Josh & Josh are Rich and Famous

BOOK TALK: Why My Boyfriend Hates Kathy Griffin's New Book*, Plus Jhumpa Lahiri, Tom Dolby & Jeannette Walls

JUST FINISHED: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Short stories aren't necessarily my primary literary love (though I do worship the stories of Lorrie Moore and Amy Hempel), but Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant Unaccustomed Earth is joining my brief list of favorite short story collections. Each of Lahiri's story in this collection is rich, vivid, and elegant. Lahiri may be writing primarily about the experiences of Indian American (or Indian) people as they navigate life in the United States, but the stories are individually so compelling, tightly composed and fully realized that each arc seems almost universal, transcendent. And, indeed, perhaps they are: stories of a parent's love for a child, a child's complicated love for a parent, marriage, divorce, step-families, and, in the end, finding a place of one's own in a sometimes dauntingly complicated world. I read the final pages of the book on the shuttle to IKEA Brooklyn and the ending of that last story took me by such breathless surprise that I cried right there on the shuttle, public be damned. A bit embarrassing, perhaps, but an authentic response to the conclusion of a great book. Recommended.

NOW READING: Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin

I'm a third of the way into Kathy Griffin's new book Official Book Club Selection, and I've realized I have to be careful where I read it as I've been laughing out loud through most of it. Kathy (and her co-writer) have done a great job of capturing her distinctive, salty voice and covering familiar Kathy territory, while introducing us to personal, private stories from Kathy's life that most of us likely didn't know.

Beyond the generous servings of celebrity dish and comic anecdotes, Kathy digs into serious subject matter, including Chapter Four where she talks in no uncertain terms about her oldest brother, Kenny, who was a sexual predator with whom she had a very difficult relationship. Without giving away too many details, I'll say that I cried on page 49, for example, which is something I hadn't expected to do while reading Official Book Club Selection. But perhaps, in the end, that's part of Kathy's genius: she keeps doing the unexpected and takes us by surprise, in doing so, keeps her audience's rapt attention squarely focused. To have readers laughing and then getting emotional in the spate of a mere few pages is truly a talent.

My boyfriend, however? I think he's a bit annoyed with Kathy and her book--but not because he doesn't love her (he does--we've spent many an hour on the sofa together watching her Bravo series My Life on the D List). However, last night we were reading by each other and I kept laughing intermittently and he'd ask, "What? What happened?" And I kept trying to explain, but the context was never enough, and it kept happening, so I've decided I should probably just finish the book on the plane to Minneapolis tomorrow so as not to torture him further. (I'm sure he'll devour the book before I can get it back on the bookshelf when I'm done.)

Recommended. (In hardcover, but only $15 on Amazon--barely more than trade paper pricing.)

NEW ON MY BOOKSHELF: Jeannette Walls's Half Broke Horses, (her second book after her smash hit bestselling memoir, The Glass Castle), which I sneakily procured pre-release through a friend in publishing (thanks TL), and our friend Tom Dolby's new book, Secret Society. (Congrats, Tom!)

--Josh H.

Grooming Day! The Pup's Dramatic Before & After Pics

I've wanted a dog all my life. From the moment that I could say the word "dog" I vehemently requested that our household become avec chien.

Alas, no luck.

That is, of course, until this year when I fell in love with a lovely man who happened to come with a dog. It was a pretty amazing package deal: great guy, adorable dog. I mean, what else could a guy want, right?

Butter, the 22-pound Border Terrier mix, a Katrina rescue who just turned four, leaped into my lap and-- sap alert--into my dog lovin' heart as well.

Butter just got groomed today, so I thought that I would share the very first dog pictures with you.

Amazing difference, right? Dogs don't need Botox--they just get one little haircut and it takes half their age off. He looks like a puppy again.

It's love.

--Josh H.

Josh & Josh Do The US Open (Plus: Exclusive Video of Serena Williams Losing the Semifinals After Sassing a Line Judge)

When Josh and I got to the US Open all the games were being held because of the rain. We were holding out for the big show, the 8 p.m. game between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters. We waited, but we wondered if we'd get to see any tennis at all.

One of Josh K's friends hooked us up with box seats for the game, so while we waited for the rain to pass we stuffed our faces with catered cookies, hot dogs, chocolates and diet soda. Honestly, it's not the worst way to have to wait out the rain. Secretly I think we would have considered the night a success even if we hadn't seen the game. But . . .

Then the rain finally slowed and a synchronized team of guys with blowers started drying off the court. It looked like we'd see some tennis after all.

We were happy Joshes. (Josh H, left; Josh K, right)

Finally: the game.

Okay, fine, and a little celebrity watching, too. 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin sat nearby. Love him.

But all eyes were on the court as a minor tennis scandal rocked the US Open when Serena Williams lost the game on match point because she ran her mouth at a line judge. . . .

* * *

OUR EXCLUSIVE VIDEO Last night Serena Williams played Kim Clijsters in the semifinals of the US Open. It was an exciting, suspense-filled neck-in-neck game, riddled with sloppy playing by Serena, who threw her racket onto the court and busted it when she lost the first set (and earned a warning from the judges for her behavior).

Clijsters, who is 26 and only recently back playing tennis since she had a child 18 months ago, continued neck-in-neck play into the end of the second set. When it became match point, a line judge called Serena on a foot fault (which actually was a bad call and later determined to be inaccurate). However, instead of calmly asking for a review of the call, Serena lost it.

From our seats we could only see Serena getting up into the face of the line judge, waving the ball at the judge and looking ready for an all-out brawl, but The New York Times reports Serena yelled "you don't f**king know who I am" and threatened to shove the tennis ball down the judge's throat.

What's so interesting about the sport of tennis is that it's still a rather polite, gentlemanly (or in this case, ladylike) sport. The crowd began booing as soon as Serena lost her cool and continued to as her poor sportsmanship kept playing out on the court. If it were a hockey game the crowd would have been loving it; in a tennis match, the crowd won't abide by that kind of behavior.

VIDEO PLAY-BY-PLAY As the video begins Serena has just finished bawling out at the line judge from a few feet away, yelling "you don't f**king know who I am" and threatening to shove the ball down the line judge's throat (according to the NYT).

As the video begins the line judge approaches chair umpire Louise Engzell to explain what's going on. At 0:10 Serena also  marches up to the conferring line judge and chair umpire and continues the altercation, her face contorted. The tournament referee, Brian Earley, joins in the discussion at 0:20 and at about 0:55 Serena is officially issued a code violation point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. As it was match point at the end of the second set, that means Serena has lost the US Open Women's Semifinals.

At 1:05 Serena walks over to a confused Kim Clijsters, who hasn't been able to hear what's been going on from her side of the court, and Serena shakes her hand at 1:18. The match is over. The crowd is somewhat stunned by this finish to the exciting, suspenseful 91-minute game. It all didn't have to end like this if Serena hadn't lost her cool. Serena packs up her things at 1:38 and heads off the court at 2:00 as booing is still heard from the crowd.

PEREZ POST SCRIPT Our Serena video ended up on Perez Hilton! Crazy! It's the second time in a week that we've been on Perez after our Kathy Griffin post landed us on the site, too. Who knew?

--Josh H.

Josh & Josh Do Copenhagen

This summer Josh and I went on assignment for Passport magazine to Copenhagen, Denmark. Here are a few of the pictures from our adventures abroad.

Our plane to Copenhagen (above), on which we flew ...

... business class! 

Josh K. (left) and Josh H. (right) enjoying one of the many public squares on a pedestrian-friendly series of streets aptly named Stroget (pronounced "stroll" in Danish).

Nighttime in Copenhagen.

Ridebane, Christiansborg Slot.

A rainy day on Stroget.

Bikes are the preferred method of transportation for the locals. 

Josh H. (left) and Josh K. (right) catch a screening of Milk in Orsteds-Parken.

7 Eleven convenience stores on every corner.

Nyhavn.

Kongens Nytorv.

Kongens Nytorv.

Frederiksholms Kanal.

A couple canoodles at the gay pride booths.

Hanging out on the Frederiksholms Kanal.

Photos by Josh K. | Copenhagen, July 2009.

Kathy Griffin Isn't on the D-List Anymore. (We Have Proof.)

When Josh and I heard that Kathy Griffin was going to be at the Barnes & Noble in Tribeca tonight, promoting her new book Official Book Club Selection, we didn't even really have a conversation about it. We just knew we were going. Period.

Over the last four years Josh and I have been to scores of readings, and by now we have it down to a science: Get there half an hour early if it's a lesser-known person; get there an hour early if it's a relatively famous person and plop down jackets or bags if your friend(s) are late. If you want to be really safe--or if you're anticipating a lot of interest--maybe even go two hours ahead.

Tonight, though, we both had stuff to do  and  couldn't meet before 6 p.m. in Tribeca for the 7 p.m. event. We dutifully showed up an hour early, assuming we might have a crappy seat near the back, but at least we'd see her Royal Vagesty in person and get our no-holds-barred infusion of Kathyness.

Oh. Oh ho.

Oh no, child. Not even.

Ready for this?

No, seriously.

First of all, if you wanted to see Kathy Griffin at all, you were required to purchase a copy of her book, ringing in at a nice hardcover hefty $25. That was the first surprise. And it was a surprise because, in all of the readings we've ever been to, there has never once been one where book purchases were required.

Second, once you purchased a book, you were issued a wristband in varying colors. Certain colors guaranteed seating; others connoted standing-room only. If you were late to the game there were none to be had at all. (Wristbands? For a reading?)

And the game, my friends, started early: Kathy fans started lining up at 6 a.m. for the right to buy her book, get a wristband, and camp out in a maze of velvet rope penned-off waiting lines that rivaled anything I've seen before in New York (or Disney Land--seriously) before getting a non-personalized signature from Hers Truly.

Altogether nearly 1,000 fans (a thousand!) showed up at Barnes & Noble Tribeca for Kathy.

Just for perspective, an average reading by a lesser-known author might have 30-50 people in attendance (often many of which are friends, family, and/or publishing/PR folk). You can fill the seats for Dan Savage; you can go into overflow and standing for Augusten Burroughs, and over-overflow for a Nobel Prize winner like Toni Morrison.

But a thousand people? That was new. It's easily more people than the crowd at the last six readings we've been to all put together.

The seriously bad news for hoi polloi? If you didn't buy a book and get in line with the hundreds and hundreds of waiting fans, you wouldn't get a chance to even glimpse Kathy. The velvet ropes had been set up so that nobody could see Kathy unless they were getting books signed. Those at the end of the signing line couldn't even hear her as she addressed the crowd. They just stood near the B&N Cafe, shuffling their weight from leg to leg in their respective winding cattle lines, waiting to get their books signed.

On top of that, getting your book signed wasn't even guaranteed (but they did promise to really try).

All of that didn't stop Josh and I from strategically camping out near a pile of new fiction selections not terribly far from the event area, where we heard everything, even though we couldn't see Kathy (which was a strange phenomenon all on its own--she's just right around that corner, but you can't see her).

And, alas, Ms. Griffin spoke to her crowd of many (emphasis on many) for a mere ten minutes so she would have time to sign as many books as possible. During that time, she didn't read a single sentence from the book.

Then again, she didn't have to: Everybody already had the damn book.

So.

All of that said, do we love Kathy Griffin? To bits and pieces. Would we shell out cash for another of her stand-up shows at Madison Square Garden, or anywhere else? Without question. Worth every penny.

But wow, Kathy, can we talk? Honey, you're not D-list anymore. You're now officially on the A-list.

* * *

KATHY GRIFFIN HAS A BOYFRIEND FOR YOU

If you're single and ready to mingle, a Kathy Griffin book signing is apparently better than speed dating or match.com to put you in a giant pool of dating options. There was every shape, size, style, and flavor of gay present tonight at the bookstore.  Deep v-cut shirts, scarves, shoulder bags, bulging biceps, strategically bared triceps, snug jeans, plastic-framed eyeglasses, and every other variation spanned as far as the eye could see. There were a smattering of ladies as well, and some heterosexual male stragglers (welcome, guys!), but there were gays o' plenty, as I'm sure nobody is surprised to hear. So if Kathy is coming to your town, get thee to a B&N. The fruit is low-hanging and ripe for the plucking. Have at it.

FOR THE RECESSIONISTAS AMONG US

Kathy's book Official Book Club Selection--which looks pretty great from what we saw in flipping through it--is available for $15 on Amazon. That's a nice way to chop ten bucks off bookshelf price, no?

(And our two cents? Use the ten spot you saved on the book to buy a drink for your new boyfriend that you meet at the reading. You can thank us later.)

**UPDATE: KATHY SHARES THE JOSH & JOSH LOVE ON FACEBOOK

Whoa! Kathy posted a link to this blog post on her official Facebook page!

What can we say? We're honored. This is us sending Kathy a big Josh & Josh smooch.

P.S.

Like the new header? It's a Josh K. original, the first new one in a long time. Are you loving it? Cuz I'm loving it. It made me have banner nostalgia earlier today and I had to flip through our banner archives (on your left) and reminisce.

--Josh H.