Asian Mannequin

An Asian mannequin on Hollywood Boulevard. Follow me on Instagram for more photos from my life in L.A.

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Selfie at 55

“There comes a time when you look into the mirror and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. And then you accept it. Or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking in mirrors.” ― J. Michael Straczynski

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NoHo Mannequin

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Burbank

💇🏻‍♂️ @parlourbarbershop #burbank

As seen in Burbank’s Magnolia Park neighborhood. Follow me on Instagram here.

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In the Tub

My photographer friend Nikola Tamindzic remotely photographed me for his “I Am Here, and You Are Where You Are” series. As he puts it: It’s “a series of portraits of people all over the world during the coronavirus pandemic, most of whom I have never met in ‘real life.’ I am shooting these portraits remotely: me in my apartment in New York City, them out there in the world, using whatever technology we can.”

Like what I do? Support my work! Buy my digital short story: THE TUMOR.

Making up with the Kardashians

What the fuck makes this video so hypnotic? It is 10 minutes and 31 seconds long, it has nearly 2.3M views, and I watched the whole thing without fast-forwarding. In it, Kim Kardashian puts makeup on her face. Basically, that’s it. Sure, she talks. Yes, products are plugged. In theory, one is learning something. But what exactly are we witnessing here? Surely, it must be more than that. Whatever it is, it is simultaneously shallow (she is smearing substances across her visage) and deep (watching it, one falls into a vicarious, Narcissus-esque stupor: If only we could wallow in our own superficiality so exquisitely). Or, perhaps, it’s something else. What surprised me (quietly!) about the piece was that she didn’t just directly build herself a new face—she obliterated her real face first. When we start, her face is naked. Then she turns her tableaux into a blank canvas. After that, she paints another face over the face she eliminated. What does this represent? The female desire to disappear? The culture’s interest in vanishing her? Something else altogether? Kim is droning on about something or other while she smears on another layer of spackle. Before we can get a handle on her, she’s gone already.

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Cocaine Not Included

On my Forbes blog, I wrote about the El Chapo manicure:

"As for what constitutes an El Chapo manicure, that’s simple: decals featuring Guzman, Swarovski jewels, decals of pesos, real U.S. dollars, gold-colored gun or knife charms, glitter polish, and religious items, like a gold-colored crucifix or a gold-colored medallion featuring a saint or the Virgin Mary."

Buy THE TUMOR, a digital short by Susannah Breslin that's been called "A masterpiece of short fiction."

Broadly with Vice

Broadly is Vice's new lady vertical. I'm intrigued. You can get your nails done by the manicurist to the porn stars, go shooting with Ann Coulter, or get high while doing yoga. I suppose it's a bit heavy on the hipster, but with no aggregation, no comments, and no hot takes, what's not to like?

Happy V Day

XO Makeup Box

Up in Smoke

A while back, I wrote about weed, real weed, being used in manicures (see: "For Marijuana Smokers, A Weed Manicure Is High Fashion"). I came across this interesting image recently. Found on That Darn Rachel.

Playboy Bunnies, Years Later

"These headshots, taken at the Former Playboy Bunny Reunion in Las Vegas, are the result of my interest in the women of Playboy and where they are now. The tight frame and non-retouched images allow space for one’s personal reflection on age and beauty. The body language suggests even more about who these women are: strong, beautiful, fragile, provocative, and everything in between. They are complex characters that are proud and empowered by their beauty and sexuality, at the same time stricken by the fleeting nature of it."

[Feature Shoot]

Down There

Angry Boar

"In certain corners of Manhattan, the bald look of the Brazilian has become déclassé, more suggestive of a naked Barbie doll or a reality television starlet than an organic lifestyle of cold-pressed juice and barre classes."

[NYT]

SHE BLUNTED

I had a lot of fun doing this piece for my Forbes blog: "For Marijuana Smokers, A Weed Manicure Is High Fashion." Kat was my gateway drug to what she's deemed a "weedicure." That's a manicure with real ganja in it.

Kat's shows off her "weedicure"

"'I told her I wanted to do that, and she told me, "Bring your own green,"' Kat explains. 'We just took a bud, and broke it up small enough that it wouldn’t be too lumpy, and then mixed it with acrylic powder and green, gold, and orange glitter. It’s the same process as getting an acrylic set with glitter tips, except with pot. I wanted to add orange and gold glitter, and I love how it looks like kief.'"

I spent quite a bit of time searching Instagram for chicks with #weednails, talked to a guy who lobbies for pot in DC, and checked out Dzine's bootleg nail salon.

Nope, I didn't get a dope set -- yet.

[Forbes]

BEAUTY QUEENS

For the Telegraph, I covered the Miss You Can Do It Pageant: "No Tantrums, Just Tiaras." The terrific portraits are by Tealia Ellis Ritter. I had a great time traveling to Kewanee, Illinois, to meet the girls and get to know them backstage at the pageant. 

"Pete Santee, who works at a casino in Rock Island, Illinois ('When you hit a jackpot, I’m the guy who comes over and pays you'), is back for the third time with Shya Hughes, 18, the daughter of a friend, Dina Severtsgaard. He is gay and Shya is autistic, and when they first met eight years ago they clicked, he says.

'Shya recognised a difference. She knew, "Pete’s different, and I’m different," and we just connected right away, and it’s been a father-daughter love story ever since. We’re like the Will & Grace of Iowa,' he adds. 'Straight mom. Gay best friend. And Shya’s the autistic daughter.'"