2007 Airband Extravaganza in Review

Considering most of my readers probably know what I’m talking about when I say “Airband,”  I think it might be enjoyable to do my own personal review of it.  The school paper here had a decent review, considering it was “on newsstands” the day after the event, but I’d like to go for a slightly different perspective on the night. 

 

Gerig won, of course, with “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof.  They deserved it; I think everyone would’ve been surprised if they didn’t win.  After first place it gets hazy for some; I certainly agreed with the judges that 2^nd East Wengatz’s rendition of “Greased Lightning” was the second most impressive, but my roommate was unimpressed.  Similarly, 2^nd West Olson had great costumes for their rendition of Wicked’s “One Short Day in the Emerald City”, but didn’t bring much else to the table.

 

So, without further ado, an Airband 2007 rundown…

 

Best Performance:  Gerig, of course.  They had costumes to rival anyone’s, energy to spare, great lip-synching and choreography…the clear cut number one effort.  Even accounting for the fact that their show-stopping, bottle-balancing climax was doctored (the bottles were attached, surprise!!  Oh wait…duh), this was no contest.

 

Runner-up:  2^nd East Wengatz, as detailed above.  Their show was fun and energetic, well-choreographed…the only thing it missed was that, um, “One Shining Moment” that really set it apart.  It was among the most fun to watch.

 

3rd place:  Well…I can’t really award a third place.  The other acts I really enjoyed were Sammy II+2^nd East Olson doing “West Side Story”, Sammy II’s “Shake Your Tailfeather” from The Blues Brothers, 2^nd English and Foundation and their Elvis Medley, and 3^rd East Olson’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”  Hopefully I’ll cover all those in greater detail further on down. 

 

Here comes the fun part…

 

Certified Superstar:  James Wahl.  Seriously, Mark Williamson’s flaky Texan character overshadowed (almost) all other commercials (the exception being the fake movie trailer for the rockumentary, “Out of Tune”).  Mark’s a junior, so next year…

 

Best part about sitting in the 2^nd row:  You’re a part of the show.  Things that actually happened during the show:

1.  One of my friends in the Elvis Medley heard me whisper her name, looked up, and smiled.

2.  Baby Bleu handed my roommate his cardboard guitar.

3.  Handsome Rob heard me yell his name.

4.  Baby Dan jumped over my roommate, who was sitting right next to me.  No kidding.

5.  Everyone makes eye contact with you.

 

Oddest Cameo by someone I know:  A senior I’ve known for my entire life humorously playing a seductive heiress in a commercial. 

 

Best Faculty Cameo:  Tie:  Jessica Rousselow-Winquist/Jerry Cramer trashing the WTUR studio, Justin “Crazy” Heth on a dance solo in “Shake Your Tailfeather,” and Dr. Habecker’s show-ending cameo…even if he was late on his cue.

 

Show that wasted the best gimmick:  3^rd South English/1^st Berg’s “Hairspray.”  I mean, you had a very large man dressed as a woman  and didn’t finish in the top three?!?!  And it’s not like they got gipped…

 

Costliest “Wardrobe Malfunction”:  The falling skirt during the Elvis Medley.  The dancers, of course, are prepared for things like this, with leggings and such, but the only things that weren’t great about the Elvis Medley were that one falling skirt and some awkward lifts.

 

Musical I could live without:  Wicked.  I haven’t seen it, or even really heard the music other than the songs used by 2WO and Swallow-Robin, but it was just reeaaaally bland.  Sorry if you’re a fan, but…

 

Most fun show:  I might sound like a homer here, but I loved “Shake Your Tailfeather” by Sammy II.  It was brimming with energy, featured Crazy, plus my floormates, and how can you not love Noah and Paul as the Blues Brothers?  Or Dubem as Ray?  Just loved it.  But really, they were all great.

 

Random ending thought:  It seems to me that it would be a very good idea for the small dorms (i.e. Gerig, Swallow) to focus on being just flat-out awesome at things like “Airband.”  And also, I am forever spoiled with regards to Airband—great show, VIP treatment and seats…it’ll be hard to top.  So thanks to everyone involved (although I doubt you’re reading this) for making it a great time.

Filed under: Fall 2007, college, friends , Airband, Airband 2007, college

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Why yes, I still exist, thank you very much.

Um…sorry about not writing for awhile.  The schoolyear is much busier than the summer, so I need to figure out the part(s) of the week most conducive to this.  It may be that I just can’t really write more than a handful of times a month (if that).

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the way that we handle our emotions, so I’m about to turn into an amateur psychologist for the remainder of this post.  Sorry.

This basically all boils down to the fact that I think that the social construct that we should hide our emotions–especially the idea that males should hide their emotions–is more than a little silly.  A form of self-preservation, maybe, but a silly one, I feel.

For example, why is it that so many males have a hard time saying “I love you,” or crying?  This bugs me to no end.  It really makes you more manly to suppress emotions?  Huh?

It may make you more “manly” by arbitrary social standards, but isn’t it less genuine?

There are definitely times where you do not want to cry, I suppose–we don’t all want to turn into blubbery messes.  But if something makes you truly sad, or joyful, or any other emotion that might lead to crying, please remind me why you are supposed to suppress that.  So the people around you don’t see your “flaws”?

Same with saying “I love you.”  There’s no need to stand on the mountaintops and scream about your affection for all your friends, but really, would it kill you just to say it?  Saying “I love you” to someone of the opposite gender does not mean that you want to pursue a relationship greater than friendship.  Really (*newsflash*), you can love your friends (and tell them so) regardless of their gender.  Or your gender, for that matter.  It doesn’t imply physical attraction to them.  Besides, when you hug them, aren’t you really saying “I love you” without using words?

On a less important note, why do we have to keep our crushes secret like it’s junior high?  Fear of rejection? Really?  We’re not past that?  I mean, no one likes to get turned down, but in some cases, isn’t keeping a crush a secret just delaying the inevitable?  What’s the harm in saying,

“Hey, I think I like you.  You’re _________________(insert positive character traits you see in said crush here), and I think we should hang out more.  I understand you might not feel the same way,  and I don’t mean for this to ruin our friendship; sorry if it does.  You’re not stupid, you probably had an inkling…”?

I am of course guilty of this last one, too, and I also see that sometimes, a person doesn’t want to come across like a fool–these things are rarely as black-and-white as we like to think, so this is less important, and thus later in the entry.  It’s really just theoretical, but I feel there are situations in which it would be beneficial/the right thing to do to say this.

I’ll get off the soapbox now.  I’m curious to know what you think.

…please excuse me, I’ve got to check the mail.

Filed under: Uncategorized , amateur psychology, emotions, soapbox