what have I been doing
Update:
Late Oct-early Nov I went to Youmacon, a smelly anime convention in Michigan. Dressed as Dr. Steel, handed out a ton of propaganda, met up with some Michigan toy soldiers too. Watched Lemon Demon a million times, blah blah. Met Bulk and Zack from Power Rangers. Pictures are on Facebook.
But really, I had a lot of fun there.
My costume went over very well at Youmacon, but I also entered the "Dr. Steel Clone Competition 2008," and I ended up winning.
The stationery the letter is on is kind of ridiculous. Fancy paper, image of Steel in the background, he wrote with fancy pen, he stamped his own embossed image on it...this guy is insane. He puts so much effort into his character that it's pretty admirable! I would love to be able to be SO committed to something I did for the sake of art and entertainment, while being successful at it.
Also, this week I am officially "soldier of the week," which was actually surprising. It means that I get to have a blurb about me on a website for a week.
What I got out of the costume contest was this: I know I have the ability to make a fairly complicated costume completely by myself. That's a pretty good reward.
So, last night I went out with some toy soldiers to a ~*~GOTH CLUB~*~
Now, I have never been to a goth club, nor do I particularly like goth music, but I was invited by people I like, so I went. They wanted to see some bands play there. Turned out to be really terrible music, and we stayed there pretty late so I got really tired and was falling asleep amidst the loud music and strobe lights. Plus, I only knew a few people there so sometimes it was kind of awkward when they would go to talk to people I didn't know...and I'd be sitting there texting Erik because I didn't know what to do and I couldn't enjoy the music.
Goths are silly. The club reminded me of the anime convention in many, many ways. But at least me and the people I knew could bond over thinking at least one of the bands sucked. A Youtube comment called the lead singer a "sad pineapple." I think that is a very fitting description:
The bands that played seemed rather...egotistical in their performances. All their grand gestures, model-like gothic backup dancers...and one of the guys in a band literally said, "We broke like 3 instruments up here already, yeah, THAT'S HOW HARDCORE WE ARE!" LOOK AT US LOOK AT HOW HARDCORE WE ARE seemed to be the theme of the performances that night. It was so stereotypical. Albums called things like "Beautiful Death" and "Bleed the Grey Sky Black." And all the other music was just typical sounding oontz oontz club music. It was just very bland. It's all directly out of an "Anne Gwish" comic.
But what else did I expect?
I guess the downside of hanging out with people who like Dr. Steel's music is that they they may not all be goths, but they are usually bound to like that kind of music.
I went because hey, it's a new experience, and people invited me to go. But I'll probably never go to any goth club again unless the DJ plays Dr. Steel, or I dunno, something with a similar feel that isn't crap. Last night the DJ that normally does play Dr. Steel was not there. It was kind of a crappy night overall.
I much preferred the time spent before the show. I took the train to Lawrence, and since we had some extra time to kill, we had a homemade falafel dinner, we hung out, and I met someone who I had only seen online before, Private Donut, who turned out to be cool. There's a division meeting next Monday evening. That hopefully will be decent. I think we are going to be talking about some charity type things we'll be doing (maybe adopting a highway?), and talking about a science museum outing that I will not be attending because it's over Thanksgiving weekend. It's interesting that what is firstly a street team for a musician, becomes a group with regular meetings and plans charity events.
You know, I've enjoyed Dr. Steel's music for a few years now, and I gotta say that I'm glad I've started becoming more involved with the Boston soldier division, the forum, and the whole thing. The forum's got its own online TV show that you can submit things to, contests and fun things are going on all the time, people are always sharing their art and crafts they do, etc. And, it's pretty fun to dress up and hand out flyers telling people that Dr. Steel is going to take over the world with industrial music and robots. The whole toy soldier thing has a lot to do with having fun and meeting new people. I think I can excuse the goth club outing from that.
And honestly, I think that my sewing skills are going to improve a lot from all this. I've already got some plans for next year's costume contest...might make a music video to go along with costume(s).
And this March, there is a chance that I miiiiight be seeing Dr. Steel...or at least a ton of soldiers from the west coast.
Another event that I went to recently was Boston's Prop 8 protest, with Natalia, Neil, and Ming. Pictures are also on Facebook. Natalia and I made a sign. Everyone assumes me and Natalia are lesbian lovers. It is kind of hilarious. But it is discriminatory against short haired women!!
There were a ton of people at the protest, and I ran into theatre people I knew. It's unfortunate that there were not as many protests before Prop 8 got passed. I'm sure there were protests, but surely non-Californian states were not protesting as much as they are now. It's still important because things like Prop 8 shouldn't be allowed to happen at all.
But I don't think there's anyone who reads my LJ who thinks disagrees with that sentiment.
Things are wrapping up as only a few more weeks of the semester remain. I'm done with this semester's costume shop work. I told I.A. that I'm going to be quitting.
My Voice + Body Movement class continues to be amazing, though last class' acrobatics left me with a very sore tailbone today. But really, the class is changing my outlook on performance, and it's getting rid of problems I have with auditioning. After this class, I don't think I'm going to have problems with that anymore. This class is exactly what I've been needing for years. Columbia's voice and body movement classes I took fall far, far short of the class I'm taking now. Northeastern's theatre program is such a better program for me. Thank christ.
My philosophy class continues to be a waste of my life and makes me lose faith in humanity.
My writing class continues to be easy as hell, but I still have to write a 2nd draft of an essay about how The Crucible relates to the Patriot Act tomorrow night. Note: I did not write a first draft.
My ASL class continues to be fine, but tomorrow morning I need to wake up early to film a video assignment. The teacher sent an email today saying he had to go to the hospital for a kidney stone, and class was canceled. Best news of the day.
My trombone lessons are going slowly but surely. I suck at the trombone still, but I can play some REAL SONGS now, and I know MUSICAL NOTES.
I've been slightly less antisocial this semester, what with making friends from toy soldiering, friends from my rapeskit group, and living with Natalia. I don't have to stay locked in my room avoiding bitchy roommates anymore, and I can even hang out with people sometimes...wow man.
Argh I only got 2 hours of sleep last night! I need to go to bed now.
P.S. I just got some Mars Volta songs that I should have gotten a long time ago. They're all covers, and they all sound amazing. I could cry at their brilliance.
Late Oct-early Nov I went to Youmacon, a smelly anime convention in Michigan. Dressed as Dr. Steel, handed out a ton of propaganda, met up with some Michigan toy soldiers too. Watched Lemon Demon a million times, blah blah. Met Bulk and Zack from Power Rangers. Pictures are on Facebook.
But really, I had a lot of fun there.
My costume went over very well at Youmacon, but I also entered the "Dr. Steel Clone Competition 2008," and I ended up winning.
The stationery the letter is on is kind of ridiculous. Fancy paper, image of Steel in the background, he wrote with fancy pen, he stamped his own embossed image on it...this guy is insane. He puts so much effort into his character that it's pretty admirable! I would love to be able to be SO committed to something I did for the sake of art and entertainment, while being successful at it.
Also, this week I am officially "soldier of the week," which was actually surprising. It means that I get to have a blurb about me on a website for a week.
What I got out of the costume contest was this: I know I have the ability to make a fairly complicated costume completely by myself. That's a pretty good reward.
So, last night I went out with some toy soldiers to a ~*~GOTH CLUB~*~
Now, I have never been to a goth club, nor do I particularly like goth music, but I was invited by people I like, so I went. They wanted to see some bands play there. Turned out to be really terrible music, and we stayed there pretty late so I got really tired and was falling asleep amidst the loud music and strobe lights. Plus, I only knew a few people there so sometimes it was kind of awkward when they would go to talk to people I didn't know...and I'd be sitting there texting Erik because I didn't know what to do and I couldn't enjoy the music.
Goths are silly. The club reminded me of the anime convention in many, many ways. But at least me and the people I knew could bond over thinking at least one of the bands sucked. A Youtube comment called the lead singer a "sad pineapple." I think that is a very fitting description:
The bands that played seemed rather...egotistical in their performances. All their grand gestures, model-like gothic backup dancers...and one of the guys in a band literally said, "We broke like 3 instruments up here already, yeah, THAT'S HOW HARDCORE WE ARE!" LOOK AT US LOOK AT HOW HARDCORE WE ARE seemed to be the theme of the performances that night. It was so stereotypical. Albums called things like "Beautiful Death" and "Bleed the Grey Sky Black." And all the other music was just typical sounding oontz oontz club music. It was just very bland. It's all directly out of an "Anne Gwish" comic.
But what else did I expect?
I guess the downside of hanging out with people who like Dr. Steel's music is that they they may not all be goths, but they are usually bound to like that kind of music.
I went because hey, it's a new experience, and people invited me to go. But I'll probably never go to any goth club again unless the DJ plays Dr. Steel, or I dunno, something with a similar feel that isn't crap. Last night the DJ that normally does play Dr. Steel was not there. It was kind of a crappy night overall.
I much preferred the time spent before the show. I took the train to Lawrence, and since we had some extra time to kill, we had a homemade falafel dinner, we hung out, and I met someone who I had only seen online before, Private Donut, who turned out to be cool. There's a division meeting next Monday evening. That hopefully will be decent. I think we are going to be talking about some charity type things we'll be doing (maybe adopting a highway?), and talking about a science museum outing that I will not be attending because it's over Thanksgiving weekend. It's interesting that what is firstly a street team for a musician, becomes a group with regular meetings and plans charity events.
You know, I've enjoyed Dr. Steel's music for a few years now, and I gotta say that I'm glad I've started becoming more involved with the Boston soldier division, the forum, and the whole thing. The forum's got its own online TV show that you can submit things to, contests and fun things are going on all the time, people are always sharing their art and crafts they do, etc. And, it's pretty fun to dress up and hand out flyers telling people that Dr. Steel is going to take over the world with industrial music and robots. The whole toy soldier thing has a lot to do with having fun and meeting new people. I think I can excuse the goth club outing from that.
And honestly, I think that my sewing skills are going to improve a lot from all this. I've already got some plans for next year's costume contest...might make a music video to go along with costume(s).
And this March, there is a chance that I miiiiight be seeing Dr. Steel...or at least a ton of soldiers from the west coast.
Another event that I went to recently was Boston's Prop 8 protest, with Natalia, Neil, and Ming. Pictures are also on Facebook. Natalia and I made a sign. Everyone assumes me and Natalia are lesbian lovers. It is kind of hilarious. But it is discriminatory against short haired women!!
There were a ton of people at the protest, and I ran into theatre people I knew. It's unfortunate that there were not as many protests before Prop 8 got passed. I'm sure there were protests, but surely non-Californian states were not protesting as much as they are now. It's still important because things like Prop 8 shouldn't be allowed to happen at all.
But I don't think there's anyone who reads my LJ who thinks disagrees with that sentiment.
Things are wrapping up as only a few more weeks of the semester remain. I'm done with this semester's costume shop work. I told I.A. that I'm going to be quitting.
My Voice + Body Movement class continues to be amazing, though last class' acrobatics left me with a very sore tailbone today. But really, the class is changing my outlook on performance, and it's getting rid of problems I have with auditioning. After this class, I don't think I'm going to have problems with that anymore. This class is exactly what I've been needing for years. Columbia's voice and body movement classes I took fall far, far short of the class I'm taking now. Northeastern's theatre program is such a better program for me. Thank christ.
My philosophy class continues to be a waste of my life and makes me lose faith in humanity.
My writing class continues to be easy as hell, but I still have to write a 2nd draft of an essay about how The Crucible relates to the Patriot Act tomorrow night. Note: I did not write a first draft.
My ASL class continues to be fine, but tomorrow morning I need to wake up early to film a video assignment. The teacher sent an email today saying he had to go to the hospital for a kidney stone, and class was canceled. Best news of the day.
My trombone lessons are going slowly but surely. I suck at the trombone still, but I can play some REAL SONGS now, and I know MUSICAL NOTES.
I've been slightly less antisocial this semester, what with making friends from toy soldiering, friends from my rapeskit group, and living with Natalia. I don't have to stay locked in my room avoiding bitchy roommates anymore, and I can even hang out with people sometimes...wow man.
Argh I only got 2 hours of sleep last night! I need to go to bed now.
P.S. I just got some Mars Volta songs that I should have gotten a long time ago. They're all covers, and they all sound amazing. I could cry at their brilliance.