Another Week

The weekend was good and full of little surprises. I saw a double rainbow. It's a rare occurrence and I saw it! I almost expected a gateway to open up and suddenly gay marriage would be passed in NY state.

Then it was Pride this weekend. I drank so much beer, I am home at a normal hour because I am hoping that my Temp Agency will call me tomorrow with work. I light a candle every night praying that work will come my way. The double rainbow is a sign of luck, of this I am sure.

I have no appointments this week, I am but a bore. I am running to Coney Island, but it's not as romantic as it sounds. I bothers me to walk by the Ringling Bros. Circus and to be heading to the unemployment office. Oh to run away to the circus and to actually run away.

Happy pride and double rainbows!

It took me a Year and a half to get over Rufus's Judy Garland Concert

How long will this take to settle? I suppose until I see she actually does it well. . .

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/127608.html

I have been ranting and raving to my roommate for the last hour. It's gonna take time. I'm not wholly against it, but I am very wary!

My roommates facebook status is:

wishes there was a camera crew in her apartment to capture her roommate's gay outrage at Anne Hathaway being cast in the Judy Garland biopic. Hilarity, people.

Group Session: The 12 Days of Judy

Group was more calm last night. It was a slightly progressive night for life outside the group. I fear I was the catalyst. If I'd never worn those skinny jeans on Saturday and not felt so damned powerful in them! I would've never hung out with The Prince, who is a guy my age who has a rich older boyfriend.

His boyfriend apparently is ridiculously rich and owns buildings, helicopters and Egyptian Cats! He is kept in an ivory tower. He lives a dream life that I can't help envy and I feel such sadness for. I wanted to go out and he was the first one to answer my text. If I'd never gone out, he would have never invited me to dinner before group and we'd never have had that screwdriver!

How do I break these rules? One screwdriver to me is a calming way into social situations, despite the rule of not being on any substances that can mess up your judgement, or some crap like that [Rules wouldn't be made unless they wanted us to break them]. Well, The Prince has one screwdriver and is singing show tunes and hitting high C sharps! In turn by the end of group he invited everyone out to get more drinks. Do you see where this story is going? No, well just hang on for a moment longer.

The ShyGuy ran away. The Vespa-Rider peaced out quickly too. Leaving me to get to know newer personalities, in a friendly atmosphere. At one point during the night I was talking to a guy who said that the bar he was working at was hiring bar backs [not bareback] for the summer. I may have my in, which means the universe works in weird ways. You put out what you get back. I don't know, time shall tell. Maybe, I don't need a suit just yet.

The highlight of the night was when another soft spoken member brought up how Judy Garland was his patron saint. I quickly showed him my mark of Judy. He then told me of his 12 Days of Judy celebration! Since Judy was born on June 10th and died on June 22nd. There's twelve days to celebrate her existence!

Her story is similar to that of the Christ figure. She was born Francis Gumm and was reborn into Judy Garland. She died prematurely and will rise again. It's adorably cute, this idea the man created. I am glad that these two things have happened, as silly as they are.

Really, Judy?

I wonder if anyone questioned black face performances? If Judy was a product of the studio, I wonder if she ever felt wrong doing this? It was the 1930s, so there was some racial sympathy by this time. It also amazes me how many people don't know this about her. I always wondered why Swanee is perhaps more celebrated than Over the Rainbow, I think it's because she got her start in Minstrel long before she ever went over the rainbow.

The Minstrel Show That Is My Life

I could write about my life, or I could show you Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in blackface in Babes in Arms. I'm going to do the latter because it reflects the former. The United States was fucked up in the 30s and 40s.

Licking my Wounds — The Garland Remedy

Yesterday I was lazy. Ridiculously lazy. Summer is coming to a quick end as usual and I am entering a new seasons with pensive thoughts and newfound bitterness. I won't allow that though and I saw Hamlet 2. Which made me laugh much more than I expected. It was like the scripts Waiting for Guffman, High School Musical, Passion of the Christ and Hamlet all got mixed together. It was very cute and funny.

Then I talked a friend into buying me the Judy & Mickey DVD box set. Somehow I managed to talk her into it and so it's mine! I sat at home last night and watched Babes in Arms. Judy is a flower as a young woman. She gets all the performance numbers and even does black face at one point. There's something very interesting in seeing a young Judy perform numbers that she would later reshape and make her own.

The box set is totally totally worth the 50 bucks. It comes with poster sized photos of Mickey and Judy in production. As well as a bonus DVD with 21 of Judy's best moments at MGM (before they fired her). It's really sweet to see Judy in her young twenties singing songs like, "Zing, Went the Strings of My Heart" and then to realize the way that song was hers for the rest of her life. Just as easy as that. She sings it once and thus she will now sing that song repeatedly and make it her own.

Poor Judy. I love you.

The BIG 86!!

Wow, 86 already? Next year it'll be 40 years since you left us! What a legacy!

The Eccentricities of the Intern Pt. 2

New Title: The Eccentricities of an Intern. SCENE II:

(IGUANA enters the subway car with SUPERVISOR. He stares aimlessly around the car looking for some kind of way to divert the possibility to faking a conversation. Relentlessly IGUANA has tried to make smalltalk with this man and failed repeatedly.

Along side the both of them stands ELBERT. He is a completely odd figure, with long curly hair and he never speaks unless spoken to. He is a theater fan with a fierce passion for Spring Awakening. Where IGUANA has failed in conversation with his SUPERVISOR, he finds ELBERT impossible to even look at.)

IGUANA: (Stares out the window) I love elevated trains.

SUPER: Did you-- (Speaks so inabudibly that IGUANA can't hear though he's next to him. ELBERT somehow hears and nods his head. SUPERVISOR looks at IGUANA for a response.)

IGUANA: So how many stops to Woodside?

SUPER: Only 17 uh-- more stops. We'll be eh-- there in about three days--

IGUANA: (Blinks) Wh--What did you say? (Looks to ELBERT for help, but quickly looks away. The train begins to tilt as it goes around a bend, everyone leans.)

SUPER: I said seven more uh-- stops we'll be there in uh-- 30 minutes.

IGUANA: (Resumes looking out the window) At least there's something to watch. I love riding the elevated train.

(BLACKOUT)

SCENE III

(IGUANA sit around a table of the gay elite. THE WRITERS of Music Fold know everything and anything about Broadway. They sit around a table that the SUPERVISOR is conducting. THE WRITERS as a whole make up a whole personality, but individually they are hardly memorable. While the SUPERVISOR tries to conduct a meeting, they just go on about their way.)

SUPER: So let's discuss uh-- new possible stories--

WRITER 1: I have the Hal Prince obituary complete. (Laughs) Next we will work on Carol Channing and...

WRITER 2: Stephen Sondheim! (Everyone laughs slightly.) Lets face it both of their careers are done.

SUPER: Uh-- Any ideas for Tony stories? Does anyone eh-- want to go to the Tony's. (IGUANA watches not surprised, as none of them raise their hands.)

WRITER 3: I'll just watch from home and post a moment to moment bulletin. Like I did last year.

SUPER: I was thinking of doing a story about what people mean when they thank certain people in their speeches. Like when Roger Bart thanked um-- Jonathon Larson.

WRITER 2: That's a good idea, we'll have to do after the fact interviews.

SUPER: I was hoping to write the story up for um-- Monday. (All three stop smiling at once.) Oh! (Turns to IGUANA) Do you want to tell them about your tattoo?

(IGUANA's eyes open widely. He has prepared for this, but not so suddenly! He is used to telling people on his own terms. To a group of the elite he is intimidated. Slowly rolls up his sleeve.)

IGUANA: It's Anita Morris...From Nine...

WRITER 1: OOOoohhhhh! (Bursts out laughing.)

WRITER 2: Well, I'll be! That is her. Did you see her performance? (All three giggle.)

IGUANA: No, only through resear--

WRITER 3: Do you have anymore Broadway tattoos?

(IGUANA tries to hold it in his mouth. But as a reflex, he gives the usual speech.)

IGUANA: Yes. I have more. (Beat) I am into Al Hirschfeld. You know the New Yorker? Of course you know! Well I like Al and I like Tennessee Williams. So I have two. Yes, two Al Hirschfeld. (Quick pause) Wait no three! I have three. I have the two Tennessee Williams. Well no, I mean of two characters from his plays. So I have The Eccentricities of a Nightingale on one calf and The Night of the Iguana on another calf. (Aside) Oh God! This was my worst fear! Explaining my Theater Tattoos to Theater people. Oh and lastly I have Judy Garland on my rib cage. (This sudden end comes complete with silence from all parties at the table. Then suddenly followed by laughter.)

WRITER 1: (Clapping hands) Brilliant!

WRITER 2: That's dedication right there!

WRITER 3: Anyone else have any Broadway tattoos?

(IGUANA doesn't know whether to be proud of mortified.)

WRITER 1: I have Cheyenne Jackson on my back.

(IGUANA realizes what to feel.)

(BLACKOUT)

Judy Garland Keeps Me Alive

This is no longer about him. He is dead, there will never been a mention of him again as long as I can help it. Well after this post that is. He's no longer worth worry or my time in general.

I punched myself in the heart until I was bruised. I needed physical pain to counteract the emotional. I completely destroyed the Red Umbrella until there was nothing left. And I wrote a nasty email reply to him, but deleted it realizing you aren't going to let him hit you while you're down again.

I then put on Judy Garland and listened to her until she helped me realize that it's okay to feel hatred towards someone who once made you feel so good.

People aren't perfect, he isn't perfect. And though he pretends that he wants to be there for you, you don't need to take that. You have everything under control. I hate him. Perhaps someday I won't hate him, but he has to do more than what he is doing now to change anything.

And in my hate for him I am showing that I am not perfect. Yet, I am content in that.


So this final post is to you ADRIAN...

I'd like to believe that this is my theme song and I would perform this the same way Judy does...

Please Donate...

I'm almost at my goal and I'd really appreciate anything you can do to help me. So please donate. I ask again please DONATE. Help Judy and I get to our goal!

300 Posts and this one is for Judy...

She gets me through most any time of my life. Without her I'd be lost I feel. So odd, right? However, much in the vein of mixing Patti LuPone with Final Fantasy X. I have never associated Judy Garland with The Lord of the Rings. Yet, someone did...




Click here for a really amazing Judy Garland clip. It's long, but it's WELL worth it!

Meet Me In St. Louis

So I finished Meet Me In St. Louis last night. What a movie! What's best about the 2 DVD set is it comes with an intro from Liza and she's hilarious.

"Papa told Mr. Mayer he wanted to make a movie about a family in St. Louis! And that was all! And then he met Mama and they just fell in love...he always shot her in a frame! Like a window or a mirror! Oh listen to me just going on about my mom and dad! Oh just watch the movie already!"

Liza says that after she finishes her rendition of Judy with a J that her good friends John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote for her. I kid. What struck me is how colorful this movie was! Like a total orgasm for the eyes. Vincent had a good idea with this one.

Judy is stunning, it was her first movie that portrayed her as more than the "Good Time Gal" reputation she'd had since Wizard of Oz. She was 22 when they filmed this movie, which I find even more grand because that would be what Judy looked like if we were best friends now!

Imagine Judy and I walking down the street. Her in her Blue Tassel dress and me in a Tight T-shirt. Judy pointing and saying, "Let's go sing the Trolley Song...but on the subway!" Of course I'd have to join her.

The one thing about the movie though is the fact that her youngest sister, Tootie, disturbed me deeply. The entire movie is sunshine and happiness and the most stressful moment is Judy and her neighbor's relationship. Honestly, that stressed me out a little bit too much.

Then you have Tootie who is pure bitch and a little bit lesbian. She tells people she hates them and spreads rumors that their neighbors are alcoholics. She pretends that Judy's Beau beat the shit out of her. Which causes Judy to go never door and pop a cap in his ass! (that scene was worth the entire movie).

What I found more creepy is near the end of the movie, after Ms. Garland performs the legendary Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Tootie flips shit and runs out to the yard and somehow acquires a baseball bat/large piece of wood and proceeds to destroy the family of snowmen they had built three scenes ago. Screaming and ranting that she hates them. She brutally smashes them and in particular she aims for decapitating them. It's frightful. I just wonder if Tootie was a repressed Lesbian or had the makings of a Serial Killer (ala Monster).

If you are curious how I mean brutal go 3:18 of this video and judge for yourself:

Mandatory Post Valentines Day Post

Valentine's Day consisted of me waking up at 6 am and running 4.30 (my longest yet) miles in 30 mins. Then somewhere around 8:40 am I decided I will proceed to get stoned before my creative writing class. It's funny what days that involve love do to you. I suppose some back story is needed here.

I've been in college for 329 years and I'm still going strong! No, it's my 4th year, but not finished (as usual) and I'm taking creative writing. There's a girl in my class, she's an English major and has one of the sourest dispositions I have ever seen. There's never really a positive remark she can make. It's always something dour and annoying that comes from her mouth. Understand why I got stoned? Not yet? I'll continue...

So a couple of classes ago someone brought up how in many of the stories we've been reading the author's have used Pot in negative ways. Like a lazy character on disability would rather get stoned than confront the issues with his wife ("Shiloh"). Or this character who is nervous about meeting a blind man, offers him a joint to smoke ("Cathedral"). Along with some other stories. I simply offered my advice and said, "I feel using pot is more of a device to alleviate the characters of their nerves." Meaning that this man is nervous, when you're stoned usually you're less nervous and more open. Or with the guy on disability, sure he's a stoner, but that's the character.

So the Sour Lemon raises her hand and says, "Well it's obvious, in my life most people I've come in contact with who smoke a lot of pot are unmotivated and do nothing with their lives." What shocked me more is the teacher got very flustered at every ones discussion about what they believed pot to mean in the stories and quickly changed the topic.

Now, perhaps that's true. As I look in a mirror and ask myself, "Are you motivated?"

Her comment irked me, I admit. So I decided to go to class stoned. Honestly, I am just looking for any excuse nowadays. No, seriously it was a silent protest. I didn't outwardly raise my hand and tell the class, "I am high as a kite and just TRY and reel me in!" I contributed to class, I raised my hand and I remembered no more or less than what normally is said in class. Hell, the fact I was in school was proof enough that not all people who are stoners are unmotivated.

Well that story is done, now onto Valentines Day. The Tall Man arrived around 9 to pick me up. Before that I sewed, I watched Meet Me In St. Louis and I don't know how I haven't seen this movie sooner! Oh Judy, when I think you'd topped yourself you just get more and more entrancing to me.

It was a quiet night really. We went out for Middle Eastern Cuisine. I listened to his life, his roommate is moving to New Zealand for HIS boyfriend. Which is ultimately romantic, but puts the Tall Man in an odd position finding a new roommate. I gave him his book, which he loved. And that made me smile.

(This is where I brag)We had mirror sex* and then went to sleep. Then had morning sex and went to work.(okay done bragging)


Now I'm at work and thus concludes my mandatory Valentine's Day post...It was nice that Judy got to spend Valentine's Day with me. No, honestly she is amazing in Meet Me In St. Louis. I never need Judy was sassy from day one. Okay not day one, but day 14,556 when she met Vincent and was asking her dresser, "Is he queer?" Honestly Judy, the makeup and effeminate mannerisms weren't enough? I can't complain for Liza wouldn't be here without him as well. God I'm out gaying myself and hardly trying.

* Mirror sex is just like it sounds. I always feel narcissistic when it happens, yet I went with it. It's all smoke and mirrors at the end of the day.

Lets see Rufus Do this...

I would LOVE to see Rufus pull this one off...




Judy is keeping me sane during finals...

This Gets Me in the Holiday Season

Judy, Judy, Judy!

I've reawakened the Judy Garland love I have had for years and years recently. Now it wasn't asleep, I just realized that I removed her from my vocabulary and seemed to replace her with Patti LuPone. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's what I do, I go on phases when I always love some diva. Except Anita Morris, Anita is always loved...ALWAYS.

But in honor of Ms. Garland I am posting three of my favorite movie clips of her. See them before youtube.com removes them. In the first, The Trolley Song is a young Judy who went from little Dorothy Gale who was so innocent. To a sex symbol who was truly a beautiful woman!



The second is Get Happy, where my favorite story of Judy can be told. The day before they shot this Judy did it completely drugged out of her mind and was a huge mess. The director said, "Go home...come back tomorrow and do it correctly." Scolding her! The next day Judy showed up and the results are before you. This was also Judy's final movie at MGM and what a way to go, huh?



Lastly, is The Man That Got Away, perhaps one of the most amazing versions of this I'd ever heard. To know that Judy was singing this song for years and years, but she reinvented it for this movie. Her crowning glory! Only to get snubbed at the Oscars...why do I love the underdogs who don't win the awards? Is that some sort of bizarre symbol?



Brava, Judy!