Funny Young Things

Thanks to fans in Manhattan, Berkeley and Santa Cruz, the show has appeared in heavy cable rotation. And last year the two built a Web site (www.prettythingsss.com) as another outlet. Lucid estimates, "Ten thousand people have watched it."

The episode of "Mulberry Commons" in which Lucid plays a homosexual who hosts an assembly to tell other students about the joys of being queer ("It’s like riding a bicycle," his character says, "or rather it’s like someone riding a bicycle into your ass") has been accepted into this year’s Slamdance Festival. Pretty Things has also screened at Outfest, the New York Underground Film Festival and Mix: The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival.

They’ve had a couple of big Hollywood meetings, like the one at Doug (Swingers, The Bourne Identity) Liman’s company Hypnotic, and can also boast a small but impressive and growing list of fans, including one of the guys who wrote Joan Jett’s "I Love Rock n’ Roll," Tim Curry and Sid Krofft, of Sid and Marty Krofft.

"I gave him a tape at the Farmers Market," Lucid explains of the ’70s TV legend and H.R. Pufnstuf producer. "He said it was ‘very cool.’ "

A Quotable Year

The Best of 24/Seven

"You don’t have to sleep over after a hand job. You don’t even have to really take off your clothes."

—"Carl," 30-year-old Web designer from the Bay Area, "Prick Up Your Ears. The Hand Job is Back!"

"I believe everything is a reflection of my own existence. We are all one, and these rocks help me understand myself more. Help me have visions."

—Steve, a Venice Beach drum-circle participant, "Return of the Free Spirits"

"Hello??? Somebody hasn’t had her coffee this morning. Yes, I’m a bear. I’m a small bear and I’m pink and I have a big plastic nose with a game inside . . . it’s broken, see?"

—Imaginary Bear,
"A Bear of Very Little Shame"

"I want to be rich, like Bill Gates."

—Heidi, a pretty Korean-American eighth grader, "Material Girls"

"A lot of women are insecure about their vaginas. They just haven’t seen that many. They haven’t watched porn as much as men so they don’t know every vagina looks different."

—Jason Hall, "You Can’t Tell a Hero To Stop Being a Hero"

"If people knew what our party stood for, and didn’t have this kinda inherent bias, they would realize that they are Republicans."

—Eric Eisenhammer,
"Republican Dawn"

"I just looked too weird, too Democratic. Clearly, velvet is not a Republican fabric."

—Harper Simon, on standing out at the Bush victory party in Washington, D.C., "Thanks for the Weirdness"

"It’s just that life sucks so much right now, I might as well."

—Greg, 21, on why he shot heroin last night, "Couch Hopping in Hollywood"