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December 13, 2007

Hit me with your best shot

So we’ve got this monthly 2nd Story show going at Red Kiva where we pair storytellers up with musicians, which finally allows me to fulfill my lifelong dream of being a rock star, which I thought was forever thwarted because people, I can’t sing worth a damn, but I CAN tell a really good story with guitar players and drummers and pianists and vocalists and a magic DJ who makes entire orchestras out of small black boxes.

I’ve done a lot of shows with musicians, but this Red Kiva thing we’ve got going is special ‘cause it’s not a one-time gig: we’re constantly producing new work and it really differs from our usual shows at Websters in that the performance is front and center.

Which means I have to get better at it. Performing, I mean. Which comes back to the whole rock star thing.

I was telling all this to a friend last night, and she said, “I didn’t know you wanted to be a singer.”

“Not a singer,” I said. “I can’t sing—I want to be a rock star.”

She said something really weird then. She said, “Why?”

And I’m like, Well FIRST OF ALL, doesn’t EVERYONE?

And second, exhibits one through six (for starters):


This next one’s a little before my time but Holy Shit she’s good:

I can’t embed this one but it’s worth the jump.

But most of all, for me, it was and always has been her:

I SAID GO AWAY


December 11, 2007

cold weather+big pregnant ass=much movie watching in short period of time.

No Country For Old Men—awesome and beautiful and terrifying.

Beowolf 3D—awesome so long as you ignore the horribly corny moments where they cover Beowolf’s penis with random spears and helmets, not unlike those scenes in Austin Powers where Austin’s business is hidden behind teapots and giant sandwiches but trust me—it’s easy to look past all that when there’s blood and dragon guts literally flying off the screen and INTO YOUR FACE.

American Gangster—awesome.

Darjeeling Limited—eh.

Across the Universe—I heart Julie Taymor.

Into the Wild—AMAZING.

Superbad—I LOVED watching Christopher love this movie.

Love Actually—GREAT. That scene at the end? Where the ten-year-old kid is running through the airport chased by security to tell the ten-year-old girl he loves her? Perfect.

This Film is Not Yet Rated—illuminating.

Resident Evil III—exactly what I needed at the time: ZOMBIE BIRDS.

The Mist—hands down the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. EVER. And I, admittedly, watch a lot of crap. But this, people, was crap on a level that I couldn’t previously have comprehended BEFORE those two hours and seven minutes, two hours and seven minutes I will never again get back, two hours and seven minutes in which I could’ve done SO MANY other things, like drink battery acid or stick large needles through the skin on the inside of my elbow holy mother of God was that movie bad. The only redeeming part was (I’d say SPOILER ALERT in case you’re planning on seeing it but please please please don’t, it’s seriously horrible and irredeemable and why we didn’t walk out I have NO idea. Christopher? Jeff? Are you there? Why didn’t we walk out of that movie? Halfway through I started making a mental list of Things That Are Worse Than This Movie, and spent a considerable amount of time thinking about which was worse: The Mist? or Hemorrhoids. Bad, people, I’m telling you, BAD) and anyway, the horribly annoying bible-thumping lady FINALLY gets shot and the guy sitting behind us yelled “Take That Jesus!”

That was kind of funny.

For like ten seconds. And then I remembered where I was.

At a movie that might actually be worse than hemorrhoids.

(update: I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who knows infinitely more about film than I do, and something he brought up (which I think is very astute), is how does the overall audience reaction effect the movie-goer's opinion? For example, when HE saw The Mist, apparently the whole audience sat in shocked silence and couple women were crying at the end. When I saw it, the audience laughed all the way through, especially at the end, and the old man next to me kept saying, "This movie sucks" over and over. Interesting train of thought ... )

My first crush was Brad from square dance class.

This is stunning.