HGTV and Secret Obsessions: Fashion House News!

HGTV Update:
They have rescheduled our episode to August 2nd. Sad, but true. We'll still keep an eye out and offer updates as we get them if there are any changes. Thanks for the support.

Finally! I can talk about it!

I've been sitting on this news for a long time because we weren't allowed to say anything, but along with Bo Derek on the new MyNetworkTV show, Fashion House, we also have Morgan Fairchild!

I know! Super cool! And let me tell you, she has one of the best lines in the entire show and it comes courtesy of me... well, okay, Steve came up with it. But I took credit for it since he's not working on the show. That's what relationships are all about, right?

Anyway, the show premieres September 5th at 9pm and you'll soon be seeing advertisements and promo spots all over.

Here's the news from the AP (pasted below).

Morgan Fairchild Joining 'Fashion House'

Jun 30, 3:05 PM (ET)

NEW YORK (AP) - Barbara Walters versus Star Jones Reynolds? Old news. How about Morgan Fairchild going up against Bo Derek?

This one's fiction, of course. My Network TV said Friday that Fairchild, 56, is joining the cast of its telenovela "Fashion House," which debuts on the new network in September.

Fairchild will play Sophia Blakely, the arch-nemesis of Derek's character, Maria Gianni, in the fashion business.

"This has been fun," Fairchild, who's already shot some scenes with Derek, told The Associated Press on Friday.

"She's very game," she said. "We're having a very good time doing our knockdown, drag-out ... fights. It's always fun to do it with someone who gets into it."

Fairchild said she likes to stay on the industry's cutting edge and was intrigued by My Network, which is launching in September on channels displaced by UPN's closing. My Network TV is showing a prime-time lineup of soap operas that air five nights a week, modeled after the telenovela format that is popular worldwide.

"I'm always trying to find new ways to catch my audience off-guard," she said.

We're Still on HGTV... but when?

Urban Outsiders is now listed on the HGTV website's main page so there's no need to search. But when you go to THIS LINK for the show itself, it lists The Urban Spa as the first episode.

But if you look at our episode it still lists us as the first episode....

AND THEN... if you go to the episode guide it lists us as episode 104, which is fine because we were the 4th shot so this makes sense from a production perspective that this would be our number. But then if you click through we're still listed as the first episode and in various places listed as episode 101.
So we have no idea what's happening. Bottom line, we'll be on in July... Hopefully. Stay tuned.

HGTV's Urban Outsiders a.k.a. The City Gardener Air Dates!

Our new best friend in the whole world is Stephen Albright who sent me a link to this page: It's the broadcast dates for HGTV's show Urban Outsiders, the U.S. version of The City Gardner that will be shown on HGTV. For those of you not following along, this is the program that redid our backyard and friend Stephen followed the blog as it was happening.

Super excited about this page, because if you follow the link what you'll see is that as of this moment... Steve and I are the premiere episode on July 12th! That's amazing! They actually shot us 4th, but for one reason or another they've decided to use us first; probably Matt's illness creating drama or us being super sexy and funny, or all of the above. Who can say?

We haven't seen any commercials on the air yet, and actually it's really difficult to find this page; how friend Stephen was able to do it mystifies me. But if we're the first episode and the program airs in two weeks, there should be some commercials popping up soon, perhaps over the July 4th weekend? We'll keep an eye out.

On a side note, I keep clicking back to the HGTV page every half hour to make sure that we're still listed as the first show.

At the moment there isn't a lot of info out there on the new show, so I've gotten a lot of letters about it from a few City Gardner fans, as well as from Caliopie Georgiadis, a homeowner in Brooklyn who is getting her "prison yard" worked on this week.

So working as an information resource-- because we loves to entertain, but we also loves to educate as well-- you can read the summary of Urban Outsiders on this HGTV page.

Likewise, here's info on Matt James, the host of the show.

People can also e-mail me with questions, and I'm compiling the entire journey on our Urban Outsiders blog.

Feeling a Little Skattered

There's this guy I'm sort of friends with from the gym. By "sort of" I mean that we know each other's names, he knows Steve, he's visited our place a couple times, etc. But if I was broken down on the 10 Freeway and needed help, I wouldn't call him. I'd call AAA. But you get the point.
Anyway, he's been away from the gym for various reasons and when he reappeared on Tuesday I shook his hand, happy to see him again. We then went into the locker room to store our stuff, and since we were in mid-conversation, I waited while he used the restroom...

Um, okay, this wasn't a light visit, if you know what I mean. And I know this because I heard him. And because when he finished he gave me an explanation about these new cherries he enjoys eating. As I said, we're not that close...

But here's the real stunner: he didn't wash his hands.

I KNOW! I'm freaking out as I type this! And THEN we ran into some other friends and HE SHOOK THEIR HANDS AS WELL. I didn't know what to do or say. I just stood there and stared. I don't want to spread gossip-- like the girls did in the season finale of Grey's Anatomy-- but I feel like I should warn people. I mean, a gym involves sweat. What if he doesn't wipe the equipment after having wiped himself? That could spread things, right? But would it even matter if he did wipe away his sweat or is it too late at that point and now all the gym equipment he used is covered with cherry germs? And do I refuse his hand the next time he offers it?

My mind is so scattered right now... so to speak.

WORD OF THE WEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!! (June 26)

The word of the week is: Shaniqua

Definition: Noun. Any type of liquor commonly associated with an urban community.

In a scene:
Steve, Rick, and Megsbian are out drinking at Jewel's Catch One where Madonna hosted her "Music" CD release party. Megsbian dives up to the bar.
MEGSBIAN: Hey, can I get a shot of shaniqua, a glass of shaniqua, and a bottle of shaniqua, please?
RICK: (horrified) Um, she means a...
BARTENDER: Shot of Hpnotiq, a glass of Alize, and a 40. I got it.
MEGSBIAN: Girl, I'm down with my peoples!
RICK: Evidentially.
STEVE: Nia Peeples?
RICK: Quiet, honey...

Thanks to Meghan T.

For more Words of the Week, visit the Archives!

Happy Anniversary

This month-- or next month since it's hard to tell sometimes-- is mine and Steve's 5th year anniversary. To celebrate, we're having a fancy dinner tonight at Bridge in Hollywood, the new chi-chi restaurant from the owners of Koi that has photographers camped out front and gets mentioned in Us Weekly and other very important rags. We're hoping to do cocaine with Lindsay or maybe a sex video with Paris in the bathroom so that we can get in next week's issues.

Then we're working all weekend. Steve is doing freelance character design on The Little Mermaid 3 while the telenovela production in San Diego starts shooting my monologues next week.

We'll plan a more formal trip or something later (July is loaded with weddings and comic book conventions). For right now we have work, a home, and each other. That's enough.

Relative Insanity: Father's Day Photos

Kurt, Steve's dad, came over on Friday to join myself, Jeff (Steve's brother) and John (Jeff's partner) for a Father's Day celebration; yeah, gay siblings. I don't know, maybe the parents had sex under a nuclear power plant or something.

Anyway, we offered to take Kurt out to eat but he wanted a barbecue in the backyard. Naturally, we didn't have our act together when it came to taking photos, but Kurt did and so here are some that don't include the man of honor...
Here Steve is looking at brother Jeff's most recent project from design school; he's kicking ass while attending FIDM in downtown LA. You can't see much of his project, but Steve's tricep looks FIERCE!
Here I am prepping the food because I'm precious like that... and my left calf muscle looks FIERCE!
Steve purchased these hanging candle holders to try and distract from the one part of the yard that we couldn't disguise after the makeover-- the dirty screen outside my office window and the industrial tube coming out of the water heater. Don't Steve's balls look FIERCE?
And here we all are waiting for the burgers to cook in our beautiful backyard. To quote Miss Tyra Banks, our family is FIERCE!

WORD OF THE WEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!! (June 20)

The word of the week is: Assues

Definition: Noun. A personal or emotional disorder relating to one's buttocks.

In a scene:
Steve and Rick run into their friend Danielle after Gay Pride weekend.
DANIELLE: Hey guys! Sorry I missed you during Gay Pride. Did you eat a ton of food following your big gay diet?
RICK: Oh yeah! We had quiche for breakfast, pizza for a snack, a spicy burrito at lunch, a giant hot dog on a stick for our second lunch and an Ultimate Cheeseburger for dinner.
STEVE: And now he has assues.

Thanks to Danielle McLaughlin for that one. Welcome back to LA, girl!

For more Words of the Week, visit the Archives!

Hanging Out In Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Backyard

Yesterday was one of those rare days when Steve and I had no plans. We knew we'd try and have dinner with long-time buddy DJ Scotty K, but otherwise there was nothing to do on the house, no guests-- nothing. So we went to the beach.

When we first started dating, Steve introduced me to El Matador beach in Malibu. It's used in tons of commercials and music videos, and yet it's still secluded and not that popular with the public-- though that's changing. You need to park on the street, climb down a hill, and then to find the more secluded area you need to crawl through a little cave thingy. There I read comic books and Steve read the tabloids, namely this issue of Us Weekly.

We both knew that Brad & Angelina, Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston and other celebs live in this area. They're often spotted at the Starbucks in the Trancas Market shopping center-- this is the now-notorious Starbucks where Britney drives around with her son in tow.

Anyway, as Steve and I were lying on the secluded beach he starts flipping around in his magazine, then looking up at the nearby sets of stairs that lead from the beach to the mansions above. Flip-flip, look-look... Then he holds it out to me... And suddenly we realize the stairs in the magazine are the same ones to our right with the security camera sitting at the top. So are the rocks. We're literally sunning in Brad and Angelina's yard. Here is one pic that is similar, but not the same one as we saw in the mag...
When the tide came in and we almost didn't get back through the cave to the other side of the beach where the exit stairs are located-- shades of our trip to Hawaii a few years back-- we thought about going up and seeing if Brad or Angie would let us just cut through their place; besides, I'm sure their bathrooms are also nicer than the port-a-potties by the beach parking lot and we needed to pee. But we decided against that.

Then, returning to our car in the afternoon, we finally noticed all the paparazzi hanging out in front of their driveway. Literally sitting in chairs or in their cars waiting for the couple and their children to drive out. It was kind of crazy and reminded us of just how nice it is to be D-lebrities like we are.

Celebrities Galore

The always hilarious and politically savvy Brian is doing his part to educate on his blog. Here's a fantastic pic I borrowed from him!
Meanwhile, over in Portland, Maine, my friend Will ran into Andy Bell from Erasure.




And for all you queers-- or women who are basically homos trapped in a woman's body-- the ever-talented and hilarious Bernadette Bowman finally had her gay boy hard-on experience.
And as for Steve and I? Nothing. It's been a dry week. But I did speak with Bo Derek over the phone because she had a script question. Also, Steve and I did hang out at our friends Eric and Phil's downtown loft last night. We watched some filming take place on a bridge that overlooks the LA River where they shot the car chase sequence from Grease. So we were close to Hollywood history.

But here we are again with Edith Shan. Friends Rick and Matt used Photoshop so that we could actually be in a photo with her. Kind of crazy and fun, and a nice safety net in the event that Edith doesn't make it to next year's parade.

Tonight we're celebrating Father's Day with Kurt, Steve's dad. Along with Steve's brother and brother's partner, we're all looking forward to big burgers and other fun food we'd normally never eat. If I'm not crazy from cooking I'll try to snap a couple pics of the boys with the Big Guy who made them the men that they are-- not that Steve's dad made them gay, but you know what I mean.

Random HGTV Urban Outsiders Notes

I did a search of myself on Google yesterday-- shut up, you know you all do it, too-- and decided to see if there was any new information on the HGTV show Urban Outsiders. These are the folks who redid our backyard, and I think I may even start a third little blog where I can collect all of those old entries.

Anyway, you can find the Mondo Rick-o blog if you do a Google search on HGTV and the show title. But then I also came across an article with this pic on it. Um, yeah, that's a pic Steve took that I posted on this blog. Crazy!

Two Four is the production company that shot Urban Outsiders for HGTV, and the crew knew about my blog so I have to assume that one of the producers decided to lift a pic for their press release. But it's still pretty crazy.

You can also find this message board on the HGTV website where they talk about the show a little bit. Here the show is listed as premiering July 12th at 9:30pm. No telling when our particular episode will run, but we did get a letter from the production saying that they would be contacting us soon with further information. Very excited.

Monday's Secret Obsessions: Fashion House Spot on ET

Monday night saw the first real preview of the show I'm working on: Secret Obsessions: Fashion House. It was on Entertainment Tonight and it was just a tease, but considering the show premieres in September that's a really good sign for our future. But first, let me ask you...
How GREAT does Bo Derek look? She's amazing, and the perfect villain for our fashion industry show. Now check out the abbreviated catfight that I wrote...
Maria (Bo) grabs Michelle.
Oops! Into the water.
Fight-fight-fight. Tug-tug-tug. Rip-rip-rip those designer threads.
Choke-choke-choke.God, she looks amazing!

Los Angeles Gay Pride 2006

Oh Gay Pride. That wonderful time when streets are closed, bodies are buffed, brunches served and all the weirdos get drunk. It's a beautiful time.

Steve and I attended with our friends Matt and Rick, as well as a number of other people who we took pictures alongside... but not with my camera. Here is the trio at Trunks, this fantastic dive bar you only go to on Gay Pride because the lines are short and the drinks are strong.
In Los Angeles, it's quite common to see celebrties at Gay Pride. Here's Steve with Rose McGowan of Charmed fame, as she volunteers to man the ID Lube trash can.

Other celebrities included former gay-for-pay porn star Jeff Stryker. Who still, after all these years, looks like a Thunderbird.
Naturally celebs like Anna Nicole Smith know that gay pride is a great way to promote their show, so Janice Dickinson popped up with a bunch of hot guys to promote her new show on Oxygen. Now I've interviewed Janice, she loved me, but here it seems I farted or something because she looks quite annoyed. Or perhaps she was saving her energy. Or perhaps nothing kicked in yet. Who can say? She was quite festive while rolling down the Blvd.


There are also classic icons-- I know, you think Janice is an icon, but not like this. Our Pride featured Edith Shan, who is the woman in this famous photograph of the returning soldiers from war.








Here Steve and I take a turn alongside her car, then Matt and Rick do. Sadly, my spy camera isn't great so she was cut in ours, which is a huge tragedy because this could be the only time in our lives when we get to see this woman.











Gay Pride wouldn't be Gay Pride without a whole bunch of homo haters telling us we were going to hell, and as usual they were perched at La Cienega. There were about 10 this year-- everyone else you see is security-- and normally Steve and I would have run over and kissed in front of them for a photo but who had the energy? UGH! So instead, we found some children at Pride who are helping spread love, not hate.
















After a hug, this little one wanted to keep my sunglasses.


And look at this adorable newborn with two very happy moms!












And what about this little boy who loves his Guncles (Gay Uncles) just like my neices and nephew love Steve and me? Take that, haters!













Don't forget about Puppy Pride. These dogs love their moms and dads very much.

























It amazes me that in a city like Los Angeles we don't have better floats. We usually have celebs sitting on the back of Ford Mustangs and grocery stores with their trucks driving down-- which I honestly think is so that they can make their deliveries on time and has nothing to do with gays, other than the fact that we're blocking traffic. But the Gay and Lesbian Center had this one celebrating their 35 years of serving the community.
And Frontiers Newsmagazine had one with Amanda LePore. You can barely see her sitting on the throne, but her tig ol' bitties are hanging out with stars covering her nips. Classy, I know. But it is Gay Pride and we're all about class.

We eventually made it to the festival with our friend Chris Lisotta. Now Chris will be horrified by this picture, but then perhaps he (and you) will look to the left to find... a butt. Yes, we are a proud people. Like the Navajo, only different.






Okay, so festival, festival, festival, cracked out queens in the dance tent, lines for beer, carnival style food we couldn't stomach (but should have because Steve got a killer headache later from lack of food) and instead we went over to The Abbey. There we ran into our girls Molly...
















And Lori and Meghan...





And then that was that. Another Pride finished. Oh, and you may be wondering, was our vanity diet really worth it? Yes, because we had a lot of people taking our pictures, asking how long we'd been together, and when we said five years they responded... "Really? FIVE! AND you bought a house??? Amazing!"
Okay, they were all our friends teasing us, but whatever. It got said and that's all that matters.