Hey everyone! I didn’t realize I’d get so many positive (and some negative) responses to my two pieces about women and comedy. I’m glad you guys have enjoyed them, I still hold those beliefs today.
I’ve been busy for a while and haven’t had a chance to write on women/comedy. I’ll be cracking down on that soon, so stay tuned!
Thank you again for supporting women in comedy!
I friggin flew through the air today! I convinced Rich (mind you, he’s 6′5) to take a 3 1/2 hour aerials workshop with me. SO much fun!
We did Judo throws, Judo throws with a bump, shoulder throws, backflips, lindy throws and Rich even did a backflip! Our spotter had a good time laughing at how low Rich had to bend down to scoop me up to throw me. And because of the foot and a half height difference, I sailed through the air without fear of him dropping me (mainly because I had enough time to think about my landing before it actually happened).
Can’t wait to bust those moves out in a bar! 
Pictures coming soon
Whew! Washington DC was the place to be last weekend (if you’re into lindy hopping. If not…you’re boring.) It was amazing, I was in lindy hop heaven. There were SO many great dancers there and I was lucky enough to dance with many of them.
The entire weekend was so organized, it was amazingly fun. I took the bus in Friday and met with my aunt who was in DC for the weekend. Saturday morning, I attending the Fast Dancing class with Todd and Kelly (two world class lindy hoppers who have many awards to their names). Great workshop! For once, there were so many leaders that they had to rotate instead of the followers. I also went to the ladies jazz routine with Naomi, another amazing swing teacher. The workshops were so much fun, I learned quite a bit and even ran into my friend Lisa!
I left in the afternoon to meet up with my aunt to tour around DC (I forgot we were in the nation’s capital…I just wanted to dance.) The coolest thing there (besides the lindy hop event) was the International Spy Museum…and of course, the numerous national monuments scattered about DC. That evening, they held an open dance with competitions interspersed. The most amazing to watch – the Lindy Hop Showcase. Couples’ routines can have as many aerials as they want, meaning people were flying left and right! I taught my aunt the basics, but after one dance, she decided to stand in the back row and watch. I think I received a late birthday present – dancing with leads who actually knew how to lead properly.
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Today (9/13) I’m attending an aerials class! I convinced Rich, THE tallest guy around (he’s 6′5), to come with me and throw me around for 3 hours. Hopefully, I’ll get some good pictures!
Thanks for commenting on my blog…mom.
I’ll put up a new post as soon as I get back from the International Lindy Hop Championships in Washington DC! Whoo-hoo!
(Mom, thank you for being my super cool fan. Wow, that was actually a little sad. Love you mommy!)
I came across this amazing article yesterday and had to post a link to it. Numerous times, I myself have bitched and complained about this and it’s nice to know that I’m not alone. Snaps to this dude for one bad ass article.
While browsing the internet, I came across an article about a NYU student who grew tired of “coming home to an empty bed.” His solution? He created a virtual girlfriend. She’s a two dimensional image that lays next to him in bed. When he rolls onto his side, she ’spoons’ him. When he kisses her on the cheek, she turns onto her stomach. Cool? Yes. A little bit sad? I’d have to say yes to that as well.
This time and effort he put into creating this virtual girlfriend (who does not remove any of her clothes while in bed) could have been used to get a real girlfriend (who may actually remove her clothes). Not only that, but this kid goes to NYU. New York University has about a 40:60 boy to girl ratio, with 25% of the male population being gay. This gives NYU guys an advantage, 30 straight men to 60 girls. The numbers work in his favor! Factor into this that many of the NYU girls will lower their standards to be with somebody – I’ve had to sit one or two of my girlfriends down and ask them what the hell they were doing. Some, not all, girls are desperate to be in a relationship…ANY relationship. So why didn’t this kid go out and interact with real people, not just the SIMS characters on his Mac?
It all comes down to confidence. For the male population of nerds, many of them don’t have confidence. They have the intelligence but lack the social skills. And rather than go out there and socialize with people, they stick with what they know…at least, until they are forced to be social and develop those skills.
Yet there ARE girl nerds out there – I should know, I’m one of them. Girls who like to play video games (guilty…GTA IV, Guitar Hero, Super Smash Bros, Zelda, LOTR The Two Towers), spend weekends studying at the library, read comic books, write computer programs, wore braces in high school, plays Dungeons & Dragons, has watched Star Wars over 300 times…THEY DO EXSIST! While boy nerds deal with their unsociable characteristics in their own manner, girl nerds are different. Speaking from past experience as a girl nerd, I was happy being who I was with my small group of nerdy friends. I was content – I never thought about pursuing a boy to be in a relationship with. Part of that contentment came from the fact that I knew I was a nerd – what boy would want to date that? From the very start of high school, I was sure of three things; 1) I was a nerd. 2) No one would date me. 3) High school was just a necessary step towards something so much better – college.
Thank goodness time has gone by. I still am a nerd, but I quit being so anti-social. I gained confidence and have stopped telling myself that I would die alone, surrounded by my cats. While I’m one of the lucky nerds to have gained social skills, there are still so many boy and girl nerds out there. If they aren’t willing to take the steps towards being social, is there a solution to bring the two together? A social method of bringing the anti-social together? In the words of John Lennon – All you need is love. And a player two controller.
*Here’s the link!
Article – NYU Student Creates ‘Virtual Girlfriend’
There are two kinds of people: those who only see the end goal and those who see the end goal and then find the steps in between to reach it. The first type are the dreamers - the ones who tell you about how they’d like to travel to Europe one day. The latter are the doers – the people who tell you that they want to travel to Europe and have begun saving money and vacation time from their job to do this trip in several months. They’ve also researched affordable places to stay, methods of travel and already know the cheapest time to buy airline tickets. There really no is middle ground, you either see only the dream or you not only see the dream, but also the way in which to get there.
One type has a very difficult time understanding the other, which can be frustrating depending upon what side of the scale you’re on. It’s incredibly difficult to put yourself into the other person’s shoes, especially when your thinking method is entirely different. From the doer’s perspective – How can he/she only talk about what they want? Why is it so difficult for them to take the steps towards doing what they want? If they want it so much, why not find a way to make it happen? From the dreamer’s perspective – How does he/she do it? Aren’t they risking a lot? Aren’t they afraid?
This post is coming from a recent personal experience. I admit, I am a doer. That is how I’ve gotten to where I am today – I saw where I wanted to be and found a way to get there. A majority of my new-found college friends are like this as well – they are doers. We understand each other. If someone says they want to make a movie, I already expect to see a finished product in about 5 months. However, I do know a few people who are the dreamer type…and I have a hard time talking to them. I struggle to understand why they are unable to take the next step – why they can’t get past the dreaming stage. ”You know what you want! Just go for it! Find a way to make it happen!” A few days ago, I was talking to a dreamer friend. While he/she has recently figured out what they want to do as a career, he/she has failed to look beyond that. He/she knows the profession and where it could take him/her…but has not looked at realistic ways to improve this specific skill and propel him/herself into this area. He/she knows where they want to end up – the end-goal is known. But getting there? Hasn’t been seriously thought about. I was ready to slam my fist into the wall. “THINGS ARE NOT IMPOSSIBLE!” I wanted to scream into my tiny cell phone. If you’ve found something that you want and desire it bad enough, why doesn’t one go after it?
It’s easy enough for doers to take the next step, their thinking process goes from “OK, I know what I want.” to “What do I need to do to get there?” Speaking from a doer’s perspective, I can’t help thinking that way. You’re not losing sight of what you want, but taking the baby steps to get there. Whatever it is that you’re doing at the moment, even though it’s not that dream, is leading up to that ultimate goal. Is that where the misunderstanding begins? Do dreamers think that they have to be doing their end-goal immediately, or else they are unable to do it at all?
After traveling all the way back to the West Coast, my body is completely out of whack. And so, since I am up at 7:30am with only crap on t.v., here’s something interesting to read. Living in New York City has exposed me to a few celebrities, so here’s who I’ve seen and where.
Billy Crudup - While I was waiting for the bus on Broadway in the Village, he walked right by me. Thankfully, I just watched Almost Famous and it took me a second to realize why I recognized his cute face.
Brendan Fraser – In the audience of the Broadway show November, starring Nathan Lane. I kept doing double takes until he looked up and gave me the charming Brendan Fraser smile – niiiiiiiiiiiiice.
Brad Pitt - While I was working at a resort in CA last summer. He was having a private breakfast near the back corner of the pool with his own waiter, an omelette station AND an acoustic guitarist. Damn straight he’s going to have his own guitarist – why should Brad Pitt have to share with the regular people?
Steven Spielberg – Walked past me on Broadway in SoHo. He was wearing a hat and glasses, looking scruffy. I had to do a double take and actually stopped in my tracks after it clicked in my brain that that was ‘The Steve’.
Sean Austin - Stood next to me in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport SkyLink train. I was racking my brain as to why I recognized this guy – did he go to NYU? Was he a guest speaker in one of my classes? Did I watch his kids at camp in CA? When he lifted his head and looked out the window, I heard a voice in my head say “I may not be able to carry the ring Mr. Frodo…but I can carry you!” I was standing next to Sam! And then my stop arrived before I could tell Rudy I was going to turn in my jersey for him to play. (Watch “Rudy” if you don’t get that.)
Mo Rocca - He stopped me in an East Village park in the afternoon to ask me about the Jonathan Meyers version of King Henry VIII. Mo asked, “What do you think of King Henry VIII if he looked like this?”, to which I replied, “Oh yeah, I’d do him.”
Conan O’Brien – Walking outside of Rockerfeller Center after one of his shows. My jaw just dropped and my heart stopped, everything seemed to move in slow motion…ok, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but I was taken aback. He’s soooooo tall (or maybe I’m just that short).
Darrell Hammond – Almost crashed into him on Lexington in the Upper East Side. I looked up and apologized, he said don’t worry about it and got into a taxi before I could tell him the I too “love the ladies” (YouTube his performance as Bill Clinton and all will make sense).
Now, if I could only run into Hugh Laurie…
First of all, this post absolutely does not refer to anything sexual (ok, maybe a little. I have a slight crush on Bret McKenzie from FOTC). What I’m talking about is the freshness and originality of a new comedy group/person/skit/show/whatever it may be – the spark that allows them to jump into the comedy scene. Yet, when season two rolls around, they suddenly don’t seem as funny anymore. What happened? Where’s the originality that got you hooked in the first place? Were they brainwashed? Lobotomy? Run headfirst into a brick wall? Did they watch an episode of The Wire? (I kid, I kid). Let’s discuss.
Being funny is difficult. Being in the spotlight is difficult. Putting the two together leads me to understand John Belushi’s drug addiction. It’s amazing to be discovered, to be able to make an audience of more than just your family laugh till it hurts. The Flight of the Conchords, a folk comedy duo from New Zealand made up of Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, took off in the States with their first season. Their show followed the boys as they tried to make it into the music industry after moving to New York City. What was so intriguing were several hilarious aspects that they played into very well.
1) The simple fact that they are so unsuccessful – they rent a tiny apartment in Brooklyn that has little/no furniture. They can hardly afford food and in one episode, Bret comes home with groceries and a sandwich he discovered on the sidewalk (which Jermaine eats anyways).
2) They are from New Zealand and are constantly mistaken for being English. (”Yeah, my name’s Bret.” “Brit? Brit? Like Brittney?” “Uh, no. B-R-E-T.” “Oh Bret…I like your English accent.”)
3) Bret and Jermaine write and incorporate original music into their shows, talking about anything from The Lord of the Rings (Frodo, Don’t Wear The Ring) to living in the city (Inner City Pressure) to hitting on a girl (Most Beautiful Girl In The Room).
4) They make references to David Bowie. That’s automatically awesome.
5) The Flight of the Conchords has one lone fan, a woman named Mel who makes her own FOTC t-shirts and makes sure she attends all of their performances. She is their biggest fan and fawns over them much like a 13 year old drools over N’SYNC. Mel is also married, which only makes it funnier.
Their early material is amazingly funny. However, the end of their first season wasn’t as funny. I felt as though they were trying too hard, as though they were unable to keep the momentum of their comedy consistent. And now they are working on Season Two, which I’m slightly hesitant to watch. I don’t want to be put off by material that has been forced out of them, with the sole purpose of having a second season. That’s what I believe happens – material is squeezed out of these comedians in order to stay on the air. Creativity is something that CANNOT be forced. However, the want to remain in the comedy spotlight is such a powerful force. And I don’t blame them – it’s incredibly difficult to become a recognized name in comedy. It’s understandable to want to hold onto that success that you worked hard for. But this also comes down to what are your priorities – the limelight or the quality of the material? This brings me to Dave Chappelle, who stepped down from his own show on Comedy Central because of the quality of his material. I find it admirable that he backed out of this amazing situation that so many people would kill for because he felt that what he was producing was not what he wanted. It came down to the quality of his work, which is a sight so many have lost focus on.
This lady was begging for change on the corner of Mercer and Waverly, near my school. I say if you’re gonna beg for change, may as well be comfortable while you do it.
