Our intrepid intern comes at us with a report from the burgeoning art capital of the world, Orlando, FL. Take it away, Janelle!

Good friend and Annalemma contributor Gianelle Gelpi held an art opening at Stardust on Saturday night.

Fans and friends came together to celebrate Gianelle’s first solo show.

I donned my newly dubbed “Montana” jacket in honor of the furry family.

Gianelle’s choice of medium ranged from rich, seductive oils to bright and yummy acrylics. The most beloved though were her drawings.

By the end of the night they were all $OLD! Cha-ching is a good thing indeed.

Gianelle’s style, influenced by World Mythology, has evolved into a kind of mystical optimism. Through the creatures of the Grand Family, she conveys a belief in the connectedness of all things alive and imagined. Their serenity may be ours as well.

I especially loved the lion. Just look at his eyes! Gorgeous. Someone else snatched it up before I got there. Boohoooo.

We are just bursting with pride. Gianelle owned Stardust. (And the dance floor a little later that night.) Expect to see more of her.

We are just bursting with pride. Gianelle owned Stardust. (And the dance floor a little later that night.) Expect to see more of her.

Some random images from the holiday weekend:

This was Chase’s first attempt at a fried turkey. I thought it was delicious. But I think he was expecting the heavens to open up and waves of light to wash over him as he took the first bite. He was a bit let down.

Also, congrats to Chase for receiving the nod from Pitchfork for one of the best vids of ‘09!

This guy was turning his beak up to all the turkeys that got screwed this year. Don’t get cocky dude, Christmas is just around the corner and I ain’t never cooked a goose before.

Or a turkeygoose.

We played a show. This guy’s band didn’t show up and he had to play all his jams solo. The brass balls on this dude. Hats off to you sir.

Viernes with their new multimedia setup.

It wouldn’t be Turkey Day without football.

And it wouldn’t be football without me wishing I was in the marching band.

I was about to make a joke along the lines that I was forming an all-tuba band and call it Tuba Gooding Jr. But apparently he already exists.

In other news, I met a Transformer.

And the cute alert has been ringing off the hook.

Back to work! Back to burning calories! Keeping the gut at bay! To pressing forward and pressing hard until the end of the year! Finish line is in sight everyone! Don’t give up yet! We believe in you if no one else does! Count on that! Set your watch to it!

Speaking of which, keep an eye out for a new video next week…

Stephen continues to read from The Adderall Diaries. Part One. Part Two.

Stephen tells a story about getting the shit beat out of him and reads more from The Adderall Diaries.

Things have been a little quite on the old blog this week, so to make up for it here’s the first installment of Stephen Elliott’s reading at Stardust in Winter Park, FL. Put your headphones on, hide the window and pretend like your working while you get  healthy dose of The Adderall Diaries.

In case you haven’t been paying attention to my media barrage, I talked Stephen Elliott into coming to Orlando.

It’s required by city law that if you spend more than 24 hours in Orlando you are required to go wakeboarding.

Stephen reluctantly obliged.

He was a good sport and pretended to have a good time.

He even showed off a little bit for us.

You’re a good sport, Stephen.

I didn’t take any pics from the Stardust reading cause I was too busy stressing out and keeping the drunks at bay.We did, however, shoot some footage from the Stardust event and will be cutting it together in a little bit. Keep your peepers pealed for that.

This was from the next night. Stephen read for a fiction writing class at Urban Think.

It was way quieter and much fewer drunks.

Thanks Stephen!

Orlando people: don’t forget tonight. Stephen Elliott reads from his new memoir The Adderall Diaries at 9pm at Stardust. This event is free and open to the public. Come out! I promise you will not want to miss this!

Read the reviews:

San Francisco Chronicle

Bookslut

Time Out New York

Washington Post

Boston Globe

HTMLGIANT

Fanzine

Tent and chairs: check.

Keg of decent domestic beer: check.

Shadow puppets: check.

Magician: check.

All right, now we’re ready to have a party!

I’m usually too busy running around picking up cigarette butts and worrying about whether or not everyone is having a good time to take decent pics at these events that I throw so this won’t be the most comprehensive look at the Issue Five release party, but I’ll do my best.

Travis Winkler, mentalist/magician, kind of blew everyone away with his feats of psychic ability.

And I did a video reading and Polly helped me with the shadow puppet show. See? I told you this wasn’t that comprehensive.

“Hey, you guys are cute with your little puppets and all but we came here to do two things: Keg stands and kick ass…”

“…and it looks like we’re almost done with the keg stands.”

I can neither confirm nor deny that this is a picture of the esteemed editor of this magazine doing a keg stand.

Nick silently tolerated this childishness.

What would you call this? Reverse keg stand? Human stand?

I don’t know about yall but I had a blast. Thanks to everyone for coming out and making this the best release party we’ve ever had!

Couple of things coming up in a couple of weeks that you need to attend (regardless of your proximity to Orlando).

Super excited about this! It’s pretty rare that an author like Stephen moseys into O-town and it probably won’t happen again for a long time. Be sure to attend. You won’t be disappointed. And if you haven’t already, buy the book.

Also, we’re doing little thingy the Friday before…

This is going to be somewhat fun as well. I realize it’s kind of weird that these things are so close together, but what can I say. That’s just how it happens. What are you going to complain about? That there’s too much cool shit happening in Orlando?

Dear friend and issue five contributor Bryan “Bear” Soderlind recently uploaded a cache of photo gold. He exhaustively covered the 32nd Annual Orlando Gala. For decades it has been considered the social event of the season not because everyone dresses their best and looks fantastic, but because of all the scandalicious activities that take place there.

Check out the facebook album.

Speaking of facebooks, don’t forget to add yourself to the Annalema page while you’re there!