Tuesday, January 30, 2007

My Senior Year of High School

So, I always end up doing these dumb things, but this one was a little different so I thought I would share. Unfortunately, I am terribly boring, so this is proably going to be deadly dull. Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be.

Who was your best friend(s)? Steve Trimble, Shawn Ruble, Dale Edwards, Stephanie Smith, not many others, I am a loner by nature.

What kind of car did you drive? Didn't drive, had many traumatic incidents with the driving test.

It's Friday night, where were you? At a football game performing with color guard and then heading out for food and hanging out.

Were you a partier? No, but I found out later people thought I was a slut.

Were you considered a flirt? No, boys (not men) are intimidated by humor and brains.

Ever skip school? All the time. I usually tallied about 20 days out a year.

Were you a nerd? Yes and I still am.

Did you get suspended/expelled? No, but many detentions and other drama.

Can you sing the fight song? Yeah

Who was your favorite teacher? Ms. Stevens, people thought she was tough, I thought she was one of our more cultured teachers. I will also include Senora Catron on this list.

Favorite class? English and Advanced PE

What was your school's full name? Carlisle High School

School mascot? Indians (Sambo was already taken)

Did you go to Senior Prom? Yes. Got dumped by my 1st date but Ruble pulled through for me.

If you could go back and do it over, would you? I wouldn't go back. My life has been really great after it.

What do you remember most about graduation? The feeling of relief and my itchiness to move to NYC.

Favorite memories of your Senior Year? Hanging out with people, debating politics with Steve Trimble and Kevin Ritchie, Academic team and Teen Counseling sleepover, both of which changed my life.

Where were you on senior skip day? Who knows, many days were senior skip day!

Did you have a job your senior year? Yes. I worked for a catering company on the weekends and then also did babysitting. That summer I worked midnights at Meijers.

Where did you go most often for lunch? The cafeteria, sitting with my nerdy AP friends and usually reading a magazine. Hollaback Sassy!

What did you do after graduation? Went to college, got married in Las Vegas, moved to NYC. The rest is history.

When did you graduate? 1994

Are you going to your 10 year reunion? I did. I was hoping the women would have been fatter. But the guys aged in dog years. I might do the 20, just to see what's up.

What school did you're school hate most? Franklin

Who will repost this after you? Who knows?

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Coming Soon...

The 7th Annual Amy Awards will be posted next weekend.

A nation holds its breath...

Friday, January 12, 2007

The Similarities Between Drag and Hip Hop

This is probably going to end up being my most esoteric and academic posting, but screw it. I think this is interesting.

So, last night my husband and I were talking about drag shows. We agreed that everyone should see a few in there life. They are entertaining first and foremost. They are the American equivalent to Kabuki. And, mainly, they just make you laugh.

Now, on a deeper level, drag does many things. There are also many types of drag. I'll delve into all of this. But, first a small antecdote. I have been a fan of drag for a long time. Personally, I have almost always enjoyed camp, satire, and ironic commentary. An appreciation of these things is essential to enjoying drag. In Dayton, Ohio there was a club I went to very often called "Celebrity". This was one of 2 gay clubs in the city. Celebrity had some great drag shows. Most of the drag fell into the lip-synch a diva's song category. You would watch and laugh and generally participate in the shenanigans. Seeing many shows there for such a long time gave me an appreciation for good drag and a keen eye in spotting bad drag.

So, there are several types of drag. They include; good drag, bad drag on purpose, scene drag, music drag, and gender illusion. Let me explain. Good drag is over the top femininity with glamorous gowns. Bad drag on purpose is looking messy or "real" for comedic effect (i.e. Divine, Kiki and Herb), scene drag is the lip-synching or acting out of classic scenes featuring over the top women (i.e. Mommie Dearest), music drag works the same way as scene drag (i.e. Cher, Judy, Liza, et. al.), and gender illusion is the most confusing, it is typically standard drag for the purpose of contests and pageants.

Now, I said something at the top where I said drag and hip-hop have similarities. The main similarity they have is that unlike many other forms of creativity, they do not live in a vacuum. They constantly comment on the society they live in. Hip-hop many times uses the music video genre to comment on films, TV, and other pop culture detrius. Drag does the same thing.

There is a term in literary criticism called "informing the text". This is when outside influences, history, or just time change how we look at the piece of work. Drag does this constantly. Any song or scene that is acted out, is changed by the drag performance. Many times it illuminates unseen comedy, pathos, or subtext not seen in the original piece.

I encourage anyone who has never seen a drag show to check one out. It's worth the price and is a definite artistic experience. Leave your preconceptions at the door.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Random Thoughts...

So, lately I've had a lot on my mind. Much like the insane Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock, I wanted to write down a few musings.
Off topic: If you are not watching 30 Rock, you are missing out. It's the funniest show on TV right now.

Back to your regularly scheduled blog...
Here are some things I've been thinking about for the past month. I'm sure I'll seem crazy, but who cares.

  • Are the parents in "The Parent Trap" the best parents in the world or the worst parents in the world for what they did by splitting up their twin daughters?
  • Is "Dreamgirls" the gayest movie ever made? (Seeing this in a theater seemingly holding the entire cast of Noah's Arc may have clouded my view about that.)
  • Why are the NJ Nets so bad this year? They should be first in their division. They have some great new rookies and bench guys. Hopefully, Lawrence Frank will be fired by the All-Star break. More on this topic to come.
  • I still miss Chappelle's Show
  • Being told you are too edgy for Showtime at the Apollo and too mean for the Comic Strip can put you in a small depression about your comedy career.
  • Being asked "what are you good for" can put you in a small depression about your day job.
  • Hopefully this weather, seemingly a bell weather for the Apocalypse, can get me out of ever having to be succesful.
  • And finally, I saw an amazing retro Soul Train episode today. If you live in NYC it's on every Sat. at noon on the CW11. Today's highlight was Al Green performing. He was still arm bandaged from hisd hot grits drama. Riveting TV.

So, that's about it for now. I made several New Year's resolutions and one of them was to write more, perform more, and become more well-rounded. Hopefully, this is the start of some real creativity.

Coming Soon

To say things have been crazy is an understatement.

New blogs, the Amy Awards, etc.

They are coming your way.