Brendan Pike: The GLAAD Media Awards

June 27, 2008

It's 2 a.m. and I just got back from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

I'm a 21-year-old filmmaker and photographer, and I'm currently an intern at Bravo Digital in LA. I spend a lot of time watching clips of Work Out --which isn't a bad gig -- but I have a real passion for shooting on location. Thankfully, this internship also consists of filming stuff like contestant bio videos, red carpets, and all sorts of behind-the-scenes coverage. There's an energy and buzz in the air that comes with this type of work, and I love chasing it.

The 19th annual GLAAD awards were held tonight, where Janet Jackson was honored with a Vanguard Award. Since Bravo is airing the show in June, I was all over it. (And for the record: I'm pretty sure that everyone just pretends to know what a Vanguard Award is -- I don't think that anyone actually does. Just smile and nod, raise both eyebrows and make your "impressed face.")

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Bryan Thompson: The Drive -In

October 26, 2007

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO BLOG.

My popcorn was fresh and my convertible was fly. Under twinkling stars fog gently rolled in and I got all snuggly on red leather waiting for the movie to start. Ahhhhh! This old fashioned Drive-In experience could only be happening in.... Manhattan's Lower East Side. You read right. The jam-packed city finally made room for a genuine Drive-In Theater. Well, sort of. There is one screen, one car and technically the whole thing's indoors. It is arty, it is kooky and I love it!

Readers of my Bravo! Design Blog know how much I adore rooting out mind-blowing designs and awesome ideas. This one is Genius. You just gotta see the little Drive-In hiding in plain sight on Norfolk Street.

I got a big kick out of watching people walk by the giant windows of this gallery space and then do double takes when the saw the red taillights. The crazy glowing orbs are on a 1960's-era Ford Falcon.
Roomy and comfy, it is the perfect car for this! It is surrounded by real trees, artificial stars and a vintage popcorn popper that still works.

The soft blue glow of the the dash lights and sprawling bench seat will make you want to snuggle up with someone in leather jacket (John Travolta in "Grease" anyone?) Or someone with a beehive hairdo (John Travolta in "Hairspray" maybe?). I love REAL vintage drive-in theaters. I wrote about them before. (see previous entry here)

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Bryan Thompson: You Need A Tattoo

October 18, 2007

My first and only experience with body art was back when I was a hyper six years old. At the time Patti LaBelle had a hit song about her "New Attitude."

I guess I wanted one too. So I got me a new "tatto-tude." I decided on polka-dots, so I could look just like a lady bug. I went in to my mom's purse, found a black marker and for the next hour and a half covered my entire body in little black specks.

When I was done I proudly marched out to the living room, stark naked and speckled from head to toe. By this point my poor mom had already been through a lot with my subversive creativity, but this prank was the last straw. She was not impressed with the art work. She screamed and then she scrubbed.

Boy, was I miserable in that bathtub, all pruny and raw and red. It took hours but the dots were finally gone and so was my desire to ever get a tattoo. All these years later, my cool and handsome younger brother Michael LOVES them. We are so different, me and him.

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Bryan Thompson: Amusement Park Design

October 08, 2007

Kids are adrenaline junkies. That's why I get along so well with them. I love the fact that my 5 year old niece Bailey adores amusement parks.

She's just like her Uncle that way. When she was a teensy 3 year old she climbed onto the Legoland Water Trampoline. She jumps up and down, she wipes out, then she just laughs, dusts herself off and did it all over again.

Now she wants the fastest and craziest rides they'll let her on. No Disneyland "Teacups" or "It's a Small World" For Her." We'll be on an honest to goodness rollercoaster and she'll wind up comforting me. It happened on Seaworld on the Atlantis Roller Coaster. When the ride broke mid-cycle leaving us hanging mid-air. Bailey just giggled as we held on and made up songs to pass the time. It was what my Mommalou did with me when she needed to distract me. It worked. Bailey never knew something was wrong with the ride. As soon as we got ourselves free she wanted to do it all over again. No way.

I wish she could have been with me when I went on my most recent trip to an Amusement Park. It was to Universal Studios. I went there solo and it was awesome. The "Back to the Future" ride was closing. But before it rode off into the sunset there was a special tour.

I made sure I got a ticket that allowed me unlimited front-of-the line access to the ride and a close-up look at all the movie sets from the "Back to the Future" movies parts one, two and three. I convinced the tour guide to let me "hang" from the clock tower just like Doc Brown did in the movie. By the time the park closed I had a stomach-ache from all the herky-jerky time travel in the flying Deloreans. I didn't care.

For kid friendly parks there are a lot more choices than Disney and Six Flags. Check out the amazing "Wannnado Land" in Florida.

It's a super well designed amusement park that lets kids pretend they're anything from astronauts to Broadway actors to Pizza Chefs. The rooms and sets are incredible. Someday, I want to design a "How to be a car designer"
ride for this park.

In my fantasy world as a renewed 6 year old, I'd stay at the Ramada Resort Karon Beach Phuket.

The fantasy rooms might be designed for kids, but I'd like to replicate the Space Room in my own house! Too bad it's on the other side of the globe in Thailand or I'd take Bailey this weekend. So here's to little kids like Bailey and big kids like my Mommalou who know how to keep a girl having fun!

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Bryan Thompson: Lost in Love.

August 29, 2007

I fell in love with my partner Dave at 80 mph. Literally. We were speeding down the 5 freeway on one of our first dates, headed south from San Diego on our way to Palm Springs. Giddy with new-relationship electricity, we hit the border of Mexico...and finally realized we had been driving the wrong way! We both laughed and had to admit that neither one of us had any sense of direction. "He's just like me," I thought and that's when it hit me that I'd like spend the rest of my days getting lost with him.

Years later, we're still in love but not nearly as lost. When cell-phone GPS came along, I praised the technology gods and went right out and bought us both the same model; a pink one for me and a grey one for him. Now I'm almost as attached to my pocket-pathfinder as I am to my man...and if we're on a road-trip, maybe a little more.

I'm a technology nut. I don't get people who shield themselves from it. If it makes life easier, I want it yesterday. So when Apple announced their new iPhone this summer I had to test it out....But boy was I let down. NO GPS! Don't get me wrong. (and please don't send me hate mail) The i-Phone really is a peek at the future; It changes everything and it's a step closer to the day when machines will behave more like helpful friends than clumsy tools. Mostly, it'sa kick in the pants to other companies to innovate or die. But without real-time GPS or Flash, it just doesn't live up to the hype...

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On The Scene: Sao Paulo, Part 2

February 09, 2007

After being exposed to a marathon of fashion shows and different takes on fall for over a week, it was hard to wake up on Saturday morning and head to Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo for more.

Luckily the only show I needed to attend was the cabaret performance put on by designers Dudu Bertholini and Rita Comparato for their buzzworthy womenswear label Neon, and that was at 6pm. I had the day to try to recover from all the parties and fashions, to stop by Osklen to do some shopping, and to consume as much caffeine as possible to keep my brain functioning. Because I am assuming most readers from this site are men, I am skipping any comments about the sequined swimsuit extravaganza created for Neon to the sound of "Unchain My Heart" (and the fact that I got to interview entertainer Bianca Exotica for Fashion TV after the show, which was the highlight of my day).

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On The Scene: Sao Paulo

February 02, 2007

My first day in Sao Paulo was a tough transition after the weekend in Rio: the fashion shows are held inside the Biennial building at Ibirapuera Park instead of the tents at Marina da Gloria with a view of the Sugar Loaf (and close proximity to the beach). The building is a much bigger version of the tents at Bryant Park in New York, and holds a media room filled with computers, three rooms for the shows, and several lounges sponsored by national magazines in which champagne and drinks float around all evening.

I skipped the first show in the morning and headed to Ibirapuera right after lunch in order to collect my credentials and to get used to the building. I had to attend the Tufi Duek show as two of my very best friends are the head designers of the brand, but the show I was really looking forward to was the 8 o'clock one for my favorite Brazilian label, Osklen.

Ellus

For fall 2007, Osklen followed the same formula from seasons past, which seems to always please its active and eco-friendly clientele. The parade of Amazon guardians sent out on the runway was dressed in washed and worn-out organic wool knits, fishskins, and taffeta windbreakers. The men's collection opened with model Alexis Vinas in long johns, and maintained a tapered leg throughout. Light camouflage short shorts were paired with printed red sweatshirts (the prints this season were inspired by tribal geometric motifs and feathers). The high top sneakers with velcro closures and a smart side zipper, which came in silver and gold, are destined to fly off the shelves as soon as they make their way to the stores. I will certainly be getting a pair.

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