Femme Phantasmogoria

Here it is, performance weekend! My ancient comedy and performance class is putting on Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae, set in the 1970's at an ERA meeting . . .
The women of Athens are gathered in assembly to discuss how to bring down Euripides who can never seem to stop bashing women in his tragedies.

Comedy ensues when Euripides convinces his Kinsman to infiltrate the meeting dressed in drag.

Disco, cross-dressing, and phalloi abound. I'm a little nervous and excited.

That's the update for me right now. I hope to post pictures and whatnot as soon as they come up.

Free time?

I know, I know. I'm at college, how could I possibly have free time? Granted, I have work and schoolwork and club stuff for Circus Arts. Well, this is for Circus Arts, so HA! Mark used his camera to record himself and Edwin working on their dives, jumps, and flips.

Their hard work + Mark's camera + My fun with movie maker =

Acrobatic Evolution

This will hopefully be the first of many "Evolutions". I'm learning to tumble myself! Edwin and I are working out together and I'm working on becoming more flexible. I can do somersaults and shoulder rolls on the mat we have. It's exciting to see what else I can start learning!

And now...

It has been a while. A long while.

Okay, life thus far:

The classes I am officially in this semester (given that it is now just passed mid-term season):
Cicero and the End of the Roman Republic
Greek Art and the Making of Art History
Ancient Comedy and Performance
Renaissance and Baroque Set Design

All of these classes are of course informative and interesting and wonderful. They are killing me softly.

Let me give you a wonderful little demonstration of what I'm up against in my first 300 level Latin class:

Etsi vereor, iudices, ne turpe sit pro fortissimo viro dicere incipientem timere, minimeque deceat, cum T. Annius ipse magis de rei publicae salute quam de sua perturbetur, me ad eius causam parem animi magnitudinem adferre non posse, tamen haec novi iudici nova forma terret oculos, qui, quocumque inciderunt, consuetudinem fori et pristinum morem iudiciorum requirunt. Non enim corona consessus vester cinctus est, ut solebat; non usitata frequentia stipati sumus: 2. non illa praesidia, quae pro templis omnibus cernitis, etsi contra vim conlocata sunt, non adferunt tamen [oratori] aliquid, ut in foro et in iudicio, quamquam praesidiis salutaribus et necessariis saepti sumus, tamen ne non timere quidem sine aliquo timore possimus. Quae si opposita Miloni putarem, cederem tempori, iudices, nec inter tantam vim armorum existimarem esse oratori locum. Sed me recreat et reficit Cn. Pompei, sapientissimi et iustissimi viri, consilium, qui profecto nec iustitiae suae putaret esse, quem reum sententiis iudicum tradidisset, eundem telis militum dedere, nec sapientiae, temeritatem concitatae multitudinis auctoritate publica armare.

No, that isn't just online filler for form. Those are the words of the great orator Cicero opening in defense of his friend Milo against the accusations of murdering Clodius. Cicero's argument centers around "Yeah, he killed him, but it was the right thing to do for the good of the state!!!"
My test on the entire speech is this Tuesday. Nervous? yes.

Sexy right???

I have a handle on Greek Art, Renaissance and Baroque design has me making a model of a fire breathing dragon. Awesome? oh yes.

The academic light of my life is my comedy and performance class. We are set to perform the Aristophanes play Women at the Thesmophoria. It's loud, it's bawdy, and set in the 1970's at an ERA rally. I get to act and sing. It's the most fun I've had in a class since my first semester. It's also got me thinking about doing the open auditions they hold at the beginning of each semester. I love making people laugh.

I know this post is not very eloquent, or even correct grammatically. I'm typing it in my Renaissance and Baroque lecture. SHHHHHHH

Inauguration Day

The entire country is no doubt discussing this, I just thought I'd put my two-cents in.

I'm excited to see what this new administration can bring to our nation and the world. That being said, I sincerely hope that people do not expect Obama to pull out a magic wand and solve all of our problems. There is an intense amount of pressure on this new administration to be groundbreaking, I'm just hoping that Obama is a "good" president. If people place their hopes impossibly high, all they are going to get is disappointed. I feel that people think that because he's the first black president, he'll be the most noteworthy president, in league with Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. I hope he is. I truly do hope that he is able to help this country, and improve our relations with the world in such a way that places him on such a high pedestal. What an exciting time to be alive?

My opinion is: He is going to try. I hope he can do all that he says he wants to do. If he can't, I hope people don't jump ship, and turn on him, wishing that they had voted for option number two. That would not have been better by any stretch of the imagination.

In conclusion: I wish good luck upon the next four years, and look forward to "witnessing history"

More Focus?

Here I am, at the toy shop, after having just completed some computer inventory whatnots and whozits. Just wanted to post real quick about the Circus Arts blog I created yesterday. It has to be passed by the other members of the group, but I'm hoping we can eventually start blogging about our individual as well as group experiences.

As far as everything else goes, I shoveled my driveway yesterday while listening to Clive Barker's novel, Mr. B Gone, on my ipod with the audiobook function. I highly recommend this story. Whether or not you like to read, it's a good book, or audio track :-)

Warning: This book is dark.

Its an autobiography of a lesser demon from the 9th circle. Simultaneously hilarious and grotesque, Mr. B Gone was something I picked up last year at Barnes and Noble. I didn't purchase it, but had read it in a handful of hours while my boyfriend was shopping around. I'm very glad that I now have it with a greater degree of permanence. Barker's ability to make the main character, Jakabok Botch, sympathetic, is fantastic. While terrible things are occuring throughout the novel, you can understand Jakabok's mindset, if not sympathize with it. I'm currently at the beginning of disc 3 out of 6. In audiobook its a 6.5 hour performance. Great for long car rides or tedious chores that require little brain function.

Maybe that's what I'll do from now on. I'll give this blog a little more focus by reviewing books and movies and the like...

Mr. B Gone by Clive Barker, great for that little Macabre lover in all of us