Tuesday, September 30, 2008

And Tango Makes Three

I may be wrong or ignorant in saying this, but maybe, sometimes, the world gets a little smarter every day. Actually, what could happen is the big balance of ignorance/intelligence shifts places, but still.

I stumbled upon a list of "banned books" in schools, and of course found the classic "controversial" children's book, And Tango Makes Three. It's about the true story of these two penguins at the Central Park zoo who take care of a baby. And they're both dude penguins. They don't have gay penguin sex or go to zoo gay pride parades, they just take care of a little baby penguin. And of course people have to get pissed off about that.

So I go to the amazon web site for this book looking for a good debate in the comments from lots of ignorant people, but when I get there, I'm shocked to find there aren't really many anti-gay comments at all. Most of them are saying how the book is charming and says a lot about love and acceptance, with many of those same comments stating how people need to stop being ignorant (and of COURSE there are a couple of those "God hates gay penguins!" comments, which are immediately contested :] )

So, good job, 70% of parents. I bet you're all from New York.

That's one thing I REALLY love about living here. Everyone is so loving of the gay community. Not like in Texas, where everyone is "I don't agree with that lifestyle! Insert man-written bible verse maybe stated one time in the whole damn book where I ignore all the parts about love and acceptance! Rararar!"

Monday, September 29, 2008

If you're feeling down...

Licky Pug Screen Cleaner

Eventually I'll go to acting class

In this girl's dream, she said me and him came "home," but that home is only hers, not ours.

My home is New York now.

What is home exactly? In Garden State they say everyone remembers the moment they really grow up-- the exact moment you realize where you grew up is not your home anymore.

This is not applicable to me just yet. I must correct my previous statement, because, really, my home is still in Texas with my family, as I am financially dependent on them, and close to many of my friends, and my boyfriend, and also some sheep and some cousin-ly neighbors I've known since birth. This is still my home, although I do not really live there all the time anymore. I have two homes. One is for family and one is for my career.

My career, or at least my current chosen career path, requires that I live in this fantastic city. I have not discovered everything about this place, and I learn more every day, and I am certainly not ready to leave yet.

But of course, I won't live here forever. I will try my hand at this business and then hopefully move out of the country for a while; perhaps as a nomad, perhaps settling down on some pastoral setting or village or something. And then, perhaps, I may try my hand at the other coast. I cannot rule out anywhere I haven't been. The answer is simply to roll along with the punches, work hard as an actor, travel on the outside, and see where I'd be happiest.

So, certainly, I may end up on either coast. I may end up in Canada or Mexico. I may end up in Tokyo. Or Belgium. Or a small English village. Or Tazmania.

But goodness knows I'm not going to stay in one place for too long; the world is too damn big for that.

So I won't rule out your crazy thoughts just yet, crazy girl. Not just yet.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Tsunamiiiiiiiii

It's a Saturday night, and I am sitting in my chilly little room with Chinese leftovers and some chai tea, reading and writing letters and generally hanging out after a long and unusual day (which included getting typed out at an open call early in the morning and later wandering lower Manhattan in search of coffee.) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is on right now, which is a great movie, but before this I had seen a Discovery Channel documentary about this tsunami that's eventually going to destroy the east coast of the US.

(How the Tsunami is Going To Wreak Havoc: A Story Kate-ified)
In a couple of decades, a chunk of La Palma, part of the Canary Islands near Northern Africa, is going to essentially fall off in a gigantic landslide after a nearby volcano erupts. Typically tsunami waves are created by underwater earthquakes and shit, but when it's a landslide that goes into the ocean, the ocean's like, well fuck, and then it's a giant wave, like ten times bigger than one made by an earthquake. Ok, so when the part of the island falls off, or whatever, it slides in the water and makes a giant wave, and then the wave travels, and it gets bigger and bigger, and spreads out to the size of the Eastern coastline. Then, it will gain momentum until it makes this wall of water 100 meters tall traveling at 800 km/hr. Whee! That's damn big and fast. Then it will hit the coastline and basically wipe out every city on the East of the US ten miles in.

SO, after this happens, hopefully everyone will have been evacuated (or we will have the technology to do something about it; this won't happen for at least fifty years or so) and then all the big cities over here will be destroyed. With the destruction of New York, there will no longer be bagels, live theater as a career choice, or a great number of homeless people. With no Boston, there will no longer be delicious cream pie. And with no Miami FL, there will be a great loss of land for old people, pink flamingoes, and the gay community.

So then everyone will have to move inward to Chicago, I guess, or Texas, or California. But if another tsunami hits the West coast (proof that God is, indeed, tired of this country's existence) then that choice is out. Anyway, then I guess everyone will pack into the middle of the country, or move to Canada. Nothing ever happens to Canada except a lot of snow.

So, if a mega tsunami hits us, I guess we'll all be in a sticky wicket. I guess we should come to terms with our morTality as soon as possible.

1. We are all going to die.
2. We may as well have fun while we're here.
3. This does not mean be a dumbass.

Thank you, and have a good day.

Oh, and I get to be an audience member in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Be jealous.



Friday, September 26, 2008

I want to write

I want to write marvelous stories and compose beautiful songs and create amazing things that people will love.

Idea no. 1- The Skapera

If Reel Big Fish, Streetlight Manifesto, and a handful of other bands seem up to the idea of putting their songs in a musical, this is my first big idea. Ska + Opera = Skapera. It's a semi- autobiographical rock musical entirely with ska music.


Idea no. 2- The trippy/fantasy novel/movie with all my dreams

One day I decided to go back to my very first old blog in which I documented all my crazy tripped-out dreams and put them all together in a kind of haphazard plot that ended up being one weird piece of something. The storyline goes roughly like this:

A girl named Ai lives in a peaceful little town until a giant flood comes to the earth and everyone lives on the roof of her school. She departs in a little handicraft boat until she comes to an island, whereupon she meets a bird named Lysander and a dog named Demetrius. They inform her that the barrier between these two obscure universes has broken, so she's like, "ok, that's pretty sweet." Anyway, someone tries to kidnap her with a kite, and there are elephants in Victorian clothes, and a dome city, and eventually Ai ends up on a pirate ship with a bunch of Japanese singing female pirates who race with a ship full of dude pirates. Needless to say, I'm a badass.


Idea no. 3- A play about a bunch of people and their religion

Because everyone loves a bit of thought-provoking controversy in a show. It'll cover a whole lotta shit.



Idea no 4- there is no idea number 4. Not yet, anyway. There are rough ideas, but nothing solid.


Singing Japanese lady-pirates kick ass.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

It's getting colder!...

...Awesome.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Iambic Pentameter!!

Without despair, to play no role of worth,
just happy solitude upon her face
she digs and hides her failures in the earth,
behind a terrifying stance of grace.

She is the artist, born into a world
of dreams, but ever hard to feed and grow;
so train, must she, and have her life unfurled
In nothing planned, expecting naught to know.

In happenstance, her art is not a game
but something of a sport, complete with win
and loss, and oft' it leads to shame;
Enduring menace, patience from within.

Her art is oft' a dragon, made with horns
and claws that terrify the new and young,
and yet this dragon hungers, so forlorn,
and must consume a million on his tongue.

So who will feed the dragon? Let it be
the ones who win the game to feel his breath,
not let him sicken and become the sea.
Yes, there are those who feed him, free from death.

And so it goes, this madd'ning game of luck,
This art lives on through those who give a fuck!


...Ok, the dragon thing came from a quote from Jen's husband Harlan. He said the industry is a dragon that has to eat a lot, meaning everyone has a decent chance at work. I'm not into dragons, really, I just liked the idea of it being hungry...

Monday, September 22, 2008

I'm eating cookie dough

In the style of my favorite Singaporean blogger Xiaxue,

WHAT THE HELL LA??!?

Why does my building not have one single oven in it??!??!

I only want to make cookies! I went to every single kitchen-- penthouse, 2nd floor, basement- no oven. They've replaced them all with microwaves, it seems. What the hell?!

If they took the ovens out because they think it is a fire hazard, they should consider the fact that there is a much bigger fire threat in straightening irons and blow dryers, which there must be at least two of in every room. Now, I am eating cookie dough. They would be real cookies if only our building wasn't a big ol' bitch.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Weddings

My roommate Nicole just got back from her cousin's wedding in Brooklyn and brought back this huge bouquet of assorted flowers she swiped from one of the tables. This thing is beautiful, and definitely makes the dorm a much happier looking place...



That being said, I would like to wax a little on the subject of weddings, namely my own- NOT that I am getting married anytime soon, goodness no, but because I am a female and that is what females do. We think about weddings. Anyway, I've always known I wanted a smaller scale sort of wedding (provided I ever actually do get married) without too many expenses or crazy things like that. But lately I thought to myself, I don't really want a typical American wedding, on account of the fact that I hate a lot of things American as it is. No, I want an Indian wedding. (Are white people allowed to have other cultures' weddings? Someone should check up on that before I label myself a toolbag unintentionally)

This means, essentially, I would want a dress like this



Because, really, how frickin sweet would this look? Or maybe a little more like the one in Bend it Like Beckham, with the midriff showing and all, but definitely the bold and lovely colors of this Saree...














And as for a wedding cake, I'll probably make it myself. Red velvet or something. Or maybe just platters of cupcakes ;-) just to live up to my namesake...

Have a wonderful day everyone! I'm out. Gonna go read Breakfast of Champions until I pass out (which is not as good as Cat's Cradle thus far) ...'night!

Good morning!

Actually, it isn't morning. It's late afternoon. Actually, come to think of it, it's past late afternoon and is now early evening. (Hm, off to a great start, aren't I?)

I've begun a secret blog to document my crazy adventures here in the center of the universe, New York. This will be about everything- things that I find amusing, things I find beautiful or interesting (or at least of some intellectual merit) and things I dream about and hope to accomplish.

Today I had a callback for the school's musical, which surprisingly (and unfortunately) was heavy on the dance. I hobbled through with my semi-healed-halfway-sprained ankle and afterwards went on a journey to get some coffee in my neighborhood that ISN'T Starbucks. (Boo, Starbucks. You suck balls.) I was successful, and my cappucino was tasty.