Gran Fury was a major part of the AIDS awareness movement, especially as the “propaganda” wing of legendary activist group ACT UP. A collective of artists, filmmakers and other visual types — including my former prof and mentor, director Tom Kalin! Shout out to Tom! — they first got famous for their incendiary, subversive posters, using the strategies of mass media and advertising to spread a message of tolerance, knowledge and anti-bigotry, all in an attempt to demystify and derail the prejudice and ignorance surrounding AIDS and HIV that came out of the 80s. Their work wasn’t obtuse or complicated, but still managed to touch upon the complexities of issues without flattening them. They, along with efforts of other major AIDS activist organizations, turned what many initially regarded as a marginal health concern into a major political issue that intersected queer and gay rights, public health, corporate greed, political indifference, sexuality and other taboos. It made AIDS an issue for everyone and took down a lot of homophobia at the same time.

Seeing their stuff now, the cheekiness, wit and stylishness of their work remains striking, and they managed to combine a provocative, even scathing level of observation with a clear, unambiguous urgency that many political campaigns fail to harness these days. (I keep thinking of those really confused “I am African” adverts from a few years ago. Problematic, no?) It’s worth examining the political legacy of activist groups in the 90s now, especially in light of what’s happening with the Occupy movement. I suspect there’s something about the wit, intelligence and simplicity of Gran Fury’s approach that it could crib a few notes from. It’s a great thought experiment to imagine what the collective would do now in the age of Tumblr, Twitter and other viral social media mechanisms.

Anyway, the show is up at NYU’s 80WSE Galleries from January 31 (the opening is tomorrow from 6-8pm!) to March 17, 2012. I wish that I could say Gran Fury’s message isn’t needed anymore and HIV is a relic of the past, but it’s not. HIV still ravages the Global South (especially in Asia and Africa), medicines to help manage the condition are still expensive, and sadly, complacency has set in for a new generation in the developed world: people under 30 face the greatest risk of infection now. From 2006 to 2009, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the HIV incidence rate for Americans between 13 and 29 years old increased by about 21%. Most of the new HIV infections reported in America now involve people under 30. Also, if rates of infections keep at their current levels worldwide, women infected with HIV may soon outnumber men with HIV, a huge shift historically. The message is still relevant, dudes: SAFER SEX SAVES LIVES!

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Have you ever seen it? It’s about a little girl (Eliza Dushku!) who idolizes her teenage neighbor Sherry (Juliette Lewis!) and becomes infatuated with Sherry and her boyfriend Rick (C. Thomas Howell!). It’s based on an Alice McDermott novel – I read the book a very long time ago and I remember it being wonderful too, albeit far less sweet and dreamy than the movie. That Night the movie’s kinda like a pop song, and there’s great pop songs in it, like “Dream Baby” by Roy Orbison. I think about the movie a lot when I’m working on the story I’m writing for my UCLA class with my amazing teacher, and will probably end up hugely ripping it off (in a loving and righteous sort of way).

That Night‘s not on Netflix but you can rent it on the Amazon Instant Video thing, and you really should, this weekend. Here’s some more screencaps:

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I made a mixtape/Spotify playlist for the new year; it’s got Ol’ Dirty Bastard and The Bangles and Blood Brothers and CeCe Peniston and Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sleigh Bells and it’ll make you breathe fire, in a loving way.

You should all make playlists for your new year too and then give them to us (in the comments or at liz@nogoodforme.com).

(dragon pic stolen from here)

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DANCE DREAMILY AT YOUR FAVORITE DINER

David Lynch’s films generally have fantastic uses of music — he’s a real genius with film sound (I wrote a whole paper on it, ages ago!) Film sound often functions as a movie’s subconscious, and his films are a particularly riveting combination of ethereal darkness and oddly buoyant pop charm. (I even dug the heavy industrial vibe of Lost Highway! Nine Inch Nails!) What would “Twin Peaks” be without the spooky sounds of Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti?

This is Julee Cruise singing “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart” on the BBC in 1989! Oh my god, the back-up singers’ dresses!

HAVE A HARROWING MOMENT OR TWO

The juxtaposition of surfaces of innocence with a teaming underbelly of moral corruption and surreal nightmares is really the crux of what makes Lynch such a genius as a filmmaker. That scary moment of the thing behind the diner in Mulholland Drive, the frighteningly debasing of nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens in Blue Velvet or BOB (he still scares me!) — those are the most memorable moments of a Lynch movie, whether you like them or not. You can’t have light without dark, so do a little dance with your inner demon. Otherwise it will lurk in the back of your proverbial diner or at the food of your bed, waiting to SCARE YOU TO DEATH. BOB!!!

GET A HOLD OF THE SECRET DIARY OF LAURA PALMER

Did anyone else read this when it came out? I remember reading it, passing it around with friends, all of us going, “OH MY GOD THIS BOOK IS SO DIRTY!” It was great fun. It actually works really well as a standalone work, and pulls you into the whole “Twin Peaks” mystery so beautifully. I wish I could find my copy for it somewhere!

WEAR SADDLE SHOES AND PLAID SKIRTS, OR PINK LYCRA AND HEAVY EYEBROWS, OR A SNAKESKIN JACKET

I truly never appreciated the genius costuming of “Twin Peaks” until I worked in film as a wardrobe designer — the combination of 50s-esque schoolgirl silhouettes with Northwest fabrics, colors and textures was truly inspired. My favorite was always Audrey, who had a way with plaid tweed skirts, tight sweaters and dark lipstick:

But I actually think the best fashion film in terms of Lynch’s canon is Wild at Heart. Sailor and Lulu! Proto-True Romance, no? Pink lycra! Snakeskin jacket! Isabella Rossellini’s eyebrows! Wowza!

FOLLOW AGENT DALE COOPER’S ADVICE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

“Every day, once a day, give yourself a present.”

So said TV’s most perfect man ever. Follow his advice: it’s guaranteed to make your life happy and amazing!

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1. Go to Venice and drink moon milk! Probably the one made from raw almonds and banana walnut water.

2. God, just read The Marriage Plot every goddamn chance I get. And probably listen to “Blood” by The Middle East about a trillion times and wish I had a chorus of small children to sing the last two minutes. It’s the song at the end of Crazy, Stupid, Love., which I watched on the red-eye home for Christmas and it was the first time I’d ever seen Ryan Gosling in a movie. I get why everyone likes him now! It’s cuz he’s really good-looking and talented and charming.

3. Learn how to use the sparkly hot-pink Urban Decay eyeliner I got in the mail the other day.

4. Finish the thing I’m writing for the next installment of the Let It Be Beautiful zines. It’s “I Wanna Be Your Man” and it’s about using the Rolling Stones for spiritual transcendence and romantic fulfillment.

5. Do my homework! I have homework now. I’m taking a writing class at UCLA and Francesca Lia Block is my teacher. I had my first class last Tuesday and my homework is to write the first paragraph of my novel.

6. Also I will go to dance class. It’s at Heartbeat House. We do ballet to Rihanna and I love it.

7. Eat more dried hibiscus flowers. My housemate brought some home from the grocery store last night. They’re beautiful and they taste like Fruit Roll-Ups.

8. Get me some sequined shorts and then wear them to this thing I’m gonna do next Sunday which I’ll tell you about later. It’s a performance of sorts and I haven’t performed onstage since my last dance recital, in 1994. I wore sequins then so I’ll wear sequins now, but I won’t wear a french braid. Anyway I like these, from Halston Heritage and Shakuhachi:

9. Go to a bar and karaoke a Rolling Stones song, preferably their version of “I Wanna Be Your Man.” Or “Stray Cat Blues,” if a dude sings it with me. In general, I’m trying to do things that “nurture my Leo moon” (i.e., my inner showoff/ham), in preparation for the thing I’m referring to in #8. Suggestions very welcome!

10. I wanna work on getting good at Rolling Stonesy insults. The other night at an ice cream shop I listened to “Ride On, Baby” for the first time in years and got all giddy at the part toward the end when Mick sings, “By the time you’re 30, gonna look 65.” So mean! So good! I will also work on manifesting a t-shirt that says “I Need The Stones to Keep Me Happy,” like this t-shirt, but way better-looking and more like something a woman would wear.

(The pic of Keith and Gram Parsons came from this website. All the rest of the Rolling Stones picks were lifted from rollingstoned.tumblr.com. And the hibiscus flower photo lives here.)

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ii. I meant to tell you this sooner, but here’s a playlist of my 7 fave songs of ’11. Also: FLASH BANG GRENADA.

iii. I’m taking a writing class at UCLA and it starts next week and my instructor is someone you just might know and love. I picked UCLA because my two California dads (him and him) both dropped out of there.

iv. Speaking of Jim Morrison, the other night I had a “Doors double feature” in which I watched When You’re Strange (that documentary narrated by Johnny Depp) and the Doors movie by Oliver Stone. This is my favorite part of the documentary:

And the Oliver Stone movie is still dumb but kinda fun. Val Kilmer’s a wow. My friend has a joke about how “That’s another Thanksgiving you’ve ruined, Jim Morrison!” (as spoken by Meg Ryan) is probably the greatest piece of dialogue in cinematic history. And there are so many pretty shots of L.A., such as these two:

(P.S. Definitely the funniest thing I’ve done so far this week is tweet the sentence “Teenage death girls want my dick not my words” with the hashtag #doorsproblems. COMEDY GOLD, dudes.)

v. The reason all I ever do is watch Doors movies and listen to Doors songs and make Doors jokes is I’m writing a short story about a girl who’s obsessed with Jim Morrison. It’s called “Baby’s in Black,” and it’s for the next installment of the zines that Laura Jane Faulds and I are making for our Beatles book project.

vi. Oh yeah: zines! Back in December our lovely friend Anabela made gorgeous post about Let It Be Beautiful, which was the best early birthday treat evs. And then Miss Moss posted about the project too, and it was so sweet to see our zines near this adorable birthday cake that looks like an owl.

vii. Rock and Roll Tedium is my new favorite Tumblr and I’ll probably submit my story about the time KRS-One was behind me in line at a Whole Foods in the Valley, buying flaxseed oil. Or the time I saw Andre 3000 at the mall.

viii. Another great Tumblr is the NOGOODFORME Tumblr. Follow us! We look like this:

ix. I had a New Year’s party and it was zebra-themed, since (according to shamanicjourney.com) zebras represent balance, agility, uniqueness, power, and sureness of path – all of which seem like good things to invite into 2012. All night long I wore zebra ears, which I bought at Party City for $3. I’d like to wear zebra ears more often, I think. Here’s me wearing zebra ears and smoking a noisemaker, plus some Actual Zebras:

x. Hi I love food!!! Exciting restaurant experiences so far this year: going to Inn of the Seventh Ray for the first time and eating a duck bacon omelette and drinking good red wine and getting waited on by a very dashing German dude with great hair and a cool scarf, all of which helped me mitigate the sadness of that beautiful Eleanor Friedberger song; sharing profiteroles and ice cream with Cathy the other night at Cafe Stella; breakfasting on wood-oven-roasted eggs and grilled bread at Little Dom’s on Sunday morning; and how last Wednesday the bartender at Barbrix put a birthday candle in a cinnamon donut as a belated bday treat for moi.

(P.S. Sage isn’t my favorite restaurant, not even close, but I think they’re brilliant for introducing me to the concept of putting coconut milk in your coffee. Try it; it’s so yum and feels wildly extravagant and wicked health-nutty at the very same time.)

xi. Now for my next birthday I would like many twisted ceramic figurines by Jessica Stoller:

xii. Finally, I love this video of Vinny from Jersey Shore and a bunch of little kids performing a tightly choreographed dance routine to “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. I wish I had found it right when he posted it, so that it could have been in my life for 142 days already.

Happy new year, guys! xoxo

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These just make my eyes happy when I look upon them! Not-so-sneaky brightness! Bicycle prints! Quasi-Scandi-style lovebirds! (Sorry, ornithophobes!)

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! xo

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l-r: Charlotte Russe; It’s Me Mary; Odisya

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2. This is a little book I made, called A Hard Day’s Night. Emily Richmond is a very important character in the story, right from the first sentence. She’s kind of like my Jiminy Cricket, a “moral compass” if you will, but in a really chill and non-judgy sort of way. Anyway, if you back Emily’s Kickstarter, I’ll send you a complimentary copy of A Hard Day’s Night. And if you back Emily’s Kickstarter and link to her Kickstarter page on your Twitter/blog/Tumblr, I’ll throw in a copy of my zine Like Dreamers Do too. (Email me about how to make all this happen.)

3. This is a playlist of songs that remind me of Emily, because Emily loves them or because they sound like the ocean or because they’re about surfing (Emily and I used to go surfing together). Listen to these songs over and over and over and just let the music crack your heart (and your wallet!) wide, wide open.

4. This is Emily Richmond’s dog Sailor, aka Red Dog. I took this picture one night two autumns ago when Emily and I ate mediocre Vietnamese food at some restaurant in Venice and then got tall boys of Tecate and went for a moonlit walk on the beach and talked about dudes. If I can’t “kickstart your heart” with bromantic proclamations and good music and books, then I guess I’ll just have to play the cute-dog-pic card. So there, I did it. Who could resist a face like this?

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London! I went! I had been before, but only for a day here and there as a stopover to other fine destinations. This time I thought, London, you will be the star of my vacation. And it was worth it entirely, and is now the city I dream of writing books in, at least for a few months of every year.

1. The theme of my vacation was “art,” and so I hit up every major museum and gallery. There are a lot, and naturally I missed a lot — but what I did see was superb. The Tate Modern had a fantastic exhibition by American photographer Taryn Simon that completely absorbed and astonished me. It’s hard to boil down, but it essentially takes the mindset of journalism (delving deep into social issues that exert their influence in often hidden and quiet ways) but applies a visual conceptualist’s rigor to it. It does what the best art does: expand the spirit and your knowledge of the world, stretching your consciousness just a bit. I’m still thinking about it.

I also saw “The First Actresses” at the National Portrait Gallery. If you ever had an interest in movie stars, actresses, the history of theater, this is for you. And the paintings are so beautiful.

2. I insisted on doing a proper afternoon tea, which I know is way touristy, but whatever….I was a tourist! I did mine at the Wolseley, which was wonderful. The building is an old Victorian bank, so the decor was kind of wonderfully Art Deco-y. I was super fond of all the little sandwiches, as to be expected, because I do like finger foods. And the price isn’t insane like some of the other high teas floating around.

3. I also delved a bit into pub fare, which I discovered is a part of merry old England I do like a lot. Bubble and squeak! Toads in the hole! All charming names for foods that I quite liked, along with mushrooms on toast! And loads and loads of beer! All the time! And no one thinks you’re an alcoholic if you indulge in the day! I enjoyed Mason & Taylor in Shoreditch, which had a wide range of beers, although to be honest I just drank lots of black currant Lindeman’s and told myself it was part of my fruit-and-veg allowance. It’s a lovely space, nice and mellow, cozy and warm yet spacious. Go!

Also I spent a late afternoon and evening wandering around Marylebone with no map (eek) and stumbled on the Swan and Edgar, which rewarded me with a tiny yet wonderfully decorated room and a superb glass of wine. It was the type of place that I’d want to make my local bar, if I was a classy, rich lady who lived in Marylebone. (Even I could tell that it was a very $$$$$ place to live. But beautiful! All those lovely buildings!)

4. I was not much of a shopper on this trip. I did check out all the high street shops, but I’m older, so I’m not so much interested in trendiness as before. My frivolous purchases were mostly perfume; I did some damage at Miller Harris and Jo Malone. (I did also pick up a pair of Tom’s, though, because here is a travel tip: wearing Frye boots three walking-intensive days in a row, as lovely and comfortable as they usually are, is murderous for your feet!) I did get jealous that the U.S. lacked a COS shop, however, enjoyed Antoni & Allison muchly and bought loads of gifts for my femininity-inclined loved ones at the Cath Kidston shop. I also stumbled on a shop in Covent Garden that sold loads of Hello Kitty, Miffy and every other adorable cartoon mascot on the planet, and my 20-year-old self basically had a heart attack of joy.

5. This is so not British-y, but they sell Laduree macaroons in Covent Garden and OH MY GOD. Can a macaroon really encapsulate joy, magic and a universe of pleasure and deliciousness? Yes, it can! They are exquisite and deserve their highly lauded reputation among small cookies and pastries of the world. They are also worth the expense, and make a lovely hostess gift.

5.5. Not really a recommendation, but it must be noted that British men have a stunning sense of tailoring overall. I was seriously swooning at how many of them wore their suits so well. “Dashing” is a quality rare in gentlemen these day, but the spirit of it is still alive in London. Also: they are, for the most part, great flirts.

I also went to Berlin, but for a short time, and drank a lot in various bars in Mitte. So you see, I HAVE to go back again, right? Next time, lovelies!

* Pics, l to r: The Wolseley, the Swan & Edgar; the Tate Modern, a portrait of Sarah Siddons; Mason & Taylor, the most magical macaroons in the universe from Laduree

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