Sister Suffragette

"So, did you vote?"

That question came spewing out my mouth quite a lot today. It is election day, so I was simply being topical, yet I was actually met with a few side eyed glances. Is this a controversial question?

Maybe so, since midterm elections never have as high of a turnout in comparison to the bigger, showy Presidential elections. Those glances I got may have just been the look of guilt.

This midterm isn't as glamorous, but, stating the obvious now, it's important to vote each and every time.

I know, I sometimes see why people check out of the democratic process. The issues are confusing, those guys/gals are never doing their job in Washington D.C anyway, so why bother?  We don't even get to go to official polling stations anymore. Here in Washington the ballot is just an adult version of connect the dots.

While I may agree that the initiatives could be more clearly explained, everything else is just being negative.

We are all a little person in our own little individual part of the country. It may seem like our vote has no impact.  But what if everyone felt that way? No one would show up and the system wouldn't work. Together we become the strong voting body that collectively voices an opinion.

For women: let's move in close and have a deep convo. Come on! Less than 100 years ago we weren't even ALLOWED to vote.  [Side note: This calculation is based on the official passing of the 19th amendment in 1920. Some states had passed laws earlier.] Can you imagine living in a time where our country said we couldn't do something? In my case, sassy Justine would have come out a lot.

When the Titanic sank, women couldn't vote. The history of film is older than a woman's right to vote. And the same goes for Oreo cookies, crossword puzzles, traffic lights, and the panama canal. How dare the Oreo cookie exist while women were still deemed a lesser citizen.

Suffragette's fought hard staging rally's in the streets to win this right - let's not slap all their work in the face. Especially now that politicians are fighting like wild animals for our vote.

It may not seem exciting to fill out a ballot and read about politics, but give it a try. At least do it for Mrs. Banks and all those ladies who made the US and other countries around the world a more fair and just place.

"Our daughter's, daughter's will adore us..."



I spent most of my childhood wanting one of those sashes - plus Mary Poppins' magic bag.

Get your vote on. There is still time. Well, maybe only on the west coast.


Until next time.

Hedwig + Tony

Many years ago I watched a Sundance stunner with a group of people - I should say half watched since crammed in a dorm room with a bunch of chit-chatty folks isn't the best for fully absorbing a movie. Looking back, I had appreciated the lead performance, and loved how the musical numbers and the costumes combined to make something just as dynamic as Moulin Rouge or Rent, but made at a tenth (or less) of the budget.

I couldn't remember much else about the story - Fans of the movie know I was missing a lot.

Then sometime last year a remarkable rumor began swirling around that said film was getting the revival treatment starring Barney Stinson aka Dr. Horrible aka Doogie Howser. With such a cool development, I thought, "I really gotta watch Hedwig and The Angry Inch again".

And so I did, and it has since debuted on Broadway, and last month the revival of Hedwig And The Angry Inch nabbed nine Tony award nominations, including one for Neil Patrick Harris.

Jealousy will be reserved for those able to catch NPH as Hedwig - a remarkable character still electric  in film form 13 years later. I can't even imagine seeing those songs performed live. For awhile I was trying to scheme a way to hitch along with my G-ma when she went to New York for her high school reunion in June. I'd pop down to NYC, see Hedwig, and then she could meet me on The Great White Way to check out Les Miserables for the second time. It would be truly splendid, but highly unlikely.


For those not able to fly to NYC you could still check out the movie, if you haven't already.

Not to be outdone by Mr. "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit", John Cameron Mitchell, the first Hedwig, is magnetic. He wrote, directed, and stars as the title role, which is all based on the show he originated in an Off-Broadway production.

Mitchell (recognizable to all those Girls fans as Hannah's would be editor) effortlessly moves around as Hedwig, like they are one and the same, belting undeniably catchy tunes. I watched the movie again last month and the spirit rousing, power anthem, "Wig In A Box" has been lodged in my brain ever since.

Hedwig performs across America in various dives (bars, diners, or wherever people gather it seems) and the audience follows along as in between the songs she tells the story of her life. We find out how someone from Germany ends up as an underground performer that even has fans showing up to performances in the USA boasting large paper yellow wigs - a tip of the hat to Hedwig's greatest accessory.  Michael Pitt is part of that equation, so the tale also has that going for it.

From being transgendered to growing up in a communist state, all of Hedwig's stories are told with earnestness. Those heavier topics cause a lot of strife for all the characters, but just like the rest of us watching the movie who find modes of coping, the entire movie is equally told with excellent humor set up as an extended kick ass rock show. Music and laughs, nothing better than that. Many of the sequences left me longing for the good old days of MTV music videos.

The Broadway production may be all the buzz right now, but the stage can not capture a great cultural film moment like Hedwig swigging a Zima on a pile of tires, then cutting to her performing on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. That is the early 2000's in a nutshell.

On the other hand, the newest production with NPH in the lead definitely secures Hedwig as an icon of the stage, that can be adaptable and relatable in any decade. 

Until next time. 

Check out the Tony Awards hosted by Mr. Hugh Jackman on June 8th.

Let The Credits Roll

For the purposes of its implied meaning, the old timey idiom, "never judge a book by its cover", is awfully grand.

Not judging people by how they look on the outside is the greatest advice anyone could bestow on others, but if we instead take the meaning of the saying very literal, truth be told, I break this rule all the time.

Who isn't intrigued by beautiful cover design as we peruse the shelves of the library or bookstore? Just because I don't like the cover, however, doesn't stop me from reading a book, I am a reasonable person after all, but a well designed cover in a bright color can definitely catch a readers eye more than something bland looking.

The cover is the first thing we see - it's the introduction to the story before we even know how the plot will unfold.

In movieland this is also true. Often the first frame of a movie is a list of words; produced by, starring so and so, the film company, etc. An eloquently thought out opening credits sequence is an art all its own.

These seemed to be essential for older films - Rogers and Hammerstein musically set title cards and zingy Doris Day cartoon openings come to mind. These type of elaborate openings have mostly gone out of vogue, where movies tend to just start and throw up the title over a freeze frame of one of the characters.

Some newer films have kept up the tradition - Woody Allen's simple black screen with white text is his perpetual trademark, the trailing of a criminal by an FBI agent in Catch Me If You Can is stylishly animated, and a pile of tater tots with ketchup (among other random food/items) creatively open  Napoleon Dynamite. 

Two title sequences in particular inspire me all the time, even in this here blog. One is definitely already deemed a classic and the other will be considered that soon.  Look up to the blog header or below - does that picture remind you of anything? Maybe there is a hint of a 15 year old rock loving enthusiast who does some writing for Rolling Stone?

Cameron Crowe's credits for Almost Famous were just asking to be paid homage to and I'm surely not the first to do it. [Click here to view the credits]

Only in the least year did I realize that Crowe, with his title card creation, seemed to have been  initializing his own tip-o-the -hat to the credits of a beloved film and another one of my own personal favorites.



I knew there was a reason I was specifically drawn to both of these sequences!

Watching To Kill A Mockingbird last month I finally had the lightbulb moment about the similarities. Only last month! I've watched these both time and time again over the years, obsessed about the credits and only now saw the comparison.

The opening titles to Almost Famous and Mockingbird follow the hands of creative youth at work. They both exude that same feeling of the playful innocence we all had in our younger years. The two even specifically mirror each other in two instances, especially in how they honor treasured collections and looking back at memories.

One sequence shows a pile of childlike knickknacks saved in a tin box, where the other displays a drawer full of concert memorabilia (a right of passage for any teen). The closest similarity though, can be seen in the little girl rubbing a black crayon over her white paper to reveal the title of the movie and the hand of "the enemy" writing out the title of his movie on lined notebook paper.

These are great examples of how in just the opening credits the tone of the movie can already be set, with little bits of character traits and even some objects of each film creatively captured in one sequence.

Bad judgements can be negative, but anyone who judges these two movies by the first shot would be correct. Both films start strong and only get better.

When it became time to think about an update to the old blog design, it only seemed right to take inspiration from the other side of this honored duo. Maybe something like this:

Until next time.