10 More Icebreakers

10 More Icebreakers

Here are some more icebreakers from  Museum Hack.   

Been in a mood to not take things too seriously. This Covid-19 thing is working my nerve. Pity. Because there are so many more things I'd rather be working, if you get my meaning. 

And I want to travel. I want to go on vacation. And I want to go to the prairie. 

But I am being responsible and doing the right thing. 

Everybody... Stay Strong. We have at least four more months of this. And we are all more than capable.

Now, that does not mean we can't take it one day at a time... but, since all my days are blending one into the other... what difference does it make? 

Thank goodness liquor stores are considered essential businesses. 

See. We can get through this...

...one martini at a time!

Drink up, buttercups.

1/ If you could add anyone to Mount Rushmore who would it be; why?

I would say Obama. But that's a little premature.

So, I am going with Martin Luther King. It's time, right? I mean, why isn't this a thing already?

His legacy is obvious. 

Yes, he's not a president, but now that the orange ogre has rendered the office somewhat irredeemable, let's open up the playing field. 

And, yes... some argue he was a flawed human being - but then so are all the others up there, and so are we all... so there goes that argument. 

Could you imagine how expensive adding another face would be? And how long it would take? And how poor the workmanship?  

But it's way past due. If this country is ever going to get honest with itself and own its history,  big gestures, like this, are in order. 

2/ What’s the last great movie you watched?

Fatal Instinct (1993), directed by Carl Reiner. Starring Armand Assante, Sean Young, Kate Nelligan, and Laura Flynn Boyle. 

I went in not expecting much, but if you like Airplane, you will love this movie.. This is a tongue in cheek take on film noir, with Assante taking the lead as a hard-boiled police detective who is also a lawyer known for arresting people and then representing and getting them off in court. Sean Young is a woman of mystery, who also ends up as Assante's stalker. Kate Nelligan plays Assante's cheating, scheming wife, doing a note perfect homage to Barbara Stanwyck, with Sherilyn Fenn as his die-hard, adoring assistant. 

The cast is spot on. Armand is deft and clever. Sean Young never looked better and brings her A-game yielding one of her best performances, while Kate Nelligan (literally) kills it. 

How this one slipped through the cracks, I'll never know. Perhaps this style of comedy was out of fashion at the time, but it is a lovely way to spend an hour and a half. The cinematography is a thing of wonder and almost worth the price admission all on its own, creating visions recalling classics of the genre. No small feat, considering this is filmed in brilliant color - the antithesis of the genre it is sending up. But then... that's a joke in and of itself.

I heartily recommend you seek this one out. Do all the jokes land? Naw. But about 85 percent do, which is pretty good for this type of comedy. 

3/ Best book you’ve ever read?

Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Set in New Orleans, this book features a neighborhood filled with some of the most unique characters ever brought to life on the page. I simply adore it and encourage you to seek it out, if you haven't already read it. I found it to be a daunting, worthwhile read.

This still hasn't made it to the big screen and there is a good reason why... there is no way a movie could do the book justice, which is one of the reasons it is the perfect book. The book's scope and detailed characterization could only come alive on paper. 

That said, Hollywood did come a'calling. Robin Williams was at one time slated to take on the lead role - which would have been a terrible, terrible mistake. The late John Candy, based on his work in Uncle Buck, could have brought the role to life, maybe. Of the current crop of actors who might be able to take on the role? Jack Black would mug his way through it, screwing it up. Seth Rogan would bring a mopey aesthetic that is all wrong. Jonah Hill would be a great choice, though he lacks the sharpness needed. My pick? Chris Pratt - if he is willing to morph his body back into the fat frat boy he once was. But even he lacks the hulking nature at the heart of the book's protagonist. So, that said, perhaps this is one that should never be boiled down to a form of media it is simply not suited for. 

And that said... the book's backstory would make an excellent film. Read up on it! Frances McDormand could win an Oscar as the mom.

4/ If you could learn one new skill, what would it be?

Languages. 

I know a little Spanish from college (and still have all the flashcards I made) and I took German in high school. I remember neither. 

I would love to be fluent in Spanish, German and French, but I fear my brain doesn't work that way... I don't retain things long term. 

Given that, I understand immersion is the best way to learn, but the thought terrifies me. 

5/ What’s your favorite way to get in some exercise?

Daily bike rides. Since the start of Covid-19, back in March, my boyfriend and I have been going on almost daily bike rides. We do two laps up and down Memorial Parkway and I really enjoy it. It's invigorating, gets me out of the house, and seems to help both my mood and my allergies. 

The car stays in the garage these days - except for grocery shopping. I take my bike everywhere and I really look forward to putting on my helmet and hopping on. It helps that it's a really good bike. It really pays to spend a little when it comes to roller blades and bikes. 

And then there are my four-minute work out sessions while waiting for my water to heat for tea. While I work, I drink a lot of tea - green and herbal. While heating up the water, I haul out my yoga mat and a couple of dumbbells. I've developed a couple of routines that incorporate weights and calisthenics that take just over four minutes. Each set contains eight different exercises, targeting various areas. 

Since I'm working at home, I have found that I am more sedentary than I am while in the office, so these quick workouts help with blood flow, stiffness and my head space. 

6/ What fictional family would you be a member of? 

I immediately thought of Leave it to Beaver.

I used to watch reruns after school on those rare occasions when I didn't have an after-school activity to occupy my time. 

No, Beaver did nothing for me. But Wally. And that skank Eddie Haskell. I would have wanted to go on sleepovers and camping trips with Wally and Eddie. You just know that creepy Eddie jerked it every chance he got, loved showing off his dick and would try to recruit others to join in. 

And Wally... Wally would be the dumb, dense pretty boy I would pine after, all the while I was doing the nasty with Eddie. 

Oh, yes... such an innocent time.

7/ What would your superpower be and why?

Invisibility.

I honestly think I operate best in the background. Invisible. I am a great support person. I am also very good at critique and coaching. Like, I would be great at creating a somebody. But I am terrible trying to be a somebody. The crazy-monster/mother in my brain will not allow me to be happy, so I tend to undermine my best efforts and self-sabotage, leading to behavior that is akin to a total meltdown. 

I will give you an example. I was in a production of Lion in Winter, woefully miscast as Richard (I should have played Geoffrey), dealing with a first time director, and an actress playing Eleanor who was a fucking iceberg on stage. Opening night, the director, a very insecure women who was my roommate at the time, was trying to find a small table for a scene I was not in. She found something the correct size and placed a piece of tapestry-like cloth over the top and asked me what I thought. Rather than simply say... fabulous, which is what I would say today, I said... "It looks like shit." 

That is because the rest of the set was, indeed, fabulous and I didn't want her mucking it up. It was opening night. Everybody was on edge. So, unsurprisingly, she had a meltdown and I proceeded to have a meltdown, running through the greenroom and the dressing room to a hallway where I pounded my fists into a ceramic tile wall screaming because I was such a terrible person. (I can't believe I am telling you this - let's blame the gin.) 

So, I ruined opening night, not just for myself, but for the director, who was my friend! What an asshole. Granted, I was young and insecure... but still, asshole move, dears. One of many. 

So, yes... make me invisible. I will be the person whispering things in people's ears to make them shine. 

Also... I will be totally blowing hot guys and riding their dicks in the middle of the night... like they are going to know? 

Or... is that just another asshole move on my part? Do tell!

8/ Which band/artist, living or dead, would play at your funeral?

There won't be a funeral. Who would come? Who will there be that cares enough to throw one? I plan on outliving all my siblings... because I want to win (for a once). 

I'm fairly vocal about my disdain for the whole 'funeral' thing. I get it... it's for the survivors. They feel a need to 'do right' by the deceased (as if they'll ever know?). Better to do right by them while they are still alive and help them age. Better to make sure they have decent meals, shoveled walks, mowed lawns, celebrated birthdays, visits on holidays, the occasional meal out. Let them know they matter while they still breathe. Go for a walk around the block with them. 

Funerals are an act of hubris, a means of drawing attention to yourself (see how much I care?) as well as a means of assuaging one's guilt. 

That said, when I do go to one, I play my part. When I was young, I sang at a lot of weddings. Now? I sing at a lot of funerals. 

Okay... answer the question, already, dummy. 

Hmmm. Annie Lennox and Sam Smith singing a greatly modulated version of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Pie Jesu (Requiem), morphing into Sting's Fields of Gold, with Annie and Sam continuing to sing.

Cheesy, yes.

But, hey... it's my funeral. 

9/ As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A movie star. A great big STAR!

In 7th and 8th grade, I discovered this small room off the main library at my high school. Here is where all the biography's lived. This is where I spent time learning about Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Theda Bara and the likes. This is also where I learned as much classic era Hollywood gossip as I could find. 

There was one particular book that was my favorite - a coffee table sized book with beautiful black and white stills of various movie stars. I remember marveling at how amazing Judy Garland looked in Presenting Lily Mars and how Marilyn never took a bad photo. I was in awe of Bette and Joan. 

It was during this time period that I found a small paperback book about the history of the Academy Awards at a garage sale. I carried that thing around and studied it like it was the bible. In a way, it was... mine. 

I also spent hours combing through my mother's old copies of movie magazines, enthralled by the stars' beauty and thrilled with the details of their various scandals. About this same time, my interest in pop music was at a peak and I began to appreciate the rock stars who carried themselves as if they were classic movie stars. A chief example of this, of course, was David Bowie. 

I had no idea what it took to become what these people were. I read about the old studio system and yearned to have been a young up and comer during Hollywood's golden age. But in the modern world and living where I was living? I had no concept of how any of that worked at the time. 

Anyway, once I became involved in theater and music, the concept of being a star fell to the wayside, as I was newly convinced that acting was ART, and must be taken very seriously. All  that glamour? That was all deception, the devil's work and something serious actors mustn't concern themselves with. 

Oh, and that book with all the black and white photos? My senior year, just before I graduated, I went into that backroom with a razor blade, cutting out my favorite photos. Yeah, a real dick move... but dreams die hard, baby.

10/ What’s your favorite place of all the places you’ve traveled?

Berlin, hands down. 

I even know the neighborhood. Schöneberg. A gay mecca.

I don't know what it was, but I really fell in love with the vibe. Older men and all body types seemed to be accepted and celebrated. 

Berlin was our second city, on a four-city self-created trip (Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, Rome). It was scary and fun - being on our own and just using our wits to figure stuff out.

We stayed in a hotel near the Tiergarten, a few blocks from the aquarium entrance. Arriving by train from Amsterdam, we didn't have much trouble getting around. I really like the subway system there. 

Shortly after checking in, we strolled down Bayreuther, and sat at an outside patio in Der Südbrunnen (Lebensalter). After a beverage of our choice, we proceeded to walk all the way to the end of Bayreuther, where we stumbled on The Old Timer.

And this is the place that sold me on the whole scene. 

I adored it. Outside on the patio, older men with the occasional eye candy digging their scene. Inside? History. And lovely people from the neighborhood. Everyone was super friendly. One of the owners (I think) waited on us. He was very chatty and sweet and looked sort of like Rod Stewart. 

We made our way to two other gay bars that afternoon, sitting on patios and each one was a treat. 

The next day, we had a guided walking tour of Berlin, so we saw all the historic sites. Again. Sold. So much culture. So much to see, take in and digest. We didn't even scratch the surface.

And we walked through The Tiergarten one afternoon. And spent one at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, where I was just in awe of the history and the parallels to what is happening in the USA today. 

We even bought tickets to see the symphony that night. 

The following day was spent in search of a laundromat, so I got a very good sense of the neighborhood and even found a little drag bar (Incognito?) on Hohenstraufen and Martin Luther (right around the corner from the laundromat). 

On our last evening there, I convinced the boyfriend that we had to visit a gay bar - at night. We were dining at Elefant and made our way down the block, stopping in at a couple of places, all very nice with lots of eye candy. And then we found Woof.

Okay, the place is small, by American standards, but I just loved it. It even had a backroom! When we got there we both stood outside the door not knowing what to do and the bouncer was super nice and ushered us in. The place was packed with real men... real bodies, all ages. 

The boyfriend was feeling super insecure and basically just wanted to buy a t-shirt and get the hell out of there. He asked to purchase one and the bouncer - this really hot leather muscle dude - got all handsy with him, wanting to make sure it fit correctly. It was all in good fun and the boyfriend was flattered, which gave me just enough leeway to check out the mens room and the back room. Let's just say... I want to go back and really experience it. 

Anyway... there was so much I didn't see (especially in that backroom). But I am glad I spent time walking around the neighborhood and getting a feel for the scene. 

Like The Great Gonzo sings... "I'm going to go back there someday..."

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Okay, kids. That's all for today. Hey, you know what to do: leave your answers in the comments section or post them on your blog and leave a link. 

I'm Going To Go Back There Someday - Gonzo

Pie Jesu (Requiem) - Sarah Brightman

Fields of Gold - Sting