Fun Fact

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Supermodel Dovima forged her moniker by combining the first syllables of her real names--Dorothy Virginia Margaret.

Sex and the Viv-y.

World renowned fashion designer, and personal idol/muse, Vivienne Westwood has spoken up about the Sex and the City movie! And she was not amused!

Well, what can be said? Viv is a goddess, no doubt, and she's entitled to her opinion. Personally, I thought the costumes (for the most part) were fabulous (although Pat could've lightened the Mugler load on Samantha), but it's understandable that she didn't think they were edgy enough. I do, however, find it a little rash on her part to walk out of the film after ten minutes, although I fear what she would do if she saw what they did to her collections during the Fashion Week scene! 

In other Viv news, her "Man" Summer collection showed in Milan and it is, as always, fabulous. Too bad this 'mo doesn't have the dough. 

Fun Fact

Pablo Neruda wrote only with green ink because it was the color of Esperanza (hope). 

Of the Earth

Human law is often puzzling, irrational and, sometimes, contradictory. In Alabama, it's illegal to play dominoes on Sunday. In Michigan, you may not swear in front of women and children. In New York, the penalty for jumping off a building is death. In North Dakota, it's illegal to fall asleep with your shoes on. But one law has never ceased to confused me: under United States federal law, it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana. Even with the medical marijuana rise, the decriminalization of it in certain states, and Alaska's wacky guidelines, at the end of the day marijuana is still considered a schedule 1 narcotic, and therefore, illegal. 

Despite the fact that THC is not physically or psychologically addictive, nor does it present any health concerns that nicotine does not, the real reason this law confuse me is the fact that cannabis grows right out of the earth. I suppose the government does what they can, prohibiting the farming and selling of the plant by humans and so forth, because that's human intervention, but how can something natural be illegal? Why should what grows in our backyard be plucked up? Because it's dangerous? Should Poison Ivy be illegal? Or Nightshade? If something creates itself autonomously how can people slap jurisdictions on it? It's like saying sunshine or wind is illegal. 

Obviously the same thing can be argued for the sake of heroin, cocaine, and the whole slew of other things  that are derived from the earth, but in the case of marijuana it doesn't go through as rigorous a process to become a "drug" and it is not nearly as dangerous.  

I guess it all has to do with the human domination of earth and their quest to reverse the order of nature, but unless they plan to put everything they find disagreeable about nature into extinction (which is certainly possible, and may even become a reality within our lifetime), I think people should be more concerned about playing dominoes on Sunday than sparking up.    

It's Official...

...either something significant happened today, or I need to have myself committed. Or both. 

While riding my bike this afternoon, I was deep in thought ("pensive", if you will) about a lot of things: School, work, television, Vogue, food, paint, politics, toothpicks, cats, Truman Capote, abortions, deodorant, potholes, trees, Manhattan, Carrie Bradshaw, marriage, Dovima, Grey's Anatomy, fish, getting my cigarette lit, Short Fiction for Retards, South Pacific, Vivienne Westwood, sex and, of course, my future; mainly, my hopes of becoming something more than a little gay boy on Long Island by making some kind of impact or contribution to the world on a large scale. (Dayum, that's a long sentence). And, just like that, a feather fell down right in front of my face. After accidently inhaling it, stopping my bike short, burning my finger and falling forward, I spit it out and remembered that, last week, I had decided that, if it were ever necessary, my insignia would be a feather. And that was a little scary.   

 

Now, birds fly. A lot. In the sky. Above our heads. And they molt. Logic would say there's nothing unusual about this occurrence and, in reality, there isn't. But it was striking that, in my whole mini chain-reaction of thoughts that, the split-second I was thinking about my career the symbol of said career would drop in front of my face and down my throat. I mean, haven't had some conversion where I'll now run into the nearest church and start praying and flogging myself, nor do I even think I'll remember this damn feather next week, but it's just another one of those things.

Goddamn universe. 

What a Piece of Work is Man.

It's been a year since I saw Romeo & Juliet in Central Park, and I'm all riled up to see Hamlet this year. I just hope the Public Theatre continues the streak of "good" Shakespeare plays in the years to come, hopefully including Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew and bypassing Henry the...whatever and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Anyway. It's not just Hamlet I'm super excited bout this year; it's the American Tribal Love-Rock musical Hair. The musical that actually revolutionized Broadway and brought the concepts of free love, peace, protest and drugs to popular culture. It's the forerunner to all other unconventional musicals, but, more importantly, it still has the ability to stand on its own today, without being (completely) a period piece. Of course that's due to some striking similarities of the present day to the 1960's, but that's for another post... 

To be fair, I did see it during the extremely limited three day engagement last September, but I was so unfamiliar with it, not to mention tired after a long day of classes, that I couldn't appreciate it very much. But, after nine months of blasting the soundtrack, watching the (slightly terrible) movie, and reading up on criticisms and history of the play, I'm excited to see it once again. This time in a better frame of mind. 

There is, however, another reason I am dying to see this production. Namely: 

Jonathan Groff.

Sure, it's pretty fangirlish of me to have a crush on an adolescent Broadway star, but I'm only human (well, that's debatable, but I do have raging hormones, so there's your explanation). Ever since seeing him (all of him, if you catch my drift) in Spring Awakening last year, and again in Hair, and in addition to knowing from a reliable source that he does indeed play for my team, I have been a little obsessed with him. I probably would never have the nerve to act upon these feelings, or even bring myself to talk to him for that matter, but it's exciting to see him in person. He's a brilliant performer and has the ability to take command of the stage when he's on it. Oh, and he's hot. 

There is also, one more reason that I am excited about both of these plays. The tagline on the poster advertising the plays is "What a piece of work is man." Now, to someone unfamiliar to these works, that quote might seem unimportant, however, a shrewd eye will tell you that it's the beginning of a soliloquy that appears quite predominantly in both plays. It's that aspect of design that I find impressive and worthy: the simple nuances that are well researched, apropos, and give you something to smile at while reading the poster. Not to mention the symbol of vanitas/iconic skull on the poster that sums up both Hamlet and Hair quite nicely in one image. 

I have, as usual, a good feeling about the Public Theatre this summer. It's one of the few things to look forward to in these scorching months. 

Green Living

For three years now, I have been a staunch vegetarian and animal rights activist (I take pride in the fact that I once participated in a protest at KFC) and, with the gloomy, acid rain-filled cloud of global warming hanging over us every day, I think it's time not just to reassess our gas and electricity consumption, but also the use animal products. Since I cannot eloquently describe every cruel and pollution-inducing flaw associated with factory farming, I'll refer all three of my readers to this article from the New York Times. 

Next time, don't worry about filling your tank; worry about having a burger.