Lipsynch review

This is a play review. The play is about, among other things, rape and prostitution. This review may not be a reading experience everyone wants to have (both for my furious incoherence and the fact that at least one scene description herein is triggery as hell). You've been warned.

Yesterday, Patty and I went to see Lipsynch at BAM. This was essentially 10 hours of theater presented on a single day and while it was one of the most technically perfect things I've ever seen (smart, fascinating sets, amazing performances and really tight structure using a format (separate stories come together) that usually doesn't work well), it was also one of the most offensive.

If you pause now, to look up some reviews of this thing, you'll see lots of people calling it "a play about exploitation that isn't exploitative" (Patty found that one last night), but we were both pretty appalled by it, and ultimately, I thought it was more a product of (and a capitulation to) rape culture than anything about fighting or exposing the same.

( a long fucking plot summary that begins to highlight some of the problems and may or may not make any of this post make sense )

Okay, that leaves a lot out, but that should be enough for the following rant to make sense (and you know I'm pissed when I number my points):

( rape, rape, rape, prostitutes, rape, a woman's only function is to mother, but it's the men who need our sympathy! )

I'm really not doing this justice, but holy shit, the offensive messages of this clusterfuck included the idea that only "mentally ill people can be artists," (also that "all mentally ill people are artists") and that we should feel sympathy and compassion for men in privileged positions (doctors, executives) when the women that are subordinate to them rebuff their advances. The play lied repeatedly about the realities of sex work and glamorized and eroticized it even at its most brutal levels. It repeatedly informed us that male pain was more important than female pain, that women were designed to endure and sacrifice and that when rape happens to men it's more important than rape that happens to women.

And then, at the end, instead of saying "wow, the whole planet is fucked up no matter who you are" or saying "ugh, this is horrible how we treat people and the double standards" it told us this was all a beautiful noble thing and we must love women for their great sacrifices on the altar of ... something.

I have never so wanted to punch a play in the face.

sundries

So it turns out the tenants association for our building and a few others that has been suing the landlord is responsible for this whole receivership thing. They say it is good news and part of what they wanted in a flier under the door last night. So I'm going to go to the tenants' meeting on Wednesday to get a handle on things.

redstapler has made my NaNo project better but introducing me to She-Hulk. Because seriously? Media con bedroom farce chick-lit is only made better by the application of tell-tale green make-up smears. Oh Evan (yes, main male character now has a name), I'm so sorry!

Speaking of NaNo, the first NYC meetup is tonight, but am not sure if I'll get there.

Speaking of writing a book, I remember seeing some software for Mac recently designed to help in that it accommodates outlines, chapter structure, notes, etc. in a really awesome way. Anyone know what I'm talking about? What is it and where can I get it? Found!

Tried out Betty Crocker gluten-free brownies this weekend and They Are Awesome.

Some random woman I got into a thing with on newyorkers a while back because she wanted to know if the neighborhood we all now live in was safe for a "young, married, white woman" has posted again. This time, her flat is haunted. While I believe in these sorts of things (as I've seen some stuff), you can imagine my internal commentary that I will not repeat here.

A number of different ad categories are banned on this journal -- these include weight-loss ads and anti-gay ads. If you happen to see either, please take a moment and let me know so that I can make sure the bans aren't being evaded (and can be tweaked if they are). Thank you!

More as it happens!

here, have some fail

Apparently women and queers are ruining SF.

Torchwood gets a not insignificant amount of text, and, sadly, Dirk Benedict is referenced. If you're thinking this can't end well, you'd be right.

Maybe I'll actually pick it apart for your viewing pleasure later. But maybe I'll actually have something more useful to do instead, like ruining the genre with my homosexual girl-bits or the cock in my dresser drawer or something.

Tell me, SF-ruiners, what's on your agenda today?