MIX LA Summer Picnic

Inspired by 20 years of the highly reputable MIX NYC festival, Rudy Bleu, Kent Martin and Irinia Contreras have taken it upon themselves to establish MIX LA, a festival of queer experimental short film. The festival itself will be taking place next spring, but the group is throwing a warm-up event next Saturday: the MIX LA Summer Picnic!

Hosted by queer hip hop artist Deadlee and local artist Xochitl Brown, the schedule includes performances by artists Ian MacKinnon, The MOVEMENT movement, Cucci and select recent films by Erica Cho, Matt Johnstone, Sean M. Johnson, EMR, Chris Vargas, Patrick Stephenson, Paula Cronin, and Julia Snapper.

Come on out and have a picnic with your video art-loving pals– it’s free! And there’s an epic dance performance, and a sex toy fashion show. What more could you ask for?

A still from Sean M. Johnson’s “Boyhood Play” video series, and Mecca from The MOVEMENT movement

4 comments | Art, Los Angeles, Night Life | posted on August 7, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Cloud Eye Control

Imagine an expertly animated film about outer space (or a subterranean lair, or the inside of a human body) where live performers come out, interact in choreographed precision with the projected image, sing opera, and then do a disco dance on the moon with their own clones. And then suddenly the screen opens up and the performers disappear into another world, where projected light is liberated from a standard rectangular screen and matches up perfectly with an array of glowing crystals. That’s pretty much what Cloud Eye Control is, but it’s a million times radder than I can possibly describe.

A trio of Los Angeles-based artists comprised of former physics student/director-animator Miwa Matreyek, master projectionist/digital media artist Chi-wang Yang, and actress-musician Anna Oxygen (who also happened to curate Conversations That Never Happened), Cloud Eye Control explain themselves thusly:

Whether through a re-imagining of Charles Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic flight, the discovery of powerful crystals underground, or one woman’s interstellar search for a new home, a common theme in our stories is human adaptation in a technological world. To realize these stories, we project pre-rendered animation and live camera imagery onto various surfaces on the stage, and this imagery functions as scenery and virtual actor. Both high and low tech methods are used to allow the live actor to interact with the media. These methods range from custom-built interactive video software to the physical manipulation of video puppets.

Thanks to my friend Patrick, I happened to catch their performance at the REDCAT last night and was completely blown away. The manner in which they meld performance and video art is so complex, fascinating, and most of all entertaining, I’m pretty sure my mouth was locked in a permanent smile for the duration of their display.

I really hope they perform again soon, because I can’t wait watch it all again– but if you’re not busy tonight, I implore you to make a trip to the REDCAT at 8:30 for their final performance at the NOW Festival. Just make sure you’re prepared to lose your shit.

1 comment | Art, Los Angeles | posted on July 19, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Pixelated Nostalgia

Jesse Spears, whose job title runs something like “Draw-er of boxy cars, boobs, and sassy ladies/Vice-President of Development: Semi-Sarcastic Sentiment Division,” joined me and my fellow former child star/Mean magazine editor Mya Stark in “Little Osaka” (Sawtelle Blvd., between Olympic and Santa Monica) the other night for a delicious dinner at the Giant Robot restaurant, GR Eats. I’ve had a few different things there, and I think my favorite is the shrimp curry. Also, the veggie meatballs are like nothing else on Earth. Not to mention the mixed fries that have yams and dried banana slices in them (and I usually hate bananas!)– but I digress– I’m getting off track here.

After dinner we were wandering around Sawtelle, searching for a stationary store, when I looked up and noticed a big glowing sign on the second floor of a nondescript Japanese-style shopping center. “Pixel Memory Studio,” it read, and I couldn’t help hoping it was some sort of stealth marketing campaign/alternate reality game tie-in for a new Michel Gondry film. Actually, it was something almost as good: a Purikura shop.

But Pixel Memory Studio goes beyond the simple simulacrum of Purikura’s visual diabetes by offering a variety of Japanese video games and flashy accessories for girls to decorate themselves with: tiny dogs and shoes dangling from necklaces, lip plumper, snap-on eyelashes, cell phone charms, and creepy-snazzy artificial fingernails. Mya ended up going home with a pricey pair of bejeweled nails on her hands, with plastic bows portruding from their slick acrylic surfaces. “I’m gonna go for an evil queen look,” she gloated, before panicking at the loss of her motor skills. “Use your knuckles,” Jesse reccomended.

2 comments | Life, Los Angeles, Technology | posted on July 19, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Conversations That Never Happened

There’s a photo of my boyfriend chucking a handful of cumquat toward the camera hanging on an art gallery wall in Chinatown, but you only have one day left to see it in person before it disappears! I know– it’s kinda short notice– but we only just got around to checking out the show ourselves earlier today, hence the untimeliness of this posting. It’s part of a photo project called Conversations That Never Happened, from the genius mind of punk legend Tamala Poljak (co-curated by the amazing Anna Oxygen).

200 portraits of Tamala’s friends and close relations make up the show, and they’re each pictured in the act of eating various foods against the uniform backdrop of Tamala’s navy blue kitchen wall. Shot over a span of two years, the images were unveiled for the first time at the Telic Arts Exchange on June 28th, arranged in a giant grid, like the biggest “MySpace Top Friends” ever. After a series of amazing-sounding dinner theater events that took place over the past three weeks, tomorrow night (July 19th) will mark the closing reception of the show, in the form of a “secret picnic café.”

Modeled after cafes in the Pacific Northwest D.I.Y. communities and historically referencing prohibition speakeasies, the café will use word of mouth to draw participants to a donation based picnic café, set up in and outside of TELIC. Paloma Parfrey will be recreating traditional picnic foods while Katie Byron reinvents what a picnic means through an installation. Performances begin @ 6pm.

Make sure to check it out before it disappears! Take a peek at a few shots of the show after the jump.

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2 comments | Art, Los Angeles | posted on July 18, 2008 at 11:43 pm
The Echo Park Time Travel Mart

In Echo Park, there’s a store that simply sells supplies for the everyday time traveler. From medieval weaponry to robot milk (for nursing baby robots, perhaps?) and dinosaur eggs for your Jurassic jaunts, the Echo Park Time Travel Mart has got you covered– whenever you’re going.

But wait, that’s not all! It also doubles as a free youth tutoring center run by 826LA, the So-Cal branch of McSweeney’s editor/literary superstar Dave Eggers‘ national network of non-profit programs dedicated to teaching students creative writing skills. I’ve been meaning to check out the Time Travel Mart since it opened this spring, so I finally got around to stopping by last night for the opening reception of a new installation in the storefront window. Los Angeles-based artist Amy Martin created a series of five posters that use a vintage travel agency aesthetic to advertise fabulous destinations throughout history and into the future.

The posters look fantastic up close– they remind me of something Scott Hansen would post on his highly refined design blog, ISO50. Currently on sale for just $20 at 826LA’s online store or at the center itself (1714 W. Sunset Blvd), all profits go towards “helping students 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write,” says Christina Galante, the store’s retail and events manager.

After the jump, check out the stuff on sale at the Time Travel Mart, and take a closer look at Amy Martin’s (time) travel posters.

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3 comments | Art, Los Angeles | posted on July 18, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Male Odor Monsters

Mail Order Monsters” is a totally sick action-packed, laser-blasting, tentacle-wrangling battle game for the Commodore 64. Likewise, “Male Odor Monsters” is a highly titillating, testosterone-impregnated (rationale here) new group show at Echo Park’s Hope Gallery. Teeming with the lo-fi crayon-colored psychedelia/neon childhood-nostalgic nightmare vibe that has come to dominate the experimental comics scene– and maybe avant-garde art in general– “Male Odor Monsters” features the work of Lightning Bolt drummer (and co-founder of Rhode Island’s legendary Fort Thunder) Brian Chippendale, Matthew Thurber, C.F. (a.k.a. Kites in the music world), and Kramer’s Ergot contributor Carlos Gonzales.

I was initially lured in to the show by Chippendale, whose zines I’ve become familiar with at stores like Family, Ooga Booga, and Giant Robot– but after checking out all the work, I’ve totally fallen in love with Matthew Thurber’s adorable intensity (e.g. the endearingly terrified horse in the picture above, entitled A Degree in Time Travel). I ended up slapping down a crisp Lincoln on the first issue of his new comic book, 1-800-Mice, which reads kinda like a Sally Cruikshank cartoon watched in the midst of a Vietnam acid flashback.

Check out my photos from the show after the jump, and make sure to stop by the Hope Gallery at 1547 Echo Park Ave before August 5th to experience the odor intimately.

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5 comments | Art, Los Angeles | posted on July 17, 2008 at 1:17 am
Dave White & Alonso Duralde Get Gay Married (at the La Brea Tar Pits)

If such a thing exists, Dave White and Alonso Duralde are at least honorary members of L.A.’s unceremonious gay literati. With a book each under their belts (Dave’s blog-based memoir Exile in Guyville and Alonso’s edifying 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men) and a steady flow of freelance gigs, this writerly couple of thirteen years has embraced Los Angeles’ reputation for easygoing nonchalance to the fullest, working from their West Hollywood home, typing out classy movie reviews in their underwear.

So it’s no surprise that Dave and Alonso would approach their fifth wedding (jam-packed with more legal recognition than ever– thanks, California Supreme Court!) with the same effortless amusement they do everything else, wearing t-shirts and shorts in a guerrilla-style (read: permit-lacking) 5-minute ceremony at the La Brea Tar Pits. Officiated by their Internet-ordained roommate, Aaron (known to readers of this blog as DJ Jefferson Bearplane), the vows were followed by an excursion to the farmer’s market at The Grove for a round of celebratory donuts.

+ Watch the video in the rapturous beauty of High Definition over at Vimeo!
+ Dave’s article for the LA Weekly about the wedding
+ Margy Rochlin’s write-up for Gourmet magazine

15 comments | Los Angeles, Video | posted on July 8, 2008 at 11:13 am
Mystical Unionists

“Forget about the aesthetic,” says Becky Stark, the lead singer of Lavender Diamond. “Recent scientific studies have shown that men have a greater tendency to interpret things visually than women.”

Stark and her cartoonist/drummer boyfriend, Ron Rege Jr., are the sole members of a new side project called Mystical Unionists. They played a low-key yet sublime show at the aptly titled Hope Gallery in Echo Park this weekend, where Rege’s artwork is currently on display.

“This is entirely about the aural,” says Stark, hoping to effect a sea change, one small drop at a time, from the hegemony of the male perspective towards something much less aggressive. If she can get this small, devoted audience to even slightly alter the way they process things, perhaps it can affect a widespread shift towards the global acceptance of “love” and “peace” she’s always touting in her music, with utmost sincerity. “Close your eyes and let go of the visual,” she advises before launching into a subdued melody. “Well, except for Ron’s art,” she qualifies. “You should look at that.”

Armed only with a microphone masking-taped to a wooden stick and a pair of carefully decorated floor toms, Mystical Unionists sounds something like a campfire lament at the end of the world and a hopeful appeal to America’s frozen heart. Ron and Becky are a dynamic duo whose artwork couldn’t be more aligned. In her lyrics and his cartoons, in her stage banter and his illustrations, the couple is devoted to building a Utopian world that shares the optimistic ideals of the 60’s, minus the questionable hippie trends of the day (is anyone really longing for a revival of door beads and lava lamps?).

“I had a dream the other night,” Becky tells me when I approach her after the show, “where everything I had ever thrown out was turning into cups of tea that I was forced to drink. Every piece of Scotch Tape– everything.” A regime change or a liberal political upheaval is good, Becky says, but we can’t rely on politics to change the world for us. “Each one of us is accountable for everything we do.” Somehow, when Becky says it, it sounds less like a lecture and more like a fun challenge, full of dancing and color and song. Becky Stark is our generation’s Yoko Ono.

Check out 21 pictures I took at the show, after the jump!

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6 comments | Los Angeles, Music | posted on June 12, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Greg Lynn’s Blobwall Pavillion

I went downtown to Sci-Arc on Friday for the opening of theoretical architect Greg Lynn’s new Blobwall exhibition. What’s a blobwall? According to MoCo Loco, it’s, well, a blob. Made of interlocking modular trilobal “blob units” constructed robotically out of a “low-density, recyclable, impact-resistant polymer,” the Blobwall provides an unusual alternative to a traditional building material: the brick. It sounds fancy and complicated– but it’s really just a big, weird, candy-colored sculpture that looks cool. The Blobwall is surrounded by a series of plastic orbs sticking out of the gallery walls, encasing Lynn’s personal collection of robot-themed toys. Check out my pictures from the show after the jump!

Update: Apparently, the Blobwall completely collapsed just hours after these photos were taken. Damn unreliable construction robots!

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4 comments | Art, Los Angeles | posted on June 1, 2008 at 1:18 pm
The Pisces Party 2008

A guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office. “Doc, Doc, ya gotta help me!” he screams, “I’m going nuts! I keep thinking I’m a tepee, I’m a wigwam, I’m a tepee, I’m a wigwam! What’s wrong with me!?”

“Relax,” says the doctor, “You’re just two tents.”

I live in a house called Black Diamond. It’s four boys and three girls in a five bedroom house. The three girls all have Pisces birthdays, so we celebrate them together with the legendary Pisces Party.

This year’s theme was InTentCity, so housemates and friends constructed a hodgepodge of of wild, elaborate tents throughout the property with the goal of enticing all five senses. A gold mylar pyramid, a geodesic dome, a helium-powered bamboo cube, a bird’s nest only reachable by rope ladder, and a strobe-flashing mystical lake were just a few of the titillating installations we built for the party.

I constructed a snake-skin-coated lounge where I held one-on-one cult recruitment sessions. For each convert, I devised an entirely new sect, each with a unique creation story and set of guidelines for life. Participants were told to close their eyes and touch a variety of textural objects hidden inside a snake-skin pouch, and their responses to these unseen objects helped form the cult I would then ask them to join.

Most of the serious tenting went on early in the evening, along with performances from the amazing Mirror Mirror (all the way from Brooklyn), the kinetic Lucky Dragons, a spandex-sliding choreographed dance duo, and Michael Lucid of Pretty Things, birthing a loaf of bread. The real dance-party party stated at “late party time,” and went on until 4:00am, when the cops made us kick everyone out. Check out 22 pictures from the party after the jump!

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5 comments | Life, Los Angeles, Photo | posted on March 24, 2008 at 11:20 am
My Stint as a European Rock Star

Here’s a query. What does a “Daft Punk-esque” British rock star wear on stage? If your answer was, “A shabby teal suit jacket, a fat aqua necktie, and a dress shirt with rainbow-striped sleeves that extend past his fingertips,” you’d be absolutely correct! At least according to the wardrobe ladies on the European cell phone commercial I shot last weekend.

You see, somebody thought I made a convincing-enough British tehcno-rock star (due mainly to the goofy David Silver spin I pulled out during the audition– thanks Brian Austin Green!) and cast me in a European cell phone commercial. So I spent last Saturday night pretending to DJ on a giant boat-shaped stage parked in the middle of a fake street on the Paramount backlot in front of 350 extras who were doing The Wave with expertly-choreographed precision.

I’ve got another query for you: what does the aforementioned British rock star’s hair look like?

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6 comments | Los Angeles, Work | posted on March 7, 2008 at 4:00 pm
So L.A.


I don’t mean to be a showboat here, cause I really do have a strong sense of humility, I swear. But my life has been taking so many strange turns, I feel the need to plainly state them for the record– cause sometimes, the world is a little more absurd than you expect. So here’s a brief list of some sorta ridiculous things that have happened this week:

1. I went on an audition to play Mariah Carey’s boyfriend, in her new Brett Ratner-directed music video.
2. Bill Gates gave me $900.
3. I got invited to Paris Hilton’s birthday party.
4. I got paid to take pictures of naked men simulating sex.

In regards to the naked men having fake-sex, it was classier than it sounds. For one thing, they were wearing crotch-socks. I’m currently working as a still photographer on my friend Dave’s independent feature, Pornography: A Thriller– a multi-layered supernatural mystery revolving around a fictitious early-90s gay porn film. Naturally, they had to shoot footage for the film-inside-the-film, and I had to take pictures documenting that.

Of course, I took a million other pictures on set of more modest going-ons, too, and here are a few of those:

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6 comments | Life, Los Angeles, Photo | posted on February 10, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Tied to the 90’s

Maybe it’s Hillary Clinton’s cyborgian persistence, or maybe it’s just my compulsive cultural consumption of the “90210″ DVDs– but wouldn’t it be rad if we could just go back to the 90’s? Everything was so uncomplicated! Cell phones were for millionaires and coke addicts, we were not yet tethered to the realms of Myspace and Facebook, and Bush Jr. was still just a recovering alcoholic that no one gave a second thought. We were never asked to choose between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, and gas prices were cheap enough for even slacker Gregg Araki characters to go on extended road trips.

Everyone just rollerbladed around the streets of San Francisco in pastel shirts and cut-off shorts, listening to cassette tapes on their Walkmans and quipping “Don’t have a cow, man.” When they were forced to work, it mainly consisted of serving up burgers at The Peach Pit or dancing in record stores with Liv Tyler and Renée Zellweger. They traded zines, watched the skies for UFOs, and played Sega Genesis. But, alas, there are no time machines to allow us to return to that idyllic golden age. I feel like Jeff Lynne, tragically trapped in the future!

Anyway, I must apologize for my absence. I’ve had a busy month, working more frequently at Mean Magazine, and also doing some still photography for a friend’s independent gay horror film. Here are 21 pictures: some taken from my car while inching through traffic on the west side of L.A., and some taken in a dry state park that has been used in a million movies, out near the cold desert of Palmdale.

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4 comments | Life, Los Angeles, Photo | posted on January 24, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Head: Double Feature!

Perhaps The New Beverly’s best double feature ever has arrived: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Head. These two are probably my favorite insane movies of all time– Richard Kelly should be taking notes.

The first is a semi-sequel (i.e. not related in any way, except thematically) to the camp classic Valley of the Dolls. A schizophrenic, Requiem For A Dream-paced rumination on 60’s excess, the film is directed by sexploitation auteur Russ Meyer and written by a young, nerdy goofball who would later evolve into a Pulitzer-winning journalist: Roger Ebert. There’s nothing else like it in the world of film. Only in 1970 could a major studio have placed the sequel to one of their biggest hits in the hands of a lunatic nudie-filmmaker. The already mind-blowing experience of watching Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is greatly enhanced by sitting in an audience full of flabbergasted film fans– I can’t think of a time when I’ve had more fun in a movie theater.

Head is a far more mellow experience than the speed-trip explosion of Beyond the Valley– but no less insane. Directed by Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces) and co-written by Jack Nicholson, the film is a self-conscious effort to destroy The Monkees‘ squeaky-clean image, using a seemingly huge budget to take the audience on a trip through a series of unexplained psychedelic vignettes, elaborate set pieces and off-color gags. Annette Funicello, Dennis Hopper, Toni Basil and Frank Zappa are just a few of the random personalities you’ll find wandering through Head’s beautiful, lurid landscape.

Don’t miss it! This Friday, December 14th and Saturday, December 15th at The New Beverly.

2 comments | Los Angeles, Movies | posted on December 9, 2007 at 8:59 am
Takashi Murakami @ MOCA

If you have any free time in the next four months, check out the Takashi Murakami retrospective at MOCA in Little Tokyo. Most well-known in the U.S. for lending his creative energy to posers like Kanye West and Marc Jacobs (not that I mind– I’ll take it however he wants to give it to me!), Murakami is also the mind behind the idea of “Superflat“, a concept that most immediately helps one understand the contemporary Japanese aesthetic, but also serves as a fascinating way of thinking about late capitalist culture at large.

At whatever level of depth you approach Murakami’s work, it’s innately pleasing. Make sure to check out the adorable Miyazaki-esque Kaikai and Kiki short film, and gawk in righteous indignation at the crazy rich people buying shit in the fully-stocked Louis Vuitton shop that’s been plopped down in the middle of the gallery. Or just buy a cute little Shacho (as seen above, in my back yard) of your own to hold and hug and burp on your shoulder like a baby.

post a comment | Art, Los Angeles | posted on November 9, 2007 at 8:14 pm