as of july fifth, i have lived in chicago for exactly ten years. i think i’m almost over it.
i have no real idea when it appears, but i did a thing with the wall street journal this afternoon. by way of disclaimer: i hadn’t yet eaten anything that day and i’d just finished a gawker brainstorming meeting. if i sound like a total headcase, blame low blood sugar.
i don’t know how many of you know this, but gawker media just had this huge confab in new york this week. that is to say: we all met each other for the first time. i asked around and for some reason nobody bothered to do a galker stalker on the lot of us (despite my high-pitched insistence), so here’s a few of the less messy details.
nick denton: a lot sweeter than many online journalists like to say. left spread in pathetically un-homosexual dissarray (cheeses left for choire to unwrap, grumbling the entire time).
choire sicha: actually had the gall to enter the room with cigarette held aloft. best shoes i’ve seen in weeks.
jonno: oh, whatever. it’s jonno, you know? nothing shocking other than like every third move he made.
ana marie cox: arrived late because she was having her hair done at, um, elizabeth arden.
joel johnson: a lot taller than one might think. also a lot crueler than many drag queens i know.
defamer: i know who the defamer is, i always have, and you don’t. i accept bribery and apple products.
unnamed new editor: proclaimed typographer tobias frere-jones “so totally hung.”
you know, i am so totally okay with lance armstrong as an athlete, and as a cancer survivor. but you know what? i don’t want to see him any more. his PR firm, whoever that may be, has hit a dangerous saturation point. lance is everywhere and sometimes for no particular reason. i’m sure a guywith lance’s midwestern sensibilities is fantastic for sales to companies needing a spokesperson but afraid to risk it on, say, courtney love. but you know what? this bandwagon is so completely jumped.
when su and i first moved in together, i was sure i would kill him: he’s a bibliophile. people, bibliophiles are complete jackasses. they have to have all the books all the time, they like to file and rearrange their toys constantly, then go completely psycho when you try and touch anything (because, oh, maybe it’s getting in the way of the your office door or something equally petty) and to top things off: their hobby is big, unwieldy, and requires major furniture purchases to manage. this totally didn’t work with my minimalistic tendencies at that point. it seemed like every week i had a weird heat-seeking-missile destructofest on all the postcards, fliers, subscription cards and whatnot su simply throws on the floor (he’s a slob, too).
eventually, the twit sucked me into it: i realized how much i love art and design books. my collection’s growing. i now have this totally annoying habit of veering off–sometimes in mid-sentence–to art stores. we recently got back from manhattan, and i gotta tell you: printed matter is the second-best art book store i’ve found anywhere in america (my unrivalled favorites, both ranking in first place are the wexner center in columbus and quimby’s here in chicago). rare and inidvidually-made books, biographies, exhibition catalogs, you name it. all there. go shop.
jojo is a chameleon. he wears a different character three nights a week…each a small story wrapped up in clothing and paint. his characters are widely known around chicago nightlife; there’s only a handful of people here who haven’t seen beautiful pictures of him as the moon, a suburban housewife, or krishna. he’s an amazing artists and a cherished friend.
jojo also has cancer. over the last year, su and i have watched jojo cultivate a darker, more determined workldview, but one that keeps his signature grace and generosity. his strength amazes me.
tonight, all of chicago nightlife’s members are gathering at sound bar to pay tribute to jojo and the art he brings to our nights. admission is $10, which will go to help jojo pay his medical bills. the event is guaranteed to be as gorgeous, star-studded, and fun as all of jojo’s parties are. doors open at 9PM with a cocktail reception.
ohmigod. jojo’s party: so best. it was like going to every nightclub, drag show, and opening in chicago, all at the same time. this is going to bring so much solidarity over the next few months.
trevor brown is a superfreak who won’t take commissions. that’s a compliment.
francois chalet makes the most adorable art i’ve seen in ages. heavily based in japanese cuteness and pre-set minimalism.
the university of texas at austin holds an amazing collection of maps, most of them in the public domain. and if you’ve been living where there is no such thing as copyright or trademark (is there shopping in your magical land? do you have reputable goods, or even services without that sort of protection? can you help us brainstorm out of our own outdated protection system?), that means you can freely copy and use most of them for, like, whatever. go nuts, have a nationwide treasure hunt. hide your dad’s keys where nobody will ever think to look (south dakota). have fun!
su: So, um…Christmas is coming up soon, and all that…
su: I will give you so many blowjobs.
pk: AUGH!
pk: ARE YOU FUCKING oh never mind.
su: i want to make a lamp out of it.
pk: candy dish.
You left the chat.
