Party in the USA.

The reason for my recent visit to our nation's capitol was to attend the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.  There's a lot to enjoy at the WPC.  The demos of the latest Microsoft technology are always cool.  Finding out what Microsoft believes is the future of technology is intriguing.  And since Microsoft is my primary client, it's good to get insight into what we I need to consider to help my clients succeed.  This year there was even a keynote address by former president Bill Clinton.

And then there are the parties.  In a city like Washington, there are some great places to host a party.  There was the Public Sector party held in the courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery which recently got a new canopy that's an architectural delight. The party lighting only made it more spectacular:

Here's my friend and colleague Sara chatting with one of our public sector clients.

The US Partner Team invited us to a party at the Newseum, where you could enjoy snacks and drinks next to an amazing chunk of the Berlin Wall.

And the OEM Group commandeered the rooftop of a DC office building with an amazing Washington view. 

Possibly the most exciting part of the OEM party was the freak storm that nearly blew the tent right off the roof, knocking over an entire catering table of glassware. That was exciting. Here are a couple of short videos of the storm and our part in it:

Sunday in the park with Gertrude.

It's no secret that I celebrate my inner old lady.  In fact, my friends have named my old-lady persona.  She's Gertie (short for Gertrude).  And Gertie was in heaven on a recent trip to Washington D.C. where she visited Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens.  This is a place created by an old lady, run largely by old ladies, and visited predominately by old ladies.  They actually serve afternoon tea . . . in the garden!

If you plan to visit Hillwood, make sure you know how to get there because this place is off the beaten path.  My taxi driver wouldn't have made it if I hadn't brought a printout of the directions.

Hillwood is delightful for its unabashed ego.  You're greeted with banners that read, "Where fabulous lives." (I know some gay men who might beg to differ.)  Even their admission buttons (and this is the most insignificant museum I've been to that has admission buttons) brands visitors as fabulous.

I was greeted by an old lady (dressed in a smart, Chanel-like suit) who was devastated when I turned down the docent-lead tour.  "But how will you know what you're seeing?" she asked.  I responded that I'd get by.

While I planned my visit mostly to see the gardens, I started by wandering through the mansion turned museum. It was more enjoyable than expected.  Hillwood was created by Marjorie Merriweather Post, the heir to the Post cereal fortune.  Her father died while she was relatively young leaving her a vast fortune.  She was an undeniable eccentric who married and divorced four men, two of whom were the U.S. Ambassadors to Russia. She loved to collect things.  The Hillwood mansion is filled with stunning collections.  Some of the best feature Russian gems including a whole bunch of Faberge eggs.  I love how casually the collections are displayed.

The mansion is curated beautifully.  I like that the staff haven't made the house too museum like.  Instead, you get a feel for what it must have been like to attend a summer party at Hillwood; the opulence, the dinners, the conversations, and the after-dinner entertainment.  This room was designed for performances, including a balcony complete with theater-style seating.

Most interesting were some of the more mundane areas of the mansion, including the 50s-style kitchen left just as it was when the house was entertaining.

However the gardens are where Hillwood really excels. The grounds smell as good as they look.  I'm not sure who oversees the plantings but it feels like they want you to smell the gardens as much as see them. And then there are the birds.  Sure we have songbirds in Utah, but nothing like the overwhelming sound found in these gardens.

Ms. Post definitely left enough money to allow for a substantial gardening staff (and they were busy at work while I was there). The grounds are meticulously well kept.  Take the formal garden just outside the mansion.  The sculpted box woods are stunning.

Let's talk ivy.  I've never seen so much ivy used to such great effect, from ivy walls to sculpted ivy borders.  One of my favorite ivy moments is an area that brags about its royal heritage.

There's also a lovely Japanese-style garden.

There are plenty of interesting areas on the grounds (including four fallout shelters; how very 1950s).  One of the most beautiful is the greenhouse filled with orchids.  Marjorie Merriweather Post loved having orchids in her home so she created a greenhouse designed to ensure a constant source of the flowers.

Finally, my favorite spot in the whole place was the pet cemetery.  The pathway leading to the cemetery was flanked by stone dogs.  Then there were the marble markers, with their quirky pet names that celebrated the happiness these dogs obviously inspired.  It's strange that as I approach the one-year anniversary of my dog Cairo's death, this pet cemetery made me happy. 

Oh Marjorie, I wish you and Gertie could enjoy afternoon tea in the gardens at Hillwood. I'm sure the two of us would get along famously.

American modern.

The modern galleries at the Smithsonian American Art Museum are not just beautiful, they contain a host of great, contemporary art works by some of my favorite artists.  Here are a few of the works that caught my attention.


It's no secret that I like Jenny Holzer's work.  Visitors to the American Art Museum are drawn into the modern gallery with a spectacular Holzer sculpture.  This work is perfectly installed and uses technology in an ingenious way.  It's an LED system but it's like nothing I've seen before.  Here's a quick video of For SAAM (2007, electronic LED array with white diodes).

Nam June Paik offers a spectacular view of the American dream with Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii (1995). This dazzling neon map features Paik's trademark TV screens that deliver location-related video clips from classic American works like The Wizard of Oz and Oklahoma.

Duane Hanson's hyper-real sculptures that depict every-day people are noteworthy not just for their spectacular executions, but also for their creepiness. This is Woman Eating (1971, polyester resin, fiberglass, polychromed in oil with clothes, table, chair, and accessories).

And I can't leave without noting this work by artist Deborah Butterfield.  It's not that I'm particularly fond of the work, it's just that I think I've seen more Deborah Butterfield horses than just about any other artist's work.  From art museums around the country (including the Utah Museum of Fine Arts) to airports to public spaces, Butterfield's horses are everywhere.  Here's Monekana (2001, bronze).

Hyper reality.

A recent business trip took me to Washington D.C.  And I was invited to a party at the National Portrait Gallery.  In the same building is the Smithsonian's American Art Museum.  I decided to head to the party early to see the current exhibit, Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg.  That's right, the two famed directors are big Norman Rockwell fans and from what I've heard, never loan their paintings.  But in D.C. you can see a surprising number of Rockwell paintings spanning the artist's lengthy career. The show is up through January 2, 2011.

I don't think Rockwell gets the respect he should from the art world.  He's often written off as just another illustrator.  But this show demonstrates his immense talent.  And I think Rockwell was a pioneer of a style I'll call hyper-realism; art that transcends photo realism to create something that can't be expressed in the real world.  That's a trend the art world has more recently embraced (particularly in sculpture) with artists like Duane Hansen and Ron Mueck.

There's a lot to like at this show, particularly if you work in advertising.  Rockwell did a lot of work for corporate America and his paintings deliver wonderful moments from the American dream.  Take Merry Christmas Grandma . . . We Came In Our New Plymouth (1950, charcoal and crayon on paper).  There's not a car in sight.  Instead, we see what owning car meant to the modern, mid-century American family.

I also love the way Rockwell is capable of depicting the style of the moment.  With paintings that cover at least 40 years of American style, Rockwell had to have a perfect sense for what defined the now.  Like the young woman in Window Washer (1960, oil on canvas).  She's the definition of the modern, 1960s career girl.

I can see why movie directors would like these paintings; they're perfectly composed, beautifully lit, and executed with a precision that rivals some of histories best films.  These are also images that define America.  I'll end with what was my favorite painting in the show.  The Connoisseur (1962, oil on canvas mounted on board) is a portrait of a man contemplating a Jackson-Pollack-like painting.   I can see something of me in this painting.  And that might be what makes Rockwell so enthralling; that we can see something of our collective selves in his work.

Book twenty: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan.

I read Salon.com's book reviews regularly and they frequently influence my choice of books.  With a recent headline that read, "Gay Young Adult Fiction Hits the Mainstream" I had to at least consider the book under discussion. Particularly since the review noted that Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan is the first gay-themed novel to make it onto the New York Times children's best seller list and, "is rapidly becoming the Twilight of queer lit."  I'm not even a Twilight fan but that's still an intriguing idea, although a little misleading since this book is about normal teenagers with no supernatural characteristics.

The book tells the story of two high school students (one gay, one straight) who share the name Will Grayson.  They attend different high schools but through a series of unlikely events end up meeting each other in a most unexpected way.  Soon they and their friends are intermingling and their stories come together in ways as outlandish and yet beliveable as an Armistead Maupin plot.

Sometimes I don't like books written in first person.  But this book uses the device so ingeniously, I can't image it written any other way.  With two writers, each writing one of the Wills, the voice of the characters is so different, so personal, that you can't help but grow to care about them.  And since alternating chapters are voiced by a different Will Grayson, you discover how key moments in the book affect each Will differently.

The writing is crisp and charming.  The characters come to life as modern teenagers thanks to some ingenious writing techniques.  Gay Will's chapters are written with no capitalization and with dialogue that reads more like an IM stream than traditional written conversation.  And while that  should be annoying, it works brilliantly.  


Another thing to like about this book is the supporting cast.  Even minor characters are written with care.  Take the parents; gay Will's single mom and straight Will's cancer-fighting parents are perfectly balanced.  They're out of touch enough to allow plenty of teenage eye rolling.  And yet they're loving enough to know when to step in and say just the right thing.


Then there's Tiny Cooper, the massive football-playing, show-tune-loving gay friend of straight Will.  He's a lover not a hater as evidenced by his endless stream of boyfriends.  And he's writing, directing, choreographing, and starring in the high school's musical production of Tiny Dancer: The Tiny Cooper Story.  There are a number of delightful lyrics from the show like when Tiny's eighteen ex-boyfriends enumerate their reasons for dropping him:


ex-boyfriend 1: you're too clingy
ex-boyfriend 2: you're too singy
ex-boyfriend 3: you're so massive
ex-boyfriend 4: i'm too passive
ex-boyfriend 5: i'd rather be friends
ex-boyfriend 6: i don't date tight ends
. . . and so on.


Sure the ending of this book is overworked and a slight disappointment, particularly after such a rewarding read.  (It also feels suspiciously reminiscent of the ending of another mainstream, gay-themed entertainment; In and Out starring Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck.)  But that can't bring down this charming story that proves love and friendship are alive and well among all those brooding teens.  I highly recommend Will Grayson, Will Grayson. And I'd pay top dollar for front-row seats to Tiny Dancer.

Book nineteen: Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Is it just me, or are vampires and werewolves battling it out everywhere these days.  There's the Twilight franchise.  True Blood has vampires fighting it out with werewolves.  And this summer ABC launched The Gates, TV's newest entry into the vampires vs. werewolves legacy.  In fact, the whole story line has become a cliche.  So if you're looking for something different in a supernatural thriller, you might want to consider Danielle Trussoni's Angelology.  No vampires or werewolves here.  This story is all about evil angels.

This isn't a book that would generally interest me.  I chose it because it got good reviews from some of my most trusted sources.  For example, NPR called it "fast paced" and asked if it is "the next Da Vinci Code."  Now maybe I should have realized that my definition of a page turner, and NPR's definition of page turner might be two different definitions.  Angelology is far from fast paced.  The first two-thirds of this book are drudgery with long, overwritten passages that will tell you loads and loads more than you ever wanted to know about the "real" history of angels, complete with fictional footnotes.  And if there's one thing that bugs me, it's a big, long book where the author still feels the need to provide additional insight through the use of invented footnotes. At other times, Angelology swirves dangerously close to romance novel territory, with language that revels in the romantic notions of angels and what it might be like to sleep with one.

With all my whining out of the way, I'll talk about what I liked in Angelology.  There's a lot to like, particularly if like supernatural thrillers. As you get closer to the end of the book, the writing tightens, the plot gets more exciting, and suddenly you don't want to put the book down.  In those moments, this book lives up to the reviews that suggest it's a great summer thriller.  Unfortunately those moments are too far and in between for me to give Angelology a better review.

Book eighteen: The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist is a story about a middle-aged polygamist who's struggling with life. And why shouldn't he, with four wives, three households, and so many kids he has to chant their names to remember them.  In an attempt to make ends meet, he's also taken a construction job building a brothel in a remote Nevada town, where he falls for the brothel owner's wife. 
 
There are moments in The Lonely Polygamist that are brilliant for their succinctness; for their ability to take disparate story lines and distill them into one sharp statement that both resolves and drives forward the plot.  Like the moment when  the polygamist, Golden Richards realizes, "He was a man with a crush on a prostitute, a condom in his wallet, and gum in his pubic hair-what could it all mean?" In that line, three unexpected stories converge and resolve. At the same time, the statement seems to launch new stories, pulling the reader into the book.
 
Udall is brilliant at writing characters.  I loved Rusty, Golden's 11-year-old son who just can't keep out of trouble; he's one of the best written characters I've read in a long time.  And when paired with June, a once-exiled polygamist boy who is now grown and building his own bunker, the story takes a brilliant turn that is both humorous and tragic.
 
This book also serves up interesting literary themes.  Take windows.  There are several moments in the book where characters interact with windows.  And those windows ask the characters to balance the potential of where they want to be with being trapped or held back. Those elements made the story more personal. Maybe that's what I liked most about this book: its ability to weave stories into a tale that somehow makes polygamy relevant to my life and the choices I make. At 600 pages this is a big book.  But don't be afraid of the length because it never feels long.  I was sad when it ended.