Monday, January 31, 2011

Short Thoughts and ... Shauna misses her mustache!


Damn, that spelling just doesn't LOOK right in the title. Oh well. I apparently spelled it wrong in the caption. Made the caption as a real quickie, based on the visual of the picture. Pretty much just what I call a "rimshot" caption. Believe it or not, I think the eyes are really what makes this caption, as it tends to reinforce the plot line.

Some not-very-deep TG thoughts I've had over the past week

(1) I made this comment in a posting about a certain picture, and as to where it came from. The answer was already stated (Hannah Montana) and I thought my reply should be restated here, knowing that it is entirely possible that I stole the idea from someone else. I made a hypothetical discussion of the show between my daughter and I.
"So Sweetie, the idea of Hannah Montana is that everyone has 2 selves, one they show to the world, and one they keep hidden just for certain people. However, the show got it really mixed up. In general, its the hidden side of them that tends to dress up in wigs, sequins, lots of makeup and perform for strangers in clubs and bars. But that is a story for another time. Sleep well honey!"
(2) As part of the weekend "festivities" I went to a Renne Faire. I thought it sucked, but there were a few people there in drag. I didn't get to see the guys dressed in women's garb (the GF said I had missed them) but I did get to see a drag king, dressed up like a pirate. She did a good job, though the giveaway was that that beard just sort of ended about an inch before the hair line upwards, and the beard was WAY too uniform in length, looking more like an astro-turf lawn than an actual beard.

I think the face is probably the hardest part to work with when doing convincing drag for either sex. For Queens, getting rid of 5 o'clock stubble is a major concern, and for Kings, its hardening the facial features and making convincing facial hair. Most everything else can be concealed and covered more or less.

(3) While staying in the hotel, I was waiting to see all the sissy maids working, but alas nothing. You'd think that with all the stories and captions over the years, I'd have seen at least ONE sissy maid. I'm starting to think that perhaps all these situations are just made up from some peoples overactive imaginations!

I can see where people get such wonderful inspiration from hotels. I barely travel and rarely stay in hotels, but just being in one, I can understand why people use them in stories. There is a certain charm in being unknown and anonymous in a place where no one really knows you. Yet, you can still feel vulnerable, as you don't really know your way around the area, places to eat or have fun, and I can imagine its really easy to get taken advantage of.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: Feel free to elaborate on any of the topics I mentioned above or talk about the caption as well. Since I was away, I didn't have time to do much in the way of planning a specific discussion. I should have a more formal topic for the next posting.

6 comments:

  1. Tom Stoppard once said, "Hotel rooms inhabit a separate moral universe."

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  2. @ Vickie

    Sounds like the honest truth. I can only IMAGINE the depravity of my moral compass if I was one the road all the time. I guess there was a reason for all those old "traveling salemen" jokes back in the mid 20th century.

    My parents remember when Hotel 6 was called that because a room for the night was 6 dollars. I can imagine nowadays, they'd have to call themselves, Hotel 99, and even that would be considered cheap. Maybe its the low price hotels that have all they sissy maids to keep prices cheap! I'll have to remember that next time!

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  3. Just my two cents on hotels:

    For the longest time I was traveling around the country for work, and spent a lot of time in hotels. It is amazing how that 'anonymous' feeling never really go away. At their most basic all hotel rooms are the same. There is some mildly pleasant but completely forgettable person to check you in to your room with a bed, a bathroom, a television, and a phone. I tried keeping all those funny little credit card style keys, but stopped when the stack got to about 6 inches high.

    The one thing that surprised me is that the 'anonymous' feeling applies to everyone in the hotel. Conversations always started easier when in the lobby, but in the halls most people would just point their eyes to the floor a few feet in front of them and not look at anyone or anything. Which makes it a GREAT people watching opportunity.

    The little mini stories that would come to mind were generally innocent enough, but occasionally I would see a woman leaving a room with a fairly large suitcase wearing clothes far to spectacular for the 'drive home' and wondered if I had just seen a VERY good cross dresser. Was she just having a fun weekend out? Did she spend all her time in the hotel room? Did she meet someone? I never fleshed out any of the stories, but it would have been easy to write a story from those little encounters.

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  4. @ Caitlyn

    It sounds like it could be a great story or series of captions. Like a telling of all the things that happen in one hotel, or the traveling businessman/woman that is a witch/warlock.

    I've done what you've done at hotels too, just sit in the lobby facing the door and try to figure out the story of every person/couple/family that comes into the hotel. What their life has been like up to that point, and where it is heading from there. I guess its fun to watch people, as long as they don't think you are stalking them.

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  5. So Dee, what did you dress up as for the Ren faire? I'm picturing serving wench with an attitude ;)

    I think you are right about the facial features in cross-dressing, for either direction. It is just so hard to remove the "maleness" or "femininity" that most people have built in to their face. That's one of the main reasons why I try to use image where the person is facing away from the camera or has their face cropped out when I do cross-dressing caps.

    Now that being said, I think it can be done obviously, but it takes a LOT of work and a LOT of practice. That's just not something you are gonna see from a part time cross-dresser at a Ren Faire.

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  6. I went as the "person that hates Renne Faires but is going mostly to please a loved one if they ever hope to get laid again, so is 2 pieces of stupid old garb enough sweetie?" I only saw a few others wearing that outfit so I didn't feel bad we'd worn the same thing!

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