January 31, 2009
My whole love of theatre has been such a two-edged sword.

On the one hand, is there anything more glorious than when a show really comes together and brings pure joy to an audience?

On the other, getting ensconced in a world of lights and colors only to be dumped out into the humdrum of the everyday right after is a pretty painful pill to swallow sometimes. Why can't love come amidst a flurry of intensive song and dance? Why can't all my problems be punctuated by a swelling orchestral score? Why can't everyone get from point A to point B via tapdancing?

I really don't think that's too much to ask.

I've been missing the theatre lately. Not being educated in the theatre, just the place itself. I never enjoyed learning about it so much as just getting out there and doing it. An acting class can be insightful and instructive, but it doesn't compare to the thrill of stepping out on stage in front of a [semi]packed house. I realize that high school was a series of lucky breaks and that I really know very little about it, but I love it all the same.

The goal is to work in a local theatre this summer. While I would love to act, I somehow think that my "natural talent" simply isn't going to fly, so I'm shooting to do stagehandish things. It would be good to learn about the behind-the-scenes half, huh?

By the way, this is all stemming out of seeing "Thoroughly Modern Millie" last night. Since Grandma has been working on it for roughly a year, I've been receiving the singular pleasure of anticipation building for the same amount of time. On top of that, George [the director/my directing professor last semester] had plenty to say about it during the semester, so that got my brain all in a tizzy. I was very pleased upon seeing it that all the hype was well-founded, as the show proved to be excellent. Admittedly, it had a little trouble coming together in the beginning, but around 10 minutes in, things really came together.

Since then, I've been pining for my high school glory days [even if I was the only one that thought they were glorious] more than usual. I want to get involved in another production soon in some way, I just don't know how as of yet.

Alright, enough whining. I need to do homework...or just something productive. Blargh.
posted by Gwennifer at 6:05 PM | 3 comments
January 27, 2009
I'll tell you what, it has been a strange couple of days--

Wait, hold on now! You're probably thinking, "Hey, GRRRL, hey, it's the middle of the day in Utah! Shouldn't you be doing homework, you heathenish wretch?!"

Answer: I did lots of homework last night and this morning. In fact, I went to bed at 11 last night [an outlandish oddity for me if I've ever experienced one], which might have contributed to the strange dreams I'll discuss later on. But, the fact is, I'm not doing homework because I feel I deserve some "me time" in the form of blogging. If you happen to think this makes me a loser, so be it.

Now, before I fly into the explanation of the interesting discussion, I have to preface it by saying that Ironman was a terrible movie. If you enjoyed it, then I'd seriously reconsider remaining friends with this particular blogger--because, honestly, even the inclusion of Robert Downey Jr. couldn't save this garbage heap of a movie [aptly represented by Ironman's impossible suit!].

Anyway, the interesting discussion went as follows: Nadin and I were discussion the understory of The Dark Knight, which her professor asserted was good enough for the movie to win Best Picture of '08. This whole idea of Batman going outside the sphere of established justice in order to maintain it so that he can combat the explicit weirdness of the Joker made me think about the American approach to justice [and how we apparently think all foreign threats are insane clowns simply ITCHING to kill everyone]. If we look at Batman as more of a social/political commentary, then yes, I suppose it would be a rather hefty shoe-in for Best Picture. That, and it's just another strike against Ironman for being terrible AND having a sloppy agenda!

From there, the subject branched off on some other tangent which lead to me saying, "Nadin, you act so American sometimes." From there, she asserted that this was patently false [since she never appreciates being associated with America beyond the declaration of her "permanent residency"] because of her connections to Mexico.

"Well," I responded, "Where have you lived most of your life?"

"Texas, but still--"

"When you're away from home [where the majority of your time is now spent], do you associate more with Americans or Mexicans?"

"...well, Americans, but still--"

"So, do you find yourself acting more American or Mexican when mingling with hordes of Americans?"

This stumped her to some degree, so she pressed me to see exactly what I meant by "acting American". I told her that while she had a Mexican mentality, the necessity to adapt and blend in with the people around her cause her to act more like an American when with Americans. She said this wasn't true, that people act the way they are regardless of who they're with.

"No, that's your personality," I replied patiently, "You'll always be Nadin wherever you go. BUT, when with Americans, you act more like an American than a Mexican."

"But I would do the same things anywhere."

"So are you saying that Mexicans behave exactly like Americans?"

"Well, no--"

This lead to a rather circular discussion that came to no real resolution, so I'm posing the question to anyone who's ever observed foreign acclimation into society: for adaptation purposes, do people incorporate social norms and tendencies when with people of other ethnicites? Do we really follow the adage "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"?

Departing from this, I'll now proceed to talk about the weird dreams that scoured my brain last night. To begin with, I was in a large hotel...well, it was a big house that felt like a hotel because it had elevators. Anyway, apparently the house was haunted by a rather Moaning Myrtle-like ghost, only she was more sinister because she berated and threatened you in a rather menacing fashion when you inadvertantly hurt her feelings. She would then proceed to follow you EVERYWHERE, even after you apologized! I finally realized after what felt like an eon of this nonsense that the only way for her to stop being scary was to just write her off as annoying and ignore her. This made her no less annoying, but at least I wasn't frightened.

I suppose this realization was the portal to my next dream. Apparently, Vietnam didn't appreciate the US involvement in their infamous war because they lashed back by invading US soil--successfully. In order to reclaim our beloved Motherland, people were being drafted into this crazy futuristic army where everyone wore Master Chief outfits and wreaked havoc on those mean ol' Vietnamese. Not going to lie, it was pretty cool. I don't remember exactly what abilities the suits had [by the way, I was drafted], but they were cool.

My final dream segued pretty cleanly from the last one. Having either won the war or simply abandoned the cause, I ended up in Austrailia to attend the wedding of a friend. While I was waiting for the event to come to a conclusion [it was a temple marriage and I wasn't endowed], I ventured out into the snow desert [yes, a desert of snow] with my newly acquired

WHIP OF DESTINY

This sucker was your basic whip, but with two pointed ball things on the end [Liahonas?]. Anyway, to properly use the WHIP OF DESTINY, one merely raised it over their head, swung it down through the air, and followed the direction it landed in [which supposedly brought you to your destination...of DESTINY]. My instructor on how to wield the whip was an older gentleman in a hat with teeth around the brim [not too unlike Mick Dundee] who found his destiny in the form of an anaconda which began to do its thing. In order to save my dear mentor, I used my WHIP OF DESTINY to strike it multiple times in the eyes. Rather than explode like they were supposed to, the eyes merely increased in size and changed colors a few times before the snake let my mentor go.

Returning to the wedding festivites as a hero, I saw the couple come out of the temple very happy and such, which made me all gooshy. But, then I found out that they were flying back to the States to get sealed again in the DC temple. Weird, right? Not only that, but apparently on the flight over, the groom [who was actually this kid I liked once upon a time] turned into one of my best friends. This upset me greatly, as I didn't feel it fair that he should marry her instead of me--he likes me more in real life! I was about to witness this second sealing [very unhappily] when I woke up and realized that it had been a very eventful night.

So, now that I've given you something to think about, I expect input on the interesting discussion AND some possible dream interpretations, since I'm still stymied over here.

Happy Tuesday!
posted by Gwennifer at 1:58 PM | 5 comments
January 23, 2009
Number One on that list definitely has to be losing my delusional friend's book contest--considering the fact that she totally won my original hand drawn masterpiece contest! I thought the policy with concurrent contests was reciprocal awarding of the prize. GUESS I UNDERESTIMATED OUR FRIENDSHIP.

Nukber--rather, Number Two [I have no clue by "nukber" came out the first time, but I'm leaving it] would have to be the Oscar nominations this year. Now, I'm an ardent lover of the Academy, and I watch the show every year, but it's a lot more fun when the black sheep wiggle their way out of the woodwork rather than four or five movies sweeping all the categories. Last year, for instance, along with There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, movies like Juno, Gone Baby Gone, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Atonement. I guess there are a couple like that this year, but it looks like it'll be a night of homosexual dairy products and basmati game show sensations.

But, if we put aside my anticipatory disappointment for a moment, I feel it's time for another COMPLETELY FICTITIOUS BATTLE! This week's competitors: Father Flynn from Doubt vs. The Joker from The Dark Knight [which isn't so far-fetched, since both Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Heath Ledger are up for Best Supporting Actor]!

Competitor #1: Father Flynn


Background: A parish-hopping priest, Father Flynn wishes to bring the rather Dark Ages-esque Saint Nicholas' Church School to a happier friendlier place with regard to student-teacher relations. Regardless of what you're thinking I meant by that statement, I simply mean that he wants there to be less fear of authority [more specifically, Sister Aloysius] and more openness. However, as perusual when you get friendly priests involved, doubt begins to creep into the hearts of a couple of nuns regarding Father Flynn's actions. So, is he a paternal priest or a low-Christology creeper? You decide!

Special Powers: Persuasive oration--that man can PREACH from the puplit. Rosary whip. Slam dunking--he doubles as a basketball coach. Oh, and lying.

Weaknesses: After-hours drinking with other priests. Making fun of nuns. Oh, and lying.

Competitor #2: The Joker


Background: While no one is exactly sure why his face is so jacked-up, The Joker is certainly one that you'd think would be hard to miss in a crowd. Not so. This criminal mastermind works within a vast network of criminals under various guises, making him practically invisibile to the Gotham City Police Force. While he does a number of jobs to mess with the authorities and show his rather diabolical joketry, his main aim is to engage in a huge game of chicken with Batman: if Batman can't stop the Joker, thousands will die. But, if he does bring him down, he'll be destroying one of the greatest villians in history. You'd think that would be an easier choice to make...

Special Powers: He's a criminal mastermind, for starters. His methods of breaking the law are innovative and frightening. He's a master of disguise. Plus, he's a riot at parties...

Weaknesses: Fashion. Hygiene. Being a good citizen. He basically fails at all three.

The Battle: What I'm envisioning would happen would go something like this...

Flynn: My son, you've got to understand that a life of crime will not bring you lasting happiness. I'm sure we can convince you of the glory of God if you'd like to accompany the altar boys and me on a camping trip this weekend!

Joker: Well, Father [if you were my real father, I'd gut you like a fish for cutting up my face], a prance through the woods does sound rather tempting and all, but you see, I've got big plans for this city this weekend, and three days without crime in a city like this would be catastrophic. Plus, you kind of creep me out a little.

Flynn: Why on Earth would I, an upstanding yet progressive, man of God frighten you?

Joker: That sparkle in your eye when you mentioned the altar boys--

Flynn: What are you saying?! Have you been talking to anyone!? THERE IS A SYSTEM THAT MUST BE FOLLOWED, SIR! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO TALK TO ANYONE!

Joker: Who said I talked to anyone? It was written all over your face--speaking of which, you look like you could use a smile.

Flynn: You keep that away from me! I've done nothing wrong! You hear me?! ACCCCK!

At this point, Flynn would have a permanent smile on this face--because the Joker is just such a funny guy [if you haven't seen The Dark Knight, I'm not expounding on this any further]!

The Victor: The Joker, hands down. While both are villains, The Joker is straight up crazy. Father Flynn is a bad guy, but being part of Catholic hierarchy doesn't mean he could take down an entire city BY HIMSELF. Preacher boy wouldn't stand a chance.

That being said, I hope you save February 22nd for Oscar Night! I know I will--by the way, we will be hosting an Oscar party that night if you're interested in coming! Just email me and I can shoot you the details.

posted by Gwennifer at 9:53 AM | 4 comments
January 18, 2009
The circus calls her.
Blasphemy taints her vision.
Cream of chicken, please.
posted by Gwennifer at 11:56 AM | 1 comments
Would you like to know why? I'll tell you why. The other day, I was taking a look at my delusional friend's blog when I saw that she'd created a quiz about her blog [you know, to see if people were keeping up with her life...or something like that]. Actually, she was recently published in a blogging book [compiled for a charity] and decided to give away a free copy to anyone who could answer the most questions correctly on a rather obscure quiz. Not being able to resist free goodness, I did the research in her blog and completed the quiz. I'm still awaiting to hear whether or not I've won the free book. Let me tell you, the anticipation is making me sweat like a warthog in the dry season of the Kalahari.

Anyway, while waiting out to hear the most felicitous of news, I decided that I wanted to put together a quiz about my blog for all of you kids to take. Mind you, my friends has blogged for longer than I have and with greater frequency, so finding the answers to my questions should be a great deal easier. But, that being said, the prize for the person with the most correct answers after taking my quiz will be slightly less awesome. But awesome it will be nonetheless, for I shall award to the winner a drawing--A HAND DRAWING OF WHATEVER THEY DESIRE TO HAVE A HAND DRAWING OF! It matters not where on our globe you live, for I shall mail this most excellent of hand drawings to you should you prevail!

Now, to any soul brave [or bored] enough, let the quiz begin!

1. What was so delicious that my 16 year-old self could taste it?
2. What do I think of my parents?
3. What do I specifically not like about summer vacations?
4. Who was the catalyst for my love affair with Playlist.com?
5. What is my culinary claim to [imaginary] fame?
6. What pop culture icon did I think I resembled during my wisdom teeth week?
7. What's the longest car ride I've ever taken?
8. What is my least favorite color?
9. What nightmare was induced by my voting anxiety?
10. What commonplace medical practice confused me greatly when I visited the last visited the doctor?

You may research in my past blog entries, so no worries. You could leave your answers in a comment, but that would just ruin the fun for everyone, so why don't you email me your answers instead? Upon selecting a winner, the details of your personalized masterpiece shall be discussed from there.

Now, off with you! Whether or not anyone does this is immaterial--I just wanted to see if anyone would take the bait! Enjoy!
posted by Gwennifer at 1:02 AM | 3 comments
January 10, 2009
During one of my classes this week, my professor told us about how his son uses his blog to discuss the outcomes of battles between different imaginary characters [for instance, Belle vs. Sleeping Beauty]. I thought sharing my insights in this particular field could provide some humorous reading, so our first [potentially only, depending on how good I am at this] battle will be Wall-E against--HALF OF THE PIXAR UNIVERSE [I couldn't really narrow down which Pixar creation I'd most like to see in this one, so I picked them all!]!

Now, to begin with, we look at our lone gladiator: Wall-E


Special Powers: Garbage compaction. Killer treads on his "feet". Sweet action dance moves. His disposition gives him great influence over others.

Weaknesses:
His reticence to harm other creatures might prevent him from using any of the attacks in his arsenal intentionally. However, he has been known to accidentally destroy EVERYTHING.

Competitor #1:
All the toys in Andy's toy box [Toy Story]

Special Powers: Each toy has an innate ability with the nature of his type. For instance, Woody is a devil with a lasso, Buzz has more karate moves than Daniel Laruso and Johnny Lawrence combined [1000 awesome points if you caught the reference], Rex is a DINOSAUR, etc.

Weaknesses: On that same token, these abilities are scaled down about 60 times from actual size--they are toys after all.

The Battle: Wall-E would definitely be outnumbered, giving the edge to the Toys. They could easily surround him and release a barrage of plastic-based fury on his old rusty self. However, what could give Wall-E the leg up would be if he had the home field advantage. Without even really needing to use his cubes, simply producing them might be enough to send the Toys into a phobic coma. For fighters with the chronic fear of being thrown away, what's scarier than an enemy who makes indiscriminate trash cubes? There's be no chance of Andy finding you in one of THOSE garbage heaps! Should that fail, I'm guessing Wall-E would be so flustered that he'd probably roll over most of the Army men, crushing their imaginary dreams of Nam into the filthy Earth soil for good.

The Victor: I'm going with Wall-E on this one. While there are more of the Toys, the robot's tough metal exterior clearly gives him the advantage defensively. However, should Buzz get his hands on a REAL laser one day, then the tables might be turned drastically.

Competitor #2: Flik's entire colony [A Bug's Life]

Special Powers: Mob mentality. Get one into a big enough of a rage, the rest will go crazy and do something outlandish. Flik's ingenuity has spurred the colony to crank out some relatively useful inventions in his time, so defense is definitely high on his priority list. Oh, and there's like a billion ants.

Weaknesses: THEY'RE ANTS. They're very small. Why do you think the grasshoppers were picking on them in the first place? Their leader is an erratic teenage female prone to following her feelings [when has that EVER lead to anything good?] and turning her back on Flik when things take a turn for the worst [sure he's insane, but don't turn your back on genius just because it's disguised with a tutu and a jackhammer]. Many of the colony members are either really ancient or pupal.

The Battle: Wall-E certainly has the size advantage in this one. He'd probably take out at least a quarter of the colony without even realizing it simply by rolling around. However, his best friend is a cockroach, so his affinity for insects might make him cautious about killing them. Because of the sheer mass and mentality of the ants, a swarm on Wall-E wouldn't be difficult. Plus, if the ants had the home field advantage, our garbage man would be too busy freaking out over the plant life to stop an onslaught by the colony. They could easily get inside his terminal and destroy all his computer connections.

The Victor: This round's going to the ants. Their ability to get inside him and do some damage simply can't be denied. If that somehow didn't work, I'm sure Flik could magically build a flamethrower and torch Wall-E into license plates. Either that, or he could just sic that fat caterpillar on him.

Competitor #3: Mike, Sully, and Boo [Monster's Inc.]

Special Powers: Sully is about the size of Yao Ming and The Rock combined, and he can bend large metal objects with his...furry monster hands. Mike's bulbous eye is kind of intimidating. Boo's cuteness is pretty undeniable.

Weaknesses: While both Sully and Mike are monsters, they're pretty harmless. They're kind of like babysitters: they can scream and terrorize you all they want mentally, but what are they really going to do once that stops working [that is NOT my personal philosophy on caring for children, for the record]? Plus, Boo is like three years old. Her motor skills are still developing, for Heaven's sake!

The Battle: While Wall-E does frighten easily, I think that the scare tactics of the monsters are so blatant that he'd soon figure out that they're all bark and no bite. Garbage cubes wouldn't be of much use in response, since they're garbage system works on the same basic idea. Boo would just kind of be chilling, watching the awkward non-fighting while devouring Cheerios and crayons in true toddler fashion.

The Victor: This one would have to be a stalemate. Neither of the parties is really disposed towards violence unless under extreme duress. What would end up happening is Boo would get bored, start crying, then be cheered by the combined dancing of Wall-E and Mike to the melodious tones of Michael Crawford singing "Put on your Sunday Clothes" from Hello Dolly! Sully could bend some metal pipes and a couple of hubcaps into a tricycle, and they'd all play happily together as the sun sets on their freak show playtime.

Competitor #4: Marlin, Dory, Bruce, Crush, and The Fishtank Gang

Special Powers: Marlin has special neurosis that could easily intimidate and/or frighten an enemy into fleeing. Dory's short term memory loss enables her to try a number of different approaches, since she's incapable of getting stuck on a strategy if she forgets it. Bruce is a shark [duh!]. Crush's laidback attitude make everyone realize how pointless anything but swimming is. The Fishtank Gang's eye-on-the-prize-of-escape mentality makes them constantly alert for any possible escape routes should the tide turn against them [no pun intended].

Weaknesses: All of them are either fish or sea dwelling mammals. Leave them out of the water too long, they're done.

The Battle: I imagine there'd be a lot of flopping, gasping, and general mayhem as Wall-E tried to figure out what on Earth these colorful nutbags were. He'd probably be so scared of the commotion that he'd go straight to cube mode until all the madness subsided. In their final moments, Marlin would be demanding the whereabouts of his son while his comrads search futiley for the water they'd never find. However, should the battle take place in the ocean, no question. Wall-E would rust over in like four seconds. All the others would have to keep their space so they weren't fried into a basket of the Long John Silver's special. but once the electricity subsided, they could figure out what to do with an ancient metal cube.

The Victor: Either way, I think the fish would win. Bruce would simply eat Wall-E, which goes along splendidly with his vegetarian diet. The little robot would feel right at home with '95 Honda Bruce polished off for lunch beforehand.

As you can see from what we've discussed, Wall-E isn't much of a fighter. Sure, he's lovable, friendly, dextrous, but he couldn't really hold his own in a fight. Let's just hope his blaster-armed girlfriend doesn't figure out that she's wearing the pants in that relationship...

Be sure to look out for more of these in the future!
posted by Gwennifer at 9:50 AM | 6 comments
January 8, 2009

I was going to keep this under my hat, but I'm too excited. What you're looking at is my brand new practice chanter! Essentially, it's the instrument you need to master before you take on--The Great Highland Bagpipes!

I've been wanting to learn how to play the bagpipes since I was like 12 or 13, but my parents figured it was just a phase I was going through, that I wouldn't follow through with it. But, 7 or so years later, I'm finally fulfilling the dream! I'll probably start lessons on Monday with this lady I've been talking to, and I'm jazzed beyond reason!
posted by Gwennifer at 11:26 PM | 2 comments