Laughing Yoga

I have lots of quirky thoughts, or ways of looking at the world. Some of that I suppose is being a Canadian living in America. The longer I am here, the more quirky things appear to me, and the larger the distance seems to get from what I see and how others see it. Or maybe that distance is shrinking. Certainly my eyesight is getting worse, so maybe I'm not a good judge of these things anymore. 

Naturally you want an example. What's quirky to me you ask? Sometimes, quirky to me is situational, a moment with friends, and I'll see a picture in my head triggered...sort of...by what they say, and then I describe it out loud. Which in this writing is hard to translate. It all is in the moment. But to me, it is my humor bone, and hilarious. I never thought about those pictures in my head that formulate as being a quirky event. It just seemed funny, and usually others found it funny too. That part of me didn't go away as I got older, but it got submerged as those around me seemed less inclined to laugh. Not just with me regarding my jokes, but just less inclined to laugh, or see the mirth in something. (Mirth, isn't that a fine word?)

So quirky topics to me are things like being curious about people different from myself, doing something I wouldn't have invented or thought to do, like  going to a yoga class in order to practice the physical act of laughing. Not with humor, or telling jokes as part of the practice, but rather participants emulate the act of laughing. To me that is a waste. I like humor, being delighted and laughing out loud. But to just imitate the mechanics of a laugh, even if it offers some health benefits, I'd much rather laugh from true delight and surprise than to force myself to laugh, tricking my body into some action. I like the real deal rather than imitation. Always. Plus I am funny, and for decades I attended yoga class and I can tell you most of my teachers were humorless. When faced with many butts in downward facing dog, you can be assured I had a few jokes to share. But sadly this was before “Laughing Yoga” so I was reprimanded many a time. Sigh. I guess I was just ahead of my time. 

There is humor in everything if we just choose to be open to the fun of it. As a friend said, we need to keep our “humor channel” turned on, as laughter is a good medicine, and we can access it all the time. Hopefully that doesn't sound quirky, because soon quirky will be the new mainstream I feel sure. 

Gotta Blind Spot?

Is this quirky? I attended the HotDocs film festival in Toronto this May, one of the biggest and most successful documentary film festivals on the globe, with 170 documentaries screened in 10 days, and all sorts of panels, pitches and industry hubbub going on. I was energized by all that was taking place, the fun stories produced and hearing the filmmakers talk about their process.

I returned to New Mexico jazzed. I opened a press release from the Film Office announcing the winners and honorable mentions for this year's annual NM Filmmaker Showcase event they have sponsored since 2005. As I ran my eye down the list I saw there were five judges for this event. They were all women. Mmmmmmm. That seems odd. Why would all the judges be one gender? I read the list of winners and honorable mentions to see whom I might know, and send them a congratulations. There were 12 films picked which included going on tour around the state, and to be broadcast on community cable around the state too. What a great collaboration. Twelve films. One woman and eleven men listed as the filmmakers out of the twelve films chosen . Another Mmmmmmmm.

I mused on this, and based on my good feeling of seeing a strong number of women filmmakers participating at HotDocs (the way any of us feel when we see familiar types like ourselves well represented) I emailed those who'd sent me the press release. My tone to them was curious, wondering if they'd noticed what I had noticed. Women are under-represented in film showcases for starters. Why? Do women not submit? Do women not have good ideas? Are women's films inferior? Do women not have access to the training and resources, or not know how to access them? Does the system favor one group over another in some way we each may be blind about? If any of these answers are yes, then we need to look at why, and deal with it in an effective, productive way. Hey we're creatives, we can do that!

We have lots of women in supportive, organizational and administrative roles in our film community; running film festivals, offices, and non-profits to serve filmmakers. We do not have many women writing, directing and producing films, compared to our numbers or possibilities.

This isn't the only time women are under-represented and no noise is heard. But on the heels of a good experience at the HotDocs festival where I saw a film community that took both women and men seriously and expected them to be a part of everything, I felt weird. I hadn't realized how numb I had become to this odd blind spot. And this seems a blind spot many of us share, both men and women. And if you don't know you have a blind spot, how can anything be done to alter it? If another group were absent or under-represented, there usually is noise. Lots of it. How come women, and others who are in the field aren't noticing. Or are they and we aren't hearing about it?Maybe we assume women have access and choose not to use it? Is that true ladies? Maybe. I don't know, which is why I bring it up. Some festival organizers choose scripts and films anonymously. Cover up the name and choose according to some neutral criteria. Or is it neutral? Does the criteria favor men in some way we are blind? Or does it mean women don't submit as many scripts or films as men (a 12:01 ratio? Really?) Or women submit an inferior script or film to men's? Maybe both, or something else entirely?

As an indie filmmaker, I choose to work on documentary content. I prefer working with a small crew, and the intimacy of interviewing real people as the story emerges with time. I've worked on narrative films, yet so many aspects of it don't appeal to my personality. And maybe the studio culture of film is more evident in the narrative world, and that culture hasn't been as welcoming or accessible for women to have an above-the-line role.

Now I will make a point to notice how many women and men I see at film related events and workshops ( there seems more balance of women and men in the documentary field), be aware of who is talking about and making films, who is asking for support and who is getting support. We need to see more women taking stage with our fellow filmmakers. And we each need to be aware when our industry is under- representing any of its membership.

What's it all about, Alfie?

That title just came to my head. And sometimes I do wonder what life is all about. A lot of good my wondering does me most daze.

I heard someone say the News is about how bad things are, not how good they could be. And most creatives look at how good/fun/off beat things could be. Unless they are doing it just for the money. Then they have to squeeze their talents into what is currently getting funded, awarded or green lit. And usually the decision makers to fund the network/studio stuff are really so far behind what the market is hungry for and needs.

Ho hum. Sad. Boring. Usual suspects, and nothing much creative on TV , in my mind.

I mean, really, how many more body parts of female victims do I need to see on TV or in movies? I would rather see shows with fully assembled female body parts with character, accomplishing fun and amazing things, as real women, and men, are doing. All the time. Every day. And I know. Because I work, play and befriend those types of people.

What fun is a victim? And a dead victim? No fun at all.

Most people I know don't watch TV anymore. They are too busy creating and doing wonderful, positive projects. And proper thing. Watching negative programming is draining. One drags oneself away from the couch feeling far from rejuvenated, and with a head full of yucky imagery. I know that too. Been there, done that.

And sometimes I fall for it still and watch a bit of TV. One reason I watch is to see if anyone in charge is making good use of their power in programming to present us with some new, fresh options. It makes me weep when I calculate how much a reality show costs, and how many great indie film productions could be made for that same budget. Plus the viewer would be delighted, informed and uplifted in many cases, not overrun by dead bodies. I mean how many dead bodies do you see in the run of your non-TV day? I thought so. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

LOL

LOL. Most of us know what that means now. Now, it is common place. Laugh out loud.

But when I first started seeing it in emails, I thought it stood for a swear word . I 'd go through the list in my brain (not a big one...the list, not my brain) yet without the F-word, I was stumped.

The first time I read it, it was in the emails of the least funny or laugh-filled people I knew. Quite honestly, dour people. So I would try to imagine what LOL could stand for based on them. Something about being Out of Luck always came to mind.

When I later asked my dour friend what it meant she said laugh out loud, I was flummoxed. She hardly finds anything funny. She has acknowledged she doesn't have much of a sense of humor. When she has laughed it is like a rusty sound that turns into a weak cough. Nothing you really want to hear "out loud."

But what I notice with many I know who use LOL in emails, it doesn't seem connected to what they're writing or saying. I read along, " And then my son gave me a book. LOL. " So I stop dead in the reading, and wonder how is that funny? What is the circumstance or nuance I am missing as to why that is a laugh out loud moment? Sometimes I get the weird visual of my dour friend or whomever and can't imagine her laughing out loud, hence LOL had to stand for Live On Lonely, Luck Out Lover, or something.

Do we bastardize meanings like laughing out loud, if we're not laughing out loud? Is it used to supposedly let the reader know you are kidding, or to soften an insult, like I love your hair LOL?

When was the last time you laughed out loud, really? I rarely do anymore, yet I am told I have a good sense of humor and make others LOL...in email anyway. Or so they say.

What if you were a stand up comedian, and when you said a joke, if the audience found it funny each person would hold up an LOL sign, yet wouldn't actually have the energy or will to laugh out loud in person? The oddest thing to me is someone telling me what I just said was really funny, yet they don't laugh. She just smiles, wags her finger at me and says, " That is very funny." I'm not sure you can intellectualize funny. Either it is something that makes you laugh out loud or it ain't.

What are we saving our laughs for? Spend them now. Spend them everyday. Laugh out loud, in person, in public, with friends, with servers at the restaurant, with little children.

Let's be laugh-aholics and never go for treatment.

Humo(u)r and Quirky

I want to encourage us all to laugh out loud more often, and feeling relaxed about it. And the challenge is if you are a humorous person, but only in person, not in print. I mean, has Robin Williams written a funny book, or do we need to see him for him to be funny? Hey is that like if a tree falls down in the forest does it make a sound if no one is there to hear? Hmmmmm. And truly, what difference does it make to know that or not to know that?

Okay, I can see this is going to be a column of questions and few answers. Oh grasshopper, when you can take this pebble from my hand...More gook from inside my brain. How those things spring up, and being with another when they do, who laughs. Who understands your humor or sense of play.

My humor is really a sense of playfulness. Teasing for me is a form of affection. It takes energy to tease, really. And I have to like you to have the energy to spend teasing. And then you laugh. I'm encouraged. More teasing. And more barriers come down, and connection gets made in order to have a conversation.

Humor helps with a lot of things. We relax. We figure someone isn't going to make us laugh, then rush in to steal our pocketbook. Oh boy, now I just gave you some ideas.

But if you're both laughing, you're liable to suggest going somewhere for a coffee and you'll both pull out your pocketbooks to pay. Now isn't that nice?

Someone said the other day, that part of my quirky view to an American is because I grew up in Canada. That Canadians view of the world is so different and living there I just thought it was how life was, rather than it was Canadian. Yet the longer I live in the United States and hug my quirkiness, I suppose there is truth to that.

In Canada there are tons of funny shows on TV, fun print, radio, people laugh more, humor is kind and funny. There isn't the mean streak to humor that is definitely signature American.

Humor can either unite people, or divide them. When I say quirky, I mean those fun, humorous moments that unite a group. The other type is mean. It is the “humor” of , I was just kidding, can't you take a joke? Or putting down or denigrating a person or group in an effort to elevate yourself . An us and them approach. There is no talent in that in my opinion.

There is power and responsibility in humor. Some people don't like being teased, not realizing or being able to discern the nuances. Humor is so close to truth, that is what makes it funny. And saying something funny, really delightfully funny, is about surprising the listener with something so true yet incongruous, one bursts out laughing.

I guess in this column I am talking of humor, which comes from my own quirky view. And missing what is quirky in this world, and wanting to bring it forward for us all. Like Russell who restores old 1955-57 chevy cars. Twenty years ago, he and some friends cut a 57 chevy in half and placed one half on the front of his long driveway, as a marker, so people would know where to turn. I have been driving by that half car for years, and each time it makes me smile. At first it looked like a whole car, then you rubberneck and realize, Heck that's half a car. A real car. To me that is quirky. Why do that? Maybe think about doing it, but to actually follow through and do it, that is quirky. Russell was one of my first interviews for my Quirky View series. And he is outspoken, loves his work, and has a good sense of fun. When I asked him to get in the trunk of his restored 1957 Chevy, he said Sure. No questions, just did it. What a hoot. Fritz on camera, Jim on sound, me interviewing, and Russell in the trunk, opening it with a bunch of fun show openers. I bent over laughing. Those are the moments and sense of play we all need more, and I am going after them for myself, and plan to share.

First Quirky Post

I miss funny. I miss funny television, funny print media, funny stories told amongst friends. We are SO serious, and so afraid to be funny with one another.

I miss being able to laugh at myself. I miss being able to laugh at others too, not to humiliate or shame, but because laughing at ourselves changes how we laugh. Often we are scared it is not politically correct to laugh at certain things. Many of us have lost that sense of fun and playfulness which really is about humor, laughter, relaxing, letting go.

Funny for me is not watching home videos on TV about brides tripping, or children falling. That isn't funny. Not to me.

When was the last time you were delighted and surprised in a good way by something someone said? And isn't' that when we laugh spontaneously? We are taken off guard, someone puts a word together in an odd context, or starts laughing because something you said made them think of something else, and the spark of funny happens.

I want funny back. Quirky View is part of that. I know I know. Nothing here I've written has been funny yet. See, I need practice. And I'm probably better on radio. :)

Quirky to me are those offbeat moments, or those weird juxtapositions of words, people and actions. As a kid it happened to me all the time. I would laugh hysterically because of visuals I connected, play on words, that kind of thing. Now I feel rusty and want my funny back.

Will you help me?

There was a time I was kicked out of yoga class for making people laugh. (Actually I've been kicked out of a lot of things for making others laugh, or laughing too loudly. Go figure.) Now there are special laughing yoga classes. So why was I kicked out when years later we seek it? And why is laughter segregated from much of our life, as though to laugh and enjoy makes you less credible or substantial? WRONG. Big fat wrong.

Funny people and laughers unite. Don't be afraid. Step up for your incisors to be seen as you throw your head back for a large guffaw. It is all in the funny bone.

When did we last laugh out loud and get a belly ache? Well maybe you don't want that intensity all the time, but sometimes we do need that. Beyond enjoyment, we need deep, body shaking, eye crying belly laughs. One Quirky bite at a time. So here goes...