Friday, December 17, 2010

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




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...

Saturday, December 11, 2010

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

 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!

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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

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

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

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."

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Make It Happen!

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.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Liberace research

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

Thursday, November 11, 2010

I said it once...

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...

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A few things going on this week...

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

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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

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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 

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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.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Suggestions of a Life Being Lived: A Conversation

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?

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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

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

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.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Ethnoculture in Montréal

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.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived: Reviews!

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

Thursday, September 16, 2010

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

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!"

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

O Canada! in Canada! and Belgium!

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?

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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
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Intermission
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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.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Suggestions of A Life Being Lived

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!
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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.


Opening reception: 

Thursday, September 9th 5 – 8 p.m.

September 9 – October 23, 2010

SFCamerawork
657 Mission Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105

Monday, July 26, 2010

Michfest, Paris, and Twitter

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!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Extraordinary Pregnancies

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.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

TONIGHT: Outfest-Platinum Original Plumbing Party

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...

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.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Will you receive justice, Oscar Grant?

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.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Silence = Filth

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!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

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

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).

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Frameline 34 & Outfest

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...

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Queers on the Run


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

Sunday, May 2, 2010

"The Sacrifices We Make for Love"

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

Friday, April 30, 2010

Screening: Works from the Eisner Prize Competition

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)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Against Equality postcard project


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!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Puppet twins

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)

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?