Join VOGUE + Sam Edelman + Yours Truly...

You have good taste. And you like hot shoes. Do you need any other reason to join me this Saturday at this VOGUE special event celebrating Sam Edelman's sick new Spring 2011 collection?

I'll be hosting. You'll be shopping. It will be a guaranteed amazing time.

Saturday, April 2
12 - 3 p

Nordstrom at The Grove
LA, CA

See you there!

xo * Jessie B. R.

Perez Hilton...children's author!?

The manchild who has made fun of every celeb on the this green Earth, has drawn cocaine smears on the mug shots of Hollywood's fast set, and made jabs at others' weights, lifestyles and levels of diminished talent, is now publishing a book. A children's book. A children's book that "celebrates individuality and self-acceptance, and is inspired by Hilton’s desire to promote equality in readers of all ages."

I have no words. Only this cover art. Please go ahead and design your own caption. Because I am completely and utterly speechless.

The town whose claim to fame was Split Pea Soup.

Santa Barbara is the kind of town--the kind resided in by rowdy University students and a tamer set of wealthy retirees--that one comes to either to relax or to engage in the most touristy of activities.

One such activity is wine drinking. But when traveling with my mother, an avid non-drinker, we were left to other, less fermented journeys.

In the town of Buellton, one will find Pea Soup Andersen's--an inn, a restaurant, and the claimant to Split Pea Soup innovation.

In next door Solvang, visitors can engage in all the delights of a Danish Village which hasn't changed since its founding in 1911 save the addition of perhaps 3 dozen more gift and candy shops. When I'd passed through Solvang in my first and last trip to Santa Barbara, I'd discovered that the restaurant responsible for the famed Danish dessert, Aebleskiver, closed at 3 pm.

I was resolved to make it in time this time. I didn't. But determined to try the Danish donut, we made a mad dash for the Red Viking Restaurant, the only other resto in town to fry up the doughy balls. While the dessert underwhelmed me, the victory of finally obtaining it did not.

Solvang is famed for nothing beside its donuts and pancakes. But while outsiders don't know it for anything else, Solvang-ites are apparently well aware of the delights of the outside world. The local memorabilia shop features a life size (aka pint size) cardboard cut out of the one, the only Justin Bieber, a child I'm fairly certain has never made it to the quaint village of Danish architecture and plentiful tourist traps.

Plastics are not your friend.

A couple of weeks ago in Long Beach came the culmination of several months worth of planning on a big event I'd produced, the Plastics Are Forever International Youth Summit. The name says it all in regard to the conference's environmental focus. Plastics, as it should no longer be a surprise to you, do not go away. The science of it all is far beyond my meager, layman brain. But the simple facts are pretty darned simple. People use and trash disposable plastics like they are going out of style. And the truth is that they've been way out of style ever since we learned about recycling some odd decades ago. What happens to your discarded Diet Coke bottles, straws, and shiny plexi things, you ask? Well, the ones you don't recycle end up in our oceans, in the fish, and on your dinner plate (not mine, of course as I'm a vegetarian, but I digress). But recycling is not alone the answer. Reduction in consumption is the real key to solving the plastic problem and it begins with YOU.

How can you help?

* Carry your own, reusable water bottle. I love my Nalgene that I picked up at Target.
* REFUSE to accept plastic bags when shopping. No, you do NOT want a bag for your gum at 7-Eleven. Keep a canvas tote in your car. Okay they're not all that cute. So buy yourself a fancy one. The FEED Bag will make you feel trendy while you shop in eco-style. Do whatever you need to.
* Support organizations like LA's own Plastic Pollution Coalition that are taking strides against the plastic problem. You can help PPC's efforts by donating, volunteering, or even buying some pretty incredible art by the likes of Raymond Pettibon (see image above), Pam Longobardi and the org's founder and artist Dianna Cohen.

Furniture fit for a grand seat (pun completely intended).

While I spend most of my day sitting on a plastic Ikea stool, this is born out of my studio apartment's tight space and its owner (um, I mean renter)'s limited budget. If I could, I would park my rear end on finer stuff. Stuff that was equal parts art to functioning furniture. Stuff that was pleasing to the eyes and other senses rather than just to the sitter's itsy bitsy pocketbook (what, you didn't think I was going to say itsy bitsy butt, did you? That would just be a lie). I would park my seat on the likes of the gorgeous furniture designed by Azadeh Shladovsky.

In her first limited-edition furniture collection, Living with Art, Schladovsky explores nature to create powerful expressions that are as beautiful as they are functional. See for yourself how her pieces are superior to your Ikea bean bags at her upcoming show at the Ruth Bachofner Gallery.

Opening Reception
Saturday, March 19
5-7 p

Ruth Bachofner Gallery
Bergamot Station Art Center
2525 Michigan Avenue # G2
Santa Monica, CA

MEAT! and McNuggetinis tonight at Meltdown.

In the name of great irony, I [the vegetarian] would like to extend to you an invite to MEAT!, an art show inspired by, you guessed it...

Tonight at Meltdown Comics on Sunset Blvd.

There will be art, yes. But serving up cocktails will be my gorgeous, funny and talented friends, Alie and Georgia. They'll be offering McNuggetinis, the boozy, foodie, ice creamy treat that made the headlines and pleased gluttons everywhere last year.

Wanna know more about the BBQ sauce spiked cocktail you'll be enjoying tonight? Let's all take a trip down YouTubey memory lane...



Opening Reception of MEAT!
Thursday, March 3rd 2011
7-10 p

Meltdown Comics
7522 W. Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Timothy Bloom: the music and the [nude] man.

Oh my god. This video would be insanely hot and steamy if the song wasn't so insanely beautiful. Proof that sometimes sweetness trumps sex.

I may have just cried a little watching. Enjoy.



Download the track from Said the Gramophone.

Catalog shoot. Take one. Ratatat brings it.

The official vid for 'Drugs' off Ratatat's 2010 album, Lp4. Makes me want to buy button down shirts from a mail order catalogue. Makes me want to order a scrip for anti-depressants. Makes me want to dance.



Video by Carl Burgess.