Sunday, March 28, 2010

Against Equality book project

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."

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Welcome Spring!

Riot of Tulips

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...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wanna talk about reading?!


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!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Footnote 7

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)...
you should, too!

Monday, January 4, 2010

"Covergirl! Put the bass in your walk!"

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?

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Xmas Thyme In LA

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.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Original Plumbing interview

(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!

Friday, November 6, 2009

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

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.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Norman McLaren's Nu Shooz

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)!


Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Jenna Riot's "Won't You"


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

Friday, August 7, 2009

"Queer Puberty" program



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

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Websites & Anxiety

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.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Sea Horse cruising

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

Monday, June 22, 2009

Because the Movement has been hyjacked...

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!"

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Coke and Poke

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.

Friday, June 5, 2009

An Intimate Morning...with Vaginal Davis

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.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

another Justin Kelly music video

He has got quite the selection of big novelty props!

"Teardrops On My Telephone" by Hunx and his Punx