Two Words, One Answer.
reputations
 Bad Reputation: Performances, Essays, Interviews (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) $19.95 A runaway at thirteen, a reform-school graduate at sixteen, a performer in the legendary New York City Playhouse of the Ridiculous at seventeen, and an escapee from Andy Warhol's Factory scene at nineteen, Penny Arcade (born Susanna Ventura) emerged in the 1980s as a primal force on the New York art scene and an originator of what came to be called performance art. Arcade's brand of high camp and street-smart, punk-rock cabaret showmanship has been winning over international audiences ever since. This autobiographical trilogy of plays represents her at her best. Bitch!Dyke!Faghag!Whore! is Penny Arcade's raucous, cutting-edge sex and censorship show (which continues to be a commercial hit around the world), featuring the daily life of a receptionist in a brothel, the upbringing and rearing of a "faghag," the evolution of the New York gay scene in the 1990s, and a participatory "audience dance break." The funny and heart-rending title work, Bad Reputation, portrays a young teen runaway's coming of age in a Catholic reform school (run by nuns who are former fashion models) and her subsequent life on the streets of 1960s New York. La Miseria, a rare depiction of working-class Italian-Americans from a woman's point of view that portrays the clash between working-class morals and compassion during the 1980s AIDS epidemic, rounds out the trilogy. Bad Reputation is the first book by and on Penny Arcade. The complete scripts are accompanied by a new interview with Penny Arcade by Chris Kraus, a range of archival photographs of the East Village scene and Arcade's performances, an introduction by playwright Ken Bernard, and contributions by Sarah Schulman, Steve Zehentner, and Stephen Bottoms. Native Agents series Distributed for Semiotext(e)  My Reputation $19.98 When the name Barbara Stanwyck is mentioned many people familiar with classic films will almost automatically produce images in their mind of the perrenial "tough woman" best remembered out shooting cowboys in the wild west or matching wits in some tense noir melodrama. Stanwyck however had a far wider range as an actress and during her long career she took roles in many genres and played all types of characters in both comedies and drama. Here we have her in one of my all time favourite Stanwyck vehicles 1946's "My Reputation". At first glance the storyline of a young widow who begins "seeing" another man a bit too soon after the death of her husband, (according to her "friends" and the stuffy local community) causing all kinds of gossip might sound like a fairly run of the mill soaper. However Barbara Stanwyck turns the story into a strong woman's role and her character of Jessica Drummond ends up being far from the victim she might have appeared to be at the film's opening dominated as she is by her very proper and straightlaced mother. Barbara manages to make her character appealing, feminine and yet with a strong backbone that carries the story. "My Reputation" boasts a wonderful cast including gifted Canadian character actress Lucile Watson playing Barbara's suffocating mother, George Brent in one of his typical leading man roles, the always magical Eve Arden playing one of her typical "best friend" roles that she did so well, and gifted child actor Scotty Beckett who appears as one of Barbara's sons who suffers due to the "scandal" of his mother's supposedly improper behaviour. While this film may not be as well remembered today as other Stanwyck films such as the tear jerker "Stella Dallas" or her Noir classic "Double Indemnity" it is well worth including in any collection of her films as it displays Stanwyck in a slight change of pace which she handles with her usual aplomb delivering a fine multi-layered performance in a very handsome looking film.  How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation $9.95 Guess who¡Çs jetting off to?the Holy Land this summer! Yes, it¡Çs me?Amy Nelson-Barak. I¡Çve volunteered for ten days of military training in Israel with my friends. The Sababa brochure said it would be a ¡Èfun¡É summer experience. Okay, so I didn¡Çt sign up to prove I¡Çm not a princess¡ÄI did it to surprise my hot Israeli boyfriend stationed at the same base. ? ?Too bad nobody told me: - It¡Çs hot in the Negev desert¡Älike, so hot your makeup melts off and you get under-boob sweat spots. - You can¡Çt sleep in until 11 a.m.? - You shouldn¡Çt kill bees with your flatiron?don¡Çt ask. - Peeing in a hole isn¡Çt easy (when you¡Çre a girl)?double don¡Çt ask.? When I find out our team leader is my boyfriend Avi, I¡Çm totally psyched¡Äuntil I learn he has to treat me like all the other recruits. Can you say OY VEY! ? |
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