What I've Been Up To

GREETINGS ALL

... yet another comeback entry ^~^

It has been four months today since my last post! Sheesh!

It's been a crazy four months. Mostly filled with me working on this blog.

Which obviously means I have no idea what a blog actually is. I keep doing research and making videos and uploading pictures and writing scribbles on saved drafts till each one becomes the length of a book. I've also had a full-time albeit temporary job and begun applying for college.

Anyhow the geekily self-proclaimed "idiosyncratic feminist" is back to re-explore what I possibly could have meant by that term.

To give you a mental picture of what the past four months has been for me, consider this a little snapshot:

In two weeks it will be the year anniversary of this blog so I figured I'd better get cracking. So first I'd thought I'd show my reader(s) that I have far from forgotten them and have in fact been thinking only of this blog for the past four months. It may have occurred to you by now that I'm a bit of a perfectionist. And you'd be... very right.

Ok so this blog entry is a bit of an inbetween non-entry because it doesn't really have a topic, so I thought I'd list the upcoming entries that I'm hoping I can make myself publish before they are encyclopedia length (these are working titles):

• Subli-mer-inal Images and How We Channel Them
• Rapunzel & Tangled
• Tangled
• The Allure of Break-Up Songs
• The Big C
• Ariel
• The Little Mermaid
• Fan Disney Music Videos - A Limitless Source
• Judith and Holofernes - Biblical Gore
• My Favorite Fairy Tale OF ALL TIME
• Girls as Heroines
• Childhood Ambition of Office and High Heels
• Virginia Woolf & "A Room of One's Own"

... not to mention ideas for entries I haven't started.

I thought a good way to convey just how busy I've been (though it's hard to give you an idea without giving too much away) would be to list tidbits here and there. So here I go.

Oh wait but first I'd like to endorse a company that I very much approve of, especially as it comes with a blog - "Aladine Wings" run by Aladine, my sister. If my theme may be considered discovering what the **** feminism is, hers is exploring the border between fantasy (specifically folklore and fairy tales) and reality. Her business is in the contruction of fairy wings - wearable and mountable. They are beeeautiful and as Halloween is coming up I'd thought I'd do you all a favor by pointing you in her direction.

Sister Fairies! I know I'm being a bit of a pitchman right now, but her work is particularly close to my heart especially as she painted on my face for photo shoot ideas yesterday - which I forgot to wash off - so in the morning when I drove my little sister to school and I saw my old highschool principal outside I hoped he wouldn't see my newly dark dyed hair tips combined with the day-old wings/horns painted on my face and draw conclusions about my new lifestyle. Plus I hadn't had any coffee yet. Well anyway I got away before I was seen.

Anyhow...

Click the image below to be re-directed to her official website - http://flavors.me/aladine - you may notice I've made this a permanent side-bar to my blog so you won't have to look for this entry every time!

And yes, I know she makes fairy wings which have little or nothing to do with mermaids, mermaid fins, or their ilk, but I like mermaids so there.

Her official blog may be found at this link - http://aladinewings.blogspot.com - her new experiments with the lost in the woods/ don't trust the old hag who claims she'll help you type concept are very interesting.

She's also got a facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aladine-Hand-Crafted-Fairy-Wings/147031118655261) if those two sites weren't convenient enough

for you.

PLEASE click this image for a bigger more gorgeous version of two of her wearable hand-crafted fairy wings featured at the "Rubanesque" in Ireland.

Ok. NOW on to the list!!!!!!! You remember - the list of thing's I've been up to.

1) Perry

Yes, I was over at a new friend's house with Disney's "Phineas and Ferb" playing in the background - soon to be the foreground - it was love at first sight. Anyone who knows me can tell you, I am obsessed with the Platypus. Have been for years. I have a partiality for oddball creatures but the Platypus is what started it all. I have an unfinished novel/ novel series idea starring a Platypus. So when I found out this show, starring a completely awesome secret agent Platypus named Perry, had been existent for a couple of years now, well. I was frusturated but I committed the rest of my time to watching as much as possible. I LOVE IT.

My new credo is "What would Perry do?" (Right after "What would Barbie do?" to be explained in another entry...)

My new hope is that they'll invent a surgery to become a cartoon Platypus so I can marry this character. I also happen to be a fan of the other aspects of the show, but right now all I want to say is PERRY PERRY PERRY PERRY (which I at first spelled in my head as "Peri").

What does this have to do with feminism? Well, if you were paying attention earlier, this is an entry explaining how I've spent my time and it may come as a shock to you but not all are immediately applicable to feminism. Although... I could come up with something later. Just to please you. Like, I don't know, a discussion of why they chose to make Perry male, or whether or not their adherence to the conventional structure of conventional older sister against younger unconventional brothers (if in an obvious attempt at parody) offends me (it doesn't)/ is a smart decision/ perhaps the parody part is overlooked?/ what does Perry's animal role do to offset the sibling gender rivalry/ analyzing individual episodes.

See? I could come up with something.

Anyhow, here's my husband's theme song.

And HERE is a slideshow of my mere 374 screencaptures of Perry in slideshow form. I set it to autoplay so in the time reading/skimming/skipping the previous material of this entry you may have missed earlier bits but there's plenty to see and you can always mill through them at your own convenience by clicking the Perry immediatly following my little slideshow:

Perry

And now, for my new and ultimate favorite Perry video, YOUR WELCOME!

Oh, and some BRILLIANT Doofenschmirtz videos, I love his character too, though he of course isn't a Platypus and therefore cannot touch Perry's epicness. And I think he knows it. Though as human he gets pretty close.

Oh, and I might as well include a non-perry related clip that is blatantly a tipped hat to the feminist movement. Quite adorable, actually. The whole episode is.

Ah and in case you were curious, I'll embed the very first episode I ever saw, that turned me on to the Phineas and Ferb/ Perry and Doofenschmirtz/ Perry craze (I've now seen all episodes available in the US right now plus one): "One Good Scare Oughta Do It!"

Okay, on to #2 on the list of the things this particular busy bee has been doing...

#2) finding better and better quality/ obsessing over film adaptations

Particularly of "The Little Mermaid," my ultimate favorite story of all time. But it's been tough. Some of these things took some real digging, hours of work first finding them and then God Forbid finding them in DVD quality (since some of them aren't even available on DVD these days, though I'm still hoping.) I feel like Ariel trying to hoist her Prince to the surface of the water. I know it'll be great once I get up there, but JESUS hotness is heavy!

It's actually been so much work and such a continual pursuit I'm considering constructing a website in collaboration with this blog devoted exclusively to the story of "The Little Mermaid," because oddly enough there isn't one out there - other than the too specific, like Ariel, and the too general, like all Hans Christian Andersen.

Anyhow here are some compare and contrast, before and after screen captures to give you an idea. It'll be even more obvious if you click for a larger version (which will open in a separate window.) In all cases the first is a screencap from a version found on youtube, and I'd like to take this moment to thank the people who uploaded these for changing my life by providing these because damn they are hard to find, and even if I did end up finding better versions I wouldn't have known about them otherwise. And one is in Russian and no english subtitles can be found anywhere in the world except for by that youtuber's translation so far as I can tell and I have LOOKED so they particularly should be nominated for sainthood.

In that last one I was triply fortunate to find DVD quality by actually unearthing the DVD! Since for some anomale in his career Richard Chamberlain chose to narrate this version, people cared to have it for their complete collections so I finally found it through TCM! It was one of the happiest moments of my life, though it was insanely overpriced at $40 for a 30 minute feature but I guess they know just how rare it is. Plus it was totally worth it. I also strongly encourage you to click this image as it is a gorgeously good quality scan.

Also, click the left "Shop TCM" button to view the link to the buyable product itself on that site, and the right screencapture to view the information and credits the site provides, which is strangely more versed than the IMDB despite it's scant appearance. It is really that obscure. But it's so good. Can't WAIT to blog about all this!

- http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/Product.asp?sku=D49239
- http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com//shop01.swf

Oh and I've also been generally obsessed with finding other versions so here are a few to give you an overall impression. The first couple are indeed adult Shirley Temple. It opens with Shirley Temple out of character stating "ever since I was a child I've wanted to play the little mermaid who falls for a land prince" - I find it funny that a normal person just means an unrealistic childhood dream, whereas in Shirley's case it was probably more of a case of a crammed schedule XD - Nota Bene: the rest of these Mermaid screencaptures are from more rediculous versions.

This next one I've only been able to obtain clips from. It is from the "Happily Ever After" series featuring multi-cultural versions of well-known tales. I am more reluctant to buy the sketchy and suspicious looking DVD for this one a) b/c the DVD doesn't look quite legit and b) I'm not as in love as in the others, but if I have to I have to. I'm that hard core of a fan of the story!!! And the clips I've found are amusing and stress parts of the story none of the others do, like the fashionable clams the little mermaid must wear in accordance with her coming of age that she doesn't appreciate b/c the pinch her tale, despite their being the highest fashion that her old Grandmother loves and wears with royal pride. If anyone can find a full version online please direct me to it I would love that soooo much!!!

#3) Tech stuff

With all this searching and blog research I have had to acquire a certain internet savvy which is turning into a full-blown education including signing up for legit online HTML and CSS courses which I ADORE. I've even considered making it a side career, I love this so much. I'd hoped to publish this entry before midnight to make the 4 anneverary deadline, so I'll make this section quick by just listing a few programs I've found and learned to love and overuse.

UnRarX

handbrake

submerge

screentoaster, which was completely closed down and said it would close by july 1st, thankfully lied so now it is back up

Ah, and I can't neglect to mention my more recent debut with subtitling. It begun when I found the DVD quality Russian and had to re-write the subtitles - which meant I had to learn how to make a .srt file, which I figured out myself without any help and I tell you it is TEDIOUS WORK. Here's a little excerpt to give you an idea. Ugh so tedious tedious tedious!!!!

.srt files; ex:

"0

00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000

Direct from the youtuber yeliza0veta's english subtitles - Thank You.

1

00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:46,000

In front of you, ladies and gentlemen,

the famous mermaid

2

00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,893

the way she was written by the

great Hans Christian Andersen

3

00:01:53,699 --> 00:01:54,893

in a story of love.

4

00:01:56,299 --> 00:02:07,248

Ladies and gentlemen, in the time

of Andersen, love still existed.

5

00:02:08,459 --> 00:02:16,417

These stupid people! They think love exists,

and mermaids don't!

6

00:02:18,619 --> 00:02:22,000

But you and I know it's the exact opposite!"

Ah, and as a sort of corallary to this suff, I've taken to watching stuff in other languages - since I'm pretty monolingual despite my many years of lessons in Spanish and Latin - specifically, I have become obsessed with Russian.

Here are some clips that amuse me, especially as Anastasia would actually be talking in Russian, not English (not that this movie is in any way accurate, so I figure it is just one more thing that is widely off the mark ;) hehe.)

To hear the original soundtrack and read lyrics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG0WdsytDGY

To watch with translated lyrics (from the dubbed Russian) but lesser sound quality - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNOpeq0118

To hear the original soundtrack and read original english lyrics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1zamKoUREI

Okay running out of time I only have nine minutes left!!!!!

#4) making videos for future blog entries!!!!!!!! My youtube account's activity has been the polar opposite of my blogger account... click this next image to get an idea!

Video editing/ making - LOTS and LOTS of HOUR upon HOURSSSSSSS of video editing/making. Nonstop. No joke!!!! And, ironically, every single one has been made with future blog posts in mind - honest to God.

I've been very into multi-media analysis and presentation lately; what better way to jazz up re-asessing an often-used if endlessly intriguing topic, than through a visually and auditorily engaging art form - that also conveniently gets around the legal issues of sharing clips from films I wish to discuss. For it does indeed help bring legitimacy to this site; if it were up to me, I'd upload entire films to discuss and I'd love it b/c I could discuss every detail without having to expend any effort in stipulating what scene is which or considering which my audience is more or less likely to recognize. However, I can't, so I've been studying the minute details if the Fair Use Copyright Act up the wazoo as well as in general studying what has been banned or deleted or whatever do to copyright grounds, taken a hard look at my own personal ethics with regard to imagination/information property, and emerged - well, I'd like to say enlightened, but um, no. I'm kind of still flabergasted but less so! I hope.

Anyhow music videos that include my input in a more subtle and artistic way (and therefore including my own intellectual property, or whatever it's called) - meant to also eventually go with analysis in this blog, well, hot dog (as I picture Jimmy Stewart saying) that's perfect for my personality type and my personal hopes for what this blog is going to continue being.

Next in my list of hopes and dreams - write more coherent sentences. I'll get back to you on that one.

Since they were and are all meant to be for future blog entries, I am hesitant to include any in this second (and I fear, not final) "comeback" entry, I cannot stop myself from sharing SOMETHING to show the effort that has been going into this blog every day for the past two months - though "behind closed doors" or "behind the curtain" or "backstage" or w/e. It's my most recent one, my magnum opus, perhaps the hardest one yet. I'd been solidly working on it for two weeks, though technically I worked on it more like three weeks. I loved the idea and I almost gave up on it several times but I think I nailed it. It will in fact be featured in a (hopefully near) future epic series on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," so think of this as a taste of what's to come. And proof that I still care. XD

Youtube Description:

I worked really hard at this - b/c I really felt this song held potential in honoring Hans Chirstian Andersen's vivid yet gentle tale.

Clips From:

Soyuzmultfilm's 1968 Rusalochka

http://vimeo.com/17829187

Reader's Digest 1974 Little Mermaid http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7D0A78167AE33CA2

Disney's 1989 Little Mermaid

Song from the Rodgers and Hammersein Classic, "Carousel" - specifically, the 1956 movie.

FYI, I played in the pit orchestra for "Carousel" for several performances one summer, so I made this also with my more intimate knowledge of the score in my mind. (Remember, I play the cello. The epic and lovely and gorgeous the love of my life cello.)

I've also have several featured. Check out these screencaptures as undesputable proof! (Okay maybe not undesputable but I am telling the truth so it doesn't matter). I first descovered this when I saw one of my videos as a related video in the top right featured section.

... and just now I've discovered another one. SO cool!

And Also a sillier one -

#5) Literature - Sparse, but I have been reading...

• Aesop's Fables

• Rapunzel and Other Maiden in Tower Tales from Around the World by Heidi Anne Heiner

• Rapunzel's Revenge by Shanon and Dean Hale Illustrated by Nathan Hale

<

• Judith Sexual Warrior: Women and Power in Western Culture by Margarita Stocker

• Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck

#7) Barbie movies!

I'll tell the story of how that started later. five minutes before self-imposed publishing deadline!!!!!!!

15 Barbie movies. Will blog about them (whether you like it or not)!!!!

#8) Movie Discoveries/ Recently Watched/ Obsessed With

#9) concept art and process (making-of stuff, I eat it up!!!)

Also this non-embeddable video:

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5uKeOolfTc

#10) Tangled, my obsession with this knows no bounds. Seriously, it's true.

According to wiki, this next image is - "A concept rendering of Rapunzel, demonstrating the "luscious hair" Keane wanted." - Keane being behind the legendary Ariel arising from the rock "Some Day I'll be Part of Your World."

I've made 3 fan music videos of my own on this from all the trailers, one of which, featuring The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" has reached over one THOUSAND views, thank you very much.

Alrighty, one minute eeek!

I'll Close with stuff I did for mother's day - oops, I keep forgetting. My Mother's day, but not Mother's Day, b/c it was her birthday.

A Poem I wrote for my mom on her birthday; the picture (which I chose) is from one of my all-time favorite illustrated fairy books, "The Girl, the Fish, and the Crown."

- and the cute and ingenious -

Okay, here's Jo Bingo, back from the hiatus/ sabbatical, saying

Goodbye for now, I'm going to bed, sorry if it seems too soon (that's sarcasm as this was a long entry ;D )

Father's Day Loudon Wainwright III Style with Fairy Tales on the Side

"But I think that people - people are - are still heroes. There's something still heroic about - about failure. That's why I love it so much." - Loudon Wainwright III

More than a Month's gone by, but it feels like

FOR-

EVER

(which, coincidentally, is what reading this entry will feel like... haha... no seriously keep reading - I manage to compare Loudon Wainwright III with Rapunzel! Ah-ha! NOW I've got your attention...)

God I've missed this. HI!!!!!!!!!! And Happy Father's Day.

I have decided to commemorate Father's Day through the raw genuineness of Loudon Wainwright III. I was at the bank several weeks ago and saw a flyer saying Loudon Wainwright was to play at SOPAC. I screamed all the way home.

I was there, June 4th, a Friday, with my dad and sister, and saw Loudon Wainwright in PERSON.

Best. day. ever.

Anyhow the reason I find him so fitting for Father's Day is not only the fact that he is a father, but that - I don't know - something about the way he writes and sings his songs seem to appeal to the concept of living - the medium (as in the element through which something is transmitted, like air for sound waves) of fatherhood. Though I don't think of him AS a father, which I suppose is a subset of fatherhood, since fathers aren't initially fathers DUUUH.

Before I go on to discuss sophisticated an contemplative themes between this artist, art, fathers, with hopefully some relevance to feminism, let me just get this out of the way:

I GOT HIM TO SIGN HIS NEW CD, MADE OUT TO BEMUSING JO BINGO!!!!! YESSSS!

Plus I told him it was my psuedonym. It's not exactly an endorsement, but now I can truthfully say that Loudon Wainwright III knows my pseudonym. Yes!

Cough Cough ok now...

Loudon Wainwright's family is known to be a bit - complicated. Broken here, broken there. Bitterness here, miscommunication there. I'm not an expert, but the general impression I get is there's several missing pieces to their puzzle and no one has any idea what the resulting picture is supposed to be when the puzzle's solved.

I found a rather informative article that I think sums it up rather well (by the way - you can click "next page" within this little window embedding and it will go to the next page within the frame - it doesn't mess up my blog entry's set up. So click away!):

- what the article says about "telling anyone under 40 your off to see Loudon Wainwright, the look uncertain and ask if he is anything to do with Rufus" is soooooo hilarious because that literally happened with my best friend. I didn't even know the answer too, which is the funny part (that and the fact that I am significantly under 40). I had to look it up. XD

Loudon Wainwright stands with two other men in a very important category for me; singers whose voices seem to hold such an essence and substance that I could cry listening to it. The two others are Cat Stevens and Bruce Molsky (by the way, have met Bruce Molsky too! Thank you, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp).

I first discovered Loudon Wainwright III about two years ago when I watched Sandra Bullock's "28 Days" for the first time. All those sneaky and natural transitions from gaiety to self-destruction in the film (such great writing) were so well-highlighted by the music.

Looking up lyrics is what initially led me to Wainwright. Thanks to my little sister's discovery of Grooveshark (which used to be better than it is now), I found other songs of his, including "I wish I was a Lesbian" - good entertainment there.

Anyhow here are clips from the movie including him to allow you to see what my first impression of him was. Yes, he cameo-ed in the movie, listed in the credits as "The Guitar Guy."

This short song is actually one of my favorites of his. I love how completely bored and tired and grumpy he acts for the part of fellow-outpatient in this rehab center.

"Heaven and Mud"

"Drinking Song"

"White Winos"

This next one isn't a song of his, but he looks so completely grumpy and disillusioned and bored that I couldn't help but include it. Deadpan = Hilarious.

"Santa Booze"

I was particulary struck by one song, which I finally looked up online - "Dreaming." The last verse was not in the movie, most likely just a time issue.

"Dreaming"

Lyrics:

I'd rather be dreaming than living
Living's just too hard to do
It's chances not choices
Noises not voices
A day's just a thing to get through
Living's just too hard to do

I'd rather be dreaming than talking
There's nothing to hear or to say
With ears covered mouth closed
The world is opposed
Nothing gets in or away
There's nothing to hear or to say

I'd rather be dreaming than thinking
Thoughts are small comfort to me
Dreams might be pretend
But at least dreams end
And I just can't stop thinking you see
Thoughts are small comfort to me

I'd rather be dreaming than sleeping
Just sleeping you're just as well dead
In dreams I can fly
In dreams I don't die
That's why I lie here in this bed
Just sleeping you're just as well dead

I'd rather be dreaming

I was pretty obsessed with the song actually. It was in my senior year of highschool and I was using napping as a form of escapism XD. I found his distinction between dreaming and sleeping intriguing.

Since then I'd only seen him in one other movie, "Knocked Up," and I was thrilled to find that the entirety of the credits were him singing. Later I realized that Dr. Howard looked so familiar b/c he was a smilely version of "Guitar Guy" and perhaps it might be said a better groomed version of Loudon Wainwright III. :)

In Knocked Up as "Dr. Howard"

by the way, WILL blog about Knocked Up before I die - love that movie.

Okay - before I move on, click this image if you want to see more of Loudon Wainwright various acting/ cameo clips from movies I probably haven't seen - more complete, in other words.

Soooooo, Today I was feeling somewhat down, feeling a bit like I'd be happier if I was Rapunzel (specifically, Paul O. Zelinsky's Rapunzel) in a high isolated tower doing nothing but reading books.

Nota Bene: All images below are super high-quality ('cause they are scans), so please click them! You have an 80% chance of achieving Nirvana if you do, they are that good. (If you don't like clicking the back button to return to this page, try control clicking them, and you will see an option to open the image in a new window.)

Actually I wasn't thinking so much of Rapunzel as of "Daughter" from Antonia Barber's "The Enchanter's Daughter" illustrated by Errolle Cain.

She has much in common with Rapunzel; she was taken from her parents at birth by an affluent, magical, domineering and demanding person - in her case, a magician rather than Rapunzel's witch:

She, like Rapunzel, was brought up by said power figure in a decent, if not exactly familial, way, surrounded by riches in seclusion, having seen no other human than their "parent," who themselves are unwilling to let go of their precious possession, perhaps out of pure obsession with acquired property, perhaps out of a need to preserve purity, or a potent mixture.

But what am I getting at here? What does this have to do with Loudon Wainwright or Father's Day? I'm getting there... I think.

As I said, I was feeling somewhat unhappy, and felt an urge to be in some sort of gilded cage, and, as in the case of "Daughter," the castle is kept warm and green "amid the frozen wastes" due to the Enchanter's spells.

But I knew such feelings must be fleeting, for both heroines got sick of their beloved privacy and broke free, risking everything for the chance to share their world with someone else. And surely I would do the same. Right?

I wasn't so sure. And I'm still not. But it was then that I thought of what Loudon Wainwright III calls "The Great Unknown" in his "Another Song in C."

Here's another song in c

when I play piano it's my key

if I was playing my guitar

I probably be in g the chances are

but here's another song in c

with my favorite protagonist: me

of my little world I'll tell and show

I'll sing all about it so you'll know

the people in it break my heart

and my little world can fall apart

and there's not a thing I can do

except to sing in c to you

o there used to be a family

brother sister father mother and me

we were living in our little home

we were fending off the great unknown

but the great unknown it got inside

and what happened oh it did divide

in the end the father had to leave

when he did the mother had to grieve

that's the time real trouble starts

it's when a world can fall apart

and there's not a thing I can do

except to sing in c to you

I grew up and had a family

and it broke apart so easily

all that started 30 years ago

why it's never ended I don't know

I could blame it on the great unknown

and as a kid what I was told and shown

but I blame myself and I blame her

the cruel and foolish people that we were

and the children that we had are grown

they're out fending off their great unknown

and I've noticed they're a bit like me

with a tendency to to sing in c

So by now it's clear to here I know

I don't play a lot of pee-an-oh

but sometimes a fella has to sit

just to sing about the heavy shit

and the great unknown's a hurricane

with howling wind and floods and driving rain

you might make it through, but you don't know

if right behind it there's a tornado

and if families didn't break apart

I suppose there'd be no need for art

o but you and I know they do

so I sing in c to you

I love this song. I heard it for the first time at the concert; after listening to it, it takes me awhile to drag myself back into the real world. And by that I mean; when he sings, I feel my mind GOING to "the great unknown," - a less romantic way of putting it might be that I'm spacing out, but I like putting it that way - and when the singing stops I find it hard to connect and re-align my brain and eyes.

Anyhow my POINT is in the midst of my lower mood this image of the isolated fairy tale maiden and the real-life man singing of his broken family seemed to belong next to each other, though in fact in "The Enchanter's Daughter" she is working to be reunited with her family and Loudon Wainwright's song speaks of how a family is never the same after parent's split... I think. Despite this apparent gaping disparity, I feel that both figures are majorly whistful - not just in a "Manifest Destiny" way of wanting the great unknown - ooo look lands I don't know I want to go there - not that kind.

Just this "heavy shit" - confusion, things getting mixed up. "Cruel and Foolish People." I may be missing Loudon Wainwright III's intended point but I feel this song is all about how this "Great Unknown" is indescribable and therefore terrifying - basically, a sort of gut feeling everyone has that they don't have everything under control. Which is exactly the problem the enchanter and witch from "The Enchanter's Daughter" and "Rapunzel" are severely infected with. They are all about control. When they lose control of the heroines, they become nasty, whereas at the beginning of the story they weren't necessarily the antagonists.

I've always liked to think that the essence of the "need for art" is when ambiguity is so menacing all you can do to defend yourself is throw a little ambiguity back (abstract art being the most exaggerated form of this approach). Fighting fire with fire.

I'm including these thoughts in this entry because I want to stress that the concept of the individual and it's relation to the concept of family is OVERWHELMING. I mean think about it; it's the entire question of the universe encapsulated. What's the difference between the group and the individual? What makes an individual part of a group? How many individuals make a group, are certain types of groups permanent - and if a group's number and arrangement of individuals can fluctuate, than what does that do to the identity of that group? Does it change it? I could go on, but I won't, and I now give you permission to give a sigh of relief.

And finally, back to the subject of the day, fathers. Though the magician only called his adopted daughter "Daughter" and she only called him "Father," for he didn't supply her with any other knowledge of names or anything, that's not really what I'm talking about here.

I just feel that, whether your family is breaking apart, or you are just learning that there is such a thing as "family" (as in the case of "Daughter" when the magician carelessly provides her with books to read), "The Great Unknown" is ever-present, and hopefully we can keep it in a more mystical form, as in the fairy tales... thinking of it as a mist, instead of a shadow; as a magical enigma, rather than a clogging smog. You get the gist.

(click on this for bigger size. you will thank me.)

I will never be a father; I'm pretty certain of that, being female and not predicting any future decision for a sex change. Therefore I probably shouldn't dwell too much on the essence of fatherness. However I would like to therefore point out that being a father is also an "unknown" to me. I always try to contradict E. M. Forster's theory that people, no matter how close, CAN'T ever completely connect, are incapable of any successful communication - I'm especially thinking of his "Howard's End" with the quote he provides, "only connect...". Though my father has more unknown variables in his identity than anyone else in my nuclear family, being the only male, I always hope that connection is possible, if only on the level of Loudon Wainwright's "Great Unknown."

Okay, enough with the ambiguity fighting ambiguity! Let's get back to LOUDON WAINWRIGHT and the awesome concert he held. Keep in mind; I highly admire his lyrics as well as his melodies. If you choose to watch all of the videos I provide, I hope you will listen to the lyrics as well.

THE CONCERT.

Since I've written so much already I don't think I will write about how each song connects to my type of feminism, since I already covered my favorite "Another Song in C."

Basically I've included videos I found of him playing live of the songs I heard him sing live at that concert.

I was disappointed that we weren't allowed to take pictures of the concert - for of course I'd brought a camera - however thank God somebody out there either broke the rules or had special permission and I found these!

This last one is him and his daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche. I didn't know about her (b/c I was quite excusively an admirer of Loudon Wainwright) but they surprised the whole audience with an impromptu decision to have her open the show and I excessively enjoyed it, - though I still kept thinking, how long till Loudon? (Mostly because she hadn't been in the original program. But seriously - she was amazing, and has very much inherited Loudon's sense of humor - all I kept overhearing during the intermission was "she's so funny" - at least ten times! She sang a song about Coney Island that made me happy inside. Doesn't seem to be "out" to buy yet though.)

Pictures (hopefully legally) provided by Joel Dana Stern.

The only two songs I couldn't find:

-simon and garfunkel cover he was still working on with Lucy

-song about family and specifcally his being newly a grandpa (can't find it anywhere! I think he must not have published it yet or w/e)

Okay here we go!

Can't seem to find an actual video for this one but the song is great, though I don't completely get it.

Got this from youtube but the embedding was disabled and I could not easily find any other live performance video which is excessively strange considering its poularity - the only videos are of the song in the background of reels of children's babies. Huh.

"Charlie never recorded this 1897 gospel song, but is said to have played it as a regular part of his shows."

Okay, so to close here is another favorite of mine that he didn't sing that night.

... I put it in this video of mine (if you click play it'll start at the part of the video which plays "Gray in LA").

Okay! So, see you VERY soon, as I have literally nineteen drafts dating back to January that are most of them three quarters done, no lie - I WISH I was joking - and I am determined to get them out of my draft space and into cyber space! (Too cheesy? I'll come up with something better next time.)

So long, here's hoping the next entry isn't THIS long,

-Just Call Me Jo

P.S. This (below) is supposed to be "Daughter" looking down at Loudon Wainwright's official website with approval and awe, and Loudon from his site looking back up with a mutual feeling, just so you know.

P.P.S. An EXCELLENT Father's Day Poem written by the little sister. Surprisingly relevant to the theme of this entry (yes there was one) of the possible link between Fathers and "The Great Unknown."