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Center stage 2!!

As I was standing in the hallway of my ballet studio last night, I glanced at the bulletin board and saw…drumroll…an audition announcement for CENTER STAGE 2!!!

Center Stage was in no way a good film. But it was high camp with pretty pretty ballerinas…who could resist? I spent many a snowy evening at Dartmouth huddled in my room watching dance melodrama with friends. For me, there’s more than a little nostalgia involved in Center Stage. Despite such gems as “I’m the best goddamn dancer in the American Ballet Academy! Who the hell are you?! Nobody!”, the movie had heart…even if that heart was sparkly with wee prancing unicorns inside it.

Naturally, the sequel will be awful; but you know you’re going to see it. Resistance is futile.

***update***

I checked the board again and it looks like Peter Gallagher and Ethan Stiefel will be reprising their roles in Center Stage 2. They’re casting for two female characters (one nice, one snob) and one young man. I think it will be pretty similar to the first film; a girl with “heart”, and an uppity chick (Maureen in the first; they’re calling her “Suzanne” in this movie).

eugenics for the modern age

I was interested to see two new eugenics-related items in the news. First, the scary-ass philosopher John Harris:

If it is right to save life, Harris says, it is right to postpone death ad infinitum by stemming the flow of diseases that carry us to the grave. We should engineer ourselves to be free of such curses as cancer and dementia, instead of believing that they are acceptable inevitabilities of human life. And we should make any such technology available as soon as we can, even if it means the human race initially splitting into the strong, clever, beautiful, immortal haves and the dumber, disease-ridden have-nots.

Sci fi come alive!

I’m all for longevity, but come on. Also, clearly this boy is ignoring issues of race, class, etc.. Obviously he is thinking of himself when imagining this glorious, posthuman immortality; perhaps an eternal orgasm of self-satisfaction.

St. Aldous Huxley pray for us. Personally, I find his view of existence–a neverending rat race to be long-lived, gorgeous, smart, drugged-to-happiness–so fucking depressing. In any case, such developments are not likely to occur, I think. If they do occur, I feel a touch of schadenfreude in believing that they won’t happen until after John Harris himself is a corpse (hopefully plundered of his organs). Scientists haven’t even managed to cure the cold that plagued my sinuses last week; what makes him think science is going to add a few million years more to his life?

Harris also claims that Nazi racial policies were not so much intended to create a “better human” as to eliminate  Jews, gypsies, etc. Apparently he has not been reading the same eugenics books as I have. Where does the man get his data?? I’m intrigued, but not sure that I have the time to waste on this bullshit while I’m thinking about writing my prospectus.

And then there’s James Watson,  hearkening back to the “Bell Curve” and claiming that blacks are dumber than everyone else. The article observes: “He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true’.” If he’s relying on such anecdotal evidence, btw, I would have to add my anecdotal evidence to the pot–the African students at Dartmouth surpassed pretty much everyone else academically.

It’s sad to see a near-mythical figure (deserving or not) in the study of DNA take such a reactionary stance. I’m not surprised, however; I read an article of his awhile back for my genetics class that signalled his acceptance of eugenics. This seems to be a natural extension of such a stance, with the added flavor of grandpa-style tenured loudmouthery.

On the bright side of things, all this means that my historical research in eugenics will keep me employable for years to come. Still, scary stuff. Is anyone else frightened? Or am I just a coward in facing this brave new world?

experiments in self-medication

Sunday night, I felt an unwelcome prickle in my throat. By Monday, I was a snot machine on overdrive, and woke up every 30-60 minutes during the night to blow my nose and pound the mattress in frustration.

I am not one to use drugs; in fact, I avoid them as much as possible. If I have one of those rare headaches, I prefer to drink some herbal tea and wait it out (or sleep it away). However, this was a bad, bad situation, and led to a series of experiments with OTC drugs between yesterday and today.

1. Benadryl–left over from China trip. Expired in March 07…gave it a shot, in the throes of Monday night sinus headache + runny nose. No effect. Doubled dose; still no effect. Was that because they were expired? Or perhaps Benadryl does not work for me? I used them in China mainly to knock myself out during long bus/plane trips, so I can’t remember if it did a thing for runny nose and sinus shenanigans…

2. Sudafed–At teaching seminar today, a kindly classmate offered me a dose of the regular Sudafed (not the heavenly pseudoephedrine variety…more on this later). I proceed to leak and sniffle my way through class. No dice. Another friend sings the praises of the behind-the-counter version of Sudafed, which is locked away because meth makers like to use its active ingredient…hm.

3. Sudafed PE, Maximum Strength–Stumbled into grocery store after class, consult with pharmacist. Pharmacist suggests Sudafed PE, explaining that the BTC version of Sudafed recommended by my friend has been known to cause a racing heartbeat, nervousness, etc. He recommends the safer phenylephrine blend, and I dutifully purchase a box. At home, I swallow a tablet. Nothing really happens, though my headache subsides a bit, and my nose is as runny as ever. Argh! Frustration! Learn from my good friend wikipedia that phenylephrine is about as effective as a placebo.

4. Claritin-D–stomp into local CVS. Decide to throw caution to the wind and taste of the dark, heart-racing pleasures of pseudoephedrine. Select Claritin-D for its promise to resolve both congestion and runny nose. Head home. Check online for more information about Claritin, and learn about its tendency to cause massive, massive constipation. Ugh, no. Do a bit more research and come upon several positive reviews of some drug named Drixoral…

5. Drixoral–Return to the CVS and exchange the Claritin-D for Drixoral (and getting an irritated glance from the cashier–geez, what’s so bad about a return?). Go home. Decide to wait a half hour between letting the Sudafed PE expire and trying out the Drixoral. In that half hour, an intense pounding ensues in my temples, and my nostrils let loose. So I guess the Sudafed did something after all, though it didn’t do a whole lot (I was congested the whole damn day). I finally swallow a tablet of Drixoral. 30 minutes later, one side of my nose clears up, and the runny nose disappears. 1 1/2 later, and I am as clear as a summer sky. It is the holy grail of nasal decongestants, this drug called Drixoral. Sure, it makes me a wee bit manic, but look how much blogging I just did!

In short, if those Santa Ana winds are assaulting your respiratory system, look no further than Drixoral. Your nasal passages will thank you.

***update***

Woke up this morning with a slight headache, but the Drixoral was only supposed to last 12 hours…still, just a touch of congestion, and I can taste again! HuRRAH! Being a food lover, I must admit that the inability to taste is one of the worst parts of being sick I lurve Drixoral. Lurve it.