Saturday, January 16, 2010

Resting on Laurels


I used to think that just anyone who has ever had their work accepted into a film festival could put these laurels on their print materials, until this week...

Greg and I got an email with "Official Selection" in the subject heading, asking for more information about the totally unsolicited episode in our Falling In Love... project from the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. We were even more flattered to realize Kyle Stephan, who also programmed us for LA's Outfest, chose us to be in the 2010 London Festival. I'm not sure if I should be blabbing about this yet, but I couldn't help myself. I also couldn't help myself Photoshopping the name of the festival on these google image'd laurels just to see what it'd look like.

Oh, and my birthday is tomorrow!

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

Guess who's playing Folsom Street Fair today?



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

Ssion


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Fat Face goes to a Buffet

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 29, 2009

CAUTION! Entering H.P. fan zone!!

The Frameline screening of episodes 1 and 2 of "Falling In Love... with Chris and Greg" at the Roxie last Tuesday went really well despite having to come to sober terms with the tragic and untimely demise of the late, great Michael Jackson. The friend and the not-yet-friends (some people call them "the audience") turn-out was good, and the reception fair. I say fair because for the first part of the screening I was so incredibly nervous that I couldn't let myself hear the audience response, then when I finally could was pissed that the projection was so shitty (I should've known when it nearly brought Jenni Olsen to tears).

The highlight of the evening, though was being approached afterward by the talented H.P. Mendoza and his boyfriend Mark del Lima who did the animation for H.P.'s latest movie, Fruit Fly. Since first laying eyes on Colma- the musical, and then recently on Fruit Fly (also- the musical) I've been a great big fan. So, as one could guess a compliment coming from one of my most admired, ambitious, sharp, queer director is nothing short of absolutely flattering. Greg and I have been reeling over it for nearly a week now, especially after we all became online (FB) friends and we noticed that H.P. was madly posting our video links on his page and 'favoriting' them from his youtube channel! Whoa. Not only have H.P. and Mark been totally supportive of our work, but also generous and open to friendship; last night at the Frameline Closing Night Party they brought us both CD soundtracks and today I have been obsessively listening to them and examining their cover art. Not only that, I've been youtubing and i-stalking, like crazy. I hope this doesn't make me act like a totally freak when we finally hang out, which we all plan to do very soon (!). Behold, the fruits of my labor...

Colma's official trailer


Colma's opening and closing (titular) number, with Spanish subtitles


Fruit Fly trailer


song "Organ Donor"


The Chinatown Film Project. Video by Rich Wong (director of Colma), lyrics and song by H.P.

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!"

Check out this cute dork

Performing The Magnetic Fields' "All My Little Words" using his gameboy and LSDJ software, which allows one to program music through this "ancient" hand-held game device. I used to have one and through this video remembered that I let my Dad borrow it, and he returned it broken. Probably another reason I didn't talk to him for 11 years.

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

Monday, June 1, 2009

MEN

music video by Leidy McIlvaine Churchman

live in Malmö, Sveden