Blog's the word

We've moved to AliciaEler.com!

2010-11-11T10:19:00.001-08:00

Hi there! Have you stumbled upon this blog by accident? Do you find some of the old posts entertaining? Are you dying to read more? Please visit AliciaEler.com for art reviews, social media consulting, PR/marketing for the arts, and more!

Sincerely,

The Worker Bees

Dollars that make cents

2007-10-09T09:40:00.001-07:00

When I first opened this blog, I intended it as a storage place for fun articles that I wrote in my spare time. After I kept taking and quitting desk jobs, I started to realize realized that this "writing thing" was more than just a one-time fling. I decided to take action: no more posting articles on the blog, racing home to write after an exhausting day ridin' the desk or laughing at myself when saying "I'm a freelancer."

I officially went full-time freelance in August 2007 after quitting yet another desk job. Now it's October and I feel like things are clicking. I've got a pretty steady stable of magazine and online pub clients, as well as a consistent copywriting gig at Lyon Communications. I work exclusively from my home office and am learning to deal with the freelance "isolation" factor. Ok, that's all good news, but something that's been making a huge difference on the business-end of writing is the book I'm reading right now: Kelly James-Enger's Six-Figure Freelancing. I bet you think I want to make six-figures and that's why I'm reading the book. Well, honestly, who wouldn't like to make that much money? Sure, I'd like to make a lot at some point, but here's why this book rocks: James-Enger helps freelancers treat their practice as a "writing business," not just some hobby-type schtick.

James-Enger brings it back to the bottom-line: writing is a service that pays our bills. She suggests setting daily, weekly and monthly financial goals, keeping in mind how much writers want to make. Looking at the smaller picture is helping me reasonably envision a bigger picture. Keeping track of finances and seriously considering purchasing Quickbooks (for Mac) is something else I've started thinking about more. Considering how to re-print the same story in other outlets, how to NOT sign away all my copyrights to the publisher, and how to attract higher paying copywriting clients instead of more lower paying mags is something else I've got on my mind. Pitching to new outlets, breaking into other subjects, and not getting super bummed when an editor rejects me are other helpful tips in this goldmine of a book.

The other bottom-line that James-Enger points out? Writers are business-owners, not flaky wanna-bes who write just to see their names in print.

Now I'm thinking more about blogging as a way to market myself. Approaching blogging from a business standpoint and opening discussion for writing-related topics is another thing to consider. Also, I've got to join a local writing group! My wonderful girlfriend Erika definitely hears too much about my daily freelance ups-and-downs.

I'm not even halfway through James-Enger's book, but I already feel enlightened. More on the book as I keep reading.

Why Blogging? Why Now?

2007-09-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been getting some traffic on this blog, but everyone says the same thing after checking it out: "Why don't you update, Alicia?" Now I have an answer to that question.

Originally, I started the blog as a place to post articles when I thought that writing would just be a "fun thing to do on the side." I added links and text from my OutOnTheNet.com and Chill Magazine articles thinking that these would be the only outlets that I'd want to write for. Soon thereafter, I signed on with Flavorpill Chicago. I started interning at Time Out Chicago, then started writing for them. Pretty soon, my little blog couldn't handle all these clips! I also started working with the Chicago Artists' Newspaper, Centerstage Chicago and EDGE Publications, so it became pretty clear that I indeed needed a website. My friend Quinn built me one in an afternoon using CSS (which I have yet to master!), and I was in love. Using my trusty Cyberduck FTP connection and Taco HTML Editor (for Macs), I started adding article links obsessively. It was all about the website.

Ok, so that's the first part of why I stopped using the blog. After that, the blog seemed like it could work as a place to write about stuff I didn't get a chance to discuss in my reviews or articles. Say THE SIMPSONS MOVIE, HUSTLE & FLOW, The Simpsons Season 10, or any other movies or TV shows that I stumbled on. It still didn't make total sense for me to do that, though, since I was already getting work published in legit newspapers and magazines. A bit later, I gave up on that idea, too.

Now for the obvious idea: Use the blog as my own personal PR machine! Ok, but what should I say then? Something like "go read my articles!" No, of course not. Aside from writing, I'm trying to live life, and I do try and keep the two separate. If I were a fiction writer, it would make sense to keep a blog about my book, a book tour, conferences, or thoughts about the book. But alas, I am a freelance writer, not a fiction writer, and that sort of PR isn't necessary.

The seemingly last option is to use the blog as a personal diary. In line with keeping private life and public life separate, though, blogging about feelings and emotions also doesn't make sense.

The conclusion? Keeping a blog is a great way to self-promote, but it doesn't seem like I have a real need for that right now. I can't delete this blog, though. I guess I'll try and start writing about random thoughts, ideas, theories or conversations? Or I'll think of a great theme and write only about it on the blog?

Suggestions anyone? Are you out there? (It's me, Margaret.)

It's Been So Long...

2007-03-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's been quite awhile since I last updated, but let me explain -- lots has been going on. Plus, I am not sure who, if anyone, actually reads this blog. If you're out there, leave me a comment!

Alright, so I've gone wild writing listings/reviews for Flavorpill Chicago, a weekly e-newsletter of Chicago's hippest arts and culture events and happenings. I've been trying to write up to five listings/reviews per week, which is actually quite time consuming.

In the meantime, I've also been writing for Chill Magazine, a cute lil' monthly e-zine for Chicago's hip, lesbian lifestyle. Articles for them are quite a bit longer and include features, interviews, book reviews, film reviews and even CD reviews. Again, my time is devoured by typing.

Have also done some work for OutOnTheNet.com, a great queer lifestyle website. Most recently, I wrote about Michelle Tea's book Baby Remember My Name, a compilation of up-and-coming queer girl writers.

Busy busy busy. I also quit my office admin. job, got an editorial internship at Time Out Chicago and am still looking for a part-time job to pay those pesky bills and just barely get by. Hopefully that will come through soon.

I'm going to make a commitment to regular blog entries, but first I must get my job situation under control! Be patient, friends -- I'll be back on the boat soon.

MONSTER HOUSE Haunted by Racism, Heteronormativity, Misogyny, and Fatphobia

2006-12-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

December 28, 2006

MONSTER HOUSE Haunted by Racism, Heteronormativity, Misogyny, and Fatphobia

By Alicia Kismet Eler

When TOY STORY came out in 1995, the world was shocked and thrilled by Pixar's innovative computer animation. In 2006, over a decade later, MONSTER HOUSE hits the big screen featuring computer animation that is sharper, more life-like, and even more fun than before. Despite these technological improvements, MONSTER HOUSE still employs racist and gendered ideas that have been bubbling to the surface since the earliest animated films -- the stupid black guy as entertaining comic relief, the love story between the two white, straight, attractive main characters, and implicit misogyny and fatphobia.

MONSTER HOUSE begins with an introduction to DJ, an upper-middle class white boy who lives in an American suburb. It is Halloween Eve, and DJ is simoutaneously hitting puberty and deciding that he is too "mature" to go trick-or-treating. When DJ's parents take off on an overnight trip, he's stuck with ADD friend Chowder, and the angsty teenage babysitter Elizabeth who wishes to be known as "Q." Out of both boredom and genuine interest, DJ begins spying on his neighbor across the street, Mr. Nebbercracker. As a grouchy and senile old man, Nebbercracker goes nuts when anyone steps on his lawn. Unlike most crotchedy old people, Nebbercracker steals a little girl's tricycle, a basketball, a kite, and anything else that crosses his path.

After witnessing all of this thievery, valiant DJ knows that he must put an end to Nebbercracker's behavior. In an attempt to rescue Chowder's basketball, DJ manages to break Nebbercracker's arm and cause him to go unconscious. After an ambulance takes the old man away, DJ is convinced that he has killed Nebbercracker. Despite these unfortunate events, DJ still spies on the house. When he starts getting prank phone calls from the house itself, he knows there's something else going on. Chowder tries to prove him wrong by playing "ding-dong-ditch", but is nearly eaten alive by the house itself! The two join up and manage to save a perky know-it-all named Jenny from being devoured by the house, and soon she becomes part of their team.

According to Hollywood movie rules, there must be a love story in the film even if the main characters have just barely reached puberty. MONSTER HOUSE is no exception this rule; in fact, it abides to it perfectly. To no surprise, the skinny, cute, introverted, mature and intelligent DJ falls for Jenny. At the same time, Chowder experiences the same feelings, but because he is a fatass with boy boobies, a serious ADD problem, and a little red cape that he wears even when he ISN'T saving the world, Jenny hardly notices him. Both DJ and Chowder's interest in Jenny becomes apparent upon first site when they see her through a telescope as she is walking up to Nebbercracker's house.

Interestingly, MONSTER HOUSE employs the idea of scopophila as it is geared towards women. As young as Chowder and DJ are, they still manage to get their first glimpse of Jenny through the telescope; they immediately fall in love with her after this first glance. In this sense, scopophilia even in MONSTER HOUSE mirrors early uses of binoculars and telescopes in Hitchcock's classic, THE REAR WINDOW, in which the protagonist L.B. Jeffries watches women in his apartment building through a telescope and binoculars. Unlike DJ and Chowder, however, Jeffries has a broken leg and is thus confined to his apartment. DJ and Chowder are forced to stay in DJ's room in his suburban home because they are too young to explore the surrounding areas.

Aside from the presence of scopophilia in MONSTER HOUSE, racism is a crucial component to the film. When DJ, Chowder, and Jenny attempt to "make the evil house take a nap", their plans are foiled by the arrival of the cops. To no surprise, Cop #1 is an overweight white guy with a belly that sits comfortably over his waistline. Cop #2, his sidekick, is a "trainee" who also happens to be African-American, dumb, spastic, and paranoid. Could he be paranoid because he is patrolling the streets of an entirely white suburb, or is he freaking out because of he is trying to impress his white boss? Regardless of his motivation for fear, the African-American cop is constantly interjecting with statemens that re-enforce his stupidity. No one pays him any mind until he takes the kids' side -- he knows that something is up with the house, but isn't sure exactly what that could be. As he steps towards the house, a tree attacks him and throws him inside to be devoured. A similar fate occurs for Cop#1; soon after, the house takes hold of the car where the three kids are trapped. Although they do not get eaten, they end up inside the house without the house knowing. Once inside, they are able to continue their quest.

As the kids wander the house, they eventually find their way to the basement. DJ discovers a circus cage with the name "Constance" written across the top. Legend has it that Mr. Nebbercracker fattened his wife up and killed her, and DJ thinks that this may have been where he stored her. Using a magic key that he found when Nebbercracker was carried away to the hospital, he opens the heart-shaped lock of the cage. He steps inside, trips on something, and lands face-to-face with a giant cement woman. His weight causes her to literally crack; soon thereafter, the house goes buck wild and attempts to kill the children again.

If it isn't terribly obvious already, the evil house is the manifestation of Mr. Nebbercracker's fat dead wife. Additionally, the house represents domesticity and the “female domain”, making it the ultimate personification of the evil woman.

After the woman/house attacks a couple more times, the kids eventually manage to escape thanks to Jenny's quick thinking. Just as they step foot out of the house, Mr. Nebbercracker sets foot on the lawn -- believe it or not, he is still alive and well! It turns out that the old man only suffered a broken arm; he is far from dead. In a moment of compassion, Nebbercracker tells DJ the romantic story of how his haunted house came to be.

At a young age, Nebbercracker happened to go to the circus and meet a young lady. The only problem was that she was the fat lady that the circus brought out as part of the freakshow. Her name was Constance, and she was a miserable and sad woman. Nebbercracker recognized this immediately and decided that he was going to save her. After the act ended, Nebbercracker found her out back in her cage and told her that he’d take her away from this awful place. She quickly agreed and the two rode off together.

The young Nebbercracker bought a plot of land and started building a house for himself and Constance. As he built, a couple of young neighbors came by and started egging the house and making fun of Constance. She became angry, tried to fight back, but tripped and fell into a pool of cement at the bottom of the house; thus, she was cemented into the house forever. Although her body was gone, her spirit was not – she demanded that Nebbercracker stay on and live in the house. She wanted him to protect the house from kids who would cause trouble while her spirit took the form of the physical house itself. For years on end Nebbercracker obeyed Constance’s wishes – until the afternoon when he met DJ after returning from the hospital and shared his story with him.

After the truth was told, Nebbercracker hesitantly joined forces with the kids. Constance, the love of his life, was now his immortal enemy. With the help of a couple of sticks of dynamite, Mr. Nebbercracker, Chowder’s manipulation of a wrecking ball, and Jenny’s courage, the four of them manage to defeat the evil fat woman-turned-symbolic-domestic house who wrecks hell on the neighborhood and young children. A brilliant toss by DJ lands dynamite into the chimney of the house, its only opening besides the mouth, and blows the house to bits. As this happens, Jenny falls for DJ and gives him a smooch on the lips. Chowder remains in charge of the wrecking ball, a possible suggestion of his future work-life. Mr. Nebbercracker feebly stands back while explosions pierce the sky.

In the end, the natural order is restored to the upper-middle class white suburb (whose name may or may not be Mayville -- this name was briefly mentioned at the end of the film). DJ, Chowder, Mr. Nebbercracker, and Jenny celebrate Halloween in a unique way – they stand at the doorway of Nebbercracker’s former house and give all of the children’' back to them. Jenny’s mom picks her up and DJ’s parents come home just in time for DJ and Chowder to grab the last couple of trick-or-treating hours. Even though they’re both a couple of kids who have saved the neighborhood, they’ve still got to get their trick-or-treat on. After all, they did just make the neighborhood safe from cannibalistic women-turned-houses, right?

The Bohemian Life = The Bohemian LIE

2006-11-28T12:58:00.000-08:00

My housemate and I talked a lot about "the bohemian life" in college. As we saw it, the "bohemian life" revolved around the idea of the 19th century dandy who, according to Wikipedia.org, is "a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and the cultivation of leisurely hobbies." My housemate and I were determined to project a sophisticated look while living on pennies. Through all the artsy movies that we watched by French New Wave directors like Jean-Luc Godard, in which the well-dressed attractive protagonists just smoked cigarettes, went out drinking and looked like works of art themselves, our dreams of the bohemian life grew.

After we graduated, my housemate and I were determined to live this bohemian life. I went back to Chicago to see what I could find, and he went to China on a teaching scholarship. After teaching in China, his plan is to move to Vienna with his boyfriend and "work at a coffeehouse and learn German." He's got the bohemian life down pat!

In the meantime, I'm in Chicago desperately seeking a job. Naturally, I think "hey, why don't I just work at a coffeeshop and do my writing in the meantime!" A perfect bohemian life; however, in our fast-moving and expensive contemporary American society, I soon learned that this lifestyle wouldn’t cut it for me. Despite warnings from my parents and girlfriend, I took a barista job at Starbucks -- I was determined to at least try out my bohemian life idea. I wanted to write PT and I thought that working at a coffeehouse for the rest of the time would be ideal. I mean, what more could one want than drinking fresh coffee and soaking in thought-inspiring discussion?

The only problem was that my thoughts really were just dreams. I expected my co-workers to all be interesting artists, actors or musicians who were working hard on their creative work during the nights and weekends; instead, the majority of them were kids who either never went to college, dropped out of college, or earned a degree but weren't doing too much with it. Oh well, I thought -- at least I get to meet new people! But when I learned that many of them had been working there for over three years, I became visibly depressed.

I decided to investigate as to why they had been there for so long! The answer turned out to be quite simple: thanks to Starbucks' keen awareness of their employees' needs, each employee becomes eligible for FULL BENEFITS after only six months of PT work. After that, employees can become stockholders in the company, earn vacation days, as well as take home a pound of free coffee per week. What amazing benefits for such an easy job. Or so I thought.

The work will pay off if one is willing to put up with bitchy-ass customers who order unnecessarily complicated drinks and just plain don't know what they want and blame you for it. Along with that abuse comes little pay and sporadic hours. Additionally, standing on your feet all day is pretty tiring. Coming home left me starving for any sort of intellectual stimulation possible, because I didn't get into any intense discussions about Foucault's methodology while serving coffee. Instead, I did as everyone else -- bitched about the pay and the customers.

After about a week at Starbucks, I started looking seriously for a FT job. This barista bullshit wasn't hacking it for me and didn't pay enough. Additionally, my PT writing was not going as planned, i.e. it wasn't paying the bills, and decided that I had to leave the coffeeshop. Instead of casting my bohemian life dreams aside, I decided to reconsider and face reality -- making it on under $20,000 a year is pretty difficult, if not impossible; working at a coffeeshop is actually a lot of work; and the intellectuals that I hoped to meet were either in academia or doing more, well, thought-provoking things than ringing up lattes and counting change.

A full-time job came through for me and I eventually quit Starbucks. It was slightly sad, but for the best. My co-workers seemed surprised and confused. Why would I leave so soon? I wanted to expound on my theories of after-college life and go on about media representations of leisure and the bohemian life as well as Starbuck's smart marketing, but instead I turned and galloped out the door.

I decided that my ideas of the "bohemian life" should more appropriately be titled "the bohemian LIE". Better tell my housemate before he meets a similar fate!

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED

2006-09-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

Everything is Illuminated, 2005, USA: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404030/

Why are twenty-something American-born and bred Jewish kids writing Holocaust fiction? I asked myself this question after seeing EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED (2005), based on the book by Jonathon Safran Foer. The author's reasons for writing Holocaust fiction had to do with his own failed trip to the Ukraine in an attempt to discover his grandfather's past. While the book may have been touching, the film was remarkably unbelieveable and full of surface-level characatures. Strangely enough, though, at the film's end I found myself sobbing uncontrollably as I thought of my grandmother's committment to Judiasm. Though she did not live through the Holocaust, feelings of collective experience came over me. Maybe young American Jews are writing Holocaust fiction to connect with their past and find a voice through history, to feel a part of the something greater. Maybe, just maybe...

Lesbo Film Reviews

2006-09-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Fremde Haut (Unveiled), 2005, Germany: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428672/

Fariba Tabrizi made it to the German border. She is safe and out of homophobic Iran, a place she can no longer live after getting caught with her another woman. When the German police don't accept her reason for political asylum, she has no choice but to assume the identity of a fellow co-detainee. Fariba's new life in Germany is full of torment and questions -- living in an unknown place and having taken on a new identity, she most struggle with the most difficult journey she has yet to encounter.

Sancharram (The Journey) 2004, USA: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470913/

Director Ligy J. Pullappally put her law career on hold to make a film in her native South India about a devastating reality facing the region: lesbian suicide. The Journey tells the story of two young girls who must either face the reality of their lesbian desire and dishonor their families or live a lie.

Do I Love You?, 2002, UK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400367/

This philosophical and sometimes hard to follow film gets inside the head of one drama-filled thoughtful London-based lesbian.

Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam by Zainab Salbi

2006-09-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

Zainab Salbi, an immigrant from Baghdad, Iraq, arrives in Chicago at age 20 to meet her husband. This arranged marriage is her only ticket out of Iraq. However, her husband turns out to be a rapist who traps her with his threats; but even this physical torture is better than living under the shadow of Saddam Hussein. The Salbi family's "friendship" with Saddam was the only way for them to survive the mass genocide taking place in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, but Saddam managed to destroy them in another way -- by ripping the family apart little by little. In this striking account, Salbi speaks directly from her heart, recalling painful descriptive childhood memories such as rescuing her mother from multiple suicide attempts and crying with ducks because anyone who sees her crying could report her to Saddam. Through this personal memoir, Salbi breaks her own silence about living through hell on Earth in Iraq. In turn, Westerners are finally able to get a glimpse of what really went on under the shadow of Saddamn.