On My Mind

It's Kitten Season!

sharon_editrix — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:59:41 GMT

As many of you know, I've been dealing with a bit of a feral cat situation at my house the past few months. A stray cat adopted me awhile ago. He moved in his girlfriend; she moved in her other boyfriend ... and then deposited her litter of kittens in my garage. How very Jerry Springer! The kittens were about eight weeks old when I discovered them two months ago, and completely feral. I couldn't dump them at a shelter even if I had wanted to (the shelters are too full of unwanted kittens), but if I just left them in my garage I knew I would soon have a feral cat colony in my yard. I had to get the situation under control! I borrowed a couple of traps from Kitten Rescue, trapped the feral adults and got them fixed, and gradually trapped all four kittens. From talking to Kitten Rescue and doing research on the Internet, I learned that they were already at an age that would make taming them difficult, but it was the only option I was willing to consider. So I kitten-proofed Shoghi's old room, and have kept them imprisoned ever since -- tormenting them with forced affection and waiting for Stockholm Syndrome to kick in. All considered, Operation Feral Kitten has been a success. One kitten has already been placed in his new home. Two kittens now purr and are affectionate and ready to be adopted as well. The fourth kitten (not pictured), remains stubbornly feral. He will be relocated along with his mother to a friend's property in Pismo Beach once he's old enough to get neutered. The two kittens ready to be adopted are the black tuxedo kittens in the photo. The one with a white splash on his face is a male. He is the most tame of all the kittens. Kat nicknamed him Butters. He just kind of melts when you pick him up. The one with the milk mustache is Frida. She has more attitude and is a bit less trusting, though once she gets to know you she's a total sweetheart. So, anyone want a kitten?

Anyone want to buy my ticket to Tosca?

sharon_editrix — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:05:30 GMT

Chris and Annemarie arranged an outing to Tosca tomorrow night. I can't go because I'm heading to Seattle for a wedding tomorrow morning. Anyone interested in buying my ticket? It's a group of fifteen fun folks, so you'll be in good company. Ticket cost me $58.71. Any takers?

The Seduction of Gardening

sharon_editrix — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:59:27 GMT

When I was a child, I loved gardening. My parents both loved to garden as well, so I grew up eating the freshest organic produce possible -- from the garden to our table within minutes. Even the best quality fruit you get at the farmers market cannot compare to the strawberry you pick at its ripest and plop directly into your mouth. If you've ever experienced this, you know exactly what I'm talking about. When I became a teenager, I discovered boys. Pin-ups from teen magazines lined my walls while the plants crowding my bedroom window were forgotten and left to die. Well, things have changed. I am older now and I find myself again irresistibly drawn to experience the joys of nurturing plants and savoring the fruits (and herbs and vegetables) of my labor. I suppose it was inevitable. It's in my blood, after all. I am fortunate enough to have a generous yard with soil made rich from decades of leaves dropped by mature fruit trees. But having grown up in Washington State, I was not familiar with gardening in Southern California. So I hired Tricia, the gardener responsible for transforming Chris & Annemarie's ivy-covered hillside into a beautiful flower garden. Over the past few weeks, we've dug up ancient grass and formed gently-curving flower beds. Tricia cleverly took the discarded cement edging that had constrained the original garden and built beautiful raised beds to create depth. She laid out pathways and carefully chose a beautiful mix of flowers that were planted with the foresight to evolve with the seasons. This has been a huge undertaking for me, as the yard was quite a mess, and I've been grateful to have the help of friends. Paynie helped break up the concrete and organize things. Nathan cut up the huge pile of brush we'd accumulated and helped out in lots of other ways. In the process of digging up some more garden space, he discovered a couple of time capsules left by the grandchildren of the previous owners. The contents were pretty decayed, but it was fun trying to decipher the drawings. Now I am sitting on my deck surveying the results. I see a butterfly enjoying the flowers over by the ancient fig tree. The nectarine and peach trees are in full bloom, the plum trees soon to follow. I can smell the sweet scent of citrus blossoms on my already fruit-laden lemon and tangerine trees. And down to my right is the herb garden with eight varieties of basil amongst others. Last night, I used some to flavor a delicious shrimp ceviche. In a few months, I'll be enjoying fresh strawberries, tomatoes and greens. So that, my friends, is my long-winded explanation as to why I am not going to Fuente this year. The garden is too newly-planted to survive without careful watering at this point, my gardener explained. And for some reason, as wonderful as Canyon de Guadalupe is, I am fine with not going. My priorities seem to be changing these days, so I am following what brings me joy. And at this moment, my joy comes in the form of a well-tended garden.

Shameless Self-Promotion

sharon_editrix — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:53:25 GMT

I'm performing with fire tonight at Dragonfly ( www.thedragonfly.com/ ), 6510 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038. The band Experiment Perilous is going on at 9:30pm ( www.myspace.com/experimentperilous ), and I'll be on around 10:15pm, rock and roll time. I have no idea what the cover is, but it shouldn't be much. It would be great to see some familiar faces there. Thank you Silverback for offering to safety me. Saturday night, I'll be performing in "The Sadist Queen" at Lair de Sade at midnight. By "perform," I mean that I will be tied to a cross and tortured with fire and other implements. I don't want to give everything away, but let's just say there will not be a happy ending. ;-)

It's not about the big bucks

sharon_editrix — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:14:49 GMT

I just finished work on a short film called "The Locker." The director, Dan Gordon, didn't have a big budget, but he made up for it in a way that really made this girl smile and feel warm & fuzzy inside. He handed me an envelope, and when I pulled out the cash he had attached a post-it note to each bill with a fun tagline printed on it. Here are some examples: "Anything but the usual Hollywood hatchet job" "Only God edits better (but only by a very narrow margin)" "Everything Sharon touches turns to gold" "To you it's a miracle. To Sharon, it's just another day at work." Anyway, you get the idea. I was really touched. It's great when someone makes the effort to show that they truly appreciate your contribution to their project. I feel so lucky to have such great people to work with. I am truly blessed. (And yes, the film turned out wonderfully. I'm looking forward to working with Dan on future projects.)

Okay, I'll admit it, I was tagged awhile ago

sharon_editrix — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:33:50 GMT

I've been avoiding this for awhile, but when Big D heard last night that I'd been tagged (by Havveleh) and didn't participate, he verbally tagged me again. And then I looked through my friends' blogs and discovered I'd also been tagged by Mr. E. Considering how much I've enjoyed reading my friends' responses and learning more about them, I suppose it's only fair that I respond in kind so here goes: RULES - Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog or post a bulletin with 8 facts/things/habits about yourself, saying who tagged you. In the end you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs. Tag you’re it: 1. My very first memory is penis envy. Seriously. I'm guessing I was around 3 years old and I was taking a bath with my younger brother when I noticed that he had something I didn't have. My mother assured me that this was normal and explained that girls have their own special thing. The other interesting aspect of this is that my brother was uncircumcised. It wasn't until a couple decades later that I finally figured out why he looked so different than most of the other penises I encountered through my teenage years and on. 2. When I was four years old, I asked to be initiated into Transcendental Meditation. This was something that my parents were into at the time. However, the first time I went through the ceremony I was given a mantra that I thought was ugly so I refused to say it. A few months later I went through another initiation ceremony and was given a mantra that I liked so I accepted it. While I never did fully get into meditation, I still respect the fact that the mantra is sacred and I refuse to reveal it to anyone. This is especially silly since I think there are only maybe four mantras given out to young initiates and I also think TM is a sham (my parents lost interest when the movement got obsessed with levitation), but it is a bond that I share with my father so somehow it is still sacred to me. 3. I was debilitatingly shy as a young child. I would hide when we had visitors. The first time I interacted with another student in the first grade, my teacher actually called my mother to share the good news. It wasn't until a few years later, after we had moved to another town, that I finally realized how much my shyness was limiting my experiences and I made a concerted effort to get over it. I was so successful that the following year, when I went to the birthday party of my oldest friend, none of the other guests could believe I was the same person. While I have come a long way since then, I am still somewhat plagued by shyness. Unfortunately this is sometimes confused as snobbishness. But mostly I think it comes out as me being a total dork. :-) 4. In high school, I was an honors student who appeared to be a "good girl." Meanwhile my other honors student friends and I were staying out all night and sneaking into boys' windows. I enjoyed milking the good girl/bad girl dichotomy. I could get away with a lot of stuff in high school because I was seen as being a "good girl." For example, sneaking out during an overnight field trip to go to a teen club. Our teacher tried to get us suspended over this, but we went to the principal to protest and he let us off. I also was very into leftist politics and tried to politicize the school newspaper. I set out to create an issue that was completely devoted to political issues, but found myself faced with censorship. This was at a time when school newspapers were still protected by the First Amendment as long as they weren't school-funded (ours wasn't) and I knew my rights so my friend, the editor-in-chief, and I marched down to the principal's office to have a little chat. Realizing that we knew our rights, he denied there was any censorship and said we could proceed with the issue. Somehow my friend's article on teen abortion got lost at the typesetters, though. Uh huh. At the end of the school year, I was up for election to be the editor-in-chief the following year. I was told by the advisor that I had lost, but her aide told me that it had actually been a tie with the teacher's pet. Whatever. I started my own newspaper where I could write anything I wanted. That following year, I was amused by the fact that any time I wandered into the advisor's classroom, she had a nervous tic. Now, though, when I look back I feel bad for her. It was a conservative town, after all. 5. I had a very rocky relationship with my father during my teenage years. He was socially conservative (despite TM and other kinds of hippy-ish things) and had, in my opinion, unrealistic expectations for teen behavior. He thought I was selfish and self-centered and bad (hello, I was a teenager!) and we fought all the time. It was a pretty rocky period for my family. I was the oldest so basically I was breaking him in. My mother even thought he was being unreasonable about a lot of things, which didn't help their relationship. Somehow, though, as I approached graduation and won scholarships and awards, he started to see me in comparison to other teenagers and came to have respect for me. We finally became friends. Three weeks after I graduated high school he died of a heart attack. I am grateful that we did have this time where we were able to make peace. I have a great relationship with my mother. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her and how she is always striving for more knowledge. But the older I get the more I wonder what my relationship with my dad would have been like now if he were still alive. 6. I went to The Evergreen State College, which is one of the unconventional schools that came out of the new educational philosophy of the late '60's. No grades were awarded and politics were unapologetically leftist. After my first year of college, I realized that all my knowledge was based on books and that I needed to get some real-world experience. I got a vague independent studies contract and bought a plane ticket to Guatemala, not really knowing what I would do once I got there. I studied Spanish enough to get along and spent six months living in a remote village in the highlands of Guatemala in a mostly indigenous community. The village I selected, Nebaj, had basically been destroyed by the military and was still occupied when I lived there back in 1989. There were still battles happening within earshot of the house I rented for less than $5/month. I learned so much living in this village where people's dreams for a better life had been effectively destroyed by a military force funded by our government. It was truly eye-opening. 7. The first feature film I edited was a Greek film I edited on location in Athens, Greece. The film was all in Greek. I don't speak any Greek other than some profanity that I picked up from the director, whom I had met when he lived in San Francisco. Needless to say, this was a challenge but somehow I managed. I liken it to editing music -- you start to recognize patterns of sounds even though you may not recognize individual words. The job was further complicated, though, by the fact that most of the producers thought it was ludicrous to have an American woman edit a Greek film. I had an assistant editor (male) who basically refused to work, and an edit system that was rarely made available because there was another feature film that had priority. Every day I would call the director and the producers to tell them they had to fire my assistant and get me a new edit system. The weeks went by and our deadline loomed. Finally, as luck would have it, the morning after I'd finally met a bunch of cool Greek freaks and had spent the whole night out partying, I got the call that my wishes had been granted. New assistant, new editing system. One of the producers who didn't speak English picked me up at my apartment and took me to the new studio where I had to cut a scene, totally cracked out, while he watched. Somehow I pulled it off and in a couple months finished the film. 8. I moved to LA two years ago from San Francisco. I absolutely loved San Francisco and, like any self-respecting San Franciscan, I despised LA. I kept avoiding moving here even though I work in the film industry and there was no future for me in SF. Finally, I decided to move here even though I knew I would probably be miserable. And you know what? I couldn't have been more wrong. I absolutely love it. I am having a fabulous, magical time here and I love all you beautiful freaks who have become my treasured friends. Thank you so much!!!! Okay, thanks for listening. I tag Carla, Erik, Fernando, Foxie, Oh Tony and Paynie.

Grace

sharon_editrix — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 16:10:03 GMT

To everyone I saw at Subversion and Urban Infiltration last night -- thank you! What an incredible night! I will be sad to see that space go. I have built up so many memories there over this past year. The Tribe party at the Red Loft where Mark Pincus spoke back in December 2004. Roo's debauched bachelorette party, the Goddess party, and countless other all-night extravaganzas. Rooftop fire performances. Film screenings. The takeout food invitationals Paynie hosted. The *secret* hottub. So many shenanigans! I must say, I have come to love living in LA in the short time I've been here. We've got a beautiful thing going here, my friends. I love you all!

The Aristocrats

sharon_editrix — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:01:21 GMT

I just got back from a screening of "The Aristocrats." For those who haven't heard, it's a film about the most offensive, vile joke imaginable, considered a rite of passage amongst commedians for ages. This joke isn't about the punchline, it's about how creatively transgressive a person can get using language and gesture alone. The filmmakers liken it to a jazz riff, in which each teller introduces their own flourishes. It is improvisation at its best (or worst). You can find out more about the movie here: http://www.thearistocrats.com/ The screening I went to was put on by Hollywood's Master Storytellers, and was followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers (Paul Provenza & Penn Jillette) along with featured personalities Bob Saget, Jason Alexander, Andy Dick, and Sarah Silverman. Let's just say that the panel discussion alone was worth the price of admission. I was laughing so hard I actually had tears in my eyes by the end. The filmmakers fully admit that this movie isn't for everyone. As they put it, if you are offended by anything, this movie probably isn't for you. In fact, Jason Alexander has a test joke he tells to determine whether or not it is appropriate for an acquaintance to see the film. The joke involves anal-fisting a minor, if that gives you any idea. Some of the most memorable moments in the film are when a mime performs "The Aristocrats" while unsuspecting pedestrians pass by, and Gilbert Gottfried's delivery at an unfortunately-timed post-9/11 roast for Hugh Hefner (he tells the joke to great response after being nearly booed off the stage for attempting to tell an airplane joke -- see, even commedians have standards). The filmmakers elected not to submit their film for a rating by the MPAA, as they see willingly bowing to the standards of the MPAA as a form of self-censorship. They believe that by clearly advertizing the nature of the film they are allowing individuals to decide for themselves whether they should see the film or not. Towards the end of the evening, the discussion took a more serious turn as panelists discussed what offends them personally (nearly everyone said censorship and religion). Bob Saget was especially vocal, talking about how it's not so much what you say, it's how you say it. If you're saying something in order to victimize someone, then that is wrong. If what you are saying isn't hurting anyone, then where's the harm? Seeing this movie made me realize just how completely absurd a term like "obscenity" is. Here is a film in which people say the most foul, disgusting things imaginable, and yet it has obviously brought joy to thousands of audience members. Is it obscene? I suspect in many communities, it would fall under that classification ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_Test ). This film makes Lenny Bruce's use of the word "cocksucker" seem almost tame by comparison. This idea that words alone can be so offensive that they must be suppressed frankly appalls me. In light of what is now occuring with Tribe, these thoughts really hit home.

Letter to Tribe

sharon_editrix — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:09:31 GMT

Hi Wade, I'm sure you're being flooded with messages protesting Tribe's new policy regarding mature content. I feel compelled to contribute to the deluge. Please reconsider. I love the diversity represented here on Tribe, and the mature tribes and profiles here are an important and vibrant part of this online community we have created. If Tribe follows through with this proposed policy, then just us insiders who are already members of Tribe and a select few we invite will have access to this content. Newcomers will have no idea of this secret world where people are open-minded and supportive of different lifestyles. There are so many lonely, isolated people out there that have found acceptance here. It is a shame to hide this away from people who could benefit from this who have not yet joined, just because of the narrow-mindedness of a few. Even in our often regressive political situation here in this country, it is not possible for a single individual to declare something offensive and therefore have it removed. There is a legal system by which community standards are determined and applied. Yet Tribe is willing to let the opinions of a few legislate the availability of content for everyone else. I'm not normally a flag-waver, but this is frankly un-American. I urge you to reconsider. Instead, I would suggest that Tribe make it so that people are able to make a choice when they join whether or not they will have access to mature content. Tribe could also require that members affirm that they are eighteen or older. This seems in keeping with how other websites that display mature content operate. Thank you for your time. I appreciate all the hard work everyone behind the scene here has done to make Tribe such a wonderful resource. Sincerely, Sharon