Girl Friday

The Mystery of People En Español

My friends have been confronted, but so far no one is fessing up to ordering a subscription of People En Español for me.  The issues inexplicably started coming about 5 months ago and have no use in my house.  Despite my enjoyment of catching the occasional telenovela on TV, I have so little interest in celebrity culture (much less Latino celebrity culture) that this free subscription is wasted on me. 

Though I must confess that I did cut out a full-page photo of Daddy Yankee from the "50 Most Beautiful People" issue and have plans to frame and hang it in my office.  You know, for inspiration.

My Night With Chuck Palahniuk

I ticked another name off my list last night when I had the amazing opportunity to not only meet one of my favorite authors, but sit down and ask him a few questions, as well as help him throw blow-up dolls and canvas autograph hounds into a sold out crowd at the Triple Rock.

Chuck was incredibly gracious on and off stage, and thanked me profusely for taking part in the event and taking the time to come up with original questions he hasn't had to answer a million times before.  I was a little worried because he took such long pauses before answering a couple of my questions, thinking maybe I'd somehow managed to stump him or something, but the compliments from him and his publicist after the interview made me feel positively relieved.

The actual event seemed to fly by really fast, despite having short readings by both Chuck and Knockemstiff author, Don Pollock.  We also watched the trailer for the film adaptation of Choke, which will be out this September.  What didn't fly by was the personalized autograph portion of the evening, which happened both before and after the event.  Very long.  I decided to stick around 'til the end (it didn't run very late, so this was no big deal) and I'm glad I did because I had a chance to say a proper goodbye to Chuck instead of waving a "so long" at him from the side of the signing line.

Having been able to talk to him before, during and after the event, I have to say he's one of the warmest and most respectful people I've met in a long time, celebrity or not.  He's inquisitive and attentive, and either feigned interest very well or was actually engaged in me babbling about my jobs.  He was encouraging as well as kind; I'm apparently expecting a book in the mail soon that he wants me to read.

I'd never done any sort of event like that before, so it was really interesting to find out that everything was so well prearranged.  Chuck's publicist was a rock star, and I was happy to be "directed" by him from off stage.  I suppose things wouldn't go nearly as smoothly if you didn't have someone (who really knew their s**t) running the show.

All in all, a pretty exhilarating experience.  I'm glad I knew the subject matter so well and that everything was went so fluidly.  I think I would've been terrified to interview an author I wasn't familiar with and I certainly would not have wanted to be on stage any longer than I already was.

What Would You Ask Chuck Palahniuk?

What: Chuck Palahniuk promoting his forthcoming novel, Snuff
When: May 21st, 7:00pm
Where: Triple Rock, 18+
Cost: $30.00, and you leave with a signed copy of Snuff
Why should you go? Because it's Chuck-freakin'-Palahniuk!

Why else should you go?  Because the event, brought to you by Magers & Quinn, will be hosted by Yours Truly.  I am out of my mind with excitement about this!  The nice folks at Magers & Quinn (a fellow named Jay, in fact) emailed me a few weeks ago, asking if I'd be interested in hosting Mr. Palahniuk's appearance.  I don't think I took a single breath while replying to the message with an emphatic "YES!"

The format for the Q&A portion of the evening isn't finalized yet, so I thought I'd ask you guys what you would ask Chuck Palahniuk.  I've seen him read before when he was promoting Stranger Than Fiction, and the questions that the audience came up with were super lame.  We haven't figured out if it's going to be a Chuck-selecting-people-from-the-audience situation, or if I'm gonna go all James Lipton on his superstar ass.

In the event of the latter: What would you ask Chuck Palahniuk?

Happy 34th, Jenna!

Jenna Jameson turns 34 today.  Please celebrate appropriately.

I Am Too

If I'm nowhere to be found online the next two days, it's because my apartment is being invaded by HGTV's Decorating Cents tomorrow and they're kicking me out.  My hotel, where I'll be staying with Matt Damon, has wi-fi but it's possible I'll be too busy jumping on the big puffy bed and/or knocking over the mini-bar to remember to turn on my laptop.

Vanessa Ferlito Hair?

Someone posted  the below video clip of Vanessa Ferlito in the comments on Diablo Cody's "Cinema Masturbatio" blog entry yesterday.  The theme was, of course, what steamy film scenes (non-porno) get you going.

Some people might watch the clip and simply say, "hey I saw that movie."  Others might say, "why is that hot young chick doing a lap dance for older-than-God Kurt Russel?"  And most would probably say, "GOD-DAMN!  I want me some of that!"

But I said, "wow, her hair is awesome.  I wonder if Sarah can do that with mine."

So I forwarded the clip to Hair Wizard and Genius Sarah Buckley, Proprietor of Sassy Lu Salon.  She said yes, my hair would easily do that.  (The little minx also asked for a lap dance, and I'm thinking about it.) 

But now I'm wondering if I want to do that.  My hair is long, thick, and black, with scant bangs and minimal layering for textural purposes.  The Vanessa Ferlito hairstyle would retain the length, but at the same time create assloads of layers and my hair wouldn't be as thick.  Also, how does this hairstyle work when employing ponytails?  Or updos, for that matter?  I have a very intentional low-maintenance cut right now.  Will Vanessa Ferlito hair be more work?  Can I get some opinions up in here?

Tighter than J Lo in Her Jeans

Happy 30th birthday, M.I.A.!

Thursday Three

- I glanced at the Pioneer Press while having lunch at Eli's today (why does a Downtown restaurant stock a copy of the St. Paul paper?) and noticed this foreclosure story.  Is any of this really news to anyone?  Also, I love how the only comment at the time of this blog posting is from someone complaining that the author placed the Phoenix on the River development in Downtown.

- "(Rethinking) Gender: What Makes Us Male or Female?" From Newsweek two weeks ago; I was reading Em & Lo tonight and they linked to it recently.  I was just trying to explain transgenderism to a friend on Friday and couldn't quite articulate my crossed wires explanation after three pineapple upside down cake martinis, but the article sums it up nicely.  There's also a great episode of The Tyra Banks Show about transgendered youth that aired in February, but I couldn't find any video.

- This month's vita.mn karma contest prizes are the best ones yet:

1st: an 80-hour TiVo DVR

2nd: 2 tickets to see Prince on 07/07/07

3rd: a $50 Target gift card

Racking up karma points on vita.mn is so ridiculously simple that anyone can do it and have a chance at winning.  (Except me, since my independent contractor status prevents me from being eligible.)  Write mini-reviews, tag venues and events, create and edit guides, start or add to lists... seriously, it's so easy.  I'm telling you this because I'm tired of seeing the same people win all this cool stuff month after month, since no one else even tries.

Geek Prom 2007 Photos

Alright, my photos are finally up from Geek Prom.  Two big downers from the evening: the handwriting analyst didn't show up, and the St. Paul cops acted like total dicks and ruined the night for a lot of people.  The Geek Prom streakers did their thing toward the end of the night and one of the cops thought it would be a great idea to pepper spray them.  Except, of course, the pepper spray barely touched the streakers as they ran by, instead wafting all over the crowd.  People were coughing and crying and some folks had to leave.  Talk about excessive force.  F**k the police.

Click on this photo of Patrick and me in my obscure Star Trek reference tee shirt (also note the canvas TNG book bag) to see the set:

Ross, Chuck/Lori, Jeremy, and Sharyn are all better photographers than me.  Especially Sharyn.

I Did It

I went to my first Star Trek convention today.

The allure of both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy on the same stage at the same time was just too enticing, and I'm not even an Original Series fan.  While I'm not sure if $50.00 was worth listening to Shatner talk absolute nonsense while Nimoy actually seemed to know what was going on in the world around him, I'm still really glad I went.

I spotted no one I knew aside from L'etoile Magazine art director Molly Roark.  She got in the question line to show Shatner a recent issue of the magazine, in which they did a Star Trek-inspired spread and called it "Women of Shatner." 

I didn't talk to Molly (I never know if people I talk to just once a year even remember who I am), but I did chat with Pioneer Press reporter Julio Ojeda-Zapata, who was there covering the convention.  He asked me a few questions, so I'm keeping an eye on that paper this week to see if I'm quoted at all.  Hopefully it's not the part about how I respect Worf so much because he was the most emotionally-conflicted of all the TNG characters and had to overcome the biggest personal challenges.

Yes, I said that.