Burbank
As seen in Burbank’s Magnolia Park neighborhood. Follow me on Instagram here.
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Toni
I’ll read anything by Hilton Als, and this 2003 profile of Toni Morrison is why.
“‘I know it seems like a lot,’ Morrison said. ‘But I really only do one thing. I read books. I teach books. I write books. I think about books. It’s one job.’ What Morrison has managed to do with that job—and the criticism, pro and con, she has received for doing it—has made her one of the most widely written-about American authors of the past fifty years. (The latest study of her work, she told me, is a comparison of the vernacular in her novels and William Faulkner’s. ‘'I don’t believe it,’ I said. ‘Believe it,’ she said, emphatically.) Morrison—required reading in high schools across the country—is almost always treated as a spokeswoman for her gender and her race. In a review of “Paradise,” Patricia Storace wrote, ‘Toni Morrison is relighting the angles from which we view American history, changing the very color of its shadows, showing whites what they look like in black mirrors. To read her work is to witness something unprecedented, an invitation to a literature to become what it has claimed to be, a truly American literature.’ It’s a claim that her detractors would also make, to opposite effect.”
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Blow Me
On my Forbes blog, I wrote about a woman who’s turning blowup dolls into fashion designs.
An excerpt:
Breslin: Why did you choose this model of blowup doll?
Friday: Judy's the one! Out of all the blowup dolls out in the world, she's the most iconic. She has a classic design that's been around for decades, so she has a warm nostalgic feeling about her. I like that she plays it classy with her closed mouth, but we all know what she's really got on her mind.
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Pussy Valley
I’m watching “P-Valley.” That’s Pussy Valley. A strip club in the Mississippi Delta.
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All I Need Is A Miracle
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m reading this book. Please don’t tell anyone.
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Outcry
“Outcry” on Showtime is fantastic. Watch the whole thing. It’s worth the journey.
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High Anxiety
I’m back to posting my #pandemicfiction on my Instagram feed. Check out the Pandemic Highlight folder for the archives and a complete version of this one.
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10 Years Ago
A decade ago, I had the delight of viewing this bespoke video for the first time.
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Once Upon a Time ... in Burbank
A recent shot from my Instagram feed.
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Porn Valley Dreams
In Porn Valley, the fantasy never ends.
Read my latest newsletter here. Subscribe here.
An excerpt:
Yesterday, I found myself driving around in North Hollywood and realized I was near a shooting location where I’d watched a certain kind of extreme adult movie getting made many years ago. It was a curious place at a curious time, and as I drove down the street, I remembered what it was like to come around the corner at dusk, to see the oversized security guard outlined from the light spilling out from the doorway, to stand on the sound stage and see what men did behind closed doors.
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TheFixer #2
Check out my new newsletter: TheFixer. The latest installment is live: “The Shotgun Effect.” Subscribe here.
Here’s an excerpt:
I sent my resume to men and women. Quickly, I noticed there were two types of responses. Women tended to offer emotional support. Men tended to offer strategic support. Every single potential lead I got was from a man. None was from a woman.
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The Topless Hairdresser
Typically these pinks vans, which are often parked around Burbank, offer Topless Maids. Now they’re offering Topless Hairdressers. Be advised, this service will be provided for men only, per the signage. It’s hard to forget that number: 1-844-SO-DIRTY. You’ve got to give him credit for his marketing acumen, I suppose.
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Baseless
This book looks amazing: Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act by Nicholson Baker. Available for pre-order.
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2017
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How to Fix Your Life
My latest newsletter is “How to Fix Your Life.” An excerpt:
As I expected, men were more likely to respond to my email than women, and men were more likely to respond with an actionable response, while women were more likely to respond with an emotional response. If only emotions paid the bills! Ha-ha. I’d be a billionaire, bitches.
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America Must Change
An amazing cover from TIME. Art by Charly Palmer. Story behind the cover here.
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Yellow
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The Gender Role Test
I took this online gender role test today, after seeing it on a friend’s Facebook page. I’m sure it’s very unscientific, but, that said, it was no surprise to me that I scored very high on the masculine traits and very low on the feminine traits. I suppose the most problematic aspect of the test is what traits it identifies as masculine and what traits it identifies as feminine. Competitive? You’re masculine. Empathetic? You’re feminine. Surely, who we are is more complicated than that.
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In-N-Out
A shot from my Instagram feed: the In-N-Out in Westwood. From LA Observed:
“One of Steve's proudest projects in the Village and his personal favorite was his playful design for the IN-N-OUT Burger on Gayley Avenue, the only drive-through restaurant in the Village and a tribute to Southern California's car culture, which won a National AIA Honor Award in 2002. This was a conversion of a former Kentucky Fried Chicken drive-through and a tired and dreary Sizzler steakhouse. Designed with IN-N-OUT's signature palm trees popping through a round opening in the roof, this was Steve's three-dimensional homage to the classic IN-N-OUT boomerang logo, and embraced the company's vivid ketchup red and mustard yellow colors. Steve once described this as "building as signage.” This contemporary version of the "programmatic architecture" made popular in Southern California in the 1930s, 40s and 50s remains a modern and enduring Village landmark (and achieved status as the third best performing unit in the entire IN-N-OUT chain).”
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The Story the Body Tells
If you’re at all confused about where you should stand regarding Confederate monuments, read Caroline Randall Williams’ “You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument.” It’s a searing, blistering indictment of America’s penchant for myth-making. She writes:
“You cannot dismiss me as someone who doesn’t understand. You cannot say it wasn’t my family members who fought and died. My blackness does not put me on the other side of anything. It puts me squarely at the heart of the debate. I don’t just come from the South. I come from Confederates. I’ve got rebel-gray blue blood coursing my veins. My great-grandfather Will was raised with the knowledge that Edmund Pettus was his father. Pettus, the storied Confederate general, the grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, the man for whom Selma’s Bloody Sunday Bridge is named. So I am not an outsider who makes these demands. I am a great-great-granddaughter.”
Read it here.
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Book a free 15-minute consultation today.