Josh & Josh are Rich and Famous

A Very Special Message from RuPaul

Josh and I have been big RuPaul fans for many years. We're so excited about the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, premiering on Logo this week, and we've been devouring copies of her new book Workin' It.

Knowing our lurv for Miss Ru, you can imagine our reaction when we found the video below in our Josh & Josh inbox, sent to us by her publicity guys.

We pretty much fell off our chairs, had a heart attack, and were resuscitated just in time to hyperventilate from giddy, disbelieving laughter. (Okay, maybe that's a little more than what actually transpired, but it's close.)

Check out the video in question (to which Josh K added that little end bit later, tech guru that he is) and perhaps you'll understand our reaction a little better.

OMFG, right?

Five Years of Josh & Josh Are Rich and Famous!

Five of the Josh & Josh banners (2005-2009), created by Josh K.

Today Josh and I are proud to celebrate five years of Josh & Josh Are Rich and Famous, and simultaneously, seven years as BFFs. (Lord, is that how long I've been stuck with you, Josh K? ;))

After more than 750 posts and 6,000 comments, and with millions of page views over the years, we're proud to still be doing our thing. We want to thank you, above all, for going on this little adventure with us.

Here we come, 2010! We're putting it into high gear this year.

All our best,

JH for J&J

Josh H Gets a Key West Spread in Passport Magazine

Whoa! If you get a chance, check out the February 2010 issue of Passport magazine, on newsstands now. I wrote a piece for them about great food in Key West, Florida, and I thought maybe it would be a sidebar or half-page piece. Instead, I got a spread. Crazy! But, without doubt, a welcome surprise.

Josh & Josh Move Into IKEA Brooklyn For A Day

Have you ever walked around an IKEA store and all of those cool model rooms and thought to yourself, "Wow, I kind of just want to move in here"?

Josh and I certainly have. So, for one day, we did. The photographic evidence:

And if a security guard comes up to ask you what you're doing setting up shop in the model rooms? Well, Josh K. certainly knows just what to tell them. You can say it all with just one little friendly gesture.

Nothing better than home sweet home, don't you think? Who cares if it's only for a day and you have to hijack it from a major multinational corporation? In the end it's really the sentiment that counts.

xo!

J&J

Out of Office AutoReply: Josh & Josh Are in Buenos Aires

Josh and I are on assignment in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from January 9-16. See you on the flip side. :)

Josh & Josh

The 21 Best Books I've Read In The Last Five Years

Everyone knows that the Joshes love books (and then some), and it's been a longstanding Josh & Josh tradition to release a list of our favorite books at the end of each year. This year, however, I wanted to put a new twist on an old favorite and do something a little different.

Since 2005 I've been keeping a list of every book I've read (I know, I know, go ahead and make fun), and by the end of 2009, I had a list of 105 books. That averages out to 21 books a year, so I decided to go through my list and pick my 21 favorites, thus creating a recipe for a perfect year of reading. It might not be realistic to make it through the whole list in 2010, but this list is a pretty ideal menu of tasty literary delights.

You really can't go wrong with any book on this list. I love each of these twenty-one books, and would read any of them a second time. (A few of them I've read a second or even third time over the years.)

So, without further ado, here's the list, five years in the making. I hope you find books here that you've already enjoyed, and I hope you find books here that you have yet to discover.

Another year of great reading begins!

(alphabetical by book title)

Atonement | Ian McEwan

Bean Trees | Barbara Kingsolver

Bright, Shiny Morning | James Frey

Call Me By Your Name | Andre Aciman

I Am Not Myself These Days | Josh Kilmer-Purcell

I Know This Much Is True | Wally Lamb

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell | Susanna Clarke

Matrimony | Joshua Henkin

Middlesex | Jeffrey Eugenides

She's Come Undone | Wally Lamb

Swish | Joel Derfner

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay | Michael Chabon

The Color Purple | Alice Walker

The Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood

The Hours | Michael Cunningham

The Prince of Tides | Pat Conroy

The Whole World Over | Julia Glass

Three Junes | Julia Glass

Unaccustomed Earth | Jhumpa Lahiri

Wicked | Gregory Maguire

Wonder Boys | Michael Chabon

--Josh H

Josh & Josh Do New Year's Eve in Times Square

This year Josh and I celebrated New Year's Eve in Times Square--well, at least in a friend's offices directly overlooking Times Square, near 43rd St. and Broadway.

A warm room, friends, flowing champagne, and a fourth-floor view? Yes, please.

The view was pretty amazing.

We were also directly above Ryan Seacrest's New Year's perch and caught this snap of him air kissing with Jennifer Lopez when she stopped by his open-air mini studio.

The crowd's anticipation heightened as 12 a.m. approached. Minutes before midnight we opened the office windows and the screaming roar of the crowd was almost deafening.

At midnight the confetti began . . .

. . . and seemed to never stop. Confetti whipped into the offices and swished around in our glasses of champagne. Now that's a real New Year's in Times Square, if you ask me.

A half an hour after the ball dropped the crowd was pretty much gone.

Josh and I had fun shooting a few pictures on the slick, empty streets of New York.

We walked the few blocks home to Hell's Kitchen . . .

. . . and into the New Year.