Sorry I've been quiet recently. A little tired + a little depressed = not blogging.

Funny thing is I've been really busy. Mostly doing fun stuff, or rather, stuff that would be really fun if I were in a better mood.

I went to WYSIWYG for their "That Is So Gay" event. Loads of fun that has been talked about on so many other people's sites.

Went to another charity event in a building right off Columbus Circle. Good food, good music, rich people, having to schmooze, having to have my picture taken, blah, blah, blah.

Got my cable and high-speed internet. Haven't slept since.

English David and I went to a Pride kick off event at City Hall and had celebrity sightings galore. Larry Kramer, Harvey Fierstein, John Tartaglia, Christopher Sieber, Hal Sparks, Laura Linney, Andre de Shields, Mayors Gavin Newsom (hottie) and Jason West, from Frisco and New Paltz, respectively, Joyce Randolph from 'The Honeymooners', Alan Cumming, Catherine Pino and David Mensah from Hetrick-Martin. Well, tons of folks. Very, very cool.

On a related note, I've decided that Laura Linney is my new pretend girlfriend.

After that event, I went to a party for this year's James Beard Award winners where I got to sample their wares. Food, that is. And an open bar. I chatted with Aaron Sanchez, the owner of Zarela and an absolute hottie. I just recently purchased his cookbook and talked with him about some of the recipes. I think that I was one of the few people who talked to him about anything other than getting some free food; he kind of lit up when I told him how much I'd enjoyed his book.

Hung out with Mike Saturday and watched 28 Days Later, which did not inspire any zombie dreams (they weren't really zombies), and a movie called Ma Vrai Vie a Rouen, which was really, really good. It was about a teenager who received a video camera and started recording his life. It is so well done that I kept forgetting that this was a film and not just some kid's video diary. It was also fascinating how the director explored the kid's burgeoning homosexuality. (The writer/directors were the guys who did Adventures of Felix which also dealt with finding one's gay identity).

Now I have to remember to return both of those movies. They're a couple of days late.

Sunday, I was supposed to march, but just couldn't be bothered. Depression rearing its ugly head again. Somehow the idea of being surrounded by half-naked pretty boys didn't sound appealing.

Instead I went to the street fair on Washington to man the Out of Bounds booth. Much better. I could put on my "recruiter" personality and turn off my head for a few hours. Then a bunch of guys from my team showed up and proceeded to really piss me off, so I left.

After that, English David and I went to Park. He wanted to look at the go-go boys, I didn't want to sit in my apartment and sulk. I suppose it was okay. Crappy bartenders (or rather, too few bartenders considering how many guys were there after the Pier Dance), lots and lots of attitude, a Michael Musto sighting (he was wearing this horrible green track suit kind of thing . . . something you'd expect to see on a 70 year old widow in Florida who's out for a day of shopping at the outlets, but whatever, as long as he was happy).

I'll give English David this, the go-go boy was hot. Big floppy '70s hair and big floppy . . . well, you know.

Monday I went to FA Rob Byrnes' book signing/launch party. It was sadly Horshack-less, but a good time was had by all. PatCH, Deidre, Frank, Glenn, Michael V, and several other bloggers were there. Good time. Especially drunk dialing Zenchick and singing a Ramones song. English David and I went to Thalia for dinner after the party (it's restaurant week so several of the 'I can't afford to eat there' places have $30 prix fixe menus). It was amazing. I had mushroom fricasse (sp?) on polenta, veggie pasta (it was called something fancy, but I've forgotten), and a chocolate sampler with three of their best desserts. Not to mention an amazing wine that David chose (I have no knowledge of wines). Then, as an act of contrition, I walked home. I probably only walked off a bite of chocolate, but what the hell.

Last night I went to Central Park with Frank to listen to a brass ensemble. Ran into Paul, one of my teammates, and his roommate. The ensemble was good, not great, but between the vibe of the crowd, the company and the weather, I still had a pretty good time. Of course, it may have been because of the shirtless skater boys.

Let's see . . . what else? I've watched several rugby matches the past few days. England v. New Zealand. Wales v. South Africa. England v. Australia. Good stuff. Makes me really want to get back to playing.

Tonight I'm off to a party thrown by another charity. It's called Beer, Blues and BBQ. Should be okay.

Um . . . oh, I also just read David Sedaris' new book. It was great. Laugh out loud funny. Touching. Pretty much what I've come to expect. A couple of the stories hit a little too close to home, but I've come to expect that, too. That's what makes him a good writer and storyteller.

I guess that's it for now. I'm supposed to go see 'My Big Gay Italian Wedding' on Friday. That will contrast nicely with the USA v. France rugby game I'm going to see on Saturday. It's somewhere in CT. Should be lots and lots of eyecandy; I'm taking my camera this time.

Be There And/Or Be Square

Famous Author Rob Byrnes'
Book Launch Party
Monday, June 28, 2004
6:00 - 9:00 PM
at Posh
405 West 51st Street
(at 9th Avenue)
Manhattan

Yesterday around noon my digital cable and cable modem were installed.

Wow.

Did you know that Sundance is showing a lot of gay movies for pride? Did you know that Fox Sports shows rugby at 4 a.m.? Did you know that you can download movies almost instantly?

I am so tired right now.

Probably right.


You are Kermit the Frog.
You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you
have a habit of waving your arms about
maniacally.

FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS:
"Hi ho!" "Yaaay!" and
"Sheesh!"
FAVORITE MOVIE:
"How Green Was My Mother"

LAST BOOK READ:
"Surfin' the Webfoot: A Frog's Guide to the
Internet"

HOBBIES:
Sitting in the swamp playing banjo.

QUOTE:
"Hmm, my banjo is wet."


What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Cool article in the Village Voice written by one of my teammates.

Man, what a fucking day! Busy at work, too many damn phone calls. Doctor's appointment that I thought would take an hour and a half actually took three and a half hours.

Anyway, I'm ready to go home.

Saturday - Jo Jo Moore Rugby Tournament in Peekskill, NY. We took the good, we took the bad, we took them both and there we had the tournament . . . the tournament. (For those of you too young to remember, 'The Facts of Life' was set in Peekskill.) Anywho, we lost but we had lots of fun. Highlights, watching the Under 19 competition (Made me wish I'd played rugby at that age) and scoping out the hot paramedic who was on hand at the tournament. Yum.

All the proceeds of the event went to benefit Jo Jo Moore who was left paralyzed after a rugby accident. He attended the rugby day. I've got to say, if that ever happens to me, I can only hope that I will handle it with the dignity and grace that he exhibited. Seems like a hell of a guy.

My only major fuck up of the day was deciding that I would forgo wearing sunscreen because 1) it was overcast, 2) I was planning to stay in the shade, and 3) being Irish/Scottish/German I knew that I'd never get a sunburn. Needless to say, my typically fishbelly white skin is now lobster red and covered with the most amusing little blisters. Looking on the bright side, it doesn't hurt . . . unless I touch it, bump up against anything, wear clothes, move, blink, or breathe. Good times.

Sunday was quiet. I spent most of it in bed praying to the Sun God to take back my sunburn. That didn't seem to help so I slathered myself in cocoa butter instead. Didn't help either, but I smelled really nice.

Once the sun started to set and I knew I could go outside without the threat of spontaneous immolation, I wandered down to Mike'nDavid's house ('nDavid is out of town for several weeks) to watch the first half of 'Salem's Lot'. It's not great (I mean, it's made for cable), but it does have some really good bits. Genuinely creepy.

So . . . after having visited two doctors in the past couple of weeks and having both of them tell me that most of what's wrong with me is because I've gained so damn much weight since my injury, I've decided to go back on the South Beach Diet. I'm going to re-read the book tonight and get things going. Hopefully by rugby season, most of the pain will have gone away and I'll be able to play. Of course the physical therapy and Vioxx should help too. But wish me luck on the diet. I hate it more than just about anything.

By the way, if anyone wants a Gmail invite, let me know.

Reminder: Marie's Crisis Cafe, Grove St. and 7th Ave., tonight 8:30 p.m., drinking and showtunes.

And, because I'm too lazy to come up with anything new, a meme.

WHERE WERE YOU...?
Borrowed from FA Rob Byrnes, who borrowed it from elsewhere, who etc. etc. etc.

1. Where were you when you heard that Ronald Reagan died?
At home. I flipped on the TV and saw a report that the flags at the White House were being lowered to half staff. I assumed Cheney had died.

2. Where were you on September 11, 2001?
At home. I heard on the radio about a 'small plane' having hit the WTC. I went to vote in the primary. When I came home, my mom was leaving me a frantic message making sure that I wasn't downtown (I lived on the UWS and worked in midtown, but she doesn't have a sense of where things are located in Manhattan).

3. Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana died?
Southern Decadence in New Orleans. Within an hour of the wreck, some queens were hitting the bars dressed as Dead Di.

4. Do you remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had died?
Nope.

5. Take one for The Gipper: What’s your favorite flavor of jelly bean?
Buttered Popcorn (yes, I know I'm the only one).

6. Where were you when Magic Johnson announced he was retiring from the NBA due to AIDS?
No clue.

7. Where were you when Reagan was shot?
At school probably. I guess that was Junior High.

8.Where were you when the Challenger exploded?
At lunch at school. I didn't see it until after lunch in physics class. Our physics teacher was a runner up for the teacher in space.

9. Where were you when the 0J verdict was announced?
Grad school. A bunch of us gathered in one of a prof's office and watched it on TV.

This fucking sucks. I can think of any number of people who should quit blogging, but he isn't one of them.

I've been in a pretty lousy mood for the last few days (well, the last 35 years, truth be told, but I'm talking about the short term here). I've decided what I need is lots of alcohol and annoying theater queens singing showtunes (poorly).

That being said, I'm going to go to Marie's Crisis on Friday and drink and sing and drink and sing and stagger home and vomit.

Anyone care to join me for the drink and sing portion of the evening?

I reached 30,000 visitors to my site today. Thanks to Manhattan Dan who referred the 30,000th.

Last night I went to check on my friend Stuff's apartment. It was still there and in good shape, as was to be expected. Keep meaning to throw a party over there before he gets back, just haven't done it yet. I'll be sure to invite you all.

After checking his apartment, I decided to go see 'Saved!' at the googleplex on 42nd St. Hard to believe that was ever a bad part of town.

'Saved!' was cute, if somewhat predictable. Macaulay Culkin just seems to get hotter every time I see him. And Chad Faust who plays Jena Malone's gay boyfriend is pretty hot, too. Maybe I just need to get laid. Whatever. It was still a pretty funny movie. Some of it just hit a little too close to home. It's a hard to laugh at those painfully earnest Christians when I used to be one of them. Ah, well.

I think I'm done with movies for a little while. I've seen so damn many of them in the last couple of weeks. Besides, I'm now deep into party season. Most of the charities I work with/support throw parties during the summer. I've got three this week and at least one a week for the rest of the summer. Fun, but tiring.

Tonight I am being joined at one of the parties by David, a rugby friend, and Frank. If nothing else, the company will be good. Plus, I get to leave work early in order to get to the party on time. Woo hoo!

Nasty little bout of depression this weekend. Not sure what brought it on. Saturday, I slept all day. Didn't do anything else.

Sunday was better. I blew off the play; it didn't get good reviews in the Times so I was okay with that. I went to the team barbeque and had a pretty good time. Graham Norton was there so he was my weekend celebrity sighting.

After the barbeque I went to see 'The Stepford Wives'. It was alright, I guess. It would have been a better rental. I think sometime this week I'll go see 'Saved'.

Turns out tomorrow's rugby tournament is actually the following Saturday. Damn. Now I have to figure out something to do tomorrow. On the up side, this means I don't have to drag my ass out of bed at 6 a.m.

Last night was a hell of a lot of fun. My friend Paul suggested going to see Grease at the Clearview Chelsea Cinema; it was part of their Thursday camp classics series hosted by Hedda Lettuce (who was fucking hilarious). I haven't seen the movie on the big screen since, well, since 1978, I guess.

Highlights: Paul winning one of the raffle prizes. Irish Mark, a former teammate who happened to be at the movie and is looking buff and fine) winning one of the other prizes. Realizing I still have a bit of a crush on Kelly Ward and Jeff Conaway. Hearing the immortal words "Tell me about it, stud." Noticing that the tight, tight jeans the guys wore in the movie leave little to the imagination. Wondering if this is why I liked the movie so much as a kid.

Lowlights: The idiot behind me who sang along to all the songs despite not knowing the words. He'd kind of start open mouth humming until he figured out what the word or phrase was, then he'd sing the words in a rush trying to catch up. By the time 'Sandra Dee' rolled around, I wanted him dead.

I suppose another lowlight is that you can really tell how old the 'seniors' of Rydell High are when you see them on the big screen. I don't remember any of the kids I went to school with having crow's feet. I mean, Stockard Channing was almost my age when she made this movie. Can any of you see me passing for a high school senior? I think the only one who was even close to age-appropriate was Lorenzo Lamas, who was 20 at the time.

Well, regardless of that, I had a great time. There is a string of John Waters movies coming up over the summer; I think I'll check some of those out. It doesn't hurt that tickets to the Thursday movies are only $5.50.

Trivia: Brian Stokes Mitchell of various Broadway musicals fame is the same Brian Mitchell who was on Trapper John, MD. The fun stuff one learns on IMDB.

I knew I'd forget to mention this. My team, or rather the pretty and/or well-muscled members of my team, is featured in a fashion spread in July's Out magazine. It is already in some bookstores.

This is, I believe, the third major gay publication to feature photos of certain members of our team (Out, Genre and Instinct, if memory serves). Just one day, I'd love to see our entire team in one of them. But then, there are never photos of fat, hairy guys in major gay magazines unless they are doing a condescending article about 'bear culture'. Whatever.

Anyway, I suppose the publicity will be good for the team.

Other little bits and pieces from the last few days.

Reagan died. You may have missed this since it hasn't been getting a lot of media attention.

I got an e-mail last week from Frank saying that he'd be participating in a book reading at B&N on Monday. I went to it and was delighted to discover that the author he was reading with was Steve Kluger, author of one of my favorite books, The Last Days of Summer. His new book is Almost Like Being in Love, a cute gay love story, which apparently Gary Bauer hates. The reading was a lot of fun, plus I got to fawn over the author for a little while. I read the book that evening and even though I didn't like it as much as 'Summer' (sorry, Frank), it was still pretty good. I think the reason I liked 'Summer' better was that the main character, Joey, was so engaging. I liked the characters in 'Love', too, especially some of the incidental ones, but none of them clicked with me as much as Joey.

Anyway, run out an buy these books. And while you're there, buy 'Trust Fund Boys' by Famous Author Rob Byrnes.

So I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, not for the creeping crud that I've had for the last few days, but as a follow-up to my yearly physical. Now if your doctor tells you that your blood pressure is dangerously high and he's putting you on medication do you a) vow to work out and diet or b) go to the deli and buy a pint of Chunky Monkey then eat it in one sitting?

Yeah, I chose the Ben and Jerry's route, myself. Fuck it. Let's just hope the stroke is massive and not one of those pissant things that leaves me a vegetable.

What else . . . ? Oh, yeah. I'm going to a rugby tournament this weekend. Woo hoo!!! Should be loads of fun. And on Sunday I'm going to see a Moliere play out at BAM. The Imaginary Invalid is one of my favorite Moliere plays; I can't wait to see it done by the Comedie-Francaise (sorry, but I don't know how to put in the accents).

Um . . . that's all I have for now.

Oh, yeah. Did anyone tape the Tonys? Let me know. Well, okay, let me ammend that. Let me know if you taped it and a) live in NYC, or b) are willing to send me the tape.

If there is a good side to being sick, other than getting lots and lots of sleep, it's getting to catch up on movies. This weekend I saw 'Harry Potter and the blah, blah, blah' and 'The Day After Tomorrow'.

'Harry' was disappointing. I thought it was a little, well, boring. Plus, there was once again a dearth of Harry on Draco action. Now, I haven't read the books, but all the fanfic I read usually ends up with the two of them getting it on and I'm sure that the fanfic is pretty true to the books. Right?

Kidding aside, I really couldn't get into this one very much. But I will say this, it was a beautiful film. The cinematography was amazing, as was the directing. I just didn't much care for the story.

'Day After Tomorrow' was what I expected. Great special effects. Good, though completely unbelievable, story. Lousy dialogue and acting (if you want to call it that).

I have a sick fascination with movies that destroy the city I live in. From 'Deep Impact' to 'Independence Day', I love watching New York get destroyed. This movie was especially fun because most of the action took place a couple of blocks from where I work, so I'm very familiar with the area. One minor problem that I wonder if anyone else from the city caught. Did you notice that the wall of water entered Manhattan from the southwest, but the wave that nearly killed our plucky heroes was travelling on 41st Street from the east? But then again, the writers managed to get a huge Russian freighter (unmanned and somehow upright despite the killer wave) to 'drift' to the corner of 5th Ave. and 42nd Street, so I really shouldn't be worrying too much about verisimilitude.

Anyway, watching New York and LA get destroyed was worth the price of admission.

So that was my cinema-going experience. I also rented 'The Princess Diaries,' 'The Triplettes of Belleville,' 'East is East,' and 'Brotherhood of the Wolf'.

Here are my nutshell reviews:

'Princess' cute, frothy, fun.
'Belleville' funky, artsy, awsome
'East' drama billed as a madcap comedy
'Wolf' thank God for the fast foward button

Other than that, it was a quiet and rather phlemy weekend. Went to a laid back party on Saturday at Turtle's. Hung out with Dino on Sunday. Called in sick Monday. Had most of Tuesday off.

Not too exciting.

Maybe I'll make up stuff next weekend so it sounds better.

My office is closed today for a 'retreat'. Guess who totally forgot and is sitting at his desk feeling like a douche?

Anyway, I'm going to go home now. Dammit.

I was sick all weekend. I'm sick today. This blows.

I'll try to blog some this evening or tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to take some more Nyquil and get back in bed.

Daniel Cudmore LOVES Crash

02022 2224 446 810 91

Love Level: 91%

Name 1:
Name 2:

Loves-O-Meter
From Go-Quiz.com

Stolen Borrowed from Shadowfoot.

Crash is poisonous! Induce vomitting if ingested.

N POISON

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

Another meme. Because I am secure enough in my individuality to be just like everyone else.

10 Bands/Singers You've Seen Live:

1. Pansy Division
2. Three Dog Night
3. America
4. Jimmy Buffett
5. Michael Bolton (don't judge me)
6. Phil Collins
7. Sting
8. Tito Puente and Celia Cruz
9. Pinetop Perkins
10. Johnny Lang

9 Things You're Looking Forward To:

1. A haircut
2. Fall rugby season
3. Fixing my computer
4. Hanging out with Mike
5. Dating . . . someday . . . please God
6. Rearranging my apartment
7. Seeing the new Harry Potter movie
8. Keeping in touch with some of the guys I met this weekend
9. Going back to Europe, hopefully soon

8 Things You Wear Daily:

1. Boxer-briefs
2. My Faux-vado watch
3. My Buddhist ring
4. My Celtic ring
5. My Virgin Mary medal
6. Glasses
7. Footwear of some type
8. A look of annoyance

7 Things That Annoy You

1. Children
2. Tourists
3. Bad breath
4. Body odor
5. High-pitched noises
6. Bicycle messengers
7. Oblivious fucks on their cell phones

6 Things You Touch Every Day

1. My tooth brush
2. My beard
3. My cell phone
4. My books
5. My bed
6. Myself . . . in that way that makes Jesus weep

5 Things You Do Every Day

1. Shower
2. Go to the bathroom
3. Eat
4. Worry
5. See number 6 above.

4 Of Your Favorite Bands or Musicians

1. The Eagles
2. Mary Chapin Carpenter
3. Johnny Lang
4. Indigo Girls

3 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over

1. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
2. Billy Elliot
3. Beautiful Thing

2 Of Your Favorite Songs At This Moment

1. It Sucks to Be Me (from Avenue Q)
2. Rainbow Connection (as sung by a bunch of drunk bloggers)

1 Person You Could Spend The Rest of Your Life With

1. Yeah, right.

I'm home. And I'm exhausted. I'll post all the fun stuff later. But for now, here are the highlights.

Having the drunk girl behind me on the plane, when asked by the flight attendant if she'd like the chicken or the beef for dinner, ask what the difference was. Well, Einstein, I imagine that one of them features chicken as the entree and the other one beef. But, hey, I could be wrong.

Meeting Sherry, Dan and Stairs in Cambridge. Best day of the whole trip.

Having our B-side team make it to the finals. Even though we lost in overtime, it was by far the most exciting match of the entire tournament.

Seeing a player hit a ref, who then red carded him (rightly so). This was followed by his team flipping her off and yelling at ther, her calling the game and the team being disqualified from the tournament.

Nearly getting into a bar fight. No one gets into bar fights at the gay bars in New York. Hanging out with the London Steelers is interesting to say the least.

Spending three hours wandering around the National Portrait Gallery.

Spending two hours wandering around a very, very minute portion of the British Museum.

Seeing Diana Rigg in 'Suddenly Last Summer'.

Watching one of my teammates pick up an internationally known porn star at the airport.

Not having to think about work or anything else for a whole week.

Bangers and mash, my new comfort food of choice.

Welsh guys. Well, one in particular.

Kilts. Lots and lots of kilts.

Having the Queen come to our opening party and having my picture taken with her. Okay, she was just an impersonator, but still.

Making sweet, sweet monkey love with Ben Cohen and Jonny Wilkinson. Well, okay, that didn't really happen, but a boy can dream.

Cider. Every bar, restaurant and club served cider. I must have had at least four or five per day.

Anyway, I'm still slogging through e-mails and it's time for lunch, so I'll write more about the trip later.