Home, Happy

Just home from Leather Retreat, had such an amazing, mind-blowing time. One of the biggest surprises was meeting many local people (one who lives within EYESIGHT of my front yard - ridiculous). There were some damn special out-of-town folks that I'm excited to keep up with too. Support for Whole was tremendous; I'll post more about this project this week here and elsewhere. If you are reading this cause you meet me at LR and participated in my happiness please do get in touch. Y'all are sexy!

High Water Mark of American TV Culture

Entertainment Weekly listed "The Facts of Life Goes to Paris" as one of their top 10 entertainment moments in history. I couldn't agree more.

fan site

Candy Design Run Amok

Found this on Slog and it made me laugh. They should totally sell these at the movie theater!
Originally from Joey deVilla.

I Heart Nancy Pearl

Nancy Pearl has been a hero to me.Even before she became the model for the Action Figure Librarian She has written Book Lust and More Book Lust, each lovely paperbacks that recommend books for any mood. Her bio claims "Nancy Pearl has become a rock star among readers and the tastemaker people turn to when deciding what to read next." Exactly everything I want to be when I grow up.

But the reason I was thinking about her today, causing me to gaze fondly at my autographed Deluxe Action Figure and then get on to posting about my fandom, is that she has a great little email newsletter that shows up in my inbox from time to time and reminds me how much I love books. Now mind you, this is not something I forget easily. But in the everyday push & pull, the temptations of magazines and podcasts and newspapers can overwhelm my senses and make me forget the lush joy of falling into a novel. Or the inky-thumbed rush of tearing through a pulpy mystery. Or the braniac delights of satisfying non-fiction. Nancy Pearl's email often sends me in new directions, scurrying for my library card or at least a trip to Goodreads to add to the evergrowing "to read" list. But there's just something about having that list, about having that stack of plastic wrapped library books waiting next to my bed, that tears me away from the temptations of Netflix and Hulu and whatever ephemeral media has captured my eye and lures me back to my first love: text, bound pages, spine, leaves = books. And for that I will always love Nancy Pearl and look forward to her next email.

Baltimore Gets Hot & Heavy

Join me in the drive up 95 to go to the Erotic Arts Festival put together by Load of Fun. It's on July 18th & 19th (Fri & Sat) and will feature over 50 artists and performers, including Annie Sprinkle, the lovely woman kindly offering you a wide assortment of toys in the above photo. She will be screening her film Annie Sprinkle's Amazing World of Orgasm at the festival (yay!).

The Festival will include hands on workshops, performances, film screenings (including the hot & heavy stars of Crashpad), henna & body painting, and something called a Sensorium that I think I'll enjoy. Saturday's events will be MC'ed by the ever-sexy Lee Harrington and will include a play space. So pack your toys (or if you need more stop by Sugar first) and come have fun!

Tickets at Sugar or online here. More info on MySpace too.

Map of Ireland - Read it Now!

I really try not to be pushy about books.  I love them, can't fall asleep without a stack of them threatening to collapse on me, and love to recommend good reads.  Many of my friends take advantage of this proclivity, sometimes at odd hours.  Few visitors to my home leave without having some sort of reading material offered as a parting gift.

Map of Ireland is a spectacular read.  It is haunting and elegant and has stayed with me since finishing it two weeks ago to the point where I might read it again.  Now.  

The story unfolds through the narration of a 16 year old girl from South Boston.  Her community is caught up in the turmoil of busing in 1974.  She's never had close contact with anyone who wasn't white, so when her French teacher turns out to be a woman of African descent from Paris on an exchange program her world is blown open.  Our narrator is also exploring the meaning of her attraction to other girls, dealing with the ways in which this marks her as different herself in her tight-knit community. Don't be put off by the age of the narrator, even those who rabidly avoid "coming of age" stories will find unexpected twists and moments of shock.  Read it already.

To read more or buy it, check this out. Or this. Or this from the lovely Charis Books.

Frogs!

For President's Day I had the joy of accompanying two of my favorite kids to an exhibit at the National Geographic Museum called Frogs! A Chorus of Colors. It was incredibly vibrant and made me all excited to be a field trip geek again. The posion dart frogs were even brighter in person, and the camouflaged Vietnamese mossy frog was actually pretty hard to spot. There's a companion exhibit called Face to Face with Frogs, Photographs by Mark W. Moffett which sports some serious Frogs With Attitude (see above). Frogs! is up until May 11th: indulge your inner geek and go enjoy.