Pharmacist giving basic drug facts. It's pretty dry, image of the yucky scary leg injury notwithstanding:
Symptoms of an overdose: click here.
General information: click here. (Check out the "Effects" and "Addiction" sections, especially.)
and here's a huuuuuuge list of signs of a morphine addiction.
The videos I've found of people high on morphine have been of really poor quality. They're usually in hospital a hospital bed dealing with a traumatic injury or cancer and are using the drug properly, to relieve their extreme pain. I would think that morphine effects a person not in pain a little differently.
I'll be on the lookout for something more visual to show, but I hope this is a useful start for you.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Lara Logan
Lara Logan is a reporter for "60 Minutes." She was reporting from Tahrir Square in Cairo when Mubarak announced he would step down. In the ensuing chaos, she was separated from her camera crew and sexually assaulted by a group of men.
The news coverage of her assault has been, well, problematic. The news stories tend to take the angle "Muslims are terrible" or "Rape is sexy/she deserved it."
If you're improvising small talk in Act I, it might be fun to get really, really racist and sexist.
Read up on the coverage here.
The news coverage of her assault has been, well, problematic. The news stories tend to take the angle "Muslims are terrible" or "Rape is sexy/she deserved it."
If you're improvising small talk in Act I, it might be fun to get really, really racist and sexist.
Read up on the coverage here.
"a guarantee of survival is de rigueur for a happy affair"
(pronunciation of de rigueur here)
I've been reading about sex work in regards to Lulu, but I think there's a lot there for Rodrigo, too. He sells his sexual services for money after all.
Safety is the #1 consideration for any sex worker. They want to make a buck, sure, but first they want to not die. The more desperate a worker is for money, the more risks they'll take, in the clients they choose to see, the places they'll go, and the kind of work they'll participate in.
I think all the suitors coming in and out and the threats of violence Rodrigo faces in Lulu's "posh place" is way more than he bargained for, and he's telling Lulu that she's pushing his safety boundary with all of the shenanigans.
Though Rodrigo is physically much stronger than Lulu and a man, he's still the only character she really has any power over. I mean, she exerts a kind of "male gaze" on him for a change. She doesn't have the kind of power that comes from being pretty, the superficial "power" she feels on her pedestal, but Rodrigo depends on her for payment and is therefore at her will. Does he even think she's that hot? He has to do what she says regardless of how he thinks she looks.
Interesting power relationships to play with there.
I've been reading about sex work in regards to Lulu, but I think there's a lot there for Rodrigo, too. He sells his sexual services for money after all.
Safety is the #1 consideration for any sex worker. They want to make a buck, sure, but first they want to not die. The more desperate a worker is for money, the more risks they'll take, in the clients they choose to see, the places they'll go, and the kind of work they'll participate in.
I think all the suitors coming in and out and the threats of violence Rodrigo faces in Lulu's "posh place" is way more than he bargained for, and he's telling Lulu that she's pushing his safety boundary with all of the shenanigans.
Though Rodrigo is physically much stronger than Lulu and a man, he's still the only character she really has any power over. I mean, she exerts a kind of "male gaze" on him for a change. She doesn't have the kind of power that comes from being pretty, the superficial "power" she feels on her pedestal, but Rodrigo depends on her for payment and is therefore at her will. Does he even think she's that hot? He has to do what she says regardless of how he thinks she looks.
Interesting power relationships to play with there.
"Guys on Immodesty, Lust, and the Violence of Women's Bodies"
on Sociological Images
A survey designed by Christian "girls" asking the opinions of Christian "guys" on the topic of modest dress for women: What is modest, why modesty is important.
Here's one guy explaining modesty:
Check out his strong language! Female bodies "scream at," "manipulate," and "force" him. Michael Kimmel quoted in the linked article: "Women's beauty is defined as violence to men."
But check it- it's up to women to make sure they dress modestly, but it's up to men to define what modesty even means.
Anyway, it's interesting to think about the violence that the men feel Lulu's beauty does to them, as opposed to the actual real physical violence our characters enact.
A survey designed by Christian "girls" asking the opinions of Christian "guys" on the topic of modest dress for women: What is modest, why modesty is important.
Here's one guy explaining modesty:
"Immodest: Screams that her body is different than mine. Attempts to manipulate me. Forcefully offers to trade what I want (in the flesh) for what she wants: attention (male, age 30)."
Check out his strong language! Female bodies "scream at," "manipulate," and "force" him. Michael Kimmel quoted in the linked article: "Women's beauty is defined as violence to men."
But check it- it's up to women to make sure they dress modestly, but it's up to men to define what modesty even means.
Anyway, it's interesting to think about the violence that the men feel Lulu's beauty does to them, as opposed to the actual real physical violence our characters enact.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Fuck the Pain Away - Peaches
This song is perfect. There's no music video unfortunately (or maybe fortunately)
"All white. What does it mean, I wonder?"
Everything I'm finding says that white flowers mean purity, humility, innocence, new beginnings. Pretty much the same thing a white wedding dress means.
Hmmm.
Hmmm.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Porn Performer Sasha Grey's Youtube Channel
She's smart and articulate and she talks about porn and sex. Check her out here.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Chloral Hydrate
...is not for killing yourself, it's for falling asleep. Just fyi. Shoning's saying the opera would put him to sleep, but chloral hydrate works better.
From a flyer I found at Pittsburgh Action Against Rape
Things You Will Learn in the Healing Process
- Responsibility and blame for the assault/abuse always and forever belongs to only one person: the perpetrator.
- Nothing that you did (or did not do) provides adequate justification for sexual assault/abuse.
- The assault/abuse happened because the perpetrator chose to seek out or create a situation where he/she could attack without being caught. Sometimes he/she will set it up so that the victim feels safe and then takes advantage of the victim lowering his or her guard.
- Whatever you did in response to an assault or abuse, you did it to survive and to get through.
- The fight, flight or freeze response is something that happens automatically. All are instincts that we use to survive.
- Fight is when we get geared up to react; flight is when we try to get away; freeze is when we shut down, become frozen and immobilized.
- You must trust that whatever you did or did not do, served that instinct for survival.
- You are here; whatever you did or did not do helped to make sure of that.
- Responsibility and blame for the assault/abuse always and forever belongs to only one person: the perpetrator.
- Nothing that you did (or did not do) provides adequate justification for sexual assault/abuse.
- The assault/abuse happened because the perpetrator chose to seek out or create a situation where he/she could attack without being caught. Sometimes he/she will set it up so that the victim feels safe and then takes advantage of the victim lowering his or her guard.
- Whatever you did in response to an assault or abuse, you did it to survive and to get through.
- The fight, flight or freeze response is something that happens automatically. All are instincts that we use to survive.
- Fight is when we get geared up to react; flight is when we try to get away; freeze is when we shut down, become frozen and immobilized.
- You must trust that whatever you did or did not do, served that instinct for survival.
- You are here; whatever you did or did not do helped to make sure of that.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Men's and Women's Differing Reactions to Male and Female Nudity
Read the whole thing on Sociological Images!
Short summary:
When men see images of female nudity, they either offer praise or disapproval. The image is clearly made for them, and men express whether or not it lives up to their standards.
When women see female nudity, they compare themselves to the image they see and usually (according to the study) feel negative about it, whether the model conformed to standards of beauty or not. Men have internalized their role as active, consuming gazer, women have internalized their role as passive gazed-upon object.
Oddly enough, both men and women reported feeling uncomfortable at images of male nudity. Men did not compare themselves to the male nudes (the way women did with female nudes). Some expressed disgust or extreme disinterest and worked pretty hard to reject the "advance" of the lustful male model. Women sometimes felt aroused by the male figures, but the lust was mixed with guilt or shame.
Interesting ways to navigate the relationships once you're all down to your underpants.
Short summary:
When men see images of female nudity, they either offer praise or disapproval. The image is clearly made for them, and men express whether or not it lives up to their standards.
When women see female nudity, they compare themselves to the image they see and usually (according to the study) feel negative about it, whether the model conformed to standards of beauty or not. Men have internalized their role as active, consuming gazer, women have internalized their role as passive gazed-upon object.
Oddly enough, both men and women reported feeling uncomfortable at images of male nudity. Men did not compare themselves to the male nudes (the way women did with female nudes). Some expressed disgust or extreme disinterest and worked pretty hard to reject the "advance" of the lustful male model. Women sometimes felt aroused by the male figures, but the lust was mixed with guilt or shame.
Interesting ways to navigate the relationships once you're all down to your underpants.
Pagliacci
1892 opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
Pagliacci is a tragedy that takes place among the actors in a Commedia dell'arte troupe.
The commedia plot plays out in real life. The leader of the troupe, Canio, plays the "foolish husband" Pagliaccio. His wife, Nedda, plays the slutty wife Columbina. Before the performance begins, Pagliaccio leaves to go drinking. While he's gone, his wife Nedda sees her lover and they plot to elope later that night. Canio comes back and sees her lover run away, but doesn't see his face. He begs Nedda to tell her who, but she refuses.
In Act II, they perform the commedia plot, which pretty much mirrors what just happened. When Pagliaccio returns home and hears Columbina tell her love goodbye, Canio breaks character and demands that Nedda tell him the name of her lover. She tries to put him back on track for the performance, but he's distraught. Finally, he stabs her. As she dies she calls out her lover's name and Canio kills him too. The play ends when Canio announces "La Commedia è finita!" (the play is finished).
Infidelity! Jealousy! Rage! Murder! Performance! Costumes! Clowns!
Relevent!
Go read a more detailed plot summary on Wikipedia if you're interested.
The commedia plot plays out in real life. The leader of the troupe, Canio, plays the "foolish husband" Pagliaccio. His wife, Nedda, plays the slutty wife Columbina. Before the performance begins, Pagliaccio leaves to go drinking. While he's gone, his wife Nedda sees her lover and they plot to elope later that night. Canio comes back and sees her lover run away, but doesn't see his face. He begs Nedda to tell her who, but she refuses.
In Act II, they perform the commedia plot, which pretty much mirrors what just happened. When Pagliaccio returns home and hears Columbina tell her love goodbye, Canio breaks character and demands that Nedda tell him the name of her lover. She tries to put him back on track for the performance, but he's distraught. Finally, he stabs her. As she dies she calls out her lover's name and Canio kills him too. The play ends when Canio announces "La Commedia è finita!" (the play is finished).
Infidelity! Jealousy! Rage! Murder! Performance! Costumes! Clowns!
Relevent!
Go read a more detailed plot summary on Wikipedia if you're interested.
Artists Referenced in the Show: Rembrandt
Dutch Renaissance painter.
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| Bathing Bathsheba. 1654. |
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| The Jewish Bride. 1666. |
Artists Referenced in the Show: Raphael
Renaissance Italian painter.
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| The Three Graces. 1504. |
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| The Triumph of Galatea. 1511. |
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| The Entombment of Christ. 1507. |
Artists Referenced in the Show: Velazquez
Artists Referenced in the Show: Caravaggio
Italian Renaissance painter.
Fun fact! Steak carpaccio, which is raw tenderloin sliced extremely thin, was named after Caravaggio because of the rich reds he used.
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| Boy Bitten by Lizard. 1594-1596 |
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| Medusa. 1590-ish |
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| St Jerome. 1600. |
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Fear. Sexy, Sexy Fear.
This is a sidebar ad I found on a porn site.
This ad presumes that men are comparing themselves to the unrealistic, manufactured images they see in pornography. That’s also how Lulu comes to be idolized by the men in our play- they worship the image of her that each of them has in his own head.
But that’s not the best reason why this ad is so relevant. The selling point for a bigger dick isn’t to please your partner, but to make her afraid. Women’s fear is sexy. Unless you can threaten a woman with your penis, you need a scarier penis.
This ad suggests that despite how afraid women supposedly are of his penis, Ron Jeremy has a ton of sex with a ton of women. It suggests to whomever is consuming the ad that women like sex that is violent. Violence is sexy.
An ad like this works because men have a lot of unrealistic expectations and preconceived notions to deal with, and it's tough to navigate the world with a unique identity when society is telling you there's only one "correct" way for you to be. There is a lot of pressure on men as well as women to look and behave in a certain way- women are supposed to be skinny and passive while men are supposed to be big, muscular and active. Men are "supposed" to be the persuers, not the persued. Men are supposed to be the one who humiliates, not the humiliated and not an equal. They're supposed to be the provider, not the provided-for, the keeper not the kept, the one penetrating his partner and never the penetrated. Men can tolerate it (but not actually care) when women get emotional but men should never express their own emotions to their female partners.
When someone takes all of those messages to heart, the final product is the aggressive, violent, horny guy with terrifying genitals. No one can live up to that, and really, who wants to? Mainstream porny culture shoves men and women into certain roles that people can enjoy, but no one really picks for themselves.
The Game
This is the cover for The Game by Neil Strauss, a book that explains the contemporary dating/pickup scene. It’s a sort of exposé, sort of how-to manual. I just want to point your attention to some things about the cover specifically, without even getting into how creepy the text of the book actually is.
For one thing, the male figure is about three times as big as any one of the female figures. He’s a person, the women are toys.
There’s only one of him and lots of women. He’s entitled to collect ‘em all.
He’s standing upright, cool, composed, a person in a suit with shit to do. Each of the female figures is in a different kind of porny pose and/or costume. They don’t wear suits. They don’t have shit to do, other than contort their bodies into aesthetically pleasing though uncomfortable shapes, wear 7-inch platform heels, cling to phallic objects, and touch themselves.
The fact that there are several of them with the same body but different poses/costumes implicitly states that though the man is an individual, the women are all the same, despite the differences in their outer appearances.
One of the female silhouettes has her hands tied behind her back and her legs placed in a spreader bar, clear BDSM imagery. When actual BDSM practitioners play with actual BDSM rules, both partners talk beforehand about their limits and both partners are free to stop the action at any time, immediately and with no questions asked. When BDSM imagery is brought up in the mainstream with none of the BDSM rules, all we see is a woman as a bound victim, a series of holes to be taken by force. In actual BDSM the submissive is an equal partner, a full human being with limits to be respected and desires to be fulfilled. In mainstream images of BDSM, she absolutely is not.
The word “Penetrating” is there right underneath a lineup of ladybodies. That one’s pretty obviously gross.
In “The Game,” women aren’t players, and they’re not really the prize. They’re the obstacle standing between men- the real players- and “sex,” the prize (please refer to the Thomas MacAulay Miller article from Yes Means Yes, in the packets I gave you all).
I love Lulu in lots of really different costumes to illustrate the desires of the different men she’s with. The book cover implies that the man who buys it can pick up his favorite “type” of woman, no matter what type that is. The men in our play see a female body and automatically project their favorite “type” onto her. The woman’s own identity isn’t what’s important- the man’s desire is.
I also like the idea of seeing Lulu in silhouette a lot. The details of her person aren’t as important as the mere fact that she’s female.
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