The Column of Life

The photo is of one of the late Bill Costa's favourite subjects whom we only know as Sean. Wherever Sean is, it is hoped he knows that 12 or so years later he is still very much appreciated, much like a crispy fall day with something warm and toasty from the oven. This American recipe for what is called Austrian Pancake requires a heavy cast iron skillet, about 10 inches in circumference, and an oven preheated to 375F. It's great on crispy fall mornings. 1 cup unsifted all-purpose flour 3/4 tablespoons sea salt 2 tablespoons sugar 3 eggs 2 cups milk 1 cup light cream 2 tablespoons unsalted butter Confectioner's sugar Cinnamon Apricot Preserves 1. Into a medium bowl sift the flour with the sugar and salt. 2. Beat the eggs adding the milk and cream until well blended. 3. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until smooth. 4. Heat the butter in the skillet until it sizzles and then turn the batter into it. 5. Bake it in the skillet in the oven for about a half hour unt...

Lately it seems that ethnic refers -- mostly -- to being Black, but African American is only one of a long list of what being ethnic means in Post-Modern North America. Living in Queens emphasizes the multi-cultural nature of that fact. Today's New York Post -- no less -- published a critique from Lou Lumenick that points the general public, should it choose to go, in the direction, i.e. to what gritty, valid working class ethnic drama is. With a new Scorsese film being released next week, another new film that pays homage to his early endeavours is more than welcome: September 29, 2006 -- Dito Montiel's A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints , an autobiographical coming-of-age film, won the directing award at Sundance ... This superbly acted, gritty little movie, which at its best recalls early Scorsese, very vividly portrays a time and place: the mean streets of Astoria, Queens, during the sweltering summer of 1986. Astoria is a working-class community just 15 minutes from Midt...

This Friday evening, the grand opening of Bar Louis at the Hotel Fauchere . Bar Louis will be featuring the photography of Christopher Makos and Paul Solberg ; Christopher and Paul will be on hand to sign books. The Hotel Fauchere is an historic property that Sean and a business partner spent several years restoring prior to its reopening this past August.

Not your average Polar Bear

From 365gay.com via Pookie: Speaking of which, I learned that Rescue Me creators, Peter Tolan and Dennis Leary had so much fun messing with actor Mike Lombardi by making him play gay last season that next season his character, Probie, is going to think he's actually a polar bear. It's all fun and games when Probie just wears a polar bear suit, but it ends in tragedy when he climbs into the polar bear enclosure at the Brooklyn Zoo and is eaten alive. Sure, it's a ludicrous storyline, but that's never stopped Rescue Me before!

It would have been an enjoyable evening all the same but chatting with the magical Max Darwin made it a bit more so. Ilene Kristen was doing her own kind of magic on the stage and Richie, one of Prohibition's owners was his usual absolutely charming self. There was more than a little charm behind the bar in the person of Tristan Colton who will be finishing his run in Far East when this month comes to a close. Tristan, too, is an actor plying his trade in the Big Apple. So, here is a picture of him in an earlier play as Pee Wee Reese as well as one of Magical Max, who has a great site of his own where you can make his acquaintance at least in cyberspace. Below in comments will be found a review of Tristan's latest endeavour.

He's Sure the Boy I Love I always dreamed the boy I loved would come along And he'd be tall and handsome, rich and strong. Now that boy I love has come to me, But he sure ain't the way I thought he'd be. (SUNG) He doesn't look like a movie star, He doesn't drive a Cadillac car, He sure ain't the boy I've been dreamin' of, But he's sure the boy I love. Let me tell ya now, He'll never be a big business man He always buys on the installment plan He sure ain't the boy I been dreamin' of, But he's sure the boy I love. When he holds me tight, Everythings right, Crazy as it seems, I'm his, whatever he is, And I forget all of my dreams, And everybody knows... He doesn't hang diamonds round my neck, And all he's got is an unemployment check He sure ain't the boy I been dreamin' of, But he's sure the boy I love. This Phil Spector production was, like "H...

It was a typical Sunday afternoon in Manhattan when actors from Broadway and Television gather to help raise money to combat a disease -- one that, in the past, devastated their ranks as well as those behind the scenes. Good people are still stepping up to the plate and many fans were there to support them. An interesting aside to all of this is how much Broadway and Daytime Drama intersect and cross pollenate. Among the many there were the luminous Ilene Kristen who brings her special talent to Prohibition tomorrow evening in tandem with the Block Party and a recent addition to Guiding Light , Light in the Piazza 's Michael Morrison. The light seems to follow this special man wherever he goes. The afternoon light also did complete justice to the beauty that is All My Children 's Connie Fletcher.

Evolved Libra is about harmony. Appropriately so: the sign begins with the Equinox. Libran faults are tied to its qualities in that indecision about which road to take can hold the individual back. According to Michael Jay in Gay Love Signs , Libra seeks harmony through ideas and experiences but not emotions. It is a cardinal air sign. Love means beauty and balance in the extreme sense for this sign in the I-Thou continuum, Libra veers toward thou and what the other thinks and feels is very important. Approval and affection is important but with detachment and some casualness. This is not to say that the Libra is bereft of passion. It's to say that while sex is one of those things that Librans tend to be very decisive about, it is never enough. Libran love is about a companion and a partner and not very much about self indulgence. Although it is the Equinox, here is the most self indulgent part of the WebLog, Saturday Beefcake which is about flesh and culinary sustenance. Harm...

23 September 2006 00:03 EDT

Viewers have been treated to what an editor at Entertainment Weekly calls the 'Butt Season 'over at Nip/Tuck and there will be no complaints from these parts. Special kudos to both Mr Mario Lopez as well as Mr Thad Luckinbill for providing two very fine perspectives from that end of the spectrum as special guests. Reviews for the main protagonists will wait until the end of the Season. There is still much to be said, however, about men in skivvies as recently demonstrated by Calvin Klein's newest male purveyor of his undies. Swedish footballer, Fredrik Ljungberg, has joined the ranks of Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Sabato, Jr as Calvin's way of giving back to the community as it were. Many thanks to everyone involved. Gol! Column has certainly made a humble attempt to fan the flames, so to speak, by maintaining a gallery of men in underwear, viz. Briefly -- visit. enjoy.

Thad Luckinbill on Nip/Tuck How very non-Christian of Doctor Christian. Will the faithful understand?

Sean and Christian

Andy Towle who has, if nothing else, a very enviable WebLog reports that an American Airlines flight was nearly diverted by an attendant because two men were kissing [ here's the link ] while the faithful are awaiting the arrival of Mario Lopez on the Nip/Tuck flight for tonight's episode where one can only hope that McMahon and Lopez might indulge the congregation bringing them closer to their own little death. That's not likely given the spoilers. What keeps the viewing faithful on the edge of their seats nevertheless is the possibility, the seduction, if you will, the domain of which Julian McMahon has proved to be a master by virtue of his recent excursion as the subject of an article in The Advocate . Go. Read. Buy it. Here's some condensation to keep your seat edgy and stay away from American Airlines where there seem to be only uncomfortable seats and ignorant employees. On the wild side Julian McMahon has no sexual hang-ups, and he’s not afraid to say so. By J...

The music is another song from Mina's catalogue that addresses passion and, in more ways than one, la petite mort . Death, Passion and Sex have been intertwined in a dark, beautiful and revitalizing way since the invention of all three. Sometimes the combination is not so revitalizing in the short run, but it's quite a ride. To make the point, Brian Bloom and Chris Meloni from their time in OZ . Adesso arriva lui Apre piano la porta Poi si butta sul letto e poi e poi Ad un tratto io sento afferrarmi le mani Le mie gambe tremare e poi e poi e poi e poi Spegne adagio la luce, la sua bocca sul collo Ha il respiro un po' caldo ho deciso lo mollo Ma non so se poi farlo o lasciarlo soffrire l'importante è finire Adesso volta la faccia questa e' l'ultima volta Che lo lascio morire e poi e poi Ha talento da grande lui nel fare l'amore Sa pigliare il mio cuore e poi e poi e poi e poi Ha il volto sconvolto io gli dico ti amo Ricomincia da capo e' violento il respi...

Those who were fortunate enough to attend shows from the Beatles American tour in 1964 for the most part can only attest to seeing them as opposed to hearing the by now classic tunes with all the relentless shrieking from the young females there. Female shrieking has since then become the indication of a celebrity's fame. It is that noise that makes awards shows and talk shows alike unwatchable and annoying. It is the reason that there were very, very few Beatles tours. It is the noise filling the streets of New York's theater district near the Ambassador Theater on W. 49th St when Usher leaves his current place of employment. Witnessing it can only recall the hysteria that has accompanied the ascendancy of similar luminaries since the young Sinatra sang with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra. Usher's joining the cast has been the epitome of stunt casting but its the kind of thing that may be saving contemporary musical theater. There is a certain poignancy to witnessing it after ...

Frédéric Michalak & Clément Poitrenaud Voila!

Rice recipes, much like homosexuality, exist in every culture since time immemorial and rice, much like homosexuals themselves, adapts easily literally absorbing its surroundings. Most civilized people have gay friends as well as a favourite rice recipe absorbing the surroundings. Here is a favourite standby rice recipe from someone's gay friend. Never let it be said that this WebLog doesn't touch all the bases. Risotto alla Colonna Virgin Olive Oil 1.5K Chicken 2 Large Onions, chopped 1 Clove garlic, chopped 2 Roasted Bell Peppers (red) 360 grams (1.5cups) of Rice (Arborio or Whole Grain for the ambitious cook) Vegetable or Chicken Broth (3 cups) Beer (a cup or so) Saffron Artichoke Hearts (c. 250 grams) Cooked chick peas and/or peas 1. Brown the chicken in the olive oil in a large skillet, sprinkle with sea salt and set aside. 2. Saute the onion, garlic and pepper in the same skillet until te...

Of all the possible jobs in the entertainment history, the most difficult and most insecure is that of the actor. To be an excellent actor is quite an achievement in addition to the extreme difficulty in being a gainfully employed actor. That is no revelation. Popular stars, celebrities, are treated like royalty whether they are good actors or not. Television and mainstream cinema treat them as if they were commodities or a product on the shelf. Many, if not the victims of the public's and producers' fickleness, become the victim of overexposure. The Soap Opera actor's lot is no different and in many instances worse. They live between a rock and a hard place in that they are often held hostage by the very fans who claim to love and adore them whereby they get pigeonholed and stymied or get overused by the executive element to the extent of watching their craft get diluted and diffused. The other side of that is that they are enslaved by a system that writes stories by com...

Mario Lopez Flopping Around Not a scene from Nip/Tuck, just some preparation perhaps.

When Christian Troy is confronted by his psychotherapist that he may very well be in love with his plastic surgeon partner, Sean, she unleashed all the dormant same sex demons that lay in the deep recesses of the ID, that wonderful psycho/hypothetical construct either invented or discovered by psychonanalytical pioneers. If Nip/Tuck holds true to the form initiated by the first two episodes in the current fourth season, viewers are in for an interesting ride through the funhouse in the recesses of Christian Troy's libido. (It is hoped that the excesses of the third season will remain in the past. There is a way for a television series to have an edge without throwing it over the edge.) The writing so far has been creative as well as maintaining that edge and the element of surprise essential to a show of this nature. The biggest issue of the last episode was the older gentleman's proclaiming that sexuality can be changed. Richard Chamberlain was appropriately fey in his interp...

Reflections on the Manhattan of five years ago bring to mind those people who rose to the occasion during the times that followed the attack one of those good people is celebrating his birthday today. Tom Fontana is worthy of all the respect he receives on both the personal and professional level. There were more than one fund raisers for NY firefighters during that time at his behest. Simply put: he's generous and a man of his word.. Early on he made his mark in TV Land writing and collaborating with his good friend Bruce Paltrow on the exceptional hospital show, St. Elsewhere , to which all other medical dramas can only aspire. Homicide: Life on the Street is also the product of his creative mind. Joseph Wambaugh's blurb on Tod Hoffman's treatise of the show says it all, " ... simply the best police show to ever appear on television. Tod Hoffman's book is a must for any fan of the show, and it's much more than that. It's a story of something rare, namely...

Five years ago today Mus, the Algerian owner of what was then Denizen, a restaurant in lower Manhattan’s Soho on Thompson St. was furiously cooking food in the locale’s tiny kitchen to bring down to the site of the by then destroyed World Trade Center. Earlier that day watching the destruction above the Arch of Washington Square from Fifth Avenue one could only imagine what was happening further south closer to the tragedy. Those who knew Mus and others in the area tried to get across Houston St. but the authorities would not permit passage to those who didn’t live there. What was happening was that a Muslim businessman threw caution to the wind and wanted to take care of those who needed it. The air south of Houston was difficult to see through with white particles filling it. For days thereafter a strange smell permeated much of downtown. The one zone that seemed to provide a haven was the West Village. The Monster, The Duplex and even The Cowgirl Hall of Fame were all operating at f...

In the 1950s the good sisters ran air raid drills with their shrill voices emanating from their coifed, wimpled and squashed features commanding the young ones in their charge to get under their desks. As the children got older the drill took the form of going into the deepest recesses of the school as a makeshift bomb shelter. Fifty years thence all are very aware that a school desk is little protection against the ravages of a nuclear blast or anything else for that matter unless one is strong enough to toss it at the sister who was attacking with a wooden ruler. Even in the ignorance of those years there was little to reinforce the sense of being safe. The good sisters also did their part with many – almost daily – warnings against godless communists who would surely come to persecute the godly. (Little did they know that years later on these shores more danger would come in the form of godless Russian capitalists.) If concrete dangers did not frighten the little ones then fear of r...

This recipe was adapted from a recipe by Zilah Bahar and has become something different, although the basic theme still exists. Would that the theme of adaptibility and pragmatism were more universally accepted. Cultures that have survived and thrived are those that have adapted to both internal and external influences. It's called history. One might wonder about the history and culture that produced the subject of our current photograph that stares out from the pages of Men's Workout , a very entertaining workout mag indeed. There's no doubt that survival and adaptibility could help one such as he and his forebears thrive. Here then is today's culinary contribution: Lasagne Verdi al Pollo Olive Oil Chopped onion Minced garlic, 2 cloves Mushrooms, 750 grams Carrot cut into julienne strips Marjoram, basil (dried, combined, about a spoonful) Peperoncino (crushed hot red pepper, just a little) Saffron (a pinch) Cooked Shredded Chicken (250 grams) 2 Eggs Pecorino Cheese, gr...