When you walk into Confederacy -- a Los Angeles boutique owned by Ilaria Urbinati, Danny Masterson, and Aly Mawji -- you instantly feel inspired. Whether it’s the quality selection of designer clothing, accessories, and beauty products, the rotating display of artwork and photography, or lively in-store events, the space hosts an endless amount of creativity. The charming Ilaria, a celebrity stylist and former buyer for LA boutiques Satine and Milk, fills me in on her style influences and why every visit to Confederacy is truly a unique experience.

Weekends are for undergrads, rookies, and B&Ters ...

1. Aunt Charlie's "Tube Steak Connection" (Tenderloin) - This is why you love San Francisco, like a double-wide trailer with drinks stiff as coffin nails.
2. 330 Ritch "Pop Scene" (Financial District) - Get velvet roped with the other bubbling dance crowd, local and bridge and tunnel.
3. El Rio "Salsa Sundays" (Mission District) - Here is where we all get down, don’t care who you are, gay or straight, rich or poor.

Just a friendly reminder about our Milk-related contest -- endure a quick and free BlackBook registration, and you're entered to win a pile of Milk swag as wells DVDs from various Milk performers: Mystic River (Sean Penn), Into the Wild (Emile Hirsch), No Country for Old Men (Josh Brolin), and Pineapple Express (James Franco). Register now!

If the best thing about Milk is Gus Van Sant's direction, and the second best is how he defies Hollywood reality and transforms Sean Penn into a lovable underdog, then this development has to be in the top five (just beneath Emile Hirsch's turn as the original hipster hooker). Apparently making a cameo in this Oscar shoo-in is none other than art titan Jeff Koons. It's hardly ephemeral, as the lobster shiller enjoys veritable minutes of screentime. Furthermore, he's even listed as part of the cast, portraying the future San Francisco mayor. Insert poor metaphor about Milk and lobster bisque here.

As it goes into wide release on December 12, let's commemorate the Sean Penn historo-bio-pic Milk with a wee contest. Between now and Friday, 1/2/2009, anyone who registers with BlackBook (it's quick & free) gets entered in a prize drawing. That prize includes the usual move swag -- for Milk, it's a movie sweatshirt, script book, hat, T-shirt, soundtrack, and a copy of Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk. But to sweeten the deal, the winner will also receive a basket o' DVDs highlighting other films from the stars of Milk, those being: Mystic River (Sean Penn), Into the Wild (Emile Hirsch), No Country for Old Men (Josh Brolin), and Pineapple Express (James Franco). So what's stopping you? Enter now.

For the past decade, actor James Franco has built a career based on huge talent, killer looks and enigmatic charm. Now is clearly his time, as the buzz on Milk—the Harvey Milk biopic in which he stars opposite Sean Penn, under the direction of Gus Van Sant—follows his summer smash, Pineapple Express. But Franco wants more: this year, he’s enrolled in two graduate schools while continuing to conquer Hollywood. For a smarter approach to life and art, Franco’s got an academy or two he’d like to thank.