12.11.2008

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun


In Los Angeles, where we've embraced everything from public urination to breast implants as a "Sweet 16" present, we are hardly shocked by anything. Celeb hangers-on, deluded teens who watch too much MTV and other people slightly off the reservation try to create a more...intense version of themselves, hoping to shock and amuse the world until it taps them for reality television. Reality T.V. has replaced any type of entertainment career that requires skill, and it's become the lazy man's road to fame. Delusions of grandeur must be exhausting, because these lazy social climbers are everywhere, touting their gimmick. I hadn't seen authentic people worthy of a reality show until I met The Glass Twins.

They're not heiresses, they're not pageant queens and neither of them are sleeping with Jude Law. But they are, as they say, the "twinniest twins you'll ever meet." No but seriously.

I met them for happy hour at Tokyo Table when I noticed they were counting their edamame.

I asked, "What are you guys doing?"

"Counting our soybeans, so we can eat the exact same amount of food," they replied breezily.

"Why?"

"So we can be the exact same weight."

"Pound for pound?"

"Oh yea. We work out together too, in circuits doing the exact same exercises."

* They live together and sleep in the same bedroom. They have separate beds, but the beds are identical with matching sheets and teddy bears on top.

* They founded a glamorous marketing company called GT Events. The G is for Glass and T is for Twin. They share one cell phone.

* They wear the same outfit every day, right down to a specific costume ring that slips onto the same finger. The only variation is in color, as these girls need color to help people distinguish one from the other. I still can't tell who is who.

They're constantly joking about never getting married. They realize their bond can barely squeeze in room for another party, let alone two. But they're fine with it. Hollywood executives have offered them shows with elaborate plots that shove in a love interest and a great divide, but they won't fake it. Not even for television. Oh they'd love to do a show, but they're keeping it real. Amy and Becky Glass love their life the way it is, and this rare confidence should be the one true reason they do belong on T.V.

Check them out!

Official Site

Join The Glass Twins on Facebook!

GT Events


12.09.2008

Recessionista


Silverlake is the Brooklyn of Los Angeles. Hipsters in skinny jeans took over apartments and opened boutiques, determined to make the place their own. Like Brooklyn, the new residents ignored the neighborhood's checkered past and redefined it as a subculture mecca, for good or for Pabst Blue Ribbon.

I sometimes felt like an outsider shopping at these boutiques, as if wearing a fanny pack only they could see. The aloof shop girls and boys were pin thin, had perfectly mussed hair and were always listening to an indie band that was 3 months ahead of my own natural discovery. I on the other hand eat gluten, have shiny hair and still like The Shins.

Well, the economy has rocked even this stalwart Indier-Than-Thou scene. Boutiques are struggling, and instead of peering at one another like nosy neighbors to see who falls first, they have decided to band together. Los Feliz and Silverlake shops set up booths and threw a Recessionista party! There was an open bar, a DJ and heart-stoppingly low prices. As I perused aisle after aisle of reinvented vintage and owl pins made of felt, I felt the love between the once-competitive designers. As the free liquor flowed, there was much, "I've always admired your knitwear," and "I have been jealous of your window displays for years!"

It was nice. Or maybe it was my armful of $4 tees from Blood is the New Black. Regardless, they are learning to love thy neighbor, and their community rushed out to love thy sale. These hipsters are hell-bent on making their neighborhood thrive so they can once again peer at us civilians with the fanny packs only they can see.