Comedy

There is something about a person standing on a stage TRYING to make me laugh that brings out my inner hater, my most stubborn and stone-faced humorless self. Don't get me wrong-- I enjoy laughing, and wit, and irony and synicism; especially when they are employed to critique current doing of this dumb-ass world. And satire, in most of its forms, I especially enjoy, particurally the mockumentary variety (a la "This is Spinal Tap" and "But I'm a Cheerleader"). Camp usually makes me laugh out loud unabashadly, and even occasionally well-played slap-stick has known to squeeze a chuckle out of this old crumdgen. But stand-up, yuck!... http://www.whitless.com/ is one bit of evidence for my cause here. While Jay is not really doing "stand-up" on his show it is damn well close enough, eh?
I was recently invited by a new friend to go see this comedienne at that gambling mecca in CT (the funny lady's name escapes me this early, as does the casino). And while I was really excited for the invitation to spend an evening with her I had to bow out because I don't like stand-up. (That and casinos usually make me cry). I felt unevolved, and a little like a killjoy, untill I really looked closely at my opinion.
I have now concluded that I heartily agree with Henry Drummond in "Inherit the Wind" when he quipped to Rachel Cates “Lady, when you lose your power to laugh, you lose your power to think straight” (50). However there are certain deliveries that make this lady laugh-- and that's a truth.

This ain't a movie, nah

I have spent a lifetime being a careful student of music that moves me. I have cried along, belted it out in the car, and hummed along in the shower. I have been making mixes since the days of cassete tapes and have long held the opinion that a really great mix is perhaps the best gift any one person can give.
I have nursed a secret fantasy of being a rock star (a fantasy I sort of live out every day in my daily one woman show know as English Class). There are some songs that I have loved for so long they have become like life itself, like my bones and my hands, like the mash-up opera in my head that never fades out completly but carries me thourgh the fire and sailing on the high winds of this mortal coil.
There are voices that resonate in my cells and in my counsciousness both-- that I dream in and that I imagine I might sound like if I practiced enough.
I f music can give me hope and offer the rare balm of solace in this dirty-minded and unjust world-- well that is something, idn't it!
To the east the sun is rising again-- all pink and bold in the sky. itunes is playing me a lovely mix-- quiet and pretty-- and as I mutter along (right in the thick of love, sometimes we get scik of love) musing on sunrise's inevidibility John Lgend is right
maybe we should take it slow.... it's more confusing every day.. no it'snot a fantasy...maybe we should take it slow

The Art of Wooing

I have long been a proponent of the DIY ethic for everything from gardening flowers to fixing cars (if only I knew how to do that!). And art, to me, is the ultimate in DIY: if you don't see enough beauty in your world go ahead and make some your own damn self! I think this is one sure fire way to beat the apathy and hopelessness that all things legislative, heteronormative, and full of saturated fat and corn syrup can bring on.

But I digress-- I am here to tell you all about my friend Kaz's new book that she SELF-PUBLISHED! (I am so proud of her). It is a beautiful multi-media romp through the slings and arrows of dating misfortune, the upsets and false starts of love, and it just so happens to have a little something-sumthin from moi therein (though it transcends the actual writers and is really about the ever-elusive critter known as love).

The website is gorgeous-- check it out and buy a book!!!
http://www.theartofwooing.com/

Happy Thoughts

How life does sweep me away in its current... last night T and I were scrolling through the "on demand" free movie options on our too many choices TV box and decided to give the 90's "Hook" a shot. Who can really pass up a Robin Williams tale, especially if the theme is Peter Pan?! We didn't actually make it to the end (we got sleepy) but there were a few things that were quite striking!

For one thing, the sets were real. This movie was made enough before the time of digital everything in modern movies, and it was so refreshinging! I will never cease to be amazed by what my fellow humans can build. The set of the lost boy's tree house was so shockingly cool that we both got all woozy wishing we could build one just like it in our backyard. Also, Captian Hook's ship (who I believe was played by Denis Hoffman!?) was a set marvel with wonderful details all over the place. The actors were trilling around in this magical made-up kindom of imagination that was an actual place in some movie lot somewhere! It is so much more fun to watch them in that environment! Much similar to "Aeon FLux"-- a film that was shot in Berlin. Upon first view of this incarnation of Aeon's story (having been a big fan of the liguid television version when I was in High School) I was really struck by the atmosphere of the settings, though I was sure they were all computer generated. But when I learned that they were real places in a city I have long wished to see for myself I was doubly struck by the coolness of it all. Certainly "Aeon Flux" was a digitalized version of Berlin-- while "Hook" was movie magic old school-- they have in common the transformative allure that happens when a story is being told in a real place. All this action packed, digital mumbo jumbo in the virtual world of a computerized scene is fun (don't get me wrong, I just watched "Across the Universe" and was really touched by the whole thing)-- but I crave real sets!

I guess this seems like a silly thing to blog about-- especially as it has been so damn long since I wrote one-- but that is about where my head is at these days. There just seems to be so fcuking much to do all the time (school, future, house, maintanence of the modern life, etc...) that talking about a really impressive set (or setting) in a movie is actually more interesting. I mean I really coud have edited a poem last night, or reckoned the checkbook, or found an outfit for the Island wedding in April-- these all would have been more effective uses of my time last night. But is this not the exact lesson of the Peter Pan saga? Somedays you need to just engage what is enjoyable about life. As Joesph Campbell says: We can reckon the meaning later-- right now it's all about the experience!