Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and More!

A fun little vlog that is like a variety hour. Condensed into four and a half minutes. And it doesn’t have THAT much variety. BUT STILL.

This time I used still more editing than the last vlog. Hope you enjoy! Give me your thoughts in the comments.

Subtle Crossdressing?

With thoughts of Adam Lambert and Johnny Weir in my head, I began thinking about clothes. During American Idol, Adam Lambert drew attention with pictures of him in drag, and other not-so-”manly” outfits; during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Johnny Weir drew attention with overly “feminine” outfits. A Quebecois newscaster even went as far as to joke about having him gender tested. (Blech! That guy is a real d-bag.) Following the Olympics, I also saw a couple pictures of Johnny wearing more outfits¹ that some might consider challenging to social convention.

All this thinking about Johnny Weir and Adam Lambert and clothes led me to (drool…whoops) start considering societal conventions for us guys. We aren’t supposed to wear girls’ clothes. It’s not manly. It’s feminine. Downright “gay.” But why? In this day, in this society, girls can wear and be whatever they want. Granted, there is still sexism, and women might be called tomboys or butch, but they can get away with wearing men’s clothes without really breaking any conventions. They won’t get too many double-takes or outrage or shock.

But why is it so different for men? I’m not proposing that men should go out wearing dresses and skirts, although I have nothing against the idea. I just wouldn’t personally do it; dresses are not my thing. But what about a top? Some pants? Maybe some sweet boots? Arguably, if you have the right figure and the garment isn’t too tailored to a woman’s shape, you could get away with wearing it. But if anyone knew it was a woman’s garment, they might be shocked.

Masculinity is defined in such a black and white way, that it leaves no room for compromise. You’re either a man or you’re not. You wear men’s clothes or you’re a drag queen. While women are left with much more wiggle room and gray area. They can borrow shirts from their boyfriends, steal a nice-fitting pair of pants or even a pair of boxers. But men? Put on that nice v-neck of hers and you’re automatically emasculated.

Why is that though? Why are men so boxed in, in the game of gender? If I look good in that cardigan, why shouldn’t I wear it? Clearly it isn’t made for me, or tailored for me. But why is that so important? A woman wearing a men’s shirt can provide a nice contrast between the boxy build of men’s clothing and the curvy form of a woman. I think we can do the same, but in reverse. Not necessarily tight, curvy clothes on a man’s rugged build. But properly fitting, differently shaped clothes on a man. You gals have all the interesting clothes, anyway!

Basically, I’m trying to understand why this double standard is so prevalent. And I think girls do have some nice clothes. Guys’ clothes tends to be pretty similar and it gets boring. But what are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think this social convention is silly and should be challenged, just like women challenged the convention of not wearing men’s clothes? What about cross dressing in general, not just subtle things?

¹Granted, those might not be pictures of Johnny, but they look like Johnny and either way it’s a man wearing those clothes.

My Adventure to the Daily Show

So. It just so happens that this past Thursday I went to New York City and had the pleasure of being in the audience for a live taping of the Daily Show. Yes, THE Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In New York. The City. Me. There. Manhattan. Jon Stewart. Daily Show. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT EITHER.

It was a rather chance series of events that led to this awesomeness. On Monday I was on Facebook and saw an update from the Colbert Report saying that I could reserve tickets now. So I went on over to the Colbert Report site and I reserved two tickets to the show (I will be seeing THAT on May 6th :D)! I texted my one friend and asked him if he was free that day and if he wanted to go. Unfortunately he isn’t free, but that caused him and friend C to go to the Daily Show site and find that you could reserve tickets for THIS WEEK. They quickly reserved three tickets for Thursday. And it was done. We were going.

To get into the Daily Show, it’s really just a matter of showing up early. And we did that. We took the train to Madison Square Garden and arrived in New York around 11:00 in the morning. We started walking towards the Daily Show studio, which is like 20 blocks away from the station. We stopped for lunch at a pizzeria and accidentally got extra cheese pizza. There was too much cheese on this pizza. There was so much that I had to pile it on my slice and it broke it. My pizza broke from the weight of the cheese.

Anyhoo, we showed up at the studio at around 1:30 in the afternoon and got in line. There were only like 5 people in front of us, so we were definitely getting in. And after around 4 hours of waiting, playing pinochle with a lady behind us in line and playing other card games, we did get in. They had us go through a metal detector and were very clear about their policy on electronic devices. Do not have them out or they will be confiscated. We waited for a little while longer and were finally seated.

They bring out a warmup comedian first to get the crowd going and I guess stall a little bit too. It was nice, though. It’s way better than waiting outside for another half hour. And they told us that we have to laugh really loudly, because we’re the laugh track. So we did. And then…the moment came.

Jon Stewart came out from backstage. He was right there. I could see him in person. I could have jumped out of my seat, sprinted the 20-30 foot distance between us and hugged him if I wanted. Assuming the security guards didn’t stop me first. Obviously I didn’t want to be thrown out, though.

Before the show started, Jon Stewart did a short Q&A session with the audience, which was very light and funny. And then the magic happened~ Watching the live taping is quite different from watching it on TV. In person, the set actually looks a lot smaller and a lot dimmer. They really brighten it up and use good angles in the show. And there are some parts that we saw, which were ultimately cut from the finished product. It’s kind of really cool knowing that you got to see something viewers at home didn’t.

Jon Stewart was, of course, hilarious. The majority of the show was a Glenn Beck parody, which you can see most of in this video.

The experience was a great one. The atmosphere of the city was awesome, the show was hilarious and the excitement was overwhelming. I’ve been considering broadcasting for a major and this experience definitely heightened that interest. I’d love to intern and maybe work for Jon Stewart one day. And I’d love to live in or around NYC. But what I’d really love is if I didn’t work for Jon Stewart, but was one of his colleagues. I’m going to be famous – I won’t have it any other way. :P

A Story of Guilt

I took a slightly different direction with this vlog. That is, I used some editing. Just a bit. Yes? No? What do you think? I’ve always been a fan of the random cutting, spontaneity, and such in some vlogs. So I wanted to try incorporating it. Let me know what you think. Also I’m still working with the rendering settings, so bear with me on the resolution, quality, etc.

The United States of Your Mom

So0o0o I was chitchatting with my pal Aisling, and she was drawing/coloring in a map of the United States. She made several states into one blob, and used unappealing colors, but that’s besides the point. It’s still a very nice map, and North Carolina has this cool spike thing.

ANYWAY, she was talking about how the US flag is annoying, because of stripes and too many stars and stuff. And somehow that ended up on me saying “I will make a mockup of the future flags of the US.” ‘Cause, ya know, our doom is imminent.

And that is what led to these:

Yes, they are beautiful. As Ling said, I am Betsey Hillmann (as opposed to Betsey Ross…yeah).

A little explanation! The first flag is the United States of Canada. In the event that Canada sort of takes over/joins forces with the US. See, they will kind of own us, because we are in dire need of help, and they are awesome. But they are also really nice, so we will be in control of ourselves. Soooort of like Britain and Canada. Except they legit own us.

The second flag is the United States of China. In the event that China cashes in on our humongous debt and just buys us. That is where Canada comes in, to save us!

The last one is the United States of Walmart. Ya know, in case Walmart actually does take over the country. As opposed to their current metaphorical control. Canada might also come in and save us here, but there are a lot of Walmarts in Canada too. And Walmart does have a lot of money. So watch out Canada! Even you might not be safe from them! O: