Chapter 226: Symphonies

Dan Black’s first single here in the US, called “Symphonies,” is kind of capturing my life at this moment. The song is gorgeous and really unique sounding. He sampled the drum loop from Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” which automatically gives the song a sense of familiarity but the gorgeous strings layered over these great, ethereal backing vocals and his kind of sing-song vocals never let you forget that it is something new and different from anything you’ve heard before. I am obsessed with this song right now. The chorus of the song, in particular, blows my mind. It simply states, “Give me, give me symphonies, Give me more than the life I see, Score adds up, Angels play, Let my loneliness get blown away, Give me, give me symphonies, Give me more than the life I see.” Yes, I can definitely relate to that at this point in time. It is strange. I’ll go into that more later, though. First, I wanted to discuss Dan Black a little first. I mentioned him in last night’s video blog but never really got to discuss him because I cut myself off with a time restriction that wound up not being necessary. Anyway, I discovered Dan Black when I saw him perform on Logo’s New Now Next Awards. My initial reaction, when seeing him on the red carpet special before the show, was “Damn, he’s hot!” Then I saw his performance of “Symphonies” and was like, “Oh shit, I need to check this guy out.” His sound has been dubbed “wonky pop” by the British press, although I’m not entirely sure what that means exactly. Other artists who fall under the label of “wonky pop,” include some of my favorite artists of the past few years, like Alphabeat, Annie, Little Boots, Frankmusik, La Roux, Pixie Lott, Ke$ha, Sam Sparro and even two of my very favorites, Girls Aloud and, the one and only Lady Gaga. So, he is definitely in good company, although I don’t really think his style is all that similar to any of those artists. His music is very unique. He relies very heavily on the method I described above where he samples something familiar but then makes it sound completely different. It is all very experimental sounding and his debut album, “Un,” is completely brilliant. It took a few listens to really get it but now I really can’t get enough of it. I don’t believe his album has had a US release yet but I definitely recommend taking note of that name and watching out for it because he is absolutely brilliant.

Anyway, I woke up this morning at 10am. I went to bed at a pretty decent hour last night, either just before or just after 2am, so I was feeling pretty well rested when I woke this morning. I got up and made myself an unusual breakfast. On Tuesday I made myself the most delicious breakfast in the world, chicken and waffles, and had a real craving for that again. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any chicken available so I figured I’d try some other type of meat with waffles. So, this morning I had hot dogs and waffles for breakfast. It worked out okay, as well, although nowhere near as delicious as chicken. I decided to catch up on some TV that I missed this week. It was mainly a few missed episodes of “Chelsea Lately,” and since I was in the comedienne mood, I watched Kathy Griffin’s appearance on “The Joy Behar Show” and the season premiere episode of “My Life On The D-List,” which was hilarious. I am a really huge fan of Kathy Griffin and have rarely ever been disappointed in anything she has done. So, I considered that a pretty decent way to spend the morning. Still, I knew that there was a dark cloud looming over my day: I needed to clean the house. My Mom was scheduled to arrive back in Florida tonight. She was flying into Fort Myers but wouldn’t be arriving until 10:30pm. The plan was for her to stay there tonight and then come home tomorrow morning. So, I knew I had today to get the house cleaned up before she got back because I likely wouldn’t have too much time in the morning before she actually gets home. There wasn’t much cleaning to be done, honestly. It basically came down to taking out trash and washing dishes. I also had some laundry to be done but that doesn’t really fall under the blanket of the cleaning that I needed to get done before my Mom came home. I was in no mood for cleaning earlier in the day, though, so I chose to ignore it.

After I ran out of comedienne stuff, I decided to throw in my most recent Netflix arrival, “Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls.” One of the first things I have to mention about this film is the fact that it was written by the most famous film critic in the world, Roger Ebert. It was directed by Russ Meyer, who is known for making cheesy sexploitation films, full of large breasted women and lesbian trysts, etc. This film definitely falls into that same style but is so much more than that. It was initially planned as a straight-forward sequel to “The Valley Of The Dolls,” but there was some disputes, as well as a pretty big lawsuit, with the author of the original novel, Jacqueline Susann, that did not allow for that to happen. So, instead, they decided to make this film almost a parody of the original. I don’t know that I would say that I liked this one better than the original but I definitely liked it every bit as much. This one was a lot more fun. This one was also completely insane. Of course, there were plenty of drugs involved, (although there was really only one scene involving the “dolls” of the original film,) but this film really took it up a notch in terms of sex, debauchery and gay/lesbian storylines. Not to spoil it or anything but the film does end with a tranny on a murderous rampage. Yes, that’s right, a tranny on a murder spree. What I found particularly fascinating about that whole thing was the fact that it was a female to male tranny. Even now, when trannies are brought up, you kind of automatically think of male to female. It seems like the idea of a transgendered individual was taboo enough for the time but having it be a female to male tranny makes it so much more fascinating to me. I was reading up a bit about the film and found out that many things, including the big reveal that this character was transgendered, were randomly decided by Russ Meyer on set while filming. It just seems like such an insane and brilliant way to make a film, just making random decisions that change the tone of the entire film on the spur of the moment while filming. As much as I recommend seeing the original, I kind of more urgently recommend seeing this one. It is one of the biggest mind-trips of a movie that I have ever seen and it is completely ridiculous, hilarious and brilliant.

After I finished that movie, I took a shower and shaved. Then I tried out a new makeup look, inspired by Miley Cyrus’ video for “Can’t Be Tamed,” which came out really awesome looking. It was a big, dramatic, over the top look only using two different shades of green. I don’t really know how to explain that properly but I really loved the look of it. I probably wouldn’t wear it out to work or something like that but would save it for a night out… if I EVER have a night out again. It has been a very long time since I’ve done that. When Rachel was over the other day we were talking about the fact that she and I need to plan a trip to Ybor City, the big party/club area in Tampa, and just have a crazy night of dancing and fun and scoping out boys. We also both decided that we need to find boyfriends although that is a very different story. Having a fun, crazy night in Ybor is a higher priority for me than that. It seriously has just been far too long since I have gone out to a gay bar and danced. I could really use that, I think. I then wasted a good hour of my life watching “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.” I never watch that show because I don’t find the Kardashians particularly interesting, although, I will admit that the son, Rob, is extremely attractive. In fact, Rob being extremely attractive is the only reason I wound up stuck to it for so long this evening. In this episode they all went to Vegas for Kim’s birthday and Rob and that dude who Kourtney is engaged or married to were drunk and half-naked pretty much the entire time, so I just couldn’t look away. I do think it is funny, though, that Kourtney is the least pretty one and she has the least pretty boyfriend/husband/whatever. Don’t get me wrong, Kourtney Kardashian is very pretty but she just has nothing special about her like her sisters, even if Khloe’s only real standout feature is the fact that she is “fat-pretty.” Her “fat-pretty” is prettier than Kourtney’s boring pretty. I don’t know why I am wasting even more time out of my life discussing this show. Finally, after 8pm, I figured I should start cleaning. My Mom asked me twice in times that I have talked to her if the house would be clean when she got home, so I knew that skipping out on cleaning was not an option. Like I said, it was a very small amount of cleaning to be done but for some reason I was just really dreading it. I put in my laundry and gathered up the trash to take out. Then I sat and watched this documentary, “Fabulous: A History Of Queer Cinema,” for an hour and a half. It was produced by IFC and was pretty interesting. I picked up a lot of interesting film suggestions from this movie, too. More than anything, it made me really want to rewatch all those old John Waters movies, which I haven’t seen in a really long time. So, there might be some additions to my Netflix Queue really soon. Speaking of additions to my Netflix Queue, the next thing that will be arriving, after I send back “Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls,” is “Starrbooty,” starring RuPaul as an undercover FBI agent/supermodel posing as a hooker. It sounds really over the top and I can’t wait to see it. I love pretty much anything with RuPaul involved, after all.

So, I finally heard from my Mom around 11pm when she called to tell me that she had made it to Florida okay. She also told me some really amazing news. Apparently this week, while her car was waiting at my brother’s house, he did some stuff to it. First of all, he did a really deep clean on the interior using some of his equipment from work, (he works for Chem Dry, cleaning carpets,) and got the oil changed for her. Best of all, though, he somehow managed to go out and get the air conditioning fixed. As I have mentioned a time or two in the past on this blog, a major stressor for my Mom has been the fact that summer is pretty well here and the air conditioning in her car hasn’t been working. Because she drives a hybrid, it is kind of hard to find people who can work on it and in our current financial state it is even harder to find the money to pay for it. Having that taken care of really means a lot to her and, as much as I haven’t said it aloud or anything, really means a lot to me. It is fucking hot out and when we got out for drives like we often do on the weekend and such, it gets extremely hot and sweaty. It will be so much better with the air conditioning working now, which is a very good thing because I already told my Mom that we need to go on a long drive once she gets back in order to listen to the new Scissor Sisters record. I have managed to hold off on listening to it up to this point but I am getting really anxious to hear it now. I really can’t wait and it is one of the first things on my personal agenda for tomorrow once she gets home. Speaking of my Mom, she text messaged me earlier this week with some really MAJOR news. I know I mentioned the week before last that she had an interview for a job with Sarasota County, which would pay considerably more than she makes, (and more than I make,) and would have much better benefits and such. It would also just be in a much more positive environment for her than where she is working currently, the place that shall not be named for security purposes. She said that her interview went well and that she was excited about the whole prospect. I don’t know why exactly but I just had a really great feeling about this job even before she had her interview. After she told me how well the interview went, I felt even better about it. On that interview it was explained to her that they had about 12 candidates they were interviewing, which they would narrow down to four, then they would bring each of those four in to meet the crew they have working there currently and would put it to a vote amongst them, which is a really interesting and awesome way to go about the hiring process. We both agreed that this hiring process also seemed like a really good sign for the job itself – there is clearly a really positive relationship between staff and management, and they are only hiring right now because one person is retiring, so clearly people have a tendency to stick around there. The good thing about this hiring process, as well, is the fact that my Mom is an extremely likeable person. People have a tendency to automatically like her, even more than people are like that with my sister and I, so I think meeting with the crew there will make a really big difference for her. She got the call this past week scheduling that meeting for this Tuesday morning. I really think she is going to get this job. If she does – holy crap, it will make a HUGE difference in our lives right now. That extra income would take away a LOT of the financial strain that we have been under. It would just make life so much easier for both of us. Plus, she would likely have much better hours than she does currently and I really think she would feel a lot better about her station in life if she had a position like this with the county. We’ll see how it goes. I really think she is going to get it. After all, the Universe is working in my favor and since our lives are so affected by one another’s the Universe is also working in her favor. Therefore, it just has to happen. This will be a big step towards me getting my “Symphonies.”

Anyway, it is after 3am now and I should really get to bed. I finished all of my cleaning this evening except for a pot and a baking sheet that can’t go into the dishwasher, so I am hoping to wake up early enough that I can get those done before she gets home. I am really excited to see my Mom, honestly. I have missed her a lot this week. It’s not normal that we go this long without seeing each other and I am glad that it isn’t any longer. I figure if I go to bed now, it will kill a little time before she gets back. I am looking forward to a fun day tomorrow, although we don’t have anything at all planned, aside from listening to the new Scissor Sisters album. That is enough to be really excited, though. So, it is time for bed. Goodnight.