Saturday, December 16, 2006

It's also a fruit...!

Ello All!
So recently this play I've been working on won the competition it was meant for. It's been pretty amazing as far as experiences go. There's been the obvious jubilation at winning, the fame(not bad at all) but most of all the sense of fulfillment you only feel at the end of a journey.
We started about 1 and a half maybe 2 months ago with a script I had written. For those who have seen that script, you already know, but for the others, you wouldn't believe it's the same play. What makes this 'creative' process so incredible is that no 1 person can be accredited with writing the play! Every cast member, or non member person who sold them carrots while they were working on the play has to get a share of the credit. It's impossible to have one final script because the beauty of a good script is that it can always change.
During practices I indulge myself in alot of improv dialogue which I just think of while backstage or even in the shower, and the reason is to make sure we don't get bored! If there's one thing the 2 and a half plays I've worked on have taught me, it's that the more open and relaxed a person is on stage, the better the performance. The improv I do is so that the hours of repeating lines and dialogue don't get boring, so that everytime you're up on stage you're not expecting anything and you just go out there bearing yourself wholly to the audience, no bother of who they are or what they think of you, while at the same time, bearing a complete sense of what they're thinking of you.
I've always held that any form of creativity or performance, music, painting, acting even blogging for that matter is the most fulfilling thing anyone could do. See the thing is, you're out there giving your all so that the audience can let you into their tiny little minds, so that maybe you can pry them open and let them feel a bit of the creativity you're trying to embrace!
Someone I know once said to me that they didn't 'get' what it was about sports that got to people. Naturally Anish was the first person I though of and all the discussions we've had over on his blog regarding passions made me want to do this post.
Why the post? I want to know about your passions- sports or acting or hell even gardening, just tell me why you feel so strongly for it! If we're lucky we may just 'get' each other in the end!
The stage is where my passion lies, that's one thing I'm more than certain of. Where does yours?
Let's go!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Home is where the dogs are!

ello once again all!
It's been a bit, I know but I'm back.
Home! Is it a location? Is it an object? I'm still trying to figure it out. I hate shifting. I don't mean just the days and days of packing and moving huge boxes, I don't even mean the cuts and duct tape burns you find on yourself once the day is done. What I mean is dealing with pulling out everything you've collected over the years or months or even days, and having to deal with letting the place theyve occupied till now go!
I always related home to something permanent. One thing that didn't change in the background of whatever was going on with you. You know, something you can take for granted. A few months ago I had to deal with losing this stability. The truth is it took me longer than I'm proud to admit to adjust to it and well get on with what I was doing. Having finally managed that, I'm taking things in retrospect.
I have met some incredible people by now, some you'd know some you wouldn't, few famous, most not. And from all of them, the ones I still keep close and the ones I can't, I've derived something. And some of them have really been the reason I yank myself through! (Read on you'll realise who you are.)
I've known people whose 'home' the stability in which they live has been a living hell of fear and hatred, of fights and cursing, of money problems and stress issues-fragility. And they have to live through it all, and you know what? they do! They deal with it.
I've known people who've switched homes, houses, schools, cities, even countries more than once and have had to accomodate entirely new lifestyles. Even just comparing how much theyve shifted to how much I have makes me want to stop complaining. And from all of them I've come to learn something every needs to know- home IS a location sometimes, home IS an object- a bag a cycle a phone a computer at times but the truth about thsi concept of home is:
It's in your head.
It's your perception of things, it's how you see things around you, how you deal with things, home is your mind! It's the one thing that'll never change unless you choose to let it change! It's the one thing that DOESN'T leave you! Neighbours change, wallpapers change, parents fight, money comes and money goes but the one place you can and well do always get to stay in is your mind!
Home is something I still struggle to define physically atleast and perhaps always will, but it's something I've learnt alot of people have either wanted not to deal with and had to, or never been able to deal with.
So once again, the anonymous rule still holds. Don't give a name if it helps you open up, It doesn't matter. All I want is for anyone who reads this post to see what I've seen or then tell me about what they've seen.
Let's start.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Gay? so?

ello all!
I have kissed a man! Yes I have and no it doesn't bother me. I hate though, the presumption that it should bother me. I am willing to believe that we live in a time when we accept gay people. Yes we'll accept that they exist and that they go about their way. We will not frown upon them, or spit on them for that matter, but I don't think we're quite at dealing with 'IT' yet!
About 3, maybe 4 years ago I found out that my uncle is gay. Id just thought he dressed a bit odd and maybe just didn't want to get married. In fact he was as married as it legally gets in America. I thought about it but never really absorbed it.
Anyway few years later I kissed a good friend of mine. It wasn't as if we'd had a passionate session together, more of a light peck on the lips in front of a lot of people. I said it was to freak people out, but the truth was I wanted to see if I had the guts. We've done it a few times after, these times though purely for freak out purposes, not because we enjoyed it but because everyone gets freaked out so easily!

HOYAY! is a term used for "homoerotic yay!" that I came across. It's TV lingo for avid fans of shows like One tree hill, and the OC and stuff. Basically they go through episodes and freeze frame them to see if theres anything HOYAY about it. The yay comes from Buffy, where Willow(who was gay) would say YAY! alot. Hence hoyay! and people will actually search for moments where two guys are hugging and stuff. There are seperate threads and forums dedicated to such 'evidence' of such 'activities.'
Here's something more, this 12 yr old I was talking to, bear in mind that's 8th grade, mid conversation asked me if I was gay. My reply was 'there are times' which had her and alot of her other friends exasperated. She then went on to ask for a 'vomit bag' and in fact did look a bit sickened.
WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH US?
Why is it so strange to deal with it?! Why is it an 'it'? I fail to understand why when a gay person, or hoyay, or a poem with the word 'gay', comes we suddenly prick our ears up. Why is it so strange!?
The point of my post is this:
Comment on this anonymously if you want to, don't worry about it. But I am asking, in fact challenging ANYONE who reads this to come up with ONE good reason why it should be so weird for us. Why they should be called 'queer'! If you're against 'it' please come forward and say it even if it's anonymously. Most of all though don't say you're accepting if you're not.
I've heard the churches say it's because it was Adam and Eve. not Adam and everett. It's only natural. I've heard people say even Darwin's theory of evolution supports it. I've heard it all, and nothing can explain it. It's a genetic coding in a person that makes them hetro/homo. It's as natural as it gets. Evolution?! this is it! There ARE gay animals, so what if baby's don't come out.
My dream is this:
Have a gay dream and don't care!
Don't care about whether a man or woman is gay or not.
People like Will Young not being afraid to say they're gay.
My dream is for me to not have to blog on this. My dream is for me to not feel like I'm gloating about being accepting when I blog about this.
Have an opinion, fine, have something to back it!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

In your own world...

ello all!
Alright so today we had our English literature exam. I love English literature. I think it's the one subject that can make you think big, beyond - IMAGINE! My reservations with regard to how we're taught notwithstanding, this poem we just studied is about how we should value our creativity more and I'm going to apply that to this post!
Alright a little over a year ago, while I was out with someone, can't remember who but I'm sure Tejas was there, I came up with a concept. A nonsensical concept. One that in no way added to my intellect or ability! The best kind!
The concept was this: A world where all the words people spoke, came out not as sounds, but instead as actual tangible alphabets! yes large white letters would be flying around and ofcourse they would enter the ears of whoever intended for. People could stop sentences from reaching someone else by intercepting it with another word! Urgent tones would be in italics! Angry could be red!
Now I beg of you all not to question this world of mine. Don't try and see if it's logical or not, just imagine it!
The point of this post is this- most of you are studying, busy or in some way stressed. I don't know if this is apt blog lingo but SCREW IT! Leave your pointless world in the comments, use your imagination, open up the doors of 'riduculous'! Do try!
Temple trample!

"I never done it, but if I did..."

ello All!
Newspapers like City Times are pretty much crap unless random snippets of news that'll only hinder your intellect is your thing. However they are able to hit the B for bizzare chord every once in a way!
I have for a while now tried to avoid being surprised by anything in a very 'accept all' kind of way. As a wise man once said- Ain't happenin' man!
O.J. Simpson was a major league footballer(american not the real stuff) back in the early 90s. However the real reason he shot to fame (and even got a couple of roles in movies), was the highly controversial murder case he was involved in in 1994. His wife Nicola and her 'friend'(i love diplomacy) Ronald were found brutally murdered and naturally the cheif suspect was OJ. Johnny Cochrane his attorney also shot to fame during the trial because despite all the evidence pointing towards OJ, he got him off the hook. The public was quite appalled and naturally, OJ went on to live a life being covered in all newspapers. Last few years though he's been out of the news and NOW he's wiggled his way back into the spotlight in one H E L L of a way!
FOX news(honesty anyone?) are about to air and release interviews with OJ simpson to coincide with the release of his book. The campaign is called 'IF I DID IT'. Yes! This guy has written a book and given interviews - in depth, describing how he WOULD have murdered his wife and 'friend'!The book, "hypothetically describes how the murders would have been committed." He has actually come out and said "if i did it, this is how Id have done it!!" Funny how little by little the musical Chicago comes to reality!
I haven't seen much coverage of the book and interviews and frankly I'm a little glad but I was quite frankly awestruck.
Perhaps not the most apt post with regard to the blog name, but it's just something interesting I came across. Hopefully I'll post regularly and make Anish proud. Do comment on this and tell me what you think and maybe if you know a bit more on the subject, do share. Till then,
Tripping trampolines to Tigerland!