Before anything, I'd first like to give a shout out to my best friend Kat Yen as well as Ming Pieffer for a new play their theater company Spookfish Theatre is producing. Written by Ming Pieffer and directed by Kat Yen, Pornography for the People opens THIS Sunday evening.
"Sex! Surveillance! Censorship! "Pornography for the People" is an eclectic mash-up of interwoven stories of both real and fictional characters that navigates the trajectories of four Chinese "netizens" as they act out their fantasies and lives via the Internet. Mu Zi Mei is the notorious sex blogger whose fame and happiness dwindles as her anti-patriarchal lifestyle becomes an official target. Gordon is a British expat turned journalist whose research and sex life become dangerously entwined. Yi Yi is a farm girl turned do-it-yourself pornographer whose skewed views on sex play into her risky lifestyle. Mr. Lin is a respected magazine editor who becomes a public nuisance when his falsified online literary fame hits government officials a little too close to home. Inspired by real interviews, banned blog posts, government issued statements, news articles and scientific research, "Pornography for the People" is the first part of a trio of plays, entitled "Netizens," that attempts to understand worldwide policy-making (SOPA, Green Dam Youth Escort, etc.) and the prevalent censorship in today's increasingly technology-dependent social and economic spheres."
Other showtimes include Tuesday 8/28, Thurs 8/30, Fri 08/31, Sun 09/02, and you can get your tickets here. Support the arts!
"Sex! Surveillance! Censorship! "Pornography for the People" is an eclectic mash-up of interwoven stories of both real and fictional characters that navigates the trajectories of four Chinese "netizens" as they act out their fantasies and lives via the Internet. Mu Zi Mei is the notorious sex blogger whose fame and happiness dwindles as her anti-patriarchal lifestyle becomes an official target. Gordon is a British expat turned journalist whose research and sex life become dangerously entwined. Yi Yi is a farm girl turned do-it-yourself pornographer whose skewed views on sex play into her risky lifestyle. Mr. Lin is a respected magazine editor who becomes a public nuisance when his falsified online literary fame hits government officials a little too close to home. Inspired by real interviews, banned blog posts, government issued statements, news articles and scientific research, "Pornography for the People" is the first part of a trio of plays, entitled "Netizens," that attempts to understand worldwide policy-making (SOPA, Green Dam Youth Escort, etc.) and the prevalent censorship in today's increasingly technology-dependent social and economic spheres."
Other showtimes include Tuesday 8/28, Thurs 8/30, Fri 08/31, Sun 09/02, and you can get your tickets here. Support the arts!
Other than that, as many of you may know, I've recently moved in with Colin last month to a cozy apartment in NJ (still work in Manhattan though, so that's a bit of a commute every morning). Things are largely unpacked, and I've been increasingly domestic:
A project I had been meaning to do was to recreate in our new apartment (to a certain degree) the octopus mural I had done on the bedroom wall of Colin's previous apartment. When he moved out, he had to leave the mural behind, obviously:
To a certain degree I feel a bit of sadness when my paintings get painted over, though I'm used to it (my undergrad senior project/installation, for example). Surely the fate of this octopus is to be covered in a fresh new coat of white paint, and that's okay.
It was decided that the new octopuses would be done on canvas though, so 1) Colin can keep them for longer than the duration of our lease and 2) we wouldn't have to go through the hassle of painting the walls white when we leave.
Unfortunately the entire apartment is carpeted (dislike) so we're really paranoid about getting any paint drips anywhere, where'd have to pay fees upon moving out, I'm sure. As a semi-solutions, I have an area in the living room near the patio where I'm able to paint because we've put down a rug.
Work in progress:
It was decided that the new octopuses would be done on canvas though, so 1) Colin can keep them for longer than the duration of our lease and 2) we wouldn't have to go through the hassle of painting the walls white when we leave.
Unfortunately the entire apartment is carpeted (dislike) so we're really paranoid about getting any paint drips anywhere, where'd have to pay fees upon moving out, I'm sure. As a semi-solutions, I have an area in the living room near the patio where I'm able to paint because we've put down a rug.
Work in progress:
Completed and hung cyborg octopus with his ninja backup:
Next painting project will be two goofy portraits for the bedroom. In the meantime though, I'm also in the midst of planning a mini-roadtrip for Labor Day weekend, where we start in NJ and drive south, with the plan to hit a couple of historical sites along the route. With the stipulation being that we shouldn't drive for stretches more than 5 hours at a time, North Carolina is as far down as we anticipate being able to reach given our time constraints. Also steering clear of Charlotte, NC since that will be the week of the Democratic National Convention.
Rough plan:
Should be fun!