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.
Friday, November 6, 2009
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)!
(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
Guess who's playing Folsom Street Fair today?
Please take note of my shout out in the above video. HAAAY!
Tuesday, August 11, 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.
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!"
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.
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.
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
"Teardrops On My Telephone" by Hunx and his Punx
Monday, June 1, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Buffy Sainte-Marie morning
"Little Wheel Spin and Spin" on someone's TV
With Pete Seeger
"Cripple Creek" with Fred the Wonder Horse
With Pete Seeger
"Cripple Creek" with Fred the Wonder Horse
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Faggoty Attention
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"
"won't ask, won't tell, promise you won't go to hell"
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
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.
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