12.24.2010

Black Swan - The SSL Review



I got to see a sneak peak here in Indy of Black Swan, and it is my super duper pleasure to do a little SSL reviewing of it. I'm just gonna say that this is a really well done movie. In fact, I think it is one of the rare movies that is exactly as I think it should be. I guess though I have to qualify that statement because although I really enjoyed it and I think it is a really high quality piece, I think that it could simply not be your taste. It's not really an easy going, something for everybody flick. It's focused and stylized, and I can certainly see people not being into the path the movie takes or the style it used to get there. I dug the hell out of it though. When I say I felt it was exactly as it should be, I mean that I don't have any complaints. I didn't leave thinking "that was really entertaining, but I wish that side character wasn't so stock"...or "Why did they throw that love story in? It was so overdone and made the movie drag"....etc. I'm not saying it was the best movie ever. It wasn't as funny as Harold and Kumar or the gut wrenching roller coaster of human emotion that is Jackass. It was, you might say, the best movie it could have been.

A vague review, yes, but it's the holidays. I'm busy, and I decided not to spend too much time on this post. Plus I think it will be more fun if you go in without a clear expectation as to what this movie is. However, If you want to be fully prepared for what to expect, I suggest you check out the 2nd installment of the Spanish director Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy, Carmen. Honestly, it's been 12 years since I saw that movie in my Spanish Cinema class, so I can't be sure how good it is, but watching Black Swan definitely made me think of this movie. They have practically the same concept, and from what I remember, the stylization is similar too.

Okay done with the general review, now for the good part...the SSL review. There were 3 scenes

12.12.2010

SSL Play Review? Don We Now our Gay Apparel



Well who knew I'd SSL Review a play, and more importantly, who knew anyone actually read my blog and would ask me to do so? Being that I was excited for a new blogging endeavor, and that our own Science Sex and the Ladies actor Dave Charles was cast in this play, I decided to check out Don We Now Our Gay Apparel at Indy's own Theatre on the Square. You too can check it out thru December 18th. (P.S. I love that you can take the beer, wine, and snacks from concessions into the play with you at this theatre.)

If you love sparkly things, 3 saucy singing drag queens ( from Orient Bar), and raunchy Christmas humor, then this is the show to see (if you don't - then go check out Handel's Messiah at Clowes Hall for your Christmas entertainment instead). Charlie and I both thoroughly enjoyed the show, and on a side note, were impressed at the up to the minute jokes. For instance, the Glee parody referenced the recent revelation that Rachel cheated on Finn - OMG. The Glee parody was pretty dead on in a lot of ways, and if you watch Glee, you gotta love that part. My only problem was that for about 5 minutes I thought the person playing Sue Sylvester, the abrasive cheer coach, was supposed to be Sam Evans, the pretty little blond boy. This reminded me of an article I read in Bitch Magazine about the Justin Bieber haircut also being a lesbian hair icon. Without the obvious difference in height - a Sue Sylvester wig looks too much like a Justin Bieber-ish teenage boy - that's all I'm sayin.

Here are a few of my favorite whacky-ass highlights that I'd like to point out.

12.02.2010

Giving Thanks for giving me love of 3 words: SCIENCE, SEX, and LADIES



 I know it's a touch past Thanksgiving, but is it ever too late to throw out a little thanks? No way Jose. So, I'm just gonna take a minute to reflect on something I'm thankful for (in relation to this movie of course):
My Parents!
How to put this....I can attribute each of the keywords in this movie to a parent. "But Trisha," you say, "you only have 2  parents, happily married for over 35 years, and there are 3 keyword - Science, Sex and Ladies!!!???" So true, but what you didn't know was that my BFF Leslie has a mother, and me and Leslie always used to say we were switched at birth because of certain characteristics we shared with eachother's mothers. So,

SCIENCE - This one's for you dad. You were always a curious dude yourself, and you instilled that in me too. Anybody can watch science shows with their kids, or take long walks with 'em, but dad, you have panache. We didn't just watch science shows together, we ooo-ed and ahh-ed at the incredible secrets people have uncovered about the way the world worked. You made me feel like knowledge and investigation was powerful and incredibly interesting. In fact we'd take the ooo-ing and ahh-ing straight to the streets. We'd just be walking in an old neighborhood with tiny boxy houses or a hardly wooded baseball park, but man we'd be wonderin' about things. Why would people have made that that way? Why'd that bird put its nest on the ground? How do those get made? It was just a lot of fun to ponder things and try to come up with answers - and that's really all science is- just being curious about something, making some educated guesses and investigating it in a structured logical way.
Honorable Mention: Mom - She got a degree in Human Service and Child Development when I was 8 and would sometimes have conversations with me that included her knowledge of early childhood development - like when and how children are able to learn certain things, how they can be stunted, and what they need to progress properly. That was always really interesting to me, and I think it gave me a useful perspective as I first began looking into scientific research about gender differences.

SEX - I know it seems weird, but Mom, this ones for you.  I say this because my mom's attitude and actions made me a person who was comfortable and interested in thinking about and talking about sexuality. There are a few factors here.