PERSONAL HOLIDAYS
Posted February 26th, 2012 in Comics, family, art, TV, rant, Culture, entertainment, Arts Commentary, Adventure, movie, insomnia, acting, performance, gay, mulling, Chinese New Year, holiday, theatre, Twitter, Current Events
It’s been a fun week following the adventures of
| Kristyn Burtt as she covers the Oscars and all things related for a second year. Burtt is smart, classy, savvy and a huge(and self proclaimed) Oscar Nerd who is tracking down Oscar stories for Mingle Media TV, StarPulse and other outlets. I first “met” Kristyn when she hosted/created The Web Files and it’s been very cool to see where she’s taken things from there.
But after trying to keep up with her racing around this week (when I wasn’t at the theatre for May The Farce Be With You), today I realized that Oscar Week with Kristyn Burtt is another holiday for me. We all grow up with annual events we are born into. For me, it was Christmas Eve on the couch watching the Bishop’s Wife, staring at the Christmas tree lights in the dark and going outside to count the stars, New Year’s Eve with my aunt and letting her eat all the creamed herring, Easter dresses and orchids, summer swims at “the lake,” birthday pancakes and bowling, first day of school new outfits and notebooks. But then, I think we develop our own personal calendars as we start to have more control over our schedule and choices and new people and cultures expand our worldview. So my current holiday slate goes something like this: Advent (month of December) with quiet, contemplative Wednesday nights at church when I can; Christmas Eve with music, Christmas tree lights (although sometimes no tree, one year there was a ladder) and still counting stars; Chinese New Year when I spend two weeks refocusing my art through the animal of the year (this year, Water Dragon*); Opening Day: I’m a Mets fan, I’ve always been one, I love watching baseball; Opening Night: an opening night of any show I’m involved in is a celebration of effort and art and collaborators; Fourth Of July: I am not proud of politicians, but I am proud of this country’s founding principles; Election Day: voting is an important choice to make as a citizen and I am appalled at the low voter turnout for most elections; Thanksgiving: when family can make it and we throw around a football and play videogames and/or Settlers of Catan; Olympics: I enjoy the spectacle, the competition and so many of the sports you don’t often get to see; mood: October: Halloween has morphed into me working on something creepy scary fun for the month and it’s one of my favorite times of year, I’ve always loved the crispness in the air and the wind so often sweeping summer heat into clarity. It’s a holiday list I’m happy to add Oscar Week with Kristyn Burtt to. Try it yourself, start with part of a day, Oscar Sunday, and follow along on Twitter @KristynBurtt. What holidays do you actually look forward to celebrating? Share a new one. I miss back to school shopping in September, but I comfort myself with not missing early am classes that much. Oscar movies: watched The Help tonight. They did not hand out enough Oscar nominations to the cast. So much excellence. Jessica Chastain did a standout job, as well as Allison Janney. And of course, Davis and Spencer. I liked the movie so much more than I expected to. Hmmm, anything else? Oh yes, how about a #donatediversity day. I’ve decided to encourage people (yes, you) to get their libraries to acquire (or you, yes you, donate them yourselves) copies of Kevin Keller and Hopeless Savages. Too many stories with gay characters assume there’s a fringe element, a necessary weirdness or misery. Yes, there is the essential weirdness of growing up and discovering who you like to look at/be with/talk to, but I think we could stand to see more characters who are stable people with supportive families. There is as wide a range of behaviors and beliefs for gay teens as for straight and I don’t think that ends up being said or represented as much as it needs to. There is too much emphasis on the sex part of identity and picking sides. And too many suicides and graphic descriptions of suicides and gay being used as a political bludgeon for both sides in the current political wrangle. We are all so much more than that. I get so aggravated when people make it sound like there are separate species based on gender or sexuality or race or culture or religion. Such assumptions undersell and disrespect the full spectrum of experience that makes up any individual. End rant. Thanks for stopping by. Celebrate your own personal holiday. Make it a fun one. Most of mine seem to tend toward the working sort, but that’s what’s working for me at the moment. It’s always interesting to see how things (and holidays and habits) evolve. Happy Year of The Water Dragon, whether or not you missed the actual Lunar Festival, may it bring you many good things and interesting people. |
| Image |
Comments Off —
CONCERTS, ETC.
Posted February 17th, 2012 in Comedy, family, art, Culture, entertainment, Adventure, movie, insomnia, performance, mulling, theatre
Have been mad busy with theatre and farce so here’s a quick list of concerts on the consideration cusp:
Gomez: The Quinceanera Tour
Rodrigio y Gabriela: Area 52
Beats Antique: Elektraphone
Girl In A Coma: Exits and All The Rest
Additionally: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts can return to the neighborhood any time, I want to see her play “Tulane” live. Jett blazes through so fast, I haven’t got all the words yet so mulling a fiendish doodle related plan to entertain myself and possibly others. Blackheart Records has also launched the Blackheart Brigade, a fan community, currently mobilizing behind the Girl In A Coma tour and a design a t-shirt challenge.
Of note: Bomb Girls is a Canadian TV show about women factory workers during World War 2 that sounds really cool. Hoping it comes out on DVD.
Ok, going to download Glorious Results of A Misspent Youth.
Also: You could safely see This Means War if you want an action date movie. Chris Pine is growing nicely into romantic lead parts, has great chemistry with both Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon and there is also (although not enough) Angela Bassett. Journey 2: Mysterious Island also had its moments. Always enjoy Caine, Johnson and Hudgens. Take a ten year old (niece, nephew, son, daughter). They seemed to be the target audience and the bigger than I expected audience had a good time.
Cheers!
Comments Off —
FRIDAY
Posted February 10th, 2012 in Animation, Comedy, TV, music, Disney, Culture, entertainment, movie, insomnia, Reading, acting, mulling, theatre, Twitter, Shakespeare, meandering, Current Events, weekend plans, t-shirts, #3dreams
A day which always brings to mind “Friday, I’m In Love” one of my favorite songs by The Cure (or anyone else). For the rest of the week, there’s Selena Gomez’s “Love You Like A Love Song”.
Still working on a show. Have to buy new black pants + dig out my limited supply of plain black t-shirts/sweaters as the tech process has now started so invisibility backstage is required. Outdoor shows have a different set of clothing requirements.
Reading non Sherlock Arthur Conan Doyle. Thinking about Poe — Shirt.woot! is having a Poe vs. Shakespeare smackdown this week. Both inspire me, but I spent last night mulling over Poe, recalling the charming creepiness of Charles Addams and wondering why I’ve let the gore hounds + zombie drains take creating a delicious frisson in reader/viewer away from me. Work with a brush not a bucket.
Made a to do list, which I will revisit once this show’s up and running. Also have to do some play reading, both for my program and the theatre in general. Debating Loves Labours Lost charms and what to follow Midsummer with.
2:01. Thinking about my next Joan Jett and The Blackhearts album purchase. Downloaded the Blackheart Valentine Day mixtape and enjoying it. Blackheart does an excellent mixtape.
Miss photosafariing + haikuing. Happy with all the dragons. Handing them over to people now. Not checking out Autostraddle as much, but making more connections on Twitter. Twitter seems a natural way to communicate for me.
The Artist — amazing movie, compelling performances. Nice to see Penelope Ann Miller onscreen, although I’d prefer to see her use more of her comic abilities. I have so much (good) to say about Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo that the movie might need its own blog post.
The Help is in the red envelope on top of the TV. Seems like the Oscars are lining up to be Artist vs. Help so I want to be an informed commenter.
Disney: liking the new shows Jessie + Austin and Ally, missing Good Luck Charlie a bit, looking forward to the Radio Rebel movie.
Ok, typed myself nearly to sleep. Sorry for the lack of links. Google can help you with that.