Shakespeare, Miracles, Halloween and Irony
It is strange that darkness obscures everything except for darkness itself. It's already obscure. Only light can obscure darkness. That's why when I woke up this morning and walked Racecar to the coffee shop near my house, I thought it was a shame that the beautiful sunny morning couldn't just wash away the darkness that's going to cloud our lives for the next four years. Now, with no chance of re-election, what do you think will stop him from doing the things he really wants to do? Last night I read something that was quoting somebody else that said something along the lines of, "this election has become less about whether our leader has turned into a fascist, but more about whether the people of this country want it that way or not." Well, I guess the people of the United States have spoken and they're as stupid as all get out. Well, enough about that.
Last Thursday I went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier.
The play was quite entertaining and the set and costumes were fun. I was a little put off in the beginning by a really annoying actor, but he turned out to have a minor role, so it was OK. People laughed when they were supposed to, which is always a good sign that a Shakespearean play is doing well. Despite the language anachrocity, and with the help of just a few ribald contemporary enhancements, the director (who's name escapes me) managed to really make it all work. Highly recommend this play, if you can see it. In addition to the quality of this particular play, the Shakespeare Theatre has no bad seats. It's a pretty large theatre, but it's nearly theatre-in-the-round, so the seats are spread out and aren't very deep back. Hopefully this will convince some cute young people to go, cuz I gotta say, most of the people there were both old and ugly. C'mon attractive young people: represent in the cultural landscape!
On Saturday, the party night before halloween, I helped out my business partner with his make-up for a costume. He was going as an accident victim wearing a ripped up leather jacket.
I was pretty pleased with my FX stylings.
Later, I met up with my new friend, Erik, at the Gold Star bar in Wicker Park, Chicago. It was pretty hoppin'. Neither of us had felt up to the party to which I had been invited and neither of us had a good costume, so we lamed out and just drank. There were some good costumes in attendance at the Gold Star. For example, four members of the Cobra Kai clan from the popular 80's film, The Karate Kid ("Sweep the Leg, Johnny! No mercy! Put him in a body bag!). Also very inventive were four people dressed up as people from . They were wearing white haz-mat type suits, and several disparate elements such as welding masks, chemist's goggles etc. It seemed like they'd just created something new for their costume instead of drawing on popular culture.
The only picture I got, which didn't come out so good, is of this guy, who's supposed to be some sort of prehistoric dinosaur fish (maybe a coelacanth?)
He actually arrived with several other fish, which was kinda cute.
Sunday, Halloween, Mr. Erik and I were going to a kick-ass party/concert down in Pilsen.
We had some time to kill before the party and went to a cafe near his apartment and talked for a good couple hours about things life the impending election, religion, sex, the exes, and other silly topics. Toward the end of the conversation, it focused a lot on religion and concepts of spirituality, divinity and, funnily enough, aliens.
Erik's a pretty cynical guy. He's as cynical as I used to be. Doesn't take much stock in religion and questions a lot, just like I used to. I found the teachings of Integral Spirituality and Ken Wilber, which I never talk about because I know I always sound like I'm in a cult, but I did on this night, for some reason. Anyway, without sounding like a cult person, I'll just say that Wilber's got really good answers to a lot of questions and they're the kinds of answers that make you extinguish doubt, but it's a pretty experiential thing, so it's difficult to convince someone of these things without having them kind of go along the path. That said, I was basically trying to get Erik to not be so cynical. We interrupted our deep conversation to head out for the party.
Leaving from Erik's pad in Printer's Row, we took to the Orange line down to the Ashland stop. As I ascended the steps to the train, I found a faux tiara, which became my costume.
As we waited on the platform, we noted the fine detailing on a building and I was taken in by some cool ghostly decorations on a window.
On the train, and not being one to have his picture taken, Erik requested I didn't take any of him. Not being one to listen, I took several pictures, including this one.
It's kinda action-y.
The next picture I took was very strange. Erik was looking up at the CTA map to see where we were going to disembark. After taking the picture (using my new Motorola Cameraphone, by the way), we looked at it. There was something "metaphysical" about it, I said. The way he was looking up at the map, it looked like he was deep in thought, and a little in awe. I said, "It looks kinda like you're looking up at God." Erik concurred with this. I decided that I was going to definitely email this pic to myself. While getting the message ready on my phone, I made a mistake, so went backwards a menu and looked at the picture. It had changed! Erik's eyes, which had just been open, were now closed. Holy incredible moley! I quickly showed him and we were both reeling. How could this have happened? We both distinctly saw that his eyes were open. Indeed, it was the main thing we talked about when admiring its metaphysical quality. Here is the picture as it appeared later.
How fucked up is that?
I was extremely energized by these events and feeling kind of poetic. I was finding beauty everywhere and felt really vital. I also felt really optimistic for some reason, though I haven't felt that way in a while (ironic now, it seems, but I'm still keeping a stiff upper lip). I am excited about tomorrows in a way I haven't been in a long while.
Anyway, I was mesmerized by Erik's reflection in the train window and took a picture of that as well.
I like how he looks like a different person. Or like he's from that movie, The Others.
Oh yeah. He has a deviated septum, but I could barely tell and had to ask him if he was assymetrical. Symmetry was one of the things we were talking about in our big talk at the coffee shop. The universe favors symmetry. That's why I like to dye my hair in assymetrical patterns.
Finally, we arrived at the Texas Ballroom, down in Pilsen. I was not knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be a FANTASTIC venue. Huge loft space with some of the highest ceilings I've seen at a loft.
Princess, whom we were there to see principally, consists of two young men, Alexis and Michael. As part of their performace personae, Alexis often wears a white cotillion-style dress and a powder-blue trucker hat while Michael generally wears a suit. Such being the case, they are usually easy to spot, and I saw Alexis in the first couple seconds I was in the space and made a mental note to introduce him to Erik. Only, it wasn't Alexis. It was some girl dressed as Alexis for Halloween! How fun! Surreal.
It turned out that for Halloween, Michael had dressed up as Cher circa 1980's and Alexis had dressed as Freddie Mercury from the excellent band, Queen.
Princess performed several Queen covers at the beginning of their set, and now I wonder if their name is progenous of Queen's.
PBRs and Miller High Lifes, both served tepid, were $2, so we both had many. Leading to many shenanigans, including me peeing into a beer can on the dance floor. I totally got caught by this girl who looked like my head was spinning around like The Exorcist so I ran out of there like a maniac, leaving Erik there to apologize. Hahahaha. He told me she was pretty drunk, but kept saying, "I felt spray. He sprayed me," and then, "Tell your friend I'm not mad at him, he just sprayed me."
The walk home (yes, we both walked all the way from Ashland and Archer to Printer's Row - on Halloween, no less) was mostly dead. No people, very little traffic and just a general ghostly feeling. I did see this great example of pumpkin carving.
YAR!!!
Last Thursday I went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier.
The play was quite entertaining and the set and costumes were fun. I was a little put off in the beginning by a really annoying actor, but he turned out to have a minor role, so it was OK. People laughed when they were supposed to, which is always a good sign that a Shakespearean play is doing well. Despite the language anachrocity, and with the help of just a few ribald contemporary enhancements, the director (who's name escapes me) managed to really make it all work. Highly recommend this play, if you can see it. In addition to the quality of this particular play, the Shakespeare Theatre has no bad seats. It's a pretty large theatre, but it's nearly theatre-in-the-round, so the seats are spread out and aren't very deep back. Hopefully this will convince some cute young people to go, cuz I gotta say, most of the people there were both old and ugly. C'mon attractive young people: represent in the cultural landscape!
On Saturday, the party night before halloween, I helped out my business partner with his make-up for a costume. He was going as an accident victim wearing a ripped up leather jacket.
I was pretty pleased with my FX stylings.
Later, I met up with my new friend, Erik, at the Gold Star bar in Wicker Park, Chicago. It was pretty hoppin'. Neither of us had felt up to the party to which I had been invited and neither of us had a good costume, so we lamed out and just drank. There were some good costumes in attendance at the Gold Star. For example, four members of the Cobra Kai clan from the popular 80's film, The Karate Kid ("Sweep the Leg, Johnny! No mercy! Put him in a body bag!). Also very inventive were four people dressed up as people from . They were wearing white haz-mat type suits, and several disparate elements such as welding masks, chemist's goggles etc. It seemed like they'd just created something new for their costume instead of drawing on popular culture.
The only picture I got, which didn't come out so good, is of this guy, who's supposed to be some sort of prehistoric dinosaur fish (maybe a coelacanth?)
He actually arrived with several other fish, which was kinda cute.
Sunday, Halloween, Mr. Erik and I were going to a kick-ass party/concert down in Pilsen.
We had some time to kill before the party and went to a cafe near his apartment and talked for a good couple hours about things life the impending election, religion, sex, the exes, and other silly topics. Toward the end of the conversation, it focused a lot on religion and concepts of spirituality, divinity and, funnily enough, aliens.
Erik's a pretty cynical guy. He's as cynical as I used to be. Doesn't take much stock in religion and questions a lot, just like I used to. I found the teachings of Integral Spirituality and Ken Wilber, which I never talk about because I know I always sound like I'm in a cult, but I did on this night, for some reason. Anyway, without sounding like a cult person, I'll just say that Wilber's got really good answers to a lot of questions and they're the kinds of answers that make you extinguish doubt, but it's a pretty experiential thing, so it's difficult to convince someone of these things without having them kind of go along the path. That said, I was basically trying to get Erik to not be so cynical. We interrupted our deep conversation to head out for the party.
Leaving from Erik's pad in Printer's Row, we took to the Orange line down to the Ashland stop. As I ascended the steps to the train, I found a faux tiara, which became my costume.
As we waited on the platform, we noted the fine detailing on a building and I was taken in by some cool ghostly decorations on a window.
On the train, and not being one to have his picture taken, Erik requested I didn't take any of him. Not being one to listen, I took several pictures, including this one.
It's kinda action-y.
The next picture I took was very strange. Erik was looking up at the CTA map to see where we were going to disembark. After taking the picture (using my new Motorola Cameraphone, by the way), we looked at it. There was something "metaphysical" about it, I said. The way he was looking up at the map, it looked like he was deep in thought, and a little in awe. I said, "It looks kinda like you're looking up at God." Erik concurred with this. I decided that I was going to definitely email this pic to myself. While getting the message ready on my phone, I made a mistake, so went backwards a menu and looked at the picture. It had changed! Erik's eyes, which had just been open, were now closed. Holy incredible moley! I quickly showed him and we were both reeling. How could this have happened? We both distinctly saw that his eyes were open. Indeed, it was the main thing we talked about when admiring its metaphysical quality. Here is the picture as it appeared later.
How fucked up is that?
I was extremely energized by these events and feeling kind of poetic. I was finding beauty everywhere and felt really vital. I also felt really optimistic for some reason, though I haven't felt that way in a while (ironic now, it seems, but I'm still keeping a stiff upper lip). I am excited about tomorrows in a way I haven't been in a long while.
Anyway, I was mesmerized by Erik's reflection in the train window and took a picture of that as well.
I like how he looks like a different person. Or like he's from that movie, The Others.
Oh yeah. He has a deviated septum, but I could barely tell and had to ask him if he was assymetrical. Symmetry was one of the things we were talking about in our big talk at the coffee shop. The universe favors symmetry. That's why I like to dye my hair in assymetrical patterns.
Finally, we arrived at the Texas Ballroom, down in Pilsen. I was not knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be a FANTASTIC venue. Huge loft space with some of the highest ceilings I've seen at a loft.
Princess, whom we were there to see principally, consists of two young men, Alexis and Michael. As part of their performace personae, Alexis often wears a white cotillion-style dress and a powder-blue trucker hat while Michael generally wears a suit. Such being the case, they are usually easy to spot, and I saw Alexis in the first couple seconds I was in the space and made a mental note to introduce him to Erik. Only, it wasn't Alexis. It was some girl dressed as Alexis for Halloween! How fun! Surreal.
It turned out that for Halloween, Michael had dressed up as Cher circa 1980's and Alexis had dressed as Freddie Mercury from the excellent band, Queen.
Princess performed several Queen covers at the beginning of their set, and now I wonder if their name is progenous of Queen's.
PBRs and Miller High Lifes, both served tepid, were $2, so we both had many. Leading to many shenanigans, including me peeing into a beer can on the dance floor. I totally got caught by this girl who looked like my head was spinning around like The Exorcist so I ran out of there like a maniac, leaving Erik there to apologize. Hahahaha. He told me she was pretty drunk, but kept saying, "I felt spray. He sprayed me," and then, "Tell your friend I'm not mad at him, he just sprayed me."
The walk home (yes, we both walked all the way from Ashland and Archer to Printer's Row - on Halloween, no less) was mostly dead. No people, very little traffic and just a general ghostly feeling. I did see this great example of pumpkin carving.
YAR!!!
posted by Brian at
7:09 PM
<< Home