Masquerade

I thought I would give you all something original. Since there's poetry flying everywhere, here is a short story I wrote towards the end of my senior year.

She danced across the ball room, her red dress flowing out around her as she whirled from partner to partner. She flowed from masked man to masked man as seamlessly as the music that accompanied her, never once missing a beat. Her face was hidden behind a gold trimmed silver butterfly, its wings decorated with feathers that tickled her ears. She glided across the dance floor, white mask after white mask flashing before her eyes. She cared not who these men were, nor did they care who she was, tonight was all about the music, and the dancing, as it should be.

She felt him before she saw him. His presence was made known to her by the beating of her heart, suddenly wild and out of sync with the music. She stopped and the music stopped with her, as if they were connected. Her partner continued a step, letting her go as she turned to stare. Even the gold mask that covered his face could not hide him from her. The crowd seemed to part as he strode towards her, his swagger ever bit justified by his status. He offered her his hand and she took it, powerless to resist.

“Dance with me.”

His command was answered immediately with movement. Her feet followed his lead without her willing them to, gliding into the next dance as the music started up once more. She continued to stare as he moved her, hand pressed against the small of her back, fingers squeezing hers, eyes dancing along with their bodies.

“I told you,” he said. “You can’t hide forever.”

“I can try,” she replied. “I don’t want to go back.”

“You don’t have a choice.” he said, twirling her before pulling her into a dip. “I played your game, now we play mine.”

She noticed now that everyone was watching them. As he swung her back into the dance, they were alone on the floor, alone with the music.

“This was meant to be,” he told her. “We were destined for this.”

“Destiny is for mortals,” she replied. “We should be able to choose our fate.”

He laughed at her. “Fate is bigger than even us,” he told her. “You of all people should know that.”

The music slowed and their movements slowed with it. Soon they were standing in the center of the floor.

“It’s time to go,” he said. He leaned in and kissed her on the lips. “And this time, there is no running away.”

She blinked, her vision blurring. “You didn’t…” she said, her body quickly growing numb.

“I did.” he smiled as blackness closed in on her. Her mask fell from her face as she went limp in his arms. He didn’t bother to pick it up as he left with her.

As much as I tried, I just couldn't be creative. Don't know if it's the massive amounts of food and alcohol I consumed on account of Thanksgiving, the fact that I am sleep deprived beyond common sense, or maybe the Law & Order: UK marathon on right now, but I think I really just want to take a piece of Kate's pie and give you some spoken word.
I saw Poetri in a little old building in LA once during a slam competition, he's pretty entertaining




Adios muchachos

Tuesday invasion!

Since I missed out on Saturday (where did that day go? I am still wondering) I am going to, once again, throw something lovely your way to attempt to make up for it.





I really don't have much to say about these, except that their truth gives them beauty.

Creative Writing is Creative

You know what drives me crazy? When I complain about writing essays and the people around me respond with “You’re a writer, this should be easy for you.” STFU please, there’s a big difference between essay writing and creative writing. It bugs me so much when people assume because I’m good at writing creatively that I excel at essay writing as well.

I’ve been working on a research paper for the past few months. I hate it with a passion by now. Towards the beginning my English comp. class the 34-year-old guy beside me decided he and I were going to be buddies. Naturally the first things we discussed were writing and English and the like. I really do enjoy English most of the time. I love the library and I love to write. He hates all three of these things. So as soon as we start working on essay writing and the research paper what do you think comes out of his mouth? “This should be easy for you.” Somehow I managed not to smack him.

It’s not that essays can’t be creative. It’s true that a lot of them are very creatively written. But when you’re pushed into the little box called MLA format things get trickier and trickier. I find it stifling to try and convey information that’s somehow relevant to my topic, sum it all up in a sentence or two in the first paragraph and then be constantly worried about format the entire time I’m writing. It’s not my work, it’s barely even my words. I pretty much just steal all my information off different sources and cite it so it’s all legal. Fun? Not really. Creative? Hardly.

When I write creatively everything flows so much better. The page is mine to do whatever I want and I relish the freedom my fingers have to create. I control the world of the story, the poem, whatever, it’s mine and I am in power. No rules, unless I set them myself. No one is going to care if I use contractions or if I break the fourth wall or if my paragraphs don’t start with transitions. As long as the story is good and I tell it well, there will be no complaints.

Do you see the difference now? Restrictions and free range? Information vomit and imagination vomit? Yeah, that about sums it up. I also hate it immensely when I scored less than spectacular on standardized test writing and the comment “I thought you’d do better,” makes an appearance. Again I say, STFU. I’m a artist, not a machine.

Running with Scissors

“My mother began to go crazy. Not crazy in a let’s paint the kitchen bright red! sort of way. But crazy in a gas oven, toothpaste sandwich, I am God sort of way.”


If I were ever to feel that my upbringing was strange or that I did not have the best childhood; Running With Scissors is the quickest remedy to that brand of self-pity I can think of.
The story features Augusten Burroughs' displacement between his insane mother and her even more insane psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, who he is sent to live with and is eventually adopted by. The memoir is surreal, gritty and repulsive although heavily interjected with humor and wit.
Life never really looks up for Augusten throughout the story. His parents are violent towards each other, the relationship ending in a divorce and his mother having a mental breakdown. She seeks the help of a psychiatrist, who ends up being a creep who adopts his own patients and gives anti-psychotics out to his "family" like candy. Fourteen year old Augusten comes to terms with his sexuality, and comes out as being gay. He is then taken advantage of by a 30-something adopted "son" of Dr. Finch who encourages the relationship. The people occupying Dr. Finch's household eat dog food, shit on the floor, leave their Christmas tree up until May and believe God communicates through bowel movements. The children have no rules, and are free to tear down the ceiling, do drugs and skip school. When Augusten decides he does not want to return to sixth grade, the doctor assists him in faking a suicide attempt so he can take a leave of absence.
Augusten breaks his ties with the Finch family at seventeen when he learns that his mother was being abused by her therapist.
At some point, I was waiting for Augusten to wake from a dream or a drugged stupor. Although I know I picked this book out of the nonfiction section; I just can't imagine it being real. But they fact-check this stuff, right?

Thinking is Hard

Do you ever feel like you’ve hit a wall? I’ve been getting that feeling a lot lately. I can write perfectly fine for a few days straight and then, *poof* a wall appears and I crash into it at full speed. Kind of painful, that. So what do you do when you’ve hit that magically appearing wall?

First I sit and stare for a while. Usually at the screen, sometimes at the wall, sometimes at the ceiling. It depends, really on how long I stare and how I’m feeling while I stare. There’s a mirror on the closet door at the end of my bed that I’ll stare at if I don’t mind looking at myself that day. While I stare I let my mind wander. Sometimes it goes somewhere, sometimes it doesn’t.

If my mind wanders nowhere in particular, I’ll switch to deviantART. Good old DA holds many treasures to be found from photography to fan fiction. I’ve found several rather inspiring pieces on DA and managed to pull stories from a few as well. If I’m lucky, I’ll find a piece that’s not already attached to a story. I hate using fan art or character pieces for my inspiration. Something about making them my own just feels wrong.

Even deviantART fails me more often than not, though and I must turn to something else. Free writing sometimes helps but it usually just leads to a bunch of rambling words that make little to no sense… you know, like most of my writing. The thing that I find helps most when I can’t think of anything to write, or when I can’t quite figure out how to proceed is vomiting plot on the nearest acquaintance and hoping the spew something back at me. It actually works pretty well. I find that when I talk about my stories or ideas to other people they usually have something good to add to it. If I happen to be talking to another writer, which is about 98.89% of the time, I might even get straight out suggestions. I probably get on my friends nerves all the time, but meh, I’m sure they understand. This is my process. Let other people think for me.

Ofra Haza - Kaddish

Ofra Haza has probably the most flawless voice I've ever heard. I remember watching The Prince of Egypt when I was eight or nine, and Moses' mother's voice just killed me. I saw that movie again recently; through some not-so-exhausting googling I discovered that Ofra Haza had voiced Yocheved. Wikipedia told me that Ofra had dedicated her fame to forging relations between Israelis and her Arab neighbors before she died far too soon of AIDS in 1990.

In this video, she is singing Kaddish: the Jewish prayer of mourning, often for the dead. In Elie Wiesel's devestating account of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, he describes a rabbi leading prisoners in a wailing recitation of Kaddish; later, they stop saying it or even remembering it.

The highest ranked comment on the YouTube video?

Ofra God bless you, have mercy on him and admits you to the committee!!You are my sister in humanity and in the consolidation of Allaah!

رحمك الله يا عفراء رحمة واسعة وأدخلك في جنته !!

أنت أختي في الإنسانية وفي توحيد الله !!

A Muslim praising Ofra's work to unite the Middle East twenty years after her death.

I taste hope.

Who needs titles, anyway? It's comics time.

Internet Darlings, I must admit, I have been slacking with my posts. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa. I solemnly swear to attempt to do better. Today I will be taking you on a whirlwind tour of one of my favorite pastimes: comic books. I know, I can hear you now, in your squeaky little voices, "But comics aren't art, Kate. I thought this blog was about art. Blah blah blah." If you think that, my lovelies, you have obviously been reading the wrong comics. There are some gorgeous illustrations, and extremely sophisticated story lines out there. Here is a list of some of my favorite books/series, in no particular order.

Ghostopolis -Doug TenNapel

Ghostopolis is a whimsical story about the afterlife, centered around a youg boy mistakenly sent to the land of the dead, and the efforts of those still on “the other side” to retrieve him. Everybody from my roommate to my father enjoys this story.

Y: The Last Man - Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra

Y is an interesting variation on the idea of the last man on earth. And by man, I mean literal Y chromosome, not human.

Oh, and it pays tribute to Mary Shelley. So read it.

V for Vendetta - Alan Moore

People should not fear their governments; governments should fear their people. As with most of Alan Moore’s work, V for Vendetta is deeply political, and has a complex storyline.

Also, Guy Fawkes is a major theme. And Guy Fawkes Day is my favorite holiday. So it gives me another reason to love it.

The Sandman - Neil Gaiman

Oh, The Sandman. At the tender age of twelve or so, I stumbled across the Sandman series in my older brothers room, and have been hooked since. Set in the DC universe, The Sandman blends mythology, folklore, and a few familiar comic characters in a way that is impossible not to like.

Arkham Asylum - Grant Morrison

Since the 1980’s, Batman has been one of DC Comic’s darker heroes. He is also one of the few who does not possess superpowers of any sort. Arkham Asylum is an extremely dark psychological thriller, with amazing artwork (once again by Dave McKean). Read it, love it, have nightmares.

Pictures That Tick - Dave McKean

Pictures That Tick is brilliant series of short narratives with a very heavy emphasis on aesthetics. IT'S FREAKING DAVE MCKEAN, JUST READ IT.

Flink - Doug TenNapel

A young boy is stranded after the plane he is on crashes in the forest, and he is helped out by a Sasquatch named Flink.

Maus – Art Spiegelman

The story of the Holocaust retold with mice. It is heartbreaking.

It was also the first comic book to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Watchmen – Alan Moore

I know Watchmen is on everybody’s favorite comics list, but there is a reason for that. It revolutionized the way that comics were made, and was one of the first mainstream comics to employ dark and overtly political themes.

Power Up - Doug TenNapel

A charming story about a man who discovers a video game that lets him affect the real word. And it has this really fat cat named Moby in it.

I know I have mentioned Doug TenNapel a lot, but the man is a genius. And he created Earthworm Jim!

I could go on for hours about all the comic books I have read, but I feel like that might overwhelm you. So start with these and I promise to post another list eventually.

Are You A Boy Or A Girl?

This is by far my favorite spoken word poem I've ever seen (of which I totally did a remake). I saw her perform once in this grungy little cafe in Denver and it was amazing. I'm doing this because I love it and I can. It is an amazing note to leave you on this beautiful Friday night. And now I am off to party the night away con mi amigos

I, Too

I've been hearing Langston Hughes probably since I was born. I've had to recite this poem on numerous occasions for school and at home. I've grown to appreciate it instead of despise it, now that I understand it's meaning


I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table when company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

I didn't care much for the new video version of this musical, but I do enjoy Nikki Blonsky's voice to Ricki Lake's and Marissa Jaret's I must say. And this is probably my favorite song of the entire production



Hair is and has been one of the oddest musicals I've ever seen. When I was dancing in New York, this was the one I couldn't wrap my head around. It all feels out of place in just the right way. The movie adaptation leaves out a song or two just like any film would (although with "Rent" I'm still heartbroken over the exclusion of Joanne's 'We're Okay', but this is a rant for another time). And while the namesake song is itself quite entertaining, probably because I'm an Aquarius and there's a Black lady belting out like I will never be able to, this is number one on my list for

Life Is An Experiment

This movie is disturbing, shocking, and amazing. It definitely takes into account the basis of our humanity and the roots that can be planted to corrupt us. Personally I enjoy the original version, in German (which is totally helping me master this darn language); of course America has decided to remake a perfectly intriguingly creepy story. It's in my Netflix queue, but I'm not especially excited to see it. I think I really just want to criticize it in comparison to the original

Shameless

Who I am today is much different than the person in the first picture. That was 3 years ago; I've changed quite a bit. I'm even different than the person in the second picture, and that was only a month ago. I've always been quite fond of black and whites, of which I have many favorites. But instead of rattling off a list, I decided to shamelessly promote my own amateur stuff. It's obvious I have no qualms with my own nakedness, so enjoy, or don't

My Scout's Honor Is Seemingly Not Worth A Dime

It seems as though I've been a very bad girl. Besides the occasional Facebook update and email check, my internet life has been quite ignored. And for that I must apologize. Actually my friends, my family, and myself, have gotten away from me. I've been reading Shakespeare tragedies, watching movies galore, and immersing myself in music. So, throughout the day I will be posting a gaggle of things; there will be film clips, musicians, quotes, pictures, you name it. It's the least I can do considering my extended absence

Starlifur, Sigur Ros

When I wake up at 4am and can't go back to sleep, I often gravitate towards Sigur Ros music videos. I find the indie-esque Icelandic band fascinating. Beyond the (awesome) videography and melodies; I have found that there is something about listening to a language which I do not understand- the pitches, the words- all unfamiliar to me, that makes me fall small. It's this realization that I am nestled in my own cozy little corner of the world; and yet there are so many other ways of speaking, thinking and seeing that I haven't even been exposed to yet (or ever).

Introduction to Web Comics

I’ve been in a strange ‘top ten’ kind of mood. Why? I danno, but I figure, might as well roll with it. So I was thinking: What’s something you haven’t seen yet? Unless I missed something, which is entirely possible Web Comics is my answer! As a brief look into my personal history with the genre: I first got into web comics in my freshmen year of high school. My brother was really into them and was constantly suggesting them to him, so I finally gave in and started to look around. While we do read several of the same comics, only two in my top five are from his personal list. The rest I either found on my own or was directed to by a friend. So here are my top five favorite web comics!

Note: None of these are appropriate for little viewers. Just so ya know.

#5. No Need for Bushido http://noneedforbushido.com/

No Need for Bushido follows the story of a young Samurai by the name of Yurikiro Wataro and a princess by the name of Ina Senshin as they run around Feudal Japan. What starts as a simple escape attempt on the part of Ina, to get out of an arranged marriage, somehow turns into an epic adventure as the two, with some new friends, race to stop an oncoming war. Joining them is a blind Taoist priest who can’t go into bars for fear of bringing on the end of the world (long story) and has a tendency for “spewing absurd proverbs,” to quote the Wikipedia page, and a very angry ronin with a huge zanbatou who enjoys drinking, violence and Kabuki plays.

If the simple list of characters wasn’t enough to entice you, maybe the offer of random, over the top humor will. Aside from the wacky cast this comic sports an over dramatic sense of humor that really catches the eye. It pretty much makes fun of classic comic sound effects as well as your classic cliques. Our main character, for example is practically useless. He’s got a hero’s heart and a valiant spirit, but when it comes to fighting and other such tactics, he’s pretty lame. At the same time, he seems to have some incredible luck which manages to keep him alive for the most part. Ken, the ronin, on the other hand is badass in every way but completely immoral. He lives only to seek revenge for his clan but that doesn’t stop him from enjoying the… uh… finer things in life. If they need money, he beats the guy nearest to him and takes his money. If he can threaten something out of a person, he will. If he needs to beat them, that’s fine too. He doesn’t care, how it gets done, as long as it’s bloody… and gets done. Cho Teko, the Taoist priest is Chinese, blind and kind of airy, where you’d think he’d be a source of wisdom. He tries his best, throwing in nonsensical proverbs where ever he can. He’s an incredible fighter, however, and is unmistakably useful to the group. Ina… is Ina. She’s loud; pig headed, and probably has the most common sense. She can get kind of annoying, as all girls of her stereotype can, but she’s usually has a good reason for her complaints.

Sorry to treat this like a review, but it’s a good comic. You should totally go read it now. No Need for Bushido is supposed to update Mondays but it’s more like every other Monday.

#4

Red String is a romantic story of a modern day arranged marriage set in Japan. Our main character Miharu Ogawa is a strong willed high school girl who is often labeled as a “delinquent” for her bleached blond hair. Her family owns a successful restaurant, she has two best friends and a pretty good school. Life is good until her parents inform her that she’s been engaged to a boy she’s doesn’t remember since she was young. Upset, as anyone would naturally be, Miharu runs away to sulk when she runs into some random guy on the street and when he asks if she’s alright, she turns him into her cry pillow. He offers to be her boyfriend for the day, since her main upset is that she hasn’t even had a real relationship of her own yet. After their date ends in a kiss, she decides that she’s going to screw the arranged marriage and go out with mystery guy, only to find out that, SURPRISE!, mystery guy is her betrothed!

While this starts out as being Miharu’s story over the course of the comic we branch out to follow her friend’s Reika and Fuuko in their romantic endeavors as well. The name Red String comes from a story Miharu’s mother told her; everyone has a red string that connects them to their true love. The red string becomes a tangible symbol for Miharu of her love for Kazuo, her fiancé, even as things get hard. I know, it’s sappy and girly, but I love it. It’s got some great story arcs and a lot of great characters. But when all is said and done, it’s a high school romance story. So if you can stomach it, I recommend you read it. Red String updated every weekday except Friday.

#3

Again, a romance… set in Japan… yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but it was an accident, I swear! Anyway, this story is about a girl by the name of Yumi who is smart enough to get into a special high school. But of course her first day can’t go well, that’d be nonsense. So first thing she does is accidently run into the very angry lead singer of a visual kei band called Orochi and make him her mortal enemy. How you might ask? She looks like his dead mom. Moving on. Yumi manages to find two friends who are really hard core Orochi fans and fall in love with Orochi’s awesome drummer, Toshio. This means, of course, that she can’t avoid going to Orochi’s shows, but she also can’t be seen there. TIME FOR A DISGUISE!~ They dress her up all punk and fancy and manage to fool no one except the one person they were trying to fool. What are the odds? It works a little too well, though, because Angsty mcAngster-pants not only doesn’t recognize her, he actually forms a crush on her alter ego, while still loathing her with a deep passion.

Again, this is a high school romance, filled with high school drama. Still, it’s just as much Orochi’ story as it is Yumi’s and that’s why I like it, I think. We see the dynamics between the band members and their rivals as well as Yumi’s interaction with them and her struggle to form a strong relationship with Toshio while avoiding or coping with Miyabi (lead singer) and his buckets of rage and angst. Miyabi himself is one of the better characters in the comic. Yeah, he’s a douche bag, he’s an angst pot, he’s got a mouth on him and he’ll do anything to succeed. But he’s had a rough life and he’s not completely unrelatable (that’s totally a word. I don’t care what Microsoft says). He’s too much of a jerk to gain my full sympathy, but I do feel for him, at least a little.

As with Red String, The Way to Your Heart is obviously not for everyone. It’s still pretty good, though and highly amusing at times. It updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

#2

Guess what! This one isn’t set in Japan! I’m not actually sure where it’s set. It’s been a while since I read the beginning, but at any rate, it’s not Japan, so be happy. Hanna, naturally our main character, is a supernatural detective. He’s very light hearted, excitable and rather outspoken. He has a tendency to state the obvious, mostly because he pretty much says whatever comes to mind. Our story is narrated by a zombie without a name, often referred to as {…}. Since he can’t remember his name, Hanna just gives him a new one whenever it’s needed. I love {…} above all else. He is the yin to Hanna’s yang. {…} is quiet, calm, cool, and collected. He has a very observant personality, preferring to sit back and watch things unfold. He’s really only hanging out with Hanna because he has nothing else to do. He doesn’t know who raised him, how, or why. He also has the most wonderful comments to make about the story. There is a whole cast of fabulous characters joining our main heroes, but it would take forever to go through them and I would feel like I was slighting someone if I tried to pick out the most important. You’ll just have to read it for yourself to see them.

The art in this comic is something to take note of. In the beginning it was actually pretty colorful, but as it’s progressed the style has darkened to suit the mood, I guess. I love the coloring most, I think, as it really sets the tone of the comic. The style itself is somewhat abstract, getting creative with the appearances of some of the characters. It is something that pleases me greatly. This comic, above and beyond the previous two, has some of the most fantastic characters. There isn’t one among them that is not fantastic in one way or another. Hanna Is Not A Boy’s Name does not have an update schedule. It is, however on Deviant Art as well, if you would like to find it there. The author’s account name is vert-is-ninja.

#1

So, in a shocking twist of events, my number one favorite web comic is NOT a romance or set in Japan! Crazy! I know! It is, however, a huge geek fest. For those of you who are familiar with the soul sucking life consuming thing that is World of Warcraft this title holds some great meaning that I don’t understand. That is, however, the beauty of this comic. You don’t have to be a fan of the game to enjoy the insane comedy that is LFG. It does help though.

Basically what’s going on here is we have this elf named Cale who is good and pure and noble and everything that elves shouldn’t be. We also have an undead warlock named Richard who likes to kill things. That’s about as deep as it gets for him. Cale is out to do good and prove that elves aren’t all evil as is the common belief. After getting to know Richard for a little bit, being incinerated by Richard, being healed by a priestess of unknown origins, and fighting his way out of a mass of ‘defenders of the realm,’ we get our main quest, which will, inevitably spiral out of control until we’ve completely forgotten what the original quest was in all the insanity and hijinx.

Really, there’s only one reason to read this comic, and that is to watch Richard kill things in creative and amusing ways. Really, Richard is the most hilarious homicidal maniac you will ever meet and I love him with a deep burning passion that will never die. He somehow had managed not to kill Cale or the others, though he has, on numerous occasions, made a casual attempt. He’s dead, so he can do pretty much whatever he wants. The group members at one point take turns cutting off his head just for fun.

The humor itself is kind of sick in this comic, and a lot of it is based in the game, but for the most part, an outsider, like myself, has no trouble keeping up and getting a great laugh out of it. The writers are not above a good pop culture reference here and there and, as unusual as it is in a comic, they enjoy a good musical number. Yeah, it’s some good stuff right there. This is easily my most favoritest web comic of all time. It started during my freshmen year and has missed exactly one update since then, and that was only because they were on tour in New Zealand or something like that. To EVERYONE I say, GO READ IT NOW!~ LFG updates on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I’m so sorry this came out so long. To make up for it, here’s Richard singing to make you happy again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcbazH6aE2g