love to drive one day, just to see how it feels to drive a lawn mower. When I took this pic, it was special because the cars hadn’t hit the States yet. It’s soooo cute!


Ireland – This sweet rental was considered a “van”. In US standards, it’s more like just a hatch-back for elves for ‘eff sake. There were 7 American-sized adults in that thing. It was snug, but it sure was fun, as evidenced by the not-so-good Photoshop job in the back seat.


Vienna – Just a boring van, but I wanted to get a record of what one looked like just in case I accidentally ended up in one on that trip. Polizei = Police in German!


It's not the ride, it's the adventure!!!

Oktoberfest: "Gay Sunday"

On our last visit to Oktoberfest (2010), I chatted with a couple of locals who told me about "Gay Sunday". It sounded incredibly festive, but unfortunately our itinerary didn't allow for another raucous day out. But here's a reprint from a recent "Der Spiegel" article with pictures:

On the first Sunday of Munich's famous beer festival Oktoberfest, big crowds of gay and lesbian visitors gather to party together at the Bräurosl tent.


The tradition began back in the 1970s with a small group of men from a gay leather and fetish collective known as the Munich Lions Club.


Each year they met at the tent on the day now known as "Gay Sunday." This year revellers braved the rainy weather to form an early morning line around the tent. The event has become so popular that space is limited.


But once inside, guests enjoyed the festive atmosphere that has become popular not just among Munich's gay scene, but to visitors from around the world. "There's no aggression, there's a sense of togetherness and the mood is great from the beginning," one waitress said.


"The normalcy makes me very proud about the fact that not only can you be gay or lesbian in Bräurosl, but everywhere at the Oktoberfest," said Thomas Niederbühl of Rosa Liste München, or Pink List Munich, a gay rights party that sits on the city council. "It's a clear signal that, against all odds, so much has changed for Munich's gays and lesbians."


Despite the unwritten rule that Oktoberfest remain a politics-free zone, Munich's mayor Christian Ude comes to Bräurosl every year and conducts the band -- something Niederbühl calls a "strong political signal."


Many guests at the event dress in traditional Bavarian garb known as Tracht. Others, meanwhile, put a festive spin on the look like this man (above picture).

Paul McCartney & Yoko Ono

Here is a reprint from a Huffington Post article (I'm a sucker for even the SLIGHTEST Beatle drama):

Having traded barbs in the press for the past 40 years, alternating moments of anger and accusation with reconciliation and kind words, it's hard to know just where the relationship between Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney stands at any given moment.


Back in 1971, McCartney took a shot at Ono, whom he believed broke up The Beatles and his close friendship with John Lennon, her late husband. "Too many people pulled and pushed around/Too many waiting for that lucky break/That was your first mistake/You took your lucky break and broke it in two," he sang in "Too Many People," a clear shot at Ono.

Since then, they have sniped back and forth; in the last decade, McCartney complained that Ono snubbed him on the "Yesterday" song credit, and Ono labeled McCartney an inferior musician to Lennon at 2005's Q Awards. The feud is filled with such back and forth potshots.


The relationship seemed to have thawed out in 2010, when Ono credited McCartney for saving her marriage to John in an interview with The Times. Then, this summer, things got tossed back up in the air when, having both shown up for an event in Las Vegas for a Beatles Cirque du Soleil show, they declined to pose together.

On Sunday, though, things seemed to be back to at least luke warm, as Ono and McCartney both showed for the premiere of Martin Scorcese's documentary about George Harrison. Putting aside any differences, the two posed together on the red carpet, casting aside any feud they might have to honor the most spiritual Beatle of them all. Also showing up were the one Beatle who was liked by the whole gang at all times, Ringo Starr, as well as Harrison's son, daughter-in-law and widow, Olivia.

Ireland: Glendalough & Giant's Causeway

I’ve been thinking a lot about Ireland lately. Some folks might dream about sunny beaches or fast-moving waterways to get away from it all in their minds. But that doesn’t really work for me. My "happy place" is cool, almost cold, windswept and lush green Ireland. No, I’m not Irish, but after visiting (How many times? Lost track) I have a sensory fondness for the land.


Glendalough in County Wicklow is a spiritual place. It’s peaceful, graceful, and compelling. The forests surrounding it are thick and abundant, while the grounds that St. Kevin walked are green and glorious.


One can lose themselves in the mist and the rain – figuratively speaking. Ghosts of the past will always be beside you to make sure you’re not lost literally.


The Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland is such a conundrum of folklore that you forget you’re even looking at a natural wonder. Did the Irish warrior Finn McCool build the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner? Or was it simply an area subject to intense volcanic activity some 50 million years ago?


The Causeway will forever be known to me as “the place where I fell”, but beyond that, it is part of my “happy place”. To see the basalt columns in person, you forget that you are even on earth. They’re striking, foreboding, and ominously beautiful (and awfully slippery when wet).


Yes, I took the pictures in this post. I’m pretty proud of having visited these places and enjoy showing off their glory.

Bicycles

Are they a romantic notion or just a mode of transportation?


On my European trips, when I see a bicycle perched artfully against a building or light pole, I take a picture. I don’t have a great creative eye, but I try to emulate what I’ve seen on postcards or in books. But why take a picture of a bike?


When the guy who rode the bike in the picture got up in the morning, did he think “Damn, I wish I had a car?” Or did he think, “I’m a free spirit and luckily I don’t have the shackles of a car?”


Riding over all those cobble stones in Europe has GOT to be a bitch. But I guess it’s better than having to find a parking spot for a car.


I don’t really have anything insightful, purposeful, or even glib to say about bikes. Other than, don’t you like my neat-o pictures? The top one was taken in Bacharach, Germany on the Rhine. And the bottom collection is from Amsterdam. (sigh) Wish I was there now…riding a bike…

William & Kate: Yee Haw!

Yeah, this was from their Cananda trip earlier this year, but I'm a bit behind the times. I thought it soooo cute to see the Royals in cowboy hats and jeans. I think Kate is SMOKIN' in her dungarees and Wills just looks as cute as a ranch hand sipping whiskey in a field of heffers and studs. Ride 'em Mr. Brokeback Mountain!

Jane Lynch

Actress. Comedienne. Emmy Host.

Cover Girl? You Go Girl!

Biba Ristorante Italiano

I was surprised, shocked, and eventually blessed to be able to go to Biba for dinner for my birthday this year. It's such a landmark in these parts that it's a wonder I've never been. But this occasion changed all that.

Wanting to try EVERYTHING on the menu, we ordered one Antipasti and one Primi Piatti with intentions of splitting the dishes. Usually we do this with one plate, two forks, but not at Biba. They were sweet enough to serve the one order on two plates, and so on.

First up:
Bruschetta con Caprino e Pomodorini
Bruschetta with creamy goat cheese and marinated cherry tomatoes

Simple, uncomplicated elegance


La Pasta Ripiena del Giorno
Housemade stuffed pasta of the day

The stuffing for the day was eggplant. I could have eaten an entire plate and been happy.


Insalata di Barbabietole, Cipolle e Balsamico
Beet salad with sweet onion, pecorino cheese, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar

I'm a sucker for beets, but rarely buy them for myself. This added to the "specialness" of this dish. Mmm, beets, cheese, onions, loveliness!


Lattuga Romana al Gorgonzola
Romaine salad with pine nuts in a creamy gorgonzola dressing

Just grass? Hardly. Bursting with flavor for my mister.


Bistecca Piemontese alla Griglia con Peperonata
Grilled New York steak, rubbed with peppercorns, served with grilled, marinated vegetables

I thought steak in an Italian place was a daring choice. And Biba didn't disappoint.


Wild Salmone con Prosciutto in Padella
Sauteed prosciutto wrapped salmon, served on a bed of yellow corn, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms

Yeah, read it and weep. It says "prosciutto wrapped salmon". Don't you wish you could eat that picture?


Gelato del Giorno
Housemade gelato of the day

Our server sold me on the amaretto chocolate gelato. Seriously, can I just die now?


Zabaglione con Frutti di Bosco
Zabaglione with mixed summer berries

Oh yeah, no dieing here. You'd miss out on the "Zabaglione", which was light and refreshing.


Biba Caggiano

The diva herself. She doesn't cook much any more but makes sure to be in the restaurant to "inspire" her staff, and watch out over her customers. It was a pleasure to meet her, eat her food, and share my birthday here.