Chris E. Vargas | Updates

Opening Feb. 3rd: Hybrid Narrative @ MacArthur B Arthur

2012-01-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

Coming up...

Hybrid Narrative: Video Meditations of the Self and Imagined Self

curated by: Susannah Magers

February 3, 2012 – February 26, 2012
**Reception Friday, February 3^rd, 7-10 pm**

MacArthur B Arthur is pleased to announce Hybrid Narrative: Video Mediations of the Self and Imagined Self, a group show featuring multi-media installation and video work from the Bay area and beyond, by artists Sofia Cordova, Shana Moulton, Liz Rosenfeld, and Chris E. Vargas.

The artists in this exhibition use video as a device to mediate certain idealized worlds, operating in and on various real, imagined and invented environments, states of mind, alter-egos—and, ultimately, themselves. As both maker and participant, Cordova, Moulton, and Vargas use the visual language of their own performative bodies to enact versions of the self, while Rosenfeld demonstrates this through the interaction of the performative bodies of others. They are at once themselves, other, and hybrids of both. As Moulton says about her character Cynthia in her episodic work Whispering Pines (2004–11), “I guess I’m not Cynthia. But if I’m not, then no one is. I don’t know how much I should separate her from myself.”

While some of the works appear as clear declarations of self, others are more entangled in the subconscious, uncertain of how the self will manifest. Invoking the satirical, Vargas performs in and around various recognizable American sites, including a Mormon temple in Utah and Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels (1973-76), exposing himself by lifting his shirt followed by the declaration, “Have you ever seen a transsexual before?"(the title of this work). Dissatisfied with the reception by these real-world sites, Vargas turns to animated environments; a beach paradise surrounded by beach balls, and a tranquil wilderness, where transsexuality is visible and celebrated. Similarly, Moulton navigates a seemingly oppressive domestic space in her series Whispering Pines, languishing in front of Antiques Roadshow or painstakingly mixing a glass of Crystal Light, before escaping and transmuting herself into ethereal Enya Muzak dance parties and other animated, self-guided visualizations. Cordova’s narrative focuses on the (at times conflicted) merging of her Puerto Rican and American identities, infusing found footage with her own, as well as the music of Chu Cha Santamaria, her character that embodies this narrative. In homage to Barbara Hammer’s 1974 Dyketactics, Rosenfeld’s Untitled (Dyketactics Revisited)imagines an unapologetically liberated, queer utopia where, “androgynous figures, skin, and concrete, masquerade through a fantasia of fluid forms referencing history while looking into the future.”

Whether through ambiguous, yet symbolic, incorporation of popular cultural tropes, or more personally imbued visual information, the works create opportunities for identification by the viewer, and speak to an ever-evolving nature of the human spirit and how we continually shape and experience our sense of self.

the Facebook event
http://www.macarthurbarthur.com/

Illegitimate and Herstorical // Two Point Oh

2012-01-19T16:57:00.000-08:00

I have two announcements today! One is about a show I'm in called Illegitimate and Herstorical at A.I.R. Gallery in Brookyln, curated by Emily Roysdon which opened 2 weeks ago. There's a great review on Hyperallergic.com, in which I'm mentioned (link below). The other announcement is about a fantastic online exhibition that I'm also a part of that just went live this weekend Two Point Oh, curated by Jackie Im and Aaron Harbour for the website Little Paper Planes. I'm so honored to be in both of these awesome shows! Read on... and please stay tuned for more updates coming soon!

Illegitimate and Herstorical

January 5 – 28, 2012

A.I.R. GALLERY
11 Front Street • #228 • Brooklyn, NY 11201

Curated by Emily Roysdon

Artists: A Feminist Tea Party collective, Bland Boydston III, Rachel Farmer, Barbara Hammer, Reena Katz, Lucretia Knapp, Barbara Greene Mann, Alice O’Malley, L.J. Roberts, Tobaron Waxman, Chris Vargas.

Opening Reception: January 5, 6-9pm.

Closing Reception with Emily Roysdon: January 28, 4-6pm.

Performance: by A Feminist Tea Party from 2:00 - 4:45pm.

Press:
Queer Art Grows In Brooklyn - on Hyperallergic.com

<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<>

Two Point Oh
January 17 –February 29, 2012
an online exhibition for Little Paper Planes

Curated by Jackie Im and Aaron Harbour

Artists: Constant Dullaart, Ian Dolton-Thornton, Ryan Trecartin, Sabrina Ratté, Pronunciation Book, Kalup Linzy, Sara Ludy, David Horvitz, Chris E. Vargas and Greg Youmans, and Jeremy Deller.

Key West for Xmas

2011-12-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

I know I usually post very dry updates about various screenings, shows, and events I participate in but I thought I'd switch it up a bit a post some photos from my Christmas vacation in progress! My mom and I are feeling very self-satisfied for finally, after all these years, breaking from our traditional family holiday gathering/potential-knock-down-drag-out and leaving town for a full fledged vacation. We haven't traveled together, aside from a few weekend get-aways here and there, since I was 16 when we went to New Orleans for Halloween. Here are some of my photos from our Holiday trip, so far. Enjoy them with a little twinge of jealousy... (P.S. I've been wearing shorts and tank tops, and swimming in either the ocean or the Gulf every day since we arrived!)

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo

Mom's a Moose

Cookies the size of my head, Key Largo

"Wilhelmina Crossing the 7 Mile Bridge"-- by Rick Worth, a local gay take on "Washington Crossing The Delaware"

Boom-boom shorts

3 and counting

"Keepin' It Weird" on Duval Street

Sunset from Mallory Square

Hemmingway's Writing Studio

Hemmingway's Cats R.I.P.ing

Mom & I at B.O. Fish Wagon, pre-stomach ache

Beach in December, Ft. Zacahary Taylor State Park

All Covered in The Keys

Old 7 Mile Bridge, New 7 Mile Bridge

Old 7 Mile Bridge near Pigeon Key

Dollar Stalactites at No Name Pub, Big Pine Key

$ $ $

Key Deer Refuge

More Mom Moosin'

gAyMAZING RACE!

2011-11-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

Guess who's simply dying to get on that fast-paced, high-adventure CBS reality game show the Amazing Race?! The uber-savvy, managing director for RADAR productions Beth Pickens and the very talented comic book artist and famous vegan hailing from Portland, Oregon--thee Nicole J. Georges. And guess who's dying to help them realize this dream?! Greg Youmans and I.

Check out the audition video Greg and I shot in Akumal, Mexico during our time at the August 2011 RADAR Lab writing retreat (no, this is not all we did there). We just finished editing this today, and the deadline for submissions is midnight tomorrow! Cross your fingers for 'em!

Word Is Out: A Queer Film Classic

2011-11-24T11:02:00.001-08:00

I'm so thrilled to announce the release of my better-half's hot-off-the-press book, Word Is Out: A Queer Film Classic... by the brilliant Greg Youmans (in case you don't know who my better half is). The book is part of a great series about important queer cinematic works, authored by a variety of other brilliant scholars & authors.

Out of the boxes, Onto the shelves!

And the book is partially dedicated to me!!.. along with Sally Gearhart, whom I'm honored to share the dedication with.

From the Arsenal Pulp Press website:

A Queer Film Classic on the groundbreaking 1977 documentary that profiles the lives of ordinary gay men and lesbians of different ages, races, and backgrounds. Word Is Out found a wide audience theatrically and, perhaps more importantly, had a national public-television broadcast. The film provided an intimate portrait of gay men and lesbians, and by doing so, it played a significant role in the then-nascent struggle for gay rights. It premiered six months after Anita Bryant’s infamous "Save Our Children" campaign led to the repeal of a gay rights ordinance in Florida, and just as other antigay activists were beginning to copy her tactics elsewhere in the US. With its affable portrait of twenty-six gay men and women, Word Is Out offered an important counterpoint to the homophobic rhetoric that Bryant and others were spreading.

Greg Youmans examines the historical, political, and aesthetic significance of this important film, situating it firmly in its late-1970s context. He also delves beneath the film's surface to explore the backstory of its making, from the complicated relationships among its six filmmakers (three men, three women) to the more than 140 video pre-interviews they conducted in their search for the perfect cast.

Arsenal's Queer Film Classics series cover some of the most important and influential films about and by LGBTQ people.

Like Word Is Out: A Queer Film Classic on Facebook: HERE

Like the whole Queer Film Classics series on Facebook: HERE

"Food!"- Periwinkle Cinema @ ATA

2011-11-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I would like to cordially invite you to a night of queer food-themed videos, including Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg Episode 3 "Food!" You won't see any sploshing from us, but that's not say you won't see it elsewhere in the program!

It's TONIGHT at the Periwinkle Cinema @ Artists' Television Access! So sorry for the short notice. Hope to see you there anyway, we'll try not to hold it against you if we don't...

TONIGHT! Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Doors open at 7:45, films start at 8:15

Falling in Love... with Chris & Greg
Episode 3: "Food!"
26 min. video by Chris Vargas & Greg Youmans

Artists' Television Access

992 Valencia St.

San Francisco, CA

Plus, queer shorts about food:

• Something Special - Cousin Wonderlette
• Greasy Habits - Matthew Strange with Vainhein + Vulvaareola
• an Instrument of Ritual: Representing Consciousness Parts I-III - Lindsay Laven + Gina Clark
• Feeder Porn I + II - Leo Herrera
• Eggs - Peter Max Lawrence
• Queer Pessimism - Alien Moon Partnership
• 3 Funerals & a Baby - Robbie Hansen
• Orange Trilogy - Lorin Murphy
& more! Plus: refreshments, snacks, door prizes, fun!

Curated by Lorin Murphy

more info: http://periwinklecinema.com/
we love: http://atasite.org/

OPENING: At Home

2011-11-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

At Home

Opening Reception: Thursday, November 3 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Featuring work by:
Nancy Chan, Rie Hirai, Claire Kessler-Bradner, Kija Lucas, Minette Mangahas, Chris E. Vargas

@ Asian Resource Center Gallery

310 Eighth Street

Oakland, CA

We each have a place we call “home,” but is it the hometown or country, the place you grew up in, your current living space? Home may once have been a space for sleep, work and sustenance, not comfort or “hominess.” Today, it also has become a site for the construction of one’s identity.

At Home examines concepts of home and hominess and the shifting identities derived from definitions of “home.” The artists in At Home come from various perspectives, from immigrants to natives of Oakland Chinatown, yet they all attempt to define home for themselves, and in turn add to a larger notion of “home.”

Curated By Jackie Im

Presented by Kearny Street Workshop and East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

Facebook Event

Gift of the Fagi & Darin Klein's Box of Books Vol. IV

2011-10-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Greg Youmans and I are extremely proud to announce the most current project from the Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg cycle: the release of our Christmas & recession themed short story, and homage to the O. Henry tale of almost the same name: GIFT OF THE FAGI

by O. Mary

GIFT OF THE FAGI will be included in Darin Klein & Friends limited edition Box of Books IV soon to be released on November 5th! Our video Oh La La! Paris Special will be screened at the release party at Human Resouces in LA, where you may puchase a box of books for the startlingly low price of $20! See below for more info on the Box itself and the party to welcome it into the world:

Darin Klein & Friends Present:
Box of Books, Vol. IV Release Party
6-10pm
Free admission

Human Resources
410 Cottage Home
Los Angeles, CA 90012 (in Chinatown, just off Broadway)

At this one-night only launch party and reception, thepublic is invited to peruse the contents of Box of Books, Vol. IV, which is also available topurchase for $20.00 per box.
Limited edition of 100.

Box of Books, Vol. IV showcases the work of: Heather Benjamin, Ryan Brewer & AA Bronson,Julia Dzwonkoski & Kye Potter, Brennan Gerard & Ryan Kelly, Abel BakerGutierrez, Handbook Magazine (DarrenAnkenbauer), Johanna Jackson, Chris Johanson, Christopher Kardambikis, DawnKasper, David Larsen, Sarah Locke, Jeaneen Lund, Francesca Mirabella, ZacMonday, Erwin Ong, Davy Rothbart, Jen Smith, Chris Vargas & Greg Youmans,and e war.

Box of Books, Vol. IV Mini-Exhibition: Julia Dzwonkoski & Kye Potter | JeaneenLund | Christopher Kardambikis | Jen Smith

Box of Books, Vol. IV Interactive Performances at 7pm and 9pm: To Know End by Zac Monday

Box of Books, Vol. IV Super-Short Film Screening at 8pm: Gerard and Kelly incollaboration with Chelsea Knight | Francesca Mirabella | Chris Vargas and GregYoumans

With an ever-expanding network of friends, Darin Klein curates exhibitions and organizes arts programming, simultaneously producing, collecting and promoting artists' publications and independent media.

Human Resources is a team of creative individuals which seeks to broaden engagement with contemporary and conceptual art, with an emphasis on performative and underexposed modes of expression. Human Resources is entirely volunteer run and seeks to foster widespread public appreciation of the performative arts by encouraging maximum community access. Human Resources also serves as a point of convergence for diverse and disparate art communities to engage in conversation and idea-sharing promoting the sustainability of non-traditional art forms.

Visit:darinklein.net & humanresourcesla.com
Follow: darinkleinandfriends.blogspot.com
Reminisce: flickr.com/photos/darinkleinandfriends/

Art 21 blog

2011-10-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'd be delighted if you'd check out this interview I did with my ol' high school pal, and talented NY-based artist/musician, Rachel Mason for the Art 21 blog! Rachel (aka "Renaissance") is their guest blogger and has written a wonderful blog post there every fine day this week—quite impressive to me. After you read my interview...

I recommend you check out her other posts, especially the one about performance artist MPA, the one about my old LA employer and the Mason family business, the "adult book and magazine store" Circus of Books, and Dawn Kasper. Have at it, friends!

Two Things I Kept To Myself

2011-09-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post about two things I did last week, a screening and a panel. Why didn't I say anything about it to anyone, you ask? I have no answers for you. I just didn't. Sorry.

But just in case you cared, this is what I did...

Wednesday, September 21 · 8:00pm - 9:30pm
Periwinkle Queer Cinema Series - Every 3rd Wed. @ Artists' Television Access

"The Lezbrarian" by Chris Vargas
"Have you Seen A Transsexual Before?" by Chris Vargas
"Bodybuilder" by Angela Hans Scheirl and Ursula Pürrer
"Super-8 Girl Games" by Angela Hans Scheirl and Ursula Pürrer
"Zigzagged Rivulet Sneaks Up Shamelessly Wetting Thighs" by Angela Hans Scheirl and Ursula Pürrer
"Elder Gender Fuck" by Lindsay Laven
"Baby" by Lindsay Laven
"Nipples 'n' Knives" by Lorin Murphy
"Revolving Door" by Gio Black Peter and Bruce La Bruce
10 min Intermission
26 min "AIDS Camp" by Gary "Fembot" Gregerson
+ hella-gay door prizes!

$6 • ADULTS ONLY • 18+

Curated by Lorin Murphy and Christopher Carroll for http://www.periwinklejournal.com/

Every 3rd Wednesday, we showcase video and films across genres from a broad spectrum of LGBTQ filmmakers. Our queer cinema series was started by filmmaker Lorin Murphy at the legendary big GAY warehouse in San Francisco. After a short hiatus, we are excited to resume our screenings at our new home, Artists' Television Access. http://www.atasite.org/

<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>

Thursday, September 22, 12-1 PM
2011 Art Practice Faculty Show Artists Panel

Worth Ryder Art Gallery
116 Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley

Anne Walsh
Brody Reiman
Randy Hussong
Craig Nagasawa
Richard Shaw
Chris Vargas
Sanjay Vora
John McNamara
Wanxin Zhang
Azin Seraj

2011 UC Berkeley Art Practice Faculty Show

2011-09-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

Turns out being a UC Berkeley lecturer has some pretty great perks. One of which is being included in the annual faculty show! Greg Youmans and I will be exhibiting Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg "Oh La La! Paris Special" on loop. Come see it on display among the work of my very talented mentors now colleagues. The opening is tonight, hope you can make!

"Oh La La! Paris Special (10 min, 2010)

2011 Art Practice Faculty Show

September 7-24
Reception Wednesday, September 7, 4-7 PM

Castaneda/Reiman
Randy Hussong
John McNamara
Craig Nagasawa
Greg Niemeyer
aZin Seraj
Richard Shaw
Chris Vargas & Greg Youmans
Sanjay Vore
Anne Walsh & Chris Kubick
Wanxin Zhang

The Worth Ryder Gallery has served as a hub for students (graduate and undergraduate), faculty, artists and the Bay Area cultural community for over forty years. The gallery serves primarily as an exhibition platform for emerging contemporary artistic strategies and methodologies.

Worth Ryder Art Gallery
116 Kroeber Hall
corner of College Ave and Bancroft Way

Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat 12-5 PM

510-642-4582

artdept@berkeley.edu
http://art.berkeley.edu

The Daily Serving

2011-09-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

Check it on out: Liberaceón was reviewed for The Daily Serving: An International Forum for the Contemporary Visual Arts!

Read it here: Liberaceón

RADAR Writers lab in Akumal, Mexico

2011-08-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks of sticky-hot Caribbean sunshine, white beach sand in every bodily crevice, and mosquito bites aplenty, Greg and I have arrived home from the Yucatan Peninsula! We spent 10 or so of those days among 8 other artists with writing-based practices (i.e. novelists, essayists, a graphic novelist, a food writer, a TV writer) at the RADAR writers lab in beautiful Akumal, Mexico.

Read our interview for the RADAR blog, conducted right before our embarkment: Meet Mr. & Mr. Vargas-Youmans

Greg and I focused mainly on drafting an episode for the second season of our sitcom series Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg. This next video will have the characters Chris and Greg confront many timely issues such as gay suicide, the It Gets Better project, the recession, queer back-to-the-land movements and our Morrissey-loving/Raver pasts. Oh, and it's a Christmas Special... but we may not have it done by this holiday season as it is quite an ambitious episode involving many new characters and many different locations. Speaking of, does anyone have a bridge Greg can contemplate jumping off of?


At work on the beachfront patio

The retreat was very relaxed yet quite structured. Every day we had 5 scheduled quiet work hours, the first block being in the morning from 9am-12pm, then again after lunch & a snorkel break we'd resume working from 4-6pm. In the evening we'd all come together around a home-cooked Yucatanian-inspired meal by the culinarily talented Beth Pickens (RADAR's managing director and founder of the SF Food Adventure Club). During this time we'd talk about such topics as our days work, our projects in general, or some type of professional aspect of our work (i.e. grants, agents). Twice after dinner, towards the beginning and end of the 10 day session, we had informal readings where we'd each share what we were working on.

Beyond the scheduled work hours, there were many opportunities to explore the flora and fauna of the region, like...


Dragon Fruit

The Birth of Baby Turtles (they were born in the AM and kept in the bucket til PM,
so they'd build up strength for optimum survival)

Scantily clad Iguana

A Croc dog bed

Gonzalo Guerrero statue, commemorating the first Indo-Euro family

As pictorially illustrated above, it was a truly lovely experience. Beyond writing and gawking at the beautiful goddess that is nature herself, Greg and I also received another valuable kind of goddess blessing (sounds like Goddess Dressing). We met with and got some much needed professional consultation from the illustrious Beth Pickens, who has made us see that we don't have to go broke over our project any longer. As of now, Greg and I are actively seeking funding to make this next season! If there are any benefactors reading this right now, get in touch.

Thank you forever and from the bottom of my heart to RADAR productions--Ali, Michelle, & Beth and to the other writers for helping to create this amazingly generous, supportive, hilariously fun, magical and transformative experience.

The Sad Good-bye in cut-offs
(from L: Danny Nguyen, Nicole J. Georges, Sara Jaffe, me, Greg Youmans, & Lorelei Lee)

Bay Area Currents 2011

2011-07-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Another very proud announcement: I'm in this great group show at Pro Arts gallery in Oakland! HAY! The show is already up now, and I regret to announce that I will not be able to make it to the official opening on August 5th (due to my being at a residency on the beach in MEXICO!) but that's not to say you shouldn't go now, to the opening, or anytime before it closes on September 2nd! It's yet another chance to see my 16 minute video Liberaceón, the way it was meant to be seen: on a CRT monitor atop a pink triangle pedestal installed in a gallery. Go!

Exhibition: July 19 - September 2, 2011

Selections by Julio César Morales

Artists' Reception: Friday, August 5, 6 - 8 PM

Artists' Talk: Friday, September 2, 6 - 8 PM

Artists:
Matthew Cella

Pablo Cristi

Dana Hemenway

Julie Henson

Amy Ho

Emily Hoyt

Gregory Ito

Jeanne Lorenz

Cathy Lu

Fiamma Montezemolo

Francesca Pastine

Suzy Poling

Maggie Preston

Lisa Rybovich Cralle

Surabhi Saraf

Sunaura Taylor

Linda Trunzo

Chris E. Vargas

Residency Queens

2011-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Greg Youmans, my frequent "collaborator" (wink, wink) and I are mere hours away from embarking upon the first of the two residencies that we're proud to be participating in this Summer.

Our first residency the Golden Snail, will take place off the grid on US Forestry land in southern Oregon. We'll be in residence there; reading, writing, plotting & planning (the next season of Falling In Love...), as well as swimming, hiking, gazing at wildlife, eating outdoors & roasting food on a stick over an open flame, for exactly one week! We even bought a solar shower just for the occasion. This is the rustic cabin we'll be sleeping in or around...

Ludlam House in Brookings, Oregon (site of the Golden Snail residency)

From the Golden Snail blog:

"The Golden Snail Artist's Residency intends to create a space and the time to slow down and become reconnected with ones life work, self, nature and others whom are pursuing the same.
The term work in the above statement is completely defined by the individual participants and can include traditional artist's and arts related work such as writing, drawing and painting or playing music but is also extended to research, reading, meditation, hiking, swimming in a river or jumping in the sea, wallowing in the sun, writing letters, pickling, plant identification, yoga, walking, star gazing, cooking and much more..."

Our second residency is the RADAR writers' lab in Akumal, Mexico for 10 days in August. As you can imagine both Greg and I are totally stoked on that one, too! More on that later. Now, off to the woods...

SF Gate review of Inarguably Uncertain: The 41st Annual UC Berkeley MFA Exhibition

2011-06-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

Thoughtfully written by JD Beltran.

The show is already down but you can read the review HERE!

The Elegance of Refusal opening tomorrow!

2011-06-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to announce that I have work in this show which opens on Thursday! My two videos, Have You Ever Seen A Transsexual Before? (2010, 4 min) and Extraordinary Pregnancies (2010, 10 min) will screening during the duration of the opening among the work of many other artists whose work I love and respect! Hope to see you there.

Opening: Thursday June 23rd, 2011 5:30-7:30pm

The Elegance of Refusal
June 23rd - September 16th, 2011
Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30am to 5:30 pm

Gensler
2 Harrison Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94105

East Bay Express interview

2011-05-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

...with li'l ol' me, conducted by the dear Toshio Meronek about my new project! I hope this entices you to come visit the UC Berkeley MFA opening show which opens next week! AHHHHHHH!

"Liberating Liberace: Oakland Filmmaker Chris Vargas Remixes the Life of a Gay Idol"

in Ear Bud: The Bay Area Music blog, East Bay Express

"I Can Feel It But I Don't Get It" video program

2011-05-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight! If you're in Boston, I'd like to encourage you to attend this finely currated video program in the Boston LGBT Film Fest, "I Can Feel It, But I Don't Get It"!

"It's Cool, I'm Good" by Stanya Kahn, 2010, 35:27 min, Los Angeles, USA

Wednesday, May 11 9:30pm

"I Can Feel It, But I Don't Get It" in The Boston LGBT Film Fest

Curated by Jeannie Simms
@ The BRATTLE THEATER Harvard Square

40 Brattle Street

Cambridge, MA

TIX $9.75
STUDENTS: $7.75 (bring ID)

A Program of videos at the Boston LGBT Film Festival
Curated by Jeannie Simms

These pieces, all influenced by histories of cinema and contemporary video art explore various seen and unseen forces: materials, logics and pressures that ambiguously ooze into the frame unspoken by unsettling means.

LUCAS MICHAEL'S "El Maragato Barometrica" is a quiet video, sans dialogue, shot in Uruguay on a cell phone camera that documents a flooded house, a truck, it's attached hose, men at work and a slow, unexplained labor process. The eye witness immediacy of the low end video suggests a moment of crisis and delay on the brink of containment or collapse. (Uruguay/USA)

STANYA KAHN'S "It's Cool, I'm Good" follows an androgynously bandaged character with mysteriously attained full-body injuries who speaks to the camera from a bed in a hospital, to strangers at a fast food picnic table, in the belly of a world full of contaminated water, pus filled wounds, littered streets and corporately engineered hot dogs. (Los Angeles, USA)

Flipping by photo after photo throughout the decades at a breakneck clip, the 1970's, 80's, 90's and 2000's provide a backdrop of embarrassing teen hairdos, social and familial tensions and various cheap photo technologies in ALLYSON MITCHELL'S "My Life in 5 Minutes." Master paradigms hover and lurk as the narrative glides and lingers through moments of assimilation and refutation amidst swirling colors and inventive lo-fi animated techniques.
(Toronto, Canada)

"Falling in Love with Chris and Greg: Episode 2 Road Trip! TV Special" by CHRIS VARGAS and GREG YOUMANS uses the iconic American Road Trip, a typically liberating and transcendent cinematic motif, in which a gay/trans couple drive from the west coast into the American heartland chafing and squirming more vigorously under the social, political and biological possibilites of marriage and pregnancy as they pummel toward Vegas--chomping high-fructose snacks, sweating and swapping Native American vocabs as they go. (San Francisco, USA)

-by Jeannie Simms

Buy TIX here:
http://brattlefilm.org/2011/05/11/i-can-feel-it-but-i-dont-get-it/

Inarguably Uncertian: The 41st Annual UC Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition

2011-05-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

My graduate thesis show is nearing its grand opening! Which means I'm about to graduate and I have a fresh new video project to share with the world! Liberaceón, a three-channel video installation with a 16 minute narrative at its center wherein I perform as the late great showman himself, Liberace! For those of you who don't know, I have been working on this for the greater part of my last year in the UC Berkeley MFA program and it is a story very dear to my heart. In this project, I rescript portions of the late showman's biography in order to insert him into a queer history of radical AIDS/HIV activism, but that's all I'm going to say (for now). You must see it to believe it, and believe me, the story I weave is unbelievable. I invite you to attend the opening (May 20th), as well as the artist talks (May 22th) to see for yourself!

Liberaceón video still (2011, 16 minutes)

Also on exhibit are the works of my six other amazing, brilliant, talented, and supportive classmates: Corinna Nicole Brewer, Chun-Shan (Sandie) Yi, Narangkar Glover, Plinio Alberto Hernandez, Merav Tzur, and David Gregory Wallace. Come meet 'em!

I'm also tickled pink to be named someone to "watch for" in this Bay Citizen blog post by Aimee Le Duc, An Art Lover's Survival Guide to Student Exhibition Season. Thanks, Aimee. Who knew!

<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>=<>

Opening Reception

Friday, May 20th, 2011, 5:30-7:30pm

Inarguably Uncertain: The 41st Annual UC Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition

May 20, 2011 - June 26, 2011
Berkeley Art Museum, Museum Lobby
2626 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94720

Sunday, May 22, 2011, 3pm
Artists' Talks
Berkeley Art Museum, Gallery 6
2626 Bancroft Way

Berkeley, CA 94720

Thank You & Merci, Philly et Montréal

2011-04-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

...for such a lovely screening and for the longest and most engaged Q+A in recorded herstory at Penn on Wednesday evening! But especially for promoting the event so incredibly well. What a turn-out! Congrats to the newly formed Rethinking Queer group for the write-up on the event in the Daily Pennsylvanian. This was their first event! Thanks for the memories...

Now we're finally in Monréal! We narrowly missed our own Homotopia screening tonight at 2110 Centre For Gender Advocacy, for which we were 30 minutes late due to our first scary small-plane flight out of New Haven being delayed thus missing our connection in Philly, and having to take a much later plane into Canada...plus customs. But the show must and did go on. Thanks for your patience, Canada. You are a kind people. And you have such awesome queer community centres...

Comin' atcha: East Coast & Canada

2011-03-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Psst, I've got some stuff to tell you. Eric and I are about to embark on a mini tour making two stops on the East Coast and three in Canada. That means if you are in Philly, Middletown CT, Montreal, Ottawa, or Kingston, Ontario we're coming your way!!! We're alternately screening both Criminal Queers and Homotopia--but not at the same events. See below for details...

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 @ 7:00pm

Criminal Queers at Penn

Philadelphia, PA

Fisher Bennet Hall 401

Facebook event

Thursday, March 31, 2011 @ 6:00pm

Criminal Queers at Wesleyan

Shanklin 107, Middletown, CT

Wesleying event page

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 @ 7:00pm

Criminal Queers at University in Kingston, Ontario CANADA

Facebook Event

<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>

Friday, April 1, 2011 7:00pm

Montreal, Quebéc CANADA

2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy

2110 Mackay (between Sherbrooke and Maisonneuve)

Facebook event
&

Monday, April 4, 2011 7:00pm

University of Ottawa, Agora CANADA

Facebook event

Original Plumbing BLOG post #7: Irina, Nico & Scenes Unseen

2011-03-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

You may or may not have noticed that I did not post my usual Sunday blog interview last week. Let me just give it to you like the 1990s group SNAP and say, around here: it's gettin, it's gettin, it's gettin kinda hectic! My MFA graduation date is less than 2 months away and while interviewing my friends in these posts about their wonderful projects has been inspiring, I am ready to go full force into my own work and head! Stay tuned for details on the opening of the 41st Annual UC Berkeley, Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition. Til then, look what I got for you this week...

For my grand finale OP blog post I have closed the circle. Back to my roots of 8 weeks ago. I have returned to talk to Irina Contreras (remember all the way back to post #1 on The Miracle Bookmobile?). This time though, I talk with her and her other collaborator: Nico Dacumos. The two of them make delicious and social food together via Lubao's Supper Club, and they are currently putting together a performance event for the National Queer Arts Festival called, Scenes Unseen. It is a show about gender, sexuality, nationality and border crossing--of all kinds.

But don't take my word for it, read all about it: HERE!

Thanks again for reading and reposting these posts, people. It was a fun li'l weekly project, and I sincerely appreciate all the kind words I received about it. Did I ever tell you you're my hero?

Original Plumbing BLOG post #6: Onya's Taste In Men

2011-03-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

I'm 3/4 through with this OP blog writing assignment. Phew! I can almost see the finish line. Another race with another finish line that has been happening parallel to this one is my upcoming UC Berkeley MFA thesis (group) show on May 20th! Can you believe it's happening so soon? I can't...

Last week, in the vein of prepping for and stressing about thesis shows I talked to my friend Onya Hogan-Finlay about hers, called "My Taste In Men" which is solo (not group) and taking place down in the Roski gallery at USC.

Read the blog post here: Onya's Taste In Men

If you're in LA, please do check it out! The Miracle Bookmobile (from my first OP post) will be parked and slinging books at the closing reception.

Transbiological Body Event at NYU

2011-03-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

I wrote a small piece on my video Extraordinary Pregnancies for a special issue of Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory themed "The Transbiological Body." This event celebrates the release! Go check out the performance and pick up a copy!

Wednesday, March 9, 6:30-8:30

NYU Department of Performance Studies

721 Broadway, 6th floor studio
New York, NY

At Bay II: Selections from the 2010 Murphy, Cadogan and Phelan Awards

2011-03-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

Hey party people! So, I won this award last Summer from the San Francisco Foundation (SFF) called the Murphy, Cadogan and Phelan Fellowship. It's open to MFA students in between their first and second years of their grad program, chosen from select schools here in the Bay Area. Well, wouldn't you know it: I was one of the recipients chosen from UC Berkeley!

The SFF usually funds a big show of all the award winning work but this year, due to lack of money they decided not to. But we students got together and decided we wanted a show anyway so we coordinated with the Worth Ryder Art Gallery on the UC Berleley campus and made it happen! It opens this week, see details below...

March 9-19, 2011 | Reception Wednesday, March 9, 4-7 PM

“At Bay II” presents selected works by recipients of the 2010 Murphy,
Cadogan and Phelan Fellowship Awards, granted by the San Francisco
Foundation to students transitioning from their first to their second year
of graduate study in the Visual Arts. In support of these exemplary student
artists, the Murphy, Cadogan and Phelan Fellowships in the Fine Arts offer
multiple awards of $3,500 to graduate students for continued academic study.

510-642-4582

artdept@berkeley.edu

http://art.berkeley.edu

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12-5 PM

116 Kroeber Hall (corner of Bancroft Way and College Ave)

http://www.worthrydergallery.org

Original Plumbing BLOG post #5: Getting Nutty with Lex Vaughn

2011-03-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

For this week's Sunday OP blog post I interview the US-turned-Canadian [dual] citizen, creative comic genius, and heart throb: LEX VAUGHN! I am certain I've gushed about ol' Lexxy once before on this here blog, but this time it's personal! She's a riot and a productive tour de force, and she took the time this week to talk to li'l ol' me. I'm so flattered I could cry...

Read it and weep along with me: HERE!

Original Plumbing BLOG post #4: The Joy of Jason Fritz Michael

2011-02-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

This week for my OP blog post I chat with dear friend Jason Fritz Michael! If you've seen any of my movies or videos it's likely you've seen his performing talent in action. But he's so much more than an actor in my work...

Read about his many talents HERE!

Original Plumbing BLOG post #3: Wu Tsang

2011-02-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

This week I posted an interview that's been in the making since I got this weekly blogging assignment! A post I've been very excited to share with the Original Plumbing fans and readers. It's an interview with LA based artist Wu Tsang about his his film & club WILDNESS and his blog CLASS.

Wu Tsang photo by Ren'yo Hwang

Read the post HERE!

Are you bi-QUEEROUS?

2011-02-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

Want to see how Greg Youmans and I do in our interview with our friend and talented filmmaker/musician H.P. Mendoza in his New Camp blog series on queerious.com?! Read HERE!

drawing by Jason Fritz Michael

Original Plumbing BLOG post #2

2011-02-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

This week on my OP blog day, I'm proud to present to you my dear friend and acclaimed poet, Mr. J. Ely Shipley. It was recently pointed out to me that my OP blog entries are "very adult" and this person didn't mean in the "adult entertainment" sort of way. Adult in the age, kinda way. And to that I say, that's great! If adult means talking to your talented queer friends in depth about their creative process, BRING IT ON! Look at me, I'm embracing my budding Queer Elder status.

What some adult reading material?! READ THIS!

Ely and Joey: Argyle Becomes Them

Criminal Queers almost there!!

2011-02-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's going on 4 years now! 4 years ago that Eric and I shot the first scene for the Homotopia sequel Criminal Queers. I don't remember what or when exactly that was but it's sometime around now, 4 years ago. I'm writing today to say, it's almost done! I swear, I'm not just saying it this time. Yes, I know I've been declaring it almost done for 2 of the past 4 years, but this time it's really true. We have an amazing editor, Hokulani Beale and she is cutting it the F up! It's starting to look like a real movie. A good movie, in fact. One you'd be chompin' at the bit to see! And this Sunday, we're shooting the final scene of the movie. A mass prison break! If you want to come, check out the Facebook event and contact me directly to confirm. No messin' around. We need to be absolutely sure who can come because 1. we're going to feed you and 2. we need to make sure we have enough orange "County Jail" jump suits for you all. This is so very important, so please consider showing up and helping us make prison abolitionist, queer visual history!

Then! Ready or not, we're screening a cut of the movie at UCSC on February 28th, 2011 at 7-9 PM! Whoa, right?! The clock is tickin'! We got some work to do. But, if you're in Santa Cruz you should absolutely come. It's guaranteed to be something else!

Original Plumbing BLOG post #1

2011-02-06T09:18:00.000-08:00

This week kicks off two months worth of my blogging for Original Plumbing! I'm thrilled about talking to all the people I plan to talk to, then posting it for you to read on the internet-but I'm not giving any secrets away just yet. I want you to be suprised!

For my first post I talk to two very special and committed people, Kelly Besser and Irina Contreras about The Miracle Bookmobile of LA and Oakland. Read the entire interview: HERE!

Part Time Lovers

2011-01-28T22:43:00.000-08:00

A video by Yvette Choy commissioned for the New Sound Karaoke party in NYC, which sounds so incredibly fun. Check out the long hair I used to sport in this Bay Area queer rewrite of the Stevie Wonder song. Wow, right!? Amazing. I never realized my hair looked so sleazy until this video. Why didn't anyone tell me? Besides my hair, the video stars and cameos many other local celebs. Check it on out!

Heaven in '11!

2011-01-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I hope I don't die this year or this entry's subject heading will be taken to be way more inauspicious and prophetic than intended! I just read a NY Times article on that very subject and now I'm sketched out about each of my online and social networking activities being my last and all you friends and lurkers reading too deeply into it. For the record, I don't plan on dieing and going to heaven this year! I plan to create heaven here on Earth this year! Here's what's going on so far...

On Monday, January 17th I turn 33 years young! I'm having my birthday party at Playland-Not-At-The-Beach in El Cerrito and the word to describe my feeling about this event is: STOKED! If you are around and you self-identify as my friend I'd probably love to see you there!

The Facebook event page, for more info!

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

On Tuesday, January 18th Greg and I are proud co-presenters for the RADAR show at The Luggage Store!

*Also part of the package: a reading by Vendela Vida, Hot Probs with Ali Liebegott, an interview between literary jocks Tara Jepsen and Sara Seinberg, and art by Angie Wang, work by Joël Barraquiel Tan*

*Submit an advice question before the show and get a homemade treat!*

7-10PM

1007 Market St.

San Francisco, CA

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

And finally, opening on January 21st is NAGAS- The North American Graduate Art Survey show at the Katherine E. Nash gallery at the University of Minnesota. Greg and I and our Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg "Hair Breakdown Special" and my own "Have You Ever Seen A Transsexual Before?" will be on heavy video rotation for about a month. If you are in or around Minneapolis you should check it out and report back to me! I'd love to know how it all looks!

*Opening Reception: Friday, January 21st 6-8:30 pm

The show runs from Tuesday, January 18th to Thursday, February 17th, 2011

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

That's all for now! Let's not be strangers in '11. And let's collectively promise to not die!

No More Potlucks

2011-01-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to announce the launch of my interview for the web-based and print journal No More Potlucks, lucky issue no. 13, around the theme of Chance! Lucas Crawford, whom I haven't yet met in person--but who I know via our non-stop email contact since this past Summer, is an extremely charming and brilliant Canadian. He wrote and patiently conducted the interview with me, and through his skilled question-asking and editing skills made me sound way smarter and articulate than I usually feel I am.

Read it and see for yourself: Redistributing Life Chances: The Fantastical Homotopias of Chris Vargas

Also, read this co-written piece by Lucas: Rethinking Hate Crimes: The Hard Work of Creating Social Equity

Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg: SEASON ONE DVD

2010-12-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

Greg and I are finally ready to take your orders for the much anticipated Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg SEASON ONE DVD!!!

25 BUCKS buys you a full color scrapbooklet which contains 6 collaged pages related to the themes addressed in each video, short synopsees for each of those videos, a full credit list, and of course the DVD. The DVD contains all three episodes: 1: O Canada!, 2: Road Trip! TV Special, 3: Food! (not online), and our three specials: A Special Election PSA, Hair Breakdown Special, and Oh La La! Paris Special. A total of 6 videos, that's 86 minutes of hilarity and awkwardness! PLUS a commemorative criterion collection-style book designed by yours and Greg's truly! And there's only 100 of them out there in the world! This is serious!

"Buy Now" lest you regret this once in a lifetime opportunity to throw your hard earned money our way... tis the season, right?!? And if you're lucky you may get it right in time for Christmas! No promises, though...

Emily Roysdon: If I Don’t Move Can You Hear Me?

2010-12-11T20:16:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow afternoon, 3 PM! My dear friend Emily Roysdon's MATRIX show opens at the Berkeley Art Museum. For the occasion of the opening, Greg Youmans and I will do a performative reading of "A Little Prairie" Eileen Myles & Leopoldine Core's piece from Emily's new zine: A Queer Relational Associative Project Dictionary! In addition, there will be more readings and screenings, and my body silk screened in many a performative pose. Should be real fun!

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

In conjunction with MATRIX 235/ Emily Roysdon: If I Don’t Move Can You
Hear Me?, on view December 12, 2010 – March 6, 2011

Performance and Screening
Emily Roysdon
Sunday, December 12, 3 p.m.
Galleries 1 and B

Admission free!

Emily Roysdon’s frequent collaborators, Craig Willse and Chris Vargas, will present a performative reading of A Queer Relational Associative Project Dictionary, a zine that Roysdon created for her MATRIX exhibition. In addition, Roysdon will screen Social Movement and Story of History, two films she made in the series that now includes If I Don’t Move Can You Hear Me?

Artist and writer Emily Roysdon produces projects at the intersection of social, political, and aesthetic space, evincing an interest in the invisible histories of public sites, the potencies of both language and
movement, and the possibilities of abstraction as both a form and mental
construct. Her practice is shaped by collaboration, and its implication
of negotiation, improvisation, and dialogical thinking. This is embodied
in her activities as the editor and cofounder of the influential queer
feminist journal and artist collective LTTR; as a member of the band MEN;
and as a curator, most recently of Ecstatic Resistance. Her work
interrogates the representation of collectivities (as both movement and
movements) by engaging in an expanded field of choreography as organized
movement in both an aesthetic and political sense.

Like much of her recent work, Roysdon’s MATRIX project, produced largely
on-site in Berkeley, uses public space and the city as material, context,
and form. The exhibition comprises performance for camera in the form of
video and photographs and a new publication in which Roysdon and
collaborators consider the project’s vocabulary of use, regulation,
structure, and frame.

Reception to follow in the Bancroft Lobby.
- - -
UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2626 Bancroft Way / 510.642.0808
facebook.com/bampfa / bampfa.berkeley.edu

Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg: "Oh La La! Paris Special"

2010-12-07T23:56:00.000-08:00

We finally posted it! Yes, another Falling In Love... "special" and again we take our relationship on the road, but we swear--really, this time it's different. We're in Paris, not the American Southwest and we're dealing with a whole other set of relationship problems: namely our precarious financial futures in regards to our respective 'careers.' It's going to be awkward and it's going to end badly, but if you've seen any of the other videos in the series this is not a shocker.

Hope you like!

(2010, 10 minutes)
Synopsis: "Chris and Greg think about moving to France. Then they realize that neither of them will be making any money anytime soon."

Make It Happen!

2010-11-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

The video "Make It Happen!: Transforming Justice: Ending the Criminalization & Imprisonment of Transgender & Gender Non-Conforming People" is finally up and ready to be viewed by YOU! It's been years in the making, I'm talkin' about 3 years ago I helped to shoot this video with Luke Woodward. Now it's done and edited and lives on as a wonderful record of an amazing convergence that took place at San Francisco City College in October 2007. Watch below for more info about the event and the demands of the movement...

(2010, 15 min)

Many thanks to TGIJP (Trans Gender non-conforming Intersex Justice Project) for the opportunity to edit this video and for their patience with my (sometimes slow) pace.

Liberace research

2010-11-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

I've been visiting my Motherland (LA-The Valley) for the family holiday festivities but I've managed to squeeze in some local Liberace research for my next video project-- which I will most likely show in the MFA thesis show at the Berkeley Art Museum in May 2011. For this project I am handling a huge amount of found images and video footage and am currently figuring out how to transform myself into his likeness in a fabulous and respectful way. I still need to structure the narrative (think chocolate pianos turned ACT UP) into something cohesive. And because that May date is creepin' right around the bend I've got some major sequining and hand-beading to do. Check out some pictures I took (and some obvious one I didn't).

Liberace grave site Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills


Liberace grave site (detail) Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills

Liberace's Sherman Oaks home on Valley Village Dr. (San Fernando Valley)

Sherman Oaks home side entrance

Piano Pool at the Sherman Oaks home as seen from Google Maps

Also, while I was here I picked up a little gift from my friend Kelly. It was something I regretted not buying from the Liberace Museum when Greg and I visited. It even on sale for $35--that is the extent of my poorness/cheapness. So, I asked her to get it for me a few weeks later when she paid her last respects to Lee and his now-closed museum.

my new ring

check out right hand index finger

I said it once...

2010-11-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

I'll say it again...

The Kickstarter campaign for the Suggestions of A Life Being Lived show cataloge is almost done!
58 more hours to go!

Give now or forever hold your peas...

A few things going on this week...

2010-11-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

This Thursday, Eric Stanley and I are proud to be screening the movie that started it all:

Thursday, November 4th at 8:30pm

Oscar Wilde House

(near UC Berkeley campus)

2410 Warring St.
Berkeley, CA

RSVP/more info: Facebook event

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Friday night, Greg and I will be in UC Santa Barbara screening Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg, Episode 3: "Food!" and debuting the recently complete 10 minute: "Oh La La! Paris Special"! This event is student organized by S.A.S.S. - Society for Accessible and Safe Spaces (Facebook group), but open to the public and free!

Oh La La! Paris Special still

Friday, November 5th at 7:30pm

UCSB, room 136 College of Creative Studies

RSVP/more info: Facebook event

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Sunday, Greg and I will be one of many wonderful featured performers at the 14th Anniversary of K'vetsh Queer Open Mic at Eros Gay Man Bathhouse in San Francisco. We will be officially, locally debuting "Oh La La! Paris Special"

Oh La La! Paris Special still

Sunday, November 7th at 7:30pm

Eros Center For Safe Sex
2051 Market St.
San Francisco, CA

RSVP/more info: Facebook event

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Wow, what a week! I hope this hectic schedule doesn't get in the way of a little visit to the Madonna Inn on my way up and/or down the coast through San Luis Obisbo. Stay tuned for more info about Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg Season One DVDs, and Shadowshop at SF MOMA.

Suggestions of a Life Being Lived: A Conversation

2010-10-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

Guess what! Greg Youmans, Eric Stanley and I are on this panel tomorrow, moderated by one of my awesome MFA thesis advisors: Tammy Rae Carland. Eric and I will be talking about Criminal Queers and Greg and I will chat about the Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg series. Also on the panel is Jeannie Simms, who I'm really thrilled to meet, speaking about her photos in the show. Speaking of, this weekend is the exhibition's closing so if you haven't had a chance to stop by there's never been a better, or more urgent reason than this.

See you there?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

SF Camerawork and QCCA present:
Suggestions of a Life Being Lived: a Conversation
Speakers: Adrienne Skye Roberts and Danny Orendorff – exhibition curators; Jeannie Simms, Eric Stanley, Chris Vargas, and Greg Youmans - exhibiting artists
Introductions: Chuck Mobley, SF Camerawork
Moderator: Tammy Rae Carland, CCA

SF Camerawork, 657 Mission St., 2ndFloor
Friday, October 22nd
5:30 Exhibition walk through with Adrienne Skye Roberts and Danny Orendorff
6 – 7:30 pm Panel discussion featuring artists from the exhibition

SF Camerawork and QCCA present a conversation with curators Adrienne Skye Roberts and Danny Orendorff and artists from the exhibition: Jeannie Simms, Eric Stanley, Chris Vargas, and Greg Youmans. Moderated by artist, activist, educator, Tammy Rae Carland; the panel will address the complex themes of the exhibition:

• The public sphere as a site for protest, education and affection

• Self-organized communities, both intentional and imagined

• Utopian, alternative worlds and the performance of self-determination

About the Exhibition
Suggestions of a Life Being Lived, is a bold presentation of contemporary work that explores queer activism, intentional and imagined communities, self-determinism, and DIY alternative world-making. The exhibition features 16 artists working in photography, film, video, activism, and education.

Organized for SF Camerawork by independent guest curators Danny Orendorff and Adrienne Skye Roberts, Suggestions of a Life Being Lived looks at queerness as a set of political alliances and possibilities that exist beyond the sphere of dominant gay and lesbian culture.

Unconcerned with categorical sexual identities or coming-out narratives, Suggestions of a Life Being Lived originates from a place of “outness” and considers how a sense of liberated queerness is pursued and mediated within public spaces and behaviors.

About SF Camerawork
Founded in 1974, SF Camerawork encourages emerging and mid-career artists to explore new directions in photography and related media by fostering creative forms of expression that push existing boundaries. Throughout its history, SF Camerawork has nurtured artists, mentored youth and helped make San Francisco a destination for the exploration of photography as an artistʼs medium. Its exhibitions are nationally recognized as a focal point for innovation, a pacesetter for new trends in the medium and a launching pad for the careers of young artists. With three galleries and an education center at its new centrally located facility, SF Camerawork is the only nonprofit organization in the Bay Area with an exhibition space and educational programs focused exclusively on contemporary photography and related visual image media. It is an accessible venue for people to view exhibitions, meet artists, participate in educational programs, peruse photographic publications, and gather for lectures, screenings, portfolio reviews, and discussions.

About Queer Conversations on Culture and the Arts
Queer Conversations on Culture and the Arts brings together locally and nationally renowned artists, writers, filmmakers, and scholars for a series of conversations to discuss a broad range of LGBTQI topics in the humanities and the arts. QCCA is an on-going collaboration between the Queer Cultural Center and California College of the Arts.

Co-sponsored by SF Camerawork; Critical Studies, Visual Studies, Graduate Program in Fine Arts, and The Graduate Program in Visual & Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts, Queer Conversations on Culture and the Arts and The Queer Cultural Center.

Contact: Rudy Lemcke qcca@queerculturalcenter.org

Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

2010-10-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

One would assume by the name that straight transgenders and bisexuals are left out of this one, but that's no concern of mine today because I'm excited to report that Falling in Love... with Chris and Greg Ep. 3: "Food!" is screening on Saturday in this festival! That's right folks, Closet Cinema presents The Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Fest in Albuquerque, New Mexico! And we're playing in a program called...

Gender Fabulous

Saturday, October 9th, 2010 2:45PM
at The Guild Cinema
3405 Central Ave. NE

Program Run-down from the festival website:

MAD AT THE DIRT; THE JOANS Peter Neville 2009 | 4 min
The Joans give Joan Crawford a punk rock homage in this fun music video.

KA.KA Julian Vargas 2009 | 6 min
During a late night of mutual exploration Augusto and Rosetta Guerrero unravel a life-changing discovery in what used to be a private childhood game.

REMEMBER ME IN RED Hector Ceballos 2010 | 16 min
When her best friend Alma Flora’s parents insist their child be buried as male, Fidelia must find a way to honor Alma Flora’s life and memory.

ETHYL EICHELBERGER - “WOMEN WHO SURVIVE” Joe E. Jeffreys 2010 | 3 min
A high-octane mash-up of video, film and still images celebrating the life and work of legendary East Village performance artist Ethyl Eichelberger.

SPIRAL TRANSITION Ewan Duarte 2010 | 6 min
A poignant documentary portrait of the transitions that manifest in a parent-child relationship when that parent’s child undertakes gender transition. Featuring acclaimed artist Iris Duarte.

FALLING IN LOVE WITH CHRIS & GREG, EP3: “FOOD”!
Chris Vargas, Greg Youmans 2010 | 26 min
A situation comedy about a queer odd couple – one liberal, one radical; one transgendered, one not; both with body issues. How will their love survive?

T4-2 Allegra Hirschman, Shellie Citron 2010 | 6 min
A picture-perfect marriage becomes queerly complicated in this sexy, sly and silly musical short.

DOOR PRIZE Zsa Zsa Gershick 2009 | 7 min
In this delightful short starring indie icon Beth Grant, a restaurant, a necktie and a line at the Ladies Room make peeing quite problematic.

Ethnoculture in Montréal

2010-09-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Canada is seriously proving to be the biggest supporter of the US American queer arts! This Sunday (as in tomorrow) Falling In Love... Episode 3: Food! is playing at an event called Ethnoculture in Montréal, Canada! And so is Homotopia, the movie Eric Stanley and I made 4 years ago! That's right, it was that long ago! Join me in a walk down memory lane with these wonderfully trippy photos taken during the shoot for the movie's final chaotic wedding scene. All photos by the talented Keith Aguiar:


Joy beating Greg with purse


Yoshi and object of desire reunite

Susan as caterer with water gun

Also, allow me to share this image Greg and I made for Darin Klein and Suzanne Wright's 2nd issue of the zine 21st Century Queer Artists Identify Themselves (link to Darin Klein's blog entry covering the 1st issue's release event). We are so honored to be included in this publication. We're also excited to be self-appointed Marriage and Family Therapists for other "Intergenderational" couples via our sitcom, at a price you can't beat! Let us be your role models....

Lastly, Greg and I are participating in Shadow Shop, a pop-up store project by Stephanie Syjuco taking place at SF MOMA from November 2010 'til April 2011. We'll be selling the scrapbooklet/season one DVD that we're working on at this very moment! Check the Shadow Shop website for more details on the project.

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived: Reviews!

2010-09-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

The reviews are in! And the word is: "this discomfort is deeply effective" and between me and Greg: I am "the more easygoing of the two"! I agree with the former and must publicly disagree with the later. Read on... it is SFW.

KQED Arts
Review: Suggestions of Life Being Lived

BAR (Bay Area Reporter)
Transgressions & an activist stance

[raining] MEN tonight! and Falling In Love... updates

2010-09-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

The whole town is wrapped up in MEN! Who are playing tonight in the SF MOMA atrium, preceeded by a Ridykulous screening at 7PM. It's going to be fun, so be there!

The last MEN show I was at, Greg (R) and I (l) are holding the hands!

I also wanted to share with you today some teaser stills from mine and Greg's next Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg video. I was getting real excited about it as I edited today. It's yet another "Special," shot (mostly) on location during our fabulous three week vacation in France! It's working title: Oh La La! Paris Special.

Greg and I are also in the process of putting together a Season One Scrapbooklet with a Season One DVD accompaniment which will include everything we have shot to date. We've decided to symbolically clump all the work we've made thus far into one season, but if you know anything about the project you know it's not been one season but over two years in the making. It's our way of symbolically marking the end of one period in order to start anew and afresh in another. We also wanted to take some time out ("us" time--if you will) and assess the structure of our collaboration, it's a very healthy lesbionic decision on our part-we feel very proud and self-righteous about it, thank you. We're also working on writing a collaborative essay about the project and our collaboration--guaranteed to be a steamy tell-all! The DVD will include episodes 1, 2, and 3 (O Canada!, Road Trip! TV Special, and Food!) as well as A Special Election PSA, Hair Breakdown Special, and the yet to be fully edited Oh La La! Paris Special. See what I'm saying? We LOVE a SPECIAL!!!!

ALSO!! I want to tell you about a fundraiser for the SF camerawork catlog, but I'm just so spent from drafting this whole blog post that I'll give you Greg's words instead [as seen on today's Falling In Love.. Facebook status update]:"There is a kickstarter campaign tied to the Suggestions of a Life Being Lived exhibition at SF Camerawork that we are a part of. The goal is to raise enough money to make a catalog for the show. Curators Adrienne Skye Roberts and Danny Orendorff, along with gallery director Chuck Mobley, have done incredible work on this! Please take a moment to watch the spiel video. Note that you can donate as little as a dollar if that's all you can spare. Note too though that with a $25 donation you get a copy of the catalog when it's done!"

O Canada! in Canada! and Belgium!

2010-09-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Falling In Love... Episode 1: "O Canada!" is screening in Lethbridge Alberta, Canada at a great little homegrown festival called Rhino In The Room. If anyone who reads this little ol' blog is near Lethbridege you should go check out that festival (see details below), or if you're a US American and by default oblivious to other countries and cities on your continent: google-map Lethbridge and give yourself geography lesson, jerk.

In other sass-ridden Canadian news, I think I forgot to mention a few weeks back that I was featured in the Edmonton weekly in an interview conducted by Lucas Crawford called Identities Aplenty. Read it and weep.

Also, last Sunday Greg and I and our Falling In Love... video project was mentioned on Belgian radio! A show called Bang Bang, which can now be found in podcast form. Don't ask me how. The show is in French, but they played an extremely awkward part of O Canada! (the last agonizing scene at the breakfast table) with an overdubbed translation in French. Whoa, awesome and weird! They concurred that Canadians are boring and that we need to work on our sound skills. Ok, we get it already-we suck technically-but isn't that part of our charm?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Rhino In The Room
Thursday September 16th – Opening Night –Sterndale Bennett Theater
($10 in advance $12@door)

Taking the Plunge – Ian Gustafson and Chantal Langley (Vancouver)
…A lesbian who is about to get married has second thoughts about the marriage. Her two sides come out to talk about it.

The First – Jeremy Hyler (NC)
A coming of age story for one girl who finds her life in the gay and lesbian lifestyle. She tells her of her personality and her friends who are all in this subculture. She is invited to a drag show and gay bar to see what it is like. from there she goes through a metamorphosis and not only choosing a lifestyle but able to choose what she want and become a woman who finally has a voice.

Falling in Love… with Chris and Greg. Ep: O Canada! (CA)
In the premiere episode of “Falling In Love…”, Chris and Greg tackle the issues of open relationships, Canadianism, and lactose intolerance.

Best Friends – Andi Meiers (Germany)
about the time when you are 15 and you don’t know if you are in love with your best friend or with her boyfriend. The only thing you know is that you wear these doc martens shoes and that you feel like being yourself when you are with your friends, and you know you will always be best fiends – because you had these wonderful moments in the evenings at the lake.

Dish – Brian Harris Krinsky (CA)
Emo kids Israel and Louie walk around their east Los Angeles neighborhood dishing and “sexting” about their high school classmates. After listening to Louie boast about his sexual escapades, Israel decides he has some catching up to do.

Baby Shark – Pascal-Alex Vincent (France)
Three teenagers. A precipice.

Communication – Christopher Banks (New Zealand)
An Orthodox Jewish student unexpectedly inherits the estate of his estranged mentor, and discovers a painful truth about their final days together.

Meeskeit – Neil Ira Needleman (NY)
This is the poignant story of two meeskeits and the beautiful relationship they never had. As with virtually all my stories, there are bits and peices of my relatives and family friends here. But these are really personalities that you’ll find in very family. I’m sure you will recognize an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, a parent, a sibling, and -perhaps- even a little of yourself in here.
Talk to your Daughter – Lisa Powell (Lethbridge)

PSA on the dangers of not educating your daughters of the lesbian recruitment agenda.
Public Relations – Gianna Sobol (CA)

A miserable Hollywood assisstant finds romance and a reason for being when her sexy New York counterpart arrives in town. Public Relations is a funny, fresh take on growing up – and getting laid.

Just Another Beautiful Boy – Peter Max Lawrence

A music video for the queer band Carletta sue Kay
—————-
Intermission
—————-
Allison, My Love – Richard Paro
A short film about a slip of the tongue…

Fagbug – Erin Davies (NY)
On the 11th Annual Day of Silence, Erin Davies was victim to a hate crime in Albany, New York. Because of sporting a rainbow sticker on her Volkswagen Beetle, Erin’s car was vandalized, left with the words “fag” an “u r gay” placed on the drivers side window and hood of her car. Despite initial shock and embarassment, Erin decided to embrace what happened by leaving the graffiti on her car. She took her car, now known worldwide as the “fagbug,” on a 58-day trip around the US and Canada. Along the way, Erin discovered other, more serious hate crimes, had people attempt to remove the graffiti, and experimented with having a male driver her car. After driving the fagbug for one year, Erin decided to give her car a makeover.

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived

2010-09-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Please join me tomorrow Thursday, September 9th from 5-8PM at SF Camerawork for the opening of Suggestions of A Life Being Lived. Greg and I will have our Falling In Love... videos on heavy rotation tomorrow night and ongoing during gallery hours til October 23rd. Jason Fritz's original drawing of Greg and I, the one we use on our website and on our promo cards will be beautifully exhibited in our living room/exhibition cube, and Criminal Queers (a work in progress) will play during the last half of the gallery opening as well as the last half of the shows run. There'll also be a great collection of Gay Shame ephemera on display. We'll all be there; me, Greg, Eric, and company plus it's Jason birthday! So come have a tasteful beverage with us in JOYful celebration!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Press Release:

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived, guest curated by Danny Orendorff and Adrienne Skye Roberts, presents queerness as a set of political alliances and possibilities, informed by the projects of 16 artists working in photography, film, video, activism and education. Untethered to institutions of sexual or gender normativity and in pursuit of greater freedoms, the work in this exhibition represents queer activism, intentional and imagined communities, self-determinism, and DIY alternative world-making.

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived begins from a place of ‘outness’ and considers how a sense of liberated queerness is pursued and mediated within public spaces and behaviors. Less concerned with catergorical sexual identities or coming-out narratives, this exhibition presents work that looks outward towards collective and resistant expressions of queer community existing outside of dominant gay and lesbian culture.

Featuring works by Steven Miller, Tara Mateik, Killer Banshee Studios, Gay Shame, Kirstyn Russell, Jeannie Simms, Lenn Keller, Mercury Vapor Studios, Falling in Love... with Chris and Greg, Jason Fritz Michael, Darrin Martin, Torsten Zenas Burns, Eric Stanley & Chris Vargas, Aay Preston Myint and Allyson Mitchell.

Opening reception:

Thursday, September 9th 5 – 8 p.m.

September 9 – October 23, 2010

SFCamerawork

657 Mission Street, 2nd Floor

San Francisco, CA 94105

Michfest, Paris, and Twitter

2010-07-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

The topic of Mich Fest (aka Michigan Womyn's Music Festival) is hot on everyone's minds and internets these days. I honestly don't know when it is -I'm assuming it's coming up soon, and over my queer lifetime I have mostly stayed out of the heated debates as I have never in my life had any desire to go, and always figured it was not worth the time or energy to demand transgender inclusion in such a staunchly woman-born-woman separatist space. "Woman-born-woman," a complicated term if one feels they were born a "woman" with a biological difference, and wait isn't the category "woman" a social construct? Am I late to this conversation, or what? Am I a femstudies undergrad? But this year, despite the now 4 year old change in policy I've managed to encounter a few interesting responses to the issue of transgender women on The Land....

Annie Danger: An open letter to my friends who attend the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

And, Tom Leger's xtra normal video called 'Let's Talk About Michigan" (if you don't know, this was made in a text-to-movie site/program where you plug in dialogue and simple gestures onto prefab animated figures, then pay to publish it. FYI, Greg did a shot-for-shot remake of our Hair Breakdown Special with robots and it was amazing! We were too cheap/broke to publish it). I think Tom's video is so witty!

And just for a glimpse into where the womyn are at with the trans-inclusion conversation, check out Michfest's website Transgender forum.

Besides all that, nothing much going on here except that me and my beloved are LEAVING FOR PARIS ON WEDNESDAY for 3 whole entire weeks! I've never been off the continent so I am so totally stoked, you have no idea! I'm sure I'll document it by way of millions of pictures, Flip videos, Facebook status updates, and maybe even a "Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg" Parisian Special! We LOVE a Special!

And, FYI, JIC you wanted to know, and I'm not even sure why I did it given that I don't have any sort of equipped mobile device, but I joined TWITTER. I'll TWEET you from Paris!

Extraordinary Pregnancies

2010-07-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

This is the video I screened at the National Queer Arts Festival, Original Plumbing Event last month!

Extraordinary Pregnancies revisits the "First" Pregnant Man, Thomas Beatie and his wife Nancy, rescripting their vulnerable yet guarded interviews with the big shots of tabloid media.

TONIGHT: Outfest-Platinum Original Plumbing Party

2010-07-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight's the night of the Outfest-Platinum Original Plumbing magazine release party for issue #3 at the REDCAT theater in Downtown, LA. The pre-reception starts at 8:30PM in the REDCAT lobby at which time guests may gather for drinks and face-to-face chats with Amos and Rocco, the co-editors of the mag, other performers and videomakers (such as myself) AND peruse the books from The Miracle Bookmobile-which I happen to be particularly excited about! The bookmobile will be parked just outside the lobby glass, in the adjoining parking structure. My good friend and LA host, Besser quickly put me to work in LibraryThing.com cataloging and "social-tagging" (a new term for me. for you, too?) the two boxes of book donations from my household that Greg and I so-painlessly checked aboard the easiest flight of our lives from OAKland to BURbank airports. God bless, you Southwest. And Goddess bless you, lezbrarians! Check out the tag cloud for the books in the collection. Pretty hilarious, and affirming to me and my affinity for bookish queers everywhere!

Hope to see you tonight, mystery blog readers!

A couple of the books you may find FREE for the taking from Miracle!

No Justice...

2010-07-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

no peace.
just us.

I'm in LA, but got my eye on Oakland. I am not one that believes the criminal justice system can or will offer "justice" to the people but the verdict of involuntary manslaughter for the case of Officer Mehserle, shooting an UNARMED BLACK MAN, LYING FACE DOWN on a BART platform is an insult.

Here is a small bit of thoughtful reading/watching material about this whole mess of a racist, fucked-up verdict:

The American Prospect, Oscar Grant A Victim of American Fear by Adam Serwer

The AK Press blog, Justice for Oscar Grant by Zach [pictures of the downtown Oakland aftermath]

Youth Radio blog, A Broken Window, That's Not a Human Life, That's Not Violence

Democracy Now

Please feel free to send me links to more news coverage and critical writings on this subject.

Will you receive justice, Oscar Grant?

2010-07-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

Oakland is on the edge of its seat waiting to see what the jury decides for Officer Mehserle, the cop who shot and killed Oscar Grant as he lay face down on at the Fruitvale BART platform a couple New Years Eves ago. There's a call for assembly circulating that asks for people to gather at 14th and Broadway at 6PM in Downtown, Oakland on the evening the verdict is to be read, which may possibly happen as soon as tomorrow. There is much concern that such an assembly could lead to more rioting instigated by so-called by "outside agitators" and more private property destruction. So, the Oakland PD is out in full force, freshly trained and ready to fuck some people up or at least intimidate them into passivity, and many storefronts downtown (even as far north as Grocery Outlet on Broaday, near 29th) have boarded up their window glass anticipating the worst. But no matter what the verdict; 2nd degree murder, manslaughter (voluntary or involuntary), or acquittal, it's not going to restore anbodys faith in the law or its enforcers. It certainly won't undo the trauma of witnessing a very public execution by a white cop of a prone black man, and it's not going to bring that black man (or any "disposable" person killed at the hands of a cop) back to life. R.I.P. Oscar Grant III.

A recent Colorlines article by Juliann Hing that breaks down the potential outcomes of the case.

Silence = Filth

2010-07-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

A nasty, and semi-educational video about gay sex slanguage brought to you by some very talented local arteests turned mime. Shot on location in SF's own Rainbow Grocery Co-op, even! I'll be honest, I still don't know what an Alysa Milano is but I'm determined as hell to find out, maybe from one of the many blogs/online forums on which this hot-off-the-deck video is already featured!

"Spot of T" and "Says Who? Gender Variant Representation In Media"

2010-06-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 24th is a big day for me!

In addition to the screening of Falling In Love... Episode 3 in the Transtastic Program at 9:30PM at the Victoria Theater (see previous post), I am speaking on a panel that same day at 2:00pm called Says Who? Gender Representation In Media. It is a free Frameline34 event at the Castro theater.

At 8:00 PM in the evening I will be debuting my new video about "The Pregnant Guy" (as well as selling some important product tie-ins) at A Spot of T, presented by Original Plumbing and the National Queer Arts Festival. This event takes place at the African American Arts Complex (762 Fulton Street @ Webster) and admission is $12-20 (no one turned away).

Frameline 34 & Outfest

2010-06-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's finally complete! Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg, Episode #3 "Food!" is done! Greg and I finalized the post-production this weekend, made a MiniDV master of it, and sent it to get transferred onto the exhibition copy which will be sent around to the two confirmed festivals it's playing in this Summer! So far on our list:

Two screenings at Frameline34, the San Francisco Itn'l LGBT Film Festival:
Sunday, June 20, 1:45 PM
Roxie Theater
16th@Valencia
in the Skinnyfat program
*already sold-out! RUSH tickets available at the door, the day-of.

Thursday, June 24, 9:30 PM
Victoria Theatre
16th@Mission
in the Transtastic shorts program

And at Outfest, The Los Angeles Itn'l LGBT Film Festival:
Saturday July 10th, 9:30PM
REDCAT
Downtown Los Angeles

I'm really thrilled that we're a part of this event! Not only is it an OP #3 Release Party (the issue in which I interview the talented painter Sam Lopes), but Greg and I are sharing the bill with some really wonderful people, including old and new friends from LA and the Bay. I'm familiar with most everyone's work in the show so I can vouch that it's going to be really great. Plus, my good friend and LA host-Kelly Besser, along with Irina Contreras and the Miracle Bookmobile (a death-defying blue Jeep) will be there slinging some free gay reads out in the parking lot.

LA is my homefield so this awesome of a homecoming event feels extra good! and not at all like when The Rose returns to her hometown...

Queers on the Run

2010-05-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! The interview Eric Stanley and I did with Yasmin Nair about our new movie Criminal Queers, out now in the latest (Summer 2010) issue of bitch Magazine!

You may purchase it at news stands or read it online: Queers on the Run

"The Sacrifices We Make for Love"

2010-05-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Check out Greg's new short video piece, co-starring me and MY cat Holiday!

Screening: Works from the Eisner Prize Competition

2010-04-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

Please join me for a public screening of the Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg "Hair Breakdown Special" and my own solo video "Have You Ever Seen A Transsexual Before?" (see image above)

Friday, May 7, 2010
7:00PM
Pacific Film Archives
2575 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA

"The Eisner Prize is the highest award for creativity given on the UC Berkeley campus. This program presents work by this year’s two winners in film and video, aZin seraj and Curtis Tamm, along with a diverse sampling of videos from the competition. Seraj will screen Whisper my name, a visual diary of her journey back to her abandoned childhood school in Dehkadeh, Iran. Tamm presents hour) or a fis…, which builds on medical training films to construct a densely edited, visceral experience of the human body’s orifices. A program containing written descriptions by the artists will be available at the screening."

• Continuum (Taro Masushio, 2009, 2 mins)
• Exhibit #61, SGv8-PH-013109, The Closest I’ve Ever Been to Masha (Merav Tzur, 2009, 8 mins)
• Falling in Love with Chris and Greg: Hair Breakdown Special (Chris E. Vargas, Greg Youmans, 2009, 4 mins)
• Have You Ever Seen a Transsexual Before? (Chris E. Vargas, 2010, 4 mins)
• Audio Report of Refinery Surveyor Black (Galen Jackson, 2010, 25 mins)
• Hannah’s Ringer (Ella Andersson, 2009, 5.5 mins)
• White Path (Pierre Camarena, 2009, 6.5 mins)
• Initiative (Asali Echols, 2009, 4 mins)
• Reika (Nagisa Kodama, 2009, 16 mins)
• Whisper my name (aZin seraj, 2009, 4 mins). hour)
• or a fis... (Curtis Tamm, 2009, 10 mins)

(Total running time: c. 90 mins, Color, Digital video, From the artists)

Against Equality postcard project

2010-04-12T12:31:00.001-07:00

I just got word from the Against Equality editorial collective that my design has been chosen for their postcard project! All 3 designs, which critique in some manner critique the mainstream gay rhetoric of equality, will be distributed in their 4" x 6" glory for free all throughout the US and Canada. So clutch your pearls and lock your doors!

Puppet twins

2010-04-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

Drawings that Greg and I did in February during our underwhelming stay at the gay B&B in Guerneville. Everything else about that loverly Valentines trip was awesome, the lush green hike, the seals 'pupping' at the beach, helping make Greg's Super 8 exploration of the town, watching Dreamgirls stoned, drawing this drawing! But the alienating and offensive breakfast conversation among the other guests talking about how Oakland is so scary and dangerous- dear god, avoid it at all costs!, about how poor people can now afford to live in their once expensive neighborhoods and now they're bringing down their property values, and how laws should be stricter putting people in prison longer because they read in the paper that one person recently released from prison went and committed a crime again. Appalling! I'm not making this up, it was like a racist American upper middle class script.

Guess who drew which! I'll send some 50% Easter candy to the first person who guesses right, within a reasonable time. This is a test to see if anyone's out there reading this. (click to enlarge)

Against Equality book project

2010-03-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week the Against Equality collective excitedly announced the launch of a new book project for which I designed the cover! See their press release below for more official info, as well as the original design that I was so thrilled to create.

"The Against Equality editorial collective is excited to announce our first book project, Against Equality: Queer Critiques of Gay Marriage. This pocket-sized anthology of writing compiles many of the essays in the marriage section of our digital archives. We are self-publishing this book and it will soon be available through a small handful of independent distributors.

The essays will be published along side striking visuals specially commissioned for the anthology and our hope is that releasing them as a published book allows our critiques to reach a greater audience. The cultural lives of books are very different from that of online texts and the credibility that comes with printed matter still far exceeds the weight of blogging. We are also particularly interested in reaching people with little or no access to high speed Internet browsing like people in prison, older generations, and those living in rural areas.

Edited by Ryan Conrad and with an introduction by Yasmin Nair, this first book focused on gay marriage is just the beginning of our publishing projects! By making as many of the texts in our digital archives available in printed editions, we hope to create even more time and space to have critical dialog about our most radical queer futures and to revive the queer political imagination."

Welcome Spring!

2010-03-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

I am on Spring Break and feelin' IT! I took these photos a week ago or so, riding my bike to and fro UC Berkeley campus from my pad in Oakland. The fragrant scents of the season, as well as the girl scouts and their cookies, were in full effect and I officially caught the fever. The SPRING fever, that is. It's really no joke. All the horny, blossom-power energy took hold of me and I had to stop drinking coffee again, for the 500th time (I know!). But, I was so hopped up naturally I wasn't sleeping.

There's so much more to update, but I'm off to go hump trees in the forest...

Wanna talk about reading?!

2010-03-10T23:02:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about me reading tomorrow March 11th, 2010 at Books Inc. in the Castro at 7:30pm! Yep, live and "in person," yours truly with other such notable transgender personalities Cyd Nova, Tuck Mayo, Amos Mac and Rocco Katastrophe, reading from our stories and interviews.

Books Inc. in the Castro
2275 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94114

It would be great if you could make it!

Footnote 7

2010-02-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

Me and my classmates are exhibiting the stuff we've been working on the semester-and-a-half that we've been in the program! Check us out...

"Footnote"
UC Berkeley's First Year MFA Exhibition

Opening Reception: Wednesday February 24th, 4pm - 7pm

Worth Ryder Gallery (near Bancroft and College)
in Kroeber Hall, University of California at Berkeley

Seven Artists:
Narangkar Glover
Plinio Hernandez
Corrina Nicole
Merav Tzur
Chris Vargas
David Wallace
Sandi Yi

I will be exhibiting the 2 minute transgender trip-out animation that I have been working on in After Effects (for which Michael Hyde aka DJ Bunnystyle is creating an original score) as well as the 4 minute "Hair Breakdown Special" from the "Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg" project, and the 4 minute "Have You Ever Seen a Transsexual Before?" video I made for Sam Lopes. I've never installed video in a gallery before so this a great and an appropriate 'first' for me.

I hope to see you there!

Oh, and another potentially interesting and self-affirming thing I did, I became a "fan" of myself (and Greg)...

Chris Vargas is a fan of

Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg

Create your Fan Badge

you should, too!

"Covergirl! Put the bass in your walk!"

2010-01-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! It's totally almost finally here, the 2nd issue of Original Plumbing and guess who's on the cover!? Me?! Yes! Me! The Hair Issue will be available January 27th, but is available for pre-order on the Original Plumbing website. Can you believe it?! Little ol' me in 2-dimensional living color (or is most of the content B&W?), plus a tell-all interview where I disclose all my dirtiest little secrets like what I've been working on in art school and when and how I lost my virginity, I also confess my most delicate insecurities to the world like my hair-loss, and my "lesbian-leanings." It should be a great 'beach read' in the dead of winter, and/or a funny/pathetic attempt at self-promotion. Get your copy NOW!

While I'm at it, a couple of blogs I am now reading, as of today, thanks to a Facebook invitation and a tip from Eric.
Wu Ingrid Tsang's CLASS
and Eve Fowler's Treasure's From A Lesbian Library.
Both bloggers are LA friends. I love a good blog! Did you know that about me?

Speaking of knowing things about me, I started a twitter account but have yet to "tweet" a damn thing. Just in case you (or I start to) care: Twitter.com/chrisevargas. Who knows, maybe now that I'm a covergirl someone will start to want to know when I take a bubble bath or what I think of the new Lady Gaga video-is she still cool?

Xmas Thyme In LA

2009-12-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

I'm here for a week total, today I'm just over the hump and it's Christmas Eve. The first sock in a pair I'm knitting for my Mom is only 3/4 done so she's getting a wrapped up IOU for the second. Oops, I had no idea how long socks would take to knit since this is my first pair, and despite the labor intensity it won't be my last. So rewarding, so wintry!

On Tuesday I got it in my head that taking a bus from deep San Fernando Valley to anywhere would be a good idea so I made plans to go the Hammer museum in Westwood to see the show of my Fall semester's video teacher, Desiree Holman. First, for some potentially perfectly good reason unbeknownst to me-I'm sure, the first bus that came just passed me by, I tried not to take it personally. The second bus drove me 1/4 of a mile down the street to the next stop and made me exit the bus while he went across the street and used the TGI Friday's bathroom then came and sat back on the bus looking pissed and angsty while I stood out in the cold trying to stay excited about my LA bus trip! Yay! Well 2.5 hours, 2.5 podcasts, 2 transfers later I finally arrived in Westwood. Really, yay! The show was great, as was R.Crumb's Book of Genesis, and a giant exhibition of Charles Burchfield's beautiful and sometimes blank note card-looking paintings.

I spent way too little time at the museum in relation to my transit time, but fuck it. I was done. I hopped back on the bus to see KB in Echo Park and along the way I saw a festive Xmas motorcycle man with his big, white, slightly terrified dog half lounging across his lap and half slung over the body of the bike. Oh, LA! It could almost be Berkeley but with different ideals and a slightly more polished aesthetic. I love you, sprawling land of my birth. Here's the picture:

KB and I had a lovely night out, starting with brown rice and vegetables-like a couple a good Showgirls. Then off to La Plaza for Byron's performance event Tranza, a benefit for Angels of Change, a transgender youth harm reduction and health clinic part of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. I could not easily find a link to more info, so dear readers you're on your own. KB bought me one of their lovely fundraising calendar to enjoy a full 12 months worth of glamor and transgenderosity, and got the couple of girls that were present to autograph it for me. KB and I played a pathetic (on my part) match of Ms. Pac Man, drank some dranks then left to eat more. In-N-Out this time, what a Showgirl eats after a rough day. We went back to her place watched some cable (yep, it's still there) and I fell asleep in the solarium among the swaying tree tops.

Original Plumbing interview

2009-12-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

(click above to read)
Did I forget to mention that I interviewed Greg for the inaugural issue of Original Plumbing, "the premier magazine dedicated to the sexuality and culture of FTM trans guys" which came out this Fall?!

Well, I was contacted by the admin of a French website dedicated to trans men/FTMs attracted to men and the men who want 'em, and he asked to translate the interview into French! How wonderful is that?! Check it out here and tell all your Francophone friends!

P.S.
Look out for me saying and doing inappropriate things in the second issue of OP, I get a whole feature and photo spread!

A new installment of "Falling In Love...with Chris and Greg"

2009-11-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

This is the video Greg and I showed at K'vetsh's 13th Anniversary this past Sunday at Eros gay man bath house. We made it the night before at the Santa Cruz Travelodge. I'd like to have reported that it was a wild success and that everyone laughed their brains out, but no. It was kind of a failure. The sound was terrible and no one got the jokes, we left feeling unfunny and totally deflated. We spent the rest of the night wondering what went wrong only to find that the camera's sound input was so low it picked up more ambient noise than our lines. I'm not good at failing, I want everything I do to be perfect and celebrated! So, the first half of my week was spent coming to terms with failure and forcing myself to suck it up and learn from it. Failure is good, you learn more from 1 failure than 5 successes, it builds character, failure is a feminist practice, practice more failure, etc. Well, now it's Friday and I'm happy to report I did come to terms with it and feel much better. It also helps that Greg spent all yesterday fixing the video's problems using various Final Cut audio filters and it's finally up on youtube!

So, behold the fruits of our failure and labor. Hope you like it.

Norman McLaren's Nu Shooz

2009-11-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

What the hell am I doing in art school, because let me tell you: It's already been done! And, Nu Shooz did it! In the 80s! Or rather, who ever made Nu Shooz'a videos in the 80s did it! Whoa.

(please feel free to take note of the type of masculinity that earns the singer's affection in the end, which as some may have been able to tell has been a model for my recent look)

All of these videos employ pixilation, a stop-motion animation technique which uses both animate objects-like people and inanimate objects-like Jelly shoes! Check out the 1950s Norman McLaren films below, which are both pixilated (not to be confused with pixElated) and gay (with a misogynist moment thrown in to keep it real)!

Guess who's playing Folsom Street Fair today?

2009-09-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Please take note of my shout out in the above video. HAAAY!

Ssion

2009-09-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

Fat Face goes to a Buffet

2009-08-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

Jenna Riot's "Won't You"

2009-08-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

BONUS: Adorable video performance and interview with Ice Cream Socialites
Jenna and Rocco, all over SF and at famous Alemany Flea Market, 2007.

"Queer Puberty" program

2009-08-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

at Homo-a Go Go, $5
Sunday, August 16, 3:00 PM

Artist Television Access
992 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110-2322

A humorous foray into nostalgic fantasies of body ambivalence. These films and videos explore the mythic, perpetual adolescence of queers. They invite all of us to lock the bathroom door and take a full-length look at our awkward, sexy bodies…forever. Featuring work by Barbara Hammer, Charles Lum, Michael Lucid, K8 Hardy, Zackary Drucker & Rhys Ernst, Chris Vargas & Greg Youmans, Samara Halperin, Shana Moulton, Jen Smith, and maybe more! Programmed by: Jen Smith, Chris Vargas, and Greg Youmans

Websites & Anxiety

2009-07-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is what I did all summer in my Berkeley City College web design class!

Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg [dot] com

&

Chris E. Vargas [dot] com

Today is my last day and I'm quite emotional about it. I've really been enjoying my 7 mile (roundtrip) bike ride to downtown Berkeley, with an occasional re-route on the way home to the Ashby Garden, 3 days a week for the past 6 weeks. The structure it gave me was much needed and it really made me nostalgic for my community college roots (big ups to LA Valley & City colleges). It also made me feel more or less nervous about UC Berkeley's Fall semester starting and entering the university system once again. I know academia can provide me with the most stability out of any of my career options at this point, but I can't help but be nervous about the (relatively minor) debt it may cause me. But, the last thing I want to talk about is anything related to "in this economy" because I have been in quite a cushy 9 month paid vacation thanks to Uncle Sam and his EDD program. But still, these times of transition aren't any easier or less anxiety-inducing when you can't even sell your old furniture on craigslist to make a quick buck.

P.S. I broke it off with my therapist, thanks for listening.

Sea Horse cruising

2009-07-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

How adorkable are these BART ads for the Sea Horse exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

Because the Movement has been hyjacked...

2009-06-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

by professional activist-types dictating what our "issues" should be, while exhausting our community resources to sustain salaried positions at our ineffectual non-profit organizations.

Is marriage really the end-all in gaining all sorts of necessary life-sustaining services? Are marriage benefits worth sloughing off 40 years of designing our own family and relationships, not modeling them after hetero-life? Do we really want to join an imperialist military intent on dominating and oppressing the whole world population? Does my Mom even think that marriage is an institution that needs to be respected and upheld? The answer is no to all of these.

But about the Center and its tenants, have you ever hung out there? Were you ever allowed to use the bathroom without having to buy something at "3$ bill Cafe" (which isn't even there anymore)? Is smoking such an issue in the community that it warrants 3 different organizations, while representing no HIV/AIDS, or crystal meth health services? Can it even be called a "community center?" Answer again, no!

From the Gay Shame SF website (click on link for better explanation of this action):

"This will be a high-concept anachronistic interpretive dance-off to determine the fate of radical queer politics!

DE-CENTER THE CENTER!!

WHERE: The San Francisco LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street
WHEN: Thursday June 25, 2009 – 6 PM SHARP!
WHAT: De-Center The Center, Reverse Polarity
WHY: REVERSE THE POLARITY, GIRL!

FREE FOOD!
BUILD DIRECT ACTION ACTIVIST NETWORKS OUTSIDE OF NON-PROFITS!
AND MUCH MUCH MORE!"

Coke and Poke

2009-06-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Introducing Graham and Diane. Raunchy ventriloquism by the hilarious Lex Vaughn, Here are a few of my faves...

And the best for last...

For more, check out this short Q&A with Lex about Graham.

An Intimate Morning...with Vaginal Davis

2009-06-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

some Decoupage TV

some Fertile Latoya Jackson, in "That Fertile Feeling"

and Cholita! with Alice Bag from early LA punk fame "The Bags." See her website for some good archived LA punk.

another Justin Kelly music video

2009-06-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

He has got quite the selection of big novelty props!

"Teardrops On My Telephone" by Hunx and his Punx

MEN

2009-06-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

music video by Leidy McIlvaine Churchman

live in Malmö, Sveden

D-A-N-N-Y

2009-05-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

directed by Justin Kelly, and so so sexy.

Buffy Sainte-Marie morning

2009-05-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

"Little Wheel Spin and Spin" on someone's TV

With Pete Seeger

"Cripple Creek" with Fred the Wonder Horse

Midnight Nina

2009-05-20T23:48:00.000-07:00

Nina and Langston

Faggoty Attention

2009-05-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

A music video by Francis Legge, the talent behind "I Seen Beyonce at Burger King"

"won't ask, won't tell, promise you won't go to hell"

FYI

2009-05-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

photo taken on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, California

Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism

2009-05-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

I just uploaded to Youtube the pared-down footage I shot at the QUIT! demo in January of this year. The protest took place in the Castro, and as you can see in the video was met by passionate Zionist counter-protestors. The video is maybe too long, and it took me all of 4 months to get around to doing it, but here you have it. I am now nervously awaiting the inevitable horrendous debate that will take place in the video page's comment section.

SFAI

2009-05-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

Let this video, although cheesy at times, shed some light on the firing of tenured professors as well as the salary disparities between them and the administrators at the San Francisco Art Institute. Startling.

Meet Me At The Center of the Earth

2009-05-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to free day at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA, if you're nasty) to see Nick Cave's Soundsuits! Wowzers! Never have I seen such a comprehensive collection of textures historically associated with queerness in one place at the same time! Mylar, sequins, beads, doilies, buttons, crocheted rounds, Gods eyes, quilts, thrifted sweaters, psychedelic grandma afghans all fashioned into sculptural costumes for humans reminiscent of Leigh Bowery. Not only that, it was even Bear and Beaver inclusive! See below, my slyly shot picture taken from the second level of the museum as the security guy's back is turned.

Along with the costumes, the show features 8 Las Vegas thrift stores worth of sequin appliqué draq queen blouses and gowns repurposed into giant sphere and circle shapes, suspended among and flanking the walls of the exhibition space. In relation to the 20 or so costumes, the appliqué circles don't receive the adequate attention they deserve, but these pieces alone would give Leslie Hall's Gem Sweater Museum a run for its money.

After the Soundsuits, I wandered into the "Under A Full Moon: 30 Years of Perpetual Indulgence" show in the YBCA's Room For Big Ideas. That show runs concurrently with the more historical-artifact oriented exhibit at the SF Public Library, which is also more-or-less interesting (may as well see it. it's free, but soon cuz it runs 'til May 7th).

Speaking of free, after YBCA I walzed on over to the Museum of Craft and Folk Art (where every Tuesday is free!) to see the "Inside/Outside: Artist Environments" show, which mostly consists of pictures and text about some of California's quirky "outsider" art houses/spaces, their creators, and their varying states of non/existence. I have to admit I am a sucker for this type of art and always imagined that I'd live in a house, of my own creation, mosaic-ed in bottle caps, broken mirrors, and Li'l Homies figurines. I already have a pretty impressive collection of the later.

Cute that Lindsay has a sense of humor

2009-05-01T21:57:00.001-07:00

Lindsay Lohan's eHarmony Profile from Lindsay Lohan

Happy May Day!!

2009-05-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the march and rally in San Francisco.

Craft Talk

2009-04-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

"Work through the pain, work through the pain." The latest gem sweater inspired video by original Youtube sensation Leslie Hall.

Paper Rad

2009-04-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Problem Solvers Episode #1211: "Give Pizza A Chance"
Trolls, psychedelia, pizza, and a message of peace...

Also, the SF Bay Guardian's issue on video art, with links. And an interview with Jacob Ciocci of Paper Rad.

Campari ad

2009-04-21T22:06:00.000-07:00

A tip from Jason...

MEN's "Off Our Backs"

2009-04-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

music video by K8 Hardy.

Also, go hear MEN's "Credit Card Babie$ on their Myspace page, and listen for a special shout-out to yours truly.

Butterflies by Nicky Click

2009-04-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

A video featuring the 2 cutest tranny pop sensations! And all shot in one of my favorite settings in the whole world, a hotel room.

Who has HBO?

2009-04-07T12:16:00.001-07:00

I need to hang out with you on April 18th, at 8pm! Also, because of the new obscenely huge Grey Gardens billboards all across LA me and my 16 (going on 17) year old friend/niece, Becky are unable to immediately rent the original 1975 doc from any of the good local gay video stores! Damn it, another reason why Netflix does and doesn't work!! BTW, those billboards will have the unsavvy believe it's a heart-warming, cross-generational, sentimental friend flick. Good thing I was there to undo that kind of poor marketing for Beck. She might have otherwise missed a pretty great example of whiteness breaking down.

See below 1. one of the original Grey Gardens trailers 2. the new HBO trailer (starring Drew "Baby-talk" Barrymore and Jessica Lange) and 3. a relevant tip (from Onya and Courtney)...

Chris E. Vargas | Updates

Opening Feb. 3rd: Hybrid Narrative @ MacArthur B Arthur

Illegitimate and Herstorical // Two Point Oh

Key West for Xmas

gAyMAZING RACE!

Word Is Out: A Queer Film Classic

"Food!"- Periwinkle Cinema @ ATA

OPENING: At Home

Gift of the Fagi & Darin Klein's Box of Books Vol. IV

Art 21 blog

Two Things I Kept To Myself

2011 UC Berkeley Art Practice Faculty Show

The Daily Serving

RADAR Writers lab in Akumal, Mexico

Bay Area Currents 2011

Exhibition: July 19 - September 2, 2011

Selections by Julio César Morales

Artists' Reception: Friday, August 5, 6 - 8 PM

Artists' Talk: Friday, September 2, 6 - 8 PM

Residency Queens

SF Gate review of Inarguably Uncertain: The 41st Annual UC Berkeley MFA Exhibition

*The Elegance of Refusal* opening tomorrow!

East Bay Express interview

...with li'l ol' me, conducted by the dear Toshio Meronek about my new project! I hope this entices you to come visit the UC Berkeley MFA opening show which opens next week! AHHHHHHH!

"Liberating Liberace: Oakland Filmmaker Chris Vargas Remixes the Life of a Gay Idol"

in Ear Bud: The Bay Area Music blog, East Bay Express

"I Can Feel It But I Don't Get It" video program

Inarguably Uncertian: The 41st Annual UC Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition

Thank You & Merci, Philly et Montréal

Comin' atcha: East Coast & Canada

Original Plumbing BLOG post #7: Irina, Nico & Scenes Unseen

Original Plumbing BLOG post #6: Onya's Taste In Men

Transbiological Body Event at NYU

At Bay II: Selections from the 2010 Murphy, Cadogan and Phelan Awards

Original Plumbing BLOG post #5: Getting Nutty with Lex Vaughn

Original Plumbing BLOG post #4: The Joy of Jason Fritz Michael

Original Plumbing BLOG post #3: Wu Tsang

Are you bi-QUEEROUS?

Original Plumbing BLOG post #2

Criminal Queers **almost there!!**

Original Plumbing BLOG post #1

Part Time Lovers

Heaven in '11!

No More Potlucks

Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg: SEASON ONE DVD

Emily Roysdon: If I Don’t Move Can You Hear Me?

Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg: "Oh La La! Paris Special"

Make It Happen!

Liberace research

I said it once...

A few things going on this week...

Suggestions of a Life Being Lived: A Conversation

Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Ethnoculture in Montréal

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived: Reviews!

[raining] MEN tonight! and Falling In Love... updates

O Canada! in Canada! and Belgium!

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived

Michfest, Paris, and Twitter

Annie Danger: An open letter to my friends who attend the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

Extraordinary Pregnancies

TONIGHT: Outfest-Platinum Original Plumbing Party

No Justice...

Will you receive justice, Oscar Grant?

Silence = Filth

"Spot of T" and "Says Who? Gender Variant Representation In Media"

Frameline 34 & Outfest

Queers on the Run

"The Sacrifices We Make for Love"

Screening: Works from the Eisner Prize Competition

Against Equality postcard project

Puppet twins

Against Equality book project

Welcome Spring!

Wanna talk about reading?!

Footnote 7

"Covergirl! Put the bass in your walk!"

Xmas Thyme In LA

Original Plumbing interview

A new installment of "Falling In Love...with Chris and Greg"

The Elegance of Refusal opening tomorrow!

Criminal Queers almost there!!