Tina Dupuy

May the maudlin coverage not dampen your morale.
May you be able to laugh in the face of tragedy.
May you not get gouged by opportunists.

May all the emergency rations come with a cold beer!

Nothing is ever as BAD or as GOOD as you find on Fox News.

According to Fox News – 25,000 people were/could/perhaps going to die because of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans could be completely wiped off the map. ‘Catastrophic’ was used before the first drop of rain hit. If you watched Fox News – the apocalypse was upon the Gulf Coast. The meteorologists all turned into weather pundits on steroids. “This will obliterate Louisiana!!! *grunt* *grunt*

That’s irresponsible for entertainment purposes. It’s even WORSE for informative purposes.

As I watched the coverage – irked that most of the ‘reporters’ hadn’t bothered to research that Louisiana doesn’t have ‘counties’ (they have parishes). I don’t expect anyone working for Fox to be a journalists or anything – but at least ASK someone how to pronounce the NAME of the town you’re in before you go live. So I found myself watching their coverage hoping to see debris hit a field reporter in the head. That’s as investigative as you can get. “Gee – sure is windy out there. Thanks for that report – Ed.”

I have a lot of family that live in Louisiana. My last name, Dupuy, is Cajun. This is the SECOND Hurricane Katrina that has threatened my family. My uncle married the first one. And she NEVER got downgraded to a category 2…

I just have to say that this area of the world has been ravaged by hurricanes FOREVER. The worse thing about hurricane as MOST natural disasters is that it’s the poor that get hit the hardest. But that may be true aside from natural disasters. Actually hurricanes are the one rare time we actually pay attention to them and their situation.

Back to Fox News: Parasites feeding off human misery. They’re like comic book villains – the worse the tragedy – the more fear they drum up – the stronger they become. Imagine a big blob over taking the country roaring,”Deadliest Ever! Fair and Balanced! Millions at risk! We report you decide!”

Yes, this is a picture of a man mooning Hurricane Katrina. And still – the real assholes we’re in the Fox News Room.

Workers at Beauvoir, the Biloxi historical home where Jefferson Davis spent the last years of his life, prepare for Hurricane Katrina to make landfall in Biloxi, Mississippi. A massive evacuation of New Orleans was underway amid fears of a catastrophic hit by Hurricane Katrina, which barreled toward the low-lying southern US city with winds of 280 kilometers (176 miles per hour).(AFP/Getty Images/Marianne Todd)

New Orleans residents are being told to evacuate.

My friend that lives in New Orleans use to wear goggles on her head at all times. It looked especially strange when she wore sunglasses as well. It looked like an homage to some kind of insect. I asked her once about the goggles. She said, “I live below sea level – you better get yourself a pair while you’re here.”

I hope Katrina is bluffing. Be safe out there folks.

So I was going through my old posts – reading stuff – organizing stuff – when it hit me – I write a lot about gay issues.

I consider myself to be a humanist. I think all people should be treating well. Even the assholes of the species (you know who you are!).

I still couldn’t figure out why all this hate toward gays cuts me. Then it came to me in a flash – I have latent drag queen tendencies! What does that mean? I don’t know exactly. But it has something to do with loving Cher and false eyelashes. I’m developing a theory…I’ll get back to you on that. Until that time – if you look at the categories on the left of the page – there’s a new one.

I Have Latent Drag Queen Tendencies….

It’s COLD. It’s cloudy – foggy – whatever – in the 50’s with some drizzle and it’s COLD.

Thank goodness for the people of Berkeley its now called ‘climate change’ because showing up to an August global warming rally in a sweater and mittens would have seemed ridiculous.

Anyway, Rick Overton is playing at Cobbs this weekend. I put up a podcast of our spot on LA radio. Rick is one of those ‘comic’s comics’. He’s the guy that other comedians like to watch. But unlike musician’s music – that is really complicated to play and really painful to listen to – comic’s comics are entertaining to the laymen as well.

As a working comedian, I’m also a student of comedy. I study and watch other comics work. Comedians are big on mentoring other comedians. What you get as a feature act – isn’t money – it’s the opportunity to have time with the headliner. Someone gave them pointers and so they give it away. With those pointers is the often unspoken agreement that you will in turn do the same. Now, imagine a people that are egomaniacal enough to think that them on stage by themselves – with no set dressing and the only props being a stool and a microphone stand – would be captivating enough for ‘date night’ – having to balance that with a mentorship agreement. Sometimes it works beautifully – and sometimes it ends up as a pissing contest as to whose needs to be coached more.

I just keeping telling myself that they aren’t paying me what I’m worth – but I’m happy to have the work. Treat every gig like it was my last – because it could be. Balance that bit of humility with some complaining. Hey look – I’m a typical comedian.

Indian casino. No internet access. No cell phone reception…and the little machines with the bright lights sang to me all night. “Tina, you could double your pay. You’re not like those other slot zombies – you’ll actually win. Just five dollars…”

It’s never one time – for anything. If there is a bad habit out there – I like to do it until the point of intervention. The way I see it – life is too long not to have some bad habits. I’ll gamble when I have money to lose.

Anyway, now I am in the Bay Area. I lived here when I was a teenager. The only thing that does is make me constantly look to run into the guys that wouldn’t talk to me in HS. “Yeah, remember how you ignored me junior year because I was weird? Well, I’m still weird – and now you’re FAT!!!”

I was wondering why the air was making my lungs ache and my eyes burn. “Fresh air is creepy like that,” I told myself. Then I heard about all the fires in Washington and Oregon. See, because I live in Los Angeles, the gray haze in the sky is totally normal. I didn’t even notice. The air right now is so bad that it’s almost like being in Riverside. Not quite as bad as Bakersfield – but much worse than modern living standards should be.

Anyway, I’m a six and a half hour drive from my next gig tomorrow.

I’ll drive a little…weeze a little…spend too much time by myself a little…