the jury is in

— छह हज़ार नब्बे — I made reference on BlueSky this morning how I am forever indifferent to Taylor Swift's music, and I keep wondering how long it will take for the stupidly rabid Swifties to come at me. I think it would be a lot more likely if I were still active on Twitter, honestly. Bluesky has never amasssed the user base, and my rinky-dink account may not catch the attention of anyone at all. So, who knows. On the other hand, I wouldn't put it past Swifties to be searching her name on every social platform in existence, because of course they have no life otherwise. Take that, Swifties! What a bunch of losers! I'm not being that serious here, for the record. Or am I? Side note: to me this is a huge distinction between Taylor Swift and Madonna, and how I did or did not become a huge fan. Now, to be sure, the difference with Madonna is that she was at the height of her fame in my youth and Taylor Swift was not. Still, I've mentioned this before, but no matter how outrageous or sensationalized Madonna became, I would never have gotten into her had I not loved her music. That's where it started, and where everything I love about her still starts. I'm not here at all to say that Taylor Swift isn't a good person, or even a good artist. I just can't bring myself to think of her as an exceptional artist. She does a lot of good in the world, sure, but her pop music has always sounded pretty bland and generic to me. Clearly millions of people disagree with me and that's okay. To me, she'll never be a match for Madonna. Or hell, even Cher. Maybe even Barbra Streisand. Certainly not Judy Garland. Clearly I'm just rattling off gay icons here. I know a lot of the gays love Taylor Swift too but she doesn't even come close to the gay-icon status of these other women either. Lady Gaga comes far closer to taking up that mantle—and Lady Gaga is also a far better musician and singer than Taylor Swift (I even concede that Lady Gaga is a better both than Madonna; I just love Madonna more, in this case largely because of the doors she opened for people like Lady Gaga to even exist in the pop sphere). I guess my point is that I've never understood the fan fervor for Taylor Swift. I just don't get it. But! I do love that she's so into cats. — छह हज़ार नब्बे — — छह हज़ार नब्बे — Yesterday Shobhit had his first rehearsal for a quasi-interactive short play he was recently cast in, called The Jury Experience: Seattle. The audience plays the part of the jury, and guess who's playing the judge? Shobhit! Shobhit decided to join me to see the documentary The Cycle of Love at the Tasveer Film Center in Columbia City last night, which meant leaving straght there from downtown for both of us, without going home first. I was done at work at 4:30, and I walked up to his rehearsal space in Belltown to wait for him to finish at 5:00. It was just a couple of minutes before 5:00 when he came out the door—it was a secured-entry building so I could not go in—and then a mini-rush of other people in his cast came out behind him. Shobhit immediately introduced me to the director, a woman named Melanie. She immediately shook my hand and said, gesturing to Shobhit, "He's sooo good!" And what a great moment that was; it was so lovely to experience, especially after all that bullshit he dealt with having to leave The Foreigner back in the spring. I was so touched by it that I had to text both Laney and Alexia and tell them about it. I told them both what the name of the play was but that tickets are a bit spendy—they range from $45.50 to $72.50, and that's without added fees. I was kind of shocked by that, but since they're playing in a venue at McCaw Hall at Seattle Center for their performances, I suppose that lends a slight air of prestige to it, and thus higher ticket prices. I had zero expectation that Laney would make any plan to go see any performances; she's still recovering from her back issues. Alexia immediately said she'll plan to come; she's out of town during the one day of two performances in October, but she's apparently marking her calendar for November 8. When I mentioned $44 tickets (and that's lowest-tier, with at least a $3.64 booking fee, which I did not mention but presumably she'll know to expect), Alexia replied: I'll happily pay $44 to see it. He's my friend and deserves my support. I'd really like to be at the first performance, even though I also have a flu shot scheduled that morning (those don't typically affect me that much, at least), so this'll mean seeing it at least twice. Shobhit started chatting about tickets as everyone was walking out, and I was like, "Well I'll be going!" Clearly they have not yet ironed out how they'll handle comps, but Melanie said, "I think you get at least one comp." I'm now wondering: per show? For the entire run? I figure even if I only get one comp, if I return with Alexia at least then I'll only have to pay for a ticket once and not twice. I need to start spreading the word with friends and family again though, and just hope none of them feel burned about having to get refunds for The Foreigner. I don't think they will. Everyone felt bad for him when that happened and no one was annoyed by any ticketing complications. Anyway! Shobhit and I walked a few blocks south on 3rd until we finally hit a bus stop, then we barely managed to get on a bus that had just pulled up when we arrived. That took us down to the stop between Pike and Union, so we then walked down to Symphony Station, and took Light Rail down to Columbia City. Shobhit was hungry so we went into the PCC down there to look at the pizza slice options, none of which looked appealing; we went the rest of the way down to Rainier Avenue and into Olympia Coffee, where we got a couple of pastries just under the wire before they were being put back into a box for the day. We brought them with us into the Tasveer Film Center theater. Shobhit is now Tasveer's Treasurer (a volunteer position), so he was immediately recognized as soon as we came in. I was delighted to learn, when I went to pay for the tickets, that they do two-for-one on Tuesdays. Good thing, as I never did budget for a second ticket, as Shobhit only more recently said he was interested in also seeing this movie. The lady then offered us a free bag of popcorn, which was nice. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I went to this theater for just a regular movie since Tasveer took it over. We'll be back in just one more week, Tuesday next week, for this year's Tasveer Film Festival launch party. Those tend to feature free snacks and chai, so I tend to like going, even if I spend much of the time being a wallflower. As for The Cycle of Love itself, I was sort of surprised when it ended how much more impressed Shobhit seemed to be with it than I was—or, if not "impressed," which implies more emotion than he really showed, than certainly an unusual level of respect for it. I honestly felt like it dragged a bit, and I got super drowsy during a lot of it. But, as I note in the review, it truly won me over at the end, even with its corny contrivances. And the more I read about how it was made, the more I found myself deeply impressed by it. When the movie first ended I was hovering somewhere between B-minus and B-plus, but in the end I felt it really deserved a B+. Shobhit and I took Light Rail all the way back to Capitol Hill Station and then walked the half-mile home from there. There was nearly a fight that broke out between some pretty young guys at the back of our car, and thankfully there was a team of like three security guys who happened to be on board to go back and, if not break it up, diffuse the situation. A woman I assumed was a girlfriend really spent some time admonishing a guy right before they finally got off at the next stop, standing at the door right before Shobhit's and my seats. I lost count of how many times that woman said, "I don't have time for this shit. I don't have time for this shit!" She said it over and over. She must have a very busy schedule. — छह हज़ार नब्बे — [posted 12:33pm]