I can trace 99% of any feminine anxiety and PMS I have ever felt to the first day of nursery school at the Jewish Community Center, when shown my cubby hole for storage with my name on it and a bright red, blazin’ firetruck as its emblem. My first ever “WTF” coursed through my tiny brain and girlie parts. “This image is for a Boy!”

For sure, I liked the color red, the thing had a happy face, yet I was not yet into monster truck-worship and certainly the alarming issue had my artist sensibilities and synapses tranny-temper-tantruming a bird’s nest of gender confusion in my brain. Bravely,I declared myself a Heroic Firefighter and learned to love and embrace the “Otherness” and “Maleness” of it all. All this before I knew I was an Aries and a Fire sign – this was 1964 y’all and Susan Miller had not yet birthed AstrologyZone – I was on my own here in my pinafore and pain. So for me, being one of the boys began early, you’ll not find me ever being “girlie.” My Tomboy does cry massive boredom when trapped into spending hours discussing make-up, cremes, identifying with Sex and The City, shopping for sport or the worst, being called “Ladies” in a group E-mail.

Instead, my inner child Firefighter found L-wordish girl-power in the idea of being a Siren, all-knowing, singing and alluring men. I liked the symbol for the temptation embodied by smart women to delving into the mysteries of life. So what if it was a song to death, aren’t we all on our way anyway? I am happy to sing and conjure fire and maleness as Primal energy, the light and power of Men sparking, like the riddling Rumpelstiltskin of fairy tales, showing up with magic skills of weaving hay into gold. From nursery school to my modern male lovers and friends, let’s hear it for the Boys. The best boy friends are loyal, always funny, they are guaranteed to wake you up in the morning, give you a pet or porn name, share their toys and talismans with you and will move mountains for those they love. I am proud of My Guy Friends, because they are all of the above and in the Great Universe of Gotham, they are supremely successful, creative and have BIG hearts.  From ex-world-touring metallic band members to the leader of Uganda’s Hip Hop Movement...it’s a crew of up and coming BIG boys.

The Boys have gathered their Favorites around them for comfort, while I snapped away (non PMS, via camera.) As usual, it is 19th century in its scope and it all interweaves. Get a hoagie or a stogie, settle in and read.

Herewith, some of my Best Friends and their Best Friend BIG boy toys and talismans. (Where To Buy included, no extra charge)

A Big Dog, Woman and Art are Man’s Best Friends

Sebastien aka “Seb” is the Kozy of Sarkozy, the Eye of Banksy and Mack’s Daddy

When French people fall in love with the Big in the US, it can be more than Mickey Mouse and salivating for Abercrombie & Fitch and Obama. With a vision to support global contemporary and street art, Sebastien LePelletier is the owner, curator at gallery Nine 5, so he has to have a Larger than Life, Beautiful Woman and Mack Daddy dog by his side as his Best Friends.

Represented artist, Steve Ellis’ Manifest Destiny painting sprawls at least 12 feet long with pop-culture iconography details appearing as mountains of ripped pages and layers of history revealing the relationship of technology, expansion and the culture of the West.

Seb set his big eye for The West in 2000 coming to America. His big eye for “the ladies” ranges from Jessica Lichenstein’s captured mini-girl sculptures (I’ve written about her here) to his girlfriend Mandy, representing as a former Miss Nebraska, whose big heart puts on really big shows and events for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Together they both are part of our im.material team, a 501(c)(3) foundation working to build strong and sustainable community in developing nations.

Buy the Boy Toy:

Art: Gallery Nine 5, 24 Spring Street, New York, 212.965.9995

Woman and Dog: Priceless and Taken

Mack. Sebastien is here with Patrick, both Big Boys, both a part of im.material.

A Burberry and a Blackberry are a Socialite, Social Activist’s Best Friend

Patrick Simeon aka “Mr. P” is the delightful face of Buddha modeling as Crackberry’s Favorite Poster Child 

After Haiti’s earthquake last January, Pat hopped on the BB and plane, wasted no time in gathering up clothing and his surgeon friend, Dr. Guny Gabriel, to head to the country of his birth to help. Pat and “Dr. G” set up a temporary medical clinic in a park to serve the wounded and prevent unnecessary amputations that would alienate citizens in the future. Dr. G went one step further and has donated his land to build permanent homes through im.material.

Back in NYC, a wool Burberry knee-length, wool trench parka from Paris speeds now native-New York son, Pat, through his daily networked circle of friends, clubs, business and charitable partners and modeling agencies (his daughter is the next Naomi Campbell) …all the better to make his Blackberry fatter and make more people smile with the bigness of his heart and eye for beauty.

Buy The Boy Toy:

The Red string bracelet with metal plate and two diamond charms of which I have the economy version? I have asked him 10,000 times via text but he is busy helping Haiti. Text me, comment here, make it a social movement and I’m sure he’ll answer!

( of course, Mr. P delivers at the last minute! Erhan Gursen)

The Burberry: make your own statement with a sweet assortment of the best mens’ coats I have seen in a long time here.

Simplicity is a Man’s Best Friend

Paul Clemence aka “Pauly” is the O My! of Omar Sharif, the mind of Mies van der Rohe and the Brazen Fun of his Brazilian Blood.

“Just like your father, you bring the circus with you wherever you go.” a friend of Paul Clemence’s father told him.  Super-friendly, funny and one of the most intellectually passionate people I know, Paul and I originally met at Miami’s Brazilian Film Festival watching a mutual friend’s documentary on Oscar Niemeyer and then about a year later, he popped up at the Vanity Fair party during Art Basel and indeed a satellite party swirled around him. The circus came to NYC about a year ago when Paul moved here and in May I invited him to Italy which led to Paul’s circus caravan now spanning from Lake Como to Cologne to Venice.  One weekend turned into 6 months and while in Europe, he told me how he coveted his green TD bank pens because they are all over New York these days and reminded him of home.  Simple pleasures.

Paul’s other BIG green project, which we are directing together with Andrea Locci of Milan is Green Provocateur, an urban intervention and dialogue between people, buildings and green worlds planned for the Salone della Mobile in April, in partnership with aMAZElab in anticipation of Milan’s 2015 Universal Exhibition.

Paul’s architectural images render famous and not-so-famous architecture until they feel like you could sit and converse with them, as his image of I.M. Pei’s Lombardy Region Administration Building in Milan. The Circus is coming to your city, here is a little tease simulation of Green Provocateur.

Buy the Boy Toy:

Paul’s photography here

TD bank pens: You have ten already, look in the pen jar.

Big Movie Screens Are a Man’s Best Friend

little marvin aka “LM” is the Wild of Oscar Wilde, the little of the Little Prince  and the Big heart of Gandhi

little marvin‘s mala beads are his best friend. After we lived together for a year, for 6 months the house still smelled of delicious Sandalwood from his constant rubbing of them.  Bought on the streets of Soho, where one can catch His Litheness doing his rounds from Taschen to The Mercer to the loft of someone Famous (the man is a magnet to the Famous…like attracts like.) On our way to celebrate his big screen self Premiere at the AMC in Midtown, we came across these sewing machines on the street being cleaned out from a new space in the Meatpacking district, a perfect symbol for LM’s bigger sewing of Gandhi-ness, im.material, through which he is spearheading our “H3 initiative: Home. Health. Heart” with 4.2 secured acres of land in beautiful Petit-Goâve, Haiti. The big goal is to build sustainable homes and community support systems.

Buy The Boy Toy:

Homes for Haitians: Donate Here.

Help raise funds for homes with a $25. shampoo and blow dry at Platinum Salons on January 9th at 134 West 23rd Street in Chelsea and 105 Rivington Street in Lower East Side, New York.

Buy Malas in person, c’mon Wired One! Not online!

Big Sowing and Big Pollination Are A Man’s Best Friend

Collin Abraham, aka “Call Collin” is the vibe of Marley in an important vase with flowery vision propelled by divine devotion…and he is on the speed dial of Obama and Jay Z.

Ya hear?

How is this for a life path and big leaps of faith and hard work?  Collin has gone from directing traffic as a cop in Trinidad to orchestrating the florals of BIG events, like the wedding of Jay Z and Beyonce and the Inauguration of Obama and being on the speed dial for P. Diddy and L.A. Reid,Chairman of Island Def Jam. Collin has sown his creative seeds through millions of flower petals on the runways of Teterboro airport for Beyonce’s Louboutins to alight upon and by pollenating event design through his family business, Pollen Nation with two stores, wife Kelly, sons Tyrique and Myles. Not to mention being a model for J.Crew.

His stores are filled with object d’art from tables made of temple doors from the Far East to the best exotic scent room diffusers and vases which determine his art, yet his favorite object is an amber glass orb he found in a second-hand shop.

Buy The Boy Toy:

BIG: I bought a blue egg with planets in it years ago from Josh Simpson. Find your magic orb here: Josh Simpson’s bubble collection

BIGGER: Salviati Murano glass vases from Babalu

BIGGEST: Get Pollen Nation to do your wedding or Inauguration:

11 East 125th Street, New York, 212.860.2022

Big Celebs, Shades and a Hef-ty Bathrobe are a Man’s Best Friends

Jacob Gitzis aka “Mini-Mogul” is the Cool of Clooney, the Jew of Woody Allen and the Sex of Hef.

He is into BIG. If it is a premiere, a film festival, a Fashion Week or a mountain to snowboard, Mini Mogul will be producing some of the biggest events and working with the biggest names through his new digital and marketing biz, 7 Lion. I sent him a photo in his NY Yankees hat at a club looking cheeky and adorable as usual and he deftly and swifty sent me this Haiku of Him and photos as a replacement.

“Ha!
Sunglasses are the best… Gold & Wood! Tres expensive!
Got them @ Aspen Optical Shop in Miami and then lost them in Atlantic City. was very sad : (
Trying to find a replacement pair. They are tough to locate!

That bathrobe might’ve made it’s way into my suitcase ‘by accident’ at the end of a cruise!
Smuggling bathrobes keeps things exciting on my adventures!
An MM should always have some fun along the way! ; )

Perhaps attached photo of me and Dirt Diggler himself at The Fighter screening tonight is a better pic to post?”

Where to buy The Boy Toy:

(Nature. Editrix note: Now That’s Big.)

Starting a Big Movement of Fun is a Man’s Best Friend.

Abraham Tekya aka “Abramz” is the Heart and Smile of Every Heroic Leader that has walked this planet…Truly.

Uganda just might be Hell on Earth. When your parents both die of AIDS at age 6 and the land you live on is plagued with terrorists kidnapping and killing children, who have no options for school yet plenty for sniffing gasoline or picking trash in bare feet and sewage…for Abramz Tekya to give hope, dance and a future to Ugandan kids is nothing less than Stellar.  I was lucky to share his first trip to NYC and Times Square when he came to New York with Red Bull and Lynn Tejada of Green Galactic, our LA partner for the preview of Bouncing Cats, the movie about Abramz’s Breakdance Project Uganda. Narrated by Common and featuring Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew, with interviews with Mos Def, Will.I.Am, and K’Naan, the film is directed by Nabil Elderkin, whose clients include Kanye, Spike Lee, Seal and John Legend, who was in the audience that night…Hey Ya! Tekya! Hell on Earth just inched closer to Heaven.

Talk to Abramz via Facebook and show some Love.

Buy the Boy Toy:

Donate Here to Breakdance Project Uganda.

Man’s Best Friend is A Vision and a Smart Client.

Andreas von Scheele aka “Speechless” is the eye of Awe, the whip smart fool of Fellini and the fluid groove of the Cosmos

“Meditation is something that could change the world if there wasn’t such good TV on all the time.”

Andreas is putting the fluid float to brands such as Issey Mikaye, T magazine, Loeffer Randall, K-Swiss, Hussein Chalayan and Valentino as well as inventing an inviting hipster strip-poker for Cone Denim. Tap into this director’s mind with this interview with Andreas. His latest brand brilliance is for Parisian opera singer turned jewelry designer, Valerie McCarthy, whose voice, song and story crafting are a perfect example of personal branding in her series of narratives and character play, totally compelling because of their originality. Get an absinthe to go, hop on the couch and surf the fluids on Andreas’ site.

Buy The Boy Toy:

Valerie MacCarthy’s jewels and videos

Valerie’s jewelry appears in the video at Debut, 298 Mulberry Street, New York, 212.343.2717, owned by Lisa Weiss, with whom I’ve shared breakfast and heard about her dreams and this gem of a gallery/store showcasing new designers.

Because for a man, buying a woman jewelry is a Big Boy Toy Thrill.

Man’s Best Friend is a BeSpoke Notebook, Suit and Space.

Joey Falsetta aka “Joey” is a dish of Sicilian and Native New Yorker served all tattoo vervy and vexy in the Land of Shangri-La.

Joey does BIG. Ten thousand square feet in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, throwing parties for 500, modeling and touring the world as a former Metallica heart-throb and of late, a photographer working the film like Penn and Newton. He is the Visionary behind Shangri-La Studio, host to film, video and music productions, magazine editorials and soon-to-come, LEGEND at Shangri-La, a full-on fashion photography studio making legends of “everyday beautiful women.”

Buy the Boy Toy:

Italian Bespoke Suits: I like Nedo @ Belluci Napoli, bespoke Italian tailors. I met Nedo one night at Emilio Ballato’s with my friend, Jason Campbell, of JC Report, who knows of Bespoke Peacoats. (thanks Kanye)

Italian Bespoke Big Space: Shangri-La Studio

Man’s Best Friend is a Hot Boyfriend Who Smells Real Good.

Greg Melvin and Paolo Ambu aka “Babalu Miami boys” are Art Smart, Biz Brilliant and A Cool Couple.

Art Basel Knoodlin’ and Kissing and Collabs that smell Goth-darn good.  The Babalu Miami Boys have their fingers on the pulse of scents and sensibility of art, books, culture, design, fabulous jewels and shoes in their Miami luxury convenience store in Miami Beach’s 1111 Lincoln Road in the Herzog & de Meuron glory parking lot building and are online for the rest of us. Six Scents introduces a collectable pairing of six celebrated artists and perfumers to create a series of boutique fragrances to raise awareness and funding for charity. One of my favorite designers, Gareth Pugh art directed the Six Scents No. 4 packaging as part of an ongoing collaboration between Seven New York, Symrise and Metaproject.  The collection recently won a Cannes Lions Design award and it was an honor to meet the creators in Miami recently.

The Facebook video that Greg took of me breaking my shoes hopping off his Vespa during Art Basel Miami, which in turn lured Gabrielle, a hot Israeli jewelry designer with silicone glue tube, which in turn required a later purchase of goth, vegan stilettos designed by John Paul Gaultier for Melissa shoes, which in turn is another smarty collab with the Fab. It is on our Facebooks. Friend us and say it also wins at Cannes.

Buy the Boy Toy:

Gareth Pugh Six Scents No. 4: at Babalu Miami

Boy Toy Shoes: Buy some Vegan Porn Melissa and J.P. Gaultier shoes for a Big Gal at Babalu Miami here.

New Essential Guidebook:  “The Essentials of Fabulous” by Ellen Lubin-Sherman will fill in the rest of your Collab towards Fab: here.

I snapped this happy, colorful Big Man during Art Basel Miami, a Rumpelstlitskin who reminded me of my Father in his favorite talisman, a Ferrari-emblazoned whatever, hats, telephone, golf socks (my Pop was there way before Puma…) all his Siren Song for his second love, his bright red fake-Ferrari, a car-kit car built on the body of a Volkswagon.  I dunno, somehow a deeper cool than real Ferrari ownership, maybe just for his devotion alone. For more about loveable red talismans on the life path…from boy toys like Firetrucks to Ferraris…c’mon and forage with the gals for girlie goo-gas like girlie shoes, jewelry, bags n’ things… see my “companion” Lady’s Post here.

Here’s to the Men and the Fire of Love in our Lives.

Now Go Back up and Donate some Love;-)

Thank you.

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