I Think It's Trying to Communicate...

Best. Store. Ever.

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:32:54 GMT

At least, if you're into the same random mix of gothy-raver-steampunk-I-don't-know-what-to-call-half-of-it style that I am. X3

~Fetish Falls~
They've honestly got twice as much stuff at the store itself than they do on the site.

I've been by there once before, and since I had lots of time to kill today, I stopped back by to maybe do a bit of shopping. And it turned into a massive dress-up session, because, much as I've put a good portion of what that store carries on my personal "DO WANT" list, I really can't afford any of it. By a long shot.

Hilary's Vanity Judie Cutie dress, $100
Mini top hat, [forgot to check price]

Black rose-print brocade corset, $60 (Edit: just kidding. I went back recently and it turns out I was looking at the wrong one. This one's actually $129. D: )
Hilary's Vanity black bustle skirt, $119

Detail on the corset. I really, really want this thing, you guys.

Full outfit. Not that you can really see it. =\

Back view, with a much better look at the skirt.

Oh, and I think someone asked me to post pics of theoutfit I wore to the last Repo!/Rocky show, so... here it is. (I think about eight people mistook me for a member of the Repo! cast. Including one person in the Repo! cast. Awesome.)

Cyberlox clips, $15
Everything else, bought at Hot Topic ages ago.

I know I've asked this before, but what the heck does it say about me that I've got most of this stuff just lying about my closet already?

Bottom of the outfit.

Repo! and Rocky on Mill Avenue!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:37:53 GMT

A few notes right off the bat here:

1. If you click the cuts, prepare for lots and lots of photos. 94 of them, in fact.
2. Repo! photos are spoilertastic.
3. Rocky photos are mildly NSFW... but really, you should know that already. It's Rocky Horror.
4. Feel free to repost these elsewhere if you want to. If you do, please just credit me for taking them? Thanks.

***

For the past three months, the Arizona shadowcasts for Repo! the Genetic Opera and The Rocky Horror Picture Show have been without a home. Last night, they put on their first show (hopefully of many) at the Madcap Theater in Tempe.

Audience members were advised to buy their tickets as early as possible, and with good reason. This was taken about twenty minutes before the show started:

It's hard to tell from this shot, but that line had to be halfway down the block. No joke.

Members of the cast were out and about, posing for pictures and chatting with people waiting to get their last-minute tickets.

Shilo Wallace and a Z-addict get a quick photo together.

The show was expected to get a really good turnout, and it sold out. Some people got turned away at the doors; there were literally no seats left open.

The show got underway more than an hour late, but the AZ'Addicts put on a show that was very much worth the wait.

The Graverobber, doing what he does best.

Rotti Largo gets some bad news.

"I am only living out a lie...!"

"Luigi don't take s**t from no one!" Also pictured: fanservice.

"Pavi steals all of the hearts!"

The Largo brothers, bickering again.

"Shilo, how are you? It's nice to see young talent blooming. My kids have been... well, disappointing. I'm Rotti Largo - I own GeneCo."

I apologize for the awful quality, but this is one of my favorite sight gags and I just had to include the only shot of it I got.

The Repo Man: enjoying his job just a little more than is healthy since 2040.

Blind Mag dances her way through a GeneCo advertisement.

"Okay, Mr. Largo! Want to see your new face?"

Rotti introduces Shilo to Blind Mag.

The grand opening of the opera house.

Shilo receives an inopportune phone call.

"Amber Sweet's a no-show... again."

Shilo meets her first Zydrate addict. She is not impressed.

"Graverobber, Graverobber, sometimes I wonder why I need you at all."

"I can't feel nothin' at all..."

It's not bad picture quality. You're just... tripping on Z. Yeah, that's it.

The Pavi cannot be bothered with listening to all this-a babble about murder. The Pavi only has-a time for The Pavi.

Luigi helps Nathan with his coat.

"See your knife - perfect! See it glide - perfect! See it slice - perfect! Who's your night surgeon?"

"Let your life be your dream - integrity, honesty. It's too late for me. Don't look back till you're free to chase the morning."

"Your mother's death taught me to accept that nothing ever lasts in this world. Foolish dreams can destroy a grown man. What chance has a seventeen-year-old girl?"

"I'm just seventeen. Seventeen... and it's better than forty!"

Rotti gets ready for a night at the opera, with the help of his trusty graverobbing mirror.

"I look like a crime scene, Dad..."

Shilo sneaks out.

"Tonight, we are betrayed..."

"Ev'rybody, ev'rybody, get down, get down - down! S-s-s-stand up, don't be shy!" Another one of those photos that got messed up but turned out kind of cool anyway.

"GENterns... GENterns..." Pictured: more fancervice.

Blind Mag's farewell performance.

"Come take these eyes... I would rather be blind!" Farewell, indeed.

"Didn't I tell you not to go out? Didn't I? Didn't I say the world was cruel? Didn't I?"

"Then tell me how this happened. What I did wrong. Tell me why. Can we just go home, Shi, and forget this dreadful night?"

Shilo, very much regretting telling her dad to "go and die" a few minutes back.

"Oh, free at last..." Shilo strikes out on her own.

The new head of GeneCo.

Surprise guest Spooky Dan interviewing Matteo Yenkala (the AZ'Addicts/Come As You Are's "fearless leader"/founder) after the show.

And now, a few of the night's more memorable callbacks.

Just after the doctor informs Rotti that he's dying: "You just lost the game!" [Henchgirl shoots the doctor]
End of "Infected", when Shilo is standing on her balcony: "Jump! Jump! Jump!" [Shadow-Shilo obliges by leaping off the edge of the stage]
"Limo Ride": It's the cure you sought, Shilo! Your chance to see the world, Shilo! In your grasp! "And I'll give you a free Shamwow, too!"

...okay, that's all the new stuff I remember.

There was another long wait in line for Rocky, during which the group I was with started up a mini Dr. Horrible singalong. The show got started late again... but it sold out again, too! Repo! and Rocky's future at the Madcap is looking pretty bright after that.

~~Brad~~ Asshole and ~~Janet~~ Slut.

This man has no neck.

"It's astounding..." No, it's a skeleton! "Time is fleeting..." No, it's ticking! "Madness..." Sucks. "...takes its toll."

Man, I love how this shot turned out. Also, those of you paying attention have probably noticed that the role of Brad Majors is being filled by the same person who just finished playing Luigi Largo. That? Is kind of hilarious.

"I'm not much of a man by the light of day, but by night I'm one hell of a lover."

"I'll remove the cause..."

"...but not the symptom!"

Riff can't hold his liquor.

"Enchante."

Snap!

"The Sword of Damocles is hangin' over my head..."

Go for the gold... go for the gold!

Frank and Rocky...

And Frank and Janet...

We interrupt this program to bring you a shot of Riff menacing Rocky with a candelabra.

And now, back to your regularly-scheduled Frank-sexing-everyone-fest.

Frank and Brad.

"Eddie? That's a rather tender subject." And that's a rather tasteless joke.

"My feet! I can't move my feet!" / "My wheels! My God, I can't move my wheels!" / My socks! I can't move my socks!

Columbia confronts Frank.

"It was great when it all began. I was a regular Frankie fan..."

"I am just seven hours old..." And very blurry. "Truly beautiful to behold..." Conceited, too!

"What's come over me? Woo! Here it comes again!"

Yeah, I've pretty much run out of things to say here. Just watch Frank and Company dance for a bit.

And then the creepy alien siblings and their ridiculous hairdos showed up.

"I'm going home..."

This was the last thing I got before my camera died.

Overall, a fantastic couple of shows. I'm lookind forward to seeing more (maybe even being in them one of these days) at the Madcap.

Also,thefemaleknight, it was awesome getting to see you!

New school year!

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:57:37 GMT

Yup, a day late and a (couple hundred) dollar(s) short, I'm starting the first semester of my sophomore year.

Class schedule (which was just finalized today, the first day of school) is as follows:

9:40a-10:30a
(Mon., Wed., Fri.)
GER 101 Elementary German
Tempe campus

2:00p-3:15p
(Mon., Wed.)
SOC 101 Introductory Sociology
Downtown campus

4:40p-7:30p
(Wed.)
ENG 288 Beginning Workshop Fiction
Downtown campus

9:00a-10:15a
(Tue., Thurs.)
HST 101 Global History Since 1500
Tempe campus

Yes, a couple of those are GPA-salvaging do-overs. I know, I know, I suck. I'm doing German again instead of Spanish, since I was pretty awful at Spanish (okay, I'm awful at foreign languages in general but Spanish is especially bad) and remember more German than I thought I did - so it stands to reason that I'll do a little better in this class. Fingers crossed. I'm really excited about the fiction-writing class, though. Even if it is three hours long.

No journalism classes this semester since I'm apparently not in good enough academic standing to enroll in any right now. Gonna change that...

Anyway. Now for the fun part... because with classes come textbooks!

Expensive textbooks.

I try to buy books off Amazon, because they're usually a lot cheaper (this summer, I got a fifty-dollar textbook for five bucks plus shipping). Amazon's prices for the books I need were either only a few dollars cheaper or a good deal more expensive than the prices at the school bookstore. So I just went there. Of the four books I need, two were out of stock. *eyeroll*

My booklist (incl. ASU list price):

World History, Compact Ed. Volume II (Upshur)
Price: $18.75 used / $24.75 new
[ x ] bought from bookstore

Sociology: Brief Intro (Schaeffer)
Price: $73.25 used / $97.50 new
[ x ] rented from Chegg.com, arrives in 4-7 days

Writing Fiction (Burroway)
Price: $57.25 used / $76.25 new
[ x ] rented from Chegg.com, arrives in 4-7 days

Wie Geht's? Bundle (Sevin)
Price: $151.75 used / $202.25 new (!!!!)
[ ] not bought yet

Yeah. You read that last one right. Holy. Crap. I can't actually find the whole bundle (which I think is a textbook, workbook, CD, and some online registration code) available anywhere, so it looks like I might actually have to get it at the bookstore price. And there are no used copies. >:C I'm going to check to see if the bookstore accepts currency in the form of pounds of flesh, promises of firstborn children, or possibly souls.

On a much more positive note, I did discover a pretty awesome site called Chegg.com - you rent textbooks instead of buying them, and they plant a tree for every book you rent. And it's cheap, too (well, comparatively). I got my sociology book for $51.38 and my fiction-writng book for $41.06. They might not be here till next week, but in the meantime I'm sharing my roommate's sociology book and I'll just have to do without the writing one for one class (and I wouldn't have it anyway since that was one of the ones the bookstore was out of).

Also got a Metro pass since half my classes are in Tempe this semester... I'm a little sad that we have to pay for them now (they were free last year), but the student discount of $40/semester is way better than the regular price of $55/month.

So, first day of school tomorrow. Wish me luck, guys. I really need to do well this time around.

MDA Lock-up 2009

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:24:01 GMT

Anyone who's been to my LJ (or seen my Kamikaze posts) lately has probably noticed the little blinking "Get me out of jail!" icon on the side of the page. Guess I'd better explain myself, huh? Okay.

In a few days, I'm participating in the MDA Lock-up here in Phoenix - a fundraising event for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The theme is 'going to jail... for good' (yay, puns) and my 'bail' - or fundraising goal - is set at $3,200.

I've been working for a month to get the word out and get some donations, but I've been met with exactly zero success. I put the icon and link here mostly as a 'getting the word out' kind of thing; I didn't really want to start begging money off people here. But... it's two days to the event and I've literally got nothing to show for it.

I know I'm not going to make the goal. I never really expected to. But if anybody here has a spare few dollars, could you click the link and donate? It's for a good cause.

Thank you.

On the subject of superstition...

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:32:53 GMT

My building skips the entire 13th floor but leaves this for people to live in?

What.

Costumey Stuff - Harry Potter

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:15:56 GMT

Tonight was the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I went with... pretty much everyone from my job, actually, and it was fun. I also dressed up, because I take any excuse to do that that I can get.

I went as Bellatrix Lestrange. And no, I was not attempting to copy ladydragonryder, I just realized about an hour before I went to the theater that I had everything for a passable Bellatrix outfit lying around my closet. (I'm not quite sure what that says about me, really.)

So. This is what I was shooting for:

This is what I ended up with:

Can't really think of much else to say, so I guess I'll just leave it at that.

Chandler Cinemas, we hardly knew ye.

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:12:05 GMT

It's funny to think that I only discovered Chandler Cinemas three months ago. Since March - the day after my birthday, in fact - I've been there enough to get three showings of Repo! the Genetic Opera and six of The Rocky Horror Picture Show under my belt. I've made new friends, gotten to spend some great time with old friends, and have generally had a fantastic experience every time I've gone. Once I'd gotten my work schedule and some reliable transportation figured out, I was hoping to join the shadow-cast.

So much for all of that.

Hopefully I'll be able to make it to their last shows on Sunday. Even if not, I'm glad I got to see this place and make some awesome memories before it went away.

SOS

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:15:27 GMT

TS, help. don't have much time to write.

me, DR, Blue captive. location unknown. took my comm.

found phone, tried Lechara's private line, 8:30p yesterday (day before? Don't know). trace call? can you?

hurry. am last one left. they've

Well, ****.

Thu, 21 May 2009 20:40:23 GMT

This is Pippin.

We've had him for nearly five and a half years now.

My brother just called me to let me know a coyote got him.

~~I'm having an awful lot of trouble processing this at the moment.~~ No, I lied, it just sank in.

I don't even know what else to say.

The Genetic Opera, part 2. And Rocky. (once again, verrrry image-heavy)

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:35:58 GMT

Something I forgot to mention in the Night One entry is that, near the end of the evening (er, morning? It had to have been past one by then) , Terrance Zdunich said something along the lines of, "You should come back and see the show again tomorrow night." Nobody in my group had really considered it, but come on. Like we were going to say no to him.

Dice suggested that this time, all of us go dressed as Zydrate addicts, if only to get a "Zydrate Anatomy"-esque picture with Terrance. Seemed like a good idea. Christine and I needed stuff to actually wear for this, so we spent the afternoon going through thrift- and costume-shops. I got an entire outfit for nine dollars. Ahaha.

And of course, after we'd gotten into costume, I realized that I kind of wanted to be Shilo again. On the other hand, I really liked the clothes I had just bought and didn't want to wreck Dice's photo-op idea. So I compromised - it turned out that the Z-addict costume fit under the Shilo one, so I just wore one over the other and decided I'd change after the movie sometime.

Also, I washed the disgusting dye out of my hair, but I didn't want to straighten it again (four hours and occasional ear-burns are something I can only deal with doing so often). So if anyone asked about the brown, curly hair I was sporting, I decided I'd just say Shilo got a new wig. Seemed plausible enough.

We managed not to get lost on the way to the theater this time - it's actually a really quick trip from Taylor Place if you get the right exit and don't have to tak the (not-so-) scenic route through Chandler.

At the theater, I ran into a girl named Whitney and we struck up a conversation - she was (one of the) Blind Mag(s) of the night. I mentioned how cool I thought it was that she was part of the shadow cast and that it must be fun, and she said I should join and pointed me toward the applications. That was really cool of her and I picked up one of the applications, but

a. there are transportation issues
b. it's mainly a Rocky shadow cast, and I'm still pretty unfamiliar with that

...if those two things can be overcome (well, that and the fact that I tend to spend vacations in Tucson), then I might join up. We'll see.

Anyway, Christine, Dice, and I (Sabrina couldn't make it this time) hung around outside and in the lobby for a while before going into the actual theater.

Christine.

They look pretty coherent for a pair of drug addicts, don't they now?

The festivities started off with another auction - no more dates, but the hot item this time was a set of nunchucks Alexa Vega left behind in her hotel room when she left this morning. Yes, nunchucks. Strange and completely awesome. They sold as fast as, if not faster than, Terrance did.

Next was another costume contest. Dice and I went up on stage again, figuring, "Well, the GENtern with the GeneCo logo tattooed on her butt isn't here this time, so maybe we've got a shot at winning this thing." Like they say, if at first you don't succeed...

From left: Genetic Opera band member (Sanguin), can't-remember-what-the-little-girl-was-supposed-to-be-but-she-was-adorable, a/the Repo Man, Zydrate addict (Dice), Shilo Wallace (me).

...then you just fail again, apparently. Of everyone on the stage, Dice and I were the only two to not win anything. Guess you could argue that that makes us the unique ones. Whatever. Not a huge deal.

Some of the shadow cast members (Graverobber, two Ambers and two sets of valets) came up to the stage and performed a dance routine to "Come Up and Try My New Parts". The middle of this number involved the two Ambers walking down the aisles and basically giving a pair of lucky people in the audience lap dances (other shadow cast members, since doing that to complete strangers probably wouldn't go over too well). The lap-dance recipient on our side of the theater was none other than the girl playing Rotti. Why is there never any brain bleach around when you really need it?

And once all that was over with, the movie started rolling.

One more time, now. Spoiler alert. (Not that any of this is going to make a lot of sense to anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but still.)

The world's most powerful family.

The Repo Man stalking a victim. As horribly screwed-up as this shot ended up, I still really, really like it for some reason.

"And it's my job to steal and rob... GRAAAAAAAAVES!"

"Marni, I need you now. Look what I've become. The nightmare that she should fear is the father you left alone."

"Lungs and livers and bladders and hearts. You always save a bundle when you buy our GeneCo parts!"

"Dad will leave GeneCo to me!"

"Marni, it's Rotti. You never should have left me. I would have given you the world!" Graverobber chills in the limo while Rotti visits the late Mrs. Wallace's grave.

"Reeeeeepo Maaaaan!"

"Harvesting the kidneys for the fall... savin' up the livers in the fridge..."

"GENterns, let's secure the final skin graft, and stat!"

"Scalpel - needle - thread. Ooh, that should do it!"

"Sorry, Mr. Largo! Here's a fresh cup for you!" How Jack Sparrow got a gig fetching Luigi's coffee, I'll never know.

"Who's gonna sing, then after you leave?"

"That's enough! Children, off!"

"Seeing you two stirs memories..."

"Ev'rybody, ev'rybody, line up - line up now! We've got tickets - op'ra tickets! Don't be shy!"

"Well, thank you, sir! Let me direct the matter to my daughter - the mind behind the Zydrate Support Network." Best parts of this picture = Luigi's sneer and everything about the reporter.

"And a little help comes in a little glass vial in a gun pressed against her anatomy. And when the gun goes off, Miss Sweet is ready for surgery."

"Must I take you back there? Why relive that moment - the dark, fateful night when you murdered your wife? It's too painful..."

The Largo brothers are very, very bored by their father's attempts to blackmail Nathan.

"You're the street physician carving flesh sculptures!"

"Hope you have my money." / "Or it's buon viagg-ee!"

"No one walks away from me, Nathan! He wants out? I'll take him out!"

"Shilo? Is your name Shilo? Can I talk to you? Can you come down, please, so we can speak?"

"You never were a man of many words, Nate."

"Dad, let her stay in here! Please hide her here!"

This is only funny if you know what's going on: in the film, Rotti's standing in front of a mirror. The Graverobber is playing the mirror.

"No, Amber, please! I warned you about this. Happiness is not a warm scalpel!"

"My greatest face!" / "My greatest rage!"

"People, people, people! Get up, get up, get up! Ev'rybody testify!"

Rotti's chauffer is in ur opraz, upstagin ur GENterns.

"I was infected by my genetics. Now I'm perfected by their cosmetics!"

"Put your hands together for GeneCo's favorite - and only - daughter, Ammmmber Sweet!"

"Amber Sweet as the month of May!"

"You didn't see what you just saw! You didn't hear what you just heard!"

"Tanto tempo fa, un uccello fatale di nome Chromaggia."

"Didn't you say that you'd protect me? Didn't you?"

"I tried, I tried!"

"Have I failed my daughter? Then let the father die... and let the monster rise!"

"Touch her and I swear I'll kill you."

"So I planned my perfect end." / "A tale befitting any opera!"

"You can never trust a monster."

"Your mother once promised her love to me. Had she never fled, you'd be mine."

"Don't leave it to her! Leave it to me!"

"Old grudges, scorned lovers... sometimes I wonder why we all don't move on."

"But the little girl fled and the king is dead, and the castle is left for the taking. But GeneCo may survive if it undergoes surgery."

"And so GeneCo's story continues..."

And now, for a few of the more memorable callbacks/shadow-cast incidents (and by memorable, I mean the ones I can remember at the moment - and I'm probably doing a lot of paraphrasing as well):

The Repo Man taking down his first victim, and instead of coming up with a heart, he holds aloft a copy of the Repo! DVD.
Nathan: "Where did our daughter go?" Audience: "To Anchorage!" (I don't know the story behind this one, but on both nights, nearly the entire audience yelled it. That's about as close to an 'official' callback as we've got.)
Nathan: "I raised our Shilo with the best intentions..." Audience member: "No wonder she's in hell!"
Nathan: "I am only living out a lie!" Audience member: "Oh my god, you're gay?!"
Nathan's Story / Rotti's Story / Mag's Story interludes: "17 years ago..." Audience: "Remember that, now!"
Shilo: "How am I going to find my way home?" Me and Dice: "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!"
At the very end of the song "Night Surgeon", where Nathan/Repo Man is standing holding his scalpel... Me: "At last! My arm is complete again!"
At the end of the song "Seventeen", when Nathan slaps Shilo for mouthing off to him... Audience member: "Shoulda remembered your nunchucks!" Girl who won them in the auction: "Wanna borrow mine?"
During a break in the song "Chromaggia", most of which is not in English... Audience member: "And for those of you who don't know Italian... learn!"
Just before Rotti shoots someone onstage... Audience member: "Duck season! Rabbit season! Duck season! Bang!"
Near the end of the movie, just before Rotti dies, he denounces his children, first his sons, then his daughter. The shadow-cast versions of Pavi and Luigi forgot to come back onstage. Cue shadow-Rotti looking confused for a moment before going off on a rant wildly different from film-Rotti's. And... Audience (in reference to a line from the "Worthy Heirs?" interlude): "Luigi and Pavi are no-shows... again!" (and in reference to Amber, who shouldn't be onstage yet): "And you're early!"

Honestly can't remember any more. I tried. Next time I go to one of these things, I'll write 'em down or something.

Following the movie was a brief question-and-answer/props-to-the-awesome-shadow-cast session.

Darren Smith and the Bandleader.

The minds behind ~~the Zydrate Support Network~~ Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Everyone migrated to the lobby as Rocky got set up. No lines for autographs and pictures this time - not at first, anyway, but when more and more people started to crowd around, the staff had to try and create a little order. Dice and I found Darren and Terrance pretty quickly. I got more autographs (this time for my brother, and yes Peter, I'm putting them in the mail for you tomorrow), and we got our picture even though I was still dressed as Shilo. So the premise was slightly modified - an addict trying to get some Z and Shilo looking on curiously. Funnily enough, Dice, the least shy person I know, was stammering all over herself when she asked Terrance about this, and also actually asked if he minded that she cling to his leg like she wanted to.

He didn't.

There... there are just no words for this. Giddy squeals, maybe, but no words.

The Zydrate gun was a replica/prop made by someone in the shadow cast; they lent it to Terrance for that picture. It actually looked really cool. Oh, and boo to my stupid Muppet hair obscuring my face. Otherwise? Awesome picture. Especially because of Terrance's expression. More hugs and cheek-kisses followed, which made it even more awesome.

I also got a picture with tonight's Repo Man - who was really, really, ridiculously good, by the way. I was Shilo - I needed to get a photo with "Dad".

For this to be accurate with the movie, either he needs to be wearing a different outfit or I need to be whacking him over the head with a shovel. Ah well.

I also saw Sanguin meet up with Terrance, and she got him to sing part of "Needle Through a Bug" with her. For that, she is pretty much my hero.

Dice and I went back to her car to do a bit of outfit-switching: she took her hair down and lost the tutu, and I got rid of the dress so my corset-top and skirt were visible. Quick costuming note: be prepared for some mildly awkward moments if you're wearing fishnet gloves and anything with sequins. The two don't mix - or rather, they do, and then they just don't come apart without the aid of a pocket knife.

Back inside the theater, a staff member grabbed me, asked me how old I was and whether I'd seen a Rocky show before, and when I answered the questions (nineteen and no), I got something written on my forehead and cheek with lipstick (a V and the number 19, respectively). I was also made aware of the theater's policy of letting the person who brought you to the show accompany you up to the stage if you make a one-dollar donation to the theater. I did. Dice got her age and the word "SLUT" written on her face in lipstick.

We also ran into Terrance again, and I swear he did a double-take when he saw us. I'd like to say it was an appreciative double-take because we looked so great in our new outfits, but I'm probably deluding myself and he was just noticing that we looked like we'd just been attacked by a poltergeist with a makeup case. Either way, he complimented our transformations and teased me about being a (Rocky) virgin. He wasn't sticking around for the show, so we said goodbye with one last hug-and-kiss (including one on the lips omg!).

So. Rocky.

I have to say, seeing this in a theater is insanely confusing if it's your first time going, especially if you've only ever seen parts of the movie. I could barely hear what was going on because of all the callbacks, and at the same time, I couldn't make sense of the callbacks because I was trying to figure out what was happening in the movie.

I do know, at least, that Brad is an asshole, Janet is a slut, the banister's lucky, and the criminologist has no neck. It's a start.

Also, I now have even more trouble picturing a seventeen-year-old aaronunicorn</lj> dressed as Frank-N-Furter than I did before. Does. Not. Compute.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Davey (formerly Luigi Largo), Chris, and Jared (formerly last night's Nathan Wallace/Repo Man) doing the pre-show.

The Rocky shadow cast. And something about elbow sex.

Wedding photo. And yes, the Graverobber is there. Just because he can be.

Why are there two Franks onstage during this performance? Your guess is as good as mine, really.

Sweet transvestite(s) from Transexual, Transylvania.

Franks, Other Frank, and Columbia.

Unveiling Rocky.

Corsets, feather boas, and face-paint. Did we just drop into one of Pavi's dream sequences? Wrong movie? ...fine.

Frank and Frank again.

And now they're dancing. I can't quite remember why.

After the show, Dice and I talked to one of the shadow cast members - the criminologist. He ended up giving Dice his copy of the Rocky script that included most of the original callbacks. I got to read through some of it - things have definitely changed.

Dice decided that she'd spend the night at Taylor Place with me instead of driving back to Tucson - I didn't blame her a bit, since it was about the crack of why-is-any-sane-person-awake, and driving for two hours would have sucked. Walking into my building at three-thirty in the morning dressed like this:

was certainly an interesting experience. Further hilarity ensued when I tried to explain to one of the (very elderly) security guards that we had just been to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and she thought I meant Sylvester Stallone, "Eye of the Tiger", Aaaaaaaadrian!!! Rocky.

Chandler Cinemas Fun-Raiser day-pass: $15.00
Corset top and miniskirt: $9.00
Having to explain to a little, increasingly-more-horrified old lady what the Rocky Horror Picture Show is: priceless.

Good, good times.

Ladies and gentlemen... the Genetic Opera! (image-heavy is an understatement)

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:31:47 GMT

If you've talked to me at all in the past couple weeks, then I've probably at least mentioned Repo! The Genetic Opera - a movie I rented on a whim and ended up falling in love with. There was a screening at Chandler Cinemas last night (and another tonight), featuring a shadow cast a la Rocky Horror and a few special guests (Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith, co-creators, and Alexa Vega, actress). I decided that I could not miss out on this.

So, this was the plan:
-straighten hair, dye it black (temporarily), and go dressed as opera-outfit Shilo Wallace
- go to the theater with Duyen (wwwwowiewww) and Christine, and meet my cousin Jasmine at the theater at about 6:30 p.m. (the Repo! festivities kicked off at seven)
-be back to the dorms by around midnight

As usual with me, very little actually went according to plan. It was stil probably one of the most fun things I've ever done.

The rest of this is going to be under cuts, because I have a feeling this is going to get lengthy...

First, a few things about the outfit I wore.

I love that the whole thing was really inexpensive - I actually had most of it (dress, boots, necklace, watch) already, so I only needed to get the stockings and gloves (both $6 at Hot Topic). It came together really well. I did have to fix the chain to the necklace, though, since it got caught in my hair and snapped. So yes, there were pliers involved in the making of this costume.

I swear, one of these days I'm just going to go into a salon and have them chop off all my hair. (Okay, most of my hair.) Because it is not right at all that it takes me four hours to straighten that all out with a flat-iron. It's also not right that my hair instantly goes curly again when it gets wet - including when it touches hair dye - and I have to go back and straighten in again.

Also. If you want to get some good temporary hair-dye for cheap... then for the love of all that is good and holy, never ever use Color Fiends. The stuff just does not dry - every time I went to brush a strand of hair out of my face, my fingers came away with this black film on them, and I didn't want anyone to see my hands the whole night because they looked gross. Ugh.
Here's how everything came together:

Ta-daa! Opera Shilo is ready to go to the opera.

Before we could enjoy Repo!, we actually had to get there.

Duyen confirmed that she could come with us ar around five p.m. - I tried to go online and grab her a ticket, but onlines sales had closed and "tickets may be available at the door". Duyen didn't want to risk it being sold out (we're in downtown Phoenix, and if she went with us but couldn't come in, then she'd be stranded in Chandler for hours), and opted to stay behind.

So Christine and I, two girls armed with a Google Maps printout and no sense of direction otherwise, struck out on our own. We missed the turn-off we were supposed to take and ended up going about a third of the way to Tucson before realizing this. We stopped to get directions, and once we got where we were supposed to be, we had trouble finding Chandler Cinemas. We ended up getting there at about 7:15, long after we had intended to. Jasmine, who was supposed to meet us at the theater, was nowhere in sight.

Christine and I spent some time looking for Jasmine; after looking through the crowd, I pointed out to Christine that she was the most normally-dressed person there, and probably the only one wearing pink (later amended to the only one wearing something pink that isn't a corset). She pointed to a pigtailed girl over at the box-office in a black corset, green-and-purple tutu, and purple feather boa, and said, "She's wearing purple. Close enough."

The girl turned around, for a second, and lo and behold, it was my friend Dice from high school. Another friend, Sabrina, was with her. I ran over, there was a happy reunion and much gushing over each other's outfits.

Christine and I went back outside to continue our search for Jasmine - we figured that if we had gotten lost, maybe she had too, and she hadn't shown up yet. We did, however, run right into Alexa and Terrance and got to speak with them briefly. Alexa was really sweet; she really liked my outfit and was really excited that two Repo noobs like me and Christine (we first saw the movie two weeks ago and three days ago, respectively) came to the event. Terrance was awesome too, and offered hugs and pictures.

First picture at the event. And a mighty fine first picture, if I may say so myself. *squee*

We started getting called into the theater. One last look around for Jasmine, and still nothing. I felt bad about it if she showed up later, but we went inside. (Turns out she just couldn't find the place and went back home.)

Inside, things started off with an introduction of our Very Special Guests. The director, Darren Lynn Bousman, couldn't be there since he was in Canada, but he called in and said hello via a speaker-phone/mic combo. Bill Moseley was with him, and not only said hi to us all but sang us a bit of "Mark It Up" as well.

Terrance, Alexa, and Darren.

Then the auction started - first up was a coin touched by Paris Hilton ("the closest you'll ever get to Paris, people!"), second was a jacket worn by Dead Marni ("Has it been cleaned?" / "Absolutely not!")...

Rotti Largo would like to start the bidding at one million dollars.

...and a date with Terrance. Neither I nor anyone I was with had near enough money to afford what that cost. I ended up asking Dice, "D'you think they'd accept currency in the form of souls?"

"Three hundred? Do I hear three hundred dollars? Three hundred and we'll make Terrance say 'GRAAAAAAAVES!'" And he did.

The auction lots went for $100, $125, and $600. Three guesses as to how much Terrence went for. Also, the party that got him? Made up of a group of three ladies. Cue lewd jokes about how much fun that particular date would get.

I said it in the cut, and I'll say it again here. Spoilers. For pretty much the entire film.

...also, I know you're reading this, mother. Before you freak out, the cut was quoting the title of a song.

Opening shots of the movie - the Largos, the Repo Man, and some GENterns.

Family time with the head of GeneCo.

"It's quick. It's clean. It's pure. It could change your life, rest assured. It's the twenty-first century cure."

"We will always be here for you in your time of need. Shilo, you're the world to me."

"I'm the Repo - legal assassin!"

"Mark It Up"

"I'll inherit all Dad's stuff - take Dad's will and write you out!"

"In denial, Nathan blamed himself for Marni's sudden death, but never once thought to suspect the man who wrote his checks!"

"It's a thankless job, but somebody's got to do it!"

Sanitarium Square. And yes, that's Jack Sparrow on the end.

Pavi, having the GENterns give him... a new face. That's totally all, I swear.

Another crowd shot, with Jack Sparrow still attempting to steal the spotlight.

"Please don't go. Don't say no. Technically, you belong to GeneCo."

"Mr. Largo, how are you? The folks at home would like to know your thoughts and views about Zydrate use, and its abuses. Wouldja care to comment, sir?"

"I had my first surgery at thirteen. Thanks to Z, I couldn't feel or remember a thing."

"Zydrate comes in a little glass vial." / "A little glass vial?" / "A LITTLE GLASS VIAL!"

"Well, who ordered pizza? I could sure go for a SLICE!"

"Dear Marni, I am so sorry. Can you forgive me for this?"

"Remember who you are." / "Remember what you did to Marni."

"I'm the masked horror on your street corner - make your mama mourn you - I'm a night surgeon!"

"All these years have come and gone. How do I put this? I'm your godmom."

"Please, Mag! Shilo's very ill. I need to give her her medication."

"Read it, Dad! A Repo Man will come and take Mag's eyes!"

"Foolish dreams can destroy a grown man. What chance has a seventeen-year-old girl?"

"I've always longed for true affection, but you compare me to a corpse! Stay with the dead, I'm joining the living!"

"Tonight, we set the stage!"

"You know you want it, baby - GeneCo's got it!"

"Blame not my cheeks, though pale with love they be..."

"Chromaggia, come take these eyes... I would rather be blind!"

Sawman's Lament

"All I have to do is sign the paper. All you have to do is pull the trigger."

"Remember my mistakes. Remember you can change. Remember that I love you."

"You disgust me. You're not men, you're creatures."

"When I'm gone, GeneCo will crumble. And the world will remember how lucky they were to have Rotti Largo."

"I didn't know I'd love you so much, but I do."

"Goth opera - blood saga - sometimes I wonder how we ever got here."

"GeneCo will live on, under new management."

The shadow cast, taking a bow as the credits roll.

There was a brief question-and-answer session with Terrance, Darren, and Alexa, and then things moved to the lobby. Lines formed for autograph signings and photo opportunities. I got some pictures with members of the shadow cast, and with/of my friends...

Pavi Largo, Blind Mag, me, Rotti Largo, and the Genetic Opera Bandleader.

The way the Pavi's eyeing my face is sliiiiightly unnerving. Also, please disregard the panties sticking out of my top. I have no idea how those got there. Really. (Oh, Paviche...)

Me, Sabrina, and Dice.

Dice, the fabulous Zydrate addict.

Sabrina, not dressed as anyone in particular but still lookin' good. And rather bored of the long wait.

Some entertainment provided for those of us waiting in line. And hey, look! It's Sanguin B from Gaia on the left there!

Luigi, please don't stab me for asking this, but can I get a picture with you?

Finally, after a good two hours, we made it to the front of the line.

My Repo! DVD, now with autographs.

Alexa Vega, me, and Darren Smith.

And another one with Terrance. Just after this was taken I got hugged and smooched. Twice. ^w^

Definitely an awesome night.

Woohoo!

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:16:10 GMT

Just got a message from my old Decathlon coach...

CDO won the 2009 Arizona Academic Decathlon.

1. 47,055 CDO
2. 44,052 Red Mountain
3. 43,989 Mesa Mountain View
4. 42,901 Marana Mountain View

The National Academic Decathlon is on April 22 - 25 in Memphis, TN.

Fantastic. I'm so proud of everybody.

Things are looking up a bit.

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:42:08 GMT

First, the Dad Report: He's close to gone at this point; apparently the rabbi came to the hospice and did the final rights earlier today. Pretty much just a matter of waiting now.

Anyway.

Spoke with Kim Novak, the director of student/campus community development for ASU Downtown, today. She was one of the people my mom contacted about the Professor Jerk issue (which has been resolved). She called me this afternoon to check up on me and my family, which was nice of her.

Anyway, one of the things that I had been kind of worried about was my financial situation at school - not only was I behind on my housing payment this semester, but I was a bit worried about my scholarship getting revoked if I missed too much school (since I still have no idea when I'm going back). As it turns out, Ms. Novak has been talking with the financial aid people annnd...

My housing is fully paid off for his semester, and possibly the next one, and my scholarship is going to be fine.

And on top of that, I also got an e-mail from Mike Wong, the director of Career Services for the Cronkite School. He sends out a message or two every week with notices about journalism-related internships and jobs that have opened up. Apparently there's going to be a basketball tournament later this month, and Reuters needs three assistants for some freelance photographers they've hired.

This job? Pays a hundred and fifty bucks a day. I don't know how long it goes for, but dude.

Better news.

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:06:43 GMT

Well, Dad's still in bad shape but all the stress about my trip to Tucson has pretty much evaporated.

wwwwowiewww is being awesome and watching the fishes for me.

Mom spoke to the dean of the downtown campus, who in turn had words with Professor Jerk, and I'm not going to have to worry about dropping that class.

And those concert tickets I was worried about having to get rid of? Well, this morning I got a message on Facebook and a phone call from the venue that the concert date had been moved back. To six months from now. That definitely solves my problem of not being able to go, but I have no idea why it happened. I e-mailed Martin about it earlier - he of all people would probably know, since he's the one performing - but I haven't heard back from him yet. I hope everything's okay.

More bad news.

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:14:48 GMT

And just when I thought I was getting my act together, too.

Mom's having me rush back to Tucson for the next... actually, I don't know how long. But I'm supposed to be leaving ASAP, so, probably tomorrow or the day after.

'Cause guess what? Things are looking even worse for Dad, and I need to come back and spend time with him while he's still actually lucid. No idea what the actualy timeframe-for-living is, but considering the urgency of the "GET HOME NOW" phone call I'm guessing it can't be more than a month.

So right now I'm frantically attempting to find someone to look after the fish I just bought, figure out how I'm going to get money back for tickets to a concert I've been looking forward to for six months and am now going to miss, and, oh, y'know, trying not to fail college.

Because I e-mailed all my professors a bit ago about the situation, and asked if there was any way I could just e-mail assignments in. Two of my professors (Spanish and math) were cool with that. Journalism?

Well now.

So sorry to hear about your father, Alee. JMC 201 is designed so that most of the work is to be done by deadline in class, so sending stories via email just wouldn’t work. For the sake of your grade and your learning experience in News Writing, I would recommend withdrawing from the class and then taking it when you are able to give it your full attention. The assignments are only going to get more and more rigorous, with the deadlines increasingly tighter. That’s my recommendation, and again I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. If I need to sign off on anything for the withdrawal, let me know.

Hey, yeah, that's a great idea! Just drop the class that I've gone almost half a semester in already! At least then I'll have some more free time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, right? Oh wait. There's that little bit about me not being able to take any more journalism classes without finishing that one first. So, great, looks like I'm gonna be held back a semester on top of everything else! Isn't that just awesome? (Oh, and while I'm on a roll here, yeah, great advice for me to just drop the class, Dr. R! Yeah, because missing a week of class - two sessions! Oh no! - is really going to kill my grade because I won't be around to write stories. Hello? We've been practicing writing summary leads pretty much since the class started. We haven't even gotten to practicing body paragraphs yet! Call me crazy, but somehow I don't think you're going to be assigning us to go out into the city and write stories when you're not even sure we can do it yet.)

And it's just occurring to me how ridiculously bitchy the latter half of this post sounds, like I'm blaming all this on my dad. I'm not. I wish there were someone I could pin all of this on, because if there were I'd just beat the crap out of them and maybe then I'd feel better. "Life sucks" does not even begin to cover it.

Update on Dad

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:03:01 GMT

Or, "Cancer sucks and YouTube sucks and the universe in general sucks."

I've been trying to call my dad up every day and talk to him; for a while now, he hasn't been picking up. Last week, I was a bit surprised when he called me (although it turns out that he, technologically inept to the bitter end, had actually been trying to call my mother and hit the wrong button on his phone's contact list).

We talked for a little while; after asking me how school was going, he gave me a bit of an update on his situation. Things have apparently not been going so well, which the doctors admitted (including the phrase, or so I hear, "There's nothing we can do for you"). Dad said the doctors would be keeping him at the hospital till the end of February to finish his radiation treatments, and then he'd be going back to Tucson to stay with mom and Peter permanently. And, from previous conversations with my mom, I know that "staying permanently" is basically code for "our house is going to be a makeshift hospice".

I was still holding onto a little bit of hope, though, since a couple weeks before Mom had been telling me about some clinical trials my dad was being considered for - there's this nanite-y version of chemotherapy that's been shown to have few to no side-effects and help cancer patients out a lot. And yes, I did say nanites... how cool would that be, to have something that I've written about in Tech Support-verse as giving people superpowers actually save my dad's life in the real world? I figured that since he hadn't mentioned anything about that to me, then at least it meant he hadn't been refused for the treatment.

Still, it didn't mean that he had been accepted either, and I still don't actually know what's going on on that front.

So, the conversation goes on. Dad asks me if I've found anyone to teach me to drive yet - and I tell him I haven't but I'm working on it. Dad: "You need to get on that. I don't know when your permit expires, but I don't think I'm going to be around to take you to get it renewed."

Yeah. Way to depress the ever-loving hell out of me just before the end of the phone call, Dad.

So we said goodbye, and in order to take my mind off all of that, I start drifting around YouTube. Worked for a bit, and then I ran across this little number. At the first chorus, I started to mist up a little. The second one, I was full-out crying. And by the last one I was hunched over, clutching a stuffed animal and sobbing harder than I think I ever have in my life.

So yeah. Thank you, Crystal Shawanda, for reminding me that no matter what happens, my father is probably not going to live to see my littbe brother graduate high school in two years, let alone see me get married, whenever that happens. (Yes, I realize that it was my own fault for clicking on that song. Sue me.)

Anyway. Further updates, as of yesterday.

Mom flew out to California to see Dad. She called me up and informed me that things have changed: as if things didn't suck enough, now Dad's kidneys are failing for some reason, and he's going to be transferred to the VA in Tucson by the end of this week. Past that, not a clue what's going to happen, but apparently the new time-left estimate is "a few months".

I wish there were some kind of... physical manifestation of cancer that I could just choke to death.

I hate this so much.

First Friday Salon #1

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:28:22 GMT

This semester I signed up for COM 194, or "First Friday Salon." A quick bit of explanation, since I'm the only Phoenix regular around here: the First Friday art walk takes place on the first Friday of every month (thus the name) from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Every art gallery and studio (including the Phoenix Art Museum) is open to the public for free, and people can take self-guided tours through the city's art scene. There are also street vendors and musicians of all kinds. It's absolutely awesome. (More info can be found here.)

When I found out that there was going to be a class where I would get credit for going to this, I signed up right away. Last night was the first session of the semester, and it was the most enjoyable class I've taken in a long time (I really wish we could do it more than once a month). Here's a rundown of the evening, complete with photos.

***

4:00 p.m.
I remember that there was something posted on the class's web site that we're supposed to read prior to the lesson. I slog through eight pages of some art textbook, incredibly confused, until Adobe Reader just decides to freeze up on me. I growl at the computer and try to fix things, to no avail.

4:30 p.m.
I pack up everything I need and head downstairs to grab a quick dinner before class. On my way, I run into one of my classmates, Scarlett. She tells me she's working on the Downtown Devil, a student-run onine news'paper' for the downtown campus. Since we're friends on Facebook, she knows I like to take pictures; she asks if I'd be willing to do a photo-essay about First Friday. Even though the class is scheduled to go to one of the less-populated areas, I agree to head down to the main drag after class and get some photos for her (I had my camera on me anyway).

4:42 p.m.
I make it downstairs to the dining hall, realize I've got about ten minutes to eat if I want to make it to class on time, and proceed to have the fastest dinner ever.

4:58 p.m.
I make it to the classroom with two minutes to spare. A cute-ish guy classmate asks my name, and when I tell him, he whips out a roster and wonders why he can't find it (cue the usual first-day-of-class Alee/Courtney confusion). It's about at this point that I realize this 'classmate' is actually Professor Ferderer, and I marvel at the fact that half the class looks older than he does.

5:10 p.m.
Everyone finally makes it to the classroom (out of the twenty or so people there, I'm the only one from the downtown campus, so most people got stuck in traffic and/or lost on the way) and we start. Professor Ferderer introduces himself - even though it sounds like he knows a few of the students well already - and Dean Corey, the dean of the University College and co-creator of this course. We go over the syllabus, including course requirements and acceptable behavior: "Most of this class takes place outside the classroom, and I know there are certain... temptations at the art walk. You're all adults, so I'm not going to slap you on the wrist if I see you with a beer, but a lot of your grade comes from the discussions we have at the end of class. Critical thinking is hard to do if you're... not... coherent. Just try to remember class is over at nine, the art walk goes until eleven, and bars don't close until two in the morning. Try to hold off." It occurs to me that I must be one of the younger students in the class.

We quickly go over the reading, the main point of which was apparently that art is affected by both the creator's and viewer's perception. We are asked to take notes on what we see when we leave, and to keep the following things in mind:

1. How do your own lived experiences shape the way a piece of art communicates to you?
2. What makes a piece of art valuable? What factors lead you to assign a particular value to a work of art?
3. How does the social and cultural world shape your views?

We're given maps of downtown Phoenix, a schedule of events, and we're off.

5:45 p.m.
We take the light-rail down to the Phoenix Art Museum, and are given forty-five minutes of free rein. I wander the first floor and take notes on whatever happens to catch my eye - even though I'm not sure what I'm supposed to write. Eventually I make it over to the exhibit of Asian art, and I find this...

Cheng Zhang, Liu Haisu, and Wang Zen, "Collaborative Painting of Red Plum and Cranes on a Rock"

...and I have to try very hard not to start crying in the middle of the gallery because it reminds me so much of my father (or, more specifically, of a gift my father gave me when I was six or seven - a red kimono with cranes on it, which I loved so much that I didn't want to get rid of it even when I outgrew it).

I move on to a display of samurai weapons and armor.

I also come across a copy of the Qu'ran, which has a lot written in the margins and looks very well-loved by whoever had owned it. I decide that it has value - sentimental to someone, if nothing else.

6:20 p.m.
I move on, into a gallery of paintings by someone named Philip C. Curtis. It's not incredibly interesting, but one of his paintings catches my eye.

Philip C. Curtis, "The Lift"

I spend the next several minutes just staring, wondering what could possibly be behind those masks.

6:32 p.m.
I realize that I've got less than fifteen minutes and two floors of the museum I haven't even gotten to yet. I run upstairs, and spend some time looking at various portraits. Nothing exceptionally interesting, but one did remind me of Mindtheft, in a weird way.

William Merritt Chase, "The White Rose (Portrait of Miss Jessup)"

I also run into another one of my classmates. We introduce ourselves (his name is David, he's a sophomore and an architecture major at the Tempe campus) and start talking for a little while, until I realize we have three minutes to get back to the entrance. Speaking of the entrance...

Josiah McElheny, "The Last Scattering Surface"

...this is shiny.

6:45 p.m.
We board a shuttle that takes us to the Grand Avenue galleries. On the way, David and I meet a guy named Christian who's an art major at ASU and who is going to be selling some of his paintings later that night. The shuttle also passes Hob Nobs, the coffee shop where we'll be having our discussion at the end of class. Professor Ferderer informs us that since the shuttle only goes one way, we'll have to walk there, and that means we'll be going through 1.38 miles of downtown Phoenix on foot, at night. A collective groan goes up from most of the class.

7:00 p.m.
We arrive at Grand Avenue, and there is momentary panic when we realize we've lost the Dean. He shows up several minutes later, telling us he decided to drive. Now that we're all together, we take a look around. Grand Avenue is very dark and very creepy. We opt to stick together this time.

As we start to explore, one of my classmates points across the street and asks quietly, "Hey... is that a tranny hooker?" As it turns out, it is. Huh.

7:15 p.m.
Our first stop is Yuko Yabuki's gallery. Ms. Yabuki seemed really interested in the concept of the class, so another guy and I spend some time talking with her about it. I only remember to snap a picture just as our group leaves, and unfortunately very little of the actual art is visible.

7:30 p.m.
Next we go to a gallery showcasing a Sue Chenoweth's "Predators and Prey" series, which is little more than a dozen canvases full of random splotches of color. But since True Art is Incomprehensible, the artist rather snootily informs us all that they are a study in what makes people afraid, namely violent and gruesome death, and that she did months and months of research before painting each of these "reactions". This rant comes just after one of my classmates looks at "Pollard and Ramsdell on the 94th Day" and comments that it looks like a polar bear, when the painting apparently really depicts two sailors lost at sea, clutching the bones of the crewmates they presumably ate to stay alive. (I have no photographic evidence of this one, but it really does look like a polar bear.)

7:45 p.m.
We leave and start heading back toward Hob Nobs. We realize that half the class has vanished; Professor Ferderer freaks out, since we all were together just a little while before. One girl calls her friend (one of the missing ones) up, and we learn that they went on to a different gallery down the road.

7:55 p.m.
We meet up with the rest of the class at the Trunk Space, a small gallery/coffehouse. We spend a few minutes there as Ferderer does a head count.

I find a piece of art that immediately makes me think of schizoauthoress</lj> ...

...and one that makes me think of ladydragonryder</lj> , for different reasons.

8:30 p.m.
We finally get to Hob Nobs and have our end-of-class discussion. One of the more interesting topics (obviously a reference to the polar-bear-versus-dead-people issue) is whether the vision of the artist or the viewer matters more than the other. Class ends at nine, and I'm left thinking that this is the coolest class ever.

9:30 p.m.
I take the light rail back to Roosevelt Row, which is apparently the epicenter of First Friday (it's the only part I've been to before, since it's only a few blocks from my residence hall). During the first couple minutes of my walk through, I pass Scientologists, anti-Scientology protestors in Guy Fawkes masks, a preacher giving a sermon atop an overturned milk crate, and a gaggle of atheists, all standing in a row on the same block and shouting over one another to make their messages heard. It all comes off as slightly ridiculous.

9:40 p.m.
I turn on my camera to take a picture and it promptly dies. Cue angry muttering.

10:00 p.m.
Morbid curiosity prompts me to stop and watch a one-man act call the Cutthroat Freakshow. The guy lifts weights on hooks attached to his eyelids, hammers a huge nail up his nose, and jumps onto a pile of broken glass in his bare feet. I spend most of this show cringing and wondering if there's a less painful way to get your rent paid.

10:10 p.m.
I run into some people I've seen before - a henna-tattoo artist named Fran and her husband Sam. I chat with them for a while. Fran gives me one of the henna kits she's selling, free of charge because I'm nice, apparently. Which was sweet of her.

10:30 p.m.
I stop to listen to a guy singing and playing his guitar, and am shocked that I'm the only one staying and listening since he's really good. I want to tip him, but I only have a twenty and a debit card, so I just go up to him and tell him how great he was instead. He and I talk for a while; he tells me about his band and the album he's just about to release, and I tell him about the photo-essay I'm supposedly doing. He and I commiserate about how cameras just love to fail when you really need them, and he invites me to a show he's playing in Mesa next Sunday. (His website, by the way.)

11:00 p.m.
The booths start to close down, and I call it a night.

Writer's Block: Cookies

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:03:01 GMT

What is the strangest advice you've ever received from a fortune cookie?

Submitted By merrytook92

View 501 Answers

Ashes.

No, seriously.

Back in third grade, we were studying the cultures of the world, and after each unit we'd get to do something fun. After we'd finished studying China, we got to learn how to make fortune cookies. We got little strips of paper to write fortunes on ("Nothing bad," the teacher warned, "No put-downs!"), folded the dough around them, and the teacher set them to bake in the cafeteria's oven - for a few minutes too long, it turned out. Once they were done, the teacher mixed the cookies up so we would get a different fortune than the one we'd written, and we sat down to open up our slightly-charred prizes.

I sat down with the fortune cookie I'd gotten, cracked it open, and...

Where I expected a little slip of paper to fall out, a little sprinkling of ash drifted down onto the tabletop instead. While we had been taught how to fold the cookie dough properly, that didn't mean that didn't mean that every single one of us did it right. Somebody had left the fortune sticking out of the cookie they'd made, and when it went into the oven, the paper burned right up.

I didn't figure that out until much later, because I was far too busy being creeped out about getting a fortune cookie full of freakin' ashes.

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:24:10 GMT

*bangs head against a wall a couple dozen times*

That is all.

EDIT: And before anyone says a word, because I know somebody's going to, yes this is about the chat tonight. No it is not entirely about the chat tonight. Far, far from it. That was just one of those last-straw kind of things. Maybe I'll rant later, but there's too much going on at the moment for me to sit down and type everything out now.

Update on "Choices"

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:35:36 GMT

Huh. That's... smaller than I thought it was going ot be.

Anyway. If you can't see what's in the red box there, it's...

FIVE THOUSANNND downloads!

I'm sorry but that's just awesome.

\o/

The secret lives of supervillains.

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 06:30:52 GMT

And now for something on a far less depressing note.

A few friends and I were discussing our class schedules for this semester. All four of us are journalism students, so we're required to take JMC 201 (News Reporting and Writing). The four of us managed not to get put into the same section of the class (that's what we get for all registering at different times, I suppose), so we were asking the which professors everyone had gotten. I'm in Russell's class, Duyen is in Bowser's... Jenny is in Doom's.

None of us believed her, but she swore she wasn't making it up. I checked the class listings, and there is in fact a section of JMC 201 taught by a Justin Doom.

While that section could fit into my schedule, there are no open seats. But if somebody switches out, I totally want to transfer in.

Because, come on. How awesome would it be to have a class taught by Dr. Doom?

XD

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:45:09 GMT

Lately when people talk to me, they're asking after my father's health (that makes sense, as I posted somewhere else a few months ago that he was about to have some surgery and I was worried for him). I realize the most I've said has been something along the lines of, "Better than he was yesterday," and that isn't much. Now I actually know what's going on, so I'll tell. I need to get this off my chest anyway.

My father's been pretty sick for a while; we found out this past August that he had some cancer cells near his right lung. Those were removed in an operation in early September, and all was supposed to be well. Some radiation treatments were supposed to take place after the surgery, but my dad wasn't reacting well to them, so they stopped with those.

Dad's health randomly went on the decline again, and he was hospitalized in November (I spent my Thanksgiving holiday with my family housesitting for him in Lancaster, driving an hour each way to the VA hospital in Los Angeles to visit him, and strangely, having Thanksgiving dinner with his neighbors - people I had never met before - and he wasn't there to enjoy it too). He didn't want to be kept in the hospital, so at the end of November he went and stayed with my mother and brother in Tucson, to see if he could get some recovery in there.

I spent the first half of winter break helping take care of him at home, and the 'recovery' part wasn't going quite as well as I'd hoped it would. My dad has always been a pretty big guy, and he'd lost a lot of weight and wasn't eating much; he's had breathing problems as long as I've known him (he used to smoke a lot, but he quit when I was six or seven), but it had gotten bad enough that he couldn't even walk across the living room without having to stop and take a break. All this, and without any real explanation as to why it was happening.

Mom drove Dad back up to California just after New Years since he thought he was feeling well enough to take care of himself; he stayed at home and one of his neighbors would come by every so-often to make sure he was getting on all right. After a bit less than a week, we got a call from the neighbor, saying he had come in and seen my dad lying on the floor - he'd fallen, and had apparently been there for hours without a way to get up. So James (the neighbor) took Dad back to the VA. Dad didn't know why he was being admitted to the hospital - he said he didn't remember falling - and asked to leave. His doctor was on vacation for the rest of the week; the substitute doctor was fine with releasing him.

So, pausing right there for a second, this doctor heard that not only did my father have a nasty fall, but he couldn't actually remember falling - and he also heard from my mother, who had spoken to Dad, that Dad was slurring his speech oddly and occasionally talking about completely incoherent nonsense - and this doctor was still cool with letting my father go back home. This was the doctor's explanation: "I'm not his regular doctor, so I don't have a baseline to compare his behavior to. No, I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't care if you've known him for thirty years and know for a fact this isn't the way he normally speaks; he would know his own health better than you, so I'm releasing him."

Eventually, after talking to about half a dozen more hospital personnel over the phone, Mom managed to make sure that Dad would get an MRI or something; she was worried that he had had a small stroke. The MRI took about two forevers to do; after finding no evidence of a stroke, they released Dad from the hospital at one in the morning. And then called him in for an appointment about eight hours later. Because that makes way more sense than just having him stay overnight.

Mom drove back up to California to make sure that a.) Dad actually stayed when he was admitted to the hospital this time, and b.) that the hospital staff didn't all collectively act as idiotic as that one doctor had been. That didn't really work out at first; the running diagnosis was basically, "Well, beats me," since the results of the last scan they'd done on Dad showed no signs of anything weird or disease-like. They continued shrugging their shoulders when Dad started hallucinating every so-often.

Of course, then the doctors put their heads together and figured out that the last scan they had was from just after the surgery from four months ago, oops. So they scurried off to do another one and actually get some current information. Now comes the fun part.

The surgeons managed to miss some of the cancerous cells, which stuck around afterward and multiplied. So now my dad has a cancerous mass the size of my fist sitting on the outside of his right lung, cutting off about half his air supply (thus the trouble staying up and walking around) while also crushing his stomach (thus the trouble being able to eat), and as an added bonus it's throwing off excess calcium (thus the hallucinations). He's at the VA for the next few weeks; doctors are trying to get enough nutrition to him that he'll be okay for more radiation treatments to shrink the mass, which will allow him to breathe easier and walk around and eat actual food and turn back into someone resembling my father.

Only, even if the radiation treatments work this time and all that awesome-sounding stuff happens, it'll only happen for a year, tops. If the radiation doesn't work, my dad may not have another six months to live.

He really has been sounding a lot better when I've spoken to him the last week or so, but it's still so hard to think that whatever happens, by this time next year - barring some sort of miracle - I'm not going to have a father. I can't even put into words how horrible it feels knowing that.

Gwaaaaa!

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:33:53 GMT

Things I need to do this week:

Today
-Math final (please, just kill me now)
-Laundry
-Start packing
-Figure out how/when I'm actually going home
-Last Spanish assignment
-Update GP scorecard
-Start editing System Crash
-Study group for Spanish

Tomorrow
-Spanish final
-Mail Christmas presents
-Sell textbooks back to bookstore
     -Get ripped off
-Make housing payment and return paperwork/old room-key
-Return library books
     -Pay overdue fees
-(Hopefully) spend time with a few people before I leave them for a month
-Pack some more
-Study

Wednesday
-History/Priniciples of Journalism final
-Find some scholarships to apply for
-Try to figure out schedule for next semester
-Finish packing
-Make dorm room look presentable
     -Clear out fridge, unplug electronics, hide toaster oven
-Leave (?)

And no, I'm not entirely sure where sleeping and eating figure into this equation at all right now.

>_(\

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:23:53 GMT

So I'm pretty sure I accidentally threw my debit card away a few days ago. Go me. And of course I figure this out the day I'm supposed to start doing my holiday shopping. I've got some cash, and a credit card for emergencies, so I'm good.

However, mom's not going to be happy if she sees that I've been using my credit card to buy presents. Guess I'm just going out, and if what I want to get costs more than I have in cash, then it's just going to have to wait till next week - I'm going to go to the bank and get a new temporary card on Monday.

Also, I'm going to be pissed if the card turns up in my room in a couple days and I had the thing blocked for nothing.

Flickr Mosaic Meme

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:54:31 GMT

Because this guest speaker in JMC 110 is alternately boring me to death and freaking me out.

Ganked from cleolinda.

01. Answer each of the questions below the cut using the [Flickr] search engine. (ETA: I've changed the URL so it will automatically search "Most Interesting" for you.)
02. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
03. Copy the URL of your favorite photos [here].
04. Then share with the world.

01. First Name: Alee. (Okay, fine, my given first name is Courtney, but I identify with Alee more.) I love this picture because it reminded me of the first time my mother told me the meaning of my (nick)name: "Alee is a word they use on ships; it means to the left." And I remember giggling because I'm left-handed.

02. Favorite Food: I hate picking 'favorites', because I'm so indecisive that I can never stick with one absolute, ultimate favorite. I had some blackberries when I visited my dad in California this past weekend, and I hadn't had any in so long that I'd almost forgotten how delicious they are. So we'll go with that for now.

03. Hometown: Tucson, Arizona. I don't understand why some people hate the place so much. It's actually very pretty if you know where to look.

04. Favorite Color: At the moment, purple. Fascinating, I know.

05. Celebrity Crush: Jakob Martin, formerly Martin Storrow. I met him at Rock the Difference, a charity concert that was being put on at my school last year (benefits went to the Invisible Children fund). Of the three performers there, he was the only one who agreed to let me interview him for the Palantir. I asked him a few questions that the editor-in-chief would ultimately leave out altogether, and past that we talked about music and writing. I mentioned that I liked the set he played and asked him if I could find his music online, since I didn't have enough money on me to buy one of the CDs he was selling there... and he excused himself, walked over to the table, picked up a CD, scribbled something onto the cover with a Sharpie, and handed it back to me. It said, "Alee - Chase that dream; speak your mind. Martin." And it was incredibly sweet.

No, he isn't really at 'celebrity' status, but I do have an enormous crush on him. He's a great guy, and he has an amazing voice.

06. Favorite Drink: In 2004, I went on a cruise with my dad and my brother. The first night in the dining room, we were ordering our meals, and I couldn't decide what I wanted to drink. Our waiter (Prayesta from Indonesia, who had pretty dark eyes and a smile I instantly fell in love with), asked me if I wanted a kiss on the lips. I stared at him. I may have blushed. My dad said that yes, I would, and Prayesta went away and came back a few minutes later with what looked like an orange smoothie in a fancy glass, which he placed in front of me. When he went away again, Dad gave me a sideways glance and asked, "Well, what did you think he was talking about?"

I haven't actually had another Kiss on the Lips since then, but it was delicious and the situation just made it too funny to forget.

07. Dream Holiday: Somewhere with a beach, in the summer. I've lived in Arizona my whole life, and I didn't see a large body of water until I was six. Ever since then, I've loved getting to visit places with beaches (or lakes, but I like oceans more) - they're much more interesting than a swimming pool.

Sunny, calm beaches where you can make sand castles or go swimming are great, but I also wouldn't mind visiting a really rocky beach with cliffs and giant waves crashing everywhere. It'd make for some really cool pictures, I bet.

08. Favorite Dessert: Anything having to do with dark chocolate - cake, ice cream, those giant bricks of the stuff you can get a Trader Joe's... Mmmmm. (Milk chocolate is all right, as long as there's something else in it, like peanut butter or whatever. I can't stand it plain, though. I'm a snob like that.)

09. What I Want To Be When I Grow Up: A writer. I'm going to school for journalism (crap, I need to figure out a specialization by the end of the year!), but I would love to write novels as well. I've been making up and writing stories since second or third grade, and now it seems like all I do.

10. What I Love Most In The World: Is it really corny to say my friends? Well, that's what I'm going to go with. Tech Support, people I've known since I was little, people I've just met this year at school... can't live without 'em.

11. One Word That Describes Me: Mercurial, in that "unpredictable changeableness" sense - I've said on here my favorite things change all the time, when I'm reading and writing I always bounce back and forth between stories (okay, when I'm doing anything I'm like that)... look, it's a cool word, all right?

12. My LiveJournal Name: kaisa_enara. (Nothing came up for the full name, so we're just going with the first part.) Kaisa started out as a Jedi in a Star Wars fanfiction series I was working on with my two best friends back in middle school. Since then, she has become my default online persona (although lately, Mnemonic has been replacing her). I really love the expression the girl in the photo is wearing... also it was one of the few shots that wasn't of someone's dog.

Image Credits: Lullaby, Black is Back, ~~Burning Tucson~~ Painted Cacti, Explosion, IMG_4678-1, La Tentazione, Tradewinds, dark chocolate ice cream with milk chocolate crunchies, River Typewriter, Wall of Peace, Mercury droplets, ..... .