Writing

 

I am your typical non-committal and nonplussed twenty-something they’ve been devoting so much attention to in the press lately.

The Millennials who just can’t get their shit together.

The person with debt. The person who rents. The person who has short-lasting relationships. The person who woke up one morning and realized that the career she is in, the career she went to college for, the field she is supposed to love and stick with for the rest of her life, just doesn’t mean anything to her anymore. The person who dreams big but paralyzed about the amount of options. The person who is afraid to commit to a person or a job out of fear of what else she is missing. The person who lives a lifestyle where she can pack up and go at any minute if she’s feeling too constricted.

But constricted by what?

Having so much press devoted to our generation helps us to realize we are not alone in our constant state of wonder and confusion. However, how disappointing is it to read that our generation- (more…)

Returning to B-List Actor Thursday (though technically the actor below is A-list…Lord knows why)

Nicolas Cage is a bad actor.
There is no way around that.
Or as one friend puts it, “Nicolas Cage is the idiot savant of acting”.

Sometimes it’s painful to watch Nicolas Cage.
Sometimes you feel uncomfortable for him. Embarrassed. Angry. Horny.

Sometimes you find yourself pant-less staring at pictures of Nicolas Cage with no shirt on and bad hair plugs and….

Nicolas Cage is such a bad actor that when I tried discussing this fact with my father, he felt that Nicolas Cage is bad enough not to warrant a discussion about how bad he is.

“But hear me out, Pop. Nicolas Cage is so bad that he’s good. When he plays serious roles, he can’t do it. But when he plays over-the-top characters- he’s f’ing James Dean or Brando! You following me?”

“Sure,” my father said in the same tone he indulged me in as a child when I talked incessantly in the same manner about Paul Reubens and Crispin Glover.

Let’s think about (more…)

For whatever reason, when I dress up- for Halloween or not-Halloween- I like to either go as 1.) a man or 2.) a woman who dresses like a man or 3.) a crazy old woman. Dressing as someone from my own gender or my own generation just doesn’t seem like an option.

I’ve been this way ever since I was a little girl. I’m not sure what it means, but I have a feeling Freud would have a few theories on it.

So, if you’re one of those girls who likes donning a mustache and tie from time-to-time, here are some Halloween ideas to fill that itch.

This year I will be going as two of these costumes combined- Frida Mercury.

For a lot of these outfits, I would tell you to start by looking at the thrift store, but for purposes of the blog, I will share online purchases I have found.

While researching for an essay about my extreme attraction to Gene Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, I came across tremendous tattoos of him in various poses of yelling and screaming. This got me Googling tattoos of other films and characters that I adore and I was struck at the extreme dedication of some fans and the impressive talent of so many tattoo artists.

Occasionally when I’m feeling uninspired, I will peruse my drafted posts to see if there is anything worthwhile that I had abandoned. Sometimes, by giving the subject matter time, I end up writing my favorite pieces by doing this.

You’ve been in a threesome before.

It wasn’t that time in high school you got drunk of off 40s with a waitress from Crackle Barrel and her boyfriend out behind the 7-Eleven. Or that night at the bar you mistook two middle-aged men from Bulgaria as two thirds of the Jonas Brothers.

The threesome I’m talking about is you, your partner, and technology.

The gigantic fat and smelly 1200 pound gorilla flingin’ his poop across the room.

It is impossible in this day and age to not have technology and social media dictate at least some fraction of young peoples’ romantic and sexual relationships. Every day we are reminded of the role it plays in our lives. From the positive- Twitter flirting, the changing of the Facebook relationship status, iPhone app or Google map wedding proposals, to the negative- flame wars, stalking, kids killing themselves over leaked sexting or videos.

For bad or for good, technology is here to stay, so it’s probably best that we learn how to offer it a beverage, stroke its hair, (more…)

Ever since I discovered Marfa, Texas almost two years ago, I’d been dying to visit it. About once a month I’d get an itch to finally go, make an announcement to everyone that I’m going, am reminded that it’s an eight hour trek from Austin to Marfa, still announce that I’m going, wake up the next morning thinking about driving in a car for eight hours only to drive back the next day for another eight hours, and go back to sleep.

Finally after two years of this repetitive behavior, I finally made it to my beloved Marfa.

It was everything I hoped for and more.

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If you live in Austin, Texas, you know what Marfa is. It’s kind of like the Palm Springs to Los Angeles or the Coney Island to New York City.

Actually it’s none of those places at all.

If you live outside of Texas, you may have heard of Marfa because of the famous films shot there, Prada Marfa, The Chinati Foundation, The Marfa Film Festival, or The Marfa Mystery Lights.

Maybe you’ve never heard of (more…)

We’ve all been complaining about the lackluster line-up at this year’s Austin City Limits festival, but one band that is still wowing audiences with their impressive record debut, is the Los Angeles’ band Local Natives. Hopefully if you’re at ACL today, you will check out Local Natives at 4:45PM on the Austin Ventures Stage. Not only will their freshman album, Gorilla Manor, knock your socks off but their live performances are just as capitivating.

It is difficult to describe Local Natives’ music. It would be just as easy to say, “Oh, it sounds like dreamy rock music”, but it’s so much more than that. Every single song instantly takes you to someplace in your head. Someplace you’re nostalgic for. Someplace long ago. Every song paints an etheral landscape that you just can’t wait to travel down. It would be fair to say that they are an inspiring band, one that reminds you of the wonderful talent that exists in the world. I have no doubt that they won’t become one of the biggest bands next (more…)