The CAA Christmas Party

Sticking to the theme of self-control...

There's a reason why the word VEAL bears a resemblance to the word EVIL.

We went to the CAA Party at the Palladium. Getting in was no problem. I told them I was Jesse Moore (who was supposedly my date, but we got there before her and so I just used her name)(I hope she was able to get in...)

The place was decked out with lights and tables and casino games and band and dancing and too many bars and lobsters to count. Everyone was dressed to the nines.



And then of course there was the buffet:



Oh...the buffet. Bane of my existence. Complete with chinese noodles, steak, tomatoes/mozzarella, mashed potatoes, 4 different kinds of pasta, chicken fingers and VEAL MARSALA...



Open bar plus Open veal plus dancing is a bad bad combination. Basically I ate so much veal (and pasta and chicken fingers) that at one point I had to stop drinking because I felt like I was going to vomit.

At 12:30 I was the sober obese one in the corner unable to dance, unable to drink, wishing I had veal-self-restraint, while still secretly craving another plate of sweet succulent baby cow. I have serious issues.

In the end I had to remove myself from the situation. I went home. Well actually first I went to the Beanery to share some beer with MikeSacks and Co.

Bobby and Naia frowned upon my lameness.



I'm glad tonight's McMaster dinner is a sit-down. It means I'll receive set portions and have a harder time eating everything in sight...

Having learned my lesson...

about over-hyping parties and events...I will restrain myself.

I will simply say...Hooray I am going to the CAA Party tonight.

And hooray Brokeback Mountain opens today and as much as I want to go to the first public showing at 10:30 at the Grove (it's only playing in five theaters around the country this week). I will wait until Sunday.



And now I will leave you with a quote, from my dear friend Richard:

"Heath Ledger, in particular, I think really has to get an Oscar nomination."
-Richard Roeper, EBERT & ROEPER

Poker Setbacks...

So in my quest to lose 17 pounds in 17 days I worked out for an hour and a half and ate only a measly little serving of Island Curry leftover from last night for lunch.

Was quite proud of myself and even went to Ralph's to get myself a nice tuna sushi roll dinner.

1st pound - Done.

Then everyone came over for poker.

We ordered 4 medium pizzas. Of which I ate six slices. Ok fine seven.

I now have 16 days to lose 18 pounds.



At least I won poker!

Take a good look...

at LA Talent's website, because in just a few days, that beautiful picture of Matt is going to be replaced...by MINE!!!!

(Not a picture of ME, duh, the picture I took.)



I honestly don't know why. I think it is a fantastic picture and would love to be able to take a picture like that, but I guess his agents think it's too fashion-y.

In other news, you should also probably take a good look at currently fat-faced me, because I worked out for a full hour and half today!

I'm trying to lose 17 pounds in 17 days to prepare for the big New Year's debauchery.

Overly-ambitious? Perhaps.

Action Star Alec...

took me out to a delicious lunch at Wolfgang Puck, partly in return for single-handedly launching his career (with the help of Mike Sacks) as an MTV reality show host.

We then went to Club Monaco and bought more $19 shirts.

It's a RIDICULOUS sale, people!!!

GET OVER THERE NOW!!!!

Score 2!!!!

So the other day, after taking Alec's headshots, Mike Sacks showed me this posting he found on craigslist:

BLACK BELTS!

MTV2 casting for season 1 of Final Fu; a competative sports series set to begin production in the upcoming weeks/months.
MUST BE:
* at least 18 yrs old
* appear no older than 25
* black belt or equivalent in any STAND UP style of martial arts
* U.S. citizen
* capable of sparring in continuous point-based competition (non-choreographed)

please include photo and contact info to come in for an audition ASAP

Basically it's a Kung Fu version of Tough Enough. And being a good friend always on the lookout for my friends, I sent it over to Alec.

He sent them the pic I took. Went in for an audtion. AND GOT IT!!!!

But they don't want him as a contestant. No no. They offered him the part as THE HOST.

$1500 A WEEK!

It's all coming together. Today is the day we begin to take over the world.

AND BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN comes out on FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Score!

12pm: Went upstairs to see what Matt was up to.

12:15: Took some headshots.

12:30: Lost at Ping-Pong.

1:00: Retouched and color-corrected Matt's headshots.

1:30: Ate some Chicken Nuggets.

1:45: Burned a CD for Matt to take to his lunch meeting with his agents.

2:00: Watch Oprah.

2:30: Matt calls to tell me his agency and LOVED THE PICTURES and are going to use one as his main picture on LA Casting!!!!

HOOOOORRRRRRRAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!11

It's going to be a good week.

Photographing Models...

Is sooooooo easy...



Matt's submitting these photos to his agency to see if he can get me some work!!!

Hoo-ray!

Photographry Lessons

So I spent the morning recovering from hangover and eating delicious Chineeeese food.

Around 4 I went in to work with Bjoern on some stuff. He spent an hour teaching me some lighting techniques by shooting me with my own camera. Basically we bounced a flash off a plain white wall to try to make it look like daylight. Photography is so cool.



After work I was driving past Westwood and decided to stop by Rach and Bri's to hang out. To my surprise I entered there apartment to find them sitting on the couch...with Bobby!

Yay. I am so happy when my friends connect.

And Bri is so sweet, she went to several liquor stores in Nevada looking for Honey Brown for me. (Honey Brown, my favoritest beer EVER, is rumored to be sold in Nevada but apparently these are LIES).

Rachael made me a Christmas CD that I'm sure I will be bopping along to for many days to come (I apologize in advance to any would-be passengers in my car).

My friends are so lovely.

I also got the sweetest voicemail ever from Del Smershio. Gershy, I love you more than life, and Los Angeles would never be the same without you.

Christmas love, one of the many reasons this time of year rocks.

Hollywood Shitshow

Moments before I wake, I think, "Hmmm....I wonder where I am...." and then Bling! I open my eyes.

I'm at Naia and Lindsay's. In Lindsay's bed. But no Lindsay.

It's 10am. An invisible little man is sitting inside my skull poking at my brain. He is not a nice man. But he comes with the fun from the night before.

I get on the floor, feeling around for my glasses. 5 minutes later, I find them.

I venture into the living room to find a girl asleep on the couch.

I think it is Naia. I take out my camera and take a picture. It flashes.

The girl looks up. It's not Naia.

"Who ARE you?" is the expression on her face. She pulls the blanket over her head and goes back to sleep.

I walk into Naia's room. No Naia.

Where is everybody????

I text Kristy to ask her to please pick me up in exchange for food. I go back to sleep.

Wake up an hour later. The girl is gone. I go over to the computer. Somebody has recently downloaded the soundtrack of RENT!!!

I put on "Another Day". Crank it up. And dance around the empty apartment stupidly.

Morning-after giddiness is the best.

My head hurts.

.................................................

Last night was SO MUCH FUN.

We started off going to Dian's birthday by the fire. It was an intimate little gathering. Wine. Cheese. Beer. Yum.



All the McMasterites were there. And I am looking forward to the McMaster party next weekend. Steak. Lobster. Open bar. Yay.

We went from Dian's to Lindsay's party at Falcon. There was a slight line outside but we only waited 5 minutes or so because Naia came out and helped us get in. Redemption. Yay.



It was ridicuulously fun. We stayed until closing.



At one point, I went up to the bar to get drinks, saw a girl I recognized across the bar, and waved.

The bartender looked at me and shouted "Sit down!"

Puzzled, I did as told and sat down on a stool.

The girl waved again. I stood up and waved back.

"I TOLD YOU TO SIT DOWN!!!" the bartender snapped at me again.

"Why?" I asked, confused as all hell.

"If you fall off that stool, it's not our responsibility."

"I'm not STANDING on a STOOL you ass..."

".......seriously???"

I take a step back.

Then a step to the side.

".........oh......shit....."

"yeah."

"Sorry man...what can I get you?"

"Two bud lights."

He sprints down the bar to the cooler. Pulls out two delicious beers. Sets them in front of me. And pops off both caps in a split-second.

"They're on me."

He got my drinks for the rest of the night.

And with that, I double-fisted my way into drunken oblivion.

Thank you friends for not letting me die.

More Bjoerny fun

Worked for Bjoern from noonish to now-ish today.

Ka-ching!

Working again tomorrow!

We drove around Hollywood posting his pictures everywhere and then taking pictures of them. (We can then later photoshop the real pictures we want to feature into the pictures.) It's a cool idea.

Below is one of the "desk" shots we took today using the tripod/camera/lighting setup we devised last night.



And now it's time to empty my wallet.

Partyyyyy!

Working for the man.

Bjoern is the man.

I love him and I can't wait until he becomes a bigshot fashion photographer and takes me with him.

We spent 7 hours last night brainstorming and setting up my camera to take supercool pictures to showcase his work. We came up with this brilliant idea of setting up a 9-foot tripod and taking a picture down onto a cluttered desk with his headshots lying all around.



Bjoern is so cool.

AND he just recently took pictures of Colby Donaldson from Survivor..

Colby is hot.

Blackout Thursdays/D-Lister sighting!!!

First off, CLUB MONACO is having the most ridiculous sale ever.

Back in New York I bought a hoodless hoodie type jacket thing for $80. Softest jacket ever. I love it.

Stepped into Club Monaco yesterday...it's on sale for $19.

ALONG WITH EVERY OTHER THING IN THE STORE.

Beautiful button-down shirts. Hoodies. Sweaters. Everything is $19-$29. It is ridiculous.

Go there. Go there NOW.

................................................

Went down to Alec's loft in Venice to take his headshots in the afternoon (a paying gig) (Hooray).



Then headed to Q's for the Inaugural BLACKOUT THURSDAY.

(Can I please point out that I spelled "inaugural" correctly on the first try?)

Eggfury: i'm so good
Megoon: yes dennis
Megoon: you are a spelling machine

I don't think there was a point in the evening when there were more than 3 girls in our group at one time.

I threw the first sausagefest of my life! Hooray!

AND...



We saw Stacie J!!!!

Megoon: stacie j?!
Megoon: at Qs?
Eggfury wants to directly connect.
Megoon is online but away; no connection was made.
Eggfury: wearing a BRA TOP
Eggfury: IN PUBLIC
Megoon: and you took pictures
Megoon: oh dennis
Eggfury: yes
Megoon: dennis
Megoon: i love ou
Megoon: thank you

Bobby was actually the first to spot her. Making Bobby......my new best friend!!!

It's official!

I've booked my tickets to Boston/NY.

Leaving LA Dec 25th, returning January 5th.

Hooray!

!!!...!!!.......!!!!

I just did a happy dance in a circle around my room!

BUEG / Celebrities

Went to the Brown University Entertainment Group Mixer tonight. Hosted by Thesy and attended by many.

It was nice to see many people I don't get to see often as well as people I see way too often.

Spotted Adam Sandler sitting in a booth in the restaurant, very exciting. Apparently David Spade was around as well, though I did not get a glimpse of him.

Mike and Meghan brought their buddy Ryan Carnes (of Desperate Housewives guest-star fame). I guess that kind of counts as a mini-celebrity sighting. He was very cute and nice and I hope we all become best friends.



And also we will be best friends with Eva Longoria because she is little and feisty and most importantly...



EVA KNOWS SEAN FARIS!!!!!!!!!!

.....................................

Palmisano and I left early to head over to Q's where we proceeded to down a couple pitchers and were later joined by our new west-side buddy Mani. After the bar closed we stopped next door at McDonald's to eat a deliciously healthy post-drinking meal of McChickens and fries.

Decided that tomorrow (or today) will be Blackout Thursday.

Yay.

AHhHHHHhHHHHH!!!!

Oh my god I am twenty-four years old.

That is so terrifying.

Meatball Mania

At first it was going to be a simple birthday dinner.

Kristy was going to cook meatballs for me and Eugene.

Then we invited Chris.

And you can't invite Chris without inviting Doug.

And then Katie called. So she received an invitation. And then Meghan. And then Rach and Bri and Naia and Dan and Emily. And you can't have a dinner party without letting the neighbors Matt and Ryan know.

So what started out as a simple birthday dinner became a meatball extravaganza.

Meghan made firm and delicious cumin-flavored turkey meatballs.

I made semi-soft turkey/onion meatballs.

Doug brought his mom's yummy frozen meatballs.

And Kristy made squishy beefy meatballs.



Meatballs are the best.

Almost all of my favorite people were in attendance. And for that I was very happy.



This morning I was very productive. I woke up at 8am to play tennis with Uncle Bob. A family friend non-uncle that I call "Uncle" because that's just how we Orientals do it.

Of course I didn't really wake up until 9:30ish when I was already down two sets to a man twice my age.

But now it's 11. I'm energized. And ready to do wonderful things with my life.

But first...Oprah.

525,600 minutes...

I saw Rent today.

And even though I didn't necessarily like all the songs...I loved the movie as a whole.

I cried.

For the first time since I saw Selena back in 1994 or whatever.

Four little drops out of my tear-deficient eyes.

It made me think of my Uncle Benny who died maybe 8 years ago now from AIDS.

When Uncle Benny found out he was HIV-positive, our family kind of turned on him. His father (my grandfather), his brothers...they all deserted him. I still remember the weekend my dad got back from visiting Uncle Benny in San Francisco and broke the news to us over dinner that he had a "brain tumor". It was the first time I'd ever seen my dad cry. He just sat there at the dinner table, bawling.

I wasn't until several years after his death when I learned more about HIV/AIDS in school that i pieced it all together.

I had never understood why my parents wouldn't let us hug Uncle Ben. Or why we had to eat off paper plates at Thanksgiving when he was around. Or why if there was a big family reunion and someone was missing, it was always him.

I can't imagine how horrible and alone he must have felt. And I wish we all could have been there for him.

I don't think Uncle Ben ever took medication. I don't think he had any support or desire to live. The man who had infected him had died a couple years before.

Uncle Ben died alone.

My grandfather refused to attend his funeral. And I think he died years later having never visited his own son's grave.

I feel bad that I know so little about what really happened, because even though almost a decade has passed, nobody ever talks about it.

We visit his "grave" whenever we're in Hong Kong (his ashes sit behind a tiny little slab among thousands in a hilltop monastery), but we never really take time to reflect on his life or his death.

Watching Rent made me think about how different my life would be right now if he were still alive. I feel a deep sense of regret for having been too young to understand.

But I also feel thankful that he came and went before me. I know it's kind of a horrible thing to say, but he cleared a path for me to exist and be accepted within my family. If I had been the first gay Kwan, who knows where I'd be right now. I'd probably be homeless. My dad probably would have yanked me out of school and kicked me out of the house.

I think my dad will forever regret treating Uncle Ben the way that he did. And in a way I think he might see my being gay as his second chance, to do it again differently.

So I cried.

There's only us.
There's only this.
Forget regret.
Or life is yours to miss...

No other road.
No other way.
No day but today......

The movie was so good. The music...SO good.

I just listened to "Seasons of Love" again and got all misty.

I'm just so incredibly thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful friends, both old and new.

I wish I could hug EVERYONE!!!

So much can happen in a year. So much HAS happened in a year.

I really do think that I was supposed to die when that cab jumped the curb and slammed me into a wall almost two years ago now (see picture below).

I still have dreams about it. And I truly believe that there is "no day but today" and that tomorrow is never promised.



So, on the eve of my 24th birthday, I look forward to the year that is to come, and to the awesome new adventures and people that I'm sure it will bring.

And I hope that Uncle Ben is out there right now, watching over me.

A 20-something Thanksgiving

It was one the best thanksgivings ever.

Family and friends. All together as one.

On Friday, we had a 20-something thanksgiving with my parents and all our new and old friends who stayed in LA for the holiday.

Kristy cooked all day with Sandra as sous chef...



...while Euge and I ran around town running errands, picking up random groceries, and searching unsuccessfully for a gravy boat. We also managed to get our hair cut.

And we cleaned the apartment.




Everyone came over and we pregamed and played games with appetizers.



Kristy added some finishing touches to the meal...



And then we sat down to eat.





The turkey came out perfectly moist and delicious. We originally planned on a 14-pounder but upgraded to a 22-pounder when we went to pick up the turkey and realized I could probably eat the smaller one myself in one sitting.



There were also yams, and garlic mashed potatoes, and squashes, and cranberry walnut ambrosia, and beef lo mein, and butter stuffing, and sausage stuffing, and chinese rice stuffing, and the most delicious gravy on earth.

Soooo yummy...soooo full...




We followed dinner with an epic game of Kings...




Then we ate delicious desserts including: Apple Pie, 2 Pumpkin Pies, Almond Cake, Banana Bread, Ice Cream, and Jello-Vodka-Banana-Cool Whip Casserole thing.

And ended the evening somewhat early with a decent amount of intoxication and tomfoolery.



Thanksgiving is the best!

Pre-Thanksgiving fun. And celebrities.

Picked up Sandra from Aeropuerto at 8 AM.

Drove down to Newport. No traffic. Hooray.

Napped until 2ish.

Had lunch with Farshid!



Delicious sushi. And BEER. Yes he is a bad little muslim.

Then we had dinner and went on a boat ride.

Booked it back to Q's for some pre-holiday fun with:

Eugene and Takoko, his new Japanese-speaking-only "friend".



Mike Sacks and Valerio



And of course Kristy and the boys.



BUT...most exciting of all....



Sandra met Bob Saget!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!