ill iterate

BITS.

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:44:37 -0400

NYC Karma

-I was biking (on a cliché vintage piece of shit) through the East Village when I noticed a man in Armani-Casual attempting to parallel park a full-size Hummer into a space as wide as my fist. The bus behind him patiently waited but I made eye contact with the driver who shook his head. We smiled, and I snickered “what a douchbag” under my breath as I rode on and then a pigeon shit on my face.

-I rose above ground from the subway at 1am and beelined for the taco truck at 14th and 8th, hangry for a carnitas taco. I got on line behind a flamboyant Latino man with his significantly older (and dowdy) white lady-patron/client. He was very touchy-feely with her and she was so excited when he ordered chicken flautas in Spanish-Spanish (as opposed to Mexican Spanish). As I inched forward to place my order, a 7 foot tall black man walked right up in front of me and started ordering himself, in really shitty Spanish (as opposed to Spanish-Spanish).

Dose poh-lo tacos pararara var, por favor. Oh, and por favor, servietas.

I stepped up as close to him as I could, basically rubbing up on him, and STARED at his face until he would turn to look at me, and instead of saying “oh I’m sorry I didn’t realize I cut in front of you,” he says “These guys are so great, but it’s better to order in Spanish.”

Thanks for the tip, El Dickhead.

DO IT. Gengoroh Tagame: Works on Paper Opening reception:...

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:30:33 -0400

DO IT.

Gengoroh Tagame: Works on Paper

Opening reception: Thursday, May 30th 6-8pm

Shoot the Lobster @ Martos Gallery
540 W. 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
212.560.0670
MartosGallery.com

PASSION FOR THE PASSION OF TAGAME, a set on Flickr.Check out all...

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:53:15 -0400

PASSION FOR THE PASSION OF TAGAME, a set on Flickr.

Check out all my shitty iPhone pictures + Graham’s more beautiful camera photos of Tagame’s North American tour. CC Picturebox, TCAF, Chip Kidd, The Standard Highline

PictureBox 40% Off Sale Final Days

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:33:43 -0400

pictureboxinc:

Until Tuesday take 40% off all books on the PictureBox site with coupon code MAY. Spend your weekend shopping!

This includes our book, so…DO IT.

Wow. How Beautiful...and F***ed Up

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:10:34 -0400

I’ve had the pleasure of touring gay erotica master Gengoroh Tagame through Toronto and New York City with the help of many friends this past week. I won’t name everyone (I’m slightly lazy, totally inconsiderate), but on our way to New York, Chip Kidd did a MAJOR last-minute favor for us in housing Tagame, after we discovered his original reservation at La Maison de Flea Bag International was not much more than a slave cot surrounded by plywood and latticed fencing for a ceiling. Without exaggeration, the first thing I thought when I saw his room was “comfort women station.” For a second I thought maybe this might work to Tagame’s advantage: it being feasibly the perfect setting for a hard core BDSM storyline. But no. A thousand times no.

Long story short, we moved Tagame into Chip’s place and Chip moved himself into his partner Sandy’s place.

So come Wednesday, Tagame and I were scheduled for a Skype video interview with BUTT Magazine. I went over to Chip’s with my laptop, and soon enough we were hooked up on speakerphone face-to-face with Zac Bayly.

Zac started with questions about New York and Tokyo, but swiftly moved into Tagame’s sex life (with the artist’s permission, of course). I mean, what good is BUTT if it doesn’t talk about butt, amiright?

How much of your work is based on real life?

What is the freakiest thing you’ve done?

[I won’t steal Zac’s thunder by belaboring the answers but I promise… you won’t want to miss this interview, so stay tuned over at buttmagazine.com.]

For now, just use your imagination. And bear in mind, I am uttering everything Tagame says in English, in the first person, for transcription. In other words, Tagame would answer at length in Japanese but what you end up hearing is me saying, “I am Gengoroh Tagame and I am a gay erotic artist.”

In the middle of Tagame’s barding, Chip’s door unlocks and opens itself. A diminutive middle-aged woman walks in. It’s Esther the housekeeper.

Esther: Hi, I’m here to clean the apartment. Is that OK?

Anne: Oh yeah totally. We’re in the middle of an interview though so if you wouldn’t mind just avoiding the vacuum for now?

Esther: Chip’s not here?

Anne: (Realizing of course that she has no idea who we are) Yes sorry, I should’ve explained that first. He’s staying here for the week (motioning to Tagame).

Esther smiles and goes to the kitchen sink for supplies. Tagame and I promptly turn our attention back to the screen and continue our interview. That is, I dive as if in media res back into the dialogue and translate what Tagame just said into English, in the first person, and it went a little something like this:

The first time I saw fist-fucking I thought wow how beautiful and how fucked up… (Again: see the rest of this at BUTT online!)

I went on in minute detail channeling a Tagamian voice. One anecdote involved duct tape and an old leather belt… and pre-cum. Such extreme details of sexual activity would make even the heartiest Dom perk up but the rest of us…

I heard something drop. A bottle of window cleaner. Or something. Esther. The housekeeper…

For five intense seconds we were all silent, and then Esther left the room. I do sincerely hope she has a bad ear or a good sense of humor. Chip: I apologize if you have to find a new housekeeper. Esther: God bless you.

I’m eventually going to be back to Tumblring...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:04:03 -0400

I’m eventually going to be back to Tumblring non-Gay-Manga-or-Yellow-Fever-specific writing and ephemera but until then: feed a fever, starve a cold. Find me at theyreallsobeautiful.com and gaymanga.tumblr.com

gaymanga: Gengoroh Tagame and Chip Kidd signing The Passion of...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:55:41 -0400

gaymanga:

Gengoroh Tagame and Chip Kidd signing The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame at the PictureBox booth at the Toronto Comic Arts Festval 2013.

Much more from TCAF to come!

Graham takes the best pics.

I surrender to you, Toronto CN Tower. Je me rends à toi, Toronto...

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:15:28 -0400

I surrender to you, Toronto CN Tower.

Je me rends à toi, Toronto Tour de CN.

(Everything’s bilingual here guys. It’s the law. Tous est bilingue ici. C’est la loi)

Strawberry Fields.Chris and Andrew.

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:27:10 -0400

Strawberry Fields.Chris and Andrew.

Animal Sutra (for Laura)

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:47:40 -0400

Animal Sutra (for Laura)

The Comics Reporter Interviewed Me.

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:36:38 -0400

The Comics Reporter Interviewed Me.:

Find me in Toronto and New York City gallavanting the next couple of weeks.

from buzzfeed

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:56:46 -0400

from buzzfeed

galasai: Japanese youth photographed by Michael Rougier,...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:14:55 -0400

galasai:

Japanese youth photographed by Michael Rougier, 1964

via LIFE

Bits

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:51:41 -0400

I was recently told that despite my live-in boyfriend being six years my senior, my building mates secretly call me the “cradle robber.” I presume this is because I have a subscription to Cigar Aficionado and he has a subscription to the Pizza-Bagel-of-the-Month-Club.

I watched the UFC Championship match a few days ago on TV and was heartened to hear them announce the names of the scantily-clad women who parade Round Number cards. And look at me now: totally unable to remember any of those names. If I were a UFC jock, I’d relish in being able to say “she has a name, you know.” Oh… I know.

I ate at an extraordinary Japanese restaurant the other day called Kyo-ya (which I highly recommend), where I joked to a Spaniard that tequila was as good as Spanish because it came from Mexico, and he jokingly affirmed an Australian’s supposition that a Portuguese woman was from Spain. The Australian then asked why my English and Japanese were both so clearly fluent, which I found ironic because the Japanese conversation I had with the waitor was over my ethnic heritage. He assumed I was “half” (which generally means half white), and when I said, “technically half, yes, but half-Korean,” he said “which is more or less like full Japanese.” Now you know the full meaning of post-racial America, America.

They're All So Beautiful

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:23:04 -0400

They're All So Beautiful:

http://theyreallsobeautiful.com

This is where I’m doing most of my writing/editing these days. Follow me there why donchya.

Vito DeVito. He’ll make you a limoncello you can’t...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:00:33 -0400

Vito DeVito. He’ll make you a limoncello you can’t refuse.

Good grief, Charlize.

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:05:48 -0400

Good grief, Charlize.

Pick Me Up Before You Go-oh

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:44:08 -0400

Two real conversations from last night.

Stranger on Delancey St. subway platform at 3am: Do you know what hipster fashion is?
Me: (Convinced he is going to push me in the tracks if I take him seriously) Excuse me?
Stranger: Hipster fashion. You have that look. You have hipster style.
Me: (offended) Thaaaanksssss ?
(Train arrives)
Stranger: Do you mind if I sit next to you? (As he sits down right next to me.) So what kind of things are you into?
Me: (Dismissively) Same things as everyone else.
Stranger: Well is there anything you like that might be different or special?
Me: (Considering saying something so outrageous he leaves me alone but decide I'll just have this conversation with him) Comics? (Which I figured might just be outrageous enough.)
Stranger: Oh yeah? Like what kind?
Me: All kinds.
Stranger: Like what is your favorite comic book ever?
Me: (Thinking of something he might look into later; relishing my role here as a shepherd to a promised land of cartoons) JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. (Laughing to myself as I picture him looking JoJo up later)
Stranger: Do you have favorite shows? TV shows?
Me: (With exaggerated sarcasm) oh, I LOVE TV!
Stranger: (really excited) Yeah I'm really into TV too!
Me: What's your favorite show?
Stranger: I like shows like "Once Upon a Time."
Me: (dead-eyed smile) Right....
--
Well-dressed Stranger in basement lounge bathroom corridor at the toney TriBeCa Grand Hotel: (To women's bathroom attendant in hotel uniform, through open entrance) Say, where are you from?
Bathroom Attendant who clearly doesn't understand: Men's room over there.
Stranger: (slower) Where are you from?
Attendant: Yes. Over there.
Stranger: China?
Attendant: Yes. OK.
Stranger: I knew it. I only know "ni hao" in Chinese. Oh wait and also "xie xie."
Me: (staring at stranger, baffled) Excuse me.
Stranger: Oh I'm sorry I wasn't trying to go into the ladies room or anything.
Me: (or anything)

Creative Immigrants

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:17:26 -0400

The AP Manual recently gave a fuck about the phrase “Illegal Immigrants.” In a nutshell: actions are illegal, not people. Let’s use different phraseology.

The same can probably be argued for calling someone a creative. It’s an adjective not a noun… right?

And so, it’s kind of hilarious to me that the Harvard Business Review came up with these tips on managing creative people. Not the least of reasons being that the most self-involved intellectual branding experiment in the history of academia arguing that creative people are ego-obsessed is the pot calling the kettle a Harvard grad. (via @alexanderchee)

1. Spoil them and let them fail.
You can’t let someone fail. You might not hear it but we shart on your shit with or without you.

2. Surround them by semi-boring people.
You will do just fine.

3. Only involve them in meaningful work.
(hand job)

4. Don’t pressure them.
My skills as a writer are not an invitation to rape.

5. Pay them poorly.
I will fuck you forever in the face with a rusty soup kitchen ladle if you pay me less than you already do. If you don’t pay me:

6. Surprise them.
Surprise motherfucker, I just took your whole dev team with me to Larry H. Parker. Enjoy the class action lawsuit.

7. Make them feel important.
You can’t make someone feel important. You might not hear it but we shart on your shit with or without you.

The best thing on the internet I am looking at today.

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:18:31 -0400

The best thing on the internet I am looking at today.: