Posts Tagged ‘TV & Film’

Rehearsing on Tour

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

I am so exhausted its been hard to write. We have been driving on the bus all night and rehearsing all day – stopping to do shows on The Cho Dependent Tour – it’s incredible. I love the physical benefits – all these weird little aches and pains have been disappearing, because I am moving for the first time. The body is supposed to move, I am understanding this now. I want to keep it up.



The dance this week is hard and fast and I want to do it all the time. I kick out steps in my sleep as the bus rolls on to the next town. I am glad we are out of town because everyone from DWTS is getting sick. We are away from everything and in our own world, which is perfect for me. I am doing the routine in my head, as John Roberts and I lie in bed and watch Jersey Shore (omg this week was incredible with Angelina’s pad! Need to talk to The Situation about that one). I am watching Louis and I dance it over and over on my flip camera. How did we do anything without technology before? I absolutely love my costume. It’s so gorgeous and glamorous. It should win from fabulousness alone.



I am enjoying now the brief silence between the rehearsals and the shows. The interim when you have ordered the pizza and you know it is coming. I am so ready for week 2.



It Feels Right

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Home now eating delicious sweets from friends and enjoying an early night. I am so grateful for everyone who voted for us and kept us on the show. Yesterday was a really rough day. I wasn’t sure what to feel or think. I want to stay in the game so badly, so much that I can barely think straight. I know I can dance. I feel it in my bones. I want to do this for myself, the little girl in me who wants to be a beautiful princess – who wants to be seen and heard and loved and praised. I want to do this for all the girls who have been told they are not perfect – who have been told they are ugly and fat – who know deep inside that they are not those things… it’s so hard to face your own insecurity and doubts and fears. I really feel like I am doing that.



My body feels sore but also strong and capable. I am doing spins that weren’t possible two days ago. I can feel the floor through my bruised and calloused feet and my body is starting to understand what to do – where to step, where to stop, where to be physically silent, where to be loud. Louis is pushing me further and further – I am crying now all the time, not because I am sad, but because I feel like I am really in my body. I didn’t realize how much I have been avoiding being here – how little time I have spent in my skin – for my entire life. It’s the same with my house. I never really unpack. I never really am home. it is the same with my physical being. I have been told so many times that my body was not right – for this reason or that. I have abandoned myself so much that now it feels strange to stay here. To be here. One thing is certain – I am here now. I am doing this. It doesn’t exactly feel good, but it feels right.



Don’t Worry!

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

There’s kind of a gassy farty fear smell in the air, or maybe that is just me. I am in my trailer hoping for internet so I can watch Jennifer Grey’s performance again. She was so stunningly beautiful! She can really move and was a joy to watch. And the nicest person! Serious contender for miss congeniality. She came over to me in the makeup trailer with a text from her friend saying that our dance was brilliant. I love that. She’s been so supportive, which is really wonderful to be around.



The energy here is tense. I am now just in my trailer trying to not panic and think about later. I am not so freaked out about being judged. I have been judged so much my whole life. I have a very tough skin. I had a cortisone injection last month and the nurse had a hard time getting the needle through my hide. I am so calloused from the inside out. I am tough. I just feel bad that Louis’ fate hangs in the balance too. The dancers get paid from week to week – the longer they survive, the more pay they have to count on. That is important to me. He has done such a great job with me, not only traveling to everywhere I am performing on tour and literally living in my lap for the last few weeks, but also teaching me to dance beautifully from the ground up. He also has brought his entire family out here from Amsterdam to watch him on the show. I told his mother last night that I didn’t want her to have come here for no reason!! Everything will be sorted out soon I guess – all I can say is that I tried my hardest and gave my best – and hopefully we are still in the game.



What a crazy thing – this reality show business. It’s tense and it’s devastating but it also makes for terrific watching. It’s all people’s feelings and determination and past wins and losses. It’s athletes and ingénues and political progeny and Florence Henderson and me. I don’t know where I fit but I also don’t know how I don’t fit. I am just trying to be conscious, be aware, be kind, be careful. There’s gifting suites and cheesecake – things that usually make me happy, but its hard to focus, thinking about how bummed out my parents seemed last night with the judges’ scores. This show means everything to my parents. It’s like the biggest thing for them. They don’t want to say anything, because it’s such a big deal. I know they are freaking out but are totally silent because they want me to succeed so badly but they aren’t sure how to help me. I keep trying to tell them that no matter what happens it will be ok but you should see them – it’s so heartbreaking. I think they are worried this will get us deported or something!



The best this morning was my parent’s strategic thinking and breaking down what the show is all about while trying to cheer me up and lift my spirits….



Dad: They have the lady have many baby and she cannot do the dance still she do dance many time – maybe 5 times – many times!



Mom: Maybe if you have some baby they feel sorry for you and they vote



Dad: But they have sometime the people who cannot dance. But different is you – you can dance!



Mom: She can dance because even when she was 4 year old she was dance and not even with other girl – she was prima donna and dance in the middle – just like this (proceeds to do impression of me dancing as 4 year old)



Dad: Yes still she can dance very good much better than other people dancing. As good as donny osmond!



Mom: Yes as good as Donny Osmond! He was very good!



Dad: Also Asian do very good on the show. There is the Ono and that what is Yamaguchi?



Mom: And also lady who is judge that lady. That she is Asian.



Dad: Asian always do very good



Mom: Don’t worry because your fan will not let you go down like that



Dad: No don’t worry because you have so many fan



Mom: Don’t worry!



Dad: Don’t worry!



(but they both look sooooo worried! Hahahaha)



The Waltz

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

It’s the morning after and I am ready to go back in for the results show of Dancing with the Stars. I am very happy with the way that Louis and I danced last night. I thought we did great and the wings looked amazing. All I heard the judges saying was that I was a good dancer! That was so incredible to me that I didn’t really hear anything else. We did get low scores, which is too bad – but I truly gave it all that I had – so I have no regrets about what we did. It takes quite a lot of skill to move those wings around, and I’ve never worked so hard to learn something. Hopefully votes will keep us on the show!!



The energy at the taping last night was intense. Everyone was on edge and nervous. I didn’t get really nervous until right before, and I broke one of the sticks on my wings and I came screaming out of my trailer waving a broken wing!! It got fixed and I calmed down somewhat but inside I was still freaking out. Then when we started the show – first I fell down the stairs – awesome and somewhat unconsciously planned because before the taping the producers warned us that we could fall down the stairs and I turned to Louis and said “I am gonna fall down those stairs on purpose” and then promptly forgot that I told him, but my body remembered and I fell.



When we started dancing, I was full on crying because it felt great. I was feeling the waltz and it was beautiful and classy and the wings were flying and it all felt right. I want to dance again and again!! I thought everyone was really beautiful and it was cool so see what people have been working so hard on. My favorite was Kyle!! He’s got some killer moves!



In My Body

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

I am dancing better. It’s all getting better. My body feels good. Not as sore and in shock as it was. Louis and I are also having fun on the road, on my Cho Dependent Tour, which is great. I wish he could come with me all the time.



I think that this entire DWTS experience has forced me into my body and I am loving it. This is what people must feel like all the time. I don’t live in my body normally. It’s like there is a sign up, “Back in 5” – with a little clock equipped with movable hands, but I never actually come back. I live in a small space above, deep in my head, like I am renting the space but don’t own it. Well, it’s time to come downstairs.



It’s weird to be in your body. I usually try to escape it as much as I can. If I have to sit somewhere for a minute, I need a book or my computer or my blackberry or my ipod. When I am eating I want to watch TV. When I’m here, I want to be there. To me, ‘autopilot’ is ‘on.’ I can easily be tattooed for hours because I am not feeling it. I am not in me. Even when someone else is in me. Isn’t that sad?



The Situation

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

I am sooooooo excited to meet The Situation. He is one of the contestants on Dancing with the Stars and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I am a big Jersey Shore fan and I think one of the reasons the show is so successful is that it truly follows a mythological story line. Myth is one of the reasons man keeps going. The stories we tell each other are the same stories we have always told – starting from the dawn of civilization to the multiplexes and million TV channels and massive media of today. Modern myth has much to do with myth and legend of days long gone by.



I see these mythological patterns – the way man gives himself meaning – in the most successful films and television shows.Star Wars is pure mythology – which is why it is so popular, why we keep returning to these same characters over and over as a cultural reference. We know who they are because they are us. They are you and me. They are how life happens and what happens in life. I think the Jersey Shore is no less important than Tatooine (but if you follow that logic, then the last season in Miami would probably be the Death Star). I think that the Jersey Shore is pure Shakespeare. It is greek myth. It is Arthurian legend. It is Jacobean drama. It’s a cave painting. It is the Bible. I am obsessed.



I look at JWoww as the classic femme fatale. She is Eve. She is Jezebel. She is Delilah. She is the fatal woman. A praying mantis. In the opening credits of the show she says she will rip guys heads off. I believe her. She is powerful in her silence. I love her and I would be scared if I was a dude. Snooki with her huge eyes and sad visage is a Keane painting come to life, but with a fiery edge. In Shakespeare’s time, she would be Kate from the Taming of the Shrew, with her sharp tongue and pretty face. She even closely resembles Elizabeth Taylor from the Zeffirelli version. Pauly D and Vinnie play Mercutio and Benvolio to Sammi and Ronnie’s Romeo and Juliet – coming together and pulling apart – two sides of the coin. They are Gemini. They are the representation of our other half – they complete each other. They complete me. Sammi and Ronnie to me are like the tarot card ‘The Lovers.’ Someone should do a tarot card deck of The Jersey Shore. That would be pure genius and then you could predict what will happen on the show in future seasons. And finally, The Situation – he is the latest incarnation of Icarus. Beautiful and strong. Beloved and haughty. Cocky enough to fly too close to the sun and deeply tanning instead of being burned. Powered by abdominal muscles and fame – watch him soar.



I Love This Dog

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

I love this dog:





I am using this dog as my inspiration for Dancing with the Stars. I think that if I can do just as well as this dog does in this very intricate dance I will win the competition.



What I love about it is that we don’t think that the dog can do it, and that’s what people are saying about me. They don’t expect anything from me – except to be what I am – a comedian. They don’t know I can dance merengue (actually, I can’t yet – but I will!).



The best thing about this adorable dancing dog is that she really looks like she is enjoying, and anticipating every new movement with a big dog smile and a waiting paw. Her head and muzzle are placed so she can appreciate her partner and watch him dance along with her. There is so much genius and inspiration here and a good lesson for any dancer. Part of the dance is the steps and physical prowess, but another part is how you can be in the moment and enjoy what is happening and revel in the connection to another person. This dog is teaching me so much. Give dog credit where dog credit is due.