I went to the Modesto High production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. :DD I was very impressed with Philia and Domina; their voices were fantastic, and they were both thoroughly charming in their roles. I was less impressed with the rest of the cast (except during ensemble pieces, if that makes sense) but they certainly pulled off the hijinks in the second half bestfully. Ahhhh running around everywhere!!! LOLLL.
Mmm, except while we there, we sat behind a couple of rows of girls that reminded me EXACTLY why I hated high school. Ugh.
Abbreviated Ugly Betty: Mark broke my heart. So did Daniel. Betty yay! Wilhelmina yay! Alexis and Claire boooooooo. HENREE.
So I'm reading two books right now that I don't really want to be reading. I don't quite have the stomach for it. The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War and Snow White, Blood Red. The first is on South Africa coming out of apartheid, and... it's surreal sometimes, trying to reconcile that with something that happened in your plane of existence. It wasn't fiction, it wasn't so long ago. But it seems like the universe next door. They were all people; victims, perpetrators, all. That's hard to accept. It happened to real people. I keep putting the book down. Other than that, an issue that comes up is, at least for me, how I need a mediating viewpoint, in this case the conflict photographers, to ease me into it. I think that... it's just too hard for me to comprehend that that was some people's everyday reality, and I can't stay with that for a whole book. I need some distance, some semblance of an outsider, like me, coming into a situation, so it isn't so overwhelming. If I start out with something I completely can't identify with, it just feels sort of like I'll always be missing something. Which is true enough. I wish it wasn't like that. I wish I had a greater capacity to understand instead of fumblingly emphasize, but the crux of the matter is that I don't. I guess this is the reasoning behind having white and/or American main characters in a story about another country/people's history, like the Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond and all those other things. Don't get me wrong, those are still fascinating stories, and in the case of the book, conveys the reality of the situation very well. But... I don't really know. The distance needed to make things more palatable can also be, uh, distancing. I suppose it's not too big of a problem as long as you can make the jump from connecting with the white American viewpoint characters to the active figures, and as long as you keep trying to expand your way of thinking. You... don't necessarily have to relate 100% to be able to... I don't know. Another issue: symbiotic relationship with conflict and conflict reporters of various media. It is a hard humanitarian deal, but ultimately if it gets the message out, it's not a completely bad thing to be gaining off your subject. I mean... well, maybe. You should try help your subject directly, but if it's dangerous to you, then... this is sounding awful. There is a definite danger to that, so in the long run, when you have to balance it out, what good does it do anyone if you're dead? Personal vs global benefits, and how far human responsibility in case-by-case situations goes. Something like that can never be all good, but... it doesn't have to be all bad. Last: making people into symbolic figures (Kevin Carter). It's funny how much the book brought home the fact that they're just people that other people know. They didn't exist as grand epic archetypes. Urrr. My grammar went to shit up there.
The second book had two essays about the importance of fairy tales. Like, you all know that fairy tales are REALLY VIOLENT? And not just violent. Sometimes just like... what the fuck???? What is WRONG with this story?? Yeah, okay. One of the essays was saying that censoring the violence out of the fairy tales for the sake of teh children is wrong. UMM YEAH I don't think I AGREE. I for one WOULD NOT HAVE appreciated ALL THAT VIOLENCE and PURE WRONG being left in. I mean I remember reading some of that and not processing it, and certainly not really being able to visualize it, and lots of things fly over your head as a kid. But that was just me, and in general I've found that it has taken me a while to connect what I read/saw with things going on in real life. Some kids don't have that extreme lapse time. Dude, there are things that are just inappropriate for kids. Those things can be scarily graphic!! They put very specific images into your head, images that you wouldn't really come by on your own. That is to say, they introduce new and unnatural ideas. I mean... it's true that those kinds of things don't necessarily scar kids for life, and in some cases, by leaving them in a story, it helps them come to terms with certain concepts safely and reasonably. And if you quarantine them too much it can be too big of shock later on? But... dude, some things are not right for kids.
Wait. I just flipped through the essays again. I don't think that was what they were saying after all! HAHAHA... oh, special.
FNL: Best episode. Alyssa and I were clutching each other, paralyzed with JOY. Taylors are the best! Matt is the best! Jason is best! Matt and Smash! TYRA! Taylors! O Julie! I totally understood her re: moving. Waverly n Smash! LYLA! (God that feels weird.) BO! Jason! He can't quite stop for her right now! *cries bitter tears :(* Now I love everyone in the show (except Tim. I don't think they can ever make me like Tim. I know what they were doing with Bo and all that did was make me like BO. HAHA). I just want everything to work out for everyone. Except Tim. My heart belongs strictly to SPN right now, but I really want FNL to get renewed too. The rest of my shows are pretty secure or just not as high up on my list. The show is so good, and I can see it being really, really great. Not great as in gr8, great as in grand, as in stays with you for your life. FNL!
I love Dean a lot. Was feeling it very strongly today, in response to nothing. DEAN.
Family Theater was in high spirits today. Highlight: a bee inside the house that got everyone screaming and cowering by the stairs, except my mom.
Oh! The bee thing is a gr8 example of LAPSE TIME. When I was younger I was never particularly alarmed or skeeved out by bugs, and indeed didn't get why I should be. But now I am TOTALLY GROSSED OUT by bugs. Dude! They are DISGUSTING. AUGHRR. I am on a 5+ year delay
Mmm, except while we there, we sat behind a couple of rows of girls that reminded me EXACTLY why I hated high school. Ugh.
Abbreviated Ugly Betty: Mark broke my heart. So did Daniel. Betty yay! Wilhelmina yay! Alexis and Claire boooooooo. HENREE.
So I'm reading two books right now that I don't really want to be reading. I don't quite have the stomach for it. The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War and Snow White, Blood Red. The first is on South Africa coming out of apartheid, and... it's surreal sometimes, trying to reconcile that with something that happened in your plane of existence. It wasn't fiction, it wasn't so long ago. But it seems like the universe next door. They were all people; victims, perpetrators, all. That's hard to accept. It happened to real people. I keep putting the book down. Other than that, an issue that comes up is, at least for me, how I need a mediating viewpoint, in this case the conflict photographers, to ease me into it. I think that... it's just too hard for me to comprehend that that was some people's everyday reality, and I can't stay with that for a whole book. I need some distance, some semblance of an outsider, like me, coming into a situation, so it isn't so overwhelming. If I start out with something I completely can't identify with, it just feels sort of like I'll always be missing something. Which is true enough. I wish it wasn't like that. I wish I had a greater capacity to understand instead of fumblingly emphasize, but the crux of the matter is that I don't. I guess this is the reasoning behind having white and/or American main characters in a story about another country/people's history, like the Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond and all those other things. Don't get me wrong, those are still fascinating stories, and in the case of the book, conveys the reality of the situation very well. But... I don't really know. The distance needed to make things more palatable can also be, uh, distancing. I suppose it's not too big of a problem as long as you can make the jump from connecting with the white American viewpoint characters to the active figures, and as long as you keep trying to expand your way of thinking. You... don't necessarily have to relate 100% to be able to... I don't know. Another issue: symbiotic relationship with conflict and conflict reporters of various media. It is a hard humanitarian deal, but ultimately if it gets the message out, it's not a completely bad thing to be gaining off your subject. I mean... well, maybe. You should try help your subject directly, but if it's dangerous to you, then... this is sounding awful. There is a definite danger to that, so in the long run, when you have to balance it out, what good does it do anyone if you're dead? Personal vs global benefits, and how far human responsibility in case-by-case situations goes. Something like that can never be all good, but... it doesn't have to be all bad. Last: making people into symbolic figures (Kevin Carter). It's funny how much the book brought home the fact that they're just people that other people know. They didn't exist as grand epic archetypes. Urrr. My grammar went to shit up there.
The second book had two essays about the importance of fairy tales. Like, you all know that fairy tales are REALLY VIOLENT? And not just violent. Sometimes just like... what the fuck???? What is WRONG with this story?? Yeah, okay. One of the essays was saying that censoring the violence out of the fairy tales for the sake of teh children is wrong. UMM YEAH I don't think I AGREE. I for one WOULD NOT HAVE appreciated ALL THAT VIOLENCE and PURE WRONG being left in. I mean I remember reading some of that and not processing it, and certainly not really being able to visualize it, and lots of things fly over your head as a kid. But that was just me, and in general I've found that it has taken me a while to connect what I read/saw with things going on in real life. Some kids don't have that extreme lapse time. Dude, there are things that are just inappropriate for kids. Those things can be scarily graphic!! They put very specific images into your head, images that you wouldn't really come by on your own. That is to say, they introduce new and unnatural ideas. I mean... it's true that those kinds of things don't necessarily scar kids for life, and in some cases, by leaving them in a story, it helps them come to terms with certain concepts safely and reasonably. And if you quarantine them too much it can be too big of shock later on? But... dude, some things are not right for kids.
Wait. I just flipped through the essays again. I don't think that was what they were saying after all! HAHAHA... oh, special.
FNL: Best episode. Alyssa and I were clutching each other, paralyzed with JOY. Taylors are the best! Matt is the best! Jason is best! Matt and Smash! TYRA! Taylors! O Julie! I totally understood her re: moving. Waverly n Smash! LYLA! (God that feels weird.) BO! Jason! He can't quite stop for her right now! *cries bitter tears :(* Now I love everyone in the show (except Tim. I don't think they can ever make me like Tim. I know what they were doing with Bo and all that did was make me like BO. HAHA). I just want everything to work out for everyone. Except Tim. My heart belongs strictly to SPN right now, but I really want FNL to get renewed too. The rest of my shows are pretty secure or just not as high up on my list. The show is so good, and I can see it being really, really great. Not great as in gr8, great as in grand, as in stays with you for your life. FNL!
I love Dean a lot. Was feeling it very strongly today, in response to nothing. DEAN.
Family Theater was in high spirits today. Highlight: a bee inside the house that got everyone screaming and cowering by the stairs, except my mom.
Oh! The bee thing is a gr8 example of LAPSE TIME. When I was younger I was never particularly alarmed or skeeved out by bugs, and indeed didn't get why I should be. But now I am TOTALLY GROSSED OUT by bugs. Dude! They are DISGUSTING. AUGHRR. I am on a 5+ year delay
