Scenes With My Family: Aunt Visits

A summation of the visit with my Aunt...

(IGUANA sits down in Deli booth with his AUNT. IGUANA digs into his panini ravenously.)

AUNT: How was the AIDS Walk?
IGUANA: It was fantastic! Our group raised about 3,000 dollars total. Which is terrific since there were only like 7 or 8 of us!
AUNT: Tell me, do you think they'll ever find a cure?

(Long pause)

IGUANA: Let me tell you something about America first...

Funny how this world works

Oh great pain in my stomach and back and neck. Oh but nothing has been comparing to the pain in the back of my skull. I wonder sometimes if that's what death will feel like? I walk down the street and stagger, for if I move my head to quickly. The feeling of weighted lead shifts in the back and I am off-balance for a moment.

Life has become a blur of sorts. I find it harder to want to stay focused, I like crossing my eyes and then seeing what turns out in my obscurity. Maybe I'll get an internship, maybe I won't. If so either out come with change the threads of time that await me.

I finished And The Band Played On. I found it amazing, a piece of history many people don't know and will never know. It took until the very end, when Reagan actually started "helping" the situation. That so many gay men could die for four years and just because Rock Hudson gets it, that's why it's the way it is today? How is that possible? Or the closing of the bathhouses, once again the way this whole situation was handled was surreal.

It chills me when I figured out I was 21 days old when AIDS officially became a national issue of importance. Also, upon reading the final page I was left feeling terrified because it didn't continue up to now. Where have all the leaders in the fight gone? When we left them they were dying of AIDS! The last chapter sums is all up when Schlitz just blatantly asks, "Where is the leadership?" That was in 1988.

Next book is: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. It's one book. I know my grammar, okay.

I saw two experimental shows, and with the recent pain in my head, thought I would die. I didn't need to think so much. God's Ear was annoying to me. I loved the writing at times, but casting pick a lead woman without an obnoxious voice and who preferably knows how to act. I hated that woman. In scenes she wasn't in, I was happy and content. Unfortunately she was in most scenes. Especially the mistress, she hit the nail on the author's proverbial head. Then that damned wife would return.

Charles Mee's Fire Island was terrific. With the pain though I was pulled to my maximum for retaining information. I got free burgers and wine. I got to see this cute little freaky clown man court this awkward girl. I got to see affairs on this magical land of Fire Island come together and fall apart. So much was going on, that I felt myself alienating my mind from sensory overload. I loved it.

Why do Kashi TLC crackers taste so fucking good?

The recession

Yesterday, I saw Evita at my college. It was a bus and truck tour that basically replicated the original Broadway production. So for that I was grateful. The staging of the show is sort of amazing. The way people move and such. The lady who played Eva got a home run when she sang "A New Argentina", but more or less struck out when she had to play a woman on the verge of death.

The funniest part of the show took place in the audience. For the first fifteen minutes this old woman came in and refused to sit down and started screaming, "Don't touch me and tell me what to do!!!" And when the manager came to help her find a seat, she shined her flashlight in the old lady's face and she screamed, "Don't shine that light in my face you damned fool!" All during the quiet part of "On This Night of 1000 Stars". I enjoyed the show enough not to hate it. It was all I expected of a Bus and Truck tour.

In other news. Is there other news? School is school. I'm getting through it one day at a time, with as little homework as possible. It will be a miracle if I get through next year, which I shall.

And The Band Played On is over half finished. Saddening still and annoying at seeing how ignorant the world can be. I've said before that I understand the fear that people had for this mysterious epidemic. The terror is put into people's minds and with that they don't think rationally.

I am also very glad that August: Osage County won the Pulitzer Prize. It truly deserved it!

An Uneventful Day

Sunday in The Park With George is wonderful. Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans really blow Mandy and Bernadette out of the water. I know, I know. They created the roles. Yet, I felt more in love with these two. The things they did with projections were amazing, truly incredible. As well as the show clicked for me more than ever before. And I've been with this show for years.

At intermission (I was with classmates) some people were saying how bored they were and I wanted to scream at them. If this is boring you, why are you going to school for theater? Sure it's a difficult musical I admit. I think the score is brilliant and the story is genius. What's difficult about the book is that if not understood it comes off as confusing and complex. Therefore leading people into boredom. Which is how some classmates reacted. The first act is the show, the second act is the reaction.

When Act II began, I just realized that all the complaints are addressed. How someone finds the story confusing is beyond me. "Who are all these characters?" Well if you listen you can easily tell. You do realize we are seeing a show based off the figures in a painting? That aside, I took away much more than some did. It was very brilliant.

Other than that I've been boring. Silent Hill Origins is becoming terrifying. I'm in an insane asylum and it scares me. Plus I'm trying not to cheat, which adds to the scariness.

I've been working my way through And The Band Played On. What a history lesson on ignorance and denial. I mean it makes sense sort of. A new virus appears and we don't want to jump to conclusions. At the end of the day though it was held for such a long time from the public because it was a GAY disease and for that I cannot forgive. The gay communities ignoring it I understand too. I would like to believe that I'm going to read about acts of bravery and going against the nation. Yet, I see terror and a refusal to believe that it could happen. Close down the bathhouses? No of course not, it's our sexual freedom! Well then, enjoy AIDS.

It's strange feeling the same emotions as some of the characters though. I will not fret until I have reason to. End of story really.

East of Eden — Bastardized Movie

Last night was hanging out with the Tall Man. Which consisted of sex on his couch, something we haven't done before because he usually had a roommate around. Now he didn't and he had a towel handy. So it commenced and was delightful. Then we talked and didn't talk for hours.

Since I finally finished East of Eden we decided it was time we finally watched the legendary movie. Okay, if you say so. It was a brilliant movie as far as James Dean's acting and Elia Kazan's direction went. I'll even give it up for Julie Harris and Jo Van Fleet (who looked exactly as I pictured Kate to look). I'd never seen James Dean act before and I fell in love with that man. His approach was ground breaking of what you saw during the 1950s. Most actors played for the camera. James played for the performance it seemed. It was very cool to watch.

That aside, the movie sucked. The story was so far removed from how great the book was. The book was phenomenal because of the epic qualities it had. In the movie they condensed it into one simple story about the two brothers. They removed all other interesting characters and just went with that. Plus the profound ending was wholly ruined.

I finished watching Dance of the Vampires. Holy shit. Where did this show come from? Those who weren't lucky to see enough the Old style Broadway techniques being raped repeatedly in this show, are neither better off nor hampered for it. Yet, to see it is to see sometime beyond absurdity. I loved this trippy scene when some of the dancers are flying around. While the ones on stage look like mirror images. Or the nightmare dream scene where the bed comes to life and dances. Or when the gay Vampire tries to seduce the lead male and the scene takes place in front of a mirror. But the gay vampire's reflection is there while they dance. Oh goodness me-oh-my!

Tomorrow early in the morning I am working my way upstate to celebrate Easter for less than 24 hours with my family. Prepare yourself for an epic post, I am sure. I don't plan on seeing friends or going to the mall or doing necessarily anything other than filing my taxes. Which means I'll have time.

Lastly, I am now reading And The Band Played On. So for the next couple of months I will be VERY, very introspective I am sure.