YouTube Obsession

I am a huge fan of the term: High Strangeness. It’s mostly used in the paranormal community to denote a sense of bizarre coincidences or extreme uncanniness in a story. However, the term is perfect for the weird stories told around conspiracy theories. The channel Crazy Days and Nights is full of this type of video.

I love bullshit like this.

And bullshit like this.

Especially bullshit like this.

The video that got me into watching more of his videos is:

Now, I had no idea that there was even a little strangeness around Bob Saget’s death let alone all the weirdness of unlocked doors and bizarre causes of death.

I still don’t have any idea because all of this could be just more bullshit. But it’s fun tabloid bullshit. And what works about tabloids is that no one cares about slandering rich people, scientologists or children authors from 1888.

I’m about to start his 73 part series on the “Epstein Elite” lol

Watching

I don’t mean to always hate on drama kids but the idea of a “one-man-show” conjures visions of Robin Williams doing a -just ever so slightly racist- impression of a Chinese neighbor he had growing up. Or of course, there’s this Family Guy clip that probably destroyed drama enrollment numbers across the nation.

But, to be honest, I’ve never seen a one man show. I’ve barely seen any live stand-up and that’s kinda one man showish. So what do I know?

My partner, a student of theater, came upon tickets for a genuine one man show this past Friday.

I was absolutely pumped for this and I was not disappointed. Not only did the performances by Michael Kinnan highlight the very faggy elements of the movie, he was not over acting, allowing the more emotionally effective scenes to maintain their weight.

Knowing nothing about “one person shows” I just assumed the only stage production would be a stool for the performer to use to ineffectively mime scenes from the movie. What I did not expect was the amount of production used for the performance. A projector to show the iconic opening credits, green lighting to denote when Buffalo Bill was using the night vision, a bucket came down from the ceiling for Fredireca Bimmel’s scenes in the well, just to name a few. Scenes that I thought would be untranslatable to the stage were cleverly and effectively reworked.

I have to praise the LGBT Center for giving this production a space to be weird and queer. It really made me hopeful for queer art but also just art in general. The crowd at the showing was lively, colorful and queer af.

I’ve spoken on this before but it can be a lot (and expensive) in this modern day to justify leaving the house. Not to mention going to a overtly queer space when so many people want to hurt us. Yet, the community I felt in that space was enough to overpower any reticence I may have had about attending. I grew up in an area where I had to make spaces queer. So to attend something where I can just feel a part of was just so uplifting.

Damn. This is what good art can do.

Listening

Outside of her cameo in Dogma and the album Jagged Little Pill I’m really not familiar with Alanis Morissette’s career. I wouldn’t even say I’m that big a fan of Jagged Little Pill it was just everywhere you went in the mid 90s. None of her other albums ever came close to me in the same way.

This is probably why I slept on her Woodstock 99 set for so long.

You can just tell she does not want to be here¹ and her anger is palpable. JLP is already an angry album and this environment just transforms it into something greater.

It’s become something of a tradition for me to watch this set on New Years Eve, idk why really it’s just something that started happening a decade ago. It’s worth checking out.

Oh, what’s that? Other Woodstock 99 recommendations? Well sure!

Another solid performance that is better than the studio version.

Other Notables

** “As rare as it might be at the highest levels of politics, the mainstream politicians and media figures now supporting him may have simply been persuaded of the efficacy of his left-populist approach, especially relative to his opposition.”

** The best breakdown of how the rich avoid paying taxes.

1  And for good reason, Woodstock 99 was a disaster.