So read the message inside the very first Timothy Jay Candle I ever had the pleasure of burning. Its fragrance was called “High Tea.” I loved it so much that it began a love affair with Timothy Jay candles that has lasted for many years.

Timothy Jay Candles is a wonderful boutique here in West Hollywood, opened by my dear friend Tim Sullivan. Not only does he sell his own line of the very best fragrance candles in the world, but his private label clientele reads like a who’s who of Hollywood, New York, and beyond. Diana Ross, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Seacrest, The Beverly Hills Hotel, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany, Ritz Carlton Hotels and many, many more all love and use his candles. Many of them have asked him to design unique boxes and even fragrances for them to give away and/or sell.

Why are Tim’s candles so popular? Simple. They are the best! Tim uses a proprietary blend of waxes along with the very best fragrances that have been painstakingly designed by him. Each candles is poured by hand, cleaned by hand, and carefully packaged by hand by Tim and an expert team of artisans.  Believe it or not, Tim and his team turn out tens of thousands of candles every year.

Timothy Jay has become not only an institution, but a true example of a successful small business that will always give back to the community in which it thrives. Even through the toughest of times, Tim has always been there to give jobs to those who have needed them. Because of his kind spirit, his shop has become a community center of sorts, bringing all kinds of people together – from established celebrities to young people eager to make their mark on the world. People meet there everyday to hang out, to talk, to have a cup of coffee, and to get busy tying ribbons on candle boxes.

Tim recently rolled out the e-commerce section of his website, enabling people from around the world to buy his candles online. Please take a look, and buy a couple of candles for you and your loved ones. They are amazing, and I guarantee you will order again and again.

My personal favorites: Pacific Grapefruit, Wildflowers, Perfect Gardenia, and of course, High Tea.

Meet Tim below and see how his candles are poured!

A few years back, when I was a budding young film student, technology was not what it is today. In order to edit video on a computer, you needed an AVID, or something similar, which consisted of about the biggest Macintosh tower you could buy along with what amounted to another computer that was just the AVID hardware. The AVID components were additional processors, memory cards, video cards, and a bunch of other things I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Retail on a system like this was, I believe, minimum $60,000. And that didn’t even include the hard drives, video tape machines, sound system, monitors, and on and on.

About two years later, however, things started to change. Computers began to get so powerful that we no longer needed all that expensive hardware to store and edit video. Software-based systems with lots of RAM became accessible to the average individual. The “PRO-sumer” grade video camera was born – which offered rather striking high-quality video at a fraction of the cost of a traditional broadcast television camera.

And then came the very collegiate debate… Available technology would soon give everyone the opportunity to become motion picture and video artists. But should everyone have the opportunity to be an artist? Or would access to affordable, powerful technology overrun us with an endless supply of “bad” or “self-indulgent” video art?

I have always maintained that the advancement of technology is a wonderful thing. And if people are compelled to shoot a video and edit it and display it for all the world to see, then they should go for it! Listen, elitists will always be elitists, and they will have their reasons for excluding people from their little clubs. Hollywood has shown time and again that just because you have access to tons of money and the newest and fanciest tools, doesn’t necessarily mean that you that you have good taste or even the ability to produce something worth watching.

So why not celebrate the fact that the latest technology has given anyone who has a couple of thousand dollars lying around the ability to make something fun and eye catching? I think it’s great, and I also think it’s fabulous that the internet has provided a means for people to distribute their work easily and basically for free.

Keep the creativity coming!

Here’s the back story… Years ago, when I was really just a gay-in-training, I developed a healthy fascination with Paula Abdul. This was during the Forever Your Girl era. I loved her. I thought she’d hung the moon. My Mom even got me a VHS compilation of her videos, and I resigned myself to learning all of Paula’s dance steps by slowly tracking through the videos frame by frame. Please don’t tell anyone, though. I don’t want to get a reputation.

But back then, I was so brought down that this particular compilation did not contain the “Opposites Attract” video…

You see, at the time, my parents didn’t have cable, so I could only see the video in glimpses at friends’ houses where there was MTV. And I thought the “Opposites Attract” video was only the coolest thing… EVER!

I begged and begged my parents to get us MTV, which of course they would hear no part of. Finally, my Dad set out on a mission to get me a copy of the video. Well, it was more of an “I’m going to write a letter to Paula” moment, as opposed to a mission, but I digress.

Anyway, unbeknownst to me, he sent a letter off to Paula and then, as one does, subsequently developed a friendship with key members of “Team Abdul.” One day, he came home from the office carrying a large, padded envelope, which he handed to me.

“I think this is for you,” he said.

So, I opened up the package to find a copy of the “Opposites Attract” video, along with the above autographed picture from Paula. I almost fainted. Then, I read what Paula had written on the picture.

“Keep dancing?” I asked. “Why did she write ‘Keep dancing’!?”

“Well, I may have told her manager that you inch through her videos frame by frame…”

“WHAT!? You told her manager that!? Now Paula’s gonna think I’m weird! Oh my God!”

He started laughing. “Will you just put the tape in the VCR so we can see what all the fuss is about?”

And yes, after a couple of years, I’d worn that tape out, too.

But now, I feel compelled to point out some things I have noticed recently.

First, Rachel Maddow is amazing.   Hers is one of the only news broadcasts that actually disseminates real, legitimate news in a reasonable way.  No grandstanding, no screaming at the camera, no accusing the Obama administration, without factual basis, of being both Marxist and fascist at the same time.  Rachel still considers both sides of an issue and allows for intelligent discussion of that issue among intelligent, well-informed parties.

Second.  Tiger Woods.  Here’s a question.  Who cares!?  And if you care, why do you care?  Whatever is going on in his personal life is a private issue between him, his wife, and the long line of other women who see fit to confront him with lewd text messages they have saved for years. Tiger plays golf for a living.  His life and career, while nice and I am sure productive on some level, do not truly affect most of us at all.  Unless, of course, your last name is Woods.  Or Nike.  So why on earth are we still talking about this man’s personal life?  It’s the same story over and over again, different day.

Third.  Adam Lambert.  Let’s call a spade a spade.  The people who were and apparently still ARE upset by him and his American Music Awards performance need to a) realize that they are plain old homophobic, and then b) get a life.  This is another story that won’t die, and it makes no sense to me.  I personally don’t find him that spectacular or even that innovative.  He didn’t WIN American Idol.  And the sad truth is he has done nothing new.  Even this picture of him on the AMA’s grinding that male dancer’s face in his crotch is nothing new.

Madonna, Prince, hell even Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul were doing things that I found far more shocking and thought-provoking 20 years ago.  The difference was that their performances did not involve simulated sex between two men.   Two women are fine, though, I guess.

Look at this.  Below is an image of Madonna from 1990 with her dancer’s head up her dress.  Yes, folks. 1990.  And this performance was not only celebrated when it first aired, but it then went into heavy rotation on MTV … during the daytime.

And here are some images from Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted” music video from way back in 1989.  Yes, the same Paula Abdul who used to be a judge on American Idol.  Here she is with a male dancer lying between her legs.

Here’s a shot of two dancers from Paula’s video, which she choreographed, by the way…

And, just in in case you haven’t had a chance to see the video in its entirety, here is one more shot of Paula doing what appears to be cobra pose with a male dancer.  It’s actually a pretty great video.  But as usual, I digress.

Back in 1989, “Cold Hearted” was number 1 for WEEKS on MTV and was played in heavy rotation during the daytime.  I guess because it was an homage to Bob Fosse, it was considered more artistic and therefore OK for 12 year olds in 1989?  Not sure.

Fourth.  Sarah Palin?  Who is this woman, really?   And why do we keep sticking microphones in her face and letting her tell lies and half truths, frighten people, and generally damage our country with her ridiculous, self-serving, uninformed and polarizing opinions?  The reality is that she is simply not qualified to be discussing national health care, foreign policy, or the fiscal policies of the United States.  She resigned her post as governor of Alaska ostensibly to go on an extended book tour.  Really?  Aside from her complete lack of experience, do we really want to trust the opinions of a woman who would resign her post as governor to go on a book tour on a bus?  Check out this article from Depak Chopra. It is enlightening.

Look, the United States is fighting not one, but three wars now, simultaneously.  The young men and women of our armed forces continue to give their limbs and their lives for us everyday, with little or no fanfare.  Our system of health care is a mess.  Lobbyists are out of control.  The economy, while getting better, is still precarious.  Gay men and women are fighting for simple equal rights against ignorant, fearful people and the politicians who want to serve that ignorance.  These are the issues we should be working on.  Believe it or not, there are still serious people who can offer serious solutions.  Please, let’s we hear from them!  Enough of the grandstanding, enough of the smokescreens, enough of the religious zealotry that offers us nothing other than fear and heartache.

It is time to get real.

But, once again, I digress.

In building this website, I have gone through a good deal of my old work, pulling out boxes of DVD’s and old broadcast video masters to compile something that shows off what I have done over the years.  By doing so, I have taken so many trips down memory lane.  Different periods in my life.  Different places.  Different priorities.

I just took a look at this video below, which I produced with IFC at Sundance a few years ago, about Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, and I started to laugh.

What you don’t see in the video clip, because he really didn’t give anyone a great sound bite that day, was Robert Redford’s stroll down the red carpet.  Matt Singer, who is one of the most fun on-camera personalities I’ve ever had the joy of working with, was hosting and doing many of the interviews that year.  He’d never really been thrust into a situation quite like Sundance before, and sometimes red carpet situations can get a little, um, violent – for lack of a better word.

And so, when Mr. Redford, or “Bob” as Vice President Gore called him, made his well-timed glide down the red carpet, it quickly became clear that he was not going to give a series of interviews, stopping at every microphone individually as one typically does on a red carpet.  Instead, he decided to stand back and give a clearly-scripted-but-meant-to-appear-sort-of-off-the-cuff statement about his pride in this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  You know, canned stuff.

Of course, once everyone realized what was going on, there was a sudden frenzy to get microphones in front of Mr. Redford.  Our usually fearless host Matt was a little timid that day, as he hadn’t yet developed those kill or be killed red carpet instincts.  I, however, had.  And so, without much thought, I literally picked him up off the ground, and bracing his microphone arm up against my arm, forced him through the crowd of reporters like a battering ram.  I had no shame back then.

Matt Singer, IFC News

I do remember Mr. Redford looking at Matt’s IFC microphone and then into my eyes with a bit of disdain as he saw the plastic microphone cube hurdling toward his face.  And as I recall, Matt was even able to ask a relatively loaded and tough question during one of Mr. Redford’s dramatic pauses, which caused another disapproving stare.  But I, for one, was very proud of our intrepid host for his journalistic savvy.

The IFC crew had a lot of fun in those days, and I got to go to a lot of cool places with them.  I am grateful that I have gotten to work with such wonderful, caring, and talented people over the years and that I get to look back with happy memories at what we produced.

But ours was not to The Sound of Music.  Oh no.  Ours was to Janet Jackson.  Yes, that Miss Jackson if you’re nasty.  And not just any Janet Jackson songs.  “Rhythm Nation” and “Miss You Much.”

My initial reaction was, “Are you crazy!?  There is no way on God’s green earth that I would, in a public place and on video, attempt these dances!”  I mean, please take a good look at these video snippets and try to do just a couple of these moves.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

All done?  Great!  Anyway, with a little prodding, I got to thinking.  How many times in my life would I ever get to be involved in something like this, especially with my best friends?  And so, thinking of how much fun this crazy event would be, I changed my mind and jumped in like a lunatic.  To make things easier, the choreographers emailed us some videos like the one below so we could learn the dances before the rehearsals.  Oh yes, there were numerous rehearsals.  This was no joke.

While it’s true that they really simplified these routines for us, pulling this off was still very challenging for us non-dancers.  Trust me, I practiced a lot in my den.  My neighbors still have a resentment!  But I digress.  Here are some photos from rehearsals.

Then of course, we showed up at the Grove to put the whole thing together. Here is the first performance, which I think was meant to be more a dry run.

After lunch, we all gathered back about two hours later to do another one. And this time Janet showed up to cheer us on! She actually came to watch our second performance, where, as you’ll notice, there were a lot more people.

You can also see her in the video looking down at the whole thing from a balcony just above us.

This morning, I am left with the memory of that amazing event.  We worked hard to be a part of something I don’t think any of us will ever forget, and we did it for no other reason than to have fun and get to spend some time with each other.  Oliver is leaving to head back to London in a little over a week, and I will miss him much.  Some people may have Paris, but we will always have The Grove.

Well, now she has a new song called “Bad Romance” and a new video to go with it, and I am straight up OBSESSED.  The plot line of the video as Lady GaGa explained to MTV News: “There’s this one shot in the video where I get kidnapped by supermodels. I’m washing away my sins and they shove vodka down my throat to drug me up before they sell me off to the Russian mafia.”  Beyond.

Where did she come up with the look of the video?  Her very own creative team, which just happens to be called Haus of GaGa.  Natch.

What do you think?  Should I get a creative team and call them Atelier Capozzi?  A thought for another time, perhaps.

In the meantime, take a look at the video:

Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard on the production, and my thanks also to Josh Cohen at tubefilter for this article.

Here is Episode 1:

And here is Episode 2:

You can also check out 13 Minutes in 3D! Just go to our website: 13MinutestoMidnight.com…

Onstage meltdown – check
Possible pregnancy – check
Train wreck of a show – check

Quite a tale!

Pretty incredible, right?

The thing is I have always liked Kylie, but I’ve never really been a die hard fan.  A Kylie gay, if you will.  My friend Oliver, however, is absolutely a Kylie gay.  He, his friend Davinia, my friend Brady and I all went together.  But I digress.

Kylie’s show was amazing, and her stage presence was undeniable.  While she was without a doubt a powerful presence and force to be reckoned with even in front of over 17,000 people, she was at the same time humble, grateful, and clearly in awe of her surroundings.

She knew her audience, too, which was the largest assembly of gay men I have seen outside of a gay pride parade.  I think there may have been 10 women there.  Total.

At one point, there were male dancers in Speedos taking showers onstage, and then they assembled beneath her so that she could walk on their hands.  Notice the shower on the right…

The show itself was an incredible spectacle of light, sound, costume, video, theatrics and general innovation.  The word ‘thrilling’ comes to mind.

Still, Kylie never once pretended to be anything she is not.  For the dance routines, her songs were layered with backing tracks for her to sing over.  And at times she would stop singing and yell, “Los Angeles!” or even talk over the music, engaging the audience, sure, but also letting us know that she knows exactly who she is.  She, like us, was there to have a great time.

But for me what truly set her apart from the pack was that she could actually have fun and be spontaneous with the audience.  She could literally step out of the routine, have an impromptu moment with the crowd and walk right back into the performance without missing a beat.

And so I left The Hollywood Bowl a huge Kylie fan.  She won me over.  I loved all her songs, and the staging was beyond.  I left there a happier, more hopeful and joyous Peter, which is, I think, how you know you’ve just seen a true superstar.