VAS Littlecrow - The Journal of Vanesa Littlecrow W.

Is it just us...

2008-05-10T04:35:48Z

... or, is Minneapolis on a mission to make itself the most ridiculous looking city in the Midwest?

The evidence:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/5735
http://www.wide-formatimaging.com/images/article/1173804621900_wfi03_07heres3.jpg
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/06/0606/061906.html
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/05/0405/photo1.html
http://tinyurl.com/3rshgd
http://projects.dot.state.mn.us/35wbridge/index.html
http://www.alumnicenter.umn.edu/about/index.html
http://tinyurl.com/4wycj4
http://tinyurl.com/4uyo3a
http://www.citiesarchitecture.com/Building/969/225_South_Sixth.php
http://www.citiesarchitecture.com/Building/1974/Mill_Ruins_Park.php
http://www.citiesarchitecture.com/Building/1976/Minneapolis_Central_Library.php

May I also note, that most of these monstrosities were funded by cutting Minneapolis Library services, wasting state funds for the "arts and education," and the raising U of M activity fees? Also be sure to blame Pawlenty's stadium fetish. Your tax dollars at work!

Writer's Block: So Sensitive

2008-05-09T11:50:04Z

What are you most sensitive about?

View other answers

My health.

This totally earned the puking Sasha and Skylark icons!!!

2008-05-09T00:14:31Z

Kyped from the evil soul in my FL who shared this. So many levels of UGH!!! It's like Goatse, except text only and with feline butt glands. YUUUUUUUUUUUCK! It's more awful than awful! UGH!!!

Click at your own peril. Not at all work-safe.

Soy Boricua, try and deport me!

2008-05-08T22:06:16Z

I am in a diabolically good mood. I am about to work on next week's Rasputin Catamite, and everything today is going according to schedule.

Lady Soveign is playing. I have bookings for modeling/promos/dancing until early November, and in about two weeks, it is possible very likely that I'll have bookings until next year. September is still shamefully empty, but I am sure that when the art schools get back in session and the promo agency has their post-July schedule ready, I'll be able to fill up that month. It appears that I'll get to be a guest creator at Fallcon! Hopefully, the G3 Upir's Mark monsters will be ready by then, because I cannot wait for y'all to meet them. I am also auditioning for another short film on the 19th for the part of a doctor. (Trish: the stripper role for the student film fell through because of scheduling issues.)

I am also excited because the Benton County Foster Care Orientation is happening on the 20th. Sadly, it might be happening in my home rather than at the County Office. Apparently, it seems that Loki and I are the only people signed-up. WTF!?! Kids need foster parents, and the county helps pay for their care. Loki and I felt pretty sad about that. We probably won't be able to commit our resources until next year, but seriously... why aren't more people willing to help out. Hmmm...

On the annoying side, my six-pack abs are fading. I need to correct that stat.

I need to make $199 in 10 days...

2008-05-08T20:41:42Z

I want this so bad and it is on sale until the 19th!

Next paycheck, come to Vassie! PLEASE!!!

Writer's Block: Step into My Closet

2008-05-08T12:23:54Z

How many pair of shoes do you have? Out of those pairs, how many do you wear more than a few times a year?

View other answers

I have no idea how many shoes I have, nor do I care. I do know that I wear them all rather often.

Polygamy GAH!

2008-05-08T03:01:05Z

Personally, I have no problem with any typical or atypical forms of marriage, as long as the government isn't involved, churches aren't being forced to violate their own moral dictates, and everyone is of legal age. If you want to marry a man and you're a man, that's cool. If you want to be 1950's traditional with one man and one woman, even if one partner is gayer than a kite, that's cool too. Want to have twenty wives? If you can afford them and you treat them well, awesome. Want to make your crazy bisexual polyamorous lovefest into happy knotted yarn ball of committed bliss and wedding cake, more power to you. Want to get married in a church like a good Catholic folks and get drunk afterwards? Sure! Marriage is a social contract, a private matter, and an excuse for someone to throw a party or dressing up like a snow-covered mountain top.

I have mixed feelings about that whole FLDS mess. The raid seems to be another massive constitutional rights fiasco. On the bright side, Janet Reno wasn't involved. Additionally, there is a good chance that the raped child-bride-in-peril was actually a schizophrenic woman with a history of calling wolf. This stupid oversight increases the chance that many legitimate criminal issues in the case will be thrown out of court or overturned. Although the child custody cases are likely to succeed, I cannot help but think that a big ugly lawsuit is in the horizon.

Even in this dark mess, I cannot ignore a good sense of humor. Read the following portion of a transcript from a recent CNN interview. (Notes added. Thanks mom for the tip.)

TUCHMAN: There's a lot of sex on that show (Big Love,) isn't there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Too much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which is why a lot of our people stopped watching after the first couple of episodes.

TUCHMAN: So, that's unrealistic?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I don't know.

TUCHMAN: Which brings up this question: how is it decided which wife the husband sleeps with on a given night?

JOYCE: We draw straws, and the one with the short straw has to.

[Edited to include FYI: The women in this portion of the interview by CNN were not minors, and they all stated that they did not approve of underaged marriage. Also upon re-reading the interview, I realized that the women were not of the Texas FLDS compound, but rather the town of Centennial Park.]

In a rare act of political correctness, I am no longer a Lesbian...(?)

2008-05-07T15:42:24Z

It's not what you think. Vas is still the same abrasive homosexual femme dyke y'all have come to know, but she is no longer a Lesbian. Confused? Well, I guess it has to do with the fact that words mean things.

I have no problem using most offensive words on the basis that they exist for the purpose of being used. I will call people nigger/spic/yid/dago/honky/redskin/bigot/asshole/piece of shit/fluffy bunny/et cetera(s), if they have behaved in a way that earned the title, if they belong to said group and think it's funny, or as a light self-denigrating jab. I will not use those words lightly or outside of the proper context. I do have a lot of unease about using groups of people to describe behaviors or states of being that may not be pertinent to who these people really are. For example:

"I would never jew you out." = "I would never shortchange you."
"What a gyp!" (Will piss my husband off on contact.) = "What a rip-off!"
"Let's go nigger-knocking." = "Let's knock on someone's door and runaway."
"You throw like a girl." = "Your pitch was very weak."
"That's so gay." (My husband says it too much.) = "That's pathetic."
"You don't look hispanic." = "You're pretty."

After much pondering, the word Lesbian pretty much falls under this troublesome category. I read this article about the people of Lesbos suing a gay-rights group over the word, a while ago. At first I thought, it was a frivolous concern, yet as the days passed, the article just haunted me. I couldn't stop thinking about how horrible the people of Lesbos must feel about having their ethnic name being a label for a stereotype. I mean seriously. At least "sapphic" refers to a specific person who had a hankering for girl. "Gay" is a positive stereotypical label because it implies happiness, and in terms of being a sexual minority a predominantly heterosexual society, "queer" doesn't seem unreasonable. Even "dyke," which is frankly my favored slang term, is based on common behaviors seen among homosexual women. Getting that out of the way, I must note that not all homosexual women are from the island of Lesbos, and not all Lesbians are gay women. For this reason there's really no way to defend the word in the context of homosexuality, as anything other than a description for a state of being, pejoratively using a name used to describe a group of people of a certain ethnicity.

Now, I think everyone has the right to use any words they want. If you want to call yourself or others Lesbians, even if you aren't referring to people of Lesbos, go right ahead. It's freedom of speech. I am not the mind police, and it is not my job to judge. Just don't expect me to participate any further. I am not going to edit words and art I've done in the past to prevent offense. That would be intellectually dishonest. What I can do, is take what I learned and adjust my future behavior accordingly.

Something Positive About Being a Hetero-Married and Homosexual

2008-05-07T14:36:40Z

This story just absolutely warmed my heart, and I can totally relate. It is the validation I needed to not feel like a freak of nature.

It brought to mind a conversation Loki and I had the other day:

Vas: "I figured it out. I now know how not to feel rotten about depriving you of a sex life!"
Loki: "As long as I have porn and you walk around naked for me, I am perfectly happy. Besides, we have a sex life."
Vas: "Rubbing our cheekies together in the shower and you chasing me around while making silly faces is a sex life?"
Loki: "We have the sex life of channeling cartoon characters and making each other laugh. Besides, what kind of man would mind having a sexy Puerto Rican bombshell in his house?"
Vas: "Don't you think that's weird?"
Loki: "There's weirder."
Vas: "Like Robert Crumbs fetish for going piggyback on muscular women?" (See the documentary Crumb for more information.)
Loki: "THAT is weird."
Vas: "Anyway... I have a solution to my feeling rotten about you not getting laid the way you deserve to get laid."
Loki: "Really?"
Vas: " I am going to set my standards for women unrealistically high, and I will not settle for less. I want a woman with a body that's insanely fit and will drive me to do the same, yet she must be a foodie. Not bisexual, but understanding about our marriage situation. No androphobes for me. She needs to be really hot, or at least convince me that she is. No LBD issues, she must have a strong sex drive. She has to be religiously honest, or at least a reasonable atheist. I can't deal with Dawkinites or fundies. She must be well-groomed but have no objections with pubic hair. She must be understanding of my past and my modeling/dance/sick-ass-art thing, and honest about her life. I don't mind crazy, but she has to be stable. No illegal drugs, booze abuse, no smoking, and no drama. She must share similar goals and values to ours. She must be driven and hard-working. That's allI want."
Loki: "That is totally unrealistic, but good luck finding her."
Vas: "Thank you! But if I don't, It's nice being stuck with you."
Loki: "Awwwwwwwww! My Vassie!" (Plants a kiss on my cheek and gives me a huge shiteating grin.)

Writer's Block: It's Too Late to Apologize

2008-05-07T12:56:14Z

Has anyone ever done something so horrible to you that "I'm sorry" couldn't fix it?

View other answers

I can deal with people doing horrible things to me. At least, I know what those type of people are about, so it is easier to deal with the damage and move on. What I cannot forgive with such ease is someone who acted kindly to me for evil reasons without disclosing the reasons up front. There is no unforgivable sin, but some are harder than others to erase. In my culture and my opinion, dishonoring a loved one is worse than outright enmity.

It's all been said before. It's not the fact that my old friend used me on several levels, and destroyed things that were dear to me. It's the fact that he admitted that our "deep and intimate friendship" was nothing but a means to end in his quest to get ahead as an artist and to get laid. The only way I'll ever forgive that fakehead, is he drops the wholesome and loveable, pacifist Buddhist dufus who creates art for "the children" and whose only addiction is coffee act. When he drops the pretense and presents himself as an anti-utopian, ambitious and ruthless businessman, who is keenly aware of how his image affects his art and mucks around with the dark arts for personal gain, then maybe I'll regain some respect for him.

Until then, the only communication I care to have with him is face-to-face and fist-to-fist. Alas, that would involve bothering to seek him out, and that's not worth my time.

Another profile listing...

2008-05-07T03:31:38Z

This time in the CMAB site. If you are an artist in Central MN, you should get listed as well.

Forgot to post this a month ago, or so.

2008-05-06T17:50:35Z

My nerves gnawed at me. It was my first time participating in an extra shoot. It involved filling out forms and a lot of waiting. It reminded me of modeling, except I was a dot in a crowd, the crew was big and the pictures moved.

I didn't know anyone there except for the producer, Rachel. We met eight years ago through Pat Thielen. She modeled with him, just as I did. I recognized her from a recent photo shoot. I met Maggie and Zoe, two aspiring actresses. I also spoke with a school teacher, an aspiring model and her mom. The crew sounded amused when in an conversation about raves, I mentioned the "Magic Goth Dance." I also learned about about casting mailing lists and what the popular casting agencies are. Interestingly enough, I found the job via Craig's List.

The mood was fairly laid back, yet extremely structured. I volunteered as an extra to learn and gather information. Film is definitely a different animal than the stage. That's a good thing in my mind.

Writer's Block: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

2008-05-06T12:16:43Z

What is one thing you MUST do before you go to bed at night?

Submitted by twink

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Brush my teeth.

Writer's Block: Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-05T10:56:17Z

Are you celebrating Cinco de Mayo?

View other answers

No. I work.

Writer's Block: Fictional Character

2008-05-04T17:26:58Z

What fictional character do you relate to most and why?

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Vanesa Catnose, because I created her in my image. ;p

New Catnose

2008-05-04T12:37:54Z

Because my hair is often blended with the best mid-price human hair Korean women have to offer. :)

Oh the Lulz!!!

2008-05-03T23:50:26Z

The sun is back! YAY! To celebrate, here's a very special Irn Bru commercial.

Openings

2008-05-03T04:38:27Z

Loki and I went to the Lutefisk Sushi C (the debut issue of Velvet Rasputin by yours truly was in the limited-edition Bento box) and Nudes in MN (I was a model in Pat Thielen's photo) openings after a long day of work for both of us. I saw so many friends and colleagues, it was hard not to be in a good mood. Loki and I have so few outings together, it was quite the treat for us as well. :)

Me before bed.

2008-05-03T04:38:21Z

Rewarding Modeling Assignments

2008-05-03T04:38:02Z

Writer's Block: Hell Hath No Fury

2008-05-02T08:35:14Z

Who was the last person who really made you mad?

View other answers

Little Blond's biological mother. No further comment.

More Political Bitching by Ace

2008-05-02T01:51:10Z

Who should you vote for? Ace has the answer!

Who approved this message?

Writer's Block: Smashed

2008-05-01T23:39:46Z

If you had a crowbar and could smash anything in your home or office, what would it be? Why?

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Um... no. I outgrew the punk phase already. Crowbars are for prying stuff open. Unless it's used for self-defense.

5/1/08

2008-05-01T12:14:20Z

Testing LJ mobile.

OH PULEEEEEZE! (She's just being Miley?)

2008-04-30T23:07:04Z

I am militantly anti-kiddie-porn, as you all know, and I fucking despise people who sexually exploit kids. With that said, I do admit that I did my first paid nude modeling photo at age 17. Yes, I was actually nude. No blanket. No studio. Just me with a ponytail, freezing my ass off by a wooded creek in Minnetonka. Although suggestive and obviously nude, the solarized nude didn't show any naughty bits, but it was gorgeous. Didn't ask mom for permission, though she nearly strangled me when she saw it. The photograph actually won a prize for my ex-husband, who actually took the picture in 1992. Before the rise of the Internet, those types of artsy-fartsy photos just weren't a big deal. It wasn't uncommon or outrageous to see under-aged models in these types of shots, even in advertisement for high end products. Fast forward to today.

The new Annie Lebowitz artsy pictures of a pseudo-topless Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair, are supposed to be scandalous. The only thing that's "scandalous" about this pose is that Annie has resorted to using the gross and trite color desaturation fad that's all the rage among fine art photographers, and the bane of models and makeup artists everywhere who have to cringe at the results. I don't think Miley or Annie should apologize for the portrait itself, just the joylessly barf-worthy Photoshop manipulation. BLEH!

[Edit: VF took the pic down, so I have a link to Huffington Post instead.]