Facebook’s algorithm is truly terrible as figuring out which posts I want to read.
Facebook seems to be certain that my totally favorite thing in the world is when people — who I otherwise think are fine humans — spout high school sports team style, un-nuanced, and poorly-considered, contentious political opinions. Facebook thinks I am totally uninterested in good food, exciting concerts, Los Angeles travel plans, or anything which might be in any way pertinent to actual human connections.
When I first moved to California, I had made a detour in my life and gone through Georgia. The water is really hard there and I was all punk rock anyway, so my hair was kind of dreaded up, but not really with a design. And I hadn’t had a professional haircut in many years at the time and hadn’t had any haircut in a while. So I was staying with friends who lived walking distance from the Jose Ebere salon in Orange County. Which I walked over to. The folks at Jose Ebere looked at me kind of dubiously, but I have never accepted the idea that my identity means I don’t get service, so they had to see it my way. A guy named Thierry took my disaster of a hairstyle and made it all sleek and California and exactly what I wanted at the time. So I’ve had Thierry cut my hair for the past 13 years, even after I was not staying anywhere near the salon, sometimes coming from as far away as Las Vegas to have him work his magic.
Unfortunately Vidal Sassoon bought out the Jose Ebere salon in Orange County. Once they took offer, the shampoos I got became really lackadaisical, which bothered me, but Thierry still did a true artist’s job on my hair. He would get every little bit to fall just right and it would look so good when it moved or when I was still. So I kept going to him, although I did get my blowouts at a place in Koreatown.
Only the last time I went to Thierry, my haircut came out totally messed up. Parts of my hair are literally a half a foot or a bit more different in length. And I’m not talking layering, but like a bizarre shelf where my hair is two different lengths in back. This leads to intense snarling and getting the horrible tangles out pulls out more of my hair than I am pleased about. And it is super difficult to style. Ironically, this last visit Vidal Sassoon finally had an assistant for him who gave good shampoos again.
So, after a few weeks of trying to figure out the new cut, I called up Vidal Sassoon and told them I was unhappy. I wasn’t sure if I just needed some tips on what product to style the current style with or if I wanted Thierry to fix it or someone in the Beverly Hills location, which is closer to me, or if I wanted my money back. Only I got this horrible woman named Adrianna was really snappish with me. She told me that there was no product on earth which would work to make my hair look right, in the same breath that she told me that Thierry certainly had not made any error, and I was probably just a poor communicator. I realize that Thierry’s first language is French, but he did a beyond fabulous job for thirteen years and we never had any trouble communicating before. Not only that, but she was able to repeat to me, from Thierry, what I had asked for — but not gotten — during my visit. She kind of accused me of just having some sort of scam for a free haircut, even though (a) I have never ever had my hair cut at a three week interval in my life and (b) who the heck would go to the same place for thirteen years, tipping high all the while, as part of a plot to some day scam them for a free haircut at an interval they don’t want their hair cut in? In a concret way, Adrianna told me I couldn’t go to the Beverly Hills location, but I could come back into the Costa Mesa location and get my hair fixed by either Thierry or anyone else there I wanted. Only she was so unpleasant that I decided not to. Thierry is normally brilliant and I have no idea what happened in this one instance, other than that Vidal Sassoon could stand to work on their management training, and I can’t trust that I will get a brilliant haircut next time.
Then my blowout stylist moved back to Korea.
So today I go to get a haircut at a new place, where I will hopefully be able to get blowouts as well. I am super nervous. Super super nervous. I really hope it works out. Soooooooo anxious.
(1) I celebrate NYE as a time for reflection.
(2) I swear the event below is going on across the street from me right now. Pretty sure it is past closing time now. Bonus points for drunk douches fighting on the sidewalk in front and being able to hear every thump of their abysmal dubstep in my living room. I think one of my New Year’s resolutions is going to be to find out who to report this to. I can roll with the occasional disturbance, but this place is (a) causing a public nuisance multiple days every week and (b) attracting uncool people to my neighborhood. I live in Hollywood, so I’m sure we must have zoning rules about venues which appeal to uncool people.
Happy New Year’s, everyone! May your 2012 be everything you hope for and dream of.
I had a really nice time during the holiday season this year. Had a great time with my family and learned to cook some new things. Never really used to cook, although I’m a champion eater, but I’ve been getting pretty good at it since the economy tanked. My curious brain requires constant stimuli and challenges and, oddly enough, cooking apparently bubbled to the top, in the absence of enough business stuff to keep the system whirring 24/7. I made gingerbread cookies for the first time since when I would have done it with my mom and been knee-high to her. My recipe was very different because I wanted really soft cookies. They turned out kind of ugly but delicious.
Partly, I did not want to make gingerbread men. Eating anthropomorphized food kind of troubles me. If you are going to be a cannibal, do it for real or don’t, go big or go home. So, anyway, my gingerbread cookies were just kind of misshapen circles and wedges and not gingerbread men or whatever gingerbread boys are. I swear I saw a lot of recipes for gingerbread boys, when I was figuring out options, but I didn’t look too closely at what the difference is between gingerbread boys and gingerbread men.
I also learned how to make snow peas beef. Being able to make giant portions of something I love so much, only being able to make them with all organic and high quality ingredients is kinda great.
And I learned how to make vegetarian sushi. I stuffed mine with gobo, carrots, avocado, and scallions. The white rice sushi rolls were way easier to get right than the brown rice ones. My brown rice sushi rolls looked drunk and pretty much had to be eaten with a spoon (or both hands, if messy.) But I’m pleasantly surprised and proud of how the white rice ones turned out.
Blue Blood Megasite 50% Off This Week Only
http://www.gothicsluts.com/affc/xmas2011.html
The secret sale page is hidden on GS, but that membership gives you access to EVERYTHING from BlueBlood.com with more than 120,000 high end artistic photographs of 464+ beauties. From ethereal gothic beauties to punks who like to smash things to geeky fandom costume babes to fetish deities, Blue Blood features the most stunningly and uniquely beautiful. A battalion of coffee table book and nightclub photographers have contributed to BlueBlood.com and it shows. Not to mention erotic fiction from some of the top names in genre writing and just a dab of video.
Recent new additions to the site have included creative works featuring Razor Candi, Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas, Ruby Violence, Krysta Kaos, Sierras, Angel Beau, Scar, Darenzia, Eve, Voltaire and more! At Blue Blood Secret World Headquarters Global, there are some serious fans of bright sparkly things, decorations, plentiful food, and Santa hats. Plus everyone is feeling celebratory as Blue Blood enters its 20th year.
You can sign up for half price for the next week only — as little as $4 a month — and, as an extra bonus, when you sign up, you will be given the option to add a membership to Erotic BPM as well, for only a dollar.
Here’s your BlueBlood Newsletter, 2011 Wrap-Up Edition:
– Happy New Year and a Fabulous Forthcoming 2012 http://twitter.com/BlueBlood
– APN Awards Nominations and Wins
– BlueBlood.net Re-Design
– Hustler Interviews Amelia G and Nicotine
– Gothic.net Panel of Experts
– Gothic.net Re-Design Red Carpet Event
– Marquis #51
– All Access Pass Call for Submissions
– Picture and Premium magazines
– Blue Blood Megasite 50% Off This Week Only As Little as $4 a Month http://www.gothicsluts.com/affc/xmas2011.html
More details on this super fab deal at the end of this newsletter.
– Contact Reminder: West Hollywood Snail, Model/Photog Submit
Happy New Year and a Fabulous Forthcoming 2012
http://twitter.com/BlueBlood
http://www.blueblood.com/news/
Blue Blood has so much going on that it is a good idea to follow the Blue Blood Twitter for up-to-the-minute info. In 2012, Blue Blood has a bunch of cool party sponsorships coming up, some very exciting print projects, and the launch of Blue Blood Fleshlights kicking off with the lovely lady parts of Nicotine and Misti Dawn. As we both gear up for the future and reflect on this past year, here are some of the highlights of 2011:
BlueBlood.net Re-Design
http://www.blueblood.net/
You have probably noticed that BlueBlood.net got a spiffy new look in 2011. There are lots of new articles and new conversations. Music videos, cool style, and pop culture deconstructions. Come say hello and participate in intelligent counterculture debate and hotness 🙂
2011 APN Awards Nominations and Wins
Blue Blood received a flattering number of nominations and took home half a dozen wins from the APN Awards, including Best Gothic Update for Razor Candi/GothicSluts, Best Nerd Update for Nicotine/EroticFandom, Best Site Re-Design for Forrest Black/GothicSluts, and Best Alternative Photography for Amelia G and Forrest Black. The sites received a number of other nominations for various awards over the course of the year, but it felt extra-good to be recognized in such important wins from awards run by people who really get it. The Blue Blood crew is looking forward to the 2012 awards.
Hustler Interviews Amelia G and Nicotine
http://www.blueblood.com/news/2011/12/what-is-steampunk/
Hustler magazine ran an interview with Amelia G and Nicotine in a feature on steampunk. “What the Heck is Steampunk?” was also illustrated with photography by Amelia G and Forrest Black. This is in the February issue, on newsstands now.
Gothic.net Panel of Experts
http://www.gothic.net/tag/panel-of-experts/
Gothic.net began running a series of features with a Panel of Experts interviewed on various horror and gothic-related topics. Blue Blood notables on the Panel include Amelia G, John Shirley, Will Judy, Forrest Black, Cecilia Tan, Thomas S. Roche, Ed Mironiuk, Eric Swartz, and Chad Savage.
Gothic.net Re-Design Red Carpet Event
http://www.gothic.net/gothic-net-party-red-carpet-pic/
Blue Blood sponsored the red carpet event for Gothic.net’s celebration of its dark new design. Blue Blood notables in attendance included Amelia G, Forrest Black, Carlos Batts, April Flores, Diana Knight, and Daniel Ian Essex of the Astrovamps.
Marquis #51
http://www.blueblood.com/news/2011/06/marquis-51-alecia-joy-contortionist/
Marquis #51 hit German newsstands. For this issue, Amelia G and Forrest Black did their Big in America column on the exceedingly flexible Alecia Joy. This makes more than thirty issues in a row of Marquis, the highest circulation glossy fetish magazine in the world, which have featured work by Blue Blood’s Amelia G and Forrest Black.
All Access Pass Call for Submissions
http://amzn.to/ameliagbackstagepasses
http://bluebloodbooks.com/writers-guidelines.html
http://www.blueblood.net/2010/10/backstage-passes-good-press/
Editrix Amelia G is looking for a pansexual orientation and (ironically perhaps) is still reading for a few more hetero boy/girl stories for this sequel to the critically-acclaimed Backstage Passes.
Picture and Premium magazines
Picture and Premium magazines have been running an extensive series of spreads highlighting BlueBlood.com in their glossy international pages. The Blue Blood crew has not seen the magazines yet, but have been told the layouts look very nice.
Blue Blood Megasite 50% Off This Week Only
http://www.gothicsluts.com/affc/xmas2011.html
The secret sale page is hidden on GS, but that membership gives you access to EVERYTHING from http://www.blueblood.com/ with more than 120,000 high end artistic photographs of 464+ beauties. From ethereal gothic beauties to punks who like to smash things to geeky fandom costume babes to fetish deities, Blue Blood features the most stunningly and uniquely beautiful. A battalion of coffee table book and nightclub photographers have contributed to BlueBlood.com and it shows. Not to mention erotic fiction from some of the top names in genre writing and just a dab of video.
Recent new additions to the site have included creative works featuring Razor Candi, Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas, Ruby Violence, Krysta Kaos, Sierras, Angel Beau, Scar, Darenzia, Eve, Voltaire and more! At Blue Blood Secret World Headquarters Global, there are some serious fans of bright sparkly things, decorations, plentiful food, and Santa hats. Plus everyone is feeling celebratory as Blue Blood enters its 20th year.
You can sign up for half price for the next week only — as little as $4 a month — and, as an extra bonus, when you sign up, you will be given the option to add a membership to Erotic BPM as well, for only a dollar.
Contact Info Revisited:
You probably all know this by now, but, if you still have any of the JPS.net e-mails in your address book, delete them as they have been discontinued. Do not attempt to get in touch using Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, or Beverly Hills contact info. All swag, contracts, review materials, requests for interviews, invitations to conventions, contest giveaways, photo submissions, pitches, free clothes, offers to fly the Blue Blood crew to your city, vials of your blood, etc. should be sent to:
Blue Blood
8033 Sunset Blvd #4500
West Hollywood, CA 90046
USA
Press releases about your own projects can be snail-mailed or sent to submit@blueblood.net
Models and photographers can submit via http://www.bluebloodphoto.com and writers via http://bluebloodbooks.com
Thanks!
–AMELIA G & FORREST BLACK
Amelia@BlueBlood.net & Forrest@BlueBlood.net
Forrest Black and I went to the W yesterday to have drinks with our pals Sarah and Tofu. Surreally enough, I arrived a little early and the front desk staff suggested I check out by the back bar . . . and it had an ice skating rink in it. Forrest said he thought the rink was maybe some sort of plastic which people could skate on, but I only processed the general bizarreness of seeing a skating rink in Los Angeles. I used to ice skate as a kid, so I thought about trying it, but I lived in cold climates a long time ago and I was daunted by how much I didn’t want to finish up the holiday season with any sort of hideous injury. I also thought it would suck to miss hanging out with Sarah and Tofu due to difficulty navigating a fake sheet of ice. Cue jokes about fake and plastic things in Los Angeles . . .
Blue Blood’s world famous signature counterculture couples shoots are some of my favorite parts. Forrest Black and Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas and I got together for coffee before deciding to collaborate on this shoot. I am always cautious when someone has worked in Porn Valley, even if only briefly, but Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas are both delightfully warm and genuine and drama-free. With some folks, it is a challenge to get them to stay on pleasant topics during a shoot, but Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas are all good energy, funny anecdotes, and cool business stuff they are working on. We hung out afterwards on their patio. Forrest helped with their fire trough. Then we shot the breeze about geeky stuff and conventions. And Misti Dawn sent me home with a pumpkin pie she baked herself ’cause she had made six. I only wished we had done a zillion set-ups and shot for days because these two deserve to be immortalized every which way.
FREE Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas photo gallery, shot by yours truly and Forrest Black
“North Korean legend has it that Kim was born on Mount Paekdu, one of Korea’s most cherished sites, in 1942, a birth heralded in the heavens by a pair of rainbows and a brilliant new star.
Soviet records, however, indicate he was born in Siberia, in 1941.”
Kim Jong Il was reportedly kinda literary. Think anyone over there watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance?
Also, Double Rainbow!
Hollywood pals, how does one deal with a bar violating zoning and making noise heard a block away? Do any of y’all have experience in how to place noise and zoning complaints?
I’m pretty sure that, if I were hosting 4am afterparties with revelers with green and purple hair and goth-industrial music that could be heard inside passing cars with the windows closed and on the fourth floor of buildings a block away . . . well, I am pretty certain that would not be okay. And I would not be such an inconsiderate neighbor in a residential neighborhood. So I think the same laws and appropriate neighbor activity should apply for the bottle-service-Ed-Hardy-trying-too-hard-not-cool-enough-for-Whiskey-Bar set.
Happy Halloween! (Deathrock Pics)
Posted by Amelia G
Happy Halloween, everyone! Razor Candi and photographer Bodó Janos Attila did Halloween up nicely for the Blue Blood VIP this year. VIP members get to enjoy the whole shoot, but we also have a free deathrock Halloween photo gallery right . . .
( Read more )
Bride of Frankenstein Looks Mighty Fine
– by Amelia G
As always, one of my favorite things about Halloween is the costumes. Kelly Lind shot Joanna Angel dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein in an adorable and extremely naughty photo shoot. I believe there is also a video. Joanna Angel looks mighty fine as the Bride of Frankenstein, so you just want to smile . . .
( Read more )
Gothic.net Panel of Experts – BDSM in Horror
Posted by Amelia G
Gothic.net has posted a new installment of the Panel of Experts and the current question is: Does a storyline seem more or less frightening to you, when BDSM themes are included, such as those in Hellraiser or Ichi the Killer? Besides yours truly, some other Blue Blood notables on the Panel include John Shirley, Will Judy, Forrest Black, Cecilia Tan, Thomas S. Roche, Ed Mironiuk, Eric Swartz, and Chad Savage.
For me, the relatability and familiarity of some of the BDSM aspect . . .
( Read more )
A Costume which Says Eat Me
– by Amelia G
Heavy Red is offering a pretty Alice in Wonderland Halloween costume package. I especially like the addition of the ruffled skirt, as I’m a big fan of big skirts. This outfit makes plentiful the opportunities to spend October 31st saying inappropriate things, while enjoying a candy sugar rush. Eat me. Eat me and . . .
( Read more )