Festival! Forks!

Right now, Ithaca Fest is going on here in upstate New York. One of my roommates and I wandered around for a little bit, eating general tso's chicken from a little booth. Festivals always bring out the most interesting people--I saw a woman who was legitimately dressed like a colorful witch in the 85 degree weather.

At one point we were eating our food and this old woman asked if the chairs next to us were taken and when we said no she sat down right next to us, not moving the chair or anything, and struck up a conversation with us about her spinach curry and the weather. She was sweet though.

Anyway, we walked into a new thrift store and I got a pencil-style dress for 6 dollars and then we headed down the street. The coolest thing we came across was this:

Incase you're wondering, yes, that is a car made of forks. The guy at Fork-Art had everything from little people made of forks playing instruments, to the grim reaper, to a spoon in a coffin, to jewelry. So cool.

This one was awesome too:

This is the first summer of my life where I've discovered how cool fork art is-- Too bad I don't know how to do it. It'd definitely be something cool to try!

This American Life, Busses, Road Trips, and the Transitional State

This weekend I traveled to a different part of New York by bus since I'm (happily) car-less right now (go public transit!). This morning, I had to wake up at 4:30am because I had to work at 6:30am and found myself listening to This American Life, a radio show that interviews different people about their experiences on any given topic, as a way to wake me up before a nine hour shift. It wasn't like there was anyone on Facebook chat to talk to or anyone I could text.

This particular broadcast focused around road trips, which was fitting since I had just been on a road trip of my own only the day before. The first guy they interviewed was Dishwasher Pete, a man who traveled across the country via greyhound bus, washing dishes as he went as a way to support himself. He published a book about it, Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States, and was also the author of a zine.

This American Life gave Dishwasher Pete some equipment and sent him out to prove a theory he had: That people on greyhound busses were in some type of transitional state where they were deep in thought and in the middle of a grandiose story/journey.

I couldn't agree with him more. I don't really mind long bus rides (I was on a bus for a total of 10 hours this weekend). I love thinking of where I'm going, where I've been, and I love watching the scenery as it rolls by. I've had some pretty scary bus experiences, where I've sat next to some pretty terrifying individuals--ones who told excessively violent stories, for example. But I've sat next to some nice passengers too. I've seen passengers bring kids on busses. I've seen them bring pets. And we're all stuck together for x amount of hours, watching the scenery fly by.

When Dishwasher Pete took a tape recorder on the bus with him, he couldn't really talk to any passengers that were in transition. Some didn't trust him, because of his radio equipment, and he couldn't really find anyone in a transitional state. He grew to dislike the bus, after having spent so much time on it.

I remember a particularly long bus trip that my friend Charlie and I were on about two years ago. We would be dying to get off the bus, and then we'd get off the bus at a rest stop, and all we would want to do was get back on the bus. We joked that the bus was basically like what growing up in New Jersey was like-- You'd want to get the hell out, and then you'd get out, and you'd feel like there was nothing to do except go back.

But all joking aside, I think what This American Life was getting at is that busses and road trips can be seen as these end-all be-all experiences where people's lives will be in transition and they will actually come out of them transformed.

The thing is, though, that every time I've been on a bus, I've thought of all these great things I was going to do when I get off the bus. And I don't really do them. Maybe it's easy to be in an transitional state when you're moving, but once your feet hit the ground after you step out of the vehicle, even if you're hundreds of miles away from home, 9/10 times your life hasn't changed that much.

The broadcasted episode was really great, and if you want you can get it here or subscribe to their podcast on itunes.

Bridging the Generation Gap-- Clueless and the Golden Girls

Clueless is probably my favorite teen movie ever. My birthday was Clueless themed.

Also, I grew up on the Golden Girls and would watch it with my mother. Everyone in my family loved that show, including my grandpa, which was sort of strange. Lately, Betty White has been huge on the teen/young adult circuit, and the newest development has been this:

Clueless Meets the Golden Girls

Honestly, this was kind of a pointless post, but I feel like I need to pass this link around through as many avenues as possible.

Enjoy!

Something About Being 20

One of the things I've noticed about living in a new place is how amused I get by stupid errands. I think I feel like I'm playing house, and although I lived in the exact same apartment during the school year, I suddenly feel more inclined to do apartment-y things. I just color coordinated my closet for no real reason, and today I found walking to the grocery store super fulfilling. I'm not really all that domestic of a person, and I feel like I'm sort of just playing house. During the school year I was too busy to really focus on taking care of myself--like trying to eat really healthy and going for walks to get exercise. And now that I can it's new and exciting. Maybe I'm just a little kid who likes living in a kind of fantasy land where I'm playing adult--going to work and cooking good meals.

That's the thing about being 20, you're just kind of floating in this place where you're not financially independent, really, or not old enough to go to bars but you're out of high school and conceivably "more mature."

Yesterday, my roommate, our friend and I went to see Sex and the City 2 to see for ourselves how much of a shit show it was going to be (plot was better than I was expecting, but it was sort of racist which really pissed me off). There were these girls sitting in front of us (they came in a pack of like 10-12) and the three of us started to take bets on whether or not they were seniors in high school or college students. They ended up having just graduated from college, and I could've sworn they were all 17.

One of them let out a high-pitched excited scream during a Twilight trailer. When my friends and I started laughing hysterically at the overly-dramatic trailer a few of them turned around and gave us pissed off looks and one actually said, "I don't understand why it's so funny that I turned around." We told her that we were laughing at Twilight and I felt like I was in the tenth grade during the whole awkward exchange.

But the thing is, they were older than all of us and on their way to having actual Adult Lives and living in The Real World and not just playing house but one step closer to owning a house.

I feel like I spend my time feeling totally split between the younger-young adult world and the older-young adult world. I can hang out with people who are 24-26 and feel totally comfortable, but couldn't go out for them with a drink if I wanted to and I don't work full time and I'm still a student, and suddenly the differences seem more extreme.

And I'm not even really complaining. I don't find anything unappealing about playing house and being twenty, but I can't help but wonder: When I was 11, I felt in between a teen and a kid; when I was 14, I felt in between a middle schooler and a high schooler; when I was 17, I felt in between a senior in high school and a freshman in college. And now I feel in between again. When I'm 30, will I just feel in between my 20s and my 40s? They say the awkward, growing years are supposed to end once you're out of your teens, but I'm not really sure if I believe them. Most of the adults I know seem to be in between different milestones, and just go on living their lives neither here nor there.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey Returns

The show is back! For some reason last summer I watched more reality TV than I'd like to admit to. It rained a lot and I had nothing else to do, which is my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Real Housewives was discussed A LOT back in my home state. I discussed it with other people who don't really watch reality TV; I discussed it with my neighbors; I discussed it with my family.

So I'm really glad it's back. I've seriously started to doubt that the show reflects any type of reality of the New Jersey suburbanites on the show. They all say that the drama of the last season really hurt them and was hard on their lives, yet they decided to come back for a round two.

For example, Jacqueline's husband wanted her to stop talking to Danielle. Why the change? What happened in the time between the seasons that made him want to do that? Was it scripted or legitimate?

But, I mean, I don't really think that reality shows are ever that reflective of reality. The goal is to get viewers, and sometimes reality is pretty dull. So it's better to just look at reality TV as entertainment.

My fingers are crossed that new situations will crop up and that it won't necessarily just be the book drama drawn out for another season. 'Cause as entertaining as that was, I'm not sure if it can carry another whole season.

All in all though, the first episode was funny and entertaining and drama-filled.

A hilarious highlight for me was when Teresa's family was making tomatoes and they asked a woman with them if she was on her period. It's an old Italian tradition that my Italian family has joked about that you're not supposed to make bread sauce on your period.

Some other happenings include a fancy dinner at Caroline's place, Jacqueline having her baby, and Danielle still being conflicted about her feelings concerning the book drama.

Reduced Shakespeare Company

I'm a fan of Shakespeare, which I know doesn't really set me apart from most people. Some people hate Shakespeare, which I don't really understand, but most people can usually get into something Shakespearean; whether it's reading Hamlet to watching Romeo and Juliet with Leo or simply getting into Then Things I Hate About You when it comes on TBS. If you've been through any type of schooling, you probably have read some Shakespeare in English class. Or at least Sparknoted some Shakespeare for English class. Maybe you were required to memorize a sonnet; I know I was.

But I wish that when I was studying Shakespeare in English class when I was younger we had gone to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Reduced Shakespeare is a comedy troop that performs all 37 plays in 97 minutes.

I know, I know, it sounds impossible. But they do it, and it's hysterical. Reduced Shakespeare hits upon some weird area of humor that had the entire theater I was in laughing. First of all, they were taking long, wordy plays (sorry, Will) and making them short and funny. They began with an introduction then Romeo and Juliet which took up 12 minutes. Then the show moved on to Titus Andronicus which became a morbid, Silence of the Lambs type cooking show. They condensed all the comedies into one play and did the histories as a crown-passing football game. And they turned Othello into a rap. I won't even say what they did with Hamlet. You're going to have to go check out one of their performances for yourself. But it involved audience participation, so everyone watching got to become part of the show too.

Secondly, the play was funny because they didn't just utilize one type of humor. There was Abbot and Costello type humor, Monty Python type humor, bathroom humor, sexual humor and smart humor. When you think about it, Shakespeare used many different humor tactics in his plays; from the intelligent puns and dramatic irony to the sexual innuendos that the groundlings would understand. So, really, Reduced Shakespeare was just mimicking the master's style in an updated way--Reduced Shakespeare talked about Eric Massa (the ex-Congressman who discussed tickle fights with staff members on an interview with Glenn Beck); they quoted Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies." They were all-around freaking hilarious performers.

Their website is here and click here to watch the Othello rap. Try to check them out if they're in your area! And a word of advice: if you're gonna go, spend the extra few dollars to get seats up close. I was in the third row and felt that I would miss some of their facial expressions/have trouble seeing if something was on the floor if I had been sitting further back.