I dressed as a crossword puzzle for Halloween

When I got to the party, literally there was silence. The music stopped, all conversation halted, and everyone looked at me. It was like something out of an '80s teen movie. On the other hand, there were cute dogs and chocolate-chip pumpkin cake and fancy coffee drinks. And nice people dressed as animals. So, good times.

Mai Li's birthday party poster

Just the right mix of humor and lasciviousness, IMHO.

Purim madness

I'm not often found at a Tia Lou's, the popular Belltown club where flirting, "macking," hair-twirling, and various other mating rituals are known to occur with some regularity. However, you'll find me there the night of Monday, March 9, because I'm co-organizing a gigantic Purim party with folks from Jconnect and other Jewish organizations. Which means: You should come, too. The theme is '80s Bar Mitzvah, I'll be working the door for an hour, and the incomparable Leyna Krow will be hiding behind her camera (I mean, serving as unofficial party photographer). C'mon -- you know you wanna don a costume, drink margaritas, and engage in coquetry on a school night. You know you do.

And the winners are...

Not a bad show, all in all. I spent it at the Capitol Theater in Olympia at the annual party hosted by the Olympia Film Society. Ate a bit too much sugar, but hey. Biggest whoop from the crowd came when Penn won Best Actor. As I mentioned to Joel, when Sean Penn's win is the top surprise, it's a fairly predictable night at the Oscars. I loved Dustin Lance Black's speech, and I really appreciated the new thing where past winners personally commend current nominees in the acting categories before announcing the winners. Oh, and Ben Stiller's Joaquin Phoenix impression -- Stiller's doing better comedy at the Oscars than in his movies, which is a little sad.

Pictured above, in case you're unaware: Best Director winner Danny Boyle, whose film, Slumdog Millionaire, snagged eight statuettes.

Best. Birthday. Party. EVER.

Thanks so much to all who helped with setup, lit candles, cut cake, brought cards, contributed alcohol or food, played music, helped clean up, and -- most important -- helped me celebrate my landmark birthday. You're all wonderful, and I'm grateful to have you as friends.

My karaoke birthday party

Check it.

What's happened in the last two weeks

A lot:

• Angela visited for about a week. We had a wonderful time, though her stay was far too short. (Among our activities: watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which was actually pretty decent, and the X-Files movie, which really wasn't.)


• I watched Ginger Snaps, which instantly became my favorite werewolf movie, only partly by virtue of being the only werewolf movie I've ever seen (except Wolf, but let's really not talk about that). Ginger Snaps is viewable in its entirety (in pieces, appropriately enough) on blessed YouTube.


• The Kibbutz served an amazing Israeli Shabbat dinner -- one of the best Middle Eastern meals I've ever eaten.


• I experienced a revitalizing facial, courtesy of Kibbutz regular Olga. Hot towels on the face are always good.


• I drove Huma to the airport for her California trip.


• I moved.


• I went blackberry picking with Joel and Tamar, and the Kibbutz subsequently served a blackberry-themed potluck that included blackberry pie, muffins, and ice cream.


• Push, the queer feminist zine that Reed used to work on, had its farewell party at Hugo House. The event was lovely; the cake was exquisite.


• I went on my first-ever Costco run with Tamar. We bought a lot of cranberry juice.


• I made my first post to the Moishe House blog.


• I watched Obama give his acceptance speech in a Belltown bar packed with extremely excited Democrats. (Obama was in Denver; I was in the Belltown bar. Just to be clear.)


• I went to Bumbershoot and enjoyed Band of Horses even more than I thought I would. That Ben Bridwell is a card.
  

Upcoming: a Labor Day swim, Death Cab at Bumbershoot, an interview at a temp agency, and a performance by Mike Daisey at Town Hall.

Party on 15th!

Just got back from a random party in the apartments above the QFC on 15th. Amazing. Every apartment was open, decorated, and decked out with tasty snacks, including homemade cupcakes in one and goldfish crackers in another. And the costumes were incredible. I wore last year's book costume ("Gone with the Wind") and had a very nice time, though it was hard to maneuver through the narrow, packed hallway, and in the apartments themselves. I was really impressed that the people who live in the building all seem to know and like each other, and that when you move in you kind of agree, tacitly or explicitly, to be okay with massive all-building parties that draw all kinds of strangers. (I was invited by a man dressed as Kenny Loggins and his girlfriend, who was dressed as Persephone from Greek myth -- and was handing out pomegranate seeds to prove it.)

Oh, and despite what Kenneth Turan says, "Dan in Real Life" sucks. But Emily Blunt is still my movie girlfriend.

Yes, we have no banana (costume)

Sadly, I didn't get the chance to look like this gentleman last night at the annual Big Blue House Halloween party. My banana costume, which was supposed to come from Halloween Express at Kirkland's Totem Lake Mall, belonged to someone else by the time my loyal compatriot got there. Instead, I wore a rather sketchy-looking wig that was part of a transvestite vampire costume last year. Oh, and some small black wings that started to really irritate me halfway through the night. I took them off, leading quite a few people to wonder what I was supposed to be. One particularly inebriated young woman speculated that I might be My Little Pony, which was a very generous assessment. And another young woman, this one outfitted in a colorful monster suit she'd made herself (it was a friendly, "Monsters, Inc." sort of monster, rather than a scary one), told me I had the best costume she'd seen all night. Which was a bizarre instance of flattery. In any case, a good time was had by all, even though the residents of Blue House never did reveal what was in the green punch, which tasted suspiciously like licorice, and even though I accidentally caused a YouTube video to temporarily merge with the playlist, creating an unintentional iTunes/YouTube mashup. Best costume of the night? Maybe the young, beardless Lenin, probably the robot with a joystick for a phallus. Honorable mention: the giraffe. I guess, as they say, you had to be there.

Ran some errands this morning and early afternoon, albeit in a sleepy state -- went to bed far too late last night, despite my warnings to myself not to stay up so late. Ah, well. Looked at my future glasses today -- with magnetized snap-on sunglasses! -- and got a couple of things for the house. Also checked in on Angela's cat, Max, the cutest orange cat in the world. Will be seeing the new Steve Carell movie with Kate today, followed by dinner. It's such a nice, crisp fall day; even just doing errands on Broadway was lovely. And tomorrow morning, brunch at Coastal Kitchen with Kate and various others. And hopefully, tonight, tons of sleep.

A quick post from within a dress shirt

Yes, I'm all dressed up with somewhere to go tonight. Seattle P-I blogger Darnell Sue, aka Girl About Town, is throwing a party at Veil with Nathaniel Hollywood of Natharbi, aka Seattle's Premier Couple. So that should be fun. Angela will be my loyal companion; she's just as much a fan of Mr. Hollywood's work in Active Singles Life as I am, and together we should make a good team.

A couple movie notes: Saw Tony Kaye's "Lake of Fire," which Michael deemed one of the best movies he's seen this year. Can't say I disagree. Everything from the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography to the tremendously moving arc following a Minneapolis woman from the beginning to the end of her abortion procedure -- the movie's about abortion, and specifically the controversy that continues to rage in American society -- was extremely well done. And Noam Chomsky and Alan Dershowitz will likely win a whole new legion of fans based on their appearances in the film. It's very refreshing to find two of the country's most renowned thinkers saying, essentially, that abortion is a complex issue, and that keeping that in mind is more important than which side of the debate you happen to favor. (Though as one critic noted about the movie, the anti-abortion activists did come across as nuttier, on the whole, than the pro-choice people. Nat Hentoff was the token exception to this rule; he explained that if you're going to be anti-abortion because killing is wrong, hey, why not oppose capital punishment and, you know, war while you're at it. Lovely.)

Also good: "The TV Set," Jake Kasdan's smooth, funny, extremely likable satire of network television's inner workings. David Duchovny has honestly never been more endearing -- not even on "The X-Files" -- and Justine Bateman is a wonderful surprise as his wife. (Not having seen her since "Family Ties," I found the lines on her face pretty moving; funny how the actors who populated the shows you loved in childhood mysteriously grow up during the two decades you've been apart.) It's just 88 minutes long -- the rare movie about which I can unequivocally say: I wish it had been longer.

My night About Town beckons. Will be at Big Blue House tomorrow night for their Halloween party, spending time with Kate on Saturday, and going to Pugoween at Bitter Lake Community Center on Sunday. If you're interested in joining me for any or all of these exciting events, please drop me a line.