Of highlights and pot pies

Kitten and Puppy came over for dinner last night for an evening of comfort food and discomforting television. I'd spent the day trying out a recipe for pork pot pie with a cornbread crust (I enjoyed it and would definitely make it again) and Kitten brought over an apple cake with cinnamon whipped cream and caramel sauce. Delish!

But the reason we'd gathered was to watch When Boys Fly, a "documentary" about a group of gays who attend the White Party in 2000. The film purported that it was the annual November White Party in Miami, but from the images onscreen, it seemed to be the Palm Springs version, in April.

The show unfolded around a few main characters. There was the neophyte who had no gay friends, never mind the occasion to attend a circuit party. Also featured was the young, hard partier, whose roommates threatened to kick him out if he didn't change his drug-addled ways. And there was the May-December couple: A 19-year-old party veteran and his lover of two years, a much older, obviously financially secure divorcé who left behind his wife and kids for a ... different lifestyle.

To add to our entertainment, the 19-year-old just happens to be someone we know quite well, who recently celebrated a gay marriage in Napa.

Not surprisingly, many clichés were introduced and few were shattered. The circuit neophyte ended up enjoying his experience more than he anticipated - and even called his mom from the dance floor to proclaim what a great time he was having. The hard partier succumbed to the prevalent drugs and ended up suffering a mild stroke at age 22. And the old dude left the young dude in a weekend "weaning" process that ended up in drama galore.

Most interesting to me was that the scene could have been taken from almost any White Party of recent years. You have the same mix of wide-eyed boys and grizzled veterans. The only difference was that most of the "boys" in the documentary sported horrendous blonde do-it-yourself highlights, including our friend.