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--Will there be a Nancy Kerrigan movie? Will anyone care?
--The other day at the gym I heard the Isley Brothers’ Fight the Power and thought: Is this the best funk song ever? --Chaka Kahn’s is one of my favorite voices. --I also love Boz Scaggs. --Remember years back when Mary J. Blige came out at the Grammys in that gold dress? --I can't remember the last time I watched the Grammys. --I used to be so snobby about Whitney Houston (that’s not soul music!) and now I pretty much love her. --Why do so many women’s TV shows rely on an ensemble of 4? (Golden Girls, Girls, Sex in the City, Hot in Philly.) --I like the idea that de Kooning’s later paintings were made and/or finished by his wife, Elaine de Kooning. --Did Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner paint together? --I saw Iman in our small local market once—she had bed head. --I once ran into Uma Thurman at a gas station on the Palisades parkway; she was taller than me. --Last fall, I stood with Susan Sarandon at MoMA, looking at a Louise Bourgoise sculpture. We chatted briefly, but I resisted telling her she saved my life once at a traffic light in the East Village. --My husband saw Beyonce at ABC Carpet and Home one Christmas Eve, plopped down on an Indonesian bench, surrounded by dozens of shopping bags, while her mother negotiated with a salesperson. --This may be limiting, but Angela Bassett should always play queens. --I loved Black Panther, now wouldn’t it be great if there were a movie just about all of those women? --Susan Somers refers to herself as an entrepreneur. --I am out of the loop on Young People’s Music. --I adore Janelle Monae. --I have made one Snapchat post. --I bought a cd from a musician whose work I didn’t know and it’s completely wonderful.* --I think I want more people to paint their houses in bright colors but then, when I see a brightly colored house, it often looks wrong. --Reading The Color Purple changed my life when I was 17. --Is Steven Spielberg a good director? --I really want Meryl Streep to take more risks. --I regularly create potential new drag personae. My latest is: Divinity Fudge. *Alexander Turnquist
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Why do people not finish things? So many reasons.
Too busy. Distracted. Embarrassed. Ashamed. What I am making is no good. It's too late. (That's a biggie.) I haven't looked at it in too long. It's a dumb idea. Who cares what I think? What do I have to say? Does the world really need another [fill in the blank.] I just had another weekend workshop, this time in Kingston, NY--first time teaching at Sari' Bottons' Kingston Writer's Studio. Really great group of people, wonderful writers. I am lucky in that I get really great people in my workshops. Anyway, over and over this idea comes up: I can't finish! It wears many guises (see above.) BUT, it all boils down to not being able to show up for ourselves and our creative work. Look, there are so many reasons to not finish, hell, there are millions of reasons to not even start. BUT, here's the thing: there are TONS of reasons to begin, to endure and to see something through. Most of those involve focusing on our own needs and dreams and wants. This is why it's so hard to finish. The world demands our attention. It wants us to be nice. To play along. To say YES to things we may not really want to do but we feel obligated. We get told we shouldn't say certain things or want certain things. But, inside of each of us is another voice, perhaps quieter, saying DO IT, MAKE IT, RISK IT. It whispers over and over again, do the thing you want to do with your life. NO MATTER WHAT. It doesn't matter what becomes of it, or what people think of it-=-what matters is that you do it. No one else can. And, really do it--meaning, finish it. Random, perhaps embarrassing, insights, updates and opinions relating mostly to popular culture:2/16/2018 --This morning, during meditation, RuPaul appeared to me.
--I propose a five-year, national moratorium on all productions of Shakespeare. --Call Me By Your Name is a really good gay movie for straight people. --Disco is the most underappreciated popular art form of the 20th century. --I believe that disdain for disco has roots in homophobia and misogyny. --Remember when Meg Ryan was America’s Sweetheart? --America’s newest sweetheart is Adam Rippon; will he make decisions in several years that will cause him to disappear from public life? --I have never seen a Star Wars movie. --I am always surprised when people say that they re-watched a movie or re-read a book over and over again. --Tangerine is one of my favorite movies of the recent past. --Do Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush keep in touch, maybe meet for coffee? --While watching Project Runway Allstars, I can’t stop wondering how much Georgina Chapman knew and when. --I enjoyed the heavy male gaze of the Blade Runner reboot. --The last scene of LadyBird ruined it for me. --The PR around I, Tonya doesn’t capture the incredible tonal achievement of the film. --Having grown up in a non-soda home, I struggle to fully understand that fruit juice is bad for me. --One of the most intimate relationships of my life is with my iPhone. --James Baldwin is one of my heroes and I worry that he might not respect me. --I’d like to have tea in Paris with Kristin Scott Thomas. --The novel I’m reading right now details a person’s bodily functions, smells and quirks, and I am reminded that I’m a bit of a prude. --Sometimes I think that I read too fast. --I highly recommend a Julie Christie film festival: pick any five of her films, watch them, be satisfied. Random, perhaps embarrassing, insights, updates and opinions relating mostly to popular culture:2/15/2018 Random, perhaps embarrassing, insights, updates and opinions relating mostly to popular culture:
—The Deepak/Oprah meditations are bringing me unexpected peace. —Phantom Thread was dumb. —Juana Molina’s music is giving me LIFE right now. —I’m obsessed with a Coldplay song. —Just completed Whole 30 and it might become Whole 365. —Life without sugar cravings is a wonderful thing. —The way that RuPaul’s AllStars works really bugs me. —Shape of Water was sublime except for several moments of extreme violence. —Excited to see Black Panther tonight. —Roxane Gay scares me and I might want to be her friend. —Junot Diaz writes beautifully. —I’ve been wondering if I should wear more jewelry. —I really need to see the Hockney show at the Met. I realize I don’t want him to die. —Never a Billy Joel fan, I wonder how his supporters defend Uptown Girl (was playing in the supermarket yesterday, ugh.) —Who is Bruce Springsteen’s understudy? —Wouldn’t it be great if Bette Midler understudied Bruce Springsteen? Altho maybe not for the Bruce fans. —The clerk at our local CVS just now reminded me of Kevin Spacey and I wondered what he might be up to now, and I thought: well, maybe he just found himself a job at a drugstore in some small town somewhere. —I miss Madonna. |
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