Because I was away for my real birthday (read that blog post here), I celebrated at home this past weekend. On Saturday I had some friends over during the day for a little get-together. That night a few of us had drinks at Garden District and then headed to Black Cat for their May the 4th Be With You 80's dance party.
Here are some photos:
I was a unicorn fairy princess!
My aunt made me a unicorn cake! AND she made all the different cake layers to create a rainbow!
I found this dress at a consignment store and HAD to have it for an 80's party.
The back is so sexy!
I don't know the guy in the middle or the guy behind me. But they hung out with us all night and bought us drinks,
SUCH a great birthday! The day included so many of my favorite things and favorite people: definitely the best way to celebrate!
Everyone was telling me to do something big or go somewhere special for my 30th birthday. I was feeling a lot of pressure and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. But then I reached out to my sister, thinking I could visit her in L.A., and she had a great idea. She texted me and said, "I want to go to Las Vegas and see the Backstreet Boys." I was thinking, "Wait, that's what I want to do!" Our birthdays are only two weeks apart, so we celebrated our birthdays together!
We flew out to Vegas on April 27th (my actual birthday). And that was the last day of the Backstreet Boys' residency at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, so it was perfect timing! We arrived in the morning and spent the day relaxing: we sunbathed by the pool, went shopping, played the slot machines (we lost), and chilled out before the concert.
Our room at Planet Hollywood was pretty nice!
Even the elevators were promoting BSB!
You could see Paris Paris from where we were sunbathing!
This unicorn slot machine did not bring me good luck, unfortunately.
Of course we had to get our open container slushie drinks!
Gotta look good when you're in Vegas!
Before the show started and then during costume changes, we saw clips of the group's music videos, and it was fun to see their transformation. Nick Carter was SO young when they started, and Kevin Richardson is nearly 10 years older than he is; back in the day I definitely thought of Nick as "the cute one," and I'm not sure I even contemplated Kevin at all. But now Kevin is definitely the hotter, DILF version of himself. See?
Here are some photos that my sister took at the concert:
White matching outfits and choreographed group dancing. Exactly what you'd expect.
The Boys came into the audience and Brian was just a few yards away from us!
There was confetti everywhere to celebrate the last show of the residency!
All of the Backstreet Boys have aged pretty well. Their wives joined them on stage at one point, and I have to say that they brought to mind the saying, "Men age like wine. Women age like milk." Most of them have had too much work done, and the fake tans weren't helping any. Here's a photo I found of the Boys and their wives at a previous event:
SUCH a great night! The Backstreet Boys are now going on tour, and they'll be in DC in July!
The next morning we flew back to L.A. for a few days. The weather was surprisingly cool and cloudy, so we mostly relaxed at home or went shopping (with all of my birthday coupons). But on my last day, we visited a Japanese Garden in Sherman Oaks. It was like an oasis amongst concrete and highways. I felt relaxed as soon as we started walking along the trails. Even if it is an urban park, I felt transported, breathing deeply and watching the variety of animals around (including fish, hummingbirds, a turtle, and an Egyptian Goose). I would highly recommend it! Here are some photos (mostly taken by my sister):
This is the Egyptian Goose!
This is a great panorama my sister took!
We saw this little turtle swimming in one of the ponds.
Can you see the hummingbird?
We did not see traditional koi fish, but we did see these guys.
Catch not only has great food, but the decor is really pretty, too!
We finished the trip with an amazing dinner at Catch, a very up-scale seafood restaurant. The food was SO good; read all about it in my Yelp review. You can also watch a funny James Corden video where he helped "work" at Catch.
I read Dan Savage's column, "Savage Love," pretty regularly, but I had never been to his Hump! Film Festival before. Hump! features short (~5 minutes) films that people have made about sex (and they don't necessarily have to be pornographic). There are prizes for the top films, like best humor, best sex, etc. My friend had been to the screening last year, and she invited me to join her last week. It was quite the experience! Before the screening started, there were some ground rules we all had to abide by to respect the filmmakers as well as fellow audience members. Cell phones had to be completely turned off, and no photography or filming was allowed. We also were told that no rude remarks or comments could be made during the screening (although natural reactions like a laugh or gasp were okay). And of course no masturbating could take place at the venue! Of course all the films differ from year to year (and this was the 14th year of Hump!). There was good variety of the screened submissions, and I just want to give you a taste of what this festival was like. Here are tiny synopses of the films we saw, along with my commentary. Paint Party - I thought this was a great film for the festival to start out with because it was artsy, not too graphic, and didn't feature any faces (it sort of eased the audience into the experience). The film features both male and female naked bodies in the dark, and due to a black-light, the only thing lit in the frame is the neon paint being poured and smeared on the bodies. Techno music is in the background repeating the words "paint party" over and over again, so the bodies are dancing and moving to a specific soundtrack. I thought the film was very well done, in so much as appreciating the human form in a (literal) light that you may not see it. Bloom - This
film opened with two naked women meeting in a field. They quickly start
discovering each other’s bodies, and flowers pop up along their torsos and even
in their mouths. The background narrative is like a poem, or ode, to a lover.
In the end, the women are in a bedroom, as if the outdoor experience were a
dream; one of them finds a tiny flower, which makes you think the adventure did
indeed happen. I really liked this film, because I thought it was romantic. I
also liked the contrast between the spectacled, assumingly-shy (but not) Asian
woman with her tattooed partner with the nearly-shaved head; they looked so
good together! Campground - I
really didn’t like this film. Even though it shows sex between two men, I
honestly kept thinking, “This is so hetero” in my mind, because the rest of it
was what I normally see in porn: hard, graphic sex with no romantic connection
between the two people. A man is camping in the woods, and an unidentified
stranger just starts fucking him in the ass really hard. He then disappears,
and later returns for more. I might describe it as rape except the camper
seemed to like it and consent to what was happening (although consent was never
made verbally). Maybe the film seemed artistic because of its colorful filter, but
I didn’t think anything was special about it. Jump Start My Love - For
me, this was the most typical, heterosexual porn of the entire selection. Other
than the fact that the two people were older and that the man was quite
overweight, the rest of the show seemed like anything else you could find on
Porn Hub: jack-rabbit-like sex, a dick shoved down a woman’s throat until she
gags, that sort of thing. Don’t get me wrong: I understand that some people do like this kind of sex. But I feel like a lot of us (especially
heterosexual women) aren’t actually into this. It’s just what the porn industry
and society is telling us what “hot” sex should be. Unicorn - I
love unicorns (the horned horse), so I was kind of hoping this film would be
full of glitter and sparkles and that sort of thing. It was not like that at
all, but it was a very good film. Two women are fooling around in bed, and it
seems pretty “regular.” But in the following segments, you see that one of them
is paralyzed from the waist down and needs a wheelchair. So we later see how
sex works in this situation: they’re floating in a lake, she’s balanced against
a tree in the wilderness, things like that. Handicapped or disabled (I don’t
like either of those terms, but for lack of a better word) people are rarely
highlighted in porn, so I was glad to see such inclusivity in this film
festival (not that I ever doubted that would be a huge part of this event). The
bond between these two women and how caring they are for each other was very
sweet to watch; you’re rooting for them the whole time. My Cathartic Release (Winner, Best Kink) - This
was the only animated film of the entire screening. A woman is telling her
story of feeling depressed and how she was in a dark place. She had heard that a
sexual experience could lead to some sort of catharsis from what she was feeling. The drawings show her
going to professional doms who do a very good job of warming her up before
hitting her with paddles, whips, etc. She starts crying but doesn’t want them
to stop. She states that it was the first time she felt like she could breathe,
as her cartoon self swims to the surface of the deep water. In my vanilla,
hetero-normative sex-life, I never even contemplate sexual experiences like
this, so this film was one of the more educational ones. I think it’s great
that this film was included in Hump!, especially since it truly was a work of
art with the animation. Task Master - This
may have been the weirdest film to watch. An older, bearded man gets a text
from his taskmaster (i.e. a dom telling him what to do), and the film follows
him going through each task. He goes to the grocery store and buys a bunch of
random items, and then we see him near a river laying out a tarp before going
through all of the tasks. He mostly has to pour food on his head (red pasta
sauce, alfredo sauce, chocolate sauce), but he also puts food in his jock strap
before eating it and things like that. He’s looking into the camera most of the
time to prove to his taskmaster that he’s doing everything he’s told. The whole
thing was a very big mess; at least he was near a body of water so he could
quickly rinse off. Spin - This film focuses on a dream (fantasy?) of a transgender man in which he plays a kinky game of spin the bottle with a mix of other people of a variety of gender identities. Partners switch and play with each other the whole night, and our protagonist wakes up in bed covered in glitter. The dream did feel like a fantasy world, with blue and pink lighting (and sparkles, clearly). With the festival's goal of inclusivity and diversity, I thought this was a great film to feature.
The Punishment - In
this film, an Asian man is punishing his white, female partner for something (I
think she dropped something in the kitchen?). They’re fooling around in the
kitchen before going to a poorly-lit room where the real action happens. Again,
this one felt to me like “normal” porn, but I do think the punishment fantasy is
pretty common, so it makes sense this film was included in this
festival. The Wheel of Fortune (Runner-up, Best Kink) - This
film opens with five women laying on the floor of a white, sterile room; one
woman is in the middle to almost form a star shape. She has her hands and feet
inside each of the different women, and they are all chained to each other. You
can hear another female voice in the background telling these other women what
to do: they all have to orgasm at the same time if they want to be released. They each end up with a very large vibrator, and they all orgasm except for the woman in
the center. At that point the dom female shows up in her black corset and such
and makes sure the center woman gets off, too. Kinky for sure!
Porn Yesterday (Winner, Jury Award) - This
was one of the films that wasn’t pornographic at all. This one consists of
multiple interviews with people (mostly middle-aged gay men)
regarding how they discovered porn. Most of them found magazines or videos of a
family member, and many seemed to have ordered International Male for
themselves at some point, knowing what kind of images were waiting for them
within the black plastic seal. The last part was very funny: one of the men
said, “They should have Play Girl,”
and you can hear a voice behind the camera saying, “They do have that.” The
audience was laughing so hard! Whatever Floats Your Goat (Runner-up, Best Humor) - This
film was so funny! A farm girl is milking goats, but then a new “breed” of goat
comes in to get milked: a woman wearing horns and a furry vest shows up on all
fours, happily eating granola while the farmer tries to figure out how to milk
this udder-less goat. Eventually, with latex gloves on, the farm girl starts
touching the “goat,” and after a lot of work, “milk” spurts out everywhere. And then another “new” goat
shows up for some action, too! The film ends with the three women (as people,
not goats) drinking the “milk” from their escapades earlier that day. Please (Runner-up, Best Sex) - I
enjoyed this film a lot, because it showed what consent looks like during rough sex. Throughout the film, you not only hear what is going on during the sex
scene, but also narration from the partners of how they communicate before,
during, and after an experience like that to make sure both parties are safe
and happy with what is going on. He would lightly slap her in the face and demand
that she say the magic word (“Please”), but would also tell her that she can
say she wants to stop at any time. Explicit consent like this is not commonly
portrayed in porn, and I appreciated not only the respect the partners showed
each other, but also the educational aspect of this film (i.e. showing what
proper consent looks like). Troughman (Winner, Best Humor) - I could see why this one won the Best Humor award! A man is hanging out in the men's room at a club, and he attempts to make small-talk with the other guys (each conversation is the same: "How are you?" "Have I seen you before?" etc.). Even though he's just making chit-chat, in his mind he bursts into song about how he really wants to ask them to pee on him! The song was clever, and his energy was very lively. In the end, one of the men interprets the common questions as a come-on, asking, "Are you asking me to piss on you?" So our lead man gets his wish! Luminous Lust- This
was one of those films that made me think, “Wow, these two are made for each
other.” A woman is touching herself, sending her female partner sexual videos
and texts to entice her to come home. The second woman arrives and immediately
“takes” the other on the kitchen counter, shoving her entire hand (like, up to
the wrist) up her vagina. I didn’t even know that was possible! (I’m so naïve.)
They are going at it hard, including hair pulling, tit-slapping, the whole
thing. The film is narrated by the two of them talking about how they met, what they love about each other, etc. They were very in-sync with one another, and I appreciated how in-tune
they were in knowing what the other partner wanted. I wouldn’t say the sex
itself was romantic, but the fact that these two people clearly “clicked” on a
whole other level was very enjoyable to watch. Home for Lunch - I
didn’t really find anything unique about this film. A man is at home, waiting
mostly-naked on the bed for his partner to come home for lunch. Then they have
what I assume is “normal” gay sex, and that’s all. I didn’t think this film was
artsy or educational or funny…it seemed like a video you could easily find
online already. Meh.
Extreme Wild Fuck (Winner, Best Sex) - This one starts out with a couple hiking in the woods up a mountain, every once in a
while taking off a piece of clothing and touching each other. I thought that’s
just how it would go: a couple would do it at the summit and that would be
that. But we (and they in the film) are surprised when their GoPro scans out
and we see many other couples and thouples having sex at the peak, too! The
whole thing turns into an outdoor orgy, with people mixing and matching and
other kinks thrown in (a woman pees on a guy’s face, and another guy puts a
metal rod into his dick). I could see why this film won the “Best Sex”
category: there was a lot going on! Insomniacs - This
was probably one of my least favorite of the bunch. It features a man, alone,
hanging out in the hallway and roof of a motel, glowing in a neon green light
from night-vision goggles the audience is “wearing.” He was touching himself,
putting toys in his butt, etc. I think what bothered me was that he was doing
all of this alone in a public place; what if an unsuspecting boarder came out
of his or her room to discover this man? Perhaps that’s the point (and part of
this man’s kink), but it seemed really creepy. Optic Perve - This
was one of the funnier films. You never see any faces, just body parts, and
they’re covered with googly eyes. Sometimes it was just one eye, like on the
tip of a penis. But other times there was a mosaic of eyes covering entire butt
cheeks and such. As the bodies bumped and bounced, some of the eyes would fly off in the
excitement; sometimes it looked like the body parts were making eye contact
with each other. I enjoyed the silliness of it all. Around the World in 80 Lays (Winner, Best in Show) - This
one definitely won “Best in Show” because of the incredible effort it took to
make! The film shows a couple having sex in exotic places around the world to
the Johnny Cash song, “I’ve Been Everywhere” (although I believe the lyrics changed to
“I’ve fucked everywhere”). They were in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Morocco, and
more. Most of the sex happened outside, which made me hope they were in a
secluded area (I hope they never got arrested!), but sometimes they were in
their hotels, too. There were a variety of positions shown, although I feel
like she went down on him more often than he returned the favor for her. Either
way, it definitely took a lot of time, effort, and money to make this film, so
good for them! And there was one other, but I honestly can't remember it! I guess it didn't really jump out at me. But you can see even from this list what variety Hump! features. I will definitely go next year!
My dad and I visited my grandmother in New York City for Passover last weekend. We enjoyed not one but two seders, and also went into Manhattan for some tourist-ing. Here were the highlights of our trip into the city.
When I was looking up things to do in NYC over the weekend, I happened across the website of this museum. It's managed by the American Kennel Club. It's a bit overpriced at $15 per person for a museum that takes less than an hour to go through. But I'll consider it a one-time donation to the cause. It was cool seeing paintings, drawings, and sculptures of dogs, and they have a library full of dog books, too! Here are some of the pieces we saw:
I'm partial to the Frenchie myself. Image found here
These Great Danes were spectacular! Image found here.
This is the skeleton of Belgrave Joe, the dog that helped establish the fox terrier breed. He died in the late 1880's, and his skeleton was kept at the Royal Veterinary College in England before going to the museum. Image found here
Architecture
I love the top of the Chrysler Building. It is so cool!
After the museum trip, we walked around the 42nd Street area and saw some of my favorite spots, including the lobby of the Chrysler Building and Grand Central Station. I also discovered that the nearby Chanin Building has an art deco style to it, so I enjoyed that as well.
These first two photos are from the mural that is on the ceiling in the lobby of the Chrysler Building. The mural, called "Transport and Human Endeavor," was created by Edward Trumbull. He painted it on canvas, and then it was cemented to the ceiling. The mural is one of the largest paintings in the world.
The design on the elevator doors features wood from several different trees, including Japanese Ash, Oriental Walnut, and Cuban plum pudding wood. Image found here.
Grand Central Station with the MetLife Building behind it.
The ceiling in Grand Central is so cool: the zodiac signs span the whole thing, with lights marking the main stars. Image found here.
I had never been inside the Chanin Building before, but they had these really cool metal pieces of artwork in their lobby. I wish they sold postcards with these designs!
*I'm sorry that I did not take most of the pictures included in this post. It's just that I actually wanted to enjoy the experience and enjoy the moment, instead of taking pictures the whole time!
I have seen three plays, two ballets, and one concert this month, and it's only half-way over! I already wrote blog posts about the New York City Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet, and Brave Spirits' "As You Like It." Rather than write separate blog posts for the others (I have a bunch of events coming up for work, so I just don't have time!), I thought I'd sum them up here.
I read about this play in the DC Theatre Scene e-blast. Since the performance was held at the Writer's Center in Bethesda (SUPER closer to where I live), I definitely wanted to see it.
This Michael Hollinger play was put on by the Quotidian Theatre Company. It is about a typist who, after her author boss passes away, still hears his voice and is continuing to type his book. The cast was very small: Carol Spring played the typist, Steve LaRocque was the author, and Stephanie Mumford played the author's wife. I thought all three actors did a great job in encompassing their characters. The story had some sad and serious parts, but overall was very witty. As someone who can be sensitive to noises, the incessant ringing of the telephone and typing of the typewriter were at times obnoxious, but all in all I very much enjoyed the production.
This show has been going on for decades at the Kennedy Center (the website says there have been more than 13,000 performances). I had heard about it, but all I knew was that it was an interactive play. I can't believe I waited so long to see it: it is HILARIOUS! The premise is that there has been a murder in the building that houses a hair salon, and the audience is there to help solve the crime. The first act is just getting to know the characters (the sassy gay hairdresser, Tony Whitcomb (played by Brad Letson), was my favorite), and it ends with the murder; the second act gives the audience the chance to ask questions about the murder and then vote on who-dun-it. I am not sure how much the first act changes, but the second part changes depending on how the vote goes. And the show is updated every so often, so many of the jokes were timely (think Trump jokes, etc.). I was laughing out loud the whole time, and I would highly recommend it! I've even see it again, since it's different every time!
I had seen this group perform previously at the Strathmore and the 9:30 Club. This time I got to see them at U Street Music Hall (I don't think I'd been there since 2016!).
The opening act was Valley Queen, whose female vocalist sounded just like you'd expect from an indie band. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but it was a little expected. Here are some of their songs:
The Wild Reeds then played a (very long) set. We didn't get out of there until nearly 11pm, and it was a Tuesday night! I do like their music, but I was actually falling asleep while I was watching. Here's just a taste of their stuff:
Lose My Mind
Don't Pretend
Giving Up On You
They did a Tiny Desk Concert, too!
The arts are one of my favorite parts about living in DC: there's SO much here!
I saw the Mariinsky Ballet at the Kennedy Center several years ago when they performed Swan Lake(read that blog post here). They are a Russian-based company, and the famed George Balanchine got his start there. I was dying to see them again, and was disappointed when the MyTix tickets sold out so quickly for their performance of Le Corsaire. But I was able to find discounted tickets at the last minute, and went to the show last night!
I had no idea what Le Corsaire was about, so I very much appreciated the synopsis in the program book. This ballet has been around for more than 150 years, and composer Adolphe Adam (the program lists his name as "Adan" incorrectly) wrote the music based upon Lord George Byron's poem, "The Corsair."
The prologue is a brief scene of a ship caught in a storm. Images of rain and clouds were projected onto a transparent screen, and the effect was pretty realistic! A large piece of blue, billowing fabric mimicked the waves of the ocean, which was really cool.
The girls dance on the beach where the pirates' ship has landed. Image found here.
The three men (who call themselves pirates) are shipwrecked on the shore, and a couple of them were shirtless (yum). A group of women comes to their aid, and their flowy pants made me think of Jasmine in Aladdin (or the costumes for the Arabian Coffee dance in another bullet, The Nutcracker). Conrad (played by Xander Parish) falls immediately in love with Medora (played by Yekaterina Chebykina), but the Turkish police show up and take the girls prisoner, selling them to a slave-trader named Lankedem (played by Philipp Stepin).
While a slave market is, well a slave market, this part had the most BEAUTIFUL set! It was so colorful and larger-than-life. The costumes mirrored that, with robes and turbans and gem stones of all colors of the rainbow. I'm sorry I couldn't find a photo of it; it was amazing!
I wasn't crazy about the dances during this part. There were several groups of women dancing for the men (it was hard to understand who was who), and their dancing included a lot of back-bends, which can seem impressive, but for fellow yogis like me, isn't really all-that. Their long wigs distracted me, and they wore bangles to create sound while they danced, but it really wasn't that effective (I think they were going for the sound of coins on one of those skirts, but sounded more like clunky wood). And the tutu that Medora's friend Gulnara (played by Maria Shirinkina) wore wasn't great: it looked like swatches of different fabrics were simply sewed onto a basic white skirt (see the photo below). When the men and women danced together, the lifts were unimpressive; the men just lifted the women up and moved them to different parts of the stage, as if they were carrying a heavy box or something. And the dancers would break character and bow to the audience, which I think took away from the story.
I just wasn't impressed by this costume. It looks crafty... Image found here.
The pirates are able to help the girls escape (capturing Lankedem at the same time), and they flee to a cave (which is VERY large with rocks shimmering with gold). There was a lot more dancing, but the principals almost made it a spinning contest, which I think is a cheap trick in dance (and every time Chebykina turned she looked scared to death). Some of the costumes felt very out-of-place, like the bedazzled suspenders worn by Ali (played by Timur Askerov) or Medora's magenta tutu (when everyone else is wearing the flowy pants or multi-colored skirts). But Askerov was probably my favorite dancer of the night: his jumps were very high, yet he landed without making a sound!
Does this look like what you would wear inside of a cave? I didn't think so. Image found here.
All of the men wore these gross wigs and drew on fake facial hair. Ew. Image found here.
The girls want to leave, but Conrad's friend Birbanto (played by Yuri Smekalov), wants to keep them there. With the help of some other bad guys (who held their capes up much like the crocodiles in Fantasia), and a sleeping potion to give Conrad, the women are then taken back to the slave market.
The final scene is in the palace of Seid Pasha (played by Soslan Kulaev). The palace is very sparkly with peacock-inspired decor and a fountain in the background. He purchased Gulnara previously, and she has been a part of his harem since. He now wants Medora to join his harem, too. Both women dance for him, Shirinkina in a slightly better tutu than the first one and Chebykina in a pink number that fits the setting better than a tutu (for the story, at least).They are joined by many other women (and young girls) in pink who carry stiff feather boas (in the shape of an arch); they had terrible blonde wigs on, too. This was probably my favorite dance portion of the performance because of the classical bits.
In the end Gulnara and Medora are able to run away with Conrad and Ali. The story ends with them sailing away on the boat (with much better weather).
A few notes about my experience:
1. When the men lifted the women in dance, some of their fake facial hair (which I assume was drawn on with make-up) would get onto the white tights of the women. So Chebykina and Shirinkina had to dance with dark smudges on their tights! I can't believe this problem wasn't discovered during a dress rehearsal. You'd think someone would have thought about this.
2. I LOVED the music of this piece. I can appreciate classical music, but when I'm at the ballet, it usually just becomes part of the background for me. But this time I think I liked the music better than the dancing itself!
3. Several of the men around me were reading the synopsis of the story to their wives/dates. Were those women incapable of reading? I found it very patronizing, and I wasn't even involved!
4. Because I bought a subscription to the next ballet season, I got a free drink ticket as a "thank you." So nice!
