A Glamourous, Glittery Mess

Sex, Violence, Survival and the Place of Art Appreciation in American Culture

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:26:15 -0400

Today I did a show at a Tattoo Convention with a group I’ve started to work with called Blue Moon Circus. I’ve worked with a lot of different groups all over the world, and Blue Moon Circus is by the far the most classic circus arts group I’ve worked with. Baldini, the “ring master” (we don’t use animals, FYI) has worked with a long list of very notable circuses over the past 30 years and he likes to keep it old school. Ember, who organizes and manages shows, is his assistant and also a belly dancer/fire spinner. I got onboard because Ember likes my spinning. Blue Moon Circus has a good reputation in Louisville and they get lots of events so I thought the Tattoo Convention would really like us but we got a mixed reaction. The crowd really liked Baldini’s side show acts like hammering nails in his nose and laying on a bed of nails and smashing glass in his face but the juggling (out juggler is about to leave us to go study circus in Sweden), belly dancing, glow poi, twin hoops and LED fans got yawns from the crowd.
I did a show up in Cincinnati last week that was pretty much received the same way. People seemed to not like the beautiful, dancing acts but rather wanted to watch people get hurt with sharp objects or burlesque acts with women taking off their clothes. I started thinking about this because I’ve performed all over the world and the average American has a complete lack of understanding for beauty, art and dance but they love sex and violence. Some people may say it’s a human thing but I’d beg to differ because you don’t find that widespread thirst for violence in Europe or in developed Asian countries like Japan. Even when I was in Dubai, the mythically “violent” Arab people had a much greater appreciation for dance and art than Americans. Only when I came back to America did I start doing burlesque because it was the only way to get people to appreciate my non fire hooping acts. Don’t get me wrong, I love burlesque and in some places I’ve been like the Middle East and Japan it would never go over as well as it does here but that’s my point. When I came back to the States and started doing shows, I learned that if my juggling tool wasn’t on fire, I better be getting naked because most audiences need boobs to grab their attention. I have a big bag of tricks but that doesn’t mean shit to some audiences if clothes aren’t coming off. Only in America have I ever had to result to making art out of stripteases to get people to appreciate my dancing. But then again, I think the size of the American city has something to do with the way art is appreciated because in big cities, like Chicago, I didn’t have to strip to grab the audiences’ attention either. I guess it really depends on where you perform and I’ve done a little thinking about that too.
I think in bigger cities dance and circus arts are appreciated much more than in smaller US cities. I live in Louisville, KY. Some people call it a city…I have a hard time calling it that because I’ve traveled around the world and seen the big, shiny, futuristic cities that make Louisville look like a barnyard. Towns like Louisville and smaller settlements that are closer to the country are more in touch with the basic human instincts to hunt, fuck and kill than people in the city. In smaller towns, people still do hunt, they love their guns because they use guns to put food on the table. And when you’re in a small, boring town, there’s nothing to do but have sex and hunt sometimes. And becuase Louisville is so isolated and close to the country, that basic instinct to hunt and kill and fuck is a lot stronger for people than it is in say, LA or Tokyo or London or Paris or someplace like that where people are very modernized.
And so to bring it back full circle, I realized that the reason why sex and violence is so valued in America and art is not is because most of America is rural and rural communities are not as developed as big cities and still value basic, man vs. nature survival, strength and sex over art. In conclusion, I think appreciation for art and culture only develops when people aren’t so distracted by trying to survive in nature. This idea can also explain the chauvinistic tendencies found in rural culture because men feel like it’s their “duty” to be “protectors” of the community and make sure that women survive to please them but also to ensure that their small community will survive and not die off due to low birth rates. I think that as long as America remains a very large, mostly rural country, we will continue to see a total lack of appreciation for intellect and art and the continued elevation of violence and sex for subconscious survival purposes.

genevieve-ft: beatormo: Cómic published the last summer is the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:31:57 -0400

genevieve-ft:

beatormo:

Cómic published the last summer is the webcómic “Caniculadas”.

Special thanks to Andre for the translation!

Yes. Thanks.

Does anyone know a good book that is an introduction to actual...

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:11:49 -0400

Does anyone know a good book that is an introduction to actual Jewish Kabbalah and not Crawley/OTO/New Age Kabbalah? About 10 years ago I wrote the bare bones of a novel that I think can most closely be described as a Revelations fanfic, which is hilarious, because I’m not even Christian but Apocalyptic prophesies have always fascinated me. I wrote it without having any kind of background in mysticism and without having read Revelations. Then over the past 10 years, I’ve gone back and off and on, I’ve worked on putting meat on the bones of the story. I’ve thickened and enriched plot with language as well as all kinds of actual researched mysticism. Actually, it’s like working out a very beautiful puzzle by using my plot to explain my understanding of the mystical texts that I’ve studied. Honestly, I never thought it would come together the way it has because initially, I had no mystical background at all and through the research, I’ve enriched my spiritual life through exposure to all kinds of interesting philosophies. As the next step in the mystical workings of the book, I’d like to incorporate some basic Kabbalah philosophies but all I can seem to find is the kind of Kabbalah books and websites that true practitioners of the Kabbalah stay away from because they’re new agey and not true to the traditional study of the Kabbalah. I’ve read a little introductory level new age Kabbalah but I’d like to stay true to the roots of the magical workings and philosophy becasue I feel that’s more in line with the old world stories of Judgement day. Honestly, I think if I really want to learn about classical Kabbalah, I’ll have to find a rabbi to teach me and that will probably be really difficult considering I’m a woman, I’m under 40 and I’m not Jewish. Good lord, with the way I’m getting lost in research, it’ll be another 10 years before I’ll even be close to being able to publish my book. But the journey is worth it, and when the time comes for me to put it out, I’ll know. I’m just learning and following my intuition.

vijara: les-sources-du-nil: Ernest R. Ashton...

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:14:04 -0400

vijara:

les-sources-du-nil:

Ernest R. Ashton (1867-1951)

Evening Near Pyramids, 1897

is ths picture supposed to be moving

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Wed, 15 May 2013 15:09:14 -0400

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princesserinnn: fronttbutts: nemomeimpune-lacessit: The Nu...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:08:28 -0400

princesserinnn:

fronttbutts:

nemomeimpune-lacessit:

The Nu Project’s Nude Photos Tell The Truth About Women’s Bodies

The Nu Project is a no-glamor honest look at beauty and image in our world.

Female nudity isn’t hard to come by in the media, but the bodies we see usually represent a fairly limited scope of sizes and shapes. The Nu Project, a collection of nude photographs shot by Minneapolis photographer Matt Blum, seeks to add some variety to the mix. Blum started The Nu Project in 2005 but said it really took off when his wife, Katy Kessler, became the project’s editor. Blum sees the photos as filling a void. “When I started shooting nudes there was no project like it,” he told The Huffington Post in an email. The things that I had seen either used models with typical model bodies or average people who were made to look extremely unimpressive. I figured there was a way to treat women (of any size/shape) like models and photograph them beautifully, respectfully without a lot of sexual under or overtones. The women photographed are all volunteers, and most of the pictures are taken in the subjects’ homes — where they feel most comfortable. The Nu Project’s website showcases six galleries of nudes, three shot in North America, three in South America. Although Blum told HuffPost that he feels that they have a “good variety of people involved,” he and Kessler acknowledge on The Nu Project website that they’d love for the subjects to be more diverse. “The hardest part for us is that the project is 100 percent volunteer, so I do not see the women until I show up at their door,” Blum writes on the website. “We’re doing our best to encourage all types of women, but we need volunteers of all backgrounds and walks of life to make the project more complete.” Blum said he ultimately hopes that these images inspire the women who see them to feel better about their own bodies. “It’s been really exciting to hear people react to the images,” he told HuffPost. “We get a lot of feedback from women (especially) who have struggled to see themselves as beautiful, and this project has helped them on that path.”

http://thenuproject.com/

I am in love with this.

this is great!

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Wed, 15 May 2013 15:05:58 -0400

vegetasvajayjay: “In response to Abercrombie & Fitch CEO...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:05:42 -0400

vegetasvajayjay:

“In response to Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries not wanting “not so cool” kids or women who wear size large to wear his company’s clothes, Greg Karber has come up with a funny and creative way to readjust the Abercrombie & Fitch brand.

He’s giving their clothes to the homeless.

After scouring his local thrift shop’s “douchebag section,” Karber heads to LA’s Skid Row to dole out the clothes among the homeless population. Watch the stunt and find out how you can be involved in one man’s troll-job on a company with some pretty unflattering business practices in the video above.”

Yes! Where was this party?

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:04:45 -0400

Yes! Where was this party?

emptyfullrae: I’m fat! That’s what’s wrong! How I felt last...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:04:23 -0400

emptyfullrae:

I’m fat! That’s what’s wrong!

How I felt last night. No matter how much I work out and no matter how many changes I make to my lifestyle, I can’t loose weight. Everyone keeps gently telling me I’m overweight and some people outright call me fat. I’m starting to feel like food is my enemy and when I eat, I’m not happy to be having a meal like I used to be. I try my best to tell myself I am doing everything I can to be healthy and that’s what counts but it’s hard to believe it sometimes…

Could you please tell me where you got your LED fans from? I have been looking for a set, and yours are gorgeous. Thanks!

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:37:00 -0400

Thank you! I’m so happy to hear you like them! I absolutely love them because white LED props are always beautiful plus this particular design is very well balanced. Unfortunately, these were a custom set made for me. I had a pair of fire fans I don’t use anymore from Home of Poi and my friend had some extra LEDs so researched LED fans, thought out a design that might work and then I gave them to him to do the engineering. So needless to say, they were a lot cheaper than the $300+ LED fans you see for sell online. I keep telling him we have a product that we could market but he doesn’t think we do so I’ll let him know someone on Tumblr was impressed by them!

I had been working out hardcore and eating healthy before this...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:31:12 -0400

I had been working out hardcore and eating healthy before this performance but I just couldn’t shed any weight so I’m gonna tag this as “curvy girls” and be proud of the quality of my work and the beauty of the photograph without worrying about my body image. I busted ass on this routine and I was proud of every minute of it.

One of the tags on this when it popped up on my feed was...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:25:53 -0400

One of the tags on this when it popped up on my feed was #Yokohama. I love Yokohama, I used to work there. It has great shopping and it’s a lot of fun and it’s close enough to Tokyo to have a Tokyo feel without being Tokyo. God, I miss Japan.

airmanisr: Marilyn Monroe

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:25:08 -0400

airmanisr:

Marilyn Monroe

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Tue, 14 May 2013 15:24:25 -0400