Catching Up, (Not All Zombies Run)

After a brief stint in the E.R. I am recovering slowly but surely from only what I can guess was food poisoning. Within the past few weeks, I have been to a number of blog-able events, which I have not found the time to write about. So instead of writing a blog for each event, I decided to just give the highlights of each in just one blog.

Harry Potter Day.

Pace sponsored "Harry Potter Day" which consisted of a screening of the lastest Harry Potter film (free snacks), free dinner at a nearby restaurant, and then a discussion. The discussion was headed by published authors of works such as "Harry Potter and Imagination" and "Hog's Head Conversations" (Travis Prinzi), "Repotting Harry Potter" (James Thomas), and "Harry Potter's Bookshelf" (John Granger). These books all consist of critiquing and analyzing Harry Potter and the series but one thing is certain, J.K Rowling is a brilliant writer. Her writing is superb and really encapsulating. Her obvious influences including the famous (and beloved) Jane Austen, who's writing style broke ground by writing from the main character's perspective but uses third person tenses. I was able to actually talk to one of the authors, Travis, who gave me advice for publishing my own book, among other things. All in all, the experience was greatly appreciated, (this is why I'm basically slicing off my left leg in payment for tuition at Pace.) Meeting authors!! (If you have not caught on yet, I love books and YES, I am a book whore. Therefore, authors get me hot like no other.)

Alice In Wonderland

Many of my friends have been bashing the film, I was lucky to be one of the first to see it (Thank you midnight showing at Battery Park) so I am able to sit back and watch everyone react differently towards it. There are arguments for almost everything for Alice, even the title! "It should have been entitled *Return To Wonderland!*" If that was the case,

1.) Many people would be confused

2.) Many people might be discouraged from coming

3.) Ruins watching and experiencing it for the first time

4.) Alice was still, technically *in* Wonderland, so it is not wrong

So, to answer the bigger question, Yes I thoroughly enjoyed Alice in Wonderland. If you have seen any or all of Tim Burton films, you will know, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory being the most recent example, that he likes to expand things as well as distort them to a creepier degree. In addition, if you have no knowledge of Lewis Carroll (you know, the guy who WROTE Alice in Wonderland), he was a weird frigging dude. I mean, he had a little girl fetish..he was fucked up. So it is no surprise to me that Burton would want to expand on the cute little Disney number so many of my peers are accustomed to and make it darker. In my opinion, if you have any shred of intelligence, you will not recognize this as a bad thing. Besides all this, sitting in my first 3-D experience with a gigantic, let me repeat that, GIGANTIC icee, makes any viewing event infinitely better, in my opinion. Maybe all the people who are taking the film too seriously need to grab a gigantic icee, get the stick out of their ass before they sit down, and try to view the movie open - mindedly.

GLAAD Media Awards

I was able to work the awards by a fabulous oppurtunity, brought on to me by my very good friend Karlene, who works at the Center for Community Action and Research here at Pace. I wasn't too excited at first, but once I found out Alan Cumming was hosting... I freaked out. Alan Cumming (for those of you who are not too sure) is one of the greatest actors of our generation, he has acted in many mainstream movies, shows, etc. But I would like to acknowledge his smaller works, which in my opinion, are far more superior to his mainstream works. His work in Threepenny Opera gives my soul goosebumps every time I watch it on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=AzB6Pfjemo&playnext_from=TL&videos=1rPDD7Xf0n4&playnext=1

He revolutionized the role of the Emcee in Cabaret, his work in that show in particular, influenced me a great deal when I worked the show as a Kit Kat Girl. I also, loved loved loved his Ecstasy Condom commercial with Rickki Lake, Reefer Madness (sexy goat), and Masterpiece Mystery with PBS. PBS, by the way, happens to be one of my favorite channels due to the heavy amount of British influence, (BBC, Sitcoms, etc) as well as the whole cultural exponent PBS offers so tangibly, which makes it so popular. Overall, I was extremely pleased to meet him and even got two pictures with him! However, my meeting him does not deter from the various other people I met that night. Joy Behar, Mereidith Veira, Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Batt, Nole Marin, the little boy from CNN who refused to pledge allegiance, Cynthia Nixon, and most importantly, Elke Kennedy. I actually was able to talk to her, where I thanked her for coming out and telling her story, an important one at that. Her son Sean, was murdered one day for being gay. This happens alot more than we would like to admit. It is a terrible, terrible crime that needs to stop. So many people are blinded by their hatred and ignorance, they do not comprehend that gay people bleed too.

On that note, I would like to take this time to apologize for my lazy posts and promise once again, that once I have the time and the health, I will keep you interests up by posting more frequent and relevant posts. Not to say that events that go on in my life do not pertain to "Life and Times of Half-Formed Zombie." In fact, they have a great deal of influence on my blog and I. It's "Half-Formed"for a reason. I only have half zombie posts and half human posts. We'll see though.