Buzz for Ladybits Comedy

August 11, 2010

Cross-posted from Ladybits:

The Ladybits Comedy Kickoff Show is tonight! We’re happy to get a little buzz going (not that kind … we try not to drink before 1:15pm).

We’re featured on TheApiary’s The Honey Shot. Thanks, Apiary!

And we’re delighted to be featured on TheGloss: Yes, Women Are Funny: Introducing Ladybits Comedy.

TheGloss will be in attendance tonight in our Press Box, along with bloggers Judy McGuire (Bad Advice) and Twanna Hines (Funky Brown Chick). By the way, TheGloss’s editor Lilit Marcus has a book coming out at the end of this very month). Our press box shall be full of luminaries, indeed! (Our box overfloweth? Um…).

As Abbi wrote in the comments on The Apiary (it’s kind of weird to comment on your own show, but we’re excited, so sue us):

“Awwww yeah. This is show is XXX! Actually just XX. Chromosomes.”

Posted by jen | Categories: comedy  | Leave a Comment | | Email This Post Email This Post

Video: “What Not to Wear”

August 8, 2010

It has occurred to me that this is on the internet:


Jennifer Dziura on "What to wear"… @ Yahoo! Video

This was never really meant for public consumption; it was my audition for the Brain Trust pilot I did for the SciFi Channel.

But since it’s on the internet, you might enjoy using philosophy (Bentham!) and math (Venn Diagrams! and weighted averages!) to become a better dresser!

Posted by jen | Categories: Jen says  | 3 Comments | | Email This Post Email This Post

New on TheGloss: Are Girls Really Bad at Maps?

August 5, 2010

I was prompted to write this column when I read yesterday’s NYT article about controversy over the “gifted” test for admission to Hunter College High School. (Unlike most standardized tests, this test is actually written by the school’s teachers). In a nutshell: a Black graduation speaker gave a speech saying that the test was unfair and reflected class and wealth differences. True. The director of the school said that the test isn’t a good indicator of giftedness, but is a good indicator of whether a student will be successful at Hunter. Also true. A graduate who was co-president of the Asian Cultural Society said that many of her friends were insulted by the speech, because they felt that their admission was due to “individual achievement.” Also true.

I love an argument that’s not really that much of an argument. It seems to be that the problem is that Hunter calls itself a “gifted” high school. Note that the co-president of the Asian Cultural Society referred to “individual achievement,” not some magical inherent ability. Rewarding people for high performance is one thing; claiming that rewarding people for high performance is the same as recognizing their innate, genetically determined traits will rightfully offend people.

Maybe we should just offer advanced educations for those performing at an advanced level, and stop talking about what’s in people’s genes, destiny, or soul.

Posted by jen | Categories: Jen says  | Leave a Comment | | Email This Post Email This Post

Bullish Urban Living: This is My Outdoor Desk

August 4, 2010

This is the outdoor desk I have on my balcony overlooking Wall Street.

This is where the magic happens (my WiFi totally works out here), until it starts to rain a little bit, which happens way more often than you might think if you weren’t trying to use a computer outdoors.

They really don’t sell “outdoor desks.” One search turned up this page — look at the image attribution. That’s a stock photo. No one really lives that way.

I finally found this from Crate & Barrel. It was inexpensive enough, I figured that if it lasted the rest of the summer, I’d be happy. It’s been rained on a few times and seems totally fine. No birds have even despoiled it yet!

When I am outside, my cat’s spatial understanding of the world is disturbed.

At night, I use a battery-powered clip lamp from Target (they don’t seem to carry mine anymore, but this one is similar).

Sitting outside, listening to the hum of the generators and looking at the interesting crenellations and gargoyles the architects of yore have worked into the tops of other people’s buildings, I feel content, like an amalgam of Ayn Rand surveying the work of man and Batman appreciating the aerial view.

If you’re wondering, in the top two photos, I’m drinking a Southampton Double White and looking at TheGloss. (I have never been to the Hamptons. It’s just a good beer. I got it on Freshdirect).

Read my previous Wall Street posts here.

Posted by jen | Categories: New York, Wall St.  | 2 Comments | | Email This Post Email This Post

Some New Things At Which to Look

August 4, 2010

Simon Smithson, Associate Arts and Culture editor of The Nervous Breakdown, attended a small cocktail party at my apartment on day 18 or 19 of his tour of the U.S. (he’s Australian):

standing on the balcony of my friend Jen’s place, looking out over Wall Street. The air is cool up here, and it’s the viewpoint of a superhero. Inside, people are talking about evolution, and libertarianism, and getting their website blocked in Qatar, and I like being here, and meeting these new people. These new people are New Yorkers, man. They know about the news and the country and they make good jokes and if I lived here, I would want to get coffee with them in the morning and walk down the street talking about Tina Fey and the Hudson River and the Yankees.

You know, a hundred articles have been written about the spelling bee, but this is the first mention in the press of my apartment, and for some reason that makes me really happy.

On Ladybits Comedy, a first look at one of the comics appearing in our August 11 Kickoff and Press Preview: Appearing on Wednesday: Erin Jackson.

Check out her video clip — do you believe that children are the future? Maybe some of them shouldn’t make it.

And on the Vocabulary Blog:

And finally, my best friend Molly Crabapple has launched a new website for the 100+ branches of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School (possibly NSFW), the international movement she founded in 2005.

Posted by jen | Categories: Jen says  | Leave a Comment | | Email This Post Email This Post

Save the Date: August 11th (next Wednesday!)

August 1, 2010

Ladybits Comedy was founded by Abbi Crutchfield and me. We were playing pool, badly. Here’s how one of us remembers the conversation:

One of us: I was thinking of starting an all-female comedy show.

The other one of us: I think all female comics were thinking of starting an all-female comedy show.

One of us: The way we are playing pool is sort of making women look bad.

The other one of us: It would be cool if we did that, though.

Some weeks later, one of us was at a comedy show where the other one’s husband was performing, causing one of us to think of the other one of us. We began texting about possible names for a show:

And here we are.

Credit where credit is due: the late, great Chicks and Giggles was an all-female comedy show, which stopped producing its regular weekly show in 2008. It may be where Abbi and Jen met, although it’s hard to remember. Chicks was a visionary event, founded by Nichelle Stephens in 2004 and primarily hosted by Carolyn Castiglia. It’s time this city had a regular all-women comedy show again — in fact, it’s time this city had as many of them as audiences want to attend.

And here we are.

Visit our Vision Statement to read about our goals in doing this.

If this sounds good to you, we’d love to see you there. Arrive promptly to ensure a seat — it’s a small room. I’m excited!

Posted by jen | Categories: comedy  | Leave a Comment | | Email This Post Email This Post

« Previous Page