Butoh, Deathworms, and Superheroes

[shanmonster]

This dance writing stuff is hard work! I'm looking with bleary eyes at articles on Butoh, now. I want to flesh out my research on it so that it's at least as comprehensive as my write-up on raqs sharqi. It's going to take a while. This is difficult for me for two reasons: I don't do the Butoh thing (yet!), and the Butoh community doesn't appear to be as forthcoming or robust as the raqs sharqi community. This latter reason could be because there just aren't as many Butoh dancers out there.

Last night, f00dave and I finally finished reading The Death Worms of Kratos. Good God, that's one awful book, although it's often quite amusing because of its very badness. If ever a book needed the MST3K treatment, it's this one. The premise goes something like this: a team of genius ne'er do wells (the Expendables) are sent to the planet Kratos in order to ascertain whether or not it is suitable for an Earth colony. The captain, obviously written with Captain James T. Kirk in mind, bustles around trying to keep his team organized and having approved regulation sex with one another. The death worms themselves are reminiscent of the sand worms of Dune, and are described as looking like penises. One chapter goes into great detail concerning the erotic adventures of these worms, and the author obviously has great fun describing members (heh!) of the team riding around on these ambulatory phalluses of doom.

To give you an idea of the book's tone, I'll quote you an excerpt. This is in reference to Elizabeth James, an Expendable who gets killed by one of those oogly worms. The first town is being built for colonists who are enroute, and the team are discussing what the town should be named:

"It will be called Jamestown, in memory of Liz. Someday, I hope, someone will put up a statue of Elizabeth James in the main square. In fact we will require it. And the inscription will read: Elizabeth James, Expendable, who died proving Kratos."

"If he doesn't get the breasts right," said Andreas with feeling, "I'll come back to this place and stamp all over him. Liz was a great woman. She had magnificent breasts."

Why wasn't this made into a movie? I'd love to see Crow, Joel, and Tom Servo lambasting it!

In other news, I'm working on making a quick and dirty visual guide as to why Superman is a dick.

But first, check these out:

Princess Jasmina: The most hyperbolic writing I've ever seen for a dancer. Every sentence is full of thesaurus-plundering accolades, so much so that I'm wondering if the whole thing is a parody. "She is the most craved, most insatiably desired temperamental lioness of belly dance who ceaselessly provokes and enthrals audiences till they are entirely struck and mesmerized with awe, envy and profound admiration." Just FYI, as far as I know, in Middle Eastern slang, a lioness is a woman whose crotch is so stinky that you can smell her before you see her. "Her natural physical beauty and vast ranges of colourful costumes united with her vivid dance style have merged as the perfect formula for evoking deeply mixed reactions from audience admirers." Mixed reactions, hmm?

Trance Belly Dance: Yikes!

Molatar: He's a shapeshifter, a dragon, a wolf, and a Christian. "This site is dedicated to spreading the Gospel in the werewolf and furry communities. It is my hope that many trans-species people will accept Jesus as their Savior through this ministry." He talks about why evolution is wrong (maybe Adam and Eve were werecreatures, too), why vampires are ok but drinking blood is just not cool, and why magick is bad ("I can't even enjoy being a dragon because of its occult connotations.").

My Life as a Teenage Goth: I wish I were goth. Gothics are so cool.

Oh Holy Night: My ears! My poor friggin' ears! This song just gets more and more painful as it goes. As snowy_kathryn would say, "Jesus McFuck!"

Stray house on the highway: Are you missing your upstairs? Maybe that's it on the side of the road.

They should have used a bigger crane: That was ill-conceived....

Turd Birds: "Each turd is hand selected by the artist. They are carefully inspected at the collection site for shape, consistency, and color. If acceptable, they are then dried and sealed in liquid plastic. Rest assured, only the highest quality of turds are used." Make sure you read "Tale of the Turd Nazi."

The Worst Jobs in Science: If your job is worse than the anal wart researcher or tampon squeezer's, I have pity for you (thanks, f00).

Comments

[pivyca.livejournal.com]

>Trance Belly Dance

I think she must be masked due to sheer embarassment...

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I read a review of her video. It has two performances, the first of which is done in bondage gear and is aimed toward belly dance Gor-type fetishists. Her dancing is apparently mediocre. In the second performance, which is done Egyptian style, she's very good.

[pivyca.livejournal.com]

That first picture on her website was just so...weird. I don't mean to be rude, but my very first thought was "I'd wear a mask too, so no one would know who I really was!"

I'm all about personal artistic expression, so hey, if that's her thing, then I'm all for it. More props to her for having the guts to do it.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I just think that's one helluva ugly mask. Erk.

[pivyca.livejournal.com]

It kinda threw me at first. The actual "masquerade" part around the eyes is kinda cool (dunno if *I'd* dance in it, mainly becuase I'm clumsy enough when my vision's not obscured...) but it looked decidedly odd. it took several reads of the picture before I realized the white bondage mask underneath, I think that's definately what gives it that weird look. My first thought was maybe she did that for ease of wearing, maybe it's easier to take that on/off all the time instead of laboriousl pinning a mask on for every performance. But then you mentioned the Gor/fetish thing and it all started to come together...

[badcat42077.livejournal.com]

Trance- I think someone did an awful Photoshopping on her breasts in the first photo. In the gold costumed photos, they aren't as overinflated or oddly shaped.

Jasmina- the gushing on her site would put me off, regardless of her skill as a dancer.
As far as "Just FYI, as far as I know, in Middle Eastern slang, a lioness is a woman whose crotch is so stinky that you can smell her before you see her." goes, I had to stifle highly inappropriate giggles here at work. The good laugh is much appreciated. =)

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

The photoshopped boobs are a happy bonus, aren't they?

I was excited to learn lioness is another way of saying Courtney Love. Heh....

[badcat42077.livejournal.com]

I was excited to learn lioness is another way of saying Courtney Love. Heh....

And Shan garners more muffled giggles!

[miraba.livejournal.com]

Are these the same breasts as the last bad sci-fi book you quoted? I can't find that post.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Seed of the Gods? Could be.

[sorceror.livejournal.com]

Yow. Poor Molatar.

There are some amusing bits in there ("I hate FRPG's because the people who play them irritate me. Most FRPG players are little snobs that won't let truly intelligent people like myself join their games.", and "...getting Born Again is a wonderful experience and worth the miniscule intellectual effort."), but Jeez.

I hope this person gets some psychiatric help. :(

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's happy this way. Hmmm.....