Product Description

Here's the diary of a man who in mid-life found himself uprooted and dumped into West Hollywood, an unfamiliar place not exactly known for stability. White explores his neighborhood ? "queens: 6 percent; cranky 70-year-old Russians who give you the evil eye when you walk past: 2 percent; blonde girls with big, round, hard fakeys who think Jennifer Anniston just got lucky: 10 percent; miscellaneous cool kids, hustlers, and actual crazy people: 5 percent."

White gets gigs as a freelance writer, goes to the grocery store where his Russian neighbors ask him questions because they think he's from the old country; and encounters Sara Gilbert at the Laundromat, Leonard Maltin at the movies, and Ben Affleck driving a Rolls-Royce so ridiculously conspicuous he might as well be driving Chitty-Chitty, Bang-Bang.

What began as weekly diaries emailed to out-of-state family and friends evolved into a blog called "Dave White Knows" and in 2003 became a monthly column in Instinct called "Exile in Guyville." Alyson Books now presents White's blogs in expanded form with loads of new material that will be even more irritating to the Instinct readers who didn't like his column. "They requested more fashion and skin-care features in its place, which makes me kind of proud."

Dave White is a freelance journalist specializing in music. His reviews and features have been seen in E! Online, IFILM, LA Weekly, Dallas Observer, Instinct, The Advocate, Glue, Cybersocket, Total Movie, Unzipped, and Frontiers. White lives in West Hollywood with his boyfriend, the Morocco Mole, and is locally esteemed as the "King of Pancakes."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #342086 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Dave White is a freelance journalist specializing in music. His reviews and features have been seen in E! Online, IFILM, LA Weekly, Instinct, The Advocate, Glue, Cybersocket, Unzipped, and Frontiers. Born in New Hampshire, he was raised in Roswell, N.M., Dallas and Lubbock, Texas. He lives in West Hollywood with his boyfriend, the Morocco Mole, and is locally esteemed as the King of Pancakes.

Customer Reviews

LA Snarking, Initimate, Funny - What's Not To Like?
I enjoyed the hell out of this book. Not "loved" it, and it didn't change my life. But it made me laugh again and again as I watched the author adjust or not adjust to his move from Texas to Hollywood. He is fiendishly accurate in his descriptions of Angeleno/Hollywood culture, and spares no-one including himself in his assessments.

So why four stars rather than five? Because ultimately this is simply a series of essays without much besides location to tie it together. Yes, he attempts some "tie it all together and say what it means" moments at the end, but they barely escape being whiney and self-congratulatory. The guy who wrote the rest of the book would absolutely lambaste the guy who wrote the last few bits.

Nonetheless, a fine read. I'm now following his commentary anywhere I can find it. And if I ever meet the guy, the beer's on me.

Very Funny take on Moving to LA!!
As a native Angeleno, I was ready to take offense at Dave's experience of Los Angeles, but I was laughing too hard. He's had some pretty interesting experiences of LA. A very light, fun read.

Please sir, can I have some more?
I loved this book, I loved Dave's unapologetic ranting and whining about LA and its inhabitants (a**holes!!). I loved his special brand of 'gayness' and his queeny categorisations of the OTHER brands of gayness he is forced to interact with in rainbow flagged West Hollywood. For all the other non-shinyhappy people who inhabit (yes they do!!!) anywhere out of the LA geographical area, this book is a refreshing take on the whole stereotypical celeb seething wannabe clusterf*** that is 'reality' for anyone LIVING in LA and earning less than mega squillions a year. If you enjoy reading books like "Chorewhore", or relate to the hispanic domestics everpresent in the background in any LA-based flick, you'll also enjoy Exile in Guyville.

It'd be great to see a follow up, or even a collection of Dave's columns. His observations of his grudgingly adopted home town resonate at the same frequency as Henry Rollins occasionally do: they both live there because they have to but they aren't going down without a fight goddarnit! These are witnesses to the flabbergasting proliferation of acceptable a**holeness which is flourishing in places like LA: road rage, blithe and rampant consumerism, self-centredness, rudeness and downright unfriendliness. Dave observes the LA reactions to his natural Texan inclination to greet a stranger or passer-by with a wave or a smile and he comments also that the people of LA regard themselves, and not the sun, as the centre of the universe.

I like that people like Dave and Henry are documenting and commenting. And congratulations Dave, you did it stylishly and with humour. It'd be good to see some more.