Art for Sale-Cheap

This seems like a good place to start: I'm selling framed 8 X 10 photos from my produce series for $50 each. They make great holiday gifts. Here are three examples, there are many more—name a favorite fruit or vegetable and I'm sure I have it.

Astroboy Made Me Gay

“Cosmic ranger, laugh at danger. Everything is GO Astroboy!”
-Theme from “Astroboy.”

When did you know? At what age did you get first feel the attraction to someone of your own sex? I first experienced those feelings around the age of seven, but it was only recently that I figured out what triggered them. I knew I had developed crushes on various males throughout my childhood, especially people on television. I recently bought a DVD of the Japanese cartoon “Astroboy,” which was popular when I was a child. Watching this tape, I realized that he was my first male crush.
Who wouldn’t love Astroboy, he could fly, was strong and courageous, had great adventures and he was so damn cute. I remember imagining Astroboy and I having adventures together, he would hold onto me as we would fly through the sky together. I know it sounds strange having a crush on a cartoon character, but I swear it’s true.
As I grew older, I continued to have crushes on male television characters; at least my next one was a real flesh and blood human being: Sandy from Flipper. Looking back, this crush probably had a lot to do with locking in my taste in men, I’ve had a life long obsession with blondes ever since. Sandy was so sexy and he was always usually dressed only in cutoffs. Again, I would imagine him and me frolicking in the water together with Flipper, having all sorts of fun adventures.
At the time I didn’t identify these crushes with being gay, since I didn’t know what being gay meant. All I knew is I wanted to be close to these people, I wanted to have fun with them, I didn’t know anything about having sex with them. After all, I was only nine at the time.
My next crush definitely had me moving in a more adult direction. I was a bit of a loner as a child and would usually come home and watch TV after school. I normally preferred cartoons and comedies. I usually didn’t like action and adventure shows, but suddenly, I was coming home everyday to watch reruns of “Sea Hunt” starring Lloyd Bridges–again a show starring a blond who usually had his shirt off. I used to love watching him.
I never had any contact with my childhood crushes (which also included Cary Grant and Sean Connery), excerpt once many years later. I was covering a campaign rally for Bill Clinton in 1992. I had been admitted through the press entrance, which brought me through the VIP area for the rally. After the event ended, there was a crush of people backstage. As I was trying to get out, I suddenly almost bumped into a rather tall man. I looked up and was surprised to find Lloyd Bridges in front of me. I hesitated for a moment and wondered if I should say anything about my boyhood crush on him. Ultimately I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and said nothing but “excuse me.” Some things are better left in fantasy anyway.

Copyright 2007 Amsterama Global Productions

Where Have I Been?

I just looked, and realized that I haven't blogged in nearly two months! Truth is, I just haven't felt like writing anything. Nearly three months of unemployment have taken their toll, and it seems like the only way I feel motivated to write is with a deadline hanging over my head. I'll probably post some food blogging next week. In the meantime, I'm going to put up some of my unpublished work.

My Favorite Buritto

I've never understood why Southern California doesn't have any good taquerias and Northern California doesn't have any good sit-down Mexican restauraunts. I know this is an overgeneralization, but it holds pretty true. Don't even get me started about the state of Carne Asada in SoCal: most places fry it on a griddle instead of char-broiling it as it should be made.
While San Francisco's Mission District is the home to many fine taquerias (most in the 16th and Valencia area), my favorite by far is Pancho Villa Taqueria. This place is nothing fancy: you stand in line and give your order, which is prepared while you wait to pay. The line is always long, and yet as held true from a conversation I had with a parton in line, there's always a table available no matter how crowded it is. The choices at Pancho Villa are numerous, with every Mexican favorite you can think of. They also have a large variety of meats (and tofu) to fil their huge creations, including lengua (tongue), al pastor, chili verde and chorizo. Their salsa consistently wins awards at the state fair every year, and their aguas frescas are great thurst quenchers.
While their tacos are fine, I adore their huge burittos filled with everything but the kitchen sink.
Pancho Villa is a favorite spot with San Franciscans, and to add to the cool factor, Beck shot part of a video there.
Pancho Villa Taqueria
3071 16th St
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 864-8840
Fax: (415) 864-3484
www.panchovillasf.com

The Right to Write

I feel like I'm getting rusty at writing. After 13 years of being a magazine editor and writing at least two articles a week, I went to a job where I didn't write a word for three months. I've always found it hard to write without a deadline hanging over my head, so I haven't done any recreational writing either. I guess that's the purpose of this blog, but I'm still having trouble getting motivated unless I find something interesting like a restaurant to write about.
Not writing was one of the things I found most annoying about my last job (it's a long list). I was supposedly hired to take care of all communications for the company, but I ended up simply taking dictation from the owner. He'd talk very fast, had little patience and I can barely read my own handwriting, so I hated doing this. At least toward the end, I would record his missives.
So, what's the purpose of this blog? I'm not really sure, but the title is misleading: I denied myself the "right to write," and I guess I wanted to find something to write about and get some things off my chest.

First Church of Christ Scientist

Beer and Clams?

As I was driving to Las Vegas recently, I saw a billboard in Spanish that advertised a new product that's a combination of beer and Clamato® juice. I only caught a glimpse of it, but decided to investigate further upon my return. Apparently, Latinos have been doing this combination on their own for years (So have rednecks according to my friend Denise, who worked in a bar many years ago. She said the call it "breakfast."). With an eye on a marketing oportunity, Budweiser has brought Chelada® to the market for your convenience, so you don't have to buy your own Clamato®. The results for me are a bit mixed: although effervescent, tangy and somewhat refreshing, there was something wrong—I just couldn't put my finger on what it was. Hot sauce and more lime would have improved the product, but overall, I thought it was vile—and yet I couldn't stop drinking it! I'm going to play with it and try additions like the forementioned hot sauce, as well as a shot of vodka. Another idea is to use it as a base for the Mexican style shrimp cocktels I love. These are not your American shrimp cocktails, but are presented in a thin tomato juice base, with lots of cilantro, chopped tomatoes, avocado and cucumbers. I think Chelada® may be the perfect base for this dish. I'll report the results.