Some Thoughts About Anne Frank

I scanned a play last week that I was digitally filing today based on The Diary of Anne Frank. This play, by Meyer Levin, was basically banned (suppressed) by Anne Frank's father, influenced by his legal advisors. I read the introduction to the play, which is only available in print for libraries and literary discussion, written by Levin, about how the play was suppressed in favor of the more commerical version by a pair of Hollywood writers. I think this story is fascinating but, due to a legal agreement made by Mr. Frank and Mr. Levin, hardly ever told. Thinking about this fascinating story and Anne Frank's experiences in general got me thinking about a few different things.

First of all, one of my best friends in elementary school was a girl named Sasha. She and I bonded over a shared love of reading. One of her favorite books was The Diary of Anne Frank, which, inspired by her, I promptly bought. But my mom thought the book was too mature for me, and I still have not read it. I'm going back to L.A. this weekend, where my copy of this book lives, and I'm definitely taking it back to New York with me to finally read this classic. However, I'm not entirely certain where in my room and extensive book collection it is to be found. I can picture it exactly in my mind, out of my sun porch, but that mental picture is from way back in elementary school, when the book was still a pressing subject in my life. I have no idea where it is now, but I think it's so interesting how people can have these incredibly detailed snapshots of the past stored in their memories.

The other thing I got to thinking about was Holocaust deniers. While I find conspiracy theories really interesting, I cannot stand the thought of Holocaust deniers. In fourth grade we read "Number the Stars," about a little girl who lived through krystallnacht (spelling??), and Mrs. Roman showed us an episode of "7th Heaven" (the only episode of that show I've ever seen, actually), in which the little blonde boy is learning about the holocaust but a boy in his class says that his father told him that's all a lie. The little blonde boy then meets his neighbor, who has a concentration camp serial number tattooed on her arm, and brings his new friend into class to tell them about the realities of the horror she survived.

Some conspiracy theories are funny (most involve UFOs), some are fairly absurd but you can understand why they are believed (the JFK assassination -- yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Oswold, but there's just enough uncertainty for the conspiracy theory to thrive). But with holocaust deniers, I just don't get where it even started. I mean, the images themselves speak volumes, but the stories from not only survivors but even some on the Nazi side are just too numerous to be denied. I just don't get where the delusion comes from and how it has been perpetuated at ALL, even though of course it is NOT a very "popular" theory as far as conspiracy nuts go. And it's not even really conspiracy nuts who buy into this one, it's a much more disconcerting brand of crazy people.

Hump Day

I'm officially halfway through my internship at The Public, so I've started looking toward the end of that and I have to honestly say I'll be sad to leave.  I mean, New York is definitely not for me but I'm settling in to work and it's hard to leave after settling.

In other news, I just found out some of the doormen at my building (including the cute young one) are republicans.  The cute one mentioned that he'd seen someone he knew giving out Obama buttons, then made some disparaging remark about how "they really believe they can help things" (I was waiting for the elevator so I was around the corner from them), then said he mentioned something about McCain and his friend said "you're one of those racists, aren't you?", and then the other doorman, the young not-cute one, said, "liberals are so..." (I didn't quite hear the next word but it was either crazy or some variation of that).  I mean, the guy the cute doorman had run in to was a crazy liberal, evidenced by his unfounded accusation of racism.  However, I was a little dismayed to find that the doormen do not share my politics.

So, now I'm gonna watch Obama's half-hour infomercial and judge the quality of producer his record-shattering fundraising was able to hire.  One thing I can say about what I've seen so far (2 minutes) -- if he doesn't become President/once his two terms are up (yes, two), he can go into voice over!

On Civil Rights and Rainy Days

First of all, it sucks to wake up to heavy rain and realize that you don't own an umbrella, then have to walk 7 blocks to the subway stop.

In other news, here's what I've noticed about the "liberal" vs. "conservative" policies on some issues (air quotes because of my disdain for those labels. There's nothing "liberal" about believing everyone should have rights, and nothing "conservative" about pandering to only the upper echelons of society):

There are two debates that boil down to the same core issue for me. The gay marriage controversy, which is "traditional" marriage (please note, "traditional" marriage was the woman went and had babies with whoever brought home the most meat) establishment claiming that giving gay people the right to marry destroys the sanctity of marriage. (there is another rant in here about interracial marriage, but I'll let that go). And then there's abortion, where the far right believes no one should have abortions and moderate people who actually have brains believe no one should have abortions except people to whom something horrible has happened (rape, etc) or something horrible will happen (death due to birth or pregnancy complications).

The problem with both of these debates is that with one side you're compromising someone's personal beliefs or personal moral code, and on the other side you're compromising someone's actual ability to do something. By outlawing gay marriage and abortion, people are actually restricting their opponents' actions. By allowing these things, people are merely offending other people. I had this argument with a girl at a political science program I attended in the summer of 2007 (forced by my mother, who's on the board, but I did learn a lot about the South which was cool), and although this girl is a really nice person and I got along with her well outside of this debate, it pretty much ended with her leaping across the circle of chairs at me screaming "MARRIAGE IS BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN!!!"

Here's my point: if you don't believe in abortion, don't get an abortion; if you don't believe in gay marriage, make sure you become part of a church community that does not perform same-sex marriages. But let people who want either (or both) of those things be. This is why supporters of abortion call themselves "pro-choice" -- they believe that someone has the right to CHOOSE what to do with their body. Like I said before, if you don't believe in abortion, no one is going to MAKE you get one. If gay marriage is outlawed, a gay person can't just switch churches until they find one that shares their beliefs. (I'm using "church" to represent any type of religious or community organization, it's just easy to use "church" since this debate tends to rage fiercest in Christian communities). Surround yourself with people who share your beliefs, but don't force them on everybody else.

I have many, many other issues surrounding these debates, but this one has just been on my mind today after reading an article about Sarah Palin and John McCain, and their ridiculous policies regarding women's "health" (quotes courtesy of John McCain, but also referring to how when discussing women's health with regards to McCain and Palin, it's not health you're discussing at all).

In completely unrelated news, as I was walking up the stairs to the literary area of the offices, I tripped and fell face down on the stairs. The stairs border a floor-to-ceiling, 2-story glass wall that forms one wall of the conference room. In which there was a conference with all the most important people from the theater. I was only a little humiliated. No wait, a whole lot. Especially since they actually looked up and made gestures to indicate "are you ok?" I gave them a thumbs up and slunk away, ashamed that the rain had gotten onto my shoes and allowed this to happen to me. :(

I might go to a book signing tonight, which could be interesting.

Why Trump Tower is Amazing

This weekend I didn't do a whole lot since I was pretty sick (and still am, although it's getting a bit better). I did make it to MoMA, the Natural History Museum, a show, and a little shopping over the course of the two days.

Yesterday, Sunday, I decided to take a walk up 5th Ave., and I stopped in at Trump Tower and had a delicious ice cream sundae as I have done in the past with my family. Trump Tower is crazy and definitely makes my list of favorite places in the city. However, unlike most of my other favorite places (Natural History Museum, MoMA, Times Square), I love Trump Tower because it is the least "New York"-y place in New York. In fact, if I didn't know better I'd swear it exists only in Las Vegas. Inside it's really gaudy and obnoxious, with a gold-colored wall that's a waterfall about three or four stories tall, and the whole place smells like the distinctive chemicals of an indoor fountain. The first few floors are shopping and there's a starbucks, expensive clothing, and even an entire Trump store. One level down from the street is food. There's a trendy little bar/cocktail-looking thing that I've never seen open since I usually go there during the day, a food-court type place to get lunch food, and an ice cream counter. The ice cream sundaes are overpriced (of course, it's Trump), but they're delicious and it's a great place to go to sit down for a bit and escape New York when the city starts to get to you (as it often gets to me).

I also went to the dress rehearsal of "Road Show," which I talked about earlier, but to those who haven't been reading along, it's the new Sondheim show and the dress was open to the staff of The Public. The show was not as good as I'd hoped, I'm sorry to say.  However, I'd been led to believe that it had the potential to be catastrophic, and it was DEFINITELY nowhere close to that.  But the story isn't very emotionally gripping and the characters aren't terribly likeable by the end, and sometimes a show can make up for things like that with a lot of flash (i.e. "Legally Blonde"), but unfortunately that's not the case here. It doesn't help that the book is written as more of a light work, but it's staged by John Doyle as a heavy drama, and ultimately it does not have a happy ending and covers some serious topics so it would really be better served by a more serious tone throughout.  This incarnation is darker than previous versions, which is good.  Michael Cerveris is good, though not as awe-inspiring as in "Sweeney Todd" or "Assassains," but the character is a little more overtly sleezy (although not a killer, so less psychotic than the other two roles), and those two roles (Sweeney Todd and John Wilkes Booth) were very commanding characters whereas Wilson Mizner is a charmer, not a force of nature. The direction is actually quite clever, but doesn't suit the lighter style the book is written in. And a lot of the music sounds like less clearly melodic versions of themes from "Assassains," and I haven't looked it up but I'd bet he worked on them originally at around the same time.

Today I was stuffing envelopes for important people in the arts whom The Public is inviting to the Native Theater Festival in November, and one of the envelopes was for Philip Seymour Hoffman, since The Public has a relationship with his theater company. I thought that was cool.

I Saw (quite a bit of) the Naked Cowboy

I'm in the city this weekend again since my plans for going to Harvard got a little screwed up (I've been trying to arrange a meeting with the head of their arts office but I haven't been able to get anything set up yet).  It's probably better this way, anyway, since I'm feeling really sick tonight.  I went to MoMA and the Natural History Museum and did some shopping at Bloomingdale's.  I was going to walk down 5th Avenue and window-shop a little and get some ice cream in Trump Tower (one of my weirdest favorite NYC things...), but I decided to just explore Bloomingdale's a little, which was a good choice since then it started raining.  I just saw some lightning, then heard some thunder, but only one of each.

Friday at work I had to go to the Times Square area to pick up some flyers from one of the sponsors of The Public's Native Theater Festival, and I also stopped by my dad's company's offices (he's not in town right now) to chat with Beth Williams, the COO.  I also stopped in one of the many many sketchy electronics stores in the area to get a 4 gig memory card for my camera since I'd left it in the card reader YET AGAIN, and I figured it'd be nice to have a second card anyway for any future endeavors.  Then I wandered around Times Square a little bit, and I saw the Naked Cowboy for the second time ever, and the first time with a camera!
He performs songs such as "mommas, don't let your sons grow up to be naked cowboys," and takes pictures with awkward tourists who run up to him.  I know about him because he auditioned for the first season of "American Idol" (lord knows why I still remember ANYTHING about the first season of "American Idol," but I remember the rejection of this guy very clearly).  What a crazy fellow.
I also went to the Union Square Farmer's Market again, but with my camera this time.  There was a lot of interesting items of vegetation:

And there was a little station set up by a cat shelter and they had such cute tiny little kittens.  I'm so sad I'm not allowed to have a kitty here (and take it home with me in December, of course), because I could really use some company.  Especially if the company looks like this:

Tomorrow at The Public they're doing a dress rehearsal of "Road Show" that's open to Public employees, so I RSVP'd yes and we'll see if I feel up to it.  I'm pretty sure I'll end up going, since it's a great opportunity, but I do feel terrible and I have some stuff I really need to take care of.  So yeah, we'll see.

Cock & Tail

Today at work I got to go out and explore some new areas of NYC taking flyers for the Native Theater Festival to some of the sponsors.  I discovered the National Museum of American Indians, which is down near the Statue of Liberty ferries and I had noticed the building last time I was down there but didn't know what it was.  I also walked less than 10 blocks carrying a really heavy box of flyers and it hurt to bend my elbows for a long time after that.  I was thinking of walking the whole way, since that particular box was going to an office just past Union Square, which is walking distance from The Public, but I'm glad I took the subway because even though it was only .63 miles, carrying that box the whole way would have destroyed me.

After work I came home, changed into a cute little dress and went out to a cocktail party to celebrate the end of the 2-day musical theater festival I wrote about yesterday (I couldn't catch any more readings today because I was busy with those flyers).  So I went to this party, hoping that maybe I'd know someone or at least meet people like at the Nantucket Film Festival.  But my experience in both worlds is that the film world is much broader than the theatre world -- theatre is a tight-knit industry and it's such a self-selecting group of people with very similar personalities.  But I met some people -- this guy named Casey who seemed as awkward being there as I did, a guy named Larry who works for "Mazel Musicals" in Florida and knew of my dad's company (they do a lot of work in FL) but not of my dad or John Gore, CEO of Broadway Across America.  I talked to some people from Millikin who were from that theatre department and I asked if they knew Eric Glawe, one of my counselors from NYFA/an actor who went there, but they said the name sounded familiar but didn't know him.  I guess he must not have been a theatre major.  And I talked to the woman who wrote the music and lyrics for "Beatsville."  Of the people I talked to, neither Casey nor Larry had seen it but they'd both heard that the consensus was that it's really good, so I'm hoping that bodes well.

I also ran into Jen Wheeler, who was my stage managing mentor for last year's "Pinocchio" dance concert at H-W.  It was a random but pleasant surprise.

Entering... Beatsville!

So, today started out being really really lame because I was having a personal problem that turned out to be based on a horrible, horrible miscommunication so at least that ended well (with a clarification of that miscommunication). But there were some non-personal-problem aspects of the day that are worth mentioning.

I had work but they let me leave early to attend this musical theater festival of new musicals put on in 45-minute staged readings by the National Alliance of Musical Theater. I first went to one called "Barnstormer," about Bessie Coleman, the first black aviatrix, that was rejected by The Public and in a file I scanned for the digital archiving project I'm working on. The musical was rightly rejected, since it didn't seem very exciting or even that good period. The performers were pretty good and the two main people were charismatic, and there was one funny song by Bessie's sister-in-law that she's staying with who says that "if it isn't in the Bible, it's not in this house."

After that I went to a reading of a show called "Beatsville." It's one of those shows like "Hair" where I was in an unrelated bad mood before going in to it but it was so good I forgot everything I was fretting about. It's a bebop/jazz-flavored musical based on one of my favorite Roger Corman movies, "A Bucket of Blood," about a guy who really wants to fit in with the beatnick scene of the '50s but is hopefully square until he starts making amazing sculptures... by covering dead bodies in clay ("Dead Cat," "Murdered Cop," "Screaming Landlady"). The musical was actually really funny and incredibly entertaining and this was the first reading of it ever. I really really hope it gets productions because I would LOVE to see the whole show. This reading was really well cast as well. (also, pretty much the main actress in the cast was a jazz soprano from... Wasila, Alaska!) I'm listening to the CD they gave out and I think the cast I saw was better at the beatnick energy/it's better live... and the songs were differently paced (not faster or slower, different for each song oddly) at the reading. But it's still good.

For the uneducated, Roger Corman is the king of the "B" movie and his autobiography is titled How I Made 100 Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime. His daughter went to Harvard-Westlake and he was the topic for my final paper in Ted Walch's cinema studies course junior year. He also made the movie "Little Shop of Horrors," (in a 2 day shoot!) which inspired the hit musical. So obviously I'd love love love to see another successful Roger Corman musical -- especially based on this particular movie! I was sad to see this reading end. Definitely one of the highlights of my NYC stay/gap year so far.

I wish there were a way to post music on this blog... maybe I'll put one of the songs into a file on Final Cut and upload it as a "video"? I'm just so pleased to know about this musical!

(and on the CD are Sara Ramirez and Brian D'arcy James, which is awesome)

TNL Missed the Mark

So, I didn't catch "SNL: Weekend Update Thursday" this week since I was distracted by the surprisingly entertaining "Life on Mars" (which I'd been looking forward to during all the pre-season coverage -- and yes, I referred to the fall TV previews as pre-season coverage... because I don't follow sports, dammit, I follow television), but I just watched it on hulu.com, and I have to say I think they missed a lot of good satire opportunities in their opening debate sketch.

(Direct link to the episode HERE)

Although there were SOME good moments (the weird Joe the Plumber/imaginary friend thing made me laugh, but it was overdone, and the Crazy McCain lady was both entertaining and infuriating.  But props to Kristin Wiig, whom I am usually NOT a big fan of), I think there opening sketch was lacking, and here's how:

a)  McCain's crazy faces.  I mean, have you seen this picture?  They didn't really make any big jokes about this, and judging by many a YouTube video that was pretty much the biggest joke of the night.

b)  Obama points out that McCain's supporters threaten to kill him, then McCain called the people at his rallies "some of the best Americans," after Obama basically asked him to save face and denounce those threats.  Instead of riffing on what ACTUALLY happened, TNL went on a riff about Renaissance Faires before returning to Joe the Plumber and beating the poor guy to death (probably not hard, given that he's only 3.5 inches tall).

I liked their town hall debate sketch.  They made fun of stuff that happened, which honestly was mostly on the McCain side, and then, this is what appeared to happen:  they couldn't really think of anything to make fun of Obama for, since they're all Obama supporters and he did a pretty good (albeit not very EXCITING) job in that debate, so they decided "hmmm.... he talks a lot... what if he went off on the RANDOMEST TANGET EVER and it was just like everything else?"  So they came up with the alien abduction joke, which I enjoyed.

This week it was like they took that alien abduction joke and made that the whole sketch, instead of putting the actual political satire first.

I did like the joke about Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore, though.

But I'm still kinda pining for the Tina Fey/Jimmy Fallon weekend update from way back when (no offense, Amy Poehler, I still love you).  It was the one thing Jimmy Fallon did right.

Pretty Good Day

So, as shitty as I've been feeling lately, today was a pretty good upswing.  It started this morning when I got to work and, instead of taking the stairs as I normally do, I decided to take the elevator.  Waiting for the elevator with me was John Doyle, who, as I've previously mentioned, is directing "Road Show" this season at The Public.  Already this was really cool for me, but then he commented that he always worries that he hasn't called the elevator when he pushes the button (it doesn't light up).  So I responded that the elevator is awfully slow for a building with only three stories (which is very true), and he laughed.  Then we got in the elevator, and he pushed level 2 for me (rehearsals are on 3).  He then commented that it's awfully humid today (also very true) and how that was annoying.  I agreed, then the elevator reached the second level and we told each other to have a good day as I exited into the offices.

And later I went downstairs and saw Michael Cerveris in the kitchen, so I decided to make some tea even though that wasn't what I had originally gone downstairs to do.  He was microwaving his lunch, so I had to stand there and wait.  He said "hey" and asked how I was, the usual pleasantries, then he told me I was lucky because usually there are a bunch of "Road Show" actors microwaving their lunches and there's a really long line.  I smiled knowingly and told him I'd been there for that as well (except that the time all the "Road Show" people were waiting for the microwave, I was already there making hot chocolate so they had to wait for me).  Cerveris is a very nice, oddly handsome guy and he was wearing this really nice vest with a little handkerchief-type-thing in the pocket, probably to get into character.  But that was a really cool encounter as well!

Then my boss invited me to go to the lit department's book club lunch meeting.  Basically, the lit department and friends gather every once in a while for lunch to discuss a play they've all read prior to the meeting.  The play today was Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women," which I'd never read before, but I was able to get through almost the entire play before the meeting since Lisa let me know early enough and I read really fast.  It was nice to be included in that meeting, and it also felt like a high-school English class but without the pressure, which was nice as well.

After work I went to Bloomingdale's and did a little shopping, which was better than shopping usually is for me.  Also, in the shoe department the brand Cole Hahn was doing a little "party" with In Style magazine.  They were handing out these little cards and according to what number the card brought up on their little card reading machine, you got a certain prize.  I won a keychain (#4).  Not that exciting, but whatevs.  They had these guys walking around, as well, and some of them had mimosas, which is what lured me over in the first place, but somehow they had stopped serving them when I got over there, and didn't serve them again at a point where I could get one!  Very disappointing.  :(

Then I came home, watched some TV, and ate some Chinese food I got from takeout at this place called China Fun, which is a great place I pass on my walk from Bloomingdale's back to the apartment.  64th and 2nd.  So, I guess work is getting better, but NYC still isn't really the city for me.

OH!  Another thing I forgot to go in to: 

This week there is a reading series at The Public that is a contest for students at the country's top playwriting grad programs.  I've seen three of the readings.  Tuesday was a show called "Smart Cookie," about a woman whose son gets the Spanish foreign exchange student at his exclusive boarding school pregnant.  It was not a very flattering portrait of rich Upper East Side wives (aka "The Real Housewives of New York City"), but it was the winning play in this contest and it was a good little "dramedy."  Then yesterday was a dark drama called "Lamp and Moth" (or maybe "Moth and Lamp" ... or "Moth to Lamp" ... no, I think I was right the first time... nevermind).  It was also pretty good, not exactly my cup of tea, but good.  And today was a romantic comedy about lawyers called "Fair Use."  The title of this one is not only a reference to the case they're defending in the show (about whether reading another author's work and writing your own work inspired by that is plagiarism or not), it's also a joke on the fact that the show is a reworking of the "Cyrano" archetypes and plotline.  It's a lesbian woman who writes love letter's to her friend's girlfriend, whom she herself is in love with.  It was pretty funny.  The guy who played the boyfriend looked a lot like Mr. Fromme from H-W middle school, and he was a really good actor as well.  I'm a little bummed I can't see the play tomorrow, as it coincides with my covering for Jasmine's lunch break, because this reading series has been really interesting so far.

Oh well, at least I get to be a sexy secretary...

Back When I Was 13...

Last night I went with my dad to see this musical called "Thirteen." My dad's company, Broadway Across America, is a producer on this show and the company's COO, Beth Williams, told me about this show this past summer while I was in New York interviewing for internships. At first, when she mentioned it in passing, I thought it was based on the movie "Thirteen," which is about this girl who gets really fucked up. But then she explained, and it turns out it's about a kid getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah, and the whole cast is 13-year-olds and even the band is 13-year-olds (although some of the band guys looked a LIL older, and the conductor was offstage aka an adult). The show was alright, but I don't think it'll do great since it's hard to relate to it if you're not within a few years of 13. Even I could barely relate, and I'm only 5 years away. And only really 4 away from Bar Mitzvah season. Also, it won't really appeal to adults since it's kids actually acting like kids (nothing really coyly sexual or tongue-in-cheek or pop culture referencing for the adults in the audience). The lead girl looked JUST like my NYFA roommate from 2006, Chelsea Glass, and there was another girl in the cast who looked like my sister's friend Bella, if Bella were black.

Anyway, back on the subject of kids playing kids acting like kids, etc. Over the summer I saw "Hair," which was AMAZING and invigorating, etc, but the point I'm trying to make with this is that it's about young kids in high school and college but clearly half the cast was over 25. And that didn't make a difference to the message of the piece. Although that's probably a bad example, since that show is really serious and moving, and "Thirteen" is a really light comedy about friendship. I guess a better example would be that spelling bee musical, with adults playing little kids that was supposed to be really funny and stuff (I never saw it). Also, there was one kid in "Thirteen" that looked way older than the rest, which I guess is kinda what middle school is like, but I guess all in all it's a pretty fun musical. It's SUPER short, though. Under two hours. That's good for a musical geared at kids, though, because then kids can go to shows at night and not have to stay up too late (i.e. it's good for PARENTS of those kids, who worry about them staying up too late!).

Also, yesterday, on my way to Times Square for the show I switched trains at Grand Central Station. On my way to my second train I passed this little old man playing the violin with the case open for donations. Now, usually to get scheduled time at the location you want in the subway you have to be selected as part of a yearly audition process and added to a roster of artists. That's why you usually get pretty decent subway musicians/singers/etc... However, this guy was TERRIBLE at the violin. It was so sad I nearly cried. I felt so bad for him! I reached into my purse and grabbed a handful of change to give him, because it made me so sad. When I dropped the change into the case, I noticed that it was all shiny quarters in it, which led me to believe he'd dropped some quarters in so it looked like people had given him stuff (always a good idea), which means I was the only person to give him money. And I feel like 76 cents isn't really what he'd hoped for.

At the other end of that train, in Times Square, there was this GREAT jazz/funk band. I took some pictures with my phone but those are even harder to upload than digital camera pictures. So it was like two ends of the spectrum on that train ride.

Also, yesterday I found out that one of my bosses got engaged last Thursday during her trip to Ireland, which was exciting. Her boyfriend (fiancee now!) proposed outside a castle!

This week there are a lot of readings at the public, which is good. Now I'm going to walk to my aunt's apartment since my cousin just got in to NYC and I think we're gonna order some Indian food.

Je Suis Le Tourist

Today I went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island with my mom, then dinner at this really cool restaurant with both parents.  But I'll go more-or-less in order.

We took a cab down to Battery Park and on the way we passed those waterfall things, which was good because they're coming down soon.  I'm working on making a website for pictures, so I'll link to that later since it's such a pain in the ass to upload to blogspot.  But we get to the line on the dock for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island ferry and I realize that although I had all my nice camera equipment, I left my compact flash card in the card reader after uploading the Empire State Building photos!  I was SO fucking pissed I practically pitched a hissy fit, which I recognize does not reflect well on me, and I went around to all these stands trying to find a new memory card.  No one had one, since compact flash is a nicer type of memory card than most tourists would be using.  So I got a shitty little disposable camera and it sucked.   The statue was alright.  The island is really peaceful and surprisingly bucolic.  We walked around the base of the statue, but when we tried to go into the museum/observatory in the base of the statue (to the extent of my knowledge you can no longer go up to the crown in light of 9/11) they wouldn't let us in because apparently our tickets said "No Monument Access."  I don't know why they said that.  When we were buying the tickets there was nothing on the booth that either of us saw that would indicate we had to get a different kind of ticket.  So that part was really lame.

Then we took the ferry to Ellis Island, which is part of the same ticket, and I'm really glad we got the audio tour because the museum isn't very exciting without it.  I think it would be a lot more exciting and meaningful for people who have family that immigrated through Ellis Island, but both sides of my family came to the U.S. before Ellis Island was opened as the main immigration hub for the east coast.  The building itself is really interesting architecturally though.  It's a really pretty building, as are the hospital buildings across the island, which is odd for a government building.  The main hall looks like the main hall of a train station, which is to say that it's really big with a really high tiled ceiling.  I wish I had pictures aaah!

For dinner we went to a restaurant called "The View," which is this really fancy restaurant at the top of the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square.  The thing that makes this restaurant special is that it rotates reeeeeeally slowly while you eat, so you get a 360-degree view of the Times Square area/generally of nearby Manhattan.  That was really cool.  And the food was DELICIOUS, although the dessert much less so.

Also, before going out to dinner I was putting on my coat and I felt something heavy in my pocket, so I reached in and found the preserved fetal mouse I made for anatomy class.  So now at least my apartment here has SOMETHING to make me feel at home!

Anyway, that's about it for now.  This week there are a lot of readings at The Public, so that should be good.

Empire State Update

So basically, I hate it here.  Never have a felt more alone or like more of an outsider.  It's so weird to read about my friends in all these very foreign places and having amazing times and feeling great and then think about myself, close-ish to home, and at least in the same country, feeling completely foreign in this city.  I've been here a month (4 weeks, not a calendar month) and it feels almost worse than when I first got here.  I though it'd get better, that I'd adjust, and that's just not the case.  But I only have 9 weeks to go and then I'm home again for good.  And one week until I'm home again for a bit.  And once it's winter I'm sure it'll get better - NYC is always SO MUCH NICER in the winter.  Especially when everything gets all Christmas-y and stuff.

In other news, my mom is here for the weekend and today we went to the Empire State Building, which is something I've wanted to do for a while.  Here are some pictures:

So tall!!!

Me, up at the observatory.

The view, looking uptown in Manhattan.

I have many more photos but the upload thingy is being weird so I'm gonna try posting them in a different post a little later.  Anyway, I'm just really sick of New York, especially since the only person who ever e-mails me is Barack Obama.  Not even facebook, since those e-mails require someone to actually contact you in some way.  Anyway, good night and good luck.

Watch Pushing Daisies! Do It!

First of all, everyone should do what the title of this post says. It's what I'll be doing tonight, and every Wednesday until PD's inevitable cancellation. :( But I love this show.

So, now some little tidbits from this week.

In the world of this year's Tonys, two orders of business:

Earlier in the week I found in the Playwrights' Files (mostly rejected scripts that I'm converting to digital archives) a very, very early draft of "In The Heights," the most recent winner of the Best New Musical award. The Public was the original off-Broadway venue for an excellent show called "Passing Strange," which my dad's company (Broadway Across America) produced in its Broadway transfer and lost to the much more popular "Heights" for that previously mentioned Tony award. If the Public hadn't passed on "Heights" (even though it rightly did so -- I'm not a huge fan of the show in its current Broadway incarnation, although some of the music is really great and the energy is HIGH. I think the plot is a lame TV melodrama and the non-hip-hop/Latin-infused music and lyrics are nothing special, and this early draft was not as good as what's on Broadway now), they could have been celebrating after the Tonys instead of being bitter about it. But "Passing Strange" was a great, very moving show and I'm sad it closed after a very short run. It was very avant-garde, though, so "In The Heights"'s more "conventional" story line might have made up for some of it more unconventional music (also the music was much more singable and pop-y), and "Passing Strange" was a more mature and intellectual show than something like "Spring Awakening." It was also much more avant-garde, and SA seems the "avant garde" limit on Broadway today. For shows not involving puppets, of course.

But speaking of "Passing Strange," the writer/star of that show, Stew, was at the Public today doing a very, very private reading of his new play. He was working on a laptop all day in the conference room. With a conference going on at the other end of the table. So yeah, that was also really cool. But of course I couldn't go to that reading, which was sad since I would have loved to.

(There was just a question on H.P. Lovecraft on Jeopardy and no one got it... moments like that make me feel good about myself. Of course, the next question will be something I've never heard of in my life and they'll all try to buzz in on it and I'll feel really dumb)

Here are a couple pictures I just loaded off my phone that I've taken in NYC:

This cool little venue at The Public, Joe's Pub, is having its 10th Anniversary this year (the 50th for the Public itself) and there's a little hallway gallery I walk through on my way to the stairs every morning and on my way out every afternoon, and it has photos of performances and ink drawings this guy does during sound checks and performances from the Pub and this one is my favorite. This guy is called "Red Bastard" and he does a comedy act. (the flash is reflection from my phone, not part of the picture)

I love florists, and I passed these awesome blue roses on a corner while walking to the Subway station one morning.

I saw this awesome/crazy/weird electric violinist in the Union Square subway station yesterday. Those pink things are lights on his violin. He was dancing like crazy in his little area. I just read an article about how they audition and schedule artists for playing time in the subways, and I thought that was really cool. I was always under the impression, and I'm sure many others were/are as well, that people just kinda showed up and set up shop. But the system sounds really cool, and I guess that's why I've never really seen people fighting over those really good spots or anything like that.

So, the debate was on last night, and I'm not gonna go off on a rant about it but I just have one thing to say, and it's pretty non-partisan because I think even some conservatives will agree with this point. I don't remember the question, but Barack Obama gave a very vague speech following it that didn't really address the question, and when it came to his turn John McCain tried joking, saying "and I'll actually answer the question." Then he kinda laughed at himself, "heh heh heh," and it was just one of the creepiest things I've seen in a while. And I'm a big "X-Files" fan. But seriously, he just looked (and SOUNDED) like a really creepy old man!

And now, I found this picture in my phone and it got me all nostalgic for LA. I don't know if it's still up, but this billboard was at the intersection of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica:

It's a cell phone add, i.e. stay in touch more w/ a less binding contract w/ less fine print. But every time I read it I don't read it as "contract," I read "contract," as in "contract a disease." And you know what? That would be a GREAT slogan for an ad for ultra-thin condoms. Which is what I thought the ad was for the first time I saw it and wasn't paying much attention. But seriously, it would work.

Notes on Living in NYC

So I think I feel so out of place in New York because I neither smoke nor drink coffee.  In order to fit in here (especially at the Public!) you pretty much have to do one or the other or (ideally) both.  In LA people may look down on you, but at least you can get away with drinking tea or hot chocolate and have peers who might actually do the same.

In other news, I was getting on the uptown 6-train after work today and I saw this woman who looks JUST like Allegra only a few years older and a much more New York attitude (read: cold hard bitch).  But not only did she look and walk like Allegra, she was also dressed like an east-coast Allegra.  Crazy.

Work today was alright.  I spent the weekend at home in LA so it's always hard to come back.  The trip home wasn't that exciting, I spent pretty much the whole time with Leland which was great for me (and hopefully for Leland) but probably boring for everybody else to hear about.

So yeah, work today.  One of the higher-ups is on vacation this week, so I get to use her desk and I'm trying to catch up on labeling all the scanned files.  It's pretty boring.  And I stayed at work until six today for the first time since pretty much I've been here since I'm working next to Lisa, my boss, and I don't want her to think I'm a flake.  It's not like I'm not getting my work done when I leave early; I've done more in three weeks than my predecessor did all summer on this project.  I also did a little project for Barry (of the Shakespeare Lab) where I copied all the teacher evaluation packets from this summer's Shakespeare Lab participants and made packets to be given to each teacher so they get the feedback.  It was cool to read the feedback packets and see what the Shakespeare Lab is like in the words of people who actually attended it.

The Shakespeare Lab is a 12-week summer intensive for professional/at least college-student-level actors interested in furthering their classical theater technique.  They take classes in text analysis, movement, voice, acting (scenes and monologues), stage combat, poetry, etc... and put on a showcase at the end of the program.  It's basically summer camp for grown-ups, since the participants have to pay to attend and attendance is mandatory for full-day, full-week sessions, so working during this time period is very difficult.  Many of the feedback sheets reflected the fact that a) it was very difficult financially to participate in this and b) the Public might lose some great applicants due to financial issues.  The program is audition-only, so I imagine these people must be at least mostly talented.  But reading their comment sheets was also kind of hilarious.  I respect that actors find the acting process a fairly moving experience, but some of the language used to describe "life-changing" acting experiences can be fairly hilarious.  In fact, the amount I will respect someone is directly related to if they have ever described acting in flowery, religiously undertoned, language, with extra points subtracted for use of the word "orgasmic."

The Shakespeare Lab also has Shakespeare Lab Jr. for underprivileged kids and this is what I was doing research on other summer programs for comparison for Barry last week.

Oh, and in the vein of actors, this morning they were holding a casting call for a play they're doing called "A Free Man of Color."  I didn't really know what they were casting, so I asked someone there what it was for.  I had come out of the area Public employees have access to, and I was in the lobby ON MY WAY OUT, and I asked this guy "What's this casting call for?" and he goes, "It's for A Free Man of Color, an off-Broadway play that--" 

I interrupted - "I know what it is.  I work here."

I mean, I was in the theater.  I was on my way out.  I obviously have some sort of Public affiliation.  But whatever.

Then when I was leaving tonight the lobby had been transformed from a free-for-all actors' hang-out to a little cocktail reception.  It was weird but kinda funny, I guess.

H. G. Wells is a G

So, bad part first:

This morning I didn't quite set my alarm right so I sleep until around 10:40 (40 minutes after my day technically starts, aka the time I usually get to work by). So I was already running late. Then I tripped while crossing 71st street and faceplanted in the middle of the street. My face literally hit the pavement. And I almost lost my cell phone; a nice lady walking a little behind me picked it up and gave it back to me. Then I got to the post office nearby to drop something in the mailbox and I couldn't find it in my purse. I so I went back to 71st and 1st (the post office is on 70th between 2nd and 3rd avenues) and the letter wasn't there. I found it later while I was on the subway, it had slipped into the pages of my notebook, but it was still a lame morning. I'm OK from the fall. I think my cheek is very minorly bruised, and my wrists hurt stil (especially the right one), but it doesn't seem to be anything serious so I'm grateful for that. It was incredibly embarrassng and not what I needed when I was already running late, and I'm sorry to the guy who tried to ask me if I was OK and ended up getting "OH FUCK ME" shouted at him. But it's all good.

But during my lunch break I finished reading "The Time Machine," which I'd started yesterday on the subway, and I did some thinking about how a) HG Wells is awesome and b) he really did build a time machine. I mean not literally, of course, but he invented the idea of the time machine in popular culture, and people are still writing about it, so in that way it has travelled through time. I thought that was kind of a cool idea. Now I need to go buy "War of the Worlds."

So I'm in reception right now, covering Jasmine's lunch break, and I have "Fast Food Nation" to start so I'm gonna do that, but I just wanted to post a little something. I'm going back to LA tonight and after this morning I could not be more ready to be home. I'm definitely going to do a little travelling this winter once I'm done in NYC (which cannot come soon enough).

Getting Political

I'm watching the debate right now but I'm going to cover the other stuff real fast before I get to the political ruminations.

And by "other stuff" I basically mean if anyone's going to be in New York any time soon and want a theater recommendation, "Boeing Boeing" is where it's at.  I saw it last night, which pretty much makes me a terrible child since my father won a Tony as a producer on it (Best Revival of a Play) and it's been open for about a year at least (I think, I'm not 100% sure and don't feel like checking it on IBDB right now, but if you guys want to fact check me search the "Boeing Boeing" revival on the Internet Broadway Database).  But it was hilarious and I'm glad I saw it, and you should see it too!

So, back to the debate.  Sarah Palin and everything surrounding her is driving me crazy.  The moderator (whose name I cannot remember right now but reminds me SO much of "Chief" from those two shows Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and the one about history (Where in Time...?), mostly because of her voice but also because of her haircut) just mentioned how Joe Biden and Sarah Palin both have sons in the military.  The issue here is a little confusing to me.  Not regarding the question, but regarding what it made me think about.

The whole Palin thing has got me thinking a lot about sexism.  I'll elaborate on that later, but what I'm thinking about right now with regards to Biden is that Palin has been exploiting her motherhood as a qualification to be a national leader.  Which it is not.  But is it sexism that allows her to exploit her motherhood of her family of five including her special needs son and does not allow Biden to exploit the tragic death of his first wife and his single fatherhood as a young freshman senator following that accident, or is it just classiness on Biden's part?  I think a bit of it is sexism, since no one cares that Barack Obama seems to be a great dad but Sarah Palin's mom-ness is fair game, but I think it's mostly just Biden being classy and their campaign managers taking the high road and not exploiting one man's personal tragedy.

But in terms of sexism, we can't win.  Attacking a woman (i.e. Palin) is labeled as sexism, which in itself is sexism because it assumes that anyone attacking a woman's character is only doing it because she's a woman.  Also, on a recent episode of House it came down to that debate popular culture seems to just adore - career vs. family.  If a woman chooses to raise her family over a career she has no ambition and is stuck in her "traditional" role and is old-fashioned.  If a woman chooses to pursue a career over raising children and a family, she's amoral and against family values for everyone just because she doesn't want it.  If a woman tries to do both, people just think she's crazy.  That's all just stupid.

I've just been thinking about this a lot and these ideas aren't really in a polished form yet but I just felt like I should share a little bit since this debate is going on.

Also, gay marriage just came up as a topic in this debate.  Palin said she is opposed to gay marriage (not civil rights, thank god), and believes that marriage is between a man and a woman period end of story.  Biden, however, said that civilly he wanted committed gay couples to have the same rights as committed straight couples (Palin seems to pretty much agree with this, as previously mentioned), then said he and Obama did not want to redefine "marriage" from a civil standpoint because that was a religious issue and should be decided by the individuals and their personal religious communities.  Then he and Palin agreed that they both don't support gay marriage.  Except that for Palin, gays should not be married period.  And what Biden says is that they can if they want to and their community wants them to (which hopefully it should if they have chosen a supportive community), if I'm interpreting him correctly.  Palin wants to define marriage as man/woman, babies, the end.  I hope that Obama and Biden chose to hold that definition for themselves but do not intend to impose that definition on the country.  I went to my first wedding this year.  It was a lesbian wedding, since California just began allowing same-sex marriage, and it was beautiful and moving.  The same wedding for a straight couple would have also been beautiful and moving, but different.  The two brides' friends came up and in sections they told the entire story of this relationship, a 30-year saga.  It was amazing to see how much these people love each other.  Straight people love each other just that much, and straight people have impromptu vegas mistakes (Britney Spears anyone?) and I think gay people should be able to have impromptu vegas mistakes as well.  It's not just about love, though that's the reason it really deserves to be acknowledged nationally, but it's also just about civil rights.  I mean, interracial marriage, though not really illegal to the extent of my knowledge (I don't know this, if you need to know for sure feel free to fact check me), but it was intensely frowned upon and now it's not a big deal at all.  It's not even a deal any more, it's just a man and a woman getting married.  If marriage can become color-blind, can't it become gender-blind?  And no, crazy people, it will never become species-blind (addressed to crazy people who oppose gay marriage because they think it's a gateway for inter-species union, and crazy people who want to marry goats).  

The very last thing I have to say is that right-wingers talk a lot about radical left wing people.  And yes, the majority of protests and social movements have been from left-wing groups.  But the majority of high-profile, conscious raising assassinations in the United States have been of charismatic leaders standing for liberal ideals:

John Kennedy

Bobby Kennedy

Martin Luther King

Abraham Lincoln

John Lennon (not American but shot on American soil... though by a deranged fan, not because of his beliefs.  But still.)

Harvey Milk (Is anyone else excited for Milk?)

Among others.

That's about it, I'm not very eloquent about this stuff but I've just been thinking a little.  This is a really crazy time in the country and a really historical election.  And it's my first vote -- very exciting :)!

AND THE WORD IS NUCLEAR!!!!!

Obama/Biden '08!