OIT doesn't have a whole lot of "culture"--we're an IT school, and we know what we are: smart, white, geeky, and largely apathetic. There are small groups and clubs here and there that try to help culturize the place a little more (admittedly, I'm not in any of them) and their events come and go with relatively small fanfare. I don't even hear about most of them, because I don't read the daily newsletter every day, and I am usually too busy to stop and record some dates and times and locations of some of the things I would be interested in.

Even if I do, I often don't go because my friends are usually perfectly content with their local entertainment (TV, games, internet, and movies). It's fine, but I wish I had a couple other buddies to just go and do stuff with. People have those, right? Friends that are maybe more like acquaintances but they go and do stuff together because they have that in common at the very least? I don't get out much, so I don't have friends like that. Gotta love catch 22s.

To get back from a tangent, I was in a festive mood after OIT's annual sausage fest today--it was full of good wieners and phallic humor. Although I went to that alone as well, I was in pretty okay spirits, and I decided it could be fun to attend the poetry performance/comedy show. At first it was awkward as hell. I sat near the front in a corner of the center rows, and barely anyone was there. Gradually more people came in, though it was still a fairly medium-small crowd, and they filled the other three corners of that area. They came in groups but all groups seemed to know each other. The beautiful people. Some things never change. I felt increasingly gloomy in my empty corner until the lights dimmed and a soft glow of the spotlights filled the stage.

Dan "Sully" Sullivan and a Chinese man that I can't find the name of came onstage. Apparently Sully usually performs with Tim Stafford, but not tonight. The Chinese guy was really good though--I wish I could find him on their Myspace or remember his name when they introduced themselves in their laid-back way. Then, they launched into their introduction, which explained their name.

This is a TV performance of their intro:


[youtube]

Pretty intense. I wasn't expecting it.

Here's another one they did:


[youtube]

Can't find too much of their stuff on Youtube, but there they be. They're not that angry the whole time, haha, that's just what's online. They also did single-person poetry readings, both funny and serious.

There's poetry in book form, and there are poetry readings. They really are two completely different experiences! Both have those intricate weavings of creative language, but an actual performance is so filled with the poet's personal energy that instead of taking effort to follow text and random line breaks, the voice simply washes over you and carries you into another world. I loved it.

This was their last show on tour, and although we were a small crowd, I was glad that the beautiful people were so loud and supportive. I'm not a very loud person, myself. I went "Aww" when they said they were about to do their last poem, but it was a good one about capture the flag, about keeping their youthful spirits alive. It was fitting.

Art and beauty is what I live for. Although it might seem unusual to call comedy "art" or "beautiful", I'm talking about the energy of a live performance, and that is definitely beautiful. Not to mention their words.

I need to go to more events here at OIT. Even if I have to go on my own.

<3

I talked to Sully at the end and shook his hand. He was selling his poetry booklets and CDs, but I had no cash at the time, and as I held his book he told me I could hang on to it. :) He even remembered my name when I said bye. Hee. What a good guy.

The CD can be purchased on their Myspace. I've torrented pretty much everything I've got, but I would definitely not feel dirty buying their disk.
http://www.myspace.com/deathfrombelow

Thank you for the entertainment.