You didn't need to be my 4th grade Jazz teacher to know that I have absolutely no skills in the high art of dance. My Puerto Rican rhythm must have been stamped out by my Puritanical Spanish ancestors in the gene pool. But my immovable hips couldn't stop me from at least trying out some of my favorite dance sequences, even if it was usually in the privacy of my own room.
1. Meet Me in St. Louise - "Bamboo Tree"
I played Judy and my little sister played Margaret O'Brein and we would prance around our living room for hours watching and re-watching this movie. Years later I would even use this movie to calm down rowdy boys at a summer camp. Judy works every time.
2. The Breakfast Club - "We're not Alone"
The way I saw it, The Breakfast Club were teenagers and if I was a teenager, then I would need to learn how to dance like them. I guess this is the reason I why I was never asked to dance, but also why I had so much fun.
3. The Little Colonel - "Stairs Dance"
I can never walk up a pair of steps normally ever again.
4. Smash - "Rumor Has It"
I heard a "Rumor" that people didn't like this show. I don't get it. How can someone not be hypnotized by the synchronized snaps and claps? My limbs automatically flail whenever this song comes on, which makes driving a bit difficult.
5. Bring It On - "Intro"
My semester stint as a varsity football cheerleader was probably due to this short clip. Though I was hardly a better dancer afterwards, at least I've never had to resort to Spirit Fingers.
You might remember her songs showing up in some of the pinnacle angsty teen girl movies like Mean Girls and Thirteen. But I actually first saw her in Seventeen magazine spread about up-and-coming female singers who, as far as I remember, were all tan, blonde and wore lots of wide leg jeans. Think a 1977 filter before Instagram. But, along with fellow songstress Joss Stone, Katy Rose was the only teenager in the group, which in my 12 year old mind, makes her songs that much better.
Any gal that writes "I'll lick the blood right off your street" is a friend of mine
Look at that eyeliner!! Look at that smirk!! Look at that dress over jeans pairing!! How can you not fall in love? As if it isn't badass enough that she actually wrote and produced all of her songs in her debut album, Because I Can, when she was only 16 years old, the songs are actually good.
"Because I Can" (2004), also known as the Weetzie Bat Soundtrack
I'm a few years older than Katy Rose was when she first came on the scene, but she still sounds like she has it more together than I do. She knows who she is, what she wants, and how to get it. It's the kind of assuredness only a naive 16 year old can have and the kind I'm reminded of any time I play her music.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to need as much confidence as I can muster before I graduate, and right now, Katy Rose is on the top of my weeklong playlist.
When "Foundations" first released, I was a fresh faced freshman, braces free for the first time since I started my monthly present. This was before I dyed my hair an Angela Chase crimson, before my first boyfriend, my first break up, gosh before Facebook! My favorite activities consisted of Buffy reruns and reading Francesca Lia Block novels. And right along side my descent into puberty was Kate Nash.
Kate Nash tapped into my inner most desires to own a wardrobe full of dresses that matched my tights and date idiot guys I could later write sassy blog posts and non fiction pieces for class about.
She made me realize I could be cute and strong and be compromised by neither. I could talk about how much I hated my partner while simultaneously missing them.
Her songs were the anthems for the undergirl who would rather spend her time reading a book than going to parties, who dreamed about kissing but had much more fun hanging out by themselves and singings songs about kissing. She even recreated the entire Buffy episode "Once More with Feeling" in a live concert. Obviously, we are Buffy soul mates. She openly talks about feminism and this influence can easily be heard in her songs emphasizing sapphic friendships and misandry. What I would give to be a part of Kate Nash's girl gang (seriously Kate, say the word and I will do it).
Even after all these years, three albums, a new look, a new sound, Kate Nash still fascinates me. No longer that same fresh faced girl from high school, her heart felt lyrics mixed in with a pinch of humor and sassy wit still get me every time. Her new album "Girl Talk" just released in the states and you can bet I will be saving up in hopes of seeing this Manic Pixie Queen live.
While most wouldnt consider working the front desk as glamorous, once you've worked for the graveyard shift at Denny's like I have, I feel like a princess wearing my business casual garb in an office that's not run by middle aged dudes that still shop at Hot Topic. It's also nice to work at a place where the worse that could happen is a paper cut and not accidentally cutting off your hand while restocking the salad bar.
I like to think of my receptionist job as the perfect manic pixie queer girl job. What other position would pay me to check my pinterest and Autostraddle (this part is usually without them knowing) while simultaneously wearing a cute outfit with a nametag that matches my bright red lipstic? Let the selfies begin!
If Peggy Olson and Zooey Deschanel had a baby, it would probably be a lot cuter and more ambitious than me, but I can sure as heck try!
The only downside (well more like a wayside-side) is having to wake up before most freshman have classes. Since I have yet to accept coffee into my life, my ability to stay awake has been due to sheer will and any makeshift snack I happen to grab before leaving the house, which strangely enough is ususally chocolate chip Eggo waffles. A bottle of syrup has become a permanent backpack staple. But in those mornings when not even premade waffles can keep me awake, I take advantage of the hour before everyone else shows up to turn the office into my own radio station.
These are some of the songs wake me up before I go-go!
Dolly Parton: 9-5
Dolly has always been a hero of mine and what better song to listen to than one made especially for the working girl! Those who haven't seen the movie should drop whatever their doing and watch the marvel that is Dolly, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda being bad ass misandrists.
I'm not quite sure what/where this performance is, but it definitely relates to my inner Disney Princess.
Marina and the Diamonds: Oh No!
Listening to Marina's music sometimes makes me feel like I"m in a jazzercise video, with neon lycra jumsuit and all, and this song is no different. Only instead of exercise, I'm at my desk wearing a headband frantically typing with one hand and holding a dumbbell in the other. This look says: Get toWork!
Billy Joel: The Longest Time
Okay so, I said I was making a playlist of songs I like to hear in the morning, I didn't say that it would make sense. I"m not sure why, but this song reminds me of when my parents would drop me off at elementary school and we would listen to Sunny radiostation. Oh youth: back when I was carefree and could wake up at 6 am without so much as a yawn before strapping on my Mulan backpack (Gay Girl Alert!).
Heart: These Dreams
And the list just gets weirder and weirder. Let me start off by saying I love Heart, the good and the bad. And frankly, I don't know how I got into listening to this song but it gets the job done, even if the music video has gives me nightmares (I'm sorry did anyone else notice the vagina at he beginning of this video?)
Welcome to Nina's blog 3.0 where I've come to realize nothing makes you blog like desperation... or terrible weather. The weeklong rain/hail storm that has terrorized our small panhandle town made me realize I can't just wait to be graced by some Lesbian Godmother and take my rightful place next to my ce-lesbian elites, I have to do it myself. So naturally my protest against mother nature led me to try blogging again. Can you believe I've had some form of blog wondering around the webz since 2008?
But this time it's different (hopefully). I've got my glasses on and my sassy sockbun and I am a-noggin for some bloggin.
Since I'm actually still at work there is little that I can do in the way of funny photos of said sockbun and any other hilarity, so for my first post you will just have to do with CSS (a favorite of mine which will definitely pop up again later in this blog) singing all of my stormy weather blues away and shedding light on my new venture.
