human stories

haaay back in touch with a computer for the first time in days!!! seriously been ON THE GO. i've got way too much to say, but for now something quick about the ever evolving hardcore process of making damelo todo. ps i have now been editing 1 year and 4 months.

for so long, i thought that the major negotiation of this project was between like ART vs FILM. ie what kind of form, voice, representation, audience, exposure, etc. but NOW i realize that for me, this negotiation is really about intellectualism vs emotional honesty - or like brain vs body or something hardly put into words...

it's funny cause i know most people think that being a visual artist is all about self expression. but for me and lots of folks i know in the art community, it has kinda meant the opposite. or like art is a mask of ideas and concepts to hide how i really feel or what i really want to say. all of this in the name of resisting "authorship." so yes that's where my art train brought me personally. and for some reason the film world has presented itself to be the antidote - not AT ALL because it is, but because the alienness of this new zone has enabled me to reflect on the alienness of my old native zone.

forreals especialy coming out of FILM WEEK and the IFP MARKET alls i have to say is that the film world feels like a much more barbarian landscape than the art world - where people are super transparent eek about their motives and needs (ie capitalism in full effect). so i definitely want to REVEAL everything about those experiences. but for now, i'm trying to focus on editing - and seem to have reached a critical point where the only way forward is to get extremely honest and speak from my heart eek. something i strangely hardly ever do creatively. it's extremely mind-blowing. but these damn film people they love it! it's all about the "characters" and the "human stories" etc.

WELL. rather than be judgemental, i'm just gonna take it as a personal challenge to do exactly that. fingers crossed!

slightly old but just love this fake fur vest closest i'll get to chanel fall rtw

and no apologies i'm still OBSESSED WITH THE MICRO BRAIDS i will keep posting about them until they're gone which maybe be already today but i wouldn't know cause my head has been in a cave

mustache pic by buttdick & microbraids part 3 and 4 by robert ;)

micro-braids part 3

DIS report on TELFAR s/s 2011

TELFAR COLLABORATES WITH LIZZIE FITCH, RYAN TRECARTIN & RHETT LARUE

READ

(photo by DIS)

club looks past

party girl just got released on netflix instant play... so everyone watch it again!! ok! i'm kind of obsessed with dated 90s club fashion right now (also see young soul rebels) - especially anything jp gaultier... THIS MAY POSSIBLY BE my favorite look ever? can someone please replicate these pieces and mail them too me?? i will build you a box with your name in lights and then wear them every day forever. also thinking about VOD (as they say in the movie biz "video on demand") as possibly a totally rad desirable distribution format? as in wide-reaching, easily accessible? could VOD be a peoples medium? um DEF wouldn't go thaaat far but comments?

*thinking more about distribution, i mean VOD as opposed to old school distro houses, which can become tombs for many experimental and independent films by locking them away at institutional rental prices. i mean, how many amazing movies have you tracked down only to find out you have to mail order rent them for like $400?? in other words FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. saaaad!!! i think VOD is possibly making movies more readily accessible to more people faster... and because there are more and more projects like that launching they compete with each other and have to become more inclusive or more specialized, in order to find markets - which CAN mean more options for independent filmmakers! or at least that what we learned at the IFP lab back in feb.... ;)

one of my first art projects was a video-collective-collaboration-event called pilot TV. one of the basic premises was that everyone involved would gather together to help each other make videos, and then when we were done, we would compile them and go back to wherever we came from put our shows on public television. it was a pretty chaotic utopian model of horizontal distribution - but it did have many inspiring outcomes. one of which was that our program actually DID air on danish television! on an artist-run channel called TVTV...

*added

new york next week

A.K. Burns and A.L. Steiner

Community Action Center
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 18th, 6-8 PM

TAXTER AND SPENGEMANN
459 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011

SEE YOU DER ON SATURDAY !!!

aaaaaaaaand DAMELO TODO is participating in INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK!

PUBLIC SCREENING!!!!

 

IFP'S INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER LABS SHOWCASE

TUESDAY SEP 21, 2010 @ 8:00 PM

@ SOLAR ONE PIER AT KIPS BAY, 2420 FDR DRIVE

micro-braids part 2

pico union police state

last sunday LAPD shot and killed Manuel Jamines outside of the upper level of the Home Depot parking lot at 6th and Union. Jamines was a 37-year old indigenous Guatemalan day laborer, and father of 3. LAPD claims the man was armed, and shot him twice in the head. on thursday the LA Times reported that a witness has publicly countered this report to say the the man was unarmed: "At the moment when the police were shooting, he had nothing." according to the times, "She said the man appeared drunk, and was having trouble keeping his balance. He stepped toward the officers, but it appeared to be an attempt to keep from falling forward, she said."

i think this is an intensely moving example of how there are multiple overlapping classes of people in this country who are not able to exist as human. whose lives can be treated like wild dogs. immigrant, criminal, poor. substance abuse, mental health, unemployment, and so many other vectors of violence that limit our life chances. solidarity from the trans movement.

(photos from cop watch LA)

old team

i just got a new frida book for inspiration... endlessly editing damelo todo is bringin me back to my visual art roots... wanting to make sense the old way...!

plussss frida is also the original gay style icon. that's right- this is where the POWER BALL (hairdo) began.

i'm collaborating with an old friend, comic artist EDIE FAKE on damelo todo titles. a couple months ago at the one institute's film festival, i saw a '70s short film called THE LIBERATION OF GRIFFITH PARK, which really got me thinking about handmade fonts and titles... super excited to bring it all together!

speaking of pop culture / visual art marriages have you said yes to MEN yet?

MEN's JD sampson in front of performance painting backdrop by celeste dupuy

MEN single out on trouble records - painting/cover by ulrike müller

URGENT DEMONSTRATION TONIGHT AT 6PM

Demonstration at the shrine at 6th and Union at 6:00pm where Manuel Jamines was killed. If anyone plans to come, those who were present at last nights demonstration advise that you please come prepared, covered up and with plenty of water and first aid supplies. Also, those who participated in last nights demonstration are asking that others please spread the word among other comrades - especially people who have medic training or legal observer training, because if last night was any indication of what can be expected tonight, help will desperately be needed in both those areas.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gREzQQDTEsm9naE3aIZkpn_orNyAD9I41HO81

TOTAL FREEDOM's MICRO- BRAIDS

ARE FINALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GHE20 GOTHIK MIX SERIES

DOWNLOAD NOW
NEW YORK GO THER ENOW WEDNESDAY 120 ORCHARD ST (2 FLOORS)

pregnant

yo! so i know posting has been slowing down, but i promise not for much longer! we are in the final stretch of an editing deadline for DAMELO TODO. EPIC TRANSFORMATION GOING ON OVA HERE. for one thing the title is changing (as i suspected it might for a while...), because the story is revealing itself. can't divulge yet, but one thing is for sure; the actual movie is finally emerging!!! what's amazing is that there are over 100 hours of footage, but in the end, this movie is more about what i DIDN'T shoot. meaning that the times when i turned my camera off (or didn't want to turn it on), are turning out to be the most significant and revealing parts. ie the things i shyed away from, initially dismissed, the most painful, honest, self-critical parts have now become the backbone of the story. as case in point, for the three years that i was filming at silver platter, i always thought that wildness had nothing to do with it. i told myself, "i'm making a movie about this place and the community here, and wildness is just something i happen to be doing on the side that has nothing to do with it." yall are probably scratching yr heads at me like DER. but believe me, sometimes the thing that is closest to you is the thing you really cannot see. so amazingly, there was like this GIANT VOID HOLE in my process. which now that i have gained enough tiny amount of distance to see it, i realize it's like THEE most incredibly messy powerful shit. looking forward to sharing more soon, but in the meantime gearing up for NY INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK IFP MARKET thingy. that's where we werk it werk it with industry execsxxx. will TELL ALL fo sure

ps UUGGGG i have some serious style updates i just need like a body double to do the typing and posting 

or maybe asma can catch me up but um seriously more soon!!! we are already on to FALL