Twitters

Ever since joining Twitter, I'm having trouble writing posts more than 140 characters long. Hmm.

OMG

Day two of school and I'm already drowning. Gah.

Q&A #2

Until now, I've never posted much about politics or other current events. I hate fighting and arguing. I grew up in a tumultuous household where everyone fought all the time. Even now that we make the effort to get along, there's still an undercurrent of tension. With my sister being a politically and socially conservative fundamentalist Christian and me being a progressive, liberal, semi-atheist who on some days is agnostic, it's difficult to have a conversation about anything other than skin care and make-up tips without things spinning out of control. So generally, when it comes to politics and religion and anything else remotely controversial, I keep my mouth shut. And as far as heavy personal stuff, well, I'm not sure that stuff belongs on a blog for EVERYONE AND HIS MOTHER to see.

But that's left me to basically talking about trivialities on this blog. Worse, it's left me to talking about myself, which, despite nearly 150 posts about ME, I don't especially like doing. I'd rather talk about ideas. I mean, I enjoy being light-hearted in talking about how good-looking the new presidential administration is, but let's face it—there's more to politics than that.

So here's what I propose. You ask me a question about a subject, and I'll answer. No trivia questions, such as How many pairs of slippers do you own? Or What day did you discover that Rahm Emanuel is a crazy-sexy, smokin'-hot guy who you can't have, ever? No personal questions, either. Real questions, about ideas. Real answers. I promise to think really hard and not to take any criticism too much to heart. (Seriously, criticism I can handle. It's the compliments I have trouble with these days.)

Well, this is a first.

For the first time in my life, I dreamt a story. Writing it now . . .

Awesome

Just sat in the orchestra pit during one of the last runs of Wicked, which is closing in Chicago this Sunday. Wicked is the longest running show Chicago has ever had; more than a million people have seen it. It sold out for its first two and a half years. I didn't know that before tonight. I mean, I knew it was popular, but not that popular. One of my classmates is the show's conductor, and he very kindly invited all of us down to see the show. (I was the only one who made it tonight.) He has conducted the show its entire run. He's conducted so many shows he conducted the first half from memory. The second half I think he was tired, so he used the score, but I could tell he had that memorized, too, as he flipped through a few pages at a time. The set was amazing, and the costumes were trippy and very intricate. The music itself was okay—very rock-based, which is not my taste in theatre music—but the musicians were fabulous. It cracked me up how they all had been playing the show so long they would take out whatever book or magazine they were reading and read between numbers.

Uh huh

I see I am not alone in my happiness of the new beauties in the Oval Office.

Meet my personal favorite, Sexyface II.

Inauguration

Okay, can I just say I'm excited about the inauguration tomorrow for the completely shallow reason that we get to stare at a couple of decent-looking men for a change? (Obama, Rahm Emmanuel) It's like a reward for having had to stare at so much ugly for the last eight years.

Talk To Me

If you've not seen Talk To Me, watch. this. movie. It's the story of Petey Greene*, one of America's first shock-jocks. Now lest you go thinking he shocked for the sake of it—he didn't. He spoke to and for the underclass of Washington, D.C.

The movie is profane, funny, serious, and poignant. Don Cheadle is sexy as hell as Greene. And Chiwetel Ejiofor, one of the most underrated actors I've ever seen, absolutely rocks as Dewey Hughes (sexy, too). The director, Kasi Lemmons, is on my Directors I Must Work With Before I Die list. (Yes, I really do have one.)

*Note: The Petey Greene link starts playing music immediately upon opening.

Ugh

I am seriously sans inspiration for this theater thing I'm doing. It's like I'm paralyzed. I'm beginning to worry I'll get this done.

I think I need to get out of the house, as I've barely been out the past five days, what with the cold. It's supposed to warm up to a positively balmy 23 today, so I think I will venture out to the library. Hopefully looking at a different set of four walls will help me out.

Not Sure About This

One thing I hate about this new template is all the wasted space at the bottom of the page.

Tippie Hedren Barbie

Okay, this may be obscure for those of you not familiar with Alfred Hitchcock's work. He made a TERRIFYING film (terrifying as in creepy, not gory) called The Birds. They're the antagonist in the story; they gather and attack anyone who goes outside. Tippie Hedren played the female lead. The birds terrorize a whole town into leaving. So Mattel has made:

THE OFFICIAL TIPPIE HEDREN BARBIE



Note the I'm being attacked by birds tra-la-la-la expression on her face. According to Bernard Herrmann, that wasn't much different than Tippie Hedren's real expression.

MADE. OF. AWESOME.

WTF

This whole waking up in the middle of the night thing has gotta stop.

Let's Pretend . . .

That little lighthouse looking thing to the left is my cafe.

it's weird having everything on the left.

Raymond Chandler's Playback

I liked this until the end, where the dialogue really fell flat. Anytime Chandler tries to get romantic, it doesn't work.

Favorite line: "I've got friends who could cut you down so small you'd need a stepladder to put your shoes on."

Random Thought #1

As I was making coffee, I glanced at the tin of cappuccino my mother gave me during Christmas break. You know, the kind you spoon into a mug and pour hot water over it and voila . . . instant cappuccino. It's not really cappuccino, though, because it's not a cup of foam. Which led me to thinking: Why would anyone buy cappuccino at Starbucks or the like? Why why why would anyone pay four dollars for a cup of caffeinated foam?

I think we all need to ponder that for a moment.

Writing Advice

Some great writing advice from A.S. King, whom I never read, but I intend to now.

Here's more.

Too Many Gigs . . . But I'm Not Complainin'

So . . . I have a couple of playing gigs coming up the Spring. Kind of scary and exciting, as I haven't performed in . . . well, years. So I guess I'd better get practicing. Gotta get my chops back. I'm considering taking lessons to try to speed things up a bit. I've agreed (gulp) to play Debussy and Ravel on top of some jazz. It's a three to a three and 1/2 hour gig, which is a lot of material to get together. Gulp and double gulp. This is on top of possibly composing 45-minutes worth of music for a play (but I don't know if I have that gig yet . . . we'll see). And this semester is, according to the Administrative Guru in the music department, supposed to be HARD.

I'm a little frightened at having so much on my plate. But too many gigs are ALWAYS better than too few.

Thy Plant, You Are My Mortal Enemy

THIS is the mess Gatsby made of the plant I brought home from a friend's. (She had too many and gave one to me.) Gatsby climbed up to a high windowsill (where I was sure he couldn't reach), knocked the plant down, ripped it out by its roots, and ate its leaves as if the plant had done him some grievous offense.



I'm always amazed at how much cats crave vegetation. I thought they were supposed to be carnivores.

Books About Folklore

Lately I've had a hankering for nonfiction books about myth and folklore. A while ago I posted a list from John Crowley's blog (which includes general/weird history), and Neil Gaiman has what looks to be a pretty great list from his research on American Gods.

What I want to know is, (if you have an interest in folklore, that is), what are your favorite books on the subject?

You've Got Questions, I've Got Answers

So. I'm stealing Kiersten's idea and opening up the floor to questions. Ask anything you want, as long as it's in relatively good taste and doesn't ask if I've done anything illegal. If you're rude, I'll ignore your question. Or delete it altogether.

The Oracular Journal

So occasionally I ask Neil Gaiman's Oracular Journal whether something will happen.

Here was my question: Oracular Journal, will I actually get paid this week?

Answer: Some big star names, some people you've never heard of...

Hmm.

Damn

Sirius Black Takes Another Matrimonial Plunge

Sexyface got married. Well, I guess that's one resolution out of the way.

Books Read in 2008

1. 20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill
2. All the President's Men - Woodward and Bernstein
3. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
4. The Atomic Bazaar: Dispatches from the Underground World of Nuclear Trafficking - William Langewiesche
5. Blaze: A Novel - Stephen King
6. Country Property Dirt Cheap: How I Found My Piece of Inexpensive Rural Land . . . Plus My Adventures with a $300 Junk Antique Tractor - Ralph C. Turner
7. The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Enquiry into the Salem Witch Trials - Marion L. Starkey
8. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America - Erik Larson
9. Different Seasons - Stephen Kind
10. The Electric Church - Jeff Somers
11. Ghost Story - Peter Straub
12. Hard Times - Charles Dickens
13. Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel - Joe Hill
14. His Dark Materials, Book I: The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
15. The House with a Clock in Its Walls - John Bellairs
16. Just After Sunset - Stephen King
17. Lady Oracle - Margaret Atwood
18. Lisey's Story: A Novel - Stephen King
19. Lost: A Novel - Gregory Maguire
20. The Lottery And Other Stories - Shirley Jackson
21. M is for Magic - Neil Gaiman
22. The Mirror of Love - Alan Moore
23. Mr. Big - Carol and Matt Dembicki
24. The Night Inspector - Frederick Busch
25. Not in Kansas Anymore: Dark Arts, Sex Spells, Money Magic, and Other Things Your Neighbors Aren't Telling You - Christine Wicker
26. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
27. Schindler's List - Thomas Keneally
28. Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' - Gene Wolfe
29. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
30. The Songlines - Bruce Chatwin
31. Thinner - Stephen King
32. V for Vendetta - Alan Moore
33. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

Pretty respectable, I'd say, given how little time I had to read last semester. : )

A Little Somethin' Somethin'

I can't post the video to my final project, as Columbia owns the video rights, but I'm posting the music from my Logic Pro file (so it's electronic, not live). As soon as I edit a complete video and get it posted to YouTube, I'll provide a link here. For now, though . . .

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The music may not make much "sense" without the dialogue—meaning, it doesn't follow the forms you might be used to hearing in classical music. I also re-did the file so that you don't have to wait 35 seconds for the music to start.

Why yes, I've been screwing around all morning online. Why do you ask?

Oh My

My blog is becoming profane.


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24

Okay, one thing I'm really excited about is next weekend's premiere of 24. While I enjoy (immensely) Kiefer Sutherland's season-long scowl, what's really fun is following Dave Barry's blog while watching the show. It's the only reason I even kept my laptop. I'm still trying to catch up on seasons. A while ago I stopped mid-season in season 3. I've heard season five is great, but I confess I lost interest last season when they killed off Alexander Siddig's character. Still. I'm more excited than I am at Christmas.

This show is like crack. I still remember D telling me he bought all the available seasons on sale, and after we got back from Christmas break, I sat down to watch season 1 (not ever having watched the show). I was only going to watch one or two episodes, but ended up watching seasons 1 and 2 over the weekend. By the end of the weekend, I'm pretty sure I did look like I was on crack. I may post some reviews up here, or even some comments from the blog. Great fun.

In other news, Gatsby has taken to sleeping next to my head at night. I think Orson feels a little miffed, because my bed was his bed. He's still welcome on it, of course, but he's taken to sleeping in a laundry basket. He's still my baby. I hope he knows it.

Gatsby gained weight while we were gone, too, though now that I have him back on his normal amount of food, I think he'll lose it. Plus, I think he's more active now that we're home. Orson, on the other hand, has lost weight since Gatsby has been here—which is great, because Orson was a real porker there for a while.

When I'm Not Looking At You It's Like You Don't Exist. But I'm Not Ignoring You.

Okay, so this published before I had a chance to actually write anything.

So it wasn't a good year. Economists predict this year will be even worse, financially speaking, than last year. But I say "Feedle-dee-dee!" or whatever it was Scarlett said. "I shall think about that tomorrow!" Things were bad both financially and on a personal level—from huge, seemingly insurmountable family problems and not being able to find a job to a good friend's brother unexpectedly dying (which marked a bitter end to 2008).

School truly was the bright spot in all of that (plus an unexpected good ending to at least some of the family problems). I'm meeting new people, which has been a real salve on a sore soul. Plus, writing music again has been rewarding (hard, but rewarding).

Resolutions:

1. Get in shape, baby.

2. See at least one opera at the Lyric.

3. Finish my symphony.

4. Get over my crush on Gary Oldman. (Yesterday I watched The Dark Knight again. Can you tell?) Although, I gotta say Christian Bale was hotter than hot as Batman/Bruce Wayne.

EDIT: To all those who offered encouragement or comfort, thank you. Here's toasting to a brighter year! Music stuff to be up soon. Promise!