TwinkBrigade.com

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2009, Part Trois

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:43:06 -0800

Since I don't think part deux concerning the men's free skate, Evan Lysacek's win, and the different style of commentating other members of TB provided at the event, I'm just going to move on and talk about the ladies' short program. Well, not so much talk because it's not something you can describe exactly. The short program that obviously stood out that day was the short program of one Yu-Na Kim of South Korea. I Kim Yu-Na it was amazing to watch in person. She set a new world record score with this short program and went on to win the world title and become the first woman ever to break the 200-point barrier. Her scores would've placed her among the top ten men in the world - and that's without any quads or triple Axels. Her skating is simply that phenomenal. But like I said, not doing much talking because you should just watch her and this absolutely gorgeous short program. She makes every element look so incredibly easy; there's a tension and a looseness in her body and choreography that perfectly fits Saint-Saen's "Danse Macabre"; and the performance is just amazing as she combines athleticism and artistry in a way few skaters ever have or ever will.

Umm, since I seem not to be technologically proficient enough to figure out how to get an embedded video to work, here's the link to Yu-Na's short program from worlds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqZe2oeiGj8.

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2009, Part Une

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:35:49 -0800

First off, for twinks that might still be left in the dark: I, Mr. Giggles, used to be a figure skater; still have my skates; still skate occasionally; and am still 100% thoroughly obsessed with the sport. I know the rulebook inside and out. Used to coach and choreograph. I am better than any commentator you will ever see on television. Still jump like crazy anywhere, anytime.

That being said, you can imagine my profound and utter joy when The Alcoholist offered me the chance to see these paragons of sport and grace in person... at World Championships... the year before the Olympics in Vancouver. I just nearly about died (since I had to remain alive long enough to actually go to the competition and ooh and ahh over every little thing).

So last Wednesday night, The Alcoholist and Mr. Giggles went to the Staples Center to experience all the excitement, heartbreak, breath-taking athleticism, and jaw-dropping amazingness (and no, not for the normal reason we drop our jaws) of the pairs' free skate. I was on the edge of my seat on our drive up, making sure to yell at any car that got in my way that I was going to Worlds (because really, what more important place could they be going? Home? Please, your wife and kids probably hate you - what's the rush? I've got somewhere important to be!). Once we arrived, I remained on the edge of my seat in the suite, watching each and every pair intently, eating up every minute of the glorious experience. Hopefully my random factoids and commentary didn't tick anyone off, least of all The Alcoholist, because figure skating puts me in the zone and there's so much more going on than just what you see on the ice. Don't get me wrong, how you skate during the competition is of utmost importance, but the sport has never been clear exactly on how we determine who's the best (and who thought the code of points would make things clear? Ah, right, the president of the International Skating Union who's NOT a figure skater, but rather a speed skater). In the end, though I really must say that the results for this segment of the competition were fair and correct. The German pair - Savchenko and Szolkowy - are absolutely fantastic and their Schindler's List program (ironic, as The Alcoholist pointed out) was gorgeous - her in a rose red dress and he, all in grey (in pants which The Alcoholist particularly fancied). The suite as a whole had a pretty rocking time watching the event, too, and it was lots of fun dancing to Lady Gaga in between skaters in our vain attempt to attract the cameras to us. The last pair also didn't disappoint as they, one of the Russians - Kawaguchi and Smirnov - attempted a throw quadruple Salchow. Though they've successfully (but not prettily) landed the feat in competitions before, that night the skill did not go as hope with Yuko pretty much smashing her face on the ice. She did bounce right back up though and finish the program nicely - that's the great thing about adrenaline: she probably didn't feel a thing until the day after (Kid, I'm sure could tell us more about adrenaline and its wonders). All in all, it was a fine night of skating and I am ever so grateful to The Alcoholist for allowing me the wonderful opportunity to see this event in person.

Now, since I did not attend the Men's Free Skate wherein Evan Lysacek from the U.S. was crowned the new world champion (first American man in 13 years! Todd Eldredge was the last to win it in 1996), I'll leave that entry up to The Alcoholist, Play, SinnerBoi, or Kid. As for me, I'll move on to part trois in my next entry and tell you all about the marathon session that was the Ladies' Short Program.

Until then!

Alcohol Consumption

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:11:07 -0800

As given the title of "The Alcoholist" it is not an easy roll to fill! I am constantly expected to know multitudes of alcholic facts and trivia. Today, while doing some research, I came across some interesting bit of news that interested me (and much to Play's and my delight, will disgruntle Kid).

"During the eighteenth century, laws had to be brought in to curb the seemingly insatiable appetite for gin ... Their annual intake was as much as five million gallons."

This peaked my interest as to what was the annual intake these days. I then came across a study done by Time magazine in which it broke down consumption by state. I was fascinated to discover that California was not among the top of the heaviest drinkers. Neither was New York! Throughout the course of the year, Californians consumed on average 23 gallons of alcohol per person. Only 1 of which was made of Spirits. (What's a gallon of spirits? Think of that large bottle of Grey Goose you've seen at Costco). Now, knowing the readers of this blog, you might be thinking "I definitely had more than that last year." You have to remember that one third of Americans do not drink, and since this is the average, you can see how the numbers can be ummm... "watered down."

Looking at some very old statistics, drinking has dropped over 150% since the mid 1800s. So drink up people! We have some catching up to do in order to catch up with our ancestors. (And yes, Kid, drink more gin. Look! They did it!)

Twitter ... Again

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:41:09 -0800

Everyone knows the Twink Brigade loves their tweets. So to make what we love even closer to where we post, everything that gets tweeted by @twinkbrigade will automatically be posted on TwinkBrigade.com!

Yes, I know there's a box on the screen already.. but this is different. This is an actual post! Furthermore, if you reply to @twinkbrigade (by putting @twinkbrigade at the front of any tweet), it will be posted here too! Well, it will be posted if you don't protect your Twitter account. I'll maybe fix that later.

Anyhow, exciting stuff!

- Play

Tweet (#1309868104)

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:39:33 -0800

I'm cool because my Tweets show up automatically on TwinkBrigade.com!

No Day But Today

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:16:39 -0800

This Sunday was a day I've been looking forward to for a very very long time. Every gay boy's favorite musical about... well gays.. and uh.. AIDS and drug addicts and the bohemian lifestyle and stuff... was playing at Hollywood's Pantages Theater and WE HAD TICKETS!!

That's right.. it was RENT! But this was no ordinary production of Rent. It featured original cast members Adam Pascal (left) and Anthony Rapp (right) reprising their roles as Mark and Roger, respectively.It was such a rare opportunity, that it was actually only in town for 5 days (compared to Wicked [another AMAZING musical, but that's another post], which was at Pantages for like 2 years). All of the performances sold out almost immediately, but fortunately, Play scored us pre-sale tickets with his AmEx benefits -- go that! (crap, I better not start saying that)

We got to the show a bit early, so we hit the theater bar to have a pre-curtain cocktail. Play had his favorite disgusting Christmas-tree tasting beverage, and I had a Long Island (which I noticed for the first time also has Christmas in it... hmm).
Pantages tip-- clever twinks prepay for drinks before the show, so they don't have to wait in line during intermission ;)

I actually saw Rent a few years ago when it played at the San Diego Civic theater, but my seats were so bad I couldn't see the stage without binoculars. There's really no such thing as a bad seat at the Pantages, but even so, we opted for Orchestra seats so we could get the most of the experience. Unfortunately some tall motherfucker with an annoying habit of swinging his head from side to side sat right in front of me.. but we still had a great view.

Once again I was blown away... the music in Rent is absolutely beautiful, and I had forgotten how much more poignant it is live than watching the movie. I mean, it's a good movie, but in my opinion it really doesn't do the play justice. Adam Pascal does play Mark in the movie as well, though, which is pretty cool. In my opinion, the Mimi and the Maureen in the play did a much better job than the ones in the movie. I also thought that the energy of the audience and their enthusiasm for the show made the experience all the better-- every time a popular song started people would cheer and occasionally clap along (at one point prompting one of the actors to yell "Stop Clapping!") There was actually a pretty amusing point during Maureen's performance where there were some technical difficulties, but the actors did a really good job of covering it.

Now I've been annoying my roomie, my coworkers and Play by listening to the soundtrack non-stop. haha

Here are some of my favorite songs from Rent (though these clips are from the movie, so they lose a little something):

Go ahead, be jealous :-p

The Getty

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:55:17 -0800

On an early Saturday, the 7th of March, several of the Twinks made their way to the Getty. No, not Ghetto--Getty. It's a beautiful place and a must see when in Los Angeles.

We got a late start, arriving somewhere around 1:30 PM. I'm used to the Getty closing around 5:00 PM, so imagine my surprise at the long lines and 9:00 PM closing time. It has extended hours every Saturday--who knew? Anyhow, cars aren't allowed to the hilltop museum. To get to the main grounds, our twinkish group had to take a tram. Now, we don't mind public transit, but we don't like crowds without some sort of drink, so we walked.

The main buildings are a sight to behold. They're beautifully constructed with square-cut travertine blocks as a facade. The five major halls (North, East, South, West, and Exhibition) surround two pools. Each hall contains a vast collection with about 25% of the overall exibits changed regularly (excluding, of course, the Exhibition Hall).

To the west is the main garden. That's where we started. Well, after grabbing a snack at the downstairs Cafe. The garden is suppose to be as much a work of art as the exibits. It starts in a tavertine-stone fountain with a single trickle of water. The trickle drops down into the garden below (through a named shape SinnerBoi will have to recall for me). As the garden progresses south, the single trickle becomes a larger and larger stream that drops down into a central pool via waterfall. I have some video someplace. I'll try to post it if I remember.

Anyhow, I could spend several more paragraphs talking about the gardens, but I won't. The exibits where important too. There were paintings. There were photographs. There were sculptures and statues and furnature and altars and books and lots of other equally important things, each worth talking about. But instead, I'll talk about the restaurant!

At 5:00 PM we met for dinner. I had never been to the restaurant at the Getty and had always heard wonderful things. My expectations were met both in food quality and price! I chose the artic char with asparigus. SinnerBoi got the steak. Kid got port. All of it was amazing. For dessert we ended with coffee and port. Well, I had port, everyone else had coffee. Go figure. The price must have been worth it because we walked out almost three hours later.

More touring of the museum commenced. We saw works by Van Gogh and Monet and Cezanne and ... well, enough of that.

In any case, the Getty is a wonderful place to spend a day. The parking is only $10 and entrance is free. What can be done in Los Angeles for that cheap? Nothing Twinkish, that's for sure.

- Play

Alcohol + Birthdays = A Brilliant Celebration!

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:29:25 -0800

I like to think that God must have quite the sense of humor when He fiendishly planned for The Alcoholist and SinnerBoi to have birthdays in such close proximity that celebrating them together was a foregone conclusion. And what could be better than two times the blackout fun?! Friday night at the Gaslamp did not disappoint. Our two birthday bois sat at a table fit for kings, in thrones that made them monarchs of all trannydom. And what benevolent rulers they were. The night began innocuously enough with both The Alcoholist and SinnerBoi starting right in; and thus the count began. It was somewhere around the eighth or ninth drink when I lost track of where they were, both literally and drinkwise. Knyght Ryder in all their awesome, wonderful 80s glory was on stage and somewhere between the multiple pictures taken every minute, the drinks, the music, and the crowd of friends The Alcoholist and SinnerBoi peacefully floated off into the magical realm of inebriation, otherwise known as The Blackout (kinda sounds like "The Neverending Story", eh?). My personal favorite part of the evening was when The Alcoholist, upon being told he was at least 2 - perhaps 3 - drinks behind SinnerBoi, asked for more and so I marched him into the bar and got him two drinks, one after the other (a shot of tequila and the three wise men). Since The Alocholist was my charge for the night, getting him out of the bar and back home also proved to be a hilarious endeavor. There was plenty of stumbleage, running into a minivan taxi, and the more-difficult-than-you-would-expect task of getting him to actually sit down in my car. But once I drove off, The Alcoholist drifted off into sleep, thumbs still on his iPhone - it was nearly angelic, haha.

I know I've only done a brief rundown of the night, so tell the brigade your favorite part of the night and if you've got pictures, share!

PS: Never again is The Alcoholist allowed to write up an invitation with any sort of instructions for attire if I'm going to be the only one to remotely try and dress up. There were times when my outfit made me feel like I was in a Molly Ringwald movie or on an episode of "Saved By The Bell". I suppose, though, in all fairness, it could've been a lot worse and the costume description could've potentially made me dress up as something far worse and far more embarrassing. In sum: no more costume parties for me unless I'm damn sure I'm not going to be the only one dressing up.

Hi! I'm A New Twink!

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:10:42 -0800

First off, the credit for this entry's title goes to The Alcoholist. This being my first entry, I suppose it's a bit of a coming out party (the first of many puns intended). So, hello world! I'm Mr. Giggles and if you've ever hung out with me for any period of time, well then, you know how I got my nickname. I think I've met most of the brigade by now and if I haven't met you, we'll remedy that soon! I'm not quite sure what all I should be writing here, but suffice it to say that I'm an open book, so let your curious minds inquire away and I'll tell all. I love to blog and write, too, so this is your official notice that you'll all probably be hearing a lot more from me. For now, though, I must be off, the candyshop is calling me - a literal one, that is, as in where I work. Feel free to visit and get your free lollipop sample. ;)

Looking forward to all the debaucherously good times!

Club Spin at Lucky Strike

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:42:29 -0800

So who would have thought a club and bowling ally would work together? I guess the guys at Lucky Sunday thought it was a great idea. And I do have to say, the grand opening went quite well.

We met the Messties at their respective bowling lane (yes, bowling lane). There was table service right to the lane. Of course, in TB style, we were drunk. Thankfully we were wise enough not to attempt bowling (though I did break a 70 the other night! Go me!).

Play, NerdyTwink, and Alcoholist at Club Spin

As always, there was the big screen text thingy-in-the-majigger. Basically, you text a message to some 714 number (eww) and it gets displayed on all the screens. The Messties thought they could out text the Twink Brigade! Ha! Of course not. We won hands down. Lets just say there were various inuendos and allusions that just made it through the censors.

Club Spin Message Board... Upside Down.

In any case, the club seemed like a hit. We'll be returning again (especially since it's the only thing to due on a Tuesday night).

- Play

Tweet (#1148367997)

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:30:31 -0800

New blog post by Play available at http://tinyurl.com/cf7697

Twink Brigade has a new home ... On the web!

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:18:13 -0800

Ok, so us twinks like our resources. We expect them. Things like free drinks, access to clubs, VIP lists, etc. Resources on the web are no different. You probably didn't notice any changes (it's like when Nerdy Twink gets a haircut--it looks exactly the same), but we made a big jump to get more, well, resources.

Things on our website should be pretty damn reliable (unlike some of our twinks). Go that.

- Play

Twinkishly 2009

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:59:01 -0800

Another year gone. Lots of alcohol consumed. And by that, I mean lots of alcohol. They say each year should be started as it should end. So, what did I do? In quite twink brigade style, I made sure to bring in the new year completely drunk. Hopefully you did too!

The Alcoholist would be proud!

- Play

Prop 8 -- THE MUSICAL

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:04:35 -0800

The Fires! They're Here! They're Now!

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:19:10 -0800

Being a native Southern California resident, I've become used to the continuous fires. This year is no exception. The news alerts start and I think, "Oh, it must be fire season again," and go about my week.

This year I'm surrounded. There are fires in every direction except the ocean--which hopefully won't catch on fire any time soon. The freeways are all closed. I can't get to Disneyland! What a problem, right? Anyway, everyone stay safe and don't get burned.