if you wanna get into classy clubs.
OK, let me explain.
I woke up today really excited about the lunch invitation I had for the Metropolitan Club, an old NYC club on Upper East Side. But as all silver linings must have some clouds :) it was pouring outside! I tried on a few skirts, high heels and all that, but watching the rain outside got me, I couldn't bring myself to wear a skirt or even my elegant black pants, the rain would spoil everything, I thought, so I jumped into my jeans and pulled on a sexy red sweater (as sexy as the sweaters can be...). But I did take a cab, actually a black car service limo, excited about my first lunch in a NYC club. Well, rain brings disaster after disaster, believe me. The club had a dress-code. JEANS ARE NOT ALLOWED. I tried to hide my disappointment and embarrassment as businessmen in business suits were passing by, looking down at me, and I told the doorman I'd go to buy myself a skirt. No, he said, the Professor (the one who invited me) will take you somewhere else. And indeed my Cinderella experience ended in a cozy French restaurant, full of personality and character, with waiters with French accent and French dignity. The Professor assured me that the club won't disappear, it's been there for more than 100 years and still plans to be there so we'll go there on another time. Well, small consolation... I told my Drama students in class after that: Stop wearing jeans if you wanna get into classy clubs! They shrugged: Who cares about classy clubs?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Ashley Alexandra Dupre
She's the new headline so I must give her one in my blog too. Yeah, I can't help but scribble down a few comments on the sex scandal that stirred and troubled and excited the New Yorkers (and the whole world) this week. What's amazing for me in this story is not the fact that the governor Spitzer liked to have sex with prostitutes. He's a sexy guy and well, it's his and his wife's problem, not ours, I hate when we dig like this in other people's lives but media forces us to. What is actually fascinating for me is how a celebrity can be born over the night.
Kristen aka Ashley Alexandra Dupre aka Ashley Youmans was just a girl struggling to make the ends meet, an aspiring singer, a cool babe, a new New Yorker worried about paying her rent in Manhattan where for a tiny studio in a good area you have to pay over $3000. She was all that before her name and photos and bio were revealed in the New York Times and taken further by the TV networks afterwards. In a few days celebrity hit her hard and will put millions in her pocket. There will be covers in adult magazines like Hustler (they already made her a $1.000.000.000 offer), interviews, a career in music, a book, a movie, etc, etc, all that jazz. Sorry, all that hip-hop :) Ashley is becoming a commodity, she can now be sold at prices much higher than her $1000 hourly charge as a luxury prostitute. She will wear aka advertise Manolo Blahnik shoes and Victoria’s Secret lingerie and a new TV series will start next year: The VIP Hooker…
Some people would talk here about "negative" publicity/celebrity, but what's negative these days, in this world, when principles and morality are old-fashioned artifacts, a world where money and success reign and for Ashley - who I'm sure is a nice and cool girl indeed - the scandal meant a springboard to a new life of fame and wealth. The "negative" part is unfortunately forced upon Silda, the governor's wife, and their three daughters. They are the casualties of this media/political war and with the risk of sounding cheesy and sentimental, I'm gonna ask: is it fair?
Kristen aka Ashley Alexandra Dupre aka Ashley Youmans was just a girl struggling to make the ends meet, an aspiring singer, a cool babe, a new New Yorker worried about paying her rent in Manhattan where for a tiny studio in a good area you have to pay over $3000. She was all that before her name and photos and bio were revealed in the New York Times and taken further by the TV networks afterwards. In a few days celebrity hit her hard and will put millions in her pocket. There will be covers in adult magazines like Hustler (they already made her a $1.000.000.000 offer), interviews, a career in music, a book, a movie, etc, etc, all that jazz. Sorry, all that hip-hop :) Ashley is becoming a commodity, she can now be sold at prices much higher than her $1000 hourly charge as a luxury prostitute. She will wear aka advertise Manolo Blahnik shoes and Victoria’s Secret lingerie and a new TV series will start next year: The VIP Hooker…
Some people would talk here about "negative" publicity/celebrity, but what's negative these days, in this world, when principles and morality are old-fashioned artifacts, a world where money and success reign and for Ashley - who I'm sure is a nice and cool girl indeed - the scandal meant a springboard to a new life of fame and wealth. The "negative" part is unfortunately forced upon Silda, the governor's wife, and their three daughters. They are the casualties of this media/political war and with the risk of sounding cheesy and sentimental, I'm gonna ask: is it fair?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Olga from Volga
Here's the thing: I've been working for a while on "E-DATE - THE MUSICAL", and now I am on a little break from working on it before getting into E-DATING PROJECT at Strasberg Institute - a class that I teach will result in a show directed by Gia Forakis after I develop the text with the students.
yeah, two different E-Date projects (instead of a real e-date :)
So tonight I feel like posting the lyrics for my favorite song: "Olga from Volga" based on a real e-letter that my friend James got from a Russian Olga (not from the Volga, that's my rhyme:). Just to let people know that it existed before the Strasberg project. It's my blog-copyrighting thing...
BEAUTIFUL BUT LONELY AND TIRED
IN AN ENGLISH THAT'S SURELY A RIOT
OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
REGION WRITES TO ME
HEY JIMMY
"Hello! How You today?
I hope that all at you
Is good. I write to You
because I did not receive letters.
Why not write? What is it what happens?
I not do not need understand
You not want more with me
To communicate, friend?
I hope, that the reason that You are
simply borrowed on work. I shall wait
for Your letter. I hope,
that You will write to me soon,
invite me to Cancun,
Barbados or Miami Florida
I need nice place to rest and give you love
I am and always be your little dove
I sign below forever yours, Olga
From the Volga
Region in Russia"
OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
OH HOW I LOVE TO READ THE WORDS YOU SAY
MY LITTLE DOVE
TOO BAD YOU LIVE 10,000 MILES AWAY.
YOUR LOVING EMAILS TRULY COME DEEP FROM YOUR HEART.
YOUR CHOICE OF WORDS, WHAT CAN I SAY, A WORK OF ART.
I WON'T FORGET YOUR LETTER'S FINAL PART:
“ME WANT NEW LIFE WITH YOU TOGETHER START.”
MY LITTLE DOVE, YOU ARE A WORK
A WORK OF ART.
OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
WHERE ALL THIS LEADS, I CANNOT TELL.
MAYBE SOMEDAY I'LL TAKE YOUR HAND
RIGHT TO A CLASS IN ESL.
DEAR OLGA, TELL YOUR SISTER DRUSHKA
I'M SAD SHE LOST HER JOB AND HAS NO HOPE,
AND TELL MAMA AND BABUSHKA
I'M SORRY 'BOUT THE WATER DAMAGE TO THEIR HOME.
DEAR OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
IT BREAKS MY HEART TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR DISCOMFORT
BUT HONEY PLEASE BE PATIENT
FOR I ALSO HAVE TO LEND MY FULL SUPPORT
TO GORGEOUS TATIANA FROM UKRAINE
AND LOVELY LILIANA FROM COUNTRYSIDE IN SPAIN
AND OXANA FROM LATVIA, CARMEN FROM ROMANIA
AND OLGA - YES, ANOTHER OLGA - FROM LITHUANIA.
OH OLGA FROM THE VOLGA SHORE
YOU'LL ALWAYS BE MY SWEET
LIT' DOVE WHO TRIED TO MEET
BUT WANTED SO MUCH MORE.
yeah, two different E-Date projects (instead of a real e-date :)
So tonight I feel like posting the lyrics for my favorite song: "Olga from Volga" based on a real e-letter that my friend James got from a Russian Olga (not from the Volga, that's my rhyme:). Just to let people know that it existed before the Strasberg project. It's my blog-copyrighting thing...
BEAUTIFUL BUT LONELY AND TIRED
IN AN ENGLISH THAT'S SURELY A RIOT
OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
REGION WRITES TO ME
HEY JIMMY
"Hello! How You today?
I hope that all at you
Is good. I write to You
because I did not receive letters.
Why not write? What is it what happens?
I not do not need understand
You not want more with me
To communicate, friend?
I hope, that the reason that You are
simply borrowed on work. I shall wait
for Your letter. I hope,
that You will write to me soon,
invite me to Cancun,
Barbados or Miami Florida
I need nice place to rest and give you love
I am and always be your little dove
I sign below forever yours, Olga
From the Volga
Region in Russia"
OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
OH HOW I LOVE TO READ THE WORDS YOU SAY
MY LITTLE DOVE
TOO BAD YOU LIVE 10,000 MILES AWAY.
YOUR LOVING EMAILS TRULY COME DEEP FROM YOUR HEART.
YOUR CHOICE OF WORDS, WHAT CAN I SAY, A WORK OF ART.
I WON'T FORGET YOUR LETTER'S FINAL PART:
“ME WANT NEW LIFE WITH YOU TOGETHER START.”
MY LITTLE DOVE, YOU ARE A WORK
A WORK OF ART.
OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
WHERE ALL THIS LEADS, I CANNOT TELL.
MAYBE SOMEDAY I'LL TAKE YOUR HAND
RIGHT TO A CLASS IN ESL.
DEAR OLGA, TELL YOUR SISTER DRUSHKA
I'M SAD SHE LOST HER JOB AND HAS NO HOPE,
AND TELL MAMA AND BABUSHKA
I'M SORRY 'BOUT THE WATER DAMAGE TO THEIR HOME.
DEAR OLGA FROM THE VOLGA
IT BREAKS MY HEART TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR DISCOMFORT
BUT HONEY PLEASE BE PATIENT
FOR I ALSO HAVE TO LEND MY FULL SUPPORT
TO GORGEOUS TATIANA FROM UKRAINE
AND LOVELY LILIANA FROM COUNTRYSIDE IN SPAIN
AND OXANA FROM LATVIA, CARMEN FROM ROMANIA
AND OLGA - YES, ANOTHER OLGA - FROM LITHUANIA.
OH OLGA FROM THE VOLGA SHORE
YOU'LL ALWAYS BE MY SWEET
LIT' DOVE WHO TRIED TO MEET
BUT WANTED SO MUCH MORE.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Richard Foreman's new land
Every year, among other top downtown pleasures for edgy and envelope-pushing artists (no, not at their day jobs) is THE NEW RICHARD FOREMAN SHOW. So I pushed myself like an envelope ready to open itself towards a new amazing performance and, well - utter disappointment. This year the guru&mecca of downtown theatre discovered a new medium: film. The lines are now given mostly to the actors on the screen (students from Japan and England where Mr Foreman had some paid residencies) while the expressive live performers are clearly upstaged by the... screen upstage. Mr Foreman's unique "choreography" of objects and images, the frames composed of bodies and stunning visuals that he masterfully creates in space, play only a supporting role this time. The focus is on the screen and it's obvious that Mr Foreman is in the phase of discovering the potent attributes of idiosyncratic frames&shots. However, stuff like that has been done and re-done in film, from "Last Year at Marienbad" to "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" so it's not so special anymore. And the Japanese actors are not "exotic" anymore, etc, etc, hence the images don't work at the level that a signature Foreman frame works in live performance...
DISCLAIMER:
This is not a review, just a few notes of a frustrated former Foreman fan who fell in love with his work when she first saw it in Vienna, during Wiener Festwochen, in 2001.
That show - Now that Communism is dead my life feels empty - might have had a political significance for me at that time but the aesthetic oddness and richness were what got me. Well, what can I say, on the positive side, at least my life doesn't feel empty without my admiration for Richard Foreman's work.
DISCLAIMER:
This is not a review, just a few notes of a frustrated former Foreman fan who fell in love with his work when she first saw it in Vienna, during Wiener Festwochen, in 2001.
That show - Now that Communism is dead my life feels empty - might have had a political significance for me at that time but the aesthetic oddness and richness were what got me. Well, what can I say, on the positive side, at least my life doesn't feel empty without my admiration for Richard Foreman's work.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
About Attitude and Automatic Quotes
I bet you all know people who have an automatic quote at the end of their email messages. You may agree or not with the quote, but it stays with you for those few seconds. Or longer. Here are the quotes I came across today:
"The first principle of a warrior is not being afraid of who you are." - Anonymous
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break an organization... a school... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have. And that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...." -Charles Swindoll
I must confess I had no clue who Charles Swindoll was, but the quote made me curious as I still can't accept that attitude is everything and knowledge, education, and other human gifts don't matter on the road to success. What about shy people? Are they doomed to failure because they can't bring themselves to have the right attitude? What about pessimistic people? When did shyness and pessimism become diseases we have to fight against?
So I googled Mr Swindoll to find out more about him and guess what I found: he's an Evangelical Christian, a preacher, a minister, a man speaking the "word of God"! And what does he teach people - that nothing else matters except for a positive attitude. The attitude towards and the obsession with success and money seem to have become our new "religion". Where is that God who was talking about humbleness, generosity and love for other people? Is the "positive attitude" a new path to faith? Hmmm... I go deeper with my google reasearch and I find a commercial website of Mr Swindoll where his "insights for living" are sold. And here I come across another "insight" in bold letters:
"Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity. Successful men/women act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results." ~ Dupree Jordan
Again - attitude beats capacity. What can I say? That's how you get people not to respect anymore someone else's knowledge and skills, they know they can beat them with the right attitude. That's how you get students to be more interested in showing attitude rather than learning something. That's how you get to create and nurture a crowd of empty souls concerned with the best way of displaying power and success rather than looking inside them for true values and principles.
"The first principle of a warrior is not being afraid of who you are." - Anonymous
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break an organization... a school... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have. And that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...." -Charles Swindoll
I must confess I had no clue who Charles Swindoll was, but the quote made me curious as I still can't accept that attitude is everything and knowledge, education, and other human gifts don't matter on the road to success. What about shy people? Are they doomed to failure because they can't bring themselves to have the right attitude? What about pessimistic people? When did shyness and pessimism become diseases we have to fight against?
So I googled Mr Swindoll to find out more about him and guess what I found: he's an Evangelical Christian, a preacher, a minister, a man speaking the "word of God"! And what does he teach people - that nothing else matters except for a positive attitude. The attitude towards and the obsession with success and money seem to have become our new "religion". Where is that God who was talking about humbleness, generosity and love for other people? Is the "positive attitude" a new path to faith? Hmmm... I go deeper with my google reasearch and I find a commercial website of Mr Swindoll where his "insights for living" are sold. And here I come across another "insight" in bold letters:
"Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity. Successful men/women act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results." ~ Dupree Jordan
Again - attitude beats capacity. What can I say? That's how you get people not to respect anymore someone else's knowledge and skills, they know they can beat them with the right attitude. That's how you get students to be more interested in showing attitude rather than learning something. That's how you get to create and nurture a crowd of empty souls concerned with the best way of displaying power and success rather than looking inside them for true values and principles.
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