“Unfriend” #1

I had a friend who stopped talking to me. Not recently; this was some time ago.

I suppose she's my first "unfriend" due to my being naked. Wait, actually there was another girl a few years earlier. In fact, there may be others even further back. I don’t recall.

Anyway, this girl wasn’t a facebook unfriending; it was a real life unfriending. She was never friends with me on the facebook. That’s actually how I became aware that she wasn't talking to me. She wasn’t on the facebook for a long time, even after “everybody” was. Then a few years ago I saw that she had joined the facebook, but she ignored a few friend requests from me and some messages.

I didn't know what the deal was at first, and I wanted to know. She wouldn't return my calls or messages. I realized something was wrong and heard second hand sort of what it was.

Then I ran into her and she was all, "Oh, hey! How are you?" as if nothing was wrong. So I said (something like), "No. That is not acceptable. If you wanna talk to me about this, fine. But don't act like nothing's wrong." She said "Okay," and just stared at me. I said "Okay" and walked away. And nothing since then.

Sadly, she and I had been pretty decent friends in the past.

I used to hang out sometimes at her place. Then I moved away; when I came to visit, I’d stay there. (There was an extra room.) And she saw me naked sometimes. It never seemed to be a big deal. She seemed okay, or at least not upset, about it. It was something I did to be funny, amusing, "for a lark". 

But then one time I asked her out to dinner. And she brought a friend along. Later I told her that I'd meant dinner with just her. Now, I wasn’t feeling any particular romantic urgency toward her. There had been a time when I was sort of interested, but I didn’t pursue it. And at that point when I asked her out, I wasn’t really interested anymore. I was only in town for a little while, and didn’t know when I’d be back. And I certainly wasn’t trying to get laid. That’s just not me. To be perfectly honest, I thought it might be a nice gesture. And I thought we might have a nice time.

I think what happened is that she was uncomfortable with my invitation. That’s why she brought her friend. So, sometime after that, she saw me naked again. It may’ve been a day or two or a week or month, maybe that time I was visiting or the next—I’m not sure about the timing, ‘cause to me it wasn't a big deal. Well, apparently to her it was a big deal. Apparently she felt that it was some kind of sexual advance.

It wasn’t. 

As far as I was concerned, It was no different than any other time I’d been there. 

But(!)...

She has issues. With men. Well, with sex, and relationships. I just didn’t get how serious those issues were. So, now she has issues with me.

I haven’t written about her before, but a few things have reminded me of her lately. So...there it is.

It makes me sad that she decided that we couldn’t be friends.

It makes me angry that she didn’t talk to me about it. 

The 60-something facebook “friends” that I’ve lost sometimes make me upset, but honestly the loss of her friendship was more upsetting than losing all of those people combined.

At this point, I don’t know if we could ever be friends again—maybe at some future point(?)—(and I don’t expect her to ever see this), but I might be willing to consider it. I’d be willing to listen if she wanted to have an actual conversation about it. But I’m not willing to pretend that everything’s fine, when clearly it isn’t.

Beauty Pageants

Since this years’ Miss America Pageant wasn’t long ago, I thought I’d write something about pageants.

recipes.howstuffworks.com

I have long felt that beauty pageants should just get real, be honest about themselves, and get rid of the swimsuits. I don’t mean to get rid of that portion of the competition, but to just lose the suits. Seriously, what is the point of that, except to see what these women’s bodies look like? And my feeling is that naked would be more honest—no padding, no pushup, no tape, just what you’ve got.

I mean, come on, you can call it a “scholarship pageant” all you want, but I don’t see any “ugly” girls there in the traditional pageants. Well, that may not be totally true, but the “ugly” ones don’t get very far. For real, you don’t have to be really smart...

...nor really good at your talent.

(Ug. First, why is she singing “Memory” in Italian. And, second, are those actual Italian words? I can’t tell, and I work with opera singers all the time. Oh yeah, also please work on your technique, pitch, and lose the arm stuff. Okay, just had to get that out.)

It’s mostly about being skinny and matching certain “ideals” of beauty, ideals which I often find unattractive.

I have known several women who did pageants, who have varying opinions. 

There’s one woman who said that “being in front of thousands of people in a bikini is liberating.”

A singer I knew, who was in a local qualifying pageant, thought it would be classier to have a live accompanist for her talent than to sing with an accompaniment track. So she asked me to play for her. Well, those girls all seemed nice onstage, but backstage there were a few catty bitches.

Anyway, my friend wasn’t really comfortable with the swimsuit part. Her comment about it was that she felt like a “piece of meat” and that she needed to “work her ass off” every day to feel in shape enough.

There’s another woman I know, who, when I found out about her pageant participation, I looked her up. When I saw her pageant pics, I thought she was SO much more attractive now. Less makeup, less severe-looking...more like a beautiful human woman. Here’s what she wrote to me about pageants:

“It hurts to be beautiful”....literally!
Referencing: eyebrow waxing, bikini wax, weight loss, heels heels and high heels, skin care, hair care, exercising, meal planning, talent coaching for some, interview coaching, finances for wardrobe, and more! Well, it comes with the territory!

So, I guess my point is that I find the “beauty” in beauty pageants to be often unappealing or misleading.

lasvegassun.com

And that if you’re really trying to judge these women’s beauty—and don’t pretend that you’re not—then have them appear in a more natural state, an “au naturel“ state. While you’re at it, bring in some women with real curves, not just the scary-skinny, six-packed bitches. Encourage them all to be the size they’re meant to be instead of fighting and struggling and working to fit some Barbie-doll mold.

lasvegassun.com

One former pageant participant wrote to me that “No one really is out there but gay men anyway,” but to that I would add that there are also former Barbie-doll molds/pageant participants (formerly skinny bitches). Also, perhaps most distressingly, there are friends and family who are fully supporting this behavior, this culture of celebrating “beauty”—painted on, fake smile, starving and over-coached, sparkly-dressed, approval-craving women desperately trying to look like this bizarre epitome of “beauty”.

(Yes, I realize my point may not be clear. It often isn’t. I’m not really an essayist. And my general ranting about the typical look of pageant contestant is probably getting in the way of my point that they should be naked instead of wearing swimsuits and tape.)

"Endless Pleasure, Endless Love" (naked opera 3)

Rosemary Joshua and chorus in "Endless Please, Endless Love" from Semele by Händel.

English National Opera, London, 1997

I really like this. It’s fun.

There’s another video of this aria with Cecilia Bartoli in what appears to be the same or very similar staging, but to me she seems less playful, less fun throughout. And her exit is more modest. So, boo! on all counts. 

that naked feeling

I don’t always wear nothing around the house. I’m not completely naked.

Well okay, sometimes I am.

But right now, for example, I’m wearing socks and the new blue knit hat I bought the other day.

During the winter I often wear socks. It’s a little chilly. But between hat and socks, I’m wearing nothing but a smile. I find the knit hat does a lot to keep me warm. The next thing I might put on would be a long-sleeve t-shirt or one of several sweatshirt hoodie type things. Pants are always last. It’s not about having my penis hanging out. It’s that the back and shoulders seem to want to be warm more than my legs and butt, etc.

So, I was cooking earlier. The kitchen gets a little warmer than the rest of the apartment, so I took off the knit hat before I went in there. And I had this sensation of being “naked”.

It’s happened before. It’s an interesting sensation. The part of me that most people would consider the defining element of nudity is uncovered the whole time. It’s something else—in this case, the hat—that makes me feel naked when it’s removed. Sometimes it’s happened when I’ve gotten accustomed to wearing socks. It doesn’t happen every time I take something off, but when it does happen it usually lasts several seconds, maybe even as many as 10 or 15.

I think the first time I noticed it was a few years ago when I was at the beach for the winter. I was doing some writing and walking on the beach a lot and making necklaces of shells I’d picked up. I started wearing one—the first one I’d made—almost all the time. So when I was “at home” (in the apartment where I was staying) I was wearing nothing except that necklace. And my glasses. After several days, I took it off, and suddenly felt very naked. It was strange. Interesting, though.

I’ve even had the sensation when I wasn’t technically naked. Not long ago I had a friend over who insisted that I wear something. So I was wearing a thong. And there was a moment when I suddenly had the sensation of being naked. It was just a moment. I guess that’s a little different. I hadn’t taken anything off. In fact, I was wearing more than I normally do, but it wasn’t when I put it on. We’d been hanging out for a while, and I have no idea what prompted it.

That also happens occasionally—a momentary awareness of the fact that I’m “naked” without having taken anything off. But in that case, it’s just for a moment, a second, or less than a second.

The sensation of “feeling naked” isn’t about how much or little clothes one is wearing. I think it’s mostly a matter of what you’re used to. And it doesn’t take all that long to get used to a certain level of clothed-ness or unclothed-ness.

Well, I suppose if you have serious issues with your body image then it might not be quick to happen. But that puts me in mind of something I’ve not ranted about here lately: that people’s being more comfortable with nakedness, and being naked more, would lead to a healthier body image, especially if one grows up that way—seeing normal people with normal bodies naked sometimes, outside of a sexual context. Less shame about what you look like and a better sense of what’s “normal”. 

That’d have to be good for the world, right?

3 month-iversay (+1 day)

Yesterday was the 3 month-iversary of this blog.

3 months

149 posts

≈5,919 views

64 un-friends

Well, I think the trends from a month ago are continuing:

less views than in the first month or so;

still very few comments from those who are viewing;

I think, in general, people are communicating with me less, or ignoring my comments on the facebook— maybe it’s just my imagination, but that’s how it seems.

Lately I’m finding motivation to be an issue. I’ve done less writing lately and more pictures. It’s like I just feel like putting forth the effort. I suppose I’m depressed.

I do tend to get sort of depressed this time of year. I don’t know if the shorter days have any real effect. I’m not working at all right now during winter break, and not doing much of anything, really, except sitting around all day watching stuff on the netflix.

My ankle is still a little troubled, although it still seems to be getting better. Maybe I’ll start exercising. A few days ago I really wanted to go for a walk, but the ankle was just too sore. And I’m sure if I would start writing something else—a script—I’d feel better too.

I’ve never been good at inventing things to do to keep busy, just like I have trouble going to bed at a decent hour when I know I don’t have a reason to get up in the morning. I’m not good at fooling myself, or at least fooling myself on purpose. I’m sure I lie to myself about some things, like everybody else. But I really try not to.

Well, if there’s anybody around who’s actually reading this and wants to do something—you know, something free or super-cheap—let me know. I could really use a reason to get off the couch.

Bad Blog?

I was thinking about taking a little “naked tour” this winter, in the break between semesters. My parents were wanting me to come visit for Christmas.

yeah,  yeah...ho ho ho, whatever

I don’t go “home” much. It’s not home. My parents moved there 5 or 10 years ago. I don’t know anyone else there. And I’m just not that close to them.

Well, I thought I might visit them for a few days, so they’ll stop bugging me for a bit. And while I’m out and about, I’d visit several other friends too. Specifically people who would be okay with my being naked, and hopefully would be okay with my taking a few pictures for the blog. Nothing so specific that would identify them or their house...unless they were cool with that. They could get naked with me, or just pose clothed with me naked. Or not. I wouldn’t want to pressure anybody.

Anyway, I’m not gonna do that now. I feel like I need to stay here. Another holiday holed up alone somewhere.

For one thing, I’m kinda broke. Not desperately broke...yet. I haven’t gotten enough work this whole year—several years actually. And some of the work I’ve been doing, I’ve put much more effort into than I’m getting compensated for.

The other thing is that I need to do some writing. I haven’t been writing lately. I was planning to, expecting to do some work on a couple of scripts this fall. But it seems that doing this blog every day is diverting my daily creative impulse. When I’ve written a blog or taken a bunch of pictures and selected, edited, whatever, then I don’t feel much like working on a script.

I need to figure out how to do both without one or both suffering.

I got nothin'

I’m open to suggestions. Fear not, suggest away.

Anyway, no “naked tour” now. Maybe in the spring? Or summer? That’d be more comfortable anyway. And if you’re interested in my “naked visiting” you sometime, let me know. Invite me. 

Stuttgart Alcina (or, naked opera 2)

Georg Friedrich Händel

I actually don’t really know anything about this opera.

Alcina (by Haendel)

Nor about this production.

Staatsoper Stuttgart 1999

But in researching the topic of nudity in opera, I came upon this video.

I’m not sure if this counts as onstage nudity or if it’s a wardrobe malfunction, but considering the dress (which is kinda awesome) it’s either the former or the later just waiting to happen.

Catherine Naglestad “Ah, mio cor”

An issue I have with this particular video is that, given the explicit sexiness of that black dress, I don’t really buy the fact that the “boy” is a boy.

Yeah, pants roles (female singers playing young male characters) are a traditional operatic convention. But I often have difficulty turning off the part of my brain that says “that’s a woman”. And in this case, it’s even worse. I think the fact of seeing breasts onstage makes me all the more aware of the breasts on that “boy”.

Another point about this video: I’m not sure how I feel about the contemporary look and feel of an older opera, one which has the sound and feel of an older opera. Maybe it’s just the harpsichord, but for whatever reason, the visual doesn’t match the aural. I don’t mind a director’s changing the setting, nor doing a sort of minimal set, etc production, nor even something more surreal and eclectic—if it works. I suppose even changing the time period would be okay in some cases. But if it sounds old, putting it in a modern-looking and modern-feeling setting seems odd to me.

I don’t seem to have any problem with taking it in the opposite direction: for example the musical Les Miserables is set in revolutionary France in the early 1800s, yet the music is contemporary pop-ish musical theatre. I’m fine with that. And of course, I’ve seen productions and movies of Shakespeare plays that put the action in a more contemporary setting. Some were effective, some weren’t. There’s a great film of Richard III set in 1930s England. I think it works quite well.

So what’s the difference? I don’t know.

Anyway...my original point was: here’s an opera production that fits what a friend of mine was talking about when she said “More graphic nudity, sex, violence is definitely a trend in opera. I think it's trying to appeal to our dulled senses.”

If you’re interested, here’s my first naked opera entry:

“Strauss & 7 Veils”

Sigourney

During my second semester in college I had a English professor who one day in class somehow got on the topic of Sigourney Weaver being naked at the end of Alien. It was kinda awkward.

I hadn’t seen the movie at that point, although I had seen the sequel, Aliens.

Anyway, this professor was going on and on about it. It started with how her nudity represents vulnerability, and how it makes the moment that much more suspenseful, etc. And then he ended up talking about how Sigourney Weaver was a beautiful example of womanhood.

That was the awkward part. I mean, if he had started drooling and giggling uncontrollably, it wouldn’t’ve seemed out of place, ya know. Well, maybe out of place in the classroom, but not in his bit about Sigourney.

So, here’s the scene.

The thing is, she’s never actually naked.

Sometime later, when I actually did watch the film, I was disappointed. Thanks to this professor, I was expecting a naked Sigourney Weaver at the end of the film. In my disappointment, I didn’t think the moment was about creating more suspense; I thought it was about how the studio wouldn’t pay what she was asking to go topless.

Oh well, she’s naked in some other movies, or at least topless. So, I got over the disappointment.

So now, thinking back, the professor made a valid point...two, actually. A character facing some danger while unclothed, or, perhaps, scantily clad, might be more suspenseful. While clothing itself may not be heavy enough to provide substantial protection from some alien monster or whatever other threat one might face, being uncovered, all that skin, would probably make one feel exposed, vulnerable. 

AND, Sigourney Weaver is a beautiful example of womanhood.

Of course, in my freshman year of college, I wasn’t able to truly appreciate either point. To me, then, it was: naked lady??? Yes, please!!! But, Sigourney Weaver? Eh...she’s a little old isn’t she?

Yeah, I was kinda stupid. As I have matured, so have both my understanding that nudity isn’t just a sex thing, and my feeling that Sigourney Weaver isn’t too old. She’s still hot.

Well, okay...she’s clearly had a bit of work done here.

Stripping Away

A couple of weeks ago I heard a voice teacher say something about “stripping away”. She was referring to getting rid of extra “things” a singer might do. No adding unnecessary color, not imitating other singers, not “fake” produced vibrato. Just getting to the real voice.  In the case of this one singer, a mezzo, it resulted in a younger, clearer sound. It was good.

Well, it reminded me of something I’ve been dealing with for several years. Stripping away things I don’t need in life. Material things. Possessions.

I’ve moved a lot in my life. Since college, I’ve lived in 20 or 30 different places. And I’ve moved a bunch of things with me. But around 7 or so years ago, I started wondering why move all that stuff. I’d started thinking I was gonna move to New York City, and didn’t want to take a lot of stuff with me. So, I started getting rid of things.

It started with books. I used to have a fair number, a bookshelf full, of books. Most I’d read before. I didn’t keep all the books I’d ever had, but I did tend to keep the ones I’d liked. It wasn’t that I expected to ever read them again, but they felt important to me. I connected in some small way to them. There were also some that I’d take off the shelf and open up from time to time: art books, reference books, things I might quote from—Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland—whatever.

So I did a culling. That first time wasn’t easy. Some of those books I’d had since college. It wasn’t like they were a part of me, but they were sort of part of the process of my becoming an adult, my intellectual maturity. But cull I did. I ended up getting some credit at Ed McKay’s and a bit of cash. That did help the process. A while later, I did another big culling. In that second one, I got rid of even more: the art books, reference books, a lot of plays and poetry. I got even more money that time.

Also around then, I started selling my CDs. Some of that stuff I’d put on my computer, and some I hadn’t. But I decided I didn’t really need to keep carrying around that much music. If I needed a particular recording, I figured I could always find it somewhere. 

So, I still have a bunch of stuff. Probably more than I need. I’ve a few boxes in my parents’ basement, and even more boxes in the basement of this woman who I used to be friends with. That’s a little awkward, actually. She might still consider us friends, but we don’t talk anymore and haven’t interacted with each other since I moved back here, except the one time she met me at her place to let me in to get a few things from her basement. She never actually ended the friendship, or whatever, but her best friend was mad at me and won't talk to me, so... 

Maybe I’ll blog about that sometime.

Anyway...”stripping away”.

Today is “Black Friday”. Biggest shopping day of the year, lots of sales, people lining up early to get into stores, blah blah blah.

It’s the start of the big commercial Christmas push.

I fucking hate it.

The whole thing pisses me off. It’s like our culture yelling at us to not give up on the whole thing of buying shit. Buy shit! Buy shit! Lots of shit! “Don’t think about it, just think it” as a friend of mine once put it. She was talking about religion, but it’s the same thing. 

“The latest version of whatever is about to come out. Be the first to get it; don’t let your friends beat you to it; you don’t wanna be out the loop.”

Ug.

We don’t need that much stuff to be happy. We need some things: a place to live and adequate sustenance. Beyond that it’s extra, right? Sure there’s a lot of stuff that we consider “necessities”. And yes, to carry on a “normal” contemporary life, you need a phone, probably some kind of internet access—even if it’s at the library—and some way to get around where & when you need to. But there’s certainly an argument to be made that this isn’t the best or even a healthy way to live. Certainly not healthy for the planet.

I think the more important things are non-tangible. We need love, respect, security...people. Family, friends, whatever—a group, our people, a community. Otherwise you get depressed and shit. You need to feel a sense of belonging. Trust me, when you don’t have that, life sucks, no matter how much stuff you have.

Stripping away can help you figure out what’s actually important.

movie poster

I'm thinking about going to see a movie later today. Well, tonight. I looked to see what's playing around here.
Jack and Jill, J Edgar, Puss in Boots...those I've heard of, but not these movies. And there's The Muppets, which I'm not sure I'm in the mood for, and Twilight-whatever, not gonna happen.
And then there's a bunch of others which I don't recognize the names of at all. I'm a bit out the loop of current pop culture, as I don't have a TV & I haven't been to see a movie since maybe this summer.

So I'm just not that eager to go see any of them. I mean, I found something at the cheap $1(!) cinema.

What those movies I've never heard of need is something to immediately grab my attention. Something like this:

It's a poster for the new The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in English. Now, I'm probably not going to see that film. I saw the version in Danish or Swedish or whatever. And a friend recommended the book as being better than that film. I happened upon a cheap copy of the book at a thrift store a month ago, so it's sitting on my shelf to get to eventually.

But otherwise, that poster would definitely get my attention. Would bare breasts alone get me into  a theater? I don't know. I guess it depends on my mood when I happened to see it.

I did see Showgirls when it came out, not because of any hope I might have for the story, etc, but because of the "scandalous" NC-17 rating thing. There was a great little theater, The Capri, where I lived then that showed films you wouldn't see elsewhere in that area: art films, older films, foreign films, small independent films, occasionally older films. Well, I don't think anyone else in town was willing to show Showgirls, so this theater did. They had one screen, and normally played one film, 1 or 2 showings a night for a week. Well, they held over Showgirls for 2 extra weeks, and it was the huge money-maker for the year. People wanted to see naked ladies.

I know it was not a great movie, however I liked it. It was hilariously bad. Years later VH1 aired it--a lot--with those computerized bikinis covering all the breasts and genitalia, which sort of added to the ridiculousness of it.

Th’giving

Last night I saw somebody’s facebook status about how she likes to occasionally make a list of 50 things she’s thankful for and then compare to see how it changes, and that it makes her feel good. Lots of people are posting today about thankfulness. Is anybody on the facebook NOT posting something about Thanksgiving?

I’m not really a big holiday person. And, to be honest, I’m generally dissatisfied in life these days. So, the thankfulness thing is really hard for me to get into. I’m not sure if I could come up with 50 things. But I thought I’d at least give it a try. Not 50 things, but a list. So, what am I thankful for?

—I’m not starving, or totally broke...yet. Of course I’m not working nearly enough, which kinda sucks. There just seems to be too many people around here who do what I do. I don’t know how good they all are, but I suspect the people doing the hiring may not necessarily be able to tell the difference between adequate and good. I am working a little. I’m thinking I may look elsewhere & move next year.

—Up until this point, I’ve been able to make a living doing what I want to do. Unfortunately, I’ve mostly not been able to do it at the level I really want, but I have sometimes been able to work with people who were really awesome and done some work that I was really happy with. And of course, there’s all the other work that doesn’t quite fit into that category.

—I live somewhere that I can indulge my clothing-optional lifestyle. I don’t feel oppressed about it. I mean, I’ve lost “friends” and, maybe I’m wrong here, but some other people seem to be avoiding/ignoring me. I’d much rather people engage than avoid, but at least I’m not being oppressed. And I haven’t been arrested or anything yet.

—I’m not in great shape, but I’m alright. I’m not sickly or anything. There was something wrong with my knee this summer, but they didn’t have to do surgery or anything. It still gives me problems a little, but I’m thankful it’s not worse.

—Along those line, my penis still works. I mean, I’m not 20 anymore, but with a little work...

Tripdytch

Yep, still works, despite not having anyone to “work it” with.

—Well, that leads me to this: most people around here are gone for a few days, so I felt pretty comfortable taking some pics outside yesterday and today—a little more than I might normally. I’ll post those a bit later, as I’m hoping to take a couple more.

I’m sure there must be other stuff. I’ll think on it later. But as you can see, I have a hard time being thankful without a “however”...unconditional gratitude is hard. 

I wonder if other (“normal”) people feel the way I do, but they just don't vocalize it. Of course, I do. I’m not one to refrain from saying what I think or feel.

...

Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving...what else to say about Thanksgiving?

Well, there will be little or no “dressing” at my place today. Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha! I’m hilarious.But, yeah, I'm "celebrating" a naked Thanksgiving. I mean, I'm not really celebrating in any special way. But I'm naked. No big surprise.

Okay, what else?

Oh. There’s this strangeness:

Turkey-woman

It’s kind of funny, but also rather disturbing. I mean, the implication is that the woman is a thing to be consumed. Also there’s the whole bondage thing. I mean, this looks like serious bondage, which I’m not super-keen on.

...

Well, I’m not coming up with much else. So, I’ll go back to just hanging out on “Turkey Day”.

Strauss & 7 Veils (or, naked opera 1)

(an excerpt from the score of Salome, by Richard Strauss)

I found this video a year or two ago while looking at opera stuff on youtube.

Maria Ewing in Salome (the opera by Richard Strauss) 

at the Royal Opera House, 1992

It’s the second half or so of the dance. If you’re interested, you can check out the whole thing:

Maria Ewing, Dance of the 7 Veils from Salome

This performance got me kinda curious, as it’s actually not horrible, and I started looking for other Salome’s dances. From the videos I found, when there’s actual nudity it’s usually for just the final second, before Salome collapses and some people rush around her and cover her with a cloak or something. I can’t seem to find many of those videos online now. Maybe someone felt embarrassed by the bad choreography and had them removed.

Anyway, in the story this dance is supposed to be a seduction, part of a deal between Salome and her step-father, Herod.

(Hey kids, it’s bible-story time! Yay! ...seriously, the story comes from Mark, chapter 6)

He says if she dances for him, he’ll give her whatever she asks. Then she does this sexy dance and asks for the head of John the Baptist, who they have in the dungeon.

A major problem with the “Dance of the 7 Veils” is that it’s a lengthy (usually) solo dance for an opera singer. “Traditionally” opera has had a lot of stand-there-and-sing-and-look-dramatic type of performers. And I think it’s still often the case that opera singers aren’t necessarily great movers. There’s just not much emphasis on movement in their training, certainly less than in the training that actors, especially musical theatre actors, get.

So the “7 Veils” Dance often ends up being Salome running around a lot and acting “sensual” &/or distraught, taking off a “veil” or two, then more running and sensual/distraught-ess...maybe some slow “seductive” moves? Well, the full dance is about 9 minutes long. What the hell do you do with an opera singer for that long?

Tiziana Sojat as Salome (not sure where or when)

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you just have boring choreography, or a really bad “dancer” doing what might otherwise be decent choreography. Or maybe you just have a non-dancer doing bad choreography invented by a non-choreographer.

So, if you have a soprano who doesn’t really move well, and who isn’t okay with taking her clothes off, you’ve got a problem. Back in the day, a lot of your big sopranos were exactly that: big sopranos. And as a friend of mine said, “Who wants to see Joan Sutherland naked?”

Well, this ain’t Dame Sutherland, but I suppose it’s pretty much the same:

Montserrat Caballe as Salome, Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid, 1979

Supposedly, in the original production, the soprano Marie Wittich (pictured here:)

wouldn’t do the dance, so it was done by a dancer. That might actually be a preferable situation for many productions. Recently there’s been more of a sexification of opera, and you’re seeing a lot more attractive “big” singers these days. (I’ll write more on that soon.) So, of course, if you have a singer who can handle the music and can move well and isn’t shy about taking her clothes off in front of an audience, then, by all means, go for it.

Catherine Malfitano as Salome, Berlin, 1990 (with Horst Hiestermann as Herodes)

Save the Cheerleader!

Hayden Panettiere—

best known as Claire, the cheerleader...or maybe Claire the amazing healing chick...nah, Claire the Cheerleader it is— 

was at the MTV Europe Music Awards several days ago, presenting the award for best song. 

She was “interrupted” by a streaker.

(see the video here)

At first it was said by the streaker, etc, to be an unplanned prank. But soon it was admitted to have been planned, if not rehearsed, and that the guy is an actor who was hired by MTV.
Come on, people who believed it wasn't a planned thing. Do you really think some random naked dude would have gotten all the way out there onstage and "hung out" for a minute and a half chatting on camera with a presenter? No, he'd be dragged off by security. 

Apparently the writers or someone thought it would be a fun bit to have a streaker.

Now, it might be an interesting bit if there were something controversial in the news about Hayden Panettiere and nudity, or maybe a movie she’s in that has a streaker...but I couldn't find anything like that. Just a few contradictory comments by her about nudity and a brief implied nude scene in I Love You, Beth Cooper.

So, what was the point of the MTV streaker? I mean, hey, obviously I don’t have a problem with nudity, but seriously, it seemed to have no point. Just, hey, let’s have a naked dude out there...for no reason.

No reason at all...except maybe the “hey, let’s just throw in something crazy here”...you know, like Lady Gaga’s headgear.

Naked Therapy

Okay, so there’s this woman, Sarah White, who has a naked “therapy” practice.

From her website (http://sarahwhitelive.com/):

Freedom Through Arousal

“Naked Therapy is a form of talk therapy in which the therapist and/or the patient get naked in an environment in which arousal (physical, emotional and/or intellectual) is encouraged and utilized to arrive at unique self-discoveries.”

“Essentially, Naked Therapy is a form of talk therapy carried out between a patient and a therapist in which the therapist (usually) becomes naked in the course of the session, and this nakedness arouses the patient and allows the patient to dive into their arousal and discover things through that arousal.... During the Naked Therapy session the therapist and patient talk about what’s on the patient’s mind, just like in a psychotherapeutic setting, but in Naked Therapy the patient and therapist also engage in arousal-enhancing conversations and activities.”

There are 4 Naked Therapists on her team. They all live in different cities, and do web sessions with clients. But they all do live sessions as well, for a higher fee. And Sarah, for the right amount of money, will also go out with you for dinner or whatever for your session.

“If you’re that kind of man, I’d love to spend a night on the town with you, and we can talk about whatever’s on your mind.
Think of it as a ‘therapy date.’☺”

(Yes, there’s a smiley face on her website. Actually, several.)

And they’ll even consider traveling to meet you, assuming you pay.

So, here’s my thought process about this:

Uh, what? ...jesus, that’s ridiculous...yeah, this looks like porn...(then, after reading a bit) hm, still looks porn-ish, but she’s making some interesting points.

Clearly she’s done a lot of reading and apparently some writing; she’s not just a cute dumb girl making money by getting naked online. I mean, she is a cute girl making money by getting naked online. But I think this is a serious attempt at doing some good for some people. However, the visuals are kinda porn-ish, so part of me wants to shout “no! this can’t be real therapy.”

(I actually have a degree in psychology. When people find that out some will ask if I ever use it, the psychology. I say, of course...I work with singers & actors & dancers, and they’re all crazy.)

Anyway, I would feel better about this naked therapy if the therapists were licensed (they’re not), and if there were legit research and peer review on the practice (there's not). They do not accept insurance, probably because they’re not licensed.

From the website:

“All our Naked Therapists go through a year long training process. During that time, they are listed as Naked Therapists-in-Training. This involves a reading list of psychotherapeutic texts, response papers (which are posted on their blog), plus oversight by and session reviews with Sarah White. As for the educational background of our Naked Therapists, that differs widely but each was brought into the practice because she/he is skilled at talking, listening, and counseling while also being arousing ☺.”

But in a sense, it’s just some woman who thought this would be a good thing. And who convinced a few others to join her. Clearly this has sex industry elements. One of the of the therapists, in fact, is a former exotic dancer. This does seem rather like they are “sex-workers”—an ancient line of work, the practitioners of which could easily tell you that some clients just need someone to talk to. I used to know a woman who worked for one of those sexy-lady-voice telephone chat lines, and she said that a lot of the guys she talked to just liked having someone to talk to about stuff, someone other than family or friends. And that’s what a lot of therapy is, a client talking to a (supposedly) neutral set of ears—a set of ears attached to a knowledgeable and experienced brain that may help to guide the client to some understanding about him- or herself.

Anyway...

I guess I would also feel better about its legitimacy if it weren’t so blatantly geared toward enticement as a way of getting clients. This is the opening page of the website:

Many of the pictures on the website are very sexy model-type pics.

Here’s Sarah

Carli

Penelope

and Randy.

Well, of course they can get clients. Here’s how it works (apparently):

They start with web sessions—with either a one-way camera and IM chatting, or a two-way camera and actually talking—during which they discuss whatever the client wants and during which the therapist removes his or her clothes. The client may remove his (or her) clothes as well and may masturbate or whatever. That’s part of the point; it’s “arousal therapy”.

The idea is that during a state of arousal people—especially men—get into a different sort of mental state, which can be important for making psychological breakthroughs. Sarah White relates it to the importance of dreams, which, before Freud, weren’t considered psychologically revelatory. She seems to think that eventually arousal states will be more generally accepted for their value in this regard. Of course, she also freely admits that the whole naked lady thing is a way to get men, who, as a group, may be more reluctant, into therapy.

So the naked therapist uses arousal to get to the “good stuff”. Where Freudian psychoanalysis tries to access the unconscious to help the patient achieve a happier, healthier life, naked therapy tries to use the arousal state to help the patient achieve a happier, healthier life.

Now, if you’re a person who thinks that sex is supposed to be hidden and shameful and all that “civilized, Judeo-Islamo-Christian” crap, then I can’t imagine any argument convincing you that Naked Therapy has any psychologically legitimate use. Ironically, if that is the case, then you might be exactly the sort of person who would benefit from naked therapy. (For that matter, if you are such a person, why are you reading my naked blog? If you’re even looking at it, you’re probably just scanning this entry for more pictures of my penis. Sorry, not this one.)

So, I think this sort of therapy may be a decent idea. The naked thing is a tool. It may draw clients who would benefit from and who otherwise wouldn’t consider therapy. And it may help create in the mind of the client a sort of connection, an intimacy, allowing them to open up in ways they might not in traditional therapy. It may help the therapist and client access thoughts and feelings they would have trouble getting to. It could be a very effective tool.

But, again, I’m wary of the lack of advanced pysch degrees and lack of pysch establishment recognition. Of course, in itself, those things don’t mean that it’s not legit. I mean, tons of people can get licensed to do things that they are not any good at or may even cause harm by doing. 

And I’m also a little put off by the presentation, which, of course, may be exactly the sort of presentation they need to attract clients: people who are aroused by what they’re presenting; people who might be into the whole webcam porn, chatting with a naked woman (or man) type thing. And that’s not really me.
Also, they could lose the smiley faces from their website.

Tableau Vivant...a bit more

(This is more about the piece from my this morning's entry.)

Okay, so... a “Tableau Vivant” is a living picture: an artistic picture or series of pictures made with live people, as opposed to being painted or sculpted or photographed; often tableaux vivants (that’s the plural) are recreations of pre-existing works of art.

Several examples (obviously, pictures of paintings & pictures of tableaux vivants based on them):

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Georges Seurat)

The Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci)

Olympia (Édouard Manet)

Girl with a Pearl Earring (Johannes Vermeer)

Vieja Friendo Huevos (Diego Velázquez)

The (too soon cancelled) TV show Arrested Development had an episode featuring an annual “Living Classics” pageant, in which families or groups would do tableux vivants.

The Creation of Adam (detail from The Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo)

Mrs Henderson Presents is a film about a theatre which did tableaux vivants.

The DeliriumConstructions is an ongoing photographic project by artist Sarah Small in which she explores emotional responses of bringing together unexpected people.

One example:

Pearl Ring (Sarah Small)

Tableau Vivant of the Delirium Constructions is a series of pieces that involve live musical performers/models/movers, some clothed and some nude. It’s a sort of extension of Sarah Small's photographic work intended to “celebrate humanity by representing a visual and sonic encyclopedia of the human condition.” (quote from http://www.livingpictureprojects.com/)

I think watching it on video (you can find a link in this morning’s entry) creates a distance from the piece which I assume wouldn’t be there if experienced live. I think it would be a really interesting thing to experience, as either a participant or an observer. Although, I suspect from what I’ve seen in the videos, I would desire more interaction and specificity from the performers.

I found myself wanting to know more about the various couples, groups, even individuals. What were their relationships? Why are some clothed and some not? What’s going on with this or that individual who seems very different from the others in some way or another?

I also think it would be really neat to put together some sort of performance not unlike hers, here where I live. I can’t imagine how I would find enough people who’d be willing to do it. Or a venue that didn’t cost a bunch o’ money to rent. Anyone?