Hedda Gabler is a Hiptix win

Third one's the charm! Hiptix finally paid off big with Hedda Gabler. Jesse and I decided that if had only had Dangerous Liaison's nudity and Pal Joey's music and set, it would have been the best! The play definitely had an infinitely superior caliber of writing and acting to the others. Mary Louise Parker was absolutely riveting. It was one of those moments where I was like, oh, that's what they mean when they say "presence" because she absolutely commanded the stage and had the entire audience wrapped around her little finger. The character was nicely complex- nasty, mean, sharply witty, vulnerable, trapped, still vindictive, and deliciously over the top. If you are going to see a drama, there better be some drama right?!

It got a terrible, scathing review in the Times- a very Hedda reaction. So apparently I don't have good taste, but the NYT can't convince me that I didn't have a good time, because I certainly did! :)

The Wrestler

The Wrestler is a very vivid, visceral film. Plot wise, it follows the Rockyesque rise and fall so common to American mythology. The muscled screwup with a heart of gold who just wants to make good once again. The American dream- so unattainable, so powerful.

The movie starts out following Rourke (Randy the Ram), a has-been wrestler. But it makes its initial impression through the shaky hand held camera, the grainy film and the avoidance of Rourke's clay like broken down face. The camera follows behind him or over his shoulder, so that the viewer doesn't have to look straight in the face of destruction. I could barely watch parts of this movie. The wrestling matches were deliberately violent and almost gross- like they wanted the viewer to cower and cover their eyes. Or maybe that's just me- I'm not a fan of watching someone get hit with two by fours or sheets of glass. Rourke had this struggling breath and moved with such plodding pain. I left the theater feeling constricted, tight.

The gender relations of the film were alternately cliched and moving, due only to the caliber of actors picked to play these stale parts. Marisa Tomei managed to breath some life into the character of the fading, tired old stripper, the Mary Magdalene to Rachel Evan Wood's Virgin daughter. In the end, the Ram fails his daughter once again and the stripper's support isn't enough to convince him to give up the glittery, spandex sporting glory of wrestling for a "real" life. There are some interesting parallels to be drawn between the stripper on the stage dancing around the pole and the wrestler in the wring parading his steroid induced muscles for the same audience of boisterous male voyeurs. Both characters were debating how long they could sell their bodies and what it cost them. And don't get me started on the comparisons between Jesus and Randy the Ram. Ay caramba!

a plane went down, saw it through the window...

the american airlines plane went by our window at work, 33 & 10th. scary. But now apparently it's the miracle on the Hudson! everyone is all right :)

A night of Star

Last night I went to see Maria Semple and Darren Star speak at the Strand. Maria was promoting her new book This One is Mine, which honestly didn't sound that appealing- maybe because she wrote it as her finger to the television industry. She said she could write sympathetic characters in her sleep and wanted to write some really rotten, unlikable, flawed characters. So that was the deviation from the way that all villains have to be redeemed. She also said she wrote the book in television like scenes because that was the way she was used to writing. An interesting contradiction between the plot and format of one genre versus the other. In person, she looked sort of like a television writer might look- a big colorful chunky necklace, glasses, stylish enough to pass in trendy places like LA and NYC, a bit fluttery but also very sharp.

Darren Star was there also, acting almost ashamed that he was a mere television writer in the presence of a Novelist. Although I firmly believe that a majority of the audience was there to see the beloved creator of Beverly Hills 90210 and Sex & the City. They had an interesting discussion about how they interact as writers with the way the public perceives their work. Darren said he tries not to think about the public at all. That when a show is in production there is no time to breath, it's all the next episode, what will be the next episode??? Maria said she had no idea how people were taking Arrested Development until someone told her they loved a certain episode. Darren seemed a bit envious that Maria could write a novel- to sit down and pour something like that out (which I can understand because it seems like a daunting task). He said he doesn't believe you should write until you have a story to tell and he's taking a break right now because he has run out stories.

All in all, it was like opening the production room and seeing the real people behind these fantastic created worlds. And really, it's just a bunch of cool literary nerds battling the Network and the actors who won't say their lines. But it also made me see that writing is a hard job that probably involves a heck of a lot of talent balanced with a heck of a lot of discipline. And since I don't have an overwhelming amount of either of those, I probably wouldn't make it in the cutthroat world of tv writing. However, if someone gave me a job writing on an already established show like Scrubs or 30 Rock I know I would do a great job. I'm just better at working within an already defined formula. That would be fun! Now who do I have to sleep with to make that happen...

HGTV is do-it-yourself (as long as the bedroom is well decorated)

So I've been watching a lot of HGTV because I have a brand spanking new apartment and want to make it pretty. And HGTV normalizes homosexuality- a gay couple is treated exactly the same as a straight one. Right now I'm watching a forty something male couple touring condos. Our media culture is still weird about different sexualities. Representations of Lesbianism have run the gamit from the flashy L-Word to the aborted relationship on Grey's Anatmoy to House, where 13 had a one night stand with a woman. Most of these representations are characarized by a hypersexuality (Grey's on the lower end). Gay men are harder to find and appear more in reality, homemaking or makeover shoes. Who knows why- there are tons of theories one can make. Did Queer Eye feminize and desexualize homosexual men by focusing it on heterosexuality? Ay yay yay. For now it's just interesting to note the domestic treatement HGTV gives to queer couples with no questions asked.

new york snob syndrome

It's hit me once again- new york snob syndrome. I can't decide whether to go see Sex and the City and Beverley Hills 90210 writer/producer Darren Star speak at the Strand Bookstore or attend a free screening of Toni Collete's new Showtime series The United States of Tara. They are both on the same day, same time, totally free! What's a girl to do? Last month I had the same problem- three New Year's Eve parties to attend and I could only get to two! Ay yay yay.

Meeting Annie Liebowitz

This is a long delayed post because it was a Christmas secret: I gave AL's signed book to my Mom. :) I went to Barnes & Nobles for another of their author events (the previous one was Mario Batali). The place was crammed. I ended up in the secondary line waiting nearly three hours to get Annie to sign my book. I tried to listen to her presentation but I was far away and she spoke like an artist- under the breath, anecdotal, a bit shy. My line inched slowly forward. The best moment was when a man offered up his camera to Annie and asked her to take a picture of him with it. She grabbed the camera like it was her cocaine and snapped rapidly around the room, turning it upside down and going in a 360 arc, taking pictures of everyone and everything. The B&N wranglers had to coax her to give the camera back and she did reluctantly, telling everyone in line that she had very much needed that break. It was a cool moment. Next up: Darren Star at the Strand!