Mikhail West

My uncle has gone to Russia to direct an operetta! It is called The Duchess Of Chicago and I have no clue what it is about. I admit some trepidation in regards to how exactly this will work out. I mean he is a fantastic director, and I posses the utmost respect for him, but he doesn't speak a word or Russian! I shall await updates on the blog he has made to record this new and exciting experience: Michael Unger Goes to Russia to Direct an Operetta! A bit of a long unwieldy name, but it certainly gets the point across!

What Am I Even Doing?

Spring break is almost at a close and I couldn't actually tell you what I accomplished. I slept. I drew. I cuddled. I spent time with friends. Tonight I hope to be instrumental in getting a troupe back on it's proverbial feet. I suppose that I will not be able to judge just how productive my break was until it is well and truly over.

"We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school."

When I was younger I was severely against Shakespeare. It wasn't that I disliked his writing, it was that I disliked Romeo & Juliet. A play written about two hormonal teenagers, who commit suicide due to a comedy of errors and their own teenage impulse to be completely idiotic. 

Of course, people didn't live so long back then anyway, so I suppose that following impulses did not leave you with as long lasting consequences. Eventually, I was forced to read yet another work by this most odious author. Okay, I thought, Macbeth wasn't so bad, but one decent work does not make a great author... Oh fuck me, I'm in love with Hamlet. Not the character. He's an emo, whiny little prick. The play, however, is one of my absolute favorites. I know that everybody is all up in the "to be or not to be" business, but my personal favorite of the Hamlet soliloquies is this one.


O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on’t! O fie! ’tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead!—nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,—
Let me not think on’t,—Frailty, thy name is woman!—
A little month; or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father’s body
Like Niobe, all tears;—why she, even she,—
O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn’d longer,—married with mine uncle,
My father’s brother; but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month;
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married:— O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good;
But break my heart,—for I must hold my tongue.

-Hamlet (act I, scene II) by William Shakespeare

(5 points for Ravenclaw if you recognized the title quote from play/movie Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard)

3

Okay I have three things to announce and they are all really short so I am lumping them together.


1- A new Doctor Who companion has been chosen! Her name is Jenna Louise Coleman, and she is apparently just as fast a talker as The Doctor himself. Warning: this links to an article that has a spoiler near the bottom.


2- Milwaukee's Summerfest, which bills itself as the world's largest music festival, is now on it's 45th year. To celebrate the occasion, they are selling the 11-Day Power Pass for only $45, saving the buyer $131!! The sale only goes through June 8th so be sure to place your order in advance! Link to the gift card purchase page.


3- Terrance Zdunich and Darren Bousman have released a scene of their newest movie project The Devil's Carnival.  This is our first look at the front of The Devil make up that Terrance wears for the entire project.

Also, just to reminder y'all, the tour comes to Chicago's own Music Box Theater on May 3rd.


BONUS: On set interview with Director Darren Lynn Bousman!

Art Extremism

The shirt that I wore today is an oldie, but it's just so much fun. It's a hand-me-down, I think, but I don't remember from whom or where.

[Will post picture, but just know that it reads ART TERRORIST on the chest]

"Terrorism: the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims."

So it's not that I go around bombing places or harming people "for the sake of art," that seems like a poor life choice, to me.

When I was younger I saw a truly horrifying exhibit. It was a video projected onto a wall of a dog that was curling and whimpering in pain. I started freaking out. How could this woman just sit there and watch this dog suffer as she filmed it, and do nothing to help? My grandmother quickly calmed me by reading out of the brochure that the afflicted dog was actually completely CG (computer generated).

Sometimes to get a point across the artist must shock the audience. That's how I think of art terrorism, bombing peoples brains. Shaking them up. Making them think.

School Pride

I am so in love with my school. I have a lot of issues with the idea of "love" and all that, but if I could feel it for any sort of establishment it would be for this school.

I have found, as of yesterday, that, upon entering my sophomore year, I can declare myself an interdisciplinary student. This means that I would work with my advisor and put together my own curriculum that would cover all of my bases. Theater and Fashion harmoniously combined and rolled up into one neat little package. I can't wait! Next semester I will be completing my freshman year, at the ripe old age of 23. Therefore I will be taking classes that "count" for Fashion, but would work towards Costuming as well, leaving room for Writing & Rhetoric II, and, hopefully, Psychology. Oh, but I didn't leave room for a "fun course"! What? Who needs one? I am just so super excited about my classes, I can't wait! Plus with all the sewing I have to do over the break, this summer is going to just fly by!

Oh! A raven just landed next to the train. Totally random. I am just so excitable after finding this out! Goodness, is this a stream-of-consciousness? Everybody run for the hills! Or I could just stop writing, but it's not like I have too much else to do on the train and I'm not in the habit of censoring my writing too much so I'll probably post this part as well, although that is exceedingly ill-advised. I don't know why. I just don't like to be seen as mentally messy, although I totally am. I am the queen of scatterbrainia.

MEET DEVCARN

HOLY CRAP, YOU GUYS!!

Comes to Chicago on tour the Thursday night of Finals week.... SCREW IT! I already bought my ticket!!

*Does a little dance*

My Little Pony

So I keep hearing all these things about the new My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. I gotta admit it's been a while since I watched My Little Pony. I only remember about about two episodes/movies/whatever. One had to do with weird bee creatures making things overheat and the other had to do with some crazy cat lady who wanted to be young forever. I only ever got to watch these when I was sick and my options were either My Little Pony, Care Bears, or Mr. Nanny. Playing Donkey Kong was also an option, but the boys tended to take over the console and, quiet little thing that I was, I didn't want to take up a game that I was absolutely dreadful at.
In any case, I was more than slightly apprehensive about this new version, seeing as in the old version the males (the "big brother boy ponies"), well, I just remember them as childish, and every coupling wound up with twins and that spawned more ridiculousness. Okay not every couple, but still...

Ow, my ears! And the "adults" aren't any better.

At some point artists started making some more drastically different My Little Pony toys that were generally sold at comic conventions and the like, for fairly obvious reasons:

[Image credit]

The new MLP:FiM is a lot more crazy animated, character wise. Several extreme personalities working together to prove that with the power of friendship, anything is possible. There are also some other morals in there. As with most children's shows, the idea is to teach kids positive lessons and such. There are references to modern day memes (I.E. Derpy Hooves), and it is somehow attractive to the generation who remembers the original MLP. The show has even generated it's own set of fanboys, the Bronies. To each their own, we suppose.
I'll have to actually sit down and attempt to watch it as some point.


I suppose I didn't really have anything to say, I just find the whole thing amusing, in a mostly good way.

How to "Follow" on Blogger

So I've noticed that the page format that I (used to) use for this site does not have a "follow" button. You have to do it from your own home page. It occurs to me that a lot of people just don't know how to do this. So I thought I'd help out.


First you need to be on the site of the person who you want to follow, and you need to copy their URL

Next go to your home screen and click the "Add" button which is located under "Reading List"

Paste the URL that you copied for step one into the space next to "Add from URL" and click "Follow."

IF don't want people to know that you are following this person, you can do that. Before you click follow, you can change the "Following option" to "Follow anonymously"

TA DA! You are now a master follower!

I really do hope that this post will actually be useful to somebody.

"The game's afoot..."

So apparently, this phrase, or a version of it, is used in just about every Sherlock Holms related anything and I never realized that there was more to it. The whole line was actually included when used in the first of the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holms films. The entire quote is:


"The game's afoot: follow you spirit, and upon this charge cry 'God for Harry, England, and St. George!'"


It is part of the speech that starts, "Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more; or close the wall up with our English dead." from Act III of Shakespeare's Henry V
It is an amazingly stirring speech goading the British troops into battle to conquer France. To be honest I have only watched one rendition of the play, and I remember not being overly fond of how distracting it was in that particular version. I shall have to look up another. Although, for all I know, I could simply dislike the play. Reading is always preferable, of course, but the sad statement is that I am so bad at time management that I probably won't do that until summer.


In any case, I am always tickled when authors of fiction make reference to actual works. Especially authors who I admire on either side of the equation.

To or Not To KONY2012

Watch the video FIRST.

Right! Now are you ready to kick some government ass? Are you ready to save those kids? Are you ready to show America what you are made of and paint your town with posters? ARE YOU READY TO SHOWER THIS MOVEMENT WITH MONEY?

STOP.

[Read this article]

Do some research on your own.

[Here is another article] with a bit less of an extreme bias by the author.

This is a tough situation. The truth is that all of the children deserve better, but it's not as easy as wiping out one man. I don't think that the people who have blindly devoted themselves to this project realize that what will happen next. After Kony is taken care of, whoever is running things for him will step up and keep going. The killing, raping, and destruction will continue. It's not just about Kony, or the LRA. Once they are gone, more thugs will move up in the world and take over. You would have to dismantle the entire system and somebody would have to install a new government. Who is that going to be exactly? What gives anyone the right to march into another country and say, "You're doing it wrong. Here, let me."

"That's a naive and sad world view," said Jesse Derris, a spokesman for Invisible Children. "The idea that you should do nothing unless you can do everything is exactly what we're trying to avoid."

Well, Jesse, I agree. How about we help out those kids?

(If you do decide to give money, please look into each organization thoroughly before giving money)

World Vision

Children International

Plan

Children of Uganda

Help For Children In Uganda

Save The Children

Also another article with some helpful links at the bottom Washington Post: How Can We Help

I hate to treat a symptom without finding a cure, but it's not like you can just take Uganda to a doctor and give it a CT Scan and prescribe some antibiotics. 

Something for me to think about for myself

I am at constant war with myself when it comes to school work. My inner (and dominate) perfectionist has very little respect for any time goal that I might set for myself.
This semester I have been trying my best to just turn in what I have. Even if it is utter rubbish. Even if I know that I could do better given more time. I am just trying to make sure that I have a some excuse for a finished product to turn in.
So far I have been doing relatively well at this.
Then I got assigned a group project for Art History.
In general, I am all for creative collaboration and I can do less creative projects if the people involved simply sit down together and hash it out as a group. Doing that may take some time, especially for a research paper, but it can be just, an few hours spread over a couple days, or all in one go and be done with it.
Due to seriously inconvenient timing and the fact that nobody wants to bother with that sort of big intense push, we only had one solid sit down. Tomorrow, Friday, the six of us will arrive at class, each with an essay on a subtopic that fits under the general theme of "Ancient Roman Theatre". We will slam all of out two-page summaries together with magic, glitter, and rainbows (and a staple). Tada! A completely disjointed work. Did I mention that we must give a presentation? We must give a presentation. I severely dislike giving presentations.


And right about NOW is the point when that persnickety little voice inside of my head would like to let me know, out of the kindness of it's wee little heart, that these people will not like me at all if I fail them. These THEATER people who are all farther along in school than I am, will think of me as slow and dim witted and if they remember me past friday, they will always remember how I let them down. How my segment cost them the full project points, and how it was me who fucked them over.
The result being that they will tell their peers that I am incompetent and I will never get a job in my field ever, ever again.
Commence freak out in typical lip-biting, hair-tugging fashion.
When I was in high school, I would generally just whip out some massive bullshit  completely last minute and stutter and blush my way through the presentation portions due to extreme stage fright and nerves.
When I was at UofA this would have been about the part where I run for the hills, call out sick, email in some crappy excuse, or just not show up and not say why at all. Yep, for one full school year, I was that partner. I'm not proud of it. It wasn't that I didn't give a monkey's arse at all, it was that I didn't care enough about where I was going to not fun away from the pressure.


-Minor note to add in: I accidentally extended the essay two more pages and, though hurried and freaking out, managed to give a vaguely informative presentation. Yay me.

Canis Lupus Familia

I think of the people in my life as a sort of pack. Like a wolf pack. Actually, two of them. There is my pack of origin. This pack consists of my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, extended cousins, the whole shebang. 

Then there is my personal pack. These are the people who, over the years, I have found to surround myself with. Within this pack are many variations of closeness. The closest I consider like my "littermates." They are the core group of people in whom I place the most trust and consider close enough to be siblings.

As the count stands now, there are two "brothers" and three "sisters" the closest of which is my best friend who I call my twin, even though she is exactly 367 days older than me.

The Devil's Carny: Terrance Zdunich

Right, so in my entry  No Such Thing As Superman I said "meeting one of my favorite indie-ish actors who is also a comic artist, and I must say, WORTH IT!" and "Terrance Zdunich's patience, persistence, and skewed look at society, which has recently paid off again (I'll put it in a post, I promise)." 

So, as promised, let's talk Terrance.

Terrance is the co-creator and actor of the character Graverobber in relation to the gory rock opera, REPO! The Genetic Opera which just happends to be one of my favorite movies. He is also the mind, and hand, behind the comic series The Molting (which I am, sadly, behind on). Part of why I am so enthralled by Terrance and his work is the creepy and sometimes repugnant view of the world he that he conveys. The world is so imperfect, and surviving in that takes guts, I think. I feel like Terrance's work expresses this view very well.

Terrance and Darren Smith spent about 10 years bringing the idea of REPO! from a single song, to a stage short, to a full length stage opera, and finally to the big screen. Even though Lionsgate almost shut them down, and didn't advertise them at all, they kept pushing forward. With the help of director Darren Lynn Bousman and a terrific crew of actors and staff they managed to successfully unleash the awesome that is REPO! The Genetic Opera upon the world, and gather quite the cult following along the way.


Amongst the REPO! cast are, Sarah Brightman, Anthony Stewart Head, Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvino, Bill Moseley, Nivek Ogre (of Skinny Puppy), and Paris Hilton. The creators themselves, Darren and Terrance also took on roles. Terrance as the enigmatic drug dealing Graverobber, and Darren as the energetic band leader who kicks of the opera within the opera. Plus there is a short guitar cameo by Joan Jett in the the film which threw me into a small fit of suppressed, and surprised, fangirling the first time I saw it.

So now Terrance is working on a new movie project, this time with Bousman and avant-garde violinist and vocalist, Emilie Autumn. I must say that I am super, SUPER excited for the The Devil's Carnival!

Excuse me a moment, I need to fangirl over a particular set of male vocal chords. Even if it's a crap-tastic film, which I am not expecting it to be, I am just so excited to get to hear Terrance sing something new!

Also retuning to the to Terrance's side in the film will be Vega, Moseley, Sorvino, and Ogre along with some new faces: Briana Evigan, Sean Patrick Flanery, Shawn "Clown" Crahan (of Slipknot), and Ivan Moody (of Five Finger Death Punch).


Right. So I am a bit worried at the lack of Darren Smith. From what I can tell, Darren was a key element in the creation of REPO! but is not in this project at all. I know that I should not expect him to be. This project is not related to REPO!, but they are drawing on the REPO! fan-base to promote this movie, so I find it difficult not to draw comparisons between the two.
Apparently it is being said, I don't know by whom, that DevCarn is going to be darker, but more accessible to the masses plot wise.


Hopefully the Chicago REPO! shadowcast, The 90 Day Delinquents, will be able to find a venue to preform at soon. I can't see any of the DevCarn hype hurting the profits of any theater who decides to take them on.