Who? What?

“Living and ceasing to live are imaginary solutions.
Existence is elsewhere.”

–ANDRE BRETON

I live in Chicago. I’m gay. My favorite film is True Stories. I write about movies. A lot. In addition to writing about them here you’ll also find my stuff at Chicagoist. I have also written for publications such as Reel Chicago and the Chicago Reader. I’m a regular contributor to CINE-FILE.

My book Queue Tips: Discovering Your Next Great Movie was published by Huron Street Press in 2012.

I like books. I like cocktails. I like music.

BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

1975: born on August 22nd at St. Rose Memorial Hospital, Denver

1977: my parents divorce; my mother remarries

1978: we move to Albuquerque

1979: my brother is born

1983: we move to Arvada, Colorado

1984: transfer into a pilot program for gifted & talented children called CHIPS at Sierra Elementary School

1987: diagnosed with a brain tumor, which is successfully removed in a 12-hour operation at Children’s Hospital, Denver; start 7th grade at Drake Junior High

1988: write/direct first video narrative, The Man Who Knew Too Much

1989: write/direct first feature-length video, Desperation

1990: start 9th grade at Arvada West High

1991: appear onstage in Ah! Wilderness, Eugene O’Neill’s worst play

1992: lose virginity; write/direct video adaptation of  The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco

1993: graduate valedictorian without a scholarship; start at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

1994: move into my first apartment, with roommate Dylan Lorenz; transfer to Columbia College, Chicago; begin shooting 16mm feature Pause of the Clock, which remains unfinished

1995: begin coming out to friends and family; perform lead role in experimental feature Narrow, directed by Tchavdar Gueorguiev

1996: write travel-memoir Scenery

1997: graduate without a major from Columbia College; spend 6 weeks living in London

1998: begin working as a barista at Intelligentsia Coffee

1999: move to L.A. to edit the documentary Kosher Messiah, only to realize I hate L.A.; move back to Chicago six months later

2000: meet Andy in a gay.com chatroom; we both break up with our current boyfriends to be together; start blogging

2001: on 9/11 we see Laurie Anderson in concert at Park West

2002: Andy and I move in together; I quit Intelligentsia and flounder for several months before finding work at a non-profit

2003: my book 100 Spinning Plates is published, article about it appears in the Chicago Reader

2004: buy Andy an iPod for Xmas

2005: buy myself an iPod; sell 100SP at Renegade Craft Fair

2006: read in Portland, Oregon in support of 100SP; finish draft of new novel, Tiny Apocalypse; begin contributing DVD reviews to brianbacklash and film/TV posts to Chicagoist

2007: writing, watching movies, perfecting my mixology skills; visit London; cover the Chicago International Film Festival for Chicagoist; begin 3 Things About 500 Movies project; sell out first edition of 100 Spinning Plates

2008: interview Bob Balaban, Barry Gifford for Chicagoist; quit non-profit job for a position at the ALA; visit NYC; begin contributing to CINE-FILE

2009: continue various film writing; interview Nathan Rabin, Wallace Shawn; dining guide to Chicago appears in American Libraries; get a guided tour of Chicago from Barry Gifford; begin working at ALA Editions; see Grace Jones at the Hollywood Bowl and Leonard Cohen in Chicago; tour North Shore distillery

2010: interview Christian Friedel, Eva Marie Saint, Gabe Klinger; become a member of the Queer Film Society; serve as features/documentaries programmer for the 29th Reeling Film Festival; write introduction to the young adult edition of Sad Stories of the Death of Kings, by Barry Gifford

2011: interview Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Alan Arkin, Marty Rubin, Jeffrey Brown, Jason Adasiewicz; introduce a screening of Cold Turkey at Doc Films the night before the Groundhog Day Blizzard; profile the demise of Chicago’s Trader Vic’s; travel to San Diego, New Orleans, Portland

2012: travel to Dallas, Philadelphia, Dublin, Paris, New York, San Francisco; interview Greg Allen, Tippi Hedren, Andrew Davis; Queue Tips: Discovering Your Next Great Movie is published; appear on WTTW-TV’s Chicago Tonight