Gettin' My Culture On

I've been getting my culture on lately. I've gone to several performances in the past couple of weeks. It kind of makes my nerd heart happy.

The first was an event my Russian friend invited me to. She's a Russian ballerina who works, at least at one of her jobs, for a non-profit that promotes the arts. Through her work, she got tickets to the Presidential Scholar's performances here, and I went to the dance/film one with her. It's basically a gathering of amazingly talented high school seniors that are up for the President's prize--apparently a very big deal. There were, if I recall, about fifteen dancers and five film makers who showcased their talents that night.

The film makers, for the most part, seemed pretty cool, and the dancers were mostly awesome. There was one kid who choreographed his own piece, and it was spectacular. As he was dancing it with his partner, I knew that something special was taking place. They were perfectly, and I mean EXACTLY, in sync with each other. That kid has amazing talent. If there is a single winner (a point I'm still unclear on), I hope it was him. There were even two tappers! I loved them, of course. The best part was the finale of "Single Ladies." You haven't lived until you've seen "Single Ladies" done in a tutu. Life. Changing. :)

Then that Sunday, I went to see a co-worker, The Aussie, perform in The Taming of the Shrew for Shakespeare in the Park. The performance as at The Barnacle (if you can remember that far back, I went there two Independence days ago). The show was great (and free), and even if the evening didn't go exactly as I planned (I got stood up... awesome), I had a great time with a friend, a bottle of wine, and my love, Willy S.

The performance was interesting, considering the subject matter of the play. At the end, Katarina gives a speech about how women should submit to their husbands and blah, blah, crap, so it's pretty tough for modern audiences to get it, or to relate to it and not hate it. The way it was played in this show was that Katarina was sort of in on the bet at the end--she was saying all that chauvinistic stuff to win the bet, not because she believed it. It made the play go down a little better. And The Aussie was great in the show--she seemed to play an Elizabethan, cartoon, version of herself. It was brilliant. And I loved her GIANT orange wedding hat. That thing was brilliant!

The next day, Monday, I went to the Panthers vs. the Thrashers at the Bank Atlantic Center, which some of you will remember is the site of realized dreams, where I met Donny, Danny, Jordan, Joey, and Jonathan. *sigh* Anyway, I heart hockey, and even though the Panthers are a far cry from my Wingies, it's still hockey. Or something like it. Unfortunately, Tiffany and I missed the only goal of the night because we were in the bathroom (bad decisions, clearly). We did, however, get nachos--the magical sort of "nachos" that are sold at sporting events and movie theaters that are really just chips and "cheese"--so all was well with the world. I was very grateful for another fun, free night of entertainment.

The next night, I went to see Eric and he showed me a magical little treasure of a place called SpecialTEA, a tea house out by FIU's campus. The place was brilliant. I had a decaf grapefruit tea that was DELICIOUS, and the food was good as well. It was great! If I went to FIU, I'd probably move in.

That Friday was Winter Formal, where, of course, I was a chaperon. Despite the dance floor smelling like Caesar dressing and teenagers sweating (you can't imagine how gross it was), the dance seemed to go well and the kids seemed to have a good time. We had to kick them out at midnight (a good sign) and didn't have to stay too late picking up. I didn't even take a picture, although it's sort of a tradition that I do. It really wasn't that exciting, I guess, and I was just happy to bring home a few roses and leave the hotel before 1 am.

The next day (I know, I know. The fun is exhausting, but stick with me!), Tiffany and I went to the South Beach Comedy Festival show called "Friends of the Daily Show." It was three stand-up comics: Rory Albanese, Rob Riggle, and John Oliver. Tiffany won free tickets to the show for recycling electronics on campus (I won a canvas bag and a DVD!), so it was awesome. I've been here three years now and always meant to go to a show for the Comedy Festival, and never managed it. But this year the stars aligned or something and I made it! The show was good, and it was great to see three comics instead of the standard one. All the guys were funny, although the acoustics of our seats were kind of... awkward. And I was sitting next to THE RUDEST people EVER. This one dumb you-know-what kept talking AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS about asinine garbage that had NOTHING to do with the show. AND she was on her cell phone CONSTANTLY. I just want to meet that girl's mother and slap her. And then slap her daughter. Luckily, they left after two comics.

The last guy, John Oliver, is British so I had a bit of a hard time understanding what he was saying, due to a thick accent coupled with the aforementioned awkward acoustics. I'm pretty sure he was funny though. A good laugh is always a welcome friend. :)

Then last Sunday were my last two culturally enriching events. My friend The Russian was performing in a show called "The Steadfast Tin Solider" at a children's theater here. She played The Ballerina (Remember I mentioned she is one?) and so we went to see her show. She did a great job (duh) and it was a cool show, definitely for kids, but a cool show. Although the mimey emo puppet guy was kind of creepy... Anyway, the best part was when she came to the side of the stage trying to look all somber, and then saw us and started smiling. :) It was cute.

After the show, we went to RA for some eats and drinks, but I couldn't stay too long because I promised a friend I'd go see his band, which turns out to be awesome, play. They played at a "Battle of the Bands" show at a pub called Churchill's, which I fell in love with immediately. It's this crappy little dive of a place, and apparently where Marilyn Manson played his first show ever. It's sort of historic for punk music, I guess.

So anyway, I headed out there with a friend and watched The Albany (this is me starting the buzz...) rock out. Turns out, they're great. I totally dug their stuff... Now if they'd only play on less school nights I could maybe become, like, a groupie or something. lol

I've had an amazing last week or so. I love being busy, and it's great that we had midterms all week and I don't have any grading at the moment because things are just getting started again. I need to take advantage of it!

See you all soon.
Much love.