On the Set - The Holiday Special

Junk Thief Had a Great Date for Christmas Eve Dinner

From Our House to Your House

Bow and I would like to wish everyone the best for "the holidays" in whatever way you choose to celebrate or ignore them.

P.S. Bow said that it is not gauche to send Dingos, Greenies, Kongs filled with cream cheese or other treats after Christmas if you are so inclined.

Who is Landron?

This Landron installation -- Hound of the Holidays (2007) -- continues to delight young and old alike. Note basenji paws on the right.

Interactive Thursday: Earlene's Holiday

Let's say her name is Earlene. Now what's her story? Have at it.

What We're Seeing in the Mission

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Halloween (and Dia de Los Muertos)

Replaying Favorites

Cinco de Mayo, the day the World Health Organization liberated Mexico from the swine flu. Thought I'd share last year's video tribute.

My Day at the Hunky Buddha Pagaent

Last Sunday it was Easter and the Hunky Jesus Pagaent in Mission Dolores Park. This Sunday it was the Hunky Buddhist Pagaent on Post Street in Japantown. Well, it wasn't really, but the last big entry in today's Cherry Blossom Parade came at the end of its two hour duration with a bunch of grunting, chanting Japanese men in loin cloths. This was definitely a lot more fun and sexy and sweet at the same time than those dreadful fetish fairs down on Folsom Street and Dore Alley. And while the men at those festival in their harnesses resemble an array of Easter hams, the Cherry Blossom Parade featured various drummers, shrine hoisters, swordsmen and others who looked yummy in their loin cloths.

Add to all of that two parade grand marshals -- George Takei and Hello Kitty -- and it was a day that made me forgive the heat.

I attended with Bryce Digdug who gave a shout to George that was rewarded with the above wave from his convertible. When I leaned ahead to the right and let Bryce know that I could see a certain eight foot mouthless feline with a pink ribbon below her ear, Bryce nearly knocked me over with excitement.

Some other highlights:

* The kids of the bilingual (Japanese-English) Rosa Parks Academy in a big pirate ship singing "We Are Family". Bryce and I agree that we need to make a career shift and be the music/dance instructors at Rosa Parks and teach those kiddos some of our favorite hits from the 1970s and 1980s. Expect to see them singing "I Want Candy" and "I Eat Cannibals" at next year's parade.
* A seemingly endless contingent of people in anime costumes.
* Several contingents of buff drummers beating their instruments with full force with long sticks.
* Most of our gay or gay-positive local politicians. Mark Leno looked especially tan and happy, and I never realized he is Japanese.

During the parade, a very nice Japanese-American woman named Joanne chatted up Bryce and me and gave some helpful insights about the anime characters. At one point she said, "I want you two to know that I am completely accepting and tolerant of your people." After she left, I turned to Bryce and said, "Well, I certainly hope she wasn't implying that I'm Norwegian too."

Afterwards, we braved the crowds and heat of the "mall" and I got these bits of loveliness at the Kinokuniya Bookstore. My favorite clerk waited on me, and, as usual, she was wearing her gas mask. Expect to see these as part of the sets in an upcoming Junk Thief TV Episode.

In the meantime, here is a video review of the day's parade.

JTTV - Season 3, Episode 5 - Easter 2009

Junk Thief headed over to Mission Dolores Park this afternoon to watch the annual tradition of Hunky Jesus/Easter Bonnet Parade. There were hardly any buff saviors on display, another sign of the recession as many have had to cancel their gym memberships.

The Easter classic "Did Jesus Have a Baby Sister?" by Dory Previn seemed like the natural tune for our soundtrack.

Hold the Map Close to Your Face

The JuJune Institute has been posting notices about their Time Camera all over the Mission these days, inviting us to go to their website. In this day when the web is supposedly killing all forms of print media, I am pleased to know that a chartreuse piece of paper stapled to a PG&E poll can increase traffic to a website. I've not bought my Time Camera yet, but I hope get one in time for Easter to capture images of dodo birds frolicking in Mission Dolores Park as children search for their colorfully dyed eggs.

Junk Thief Spotlights Emerging Talent

From Delisa upstairs who just turned three.

Yuletide Yodelling

Even in "this economy" I find myself enjoying Christmas -- and not "the holidays" -- more each year. I enjoy it not in any reason for the season kind of way but more in the way that is woven through with pleasant memories, especially those rooted in optimism that leave me feeling, well, optimistic.

There seems to be something of an arch in my life with Christmas reaching its absolute nadir in my 50th year (a season tainted with death, loss and pessimism) and slowly ascending with each year. I won't quote Cavify's "Candles", but there is certainly much of that sentiment at this point.

For countless years, I dismissed Christmas as a crass, pointless system to support capitalism. It is still very much that, yet I take unusual comfort in things associated with Christmas -- not things I buy or am given this year but those from the past.

So, a couple examples":

* Sometime in the mid-1970s I bought the glass reindeer at the long-defunct Midwest department store John A. Brown. I purchased it with visions of it in my first urban and urbane pied-a-terre in a coastal city where I would be buying presents at Macy's when it was local department store not the company store of the nation. By the time I actually had my first abode, I thought I was far too sophisticated to have such a piece of schlock in my home.

* The tall man on the right holds not special aesthetic meaning on its own. However, my sister discovered it two years ago (on that above mentioned worst Christmas ever) when we were dismantling our parents' home. It was nestled in the back of the mud room closet and was something my mother bought in preparation for the last Christmas she was alive, 2003. She was too disoriented by the time the holiday arrived to remember to send it to me. Getting it three years later made it all the more meaningful. The sack it came in was from a store two blocks from a store two blocks away from the last house I lived in before moving to California. I know that she was not so disoriented that she went there hoping to find me in my old above, but I wonder if she drove by my old house, thinking of the times when we had Christmases together there.

As mentioned earlier, I oddly associate the Beatles with Christmas. Forty years ago, I went to the premier of Yellow Submarine with my best friend, thinking we had seen the most progressive form of animation to descend on humanity.

Finally, I share the introduction to the show I am watching as I write this -- 1988's Pee Wee's Christmas Special. It's a glorious mix of sweetness, wackiness and creativity. And, since one of my presents this year was a Dremel, it's not out of the question that next year there will be a Junk Thief Junk Shack Holiday Hootinanny.

JTTV - Season 3, Episode 4 - Just Us Kitties

With a cast of superstars and an amazing soundtrack, here's this year's holiday special. Hope you enjoy it and, more importantly, enjoy your holiday. Thought you might enjoy a couple of stills from this episode.

Bow Reacts to the Jingle Cats & Dogs Video

Silent, Sweet Sufjan's Santa Serenade

At the risk of giving our beloved WAT too much praise (which he duly deserves) has anyone else checked out the five-disc holiday album coming out Monday from Sufjan Stevens? I can't think of anyone else who so fully embodies modesty and outrageous ambition. As if his goal to make an album about every state in the union were not enough, now he comes out with the most ambitious holiday album ever. For all his exuberance, he always seems so mellow and unperturbed.

UPDATE: Hmm...maybe I had him pegged wrong. We can hope. Yum.
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The Appropriate Gifts 'In This Economy'

Last year, we shared this holiday classic as evidence that Christmas is not about consumerism, but the spirit of junk thievery repurposing.

So now we offer another favorite below. Casper was the one cartoon character that makes Tinky Winky, Snaggle Puss and Barney look butch by comparison. Even as a kiddo, I was never sure if people reacted sharply to Casper because he was a ghost or because he was so...uh, friendly. No childhood character merits as much Freudian re-examination as Casper. I blame him for how my life went on such a path.

Unexpected Pleasing Nighttime Beverage

In theory, at least, I despise almost anything with chocolate, mainly because any significant amount of it makes me groggy, depressed and feeling hopeless. However, the past few nights I have found surprising pleasure with a mug of cocoa if only for the nostalgia of the red mugs that have been a part of my family for as many holiday seasons as I can remember. My fondness for eggnog is not quite as strong, although the neighboring glasses evoke as many memories.

Party Like It's 1969

A candid shot from the New Year's bash that I hosted 40 years ago.

Cadillac Christmas

I'm going very light on decorating for the holidays this year, using at most 10% of the decorations that I have in off site storage. Were I to use all of them, it would take at least two trips with my car filled to the brim.

My sister's packages arrived today, and as usual there were a couple of "open now" gifts. There seems to be a new pattern of holiday pillows coming from her. Many really loved this one from last year, and now there is this Cadillac pillow. I'm not sure of the entire story yet but assume the script is from our grandfather's early 1960s fin-mobile. I'm using the excuse of being concerned about Bow eating too many of the decorations for a reason to not put up more this year. Maybe it's appropriate "in this economy" (most abused phrase since "maverick").