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A Guy's Moleskine Notebook

Thoughts and reflections on works of fiction and literature. Pondering of life through pictures and words. Babbling about gay rights. Travelogues and anecdotes.

Book Reviews

  • [1] Annie Proulx: Brokeback Mountain
  • [2] Arthur Golden: Memoirs of a Geisha
  • [3] Yu Hua: To Live
  • [4] Alan Hollinghurst: The Line of Beauty
  • [5] Colm Toibin: The Master
  • [6] Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind
  • [7] William James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
  • [8] Charles Higham: The Civilization of Angkor
  • [9] Graham Greene: A Burnt-Out Case
  • [10] Dai Sijie: Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
  • [11] Alan Hollinghurst: The Swimming-Pool Library
  • [12] Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita
  • [13] Colm Toibin: The Blackwater Lightship
  • [14] Alan Hollinghurst: The Folding Star
  • [15] Ross King: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
  • [16] Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov
  • [17] Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections
  • [18] Colm Toibin: The Story of the Night
  • [19] John Banville: Shroud
  • [20] Leo Tolstoy: Resurrection
  • [21] Peter Hessler: River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze
  • [22] Ian McEwan: The Atonement
  • [24] Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera
  • [25] Ignacio Padilla: Shadow without a Name
  • [26] Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
  • [27] Richard Russo: Straight Man
  • [28] Fyodor Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground
  • [29] Alan Hollinghurst: The Spell
  • [30] Hermann Broch: The Death of Virgil
  • [31] James Baldwin: Giovanni's Room
  • [32] Ken Kesey: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • [33] Xingjian Gao: One Man's Bible
  • [34] C. Jay Cox: Latter Days
  • [35] Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird
  • [36] William Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew
  • [37] Daniel A. Helminiak: What The Bible Really Says about Homosexuality
  • [38] James Baldwin: Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
  • [39] Kenji Yoshino: Covering - The Hidden Assault of Civil Rights
  • [40] Italo Calvino: If, On a Winter's Night A Traveler
  • [41] Arthur Phillips: The Egyptologist
  • [42] George Orwell: 1984
  • [43] Michael Warner: The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and Ethics of Queer Life
  • [44] Andrew Sullivan: Virtually Normal
  • [45] Henry James: The Wings of the Dove
  • [46] Jose Saramago: Blindness
  • [47] Umberto Eco: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
  • [48] Dan Brown: Da Vinci Code
  • [49] Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
  • [50] Ken Follett: The Pillars of Earth
  • [51] Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace
  • [52] Michael Thomas Ford: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Like Me
  • [53] Jonathan Franzen: How To Be Alone
  • [54] Jonathan Lethem: The Fortress of Solitude
  • [55] Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club
  • [56] Zadie Smith: White Teeth
  • [57] Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Double
  • [58] Jose Saramago: The Double
  • [59] Andrew Holleran: Dancer from the Dance
  • [60] Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise of O & Other Stories
  • [61] Andrew Holleran: In September, the Light Changes
  • [62] Tom Perrotta: Little Children
    •

    Current Reading

    November 30, 2006

     

    "Showroom"

    Tired of the usual Gap or Banana Republic? Think Abercrombie sucks (so it says on a T-shirt at American Boys on Castro)? Don't want to put up with the outrageous price at Rolo? Try Showroom. Showroom is a fashion studio in the Mission Dolores (hey guys, it's just a short walking distance from the Castro) that features my friend, Estrella's custom-made and vintage reconstruct men's clothing as well as the Rare Thread label by Saffron, and Yugula's dresses.

    Estrella's clothes represent a part of my wardrobe with some of the trendiest style that is modest enough to wear to work. For example, for early fall (since we here in SF is blessed with an Indian summer) she cut the pattern for a form-fitting, green plaid, cowboy shirt with snap buttons for me. I was wearing that all over Hong Kong and boy, that shirt looked so sharp that it put me on the spot!

    She's working on reconstructing a German (could be French??) army mid-length jacket for me. She barely started the project before I left for Asia so I don't have a clue what she has been doing to the jacket besdies sewing in elbow patches on it. Maybe a boy scout badge on the shoulder? Estrella also does custom tailoring, reconstructs old sportcoats and jackets--bring in your favorite but outdated D&G and Armani--I bet she can revitalize them and give them new look.

    So if you ever have time and are in the neighborhood, stop by and take a look at Showroom. The girls there might even treat you to a glass of red.

    Showroom
    3579 17th Street @Dolores
    415.626.2533
    415.497.0473

    Chillin' Productions Party
    Saturday December 2, 2006
    8:00pm-2:00am
    Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street
    www.mezzaninesf.com


    Also next weekend, on Saturday, December 2, Chillin' Productions will host a party at Mezzanine that features 60 fashion designers and 80 photographers including the Showroom. Read the flyer for more info.

    Permalink posted by mattviews at 5:20 PM

    4 Comments:

    Blogger matty said...

    You are on your way to being a fashion plage! yay!

    ...I know of that shop -- way cool.

    Sadly, way out of my budget.

    I'm a thrift shop kind of guy.

    Out of the Closet/Fashion Exchange ...and, sometimes a shirt from Body.

    11/30/2006 6:10 PM  
    Blogger Tony said...

    Your friend has an interesting concept for a retail store...reconstructed clothing. Who would have thought! I hope she does well.

    12/01/2006 12:18 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Thanks for the shout out. See you there. We also have our own Christmas Party at the studio on Sat Dec 9.

    Bring your friends. Hugs.

    12/02/2006 6:48 PM  
    Blogger Chris Ritke said...

    Yeah - that was awesome. We put together a video of the event and interviewed Irene at 49sparks.com

    12/04/2006 11:08 PM  

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