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Minister of The Je-Ne-Sais-Quoi In Yr Heart.
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[Aug. 21st, 2008|03:14 pm] |
I'm arriving in Chicago tomorrow & will be there for a whole week.
Chicago is special for many reasons: it is the city where Batman was filmed and the twin of Gotham, a breeding ground for the newest wave of garage rock bands, has something like five intermedia/cyber/virtual reality type Grad School programs that i might one day apply to, according to Wikipedia is the "birthplace of house music", and uh, the home of The Opera Winfrey Show, and its also where Meghan grew up.
I'll get to reunite with Meghan and Russ, see the Museum of Outsider Art, hopefully run around lots of thrift clothing and book stores, eat yummy food, go to the zoo w/ Meghan's little sister, stay in a luv nest hotel with neon green sheets, go swimming at the beach, and maybe get to meet some internet friends like "Vogdoid" and "Murdermystery" [HI!]
What else should I do while there? this is going to be such a great cap to my Summer. |
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| wish fulfillment |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|03:35 pm] |
Esther: its so crazy to me when people are able to move faster than i can even perceive their movement. i feel like that would never ever be even a feasible possibility for my body -- its amazing. its like watching someone pull a rabbit out of a hat
elkse: yes. our breed possess l33t ninja skillzor. i also can move that fast but unfortunately lack his strength and finesse. but i'll get there someday.
Esther: i just wish i was catwoman most of the time
elkse: most of the time? be honest esther.
Esther: in some alternate universe in my mind i am wicked fast and flexible, to the point where the reality of my bodily limitations is kind of confounding
i guess the other half of the time i wish i was a sexy master physicist
or a biologist. like poison ivy.
elkse: hmm. interesting. what a fascinating mind you must have.
Esther: i have the fascinating mind of a 10 yr old boy
elkse: i think you really mean "most of the time since i watched batman with matt"
--
i can't seem to commit to putting any substantial amount of myself, either intellectually or emotionally, into this journal--and while admittedly i know that thats due to a certain lack of courage on my part, i'm not sure if thats something i need to change, at least not in a public forum. i don't think i can even conceive of putting 'myself' out there in a public way that doesn't seem wholly constructed, or fraudulent, which is why i like how my journal eventually seems to evolve into a kind of garbage dump, where a persona might emerge organically out of seemingly disconnected threads, pieces, fragments-- where reading 'about' someone becomes the equivalent of rifling through a stranger's dumpster. |
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| TONIGHT |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|05:17 pm] |
DJ set or alternate soundtrack to the movie Legends!? |
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[Jul. 15th, 2008|10:33 pm] |
you guys are srsly the best, thanks so much for all the kind words & condolences!
updates:
Matthew recently hosted a lab.synthèse screening of 'Return to Oz' Monday night, opening with Suzan Pitt's 'Asparagus' short, and it was a smashing success drawing the largest crowd yet & with a packed house (they had to go hunting for extra seats!). the great thing about watching it in a room full of young 20-somethings was their sense of heightened alertness to every creepily pedophilic-homoerotic moment (often followed w/ uproarious laughter), such as the Gnome King 'revealing' his ruby slippers with an erotic ankle twist from under his stone robe, kind of like a creepy uncle exposing himself secretly under the dinner table.
WELL PERHAPS YOU WOULD PREFER TO SEE MY FIERY FURNACE!!?
Suzan Pitt's 'Asparagus'
also, Matt & i are DJing this Thursday @ local St. Henri watering hole punk/garage dive bar Black Jack's for their Time's Up! series, under the monikers DJ Glad To Be Here and DJ Thanks For Having Me.
our setlist is expected to include gems by the following:
cromagnon / peloquin savageau / les poppys / hawkwind / bruce haack / snakefinger / funkadelic / the catholic boys / black pus / tuxedomoon / the seeds / undisputed truth / united states of america / jorge ben / erkin koray / the monks / baby huey & the babysitters / alice cooper & donovan / andre williams / fela kuti / black hole / peter grundzien / chico buarque / M.O.T.O / family fodder / ninove / von sudenfed / the exciters/ nomeansno / akitsa / sarolta zalatnay / drop the lime / friar tuck / exuma / coachwhips / michael yonkers with the blind shake / fad gadget / coven / honeymoon killers / little howlin' wolf / les baxter / mayo thompson & more ...!
& all my hair has been lopped off and people keep telling me i look like Liza Minelli.
AND AND AND. ALSO ALSO ALSO.
i'm going to visit Chicago w/ Russ and Meghan around August 21st to 28th, and its going to be amazing & fantastic, and if you live in the area you should msg me so we can hang out and you can help me peel back the many layers of the city to get to Chicago's gooey centre. |
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| in memory of a fantastic grandfather |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|06:25 pm] |
ROTTER, Julian (Julek) - (February 12, 1912- July 8, 2008). Born in Lvov, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Julian Rotter lived through two world wars. His formal education came to an end early, as he left school at about 12 years of age to help support his impoverished family. He became involved in radical politics as a young teenager, and throughout his life remained committed to the struggle for social justice. When the second world war broke out in September 1939, Julian enlisted in the Polish Cavalry in their brief, ill-fated struggle against Hitler. Later that year, while working to organize a factory union, he met and fell in love with the late Natalie Strawczynski Rotter, who had fled Nazi- occupied Poland in autumn 1939. They married in Lvov on December 10, 1940, the day that the Soviets declared war on Hitler. Julian then joined up with the Red Army to fight the Nazis. At the end of World War II, Julian returned to Lvov, but was devastated to find that he was the only survivor in his entire immediate and extended family. He immigrated to Montreal with his wife Natalie, and baby Frederika, to join Natalie's late brothers (Zygmunt and Oscar Strawczynski) and their families. His younger daughter Pearl ("Pep") was born in Montreal. Julian will be remembered as a hard-working, devoted, loving husband, father, uncle and friend who fought intensely for all he believed in, worked tirelessly to provide for his family, and refused to accept defeat whenever he saw any injustice. He was shattered by the death of his beloved wife of sixty years in 2001. He is survived by their two daughters; Frederika and her husband, Philip Berger; and Pearl and her husband, Evan Splett; three adoring grandchildren, Pia and Joey Berger and Esther Splett; and numerous loving nieces, nephews, great nieces and great-nephews.
[thanks so much for the kind words yesterday] |
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[Jun. 28th, 2008|04:57 pm] |
lies Matt has told me recently:
curtis mayfield's 'we the people who are darker than blue' was written for The Smurfs.
americans never use the word croissant, and instead commonly refer to croissants as 'flaky bread'. |
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[Jun. 13th, 2008|11:58 am] |
Here are some generic couple photos of me & the hubby to prove he exists for the skeptics out there:
I've taken him out from the boarded up sun room in order to bite him.
He is a little emotionally stunted, but luckily he has me to take care of him.
About to go back into the boarded up room; he doesn't much like it in there.
( OK now here are some pictures of cute girls to balance things out!! )
...and in other exciting news, one of my best friends in the world is currently sleeping in my apartment while I write this at work, and in an hour or so I get to go home and visit with her. |
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| All Girl Summer Fun Fest! |
[Jun. 10th, 2008|03:27 pm] |
I am creaming my pants w/ girlish delight over this! also if you live in Montreal & don't cum to this, then you don't love me hard enough. |
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[May. 27th, 2008|01:09 pm] |
The Very True Story of Etrue Hollywood
This work encompasses two parts: a video and a performance based “interview” with the “star” of the video documentary.
The video: A documentary-based “insider’s” pass into the everyday workings of a celebrity star known as “Etrue Hollywood.” This video will mimic reality exposes of celebrities except Etrue Hollywood will constantly be wearing a mask and interact in a seemingly ultra-banal manner within the context of Montreal’s “hipster” youth culture scene. The handheld camera will follow Etrue Hollywood throughout her daily life with references to Kenneth Anger’s Hollwood Babylon, Hit Reality TV programming and other iconographic representations of “celebrity” and “authentic” “underground culture.”
The interview: The interview will be modeled after talkshow, press engagement (i.e. Musiqueplus, etalk, Entertainment Tonight). Initially, this interview starring Etrue Hollywood and Ali Knox (Interviewer) will seamlessly model typical entertainment interviews but gradually break down to become increasingly personal, disturbing, disjointed and confusing. This will be made possible through the use of anti-humor, less than successful mimicry, "non sequitous" question-answer structure and making reference to the implicit power structures that inform Etrue Hollywood’s fame.
Interviewer Ali Knox will also appear as various characters within the video calling her own identity into question as well as the vacuous masked identity of Etrue Hollywood.
During the course of her questioning, it will become apparent to the “studio audience” that Ali Knox must be an active participant as opposed to an objective “outsider” interviewer one would suppose her to be. However, Knox’s relationship to Etrue Hollywood remains obscured and unknown throughout the piece.
Objectives: This piece directly refers to Guy Debord’s definition of “celebrity” within his work Society of the Spectacle:
“The agent of the spectacle placed on stage as a star is the opposite of the individual, the enemy of the individual in himself as well as in others. Passing into the spectacle as a model for identification. the agent renounces all autonomous qualities in order to identify himself with the general law of obedience to the course of things. The consumption celebrity superficially represents different types of personality and shows each of these types having equal access to the totality of consumption and finding similar happiness there” (Debord, 61).
Building on this concept, both the video and the interview seek to explore the ways in which our media saturated society forces any expression of identity into the realm of the public (i.e. media, blogs, autobiography, facebook, text messaging, reality TV, webcasts, celebrity culture). The display (i.e. consumption) of identity is the only way we can access it and even conceive of it. Privacy is synonymous with non-existence.
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Arcus Ajna
We propose a two-song performance that explores images of exaggerated femininity and issues of power in performance - in this case, in musical performance. One of the songs is an original piece of semi-improvised music (based on previous practiced work) with harmonized cello drones & melody, structured keyboard/synthesizer 'sounds of the universe', and vocals. Parts of it will be soft and melodic, parts of it will be loud and balance on the edge of feedback - sometimes it will be all parts at the same time. The second song looks at the same themes, but through the mystical lens of Enya's song "Only Time," which will play softly behind our voices and instruments as an echo (or maybe we're the echo.) Vocals will move in and out of key, with some exaggerated operatic tones along with genuine harmonies. In all this, we're looking at the connections music has with the natural or "mystical" feminine world (e.g., Gaia), ourselves, and how we define ourselves as women, especially in public (hence the performance.)
On one hand, we present familiarly "pleasant" music but on the other, a somewhat cacophonous soundscape - sort of like witches casting spells, neither good nor evil, pleasant nor destructive - but definitely creative and open to interpretation and definitely from a multiple power positions (in the Foucauldian sense, I mean, where power is everywhere and always being negotiated.) These songs will be semi-improvised explorations of mystical, soft or spiritual/"natural-world" presentations of women. We would hope that Enya would enjoy our interpretation of her song. While our performance won't necessarily be the expected soothing sounds of what people have to come expect from an Enya song or mystical, new-age spiritual styles of music, our disruption of these expectations will remain paired with a recognizable tone and a love of nature and our (self-defined) female connection with the natural world. Romantic? Possibly (+ plants / flowers/ flowing). Disturbing? Maybe. Genuine? For sure. And all in the spirit of the song: "Who can say where the road goes/where the day goes, only time..." We're into it.
Related info: Robyn and Charlotte are 2 out of the 3 members of Triceratreetops (www.myspace.com/triceratreetops) and Esther Splett writes, performs and makes art such as "pink metal" (http://www.myspace.com/hammerslut). We are all also many other things. exciting exciting things.
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i am so, so excited for these! i'm in both performances June 20th at Cagibi as part of the All Girl Summer Fun Fest and its going to be an amazing night!! |
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[May. 23rd, 2008|02:52 pm] |
In response to the meme that's been going around where you choose five favourite quotes from this selection, here are five of deep personal significance to me that will forever colour and enhance my worldview.
When I die I want all of these engraved into my tombstone in golden lettering in honour of my memory:
I'm a godmother, that's a great thing to be, a godmother. She calls me god for short, that's cute, I taught her that.
Ellen DeGeneres, My Point and I Do Have One
Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.
Billy Crystal (1947 - )
The number of guests at dinner should not be less than the number of the Graces nor exceed that of the Muses, i.e., it should begin with three and stop at nine.
Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC - 27 BC)
Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man's head.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary
Computer dating is fine, if you’re a computer.
Rita Mae Brown
MORE GEMS OF WISDOM!!
And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.
Jerry Chin
In Kyudo philosophy, you don't aim--you become one with the target. Then, in fact, there's nothing to aim at. I find it works well with women, too. Give it a try.
Martin Sage and Sybil Adelman, Northern Exposure, The Bumpy Road to Love, 1991
I wonder what it means when your grandson is more crotchety than you are.
Aaron McGruder, The Boondocks
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine |
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| Happy Passover |
[Apr. 13th, 2008|09:07 pm] |
Leonard Nimoy felt that the Vulcans represented the Jewish people.[citation needed] As a bit of stage "business" in the episode "Amok Time," he invented the famous "Live long and prosper" Vulcan salute based on the hand symbol used by kohanim during the Priestly Blessing. The gesture actually emulates the initial Shin of the Shema. On numerous occasions, for example in the 1983 TV special Star Trek Memories (which is often syndicated along with The Original Series), Nimoy recounts how as a child, he peeked during the blessing and witnessed the gesture, although it was against the rules to do so.
Periodically, approximately every seven years, for males and bonded females, Vulcans experience an overpowering mating drive known as pon farr. Once triggered, Vulcans must have sexual contact with someone, preferably their mate, or else face insanity and death.
Vulcans practice a form of acupressure known as neuropressure, which involves massaging and manipulating muscles and nerve centers on the body in order to relieve stress. Neuropressure is considered an intimate act, as some of the postures involved are pseudo-sexual in nature, and can elicit responses similar to sexual arousal and even climax, as demonstrated by T'Pol in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Xindi" when Charles Tucker III inadvertently triggers such a response. Specialized training is required in order to properly administer neuropressure, otherwise injury to the recipient can result.
Vulcans, as a matter of custom and policy, suppress all emotional influence by living lives of rigid emotional self-control through meditative techniques and training of mental discipline. Vulcans are not depicted as having no emotions; although they themselves make this claim, Vulcans are a very emotional people. They developed techniques to suppress their emotions precisely because of the damage they can cause if unchecked. In one episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Tuvok explains that Vulcans' natural emotions are "erratic and volatile" - if Vulcans do not strongly repress emotions, they can get violently angry in an instant. T'Pol once stated that paranoia and homicidal rage were common on Vulcan prior to Surak.
Pon farr also occurs, and has been extensively elaborated from what is canon, in fan fiction. One such fan fiction story is "The Ring of Soshern", which was probably written before 1976, and circulated as samizdat until 1987, when it was formally published in the anthology Alien Brothers. The story is denoted as a "K/S" story — the designation for fan fiction stories that feature an explicitly sexual relationship between Kirk and Spock. (See slash story.) In the story, Kirk and Spock beam down to an unexplored planet, and are marooned there when the Enterprise is forced away by an ion storm. Spock goes into pon farr whilst they are marooned, and Kirk, realizing that he is in love with Spock, saves his life by mating with him. The two then form a homosexual relationship that continues back aboard ship.
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[Feb. 4th, 2008|06:33 pm] |
Here are some of the TV Dollhouse pics, snapped after the exhibit was over and the gallery had been stripped bare:
(each video could be viewed frontally by peering thru the windows, or in their entirety from the back!)
unfortunately, you can't tell from these pictures that in some of the videos I am slobbering yogurt all over my face, or drawing on my boobs w/ lipstick and applying mascara to my armpits. but since the installation consisted of nine miniature videos and relied on an "interactive" component, it's difficult for me to convey an accurate impression over LJ.
also, very extremely belated Halloween pictures to follow, for anyone who was curious about the results of my earlier poll!
I think the best part of the evening was the girl in the sassy tiger costume at the Halloween queer dance party who kept trying to flirt w/ me, and my veiling my shy-awkwardness by doing a mock asexual routine where I protested in a faux German accent, "but I'm just a Simple Man!" whilst dancing the Klaus Nomi box dance. (or maybe its just that its really hard to flirt back with someone when you're wearing a huge box around yr torso and are made up like a clown?)
Not to mention the conversation I had with a middle-aged European etymologist and his Austrian(?) pal at the party, who didn't seem to be familiar with the concept of play-acting one's Halloween costume. When asked about my nationality and I replied with "I'm German", the--I think Austrian fellow?--started chatting w/ me in German, and looked downright cheated when I very evidently could not reply in kind. Perhaps the remedial German classes I'm taking this semester will prevent any future embarassments whilst parading around as famous German new wave operatic singers!
In further news, I didn't get my shit together on time to apply for exchange to schools in either Germany, Finland, or Hong Kong; so it looks as though I will be in Canada for yet another year. |
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[Jan. 7th, 2008|05:44 pm] |
So I have my first ever piece up in an art gallery as of sometime tonight/tomorrow. Its a video installation piece called TV Dollhouse where the viewer looks through windows of a cardboard construction of a house; each room containing video footage of myself in various rooms in my apartment. The vernissage is tomorrow at the VAV Gallery from 6-8PM for anyone here in Montreal! There'll be the usual wine and cheese.
When I'm able to muster up the time & energy, I'll try and write a real entry here, I promise.
---
[within the confines]
curated by Karin Zuppiger and Jim Verburg
Featuring work by JOHANNES ABENDROTH, CHRISTOPHER BASS, VALERIE SANGIN,
ESTHER SPLETT, LINDSEY FRYETT, C. GLADU, JULIE FOURNIER-LEVÉSQUE, ARI
BAYUAJI and EMMA WALTRAUD HOWES.
In our everyday, it’s not uncommon for us to simultaneously
encounter a shortage and an abundance of space - consider the
stretches between Canadian cities versus the three steps required
to navigate your apartment. Our ability to move greatly influences
the way we live, plan, think and create. Space determines shape,
size, structure and design. This show will examine the artist’s
negotiation of limited or constrained space. Each artist interprets space
within or outside of the confines of the gallery, the city and the body.
7 JANVIER AU 18 JANVIER 2008
JANUARY 7 TO JANUARY 18 2008
VERNISSAGE MARDI 8 JANVIER 18 H À 20 H
OPENING TUESDAY JANUARY 8 6 - 8 PM
GALERIE VAV GALLERY
1395 RENÉ LÉVESQUE 033 (COIN CRESCENT)
METRO LUCIEN L’ALLIER / GUY - CONCORDIA
LUNDI AU VENDREDI 9 H À 21 H
MONDAY TO FRIDAY 9 - 9 |
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| Voice Post |
[Dec. 14th, 2007|04:26 am] |
this is to make up for the "fruity orchard poem" i read in the last voice-post. |
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| Voice Post |
[Dec. 14th, 2007|04:16 am] |
My voice post keeps getting cut off. also I think I have a lisp! |
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[Oct. 17th, 2007|06:04 pm] |
Heads up to those of you in Montreal or the vicinity -- my video piece Anima/Animus is going to be screening tomorrow night at the Art Matters Info party.
it explores gender & identity and i perform in drag!
i'm also likely going to be giving out a new zine/chapbook at the zine fair.
starts at 7:30pm at the Sala Rossa and goes late.
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| i've been working 9am - midnight shifts |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|06:44 pm] |
Behind me, Right Now
Sent: TUE 21/08/2007 9:46 AM
To: Esther E. Splett
The lengthy discussion of the superiority of the Russian AK-47 assault rifle to the American M16 assault rifle touched on all bases (re-load times, durability, cooling times), until my QAC barked at them, "Why are you guys talking about assault rifles?"
"Because of the Nazis," they answered. |
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| <3 |
[Jul. 31st, 2007|09:18 pm] |
Happy B-day ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) spool_five!
Your face is about to be eaten by a love monster creeping up at you from behind.
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