Someone over at Dior thought Victoire de Castellane’s new flower and insect-heavy jewelry collection needed it’s own island inside Second Life. I made a visit, filmed it, and set it to Philip Glass, resulting in overly dramatic virtual home movie.

Despite barely having a handle on my real life, last night I joined Second Life, the online simulated world. After shopping at the adidas store, and lurking in the “gay forest” watching a winged bear bothering some deer, I ran into an author I once sat next to at a book signing, then somehow ended up at a pirate-themed bar chatting with a guy from SanFrancisco. Which, now that I think of it, is basically a normal day in my real life - even the winged bear part.

If you haven’t joined Second life I highly recommend it. It’s more fun than the standard online chat room. And it’s not a “game” so you’re not required to do anything.
(I know the hair is not a faithful rendering of my own, but I’m working on it.)

And online translation of their description of my appearance reads:

INTERVIEW - INTERIEURS OBSCENES: You never never tested a strange attraction for the decorations of films X or photographs of bottom amateur. You are not alone any more: Justin Jorgensen, a young Californian artist, hides the bodies stripped to propose these interiors banals or straightforwardly ugly. He then devotes to a criticism way “house and unslung decoration”. The whole is connected in charming a small work simply entitled: Obscene Interiors.

The Boo Boo Walker shirt is from GoApe.com and I wear mine all the time.
Upper Playground and Brian Flynn join to give you the boom box AT-AT at WeSoldOut.com.

The New VW Beetle AT-AT is from my Star Wars Designer Edition. (One of the oldest features of my site; it needs some fixing up, I know.)
And Bill McMullen merged a shell-toe Adidas with a walker and “ding” - it’s the AD-AT.

But they aren’t. It’s huge dust clouds sweeping up from the now-charred hill. It’s super windy today in Burbank and just as I was uploading this picture, a huge ficus cracked and toppled, nearly missing the patio of the seafood restaurant behind me. …Now the sirens start.

The latest version of Disney’s Tower of Terror attraction opened this past fall at their Tokyo Disney Sea park in Japan and the façade is frickin’ amazing. Like the other Towers of Terror it’s just under 200’ and features a free-fall attraction inside. But who cares about that – the exterior is the show. This top-heavy architectural mélange of Moorish, Gothic, and Victorian styling clearly appears to be the work of a wealthy eccentric, and it was, according to the attraction’s storyline.

The official attraction website is exhaustively elaborate but heavy on back-story. For photos, like the ones I stole above, see here and this site for tons more info and full video of the attraction and grounds.

Just for fun, I’ve put together a comparison of Tower of Terror attractions from around the world in descending order of aesthetic appeal.

My friend GJ has a one-hit-wonder step-dad, Frank, who he started filming a couple years ago because Frank uses coffee cans for a toilet and is generally a drunk. GJ’s Mother, Cindy, likes pills, functions as the thorn in Frank’s side, and wishes he’d record another hit. The resulting documentary, Frank and Cindy, is a hoot. (But I may be biased because I designed the poster.)

Watch This American Life on Showtime this Thursday and see GJ explain what happened after filming began. Visit FrankAndCindy.com for a preview and info about upcoming film festival screenings.