"Don't kill me!"

I personally think that Shwarz is the creepiest fucker in the show. When I read the text for the first time, he stuck out to me as the most scary.

Remember George Sodini? He was from around here, in Pittsburgh, and one summer day about two years ago he went to an LA Fitness with a duffel bag full of guns and shot up a women's aerobics class. His journals were full of racist and deeply misogynistic ramblings. He had rage and entitlement issues. And his whole life, women would say he was a "nice guy" while they rejected him.

And, yes, he was well groomed and polite on the surface, but obviously had some problems. The women he hit universally stayed away for a reason.

Read this article about it by Kate Harding. Here's a taste: 

Telling a guy the real reasons you're not interested -- you don't find him attractive, he's way too old for you, you get a distinctly creepy vibe off him, whatever -- or offering no explanation at all, because you just met this guy and owe him nothing, would be "rude." And thanks to the conditioning Harriet describes, exhibiting the slightest hint of "rudeness" to any stranger who approaches you with sex on his mind makes you feel not like a normal human being with healthy boundaries, but a mean, frigid, stuck-up bitch. Worse yet, sometimes, the same man who called you beautiful and offered to buy you a drink ten seconds ago will turn aggressive when you say you're not interested; he'll tell you flat out you're a bitch, or a whore, or less printable things. He'll reject your rejection by getting in your face and losing his temper. So really, it's a lot safer and simpler to say, "Look, you're a nice guy, but no thanks/I have a boyfriend/I can't." Most guys will walk away calmly after that -- and hey, it's none of your concern what they go home and write in their diaries.

Jokes to tell over the act four card game?

What is the difference between a drug dealer and a hooker?
A hooker can wash her crack and sell it again.

What do a woman and a condom have in common?
They're both either in your wallet or on your d!ck.

What's the best thing about a blow job?
Ten minutes silence.

How is a woman different from a toilet?
A toilet doesn't follow you around once you've used it.

Why do women fake their orgasms?
Because they think we care.

Why do men have penises?
So we'd always have a way to shut women up.

More here, here and here.

Our characters are at least as awful as these people.

Any woman writing on the internet, especially if she writes as a feminist, will get disgusting/rapey/terrifying/nonsensical/hateful comments from dudes like the ones I've linked to below (ask me about mine!). They're out there. I've dredged the bottom of the barrel and found some disturbing stuff. Here's a sample:

This article was written by a man but published in a women's magazine, about why men prefer "innocent girls" to "bad girls." He literally compares women who aren't virgins to dirty black snow on the side of the road. That's definitely what Shwarz thinks sex does to people (especially women). It's also why Shöning would rather marry the Baron's pretty schoolgirl daughter than "whore" Lulu (though he doesn't mind fucking her). They put women into "buckets" of good girl you can take home to mom and bad girl you can fuck but not really care about. He also doesn't like women who know more than he does. Yikes.

This guy hates women so much, when he sees a hot girl, he starts to look at her as if she's a dangerous animal in the zoo to stop himself from wanting to have sex with her. (There's also a weird furry porn image of a tiger in a dress at that link.)

"When saying that you want to rape and cut up a woman with a band saw is met with the exact same reaction as saying you want to want to buy them a drink, what ... is the incentive to not be hateful and violent?" (Yeah, that's a direct quote.) This article links to a thread on a Men's Rights forum in which men just rant about their misogyny. One guy seriously traces his ladyrage to a time in the 7th grade when a girl said he had cooties. 

Here's an email some douchebro in a frat at USC sent out to his brothers. In it he talks about  "how to be an effective 'cocksman'" and says that "females are targets, not actual people like us." I get total frat-boy vibes from Rodrigo, maybe this guy is him.

I've posted all this here to show that there are people at least as awful as the Lulu characters in the real world today. All of the posts I've linked are only about a month old. Seriously! The anonymous message board is the place these creeps feel free to let their freak flags fly. Maybe treat the Lulu space like it's your internet. Lose your pants and drop a proverbial dump all over the damn place.

Syphilis

As it turns out, there's a specific type of "tertiary syphilis" called Late Neurosyphilis which develops a few years after initial infection and can affect the central nervous system. Symptoms include seizures, "lightening pain the lower extremities," poor balance (so it makes sense that Act V Alva can't remain standing for long), and dementia (so it makes sense that he's a little loopy).

A person in this stage of syphilis isn't contagious. So Alwa and Lulu could still be doin' it and Lulu could remain healthy.

Alvin and the Chipmunks - Bicycle Built For Two

I was just looking for the song, but this is hilarious and perfect and creepy!

The one below creepy too, but not in an interesting useful way. It's much easier to hear the song, though, without the chipmunkey harmonies.

Eighteen Men Gang-Rape an Eleven-year-old Girl.

And this article about it in the New York Times:

• reminds us that the incident "destroyed" the small Texas town in which the crime took place.
• reminds us that it is tragic that the men will "have to live with this for the rest of their lives."
• asks the question, "where was her mother?"
• tells us that the victim wore makeup, dressed "like a woman in her 20s," and hung out with teenage boys on the playground in a bad neighborhood.

Maybe another terrible thing to turn into small talk- how these poor rapists now have to live with with this, and how an eleven-year-old girl was too tempting and deserved it, and how her mother should have been with her 24/7.

Basically, blame men's crimes on women, then feel pity for the consequences men face.

This is mainstream, respected journalism, not some wack-o misogynists in a message board somewhere.

Morphine

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.

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.

"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.

"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.

The Youthful Buddha Dance

They're bendy, like in the Salome dance!

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.

My Self Control Amazes Me.

via Gabbysplayhouse.com

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.

Artists Referenced in the Show: Rembrandt

Dutch Renaissance painter.

Bathing Bathsheba. 1654.

The Jewish Bride. 1666.

Artists Referenced in the Show: Raphael

Renaissance Italian painter.

The Three Graces. 1504.

The Triumph of Galatea. 1511.

The Entombment of Christ. 1507.

Artists Referenced in the Show: Velazquez

Late Renaissance Spanish painter.

The Toilet of Venus ("The Rokeby Venus") 1647-1651

Las Meniñas, 1656

Fun Fact! The mirror in The Rokeby Venus is actually pointing at her lower stomach/crotch.

Artists Referenced in the Show: Caravaggio

Italian Renaissance painter.

 

Boy Bitten by Lizard. 1594-1596

Medusa. 1590-ish

St Jerome. 1600.

Fun fact! Steak carpaccio, which is raw tenderloin sliced extremely thin, was named after Caravaggio because of the rich reds he used.